In this surprising history of technology, Peter Nowak argues that most of the innovations that make modern life modern can be directly traced to one of three questionable aspects of human activity—war, porn, and the fast food industry. Following developments in technology from the 1940s to the present, Nowak reveals the links between Barbie and U.S. missile systems, how the porn industry killed Betamax, and why Niue, Polynesia, is the phone-sex capital of the world. He exposes the unexpected origins of many common household items, such as cellphones, microwave ovens, and plastic packaging, and raises the disturbing question of where we would be, technologically speaking, without our basest desires.