IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2023 - 18

Book Review
secrecy, compartmentalization of roles as scientist
and healer, and acceptance of narratives that the
ends justify the means.
The story of the nuclear age is a narrative about
how society develops and adapts to new technologies.
In an excellent chapter on the " quandary
of technique " Nolan draws on the work of Albert
Borgmann and Jacques Ellul to discuss " technology
as a cultural force. " Dr. Nolan illustrates what
Borgmann calls an " instrumentalist view of technology " -technology
" is neither good or bad.... It
depends on us and our values whether it is used
well or ill. " Dr. Nolan's postwar career as a physician
and cancer researcher was devoted to using
nuclear technology to benefit his patients with
gynecologic cancers. He was an " optimistic determinist, "
who viewed " the development and application
of new technologies as inevitable and as a
net good for society. " Yet, his career also illustrates
Ellul's cogent analysis of the " inseparability of technology's
beneficial and destructive features " and
how " technology, once set in motion, becomes
self-augmenting and difficult to resist. "
In Atomic Doctors, Nolan uses the Manhattan
Project as a model to think about the implications
of newer technologies-the internet, social media,
surveillance technologies, biotechnology, genetically
modified organisms, and human genetic
manipulation. As Ellul nodes, " recognizing the
deterministic quality of technique is the first step
toward realizing human freedom. Modern humans
cannot act with freedom unless they first recognize
and appreciate the extent to which they live in a
technological milieu. "
In 1983, more than one hundred alumni (including
James F. Nolan) gathered at Los Alamos for a
40th-anniversary reunion. Some of the distinguished
physicists expressed regret for what they had done.
Victor " Weisskopf lamented, 'Forty years ago we
meant so well. At that time we did not foresee the
consequences of our work.' Given all that had happened
since 1943, Weisskopf acknowledged the
'special duty' of the scientists to come to terms with
the fact that their invention had resulted in 'the unintended
cause of the world's tragic predicament.' "
InterestIngly, a sImIlar language of regret
is offered by Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the
internet, who " remorsefully reflected " on the unintended
consequences of his work. One cannot make
exact parallels between nuclear weapons and the
Internet, but Nolan's persuasive and eloquent argument
about the necessity of paying attention to the
underlying ethos of technology allows for a path forward.
Until now, our moral intelligence has been too
undeveloped to resist the technological mindset. We
need to find a way to support the men and women
of integrity who, like Joseph Rotblat, know that the
ends never justify the means. Atomic Doctors is a
sober study of what happens when we pretend otherwise.

Rachelle
Linner is a retired librarian and a
freelance writer. A long-time student of the atomic
bomb, she is the author of City of Silence: Listening
to Hiroshima (Orbis Books, 1995). She resides in
Medford, MA 02155 USA.
 Direct questions and comments about this
article to Rachelle Linner, Medford, MA 02155 USA;
linner02128@yahoo.com.
18
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2023

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