How Technology Transports us to a New Realm of Being

Abstract: I will present three narratives concerning the etiology of disaster. They will each contain salient signposts as to the way in which technology, imagination, and inspiration both coalesce and fail. I shall then look to weave together a common pattern of these and similarly failed technologies to articulate the link between aspiration and technical innovation. I shall point to some explicit connections between the specific stories I have presented and then look to extrapolate much wider principles under the general title of “Transports of Delight.” The latter is the title of a text that I am currently in the process of creating.

Peter A. Hancock, D.Sc., Ph.D. is the University Pegasus Professor and Provost Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Institute for Simulation and Training, as well as at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Central Florida where he is the Director of the MIT2 Research Laboratories. Prior to his current position he founded and was the Director of the Human Factors Research Laboratory (HFRL) at the University of Minnesota where he held appointments as Professor in the Departments of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Psychology, and Kinesiology as well as at the Cognitive Science Center and the Center on Aging Research. Professor Hancock is a past president of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. His current experimental work concerns the evaluation of behavioral response to high-stress conditions. His theoretical works concerns human relations with technology and the possible futures of this symbiosis. Additional information can be found at: http://peterhancock.cos.ucf.edu/biography/