Understanding the relationship between technology and society is crucial for ensuring that technological solutions to the many challenges facing the world lead to a better future for everyone. That's the premise of a recently released second edition of Technology and Society: Building our Sociotechnical Future, a textbook co-authored byDeborah G. Johnson, the emeritus Anne Shirley Carter Olsson Professor of Applied Ethics and interim chair of the Department of Engineering and Society at the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science. Her co-author is Jameson M. Wetmore, associate professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society at Arizona State University. The book is a compilation of readings with chapter introductions by Johnson and Wetmore. The authors organized the readings to make an argument that we have the power to steer our sociotechnical future, but only if we understand the social implications of the technologies we design, build and use, and only if we understand the social forces that shape those technologies as they are being developed. “As an individual, I make some choices about the technologies I use, and these choices are important,†Johnson said. “But a wide range of factors out of my control make a bigger difference. These range from government regulation to cultural attitudes, historical events, economic policies and more.â€