Author: Jeffrey Sconce
Publisher: Duke University Press Books
ISBN: 9781478001065
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Delusions of electronic persecution have been a preeminent symptom of psychosis for over two hundred years. In The Technical Delusion Jeffrey Sconce traces the history and continuing proliferation of this phenomenon from its origins in Enlightenment anatomy to our era of global interconnectivity. While psychiatrists have typically dismissed such delusions of electronic control as arbitrary or as mere reflections of modern life, Sconce demonstrates a more complex and interdependent history of electronics, power, and insanity. Drawing on a wide array of psychological case studies, literature, court cases, and popular media, Sconce analyzes the material and social processes that have shaped historical delusions of electronic contamination, implantation, telepathy, surveillance, and immersion. From the age of telegraphy to contemporary digitality, the media emerged within such delusions to become the privileged site for imagining the merger of electronic and political power, serving as a paranoid conduit between the body and the body politic. Looking to the future, Sconce argues that this symptom will become increasingly difficult to isolate, especially as remote and often secretive powers work to further integrate bodies, electronics, and information.
The Technical Delusion
Author: Jeffrey Sconce
Publisher: Duke University Press Books
ISBN: 9781478001065
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Delusions of electronic persecution have been a preeminent symptom of psychosis for over two hundred years. In The Technical Delusion Jeffrey Sconce traces the history and continuing proliferation of this phenomenon from its origins in Enlightenment anatomy to our era of global interconnectivity. While psychiatrists have typically dismissed such delusions of electronic control as arbitrary or as mere reflections of modern life, Sconce demonstrates a more complex and interdependent history of electronics, power, and insanity. Drawing on a wide array of psychological case studies, literature, court cases, and popular media, Sconce analyzes the material and social processes that have shaped historical delusions of electronic contamination, implantation, telepathy, surveillance, and immersion. From the age of telegraphy to contemporary digitality, the media emerged within such delusions to become the privileged site for imagining the merger of electronic and political power, serving as a paranoid conduit between the body and the body politic. Looking to the future, Sconce argues that this symptom will become increasingly difficult to isolate, especially as remote and often secretive powers work to further integrate bodies, electronics, and information.
Publisher: Duke University Press Books
ISBN: 9781478001065
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Delusions of electronic persecution have been a preeminent symptom of psychosis for over two hundred years. In The Technical Delusion Jeffrey Sconce traces the history and continuing proliferation of this phenomenon from its origins in Enlightenment anatomy to our era of global interconnectivity. While psychiatrists have typically dismissed such delusions of electronic control as arbitrary or as mere reflections of modern life, Sconce demonstrates a more complex and interdependent history of electronics, power, and insanity. Drawing on a wide array of psychological case studies, literature, court cases, and popular media, Sconce analyzes the material and social processes that have shaped historical delusions of electronic contamination, implantation, telepathy, surveillance, and immersion. From the age of telegraphy to contemporary digitality, the media emerged within such delusions to become the privileged site for imagining the merger of electronic and political power, serving as a paranoid conduit between the body and the body politic. Looking to the future, Sconce argues that this symptom will become increasingly difficult to isolate, especially as remote and often secretive powers work to further integrate bodies, electronics, and information.
The Innovation Delusion
Author: Lee Vinsel
Publisher: Crown Currency
ISBN: 0525575685
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
“Innovation” is the hottest buzzword in business. But what if our obsession with finding the next big thing has distracted us from the work that matters most? “The most important book I’ve read in a long time . . . It explains so much about what is wrong with our technology, our economy, and the world, and gives a simple recipe for how to fix it: Focus on understanding what it takes for your products and services to last.”—Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media It’s hard to avoid innovation these days. Nearly every product gets marketed as being disruptive, whether it’s genuinely a new invention or just a new toothbrush. But in this manifesto on thestate of American work, historians of technology Lee Vinsel and Andrew L. Russell argue that our way of thinking about and pursuing innovation has made us poorer, less safe, and—ironically—less innovative. Drawing on years of original research and reporting, The Innovation Delusion shows how the ideology of change for its own sake has proved a disaster. Corporations have spent millions hiring chief innovation officers while their core businesses tank. Computer science programs have drilled their students on programming and design, even though theoverwhelming majority of jobs are in IT and maintenance. In countless cities, suburban sprawl has left local governments with loads of deferred repairs that they can’t afford to fix. And sometimes innovation even kills—like in 2018 when a Miami bridge hailed for its innovative design collapsed onto a highway and killed six people. In this provocative, deeply researched book, Vinsel and Russell tell the story of how we devalued the work that underpins modern life—and, in doing so, wrecked our economy and public infrastructure while lining the pockets of consultants who combine the ego of Silicon Valley with the worst of Wall Street’s greed. The authors offer a compelling plan for how we can shift our focus away from the pursuit of growth at all costs, and back toward neglected activities like maintenance, care, and upkeep. For anyone concerned by the crumbling state of our roads and bridges or the direction our economy is headed, The Innovation Delusion is a deeply necessary reevaluation of a trend we can still disrupt.
