Earlier this week, ABC Radio National’s Counterpoint programme reviewed ‘Sex, Burgers and Bombs: How war, porn and fast food created technology as we know it.’ The author, Peter Nowak is a science and technology reporter for CBC News Online.

An interesting account of how the military, porn and fast food industries influenced and shaped mush of today’s technology. Nowak says that the inspiration for the book came from Paris Hilton.

“I wish it was some deeper or more sophisticated source, like the many scientific journals I’ve read, a PBS documentary I’d seen or even Wired magazine, but nope. My muse, I’m ashamed to admit, was a hotel heiress with no discernible talents.”

It was that internet video of Paris with her boyfriend which gained some fame some years ago. I hasten to add I have not seen that video and refuse to see, hear or read anything that features Paris Hilton. But I guess I had to make an exception of this book!

Nowak on seeing the video realised that “a proportion of it was green.” Because it was shot in the dark using nigh-vision. While most were gawking at the untalented couple, Nowak “was interested in the technology being used behind the scenes. Welcome to the life of a nerd.” He realised he had seen similar night vision video during the first Gulf War, in Operation Desert Storm in the 1990s. It got him thinking about “what other consumer technologies are derived from the military?”

The more he researched he discovered just about everything was funded by military money. He also found that the porn industry was “quick to adopt every communications medium developed by the military” like magnetic recording (which led to VCRs) and the internet. “Porn companies jumped on these technologies well before other commercial industries, thereby providing the money needed to develop them further.”

He says “Lust and the need to fight or compete are two of the most primitive and powerful human instincts.” He also explains how the fast food industry is behind some other modern marvels.

An interesting book, well worth a read. A shame its inspiration lay with an untalented heiress who is famous for being famous. Well at least we know she had this one purpose in life. To inspire Nowak to question and then write this book.