[Sci-tech-public] Loren Graham Talk, "Russia's Dilemma" Oct. 18

[David Duran]

Please join us for a special talk, by STS Professor Emeritus Loren Graham:

 

"Russia's Dilemma:  Natural Resource State or High-Tech Player?"

 

Monday, Oct. 18, 4 - 5:30 pm 

Room E51-275

 

Russia has a very unusual pattern in its effort to modernize
technologically.  For three hundred years, since the time of Peter the
Great, it has made repeated attempts to catch up in modern technology, and
it has achieved many momentary successes - in railroads, in armaments, in
atomic energy, in space flights, in aviation, and in many other fields - but
it has fallen back behind again after these achievements.  Today it is
largely dependent on extractive industries (especially oil and gas) for its
economic prosperity, not high technology. At the present time it is making
another major effort to catch up - especially in nanotechnology and in the
construction of a "Russian Silicon Valley" in Skolkovo.  I have made four
trips to Russia in the last five months examining these efforts, and in my
talk I will describe them and give some opinions about their probability of
success or lack of it.

 

 

For a little info on Prof. Graham: http://web.mit.edu/sts/people/graham.html


 

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