Faith in technology in interwar France.

Do we control our technologies or do our technologies control us? Is the invention of progress also the invention of disaster? In this talk Dr Brian Sudlow (Aston University) will consider how French intellectuals in the interwar period quarrelled about the merits of technology and its effects on western civilisation. Drawing on recent archival research, he will focus especially on the cases of Simone Weil and Daniel-Rops, and show how some of their concerns about technology and technological societies have resurfaced in the twenty-first century.

Brian Sudlow is a Lecturer in History at Aston University where he teaches history of technology and global history. He is currently writing a book about religious debates on technology in mid-twentieth century France and conducting research into the potential of historical case studies to inform today’s digital transition in manufacturing.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Birmingham & Midland Institute, 9 Margaret Street, Birmingham, United Kingdom