ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with how the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) might adjust to certain technology-related pressures and opportunities. The Soviet Union has employed two well-trodden approaches in developing its high-technology industries: "muddling through" and borrowing from the West. There are many opportunities for the use of advanced technology to improve the performance of the economy of the USSR. The most obvious is through highly specialized and confined systems to directly improve manufacturing productivity. Two canonical examples are microprocessor-based systems for the precise and timely control of industrialized processes in environments dangerous to humans, and industrial robots for assembly-line production. For the USSR, the most difficult challenges of adjustment to technological pressures and opportunities will have to be met within the civilian economy. The Soviet Union will be able to obtain some general ideas and some specific equipment and technical data from the West.
