Tech-fear
Gall, A., Heßler, M., Hitzer, B., Kalmbach, K., Schmidt, A., & Spahn, A. (Eds.). (2019). Tech-fear [Themenheft]. Technikgeschichte, 86(3). doi:10.5771/0040-117X-2019-3 Full text
Fear of technology has a bad reputation. It is often seen as irrational, unfounded and hostile to innovation. However, the relationship between fear and technology is far more complex than this common cliché. To highlight this multidimensional relationship of fear and technology, we created the term “tech-fear”. The aim of this special issue, focusing on the US, Japan, and Germany, is to show to what extent fear has historically influenced the development, design, social acceptance and use of technology. But it also makes clear that the history of fear benefits when it turns to the subject of technology since tech-fear has been an essential factor in the history of fear and has strongly influenced concepts and ways of dealing with fear in a wide variety of contexts.