Publisher: Crown Currency
ISBN: 0525575685
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
“Innovation” is the hottest buzzword in business. But what if our obsession with finding the next big thing has distracted us from the work that matters most? “The most important book I’ve read in a long time . . . It explains so much about what is wrong with our technology, our economy, and the world, and gives a simple recipe for how to fix it: Focus on understanding what it takes for your products and services to last.”—Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media It’s hard to avoid innovation these days. Nearly every product gets marketed as being disruptive, whether it’s genuinely a new invention or just a new toothbrush. But in this manifesto on thestate of American work, historians of technology Lee Vinsel and Andrew L. Russell argue that our way of thinking about and pursuing innovation has made us poorer, less safe, and—ironically—less innovative. Drawing on years of original research and reporting, The Innovation Delusion shows how the ideology of change for its own sake has proved a disaster. Corporations have spent millions hiring chief innovation officers while their core businesses tank. Computer science programs have drilled their students on programming and design, even though theoverwhelming majority of jobs are in IT and maintenance. In countless cities, suburban sprawl has left local governments with loads of deferred repairs that they can’t afford to fix. And sometimes innovation even kills—like in 2018 when a Miami bridge hailed for its innovative design collapsed onto a highway and killed six people. In this provocative, deeply researched book, Vinsel and Russell tell the story of how we devalued the work that underpins modern life—and, in doing so, wrecked our economy and public infrastructure while lining the pockets of consultants who combine the ego of Silicon Valley with the worst of Wall Street’s greed. The authors offer a compelling plan for how we can shift our focus away from the pursuit of growth at all costs, and back toward neglected activities like maintenance, care, and upkeep. For anyone concerned by the crumbling state of our roads and bridges or the direction our economy is headed, The Innovation Delusion is a deeply necessary reevaluation of a trend we can still disrupt.
The Technical Delusion
Author: Jeffrey Sconce
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 1478002441
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 304
Book Description
Delusions of electronic persecution have been a preeminent symptom of psychosis for over two hundred years. In The Technical Delusion Jeffrey Sconce traces the history and continuing proliferation of this phenomenon from its origins in Enlightenment anatomy to our era of global interconnectivity. While psychiatrists have typically dismissed such delusions of electronic control as arbitrary or as mere reflections of modern life, Sconce demonstrates a more complex and interdependent history of electronics, power, and insanity. Drawing on a wide array of psychological case studies, literature, court cases, and popular media, Sconce analyzes the material and social processes that have shaped historical delusions of electronic contamination, implantation, telepathy, surveillance, and immersion. From the age of telegraphy to contemporary digitality, the media emerged within such delusions to become the privileged site for imagining the merger of electronic and political power, serving as a paranoid conduit between the body and the body politic. Looking to the future, Sconce argues that this symptom will become increasingly difficult to isolate, especially as remote and often secretive powers work to further integrate bodies, electronics, and information.
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 1478002441
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 304
Book Description
Delusions of electronic persecution have been a preeminent symptom of psychosis for over two hundred years. In The Technical Delusion Jeffrey Sconce traces the history and continuing proliferation of this phenomenon from its origins in Enlightenment anatomy to our era of global interconnectivity. While psychiatrists have typically dismissed such delusions of electronic control as arbitrary or as mere reflections of modern life, Sconce demonstrates a more complex and interdependent history of electronics, power, and insanity. Drawing on a wide array of psychological case studies, literature, court cases, and popular media, Sconce analyzes the material and social processes that have shaped historical delusions of electronic contamination, implantation, telepathy, surveillance, and immersion. From the age of telegraphy to contemporary digitality, the media emerged within such delusions to become the privileged site for imagining the merger of electronic and political power, serving as a paranoid conduit between the body and the body politic. Looking to the future, Sconce argues that this symptom will become increasingly difficult to isolate, especially as remote and often secretive powers work to further integrate bodies, electronics, and information.
