The technology trap : where human error and malevolence meet powerful technologies / Lloyd J. Dumas.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Part I. Threatening Ourselves -- 1. Human Fallibility and the Proliferation of Dangerous Technologies -- 2. Dangerous Technologies and the Terrorist Threat -- Part II. What Could Go Wrong? -- 3. Losing Control (of Dangerous Materials) -- 4. Accidents Do Happen -- Appendix Tables: Major Accidents Related to Weapons of Mass Destruction -- 5. Accidental War with Weapons of Mass Destruction -- Part III. Why It Can Happen Here: Understanding the Human Factor -- 6. Substance Abuse and Mental Illness -- 7. The Character of Work; the Conditions of Life -- Part IV. "Solutions" That Do Not Work -- 8. Seeking Safety in Numbers: The Reliability of Groups -- 9. Making Technology Foolproof -- 10. Computers Instead of People -- Part V. Finding Solutions That Do Work -- 11. Judging Risk -- 12. Escaping the Trap: Four Steps for Preventing Disaster.

"From 1975 to 1990, more than 66,000 people in the U. S. military were permanently relieved of their duties involving nuclear weapons---jobs they had already been performing because they were judged unreliable. On average, there has been one nuclear weapons-related accident every seven months for the past 60 years. How safe do you feel?" "Most of us assume that those in charge can always control any technology people create, no matter how powerful. But in a world of imperfect human beings---prone to error, emotion, and sometimes malevolent behavior---this is an arrogant and potentially disastrous assumption." "This book is filled with careful analysis backed by compelling, factual stories that illustrate how easy it is for situations to go terribly wrong, despite our best efforts to prevent them. The Technology Trap neither advocates an anti-technology "return to nature," nor underplays the marvels of our high-tech world. Instead, it reveals the multi-sided potential for disaster that surrounds us in our modern world, explains how we arrived at this predicament, explores the nature and ubiquity of human fallibility, exposes why commonly proposed "solutions" to these technological Achilles heels cannot work, and suggests viable alternatives that actually can prevent human-induced technological disasters."--BOOK JACKET.