Sex, Bombs and Burgers: How War, Porn and Fast Food Created Technology as We Know it

by Peter Nowak

A fun and fascinating exploration of modern technology, Sex, Bombs, and Burgers reveals how these three billion-dollar industries have shaped our everyday lives. It's also a chronicle of popular culture, chock-full of surprising revelations. Take a look around your home. Your microwave? A British military scientist invented its technology by accident while trying to devise a death ray to blow up enemy planes. Your handheld video recorder? Developed by the military in World War II but adopted and made affordable by post-war pornographers. That vacuum robot on late-night infomercials? Born of a mine sniffer patrolling the caves of Afghanistan. From the unexpected origins of aerosols, silly putty, and the Internet to Saran Wrap, Tupperware, and video games, here is an engaging look at modern life as we know it.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Technology, Science, Food, War, Sexuality

Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Peter Nowak is an award-winning journalist and best-selling author based in Toronto. He has been writing about technology and pop culture since 1997 for publications including the Boston Globe, Sydney Morning Herald, The Globe and Mail and New Scientist magazine.

"The Rise of Real-Life Superheroes and the Fall of Everything Else" is his third book.

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 5 out of 5]

"When you're at war, you think about a better life. When you're at peace, you think about a more comfortable one." ~ Thornton Wilder



Be ye a hawk or a dove, there's no denying that we owe a massive amount of our technology to the military OR companies contracted to work for the military.

Your microwave? - A British military scientist invented its technology by accident while trying to devise a death ray to blow up enemy planets.

Your handheld video recorder? - Developed by the military in World War ll, but adopted and made affordable by post-war pornographers.

Your vacuum cleaning robot? - Born of a mine sniffer patrolling the caves of Afghanistan.

From Saran Wrap to GPS devices to video games to prosthetics, all had their origins in the struggles to fight wars and keep soldiers alive and well-fed. Technology during the last century has developed at a break-neck speed and we do have the military/industrial complex to thank for much of it.

Most of what we keep in our modern kitchens, from the appliances to the frozen orange juice concentrate, were developed by companies for the military. Canning, dehydration, freezing and drying techniques, as well as packaging made possible by new plastics, all improved the longevity of food, preventing spoilage and allowing for transportation across vast distances. Restaurants and fast food joints multiplied by using technology designed to feed a literal army.


Believe it or not, we have Napoleon to thank for Spam. He offered 12,000 francs to anyone who could invent a food-preservation technique that would feed his troops.

You may be wondering where sex fits into all of this... The porn industry is quick to adopt and employ new technologies. Their users demand new ways to access content. Companies are usually small and don't need the approval of a board of directors before trying something new. One of the first uses for the Internet was a Playboy photo transmitted over ARPAnet in 1975. Apparently still in the early stages are "teledildonics" - sex toys that can interact with a computer. And where would Paris Hilton be without the development of night-vision technology? (Okay, we'd all probably be better off without that one...)

The author points out how technological development has now come full circle. When soldiers using Foster-Miller bomb disposal robots complained that the dual-knob control system was too complicated to learn, the company redesigned it to use an Xbox controller. The same went for iRobot's PackBot, which uses a Playstation controller. So, the video games that began as offshoots of military technology are now assisting in that same technology. Pretty neat, huh?


A soldier operates a PackBot with a video game controller.

This was a fun and truly enjoyable book. Nowak employs a humorous tone and by not taking his subject too seriously, makes this trip through fairly recent history a fascinating look at how technology developed to fulfill mankind's various and occasionally less-than-savory passions.
Yup - he made learnin' fun!

...technology is neutral - it's what we do with it that matters.

[David Sarkies · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Story of Modern Technology
29 August 2011 - Berlin

I do actually like non-fiction books and found this one very interesting. In fact I actually agree with his conclusions (though many people will probably baulk at them). His idea is that the technology that we have today has been developed through what he considers three bad things: war, porn, and fast food. While I do not consider food to be a bad industry in itself (and would even consider investing in it), I do find that war and porn are. However we must admit that the technology that we have today, and in fact the Internet that we use, came about through our need to kill other humans and to satisfy our sexual desires. However the issue of food, while not bad, is a necessity (which he explores) and our need to feed ourselves also gives rise to the technology that we have. I'll look at all three in this review.