The Platform Delusion
Author: Jonathan A. Knee
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0593189442
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 384
Book Description
An investment banker and professor explains what really drives success in the tech economy Many think that they understand the secrets to the success of the biggest tech companies: Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google. It's the platform economy, or network effects, or some other magical power that makes their ultimate world domination inevitable. Investment banker and professor Jonathan Knee argues that the truth is much more complicated--but entrepreneurs and investors can understand what makes the giants work, and learn the keys to lasting success in the digital economy. Knee explains what really makes the biggest tech companies work: a surprisingly disparate portfolio of structural advantages buttressed by shrewd acquisitions, strong management, lax regulation, and often, encouraging the myth that they are invincible to discourage competitors. By offering fresh insights into the true sources of strength and very real vulnerabilities of these companies, The Platform Delusion shows how investors, existing businesses, and startups might value them, compete with them, and imitate them. The Platform Delusion demystifies the success of the biggest digital companies in sectors from retail to media to software to hardware, offering readers what those companies don't want everyone else to know. Knee's insights are invaluable for entrepreneurs and investors in digital businesses seeking to understand what drives resilience and profitability for the long term.
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0593189442
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 384
Book Description
An investment banker and professor explains what really drives success in the tech economy Many think that they understand the secrets to the success of the biggest tech companies: Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google. It's the platform economy, or network effects, or some other magical power that makes their ultimate world domination inevitable. Investment banker and professor Jonathan Knee argues that the truth is much more complicated--but entrepreneurs and investors can understand what makes the giants work, and learn the keys to lasting success in the digital economy. Knee explains what really makes the biggest tech companies work: a surprisingly disparate portfolio of structural advantages buttressed by shrewd acquisitions, strong management, lax regulation, and often, encouraging the myth that they are invincible to discourage competitors. By offering fresh insights into the true sources of strength and very real vulnerabilities of these companies, The Platform Delusion shows how investors, existing businesses, and startups might value them, compete with them, and imitate them. The Platform Delusion demystifies the success of the biggest digital companies in sectors from retail to media to software to hardware, offering readers what those companies don't want everyone else to know. Knee's insights are invaluable for entrepreneurs and investors in digital businesses seeking to understand what drives resilience and profitability for the long term.
The Delusion of Knowledge Transfer
Author: Koch, Susanne
Publisher: African Minds
ISBN: 1928331394
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 398
Book Description
With the rise of the ‘knowledge for development’ paradigm, expert advice has become a prime instrument of foreign aid. At the same time, it has been object of repeated criticism: the chronic failure of ‘technical assistance’ – a notion under which advice is commonly subsumed – has been documented in a host of studies. Nonetheless, international organisations continue to send advisors, promising to increase the ‘effectiveness’ of expert support if their technocratic recommendations are taken up. This book reveals fundamental problems of expert advice in the context of aid that concern issues of power and legitimacy rather than merely flaws of implementation. Based on empirical evidence from South Africa and Tanzania, the authors show that aid-related advisory processes are inevitably obstructed by colliding interests, political pressures and hierarchical relations that impede knowledge transfer and mutual learning. As a result, recipient governments find themselves caught in a perpetual cycle of dependency, continuously advised by experts who convey the shifting paradigms and agendas of their respective donor governments. For young democracies, the persistent presence of external actors is hazardous: ultimately, it poses a threat to the legitimacy of their governments if their policy-making becomes more responsive to foreign demands than to the preferences and needs of their citizens.
Publisher: African Minds
ISBN: 1928331394
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 398
Book Description
With the rise of the ‘knowledge for development’ paradigm, expert advice has become a prime instrument of foreign aid. At the same time, it has been object of repeated criticism: the chronic failure of ‘technical assistance’ – a notion under which advice is commonly subsumed – has been documented in a host of studies. Nonetheless, international organisations continue to send advisors, promising to increase the ‘effectiveness’ of expert support if their technocratic recommendations are taken up. This book reveals fundamental problems of expert advice in the context of aid that concern issues of power and legitimacy rather than merely flaws of implementation. Based on empirical evidence from South Africa and Tanzania, the authors show that aid-related advisory processes are inevitably obstructed by colliding interests, political pressures and hierarchical relations that impede knowledge transfer and mutual learning. As a result, recipient governments find themselves caught in a perpetual cycle of dependency, continuously advised by experts who convey the shifting paradigms and agendas of their respective donor governments. For young democracies, the persistent presence of external actors is hazardous: ultimately, it poses a threat to the legitimacy of their governments if their policy-making becomes more responsive to foreign demands than to the preferences and needs of their citizens.
