Work
His earliest interest lay in the study of rhetorical symbols of democracy. The source of his work was the analysis of speechmakers of totalitarian regimes around the world. His desire was to decipher the power and influence of words. However, he would always return to his fascination with technology and communications.
De Sola Pool eventually became the leading authority on the social and political effects of communications. In 1973, his name appeared in The Communications Handbook, which he defined the social and political effects of technological advances in a chapter called "Public Opinion." In 1983, Pool proved to be at the forefront of technological movement with his publications, such as "Forecasting Telephone and Communication Flows."
Pool was reunited with his former mentors Roger Hurwitz and Hirshue Inose to co-author the work A Census of Japan and the US. This would become one of his last forays into the literary world. He once again defined demand toward a global information society.
De Sola Pool was the chair and founder of the MIT political science department. He was often pulled away from MIT to advise the United States and other governments on various matters. In 1965, he wrote "The Kaiser, the Tsar, and the Computer," an essay about a computer-simulated international crisis. Later, his interest in quantitative analysis and communications would contribute to computer models to study human behavior.
The idea of freedom in all forms was extremely important to Pool. As a young man, Pool was a devout Trotskyite, though he quickly became disillusioned with this form of politics after seeing people's ideals used to take away the freedom for which they had initially fought.
Read more about this topic: Ithiel De Sola Pool
Famous quotes containing the word work:
“A work in progress quickly becomes feral. It reverts to a wild state overnight. It is barely domesticated, a mustang on which you one day fastened a halter, but which now you cannot catch. It is a lion you cage in your study. As the work grows, it gets harder to control; it is a lion growing in strength. You must visit it every day and reassert your mastery over it. If you skip a day, you are, quite rightly, afraid to open the door to its room.”
—Annie Dillard (b. 1945)
“Hard work. Well, that’s all right for people who don’t know how to do anything else. It’s all right for people who aren’t lucky. But once you’re lucky, you don’t have to work for other people. You make them work for you.”
—Dan Totheroh (1895–1976)
“Even the wisest man grows tense
With some sort of violence
Before he can accomplish fate,
Know his work or choose his mate.
Poet and sculptor, do the work,
Nor let the modish painter shirk”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)