The Reith Lectures: Archive 1976-2012 - Technology will Determine the Future of the Human Race

Download Technology will Determine the Future of the Human Race

This year's Reith Lecturer is the distinguished engineer, Lord Broers. Alec Broers is President of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Chairman of the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee. He was a pioneer of nanotechnology and the first person to use the scanning electron microscope for the fabrication of micro-miniature structures.

Lord Broers delivers the first of his five Reith Lectures in which he sets out his belief that technology can and should hold the key to the future. He argues that man's way of life has depended on technology since the beginning of civilization - the flint stone, the control of fire, the wheel, the printing press, but are we coping with the newest cascade of technological advances that are happening now?

Lord Broers examines the social implications of the advances and argues that it has become essential that we study their social consequences. He believes that if poverty and disease are to be alleviated and the environment sustained, then technology must be harnessed on a vast and all inclusive scale.

Published on Wednesday, 6th April 2005.

Available Podcasts from The Reith Lectures: Archive 1976-2012

Subscribe to The Reith Lectures: Archive 1976-2012

We are not the BBC, we only list available podcasts. To find out more about the programme including episodes available on BBC iPlayer, go to the The Reith Lectures: Archive 1976-2012 webpage.