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Author: Evgeny Morozov
Publisher:
ISBN: 1610391381
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 434
Book Description
The award-winning author of The Net Delusion shows how the radical transparency we've become accustomed to online may threaten the spirit of real-life democracy
Publisher:
ISBN: 1610391381
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 434
Book Description
The award-winning author of The Net Delusion shows how the radical transparency we've become accustomed to online may threaten the spirit of real-life democracy
The VDI Delusion
Author: Brian S. Madden
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780985217402
Category : Client/server computing
Languages : en
Pages : 237
Book Description
This book recounts the original promise of VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) and why the reality fell short. It shows how to step back and figure out what problems we're really trying to solve, including when it makes sense to use desktop virtualization and VDI and when to stay with traditional desktops, and closes with a look at the world beyond Windows and what real steps we can take today to create the future enterprise desktop.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780985217402
Category : Client/server computing
Languages : en
Pages : 237
Book Description
This book recounts the original promise of VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) and why the reality fell short. It shows how to step back and figure out what problems we're really trying to solve, including when it makes sense to use desktop virtualization and VDI and when to stay with traditional desktops, and closes with a look at the world beyond Windows and what real steps we can take today to create the future enterprise desktop.
Paranoia
Author: Daniel Freeman
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 9781841695228
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 212
Book Description
Scholarly, comprehensive, illustrated by clinical examples throughout and written by leading researchers in this field, this study defines the phenomenon of paranoia in detail and analyzes the content of persecutory delusions.
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 9781841695228
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 212
Book Description
Scholarly, comprehensive, illustrated by clinical examples throughout and written by leading researchers in this field, this study defines the phenomenon of paranoia in detail and analyzes the content of persecutory delusions.
The Free Will Delusion
Author: James B. Miles
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1784628328
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 312
Book Description
Poverty is not accident, but design. We are not all equal before the law. And the central message of contemporary ethics is that only some people matter.
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1784628328
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 312
Book Description
Poverty is not accident, but design. We are not all equal before the law. And the central message of contemporary ethics is that only some people matter.
The Cholesterol Delusion
Author: Ernest N. Curtis
Publisher: Dog Ear Publishing
ISBN: 1608447480
Category : Cholesterol
Languages : en
Pages : 170
Book Description
Approximately one-half of the adult population of the United States are being told that they harbor within their bodies a silent killer. This "killer" is cholesterol. Millions are prescribed cholesterol lowering drugs making these pills the most prescribed (and most profitable) medications in the history of American medicine. They are told that these drugs will protect them from the ravages of heart disease. This is patently untrue and can be easily demonstrated by critical analysis of the data presented in the very medical studies that purport to show their benefit. The cholesterol mania that has gripped the country and dominated mainstream medical thought for the past 40 years is based on widespread acceptance of a set of closely related theories variously called the Cholesterol Theory, the Lipid Hypothesis, or the Diet-Heart Theory. The Cholesterol Delusion systematically refutes these prevailing theories that link diet and blood cholesterol levels to coronary heart disease and heart attacks. The Cholesterol Delusion traces the development of these theories from their origins and shows that each step in their evolution was based on faulty evidence and unscientific reasoning. The book then takes it one step further and attacks the very foundation of the "risk factor" paradigm that has dominated cardiovascular research in particular and much of medical research in general for the past 50 years. Written in plain language for the intelligent layman, the arguments are presented in a way that can be easily understood by readers with a limited medical or technical background. The Cholesterol Delusion is must reading for anyone that has been told they have elevated cholesterol levels and/or must take medication to lower them.
Publisher: Dog Ear Publishing
ISBN: 1608447480
Category : Cholesterol
Languages : en
Pages : 170
Book Description
Approximately one-half of the adult population of the United States are being told that they harbor within their bodies a silent killer. This "killer" is cholesterol. Millions are prescribed cholesterol lowering drugs making these pills the most prescribed (and most profitable) medications in the history of American medicine. They are told that these drugs will protect them from the ravages of heart disease. This is patently untrue and can be easily demonstrated by critical analysis of the data presented in the very medical studies that purport to show their benefit. The cholesterol mania that has gripped the country and dominated mainstream medical thought for the past 40 years is based on widespread acceptance of a set of closely related theories variously called the Cholesterol Theory, the Lipid Hypothesis, or the Diet-Heart Theory. The Cholesterol Delusion systematically refutes these prevailing theories that link diet and blood cholesterol levels to coronary heart disease and heart attacks. The Cholesterol Delusion traces the development of these theories from their origins and shows that each step in their evolution was based on faulty evidence and unscientific reasoning. The book then takes it one step further and attacks the very foundation of the "risk factor" paradigm that has dominated cardiovascular research in particular and much of medical research in general for the past 50 years. Written in plain language for the intelligent layman, the arguments are presented in a way that can be easily understood by readers with a limited medical or technical background. The Cholesterol Delusion is must reading for anyone that has been told they have elevated cholesterol levels and/or must take medication to lower them.