Tacit Knowledge, Weapons Design, and the Uninvention of Nuclear Weapons

Tacit Knowledge, Weapons Design, and the Uninvention of Nuclear Weapons. MacKenzie, D. A. & Spinardi, G. American Journal of Sociology, 101(1):44--99, July, 1995. Cited by 0236

Paper doi abstract bibtex

Tacit Knowledge, embodied in people rather than words, equations, or diagrams, plays a vital role in science. The historical record of the development and spread of nuclear weapons and the recollections of their designers suggest that tacit knowledge is also crucial to nuclear weapons development. Therefore, if design ceases, and if there is no new generation of designers to whom that tacit knowledge can be passed, then in an important (though qualified) sense nuclear weapons will have been uninvented. Their renewed development would thus have some of the characteristics of reinvention rather than simply copying. In addition, knowledge may be lost not only as a result of complete disarmament, but also as a consequence of likely measures such as a nuclear test ban.

@article{mackenzie_tacit_1995,
	title = {Tacit {Knowledge}, {Weapons} {Design}, and the {Uninvention} of {Nuclear} {Weapons}},
	volume = {101},
	copyright = {Copyright © 1995 The University of Chicago Press},
	issn = {0002-9602},
	url = {http://www.jstor.org/stable/2782506},
	doi = {10.2307/2782506},
	abstract = {Tacit Knowledge, embodied in people rather than words, equations, or diagrams, plays a vital role in science. The historical record of the development and spread of nuclear weapons and the recollections of their designers suggest that tacit knowledge is also crucial to nuclear weapons development. Therefore, if design ceases, and if there is no new generation of designers to whom that tacit knowledge can be passed, then in an important (though qualified) sense nuclear weapons will have been uninvented. Their renewed development would thus have some of the characteristics of reinvention rather than simply copying. In addition, knowledge may be lost not only as a result of complete disarmament, but also as a consequence of likely measures such as a nuclear test ban.},
	number = {1},
	urldate = {2013-09-09TZ},
	journal = {American Journal of Sociology},
	author = {MacKenzie, Donald A. and Spinardi, Graham},
	month = jul,
	year = {1995},
	note = {Cited by 0236},
	pages = {44--99}
}

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