First of all war. Novak's proposition, and it is one that I agree with, is that since the government has deep pockets, then they are able to fund research into concepts that would simply be too expensive, or too risky, for the private market to develop. As such, the American military develops the concept and then releases the idea into the private market. The classic example of this is flight. Most of our flight technologies arose from developments than came out of the Second World War. In fact, it was the second world war that brought many of the luxuries that we have today, such as jet powered aeroplanes and plastics.

Further, he explores this institution that is known as DARPA. For those who are familiar with the history of the internet, you will know that DAPRA was the founding father of the internet as we know it. In fact, DARPA, a government funded organisation, was the only organisation that was willing to fund research into this area. The original idea was to develop a telecommunications system that would be resistant to a nuclear war, so that if one city were to be nuked, then the country could still communicate (due to redundancy, that is if one centre were to go off line, then it could reroute through another five different centres).

Within this discussion of the internet we come to porn. Many will not admit that they like (or look at) porn, but it can be very alluring. The truth is that most of the technology that we have today, in particular credit card payments and security systems, come from the porn industry. In fact, much of the home entertainment technology comes from porn. The reason that porn develops these technologies is two fold. First is the desire for privacy, and secondly because there is money in it. The more private porn becomes, the more people will pay for it. When I was a teenager the only way to get porn was to purchase it, and that would be very embarrassing, but now you can simply log onto a web site and get it for free in the privacy in your own home. In fact, when I was a teenager, porn was not as much an issue for Christians, but the anonymity of the internet makes it ever easier to look at it behind closed doors (though the reality is that your browsing history is kept somewhere, and as the Ashley Madision hack showed, nothing is truly anonymous – except for maybe TOR, but that is another story).

Finally I'll speak about food. Well, food is an essential. I do not consider it an evil trinity as Novak does because there is nothing wrong with food, we need it, and the technology to get it to us is very useful, however he is very right when he says that since food has become plentiful in our Western World it has created a different problem, and that is selectiveness. We not only waste an incredible amount of food, but we have become very selective with what we eat. Who has ever heard of a lactose intolerant African. They are starving and will take whatever they can get. To me, the biggest issue is the waste of food. I was staying at a five-star hotel in Europe and saw their breakfast selection, and it was huge. In fact, what disgusted me the most was the amount of food that would have gone to waste. While our technology to store food has become better, once it is on the table, it is on the table and is not going back.

While this book is not a book designed to make you think or challenge you as to how you live your life, it is very insightful in regards to the history of our technology and where they came from. He is also somewhat forward looking in fact to how technology is coming to a point where it will reverse the effects of the Tower of Babel (if that is ever possible). However, back in the 80's, nobody ever envisaged the internet (though we did want mobile phones) so what the world will bring in the future is anybody's guess.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've wanted to read this since I saw an interview w/ Nowak on Stombo's CBC show (damn no longer living in Seattle and having access to CBC and Strombo!) but America took awhile to get this across the border.

Unlike Eric Schlosser's Reefer Madness, which is written in Schlosser's demur Eeyore outlook, Nowak delivers a very even-keeled and well-thought out dissection of food, sex, and war as the three primal urges that have driven innovation, invention, and technology through the 20th and 21st Century. And unlike doomsayers, Nowak's simple turns of ideas into meaningful (but not overwrought) sentences seems to implicate that the world is indeed a fine place even if invention is often the product of war.

If anything, Sex, Bombs and Burgers has taught me that continued investment in the military industrial machine is pertinent for a better, healthier lifestyle and yet, that doesn't mean fostering a warring state. I've also learned that far from pleasure, the porn industry is the middle man between technological birth and mainstream acceptance.

Not everything's perfect in the world and Nowak doesn't contest as much, delivering the dark side of innovation and the body count, disease, and destruction involved but when one wants to actually learn and have a bit of fun with their non-fiction, Nowak is there to provide such entertainment.

[Lukáš Palán · Rating 3 out of 5]

Knížka o tom, že díky válkám máme lepší burgery a porno. Já tedy nemůžu jinak, než poděkovat všem padlým ve II. světové válce, kteří svou obětí pomohli vytvořit HD verzi PornHubu a Bageterii Boulevard.

[G J]

The only extent of knowledge this book can provide to you is historical anecdotes of how the large surplus of R&D funding largely provided in the post WWII boom were later ported to commercial products. Examples include video technology for porn, food preservation and costs in fast-food preparation, GPS, etc. There is no real central thesis and throughout the book you get the strong sense that this author does not really think much beyond thinking all these gadgets are just real nifty and loves the seeming dramatic irony to come from these developments.

