Rarely are there public discussions about the merits or problems of adopting a particular technology.…The political systems in most of today’s real world of technology are not structured to allow public debate and pubic input at the point of planning technological enterprises of national scope. And it is public planning that is at issue here. Regardless of who might own railways or transmission lines, radio frequencies or satellites, the public sphere provides the space, the permission, the regulation, and the finances for much of the research. It is the public sphere that grants the “right of way.” It seems to be high time that we , as citizens, become concerned about the granting of such technological rights of way.

Ursula M. Franklin, The Real World of Technology. (ISBN: 9780887846366) p.64–65