On page 26, in the last paragraph of Chapter 1, MacKenzie notes that he uses the term "black box," in two separate but closely related ways. First, it refers to the special nature of an inertial guidance system, a literal black box which works as a self-contained unit without need for external information. The second use of black box is more metaphorical: "It is a technical artifact -- or more loosely, any process or program -- that is regarded as just performing its function without any need for, or perhaps any possibility of, awareness of its internal workings on the part of users."

Discuss one of the following (be sure to incorporate aspects of Thursday's reading, Chapters 7 and 8, into your answer)

1) Draper and proponents of inertial guidance went about making their "black box" technology (in the first sense) a black box technology in the second sense: one seen as an acceptable functional unit in a technical system. What sorts of strategies, technical and non-technical, did they use? What counterarguments did they face? How were these overcome? Be specific with examples from the text.

2) MacKenzie uses a similar double meaning with the term "technological trajectory." That is, he is speaking at once about how missiles are guided onto their actual trajectories, and about how technologies seem to pursue "natural trajectories" which, he argues, are actually constructed. How might these two ideas map onto each other in a way similar to the two meanings of "black box?"

Don’t forget to include a title on your paper, and to cite the text with page numbers.