This would be fine if his self-awareness was not so limited leading to such awful political takes. He sees war as almost this necessity to improve technology and thus presents it as some kind of paradoxical two sides of the same coin dilemma. Makes the same sociological mistakes as equating the actions of large government institutions to be natural human instincts to base carnal and violent desires (as if military adventurism was psychologically motivated rather than politically). Does not really seem to understand why the middle east is the target of war. Briefly mentions imperialism is why people join extremist political movements (but does so with a shrug as if it is something he read somewhere but does not understand). Says verbatim a soldier's job is to go "Running around shooting at bad guys...". Also gives the creepiest descriptions of sex workers in the porn industry. Falls into the Malthusian trap of believing there to be a food shortage rather than distribution issue. Thinks that the tensions between the Western and Eastern bloc is a result of communication and language barriers rather than irreconcilable geopolitical interests.

This is not that different than a lot of common political discourse but it is so laughably bad here. It undermines his entire message because while he is so focused on seeing war as the impetus to technological development he discounts the fact it is merely the avenue the State was willing to justify such large expenditure of the federal budget. As if similar developments could not be done should one day such large investments be made outside a time of war. Political interest groups largely prevent this from ever happening.

Read this if you want some neato facts. Otherwise use it as a paperweight.

[Sugarpuss O'Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me, this book is a print version of the History Channel's The *Blank* That Built America, so if you enjoy shows of that ilk, you will enjoy this book. What's also interesting is to read about the 'new' technology of 2011. It's fascinating to see how the products that Mr Nowak describes have come to fruition (or not) in 2024. All in all, this is a breezy, Summer-type read.

[Brook · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm just going to link to my brother's review b/c I'm tired of this book and he's way sassier than me.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Bogdan Balostin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is almost the perfect book. Informative, spirited, entertaining. Some thing is missing to be a 5 stars but I can't put my finger on what.

Let's just say it was more interesting than I expected. I never studied before about all the great inventions of modern times but I've always had a hunch about where they came from or how they become popular.

If you want to know how the war affected the food industry and how the sex industry goes hand in hand with technology and children's toys, read this book. The most praised inventions came from the men's vices. And we should celebrate we are always seeking a more comfortable life to indulge in the "7 sins".

[Faris Moalmi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is quite interesting as a factual historical look at the evolution of sex, bombs, and burgers and interrelatedness of the three. It was a bit confusing at times simply because of the arrangement of the topics discussed. The author at times jumped back and forth in time and between topics. There was also some repetitiveness in some of the topics discussed.
It was a good read though. interesting and enlightening.

[Iang95ify . · Rating 4 out of 5]

Showed how computer games are influencing the soldiers of today, how porn has driven computer technology from developing jpg images to driving the growth of CDs and the internet. Looks into the industrialisation of food production and reflects that our most primal desires like sex drives our technological progress. Sex dolls will be part of our future.

[Luisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most interesting; full of "food for thoughts". A must read.

[Ly Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very eye opening and interesting how much our world is influenced and formed due to the advancements in the war industry complex, porn industry, and food industry. The author to connect the three to each other was a fun thesis to read through even if some of the connections seemed to be thin. It’s crazy to see not only does this trinity influence each other but arguably was the foundation of other outside areas. The book started out strong when talking about world war 2 but towards modern time the message became somewhat competitive and too altruistic. The book dated itself when covering modern day claims that were too lofty than what was reality.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty interesting idea for a book. And contained bunches of stuff I didn't know or at least didn't remember. For instance, I'd never heard about The Lena, which is basically the mother of digital imagery. And much of the details around what McDonalds and World War II did to the food industry. But at some point in the book, the author just started info dumping and the thread was lost. Perhaps less stuff and more in depth all the way through would have been better. Probably would be a reasonable reference book, lots of footnotes. 3.5 of 5.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing and research is strong, and it's generally an enjoyable read with some "ah-ha" moments. I almost gave the book 4 stars (for whatever the stars are worth). In the end, the analysis of what constitutes progress struck me a bit simplistically optimistic. And I say this as someone who has employed or otherwise benefited from much of this technology. To the writer's credit, he at least adds caveats about the body count and cultural damage involved with the origins of much of what he deems progress.

[Nicolas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and enjoyable read about how our modern technology evolved. This book is full of fun facts that are good to impress people in the kitchen at a party. (Depends on the party, though.)

I found the writing a bit repetitive, at least in the last third of the book. Although the author tries to comment on technology from different perspectives, I would have liked more critical reflection on how technology is changing our society on a deeper level.

