ABSTRACT
In American culture of the twentieth century, however, the idea of technological progress had become deeply ingrained and it was axiomatic that the one led inescapably, along the surest and safest route, to the other. The power relations of society, and the position of the designer within them, define to a considerable extent what is technically possible. Most industrial and military systems are designed with the expectation that such power will be forthcoming, and this social power thus underlies the technical person's own power as a designer of "practical" systems. Technical people rely upon their ties with power because it is the access to that power, with its huge resources, that allows them to dream, the assumption of that power that encourages them to dream in an expansive fashion, and the reality of that power that brings their dreams to life.