[~Emmy~ REYN · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second time reading. Not sure if I've read in its entirety. Widely based around all the factual literature I have been interested in lately! By delving into life concepts through different POVs.
Here we've got War Creating Tech. Porn Divulging in Technology advances.
Basic Human instinctual ancestral needs : Lust. Hunger. Competition/Advances/Fear and how the BIG GUYS use these primal urges for Gain and Consumerism.

[David Turney · Rating 5 out of 5]

A personal favourite.

Irrespective of your thoughts on the industries, this book explores the notion that fast food, porn and war are the triad of industries that in which modern technology has its origins, to the extent that no day can now pass without using tech that’s a result of their influence.

It’s an entertaining, well-written and well-argued read.

[Sam Shepherd]

Reading this 10 years or so after it's release is strange at how finely tuned the authors predictions are for the state of technology and its applications in the current era. Well worth a read even now

[Costa Voutsinas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read but staggers in final chapters.

[Erika · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting starting point to learn the history behind a various assortment of household items, though there did seem to be a bit of a political bias coming through the narrative.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read.

[Oscar · Rating 5 out of 5]

A most excellent and interesting read! I was quite surprised to find out about where things and products really come from and or why they were created, by whom and how these same product evolved to where they are now...like the all common microwave oven.

It was quite insightful as well to see how the government helped develop these many products as well...and the fact that most items do move from the military on to the everyday consumer. A strong recommendation for everyone to read and learn to appreciate how necessity, technology and innovation works toward a more efficient product or service....or dies.

[متعلم على سبيل النجاة · Rating 3 out of 5]

الجنس، والقنابل والبرغر.. ثلاث من أبرز ملامح الحضارة الأمريكيّة الحديثة، وهو أيضاً عنوان لكتاب، الجنس، والقنابل والبرغر: كيف شكّلت الحرب، والمواد الإباحيّة والوجبات السريعة التكنلوجيا بالطريقة التي باتت عليها اليوم. مؤلّف الكتاب پيتر نواك، صاحب ولع كبير بالتقنية منذ صغره، تتبّع في كتابه هذا الكثير من المظاهر التقنيّة التي باتت جزءاً من حياتنا اليوميّة ليُظهر وبنحو باعث على الدهشة أنّ معظم إن لم يكن كل ما يقع تحت نواظرنا من الأجهزة التقنيّة يرجع في الأصل إلى ثلاث نزعات: الأكل، والصراع، والجنس. الكتاب باعث على التفكير والتساؤل، ويبدو بالنسبة لي ممتازاً للمنبهرين إلى حد العمى بأضواء العلم الحديث وهيمنته على الساحة، فالعلم الحديث في النّهاية وكما سيظهر للقارئ من خلال هذا الكتاب، لم يكن الوسيلة لتحقيق غايات نبيلة في الأساس، وإن تحقق هذا عرضاً أحياناً وفي مراحل لاحقة، ستعرفون أنّ فرن الميكروويڤ كان نتيجة عرضيّة لتطوير الرادار، وأنّ التفلون Teflon الذي استعمل في المقلاة لمنع التصاق الطعام، استعمل أوّل ما استعمل في محطّات انتاج الپلوتونيوم المستعمل في انتاج القنابل النووية، وأنّ البلاستيك كان منتجاً حربياً بحتاً، وهكذا الحال مع الطعام المعلّب ومبيدات الحشرات التي ذهب آلاف البشر ضحايا لتجاربها بسبب استعمالهم كموضوعات للتجربة، وهكذا ستجدون آلاف الشواهد والفوائد المدهشة التي يذكرها المؤلّف في كتابه، لن أضمن لكم أنّكم بعد قراءة هذا الكتاب ستنظرون إلى ما حولكم بنفس الطريقة، ستفهمون الكثير مما يحصل حولكم، وكيف صنعت الأمور التي تحيط بكم، لكنّكم قد ترونها أيضاً مختلطة بالدّماء والجشع في أحيان كثيرة.

أدعو من يتقن الإنگليزيّة إلى مطالعة الكتاب، لم أجد نسخة مترجمة له، عنوانه هو: Sex, Bombs and Burgers: How War, Porn and Fast Food Created Technology as We Know It، ومؤلّفه هو Peter Nowak، وقتاً ممتعاً..

[Nyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sex, Bombs and Burgers is a fascinating look into how our obsessions with war, fast food and porn have evolved our everyday technology rapidly over the 20th/21st century. WW2 affected how we cook and preserve food, porn changed the video versus betamax war, and genetically modified foods are seen by some as a way of waging war and reducing the desire in third world countries to join terrorist cells. While detailed, the book doesn’t require prior knowledge of science or engineering, as it explores and explains the information about the technologies very well.

This brilliant and entertaining book will have you gasp with surprise as you learn how intricate and essential something as horrid and destructive as war has been to how the technologies from it has changed how we live. This is in no way a defence of warmongering, but explaining the connections gives you a better understanding of the world in which we live. Between all three vices, robots are becoming more advanced in their sexual programming and responses, the taking of fast food orders, and war drones to prevent more causalities.

It’s interesting how the things we have the biggest problem with in society - some say porn is corrupting young minds, fast food has helped the rise in obesity levels and war is always a terrible thing - these are the very things that have inspired and evolved technology to affect our lives in the biggest and smallest ways that we don’t even recognise anymore. Who questions a cameras past, or a microwave, or deodorant?

[Israel · Rating 3 out of 5]

World War Two spurred all the innovation we've all become comfortable with over the last sixty some odd years or so. If you read that statement and nodded your head yes then you should read Sex, Bombs, and Burgers. I chose to read this book because I saw the subject matter in the same vein as Fast Food Nation but the difference between the two is the personal in depth narrative.

Sex, Bombs and Burgers simply lacks the personal narrative to really drive the author's point home. That isn't to say that the author's points aren't valid, because they are, the author just didn't dig deep enough to really make the subject matter appeal to me on a personal level. What we're left with is speculation and the idea that because the modern world's advances come because of our most primal desires every advance is good even when the reality is opposite.

My problem is that notion is overly simplistic and that's why I wanted more...the personal stories the author tells about the inventors and researchers behind much of the recent advancements in modern society are bland and shallow. Bottom line: this book ahould've been a hundred pages longer. That extra hundred pages might've given me the personal narrative that could've really made this book much better than it was, and it wasn't bad, it just could've been much better.

[Guy Grobler · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is a nice chronological review of how three human vices (or in other words our preoccupation with War, Sex and Food) have driven technological breakthroughs. This book a perfect introduction book to anyone who likes technology but has no idea where it comes from and who's developed it. However, As someone who likes gadgets and who enjoys reading, I have to say that the book didn't give me any new insights, most of what was written I either already knew or was not surprised that much to discover.
Also, I find it strange that the author didn't write anything about another technology driving human vice - Greed/Money and the industry of Gambling which has also, I think, been behind some technological innovation as it seeks to minimize fraud and maximize returns.
A good book yes, but only as an introduction.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly casual skipping over the surface review of western technological advances since the War, and how most of them (or at least of those the author deigns to mention) stem from, or were developed by, the military, food business or adult entertainment.

An entertaining and easy read (it is one of those non-fiction books written by a jobbing journalist), but one suspects the content will seem very dated in a 'Beyond 2000' kind of way very quickly.

I think he is absolutely on the money in what he has to say about who is going to drive the creation of robots, mind. It won't be Toyota.

Rated M for frequent sexual references. 3/5

[Lars Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable, geeky read. The premise - that most advances in technology are driven by the military, or fast food and porn industries - is reasonable, though at times seems a little overstretched. A more honest title for the book would have been 'some cool gadgets and how they came to be', but I accept that rather lacks the punch of 'sex, bombs and burgers'. Still, very interesting nevertheless, and written in a nice, journalistic style that kept my interest up. Best on older technology (eg microwave ovens, digital imaging) where the facts aren't clouded by military or commercial confidentiality - most of the newer (and possibly more interesting) stuff is touched on only briefly.

[Scotchneat · Rating 3 out of 5]

An unusual choice of book to take to Israel, but that's what I did.

Writing style is a bit academic or formal or something, so it wasn't as entertaining as it might have been, but I still enjoyed the read and learned a bit along the way.

I don't think it's a shock to know that much innovation, especially in technology is driven by lust, anger and hunger. Still, the innovation of freeze-dried food in the space age is an interesting read, as is the connection between better porn and robotic limbs (Canadarm takes on a whole new value).

[H Wesselius]

Although the book occasionally becomes merely a listing of inventions brought to you by war and porn, it keeps the reader's interest. Read it if only to understand how well integrated the military, government and business became in the US and for the chapter in which the author details how the middle east has become a living laboratory for all the new toys produced by the military. The complete integration of business, military and gov't in the US compared to the Soviet Union is astounding especially when one considers ideologically it should have been the opposite.