Author: Matthew Fuller
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262062747
Category : Computer programs
Languages : en
Pages : 349
Book Description
This collection of short expository, critical and speculative texts offers a field guide to the cultural, political, social and aesthetic impact of software. Experts from a range of disciplines each take a key topic in software and the understanding of software, such as algorithms and logical structures.
Software Studies
Author: Matthew Fuller
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262062747
Category : Computer programs
Languages : en
Pages : 349
Book Description
This collection of short expository, critical and speculative texts offers a field guide to the cultural, political, social and aesthetic impact of software. Experts from a range of disciplines each take a key topic in software and the understanding of software, such as algorithms and logical structures.
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262062747
Category : Computer programs
Languages : en
Pages : 349
Book Description
This collection of short expository, critical and speculative texts offers a field guide to the cultural, political, social and aesthetic impact of software. Experts from a range of disciplines each take a key topic in software and the understanding of software, such as algorithms and logical structures.
Groping in the Dark
Author: Donella Meadows
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 346
Book Description
Good,No Highlights,No Markup,all pages are intact, Slight Shelfwear,may have the corners slightly dented, may have slight color changes/slightly damaged spine.
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 346
Book Description
Good,No Highlights,No Markup,all pages are intact, Slight Shelfwear,may have the corners slightly dented, may have slight color changes/slightly damaged spine.
Cybernetic Revolutionaries
Author: Eden Medina
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262525968
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 343
Book Description
A historical study of Chile's twin experiments with cybernetics and socialism, and what they tell us about the relationship of technology and politics. In Cybernetic Revolutionaries, Eden Medina tells the history of two intersecting utopian visions, one political and one technological. The first was Chile's experiment with peaceful socialist change under Salvador Allende; the second was the simultaneous attempt to build a computer system that would manage Chile's economy. Neither vision was fully realized—Allende's government ended with a violent military coup; the system, known as Project Cybersyn, was never completely implemented—but they hold lessons for today about the relationship between technology and politics. Drawing on extensive archival material and interviews, Medina examines the cybernetic system envisioned by the Chilean government—which was to feature holistic system design, decentralized management, human-computer interaction, a national telex network, near real-time control of the growing industrial sector, and modeling the behavior of dynamic systems. She also describes, and documents with photographs, the network's Star Trek-like operations room, which featured swivel chairs with armrest control panels, a wall of screens displaying data, and flashing red lights to indicate economic emergencies. Studying project Cybersyn today helps us understand not only the technological ambitions of a government in the midst of political change but also the limitations of the Chilean revolution. This history further shows how human attempts to combine the political and the technological with the goal of creating a more just society can open new technological, intellectual, and political possibilities. Technologies, Medina writes, are historical texts; when we read them we are reading history.
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262525968
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 343
Book Description
A historical study of Chile's twin experiments with cybernetics and socialism, and what they tell us about the relationship of technology and politics. In Cybernetic Revolutionaries, Eden Medina tells the history of two intersecting utopian visions, one political and one technological. The first was Chile's experiment with peaceful socialist change under Salvador Allende; the second was the simultaneous attempt to build a computer system that would manage Chile's economy. Neither vision was fully realized—Allende's government ended with a violent military coup; the system, known as Project Cybersyn, was never completely implemented—but they hold lessons for today about the relationship between technology and politics. Drawing on extensive archival material and interviews, Medina examines the cybernetic system envisioned by the Chilean government—which was to feature holistic system design, decentralized management, human-computer interaction, a national telex network, near real-time control of the growing industrial sector, and modeling the behavior of dynamic systems. She also describes, and documents with photographs, the network's Star Trek-like operations room, which featured swivel chairs with armrest control panels, a wall of screens displaying data, and flashing red lights to indicate economic emergencies. Studying project Cybersyn today helps us understand not only the technological ambitions of a government in the midst of political change but also the limitations of the Chilean revolution. This history further shows how human attempts to combine the political and the technological with the goal of creating a more just society can open new technological, intellectual, and political possibilities. Technologies, Medina writes, are historical texts; when we read them we are reading history.
Then, Now, and Beyond
Author: Jim Allen
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781694336583
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 185
Book Description
Then, Now, and Beyond is a book of essays by members of the MIT Class of 1964 written on the occasion of their 55th reunion. It is about how the world has changed since they entered MIT in 1960. The essays are a blend of history and biography written by those who led, participated, or observed the unfolding events in many disciplines, not just science and engineering. The essays cover 1960 through 2019, and for some a view of what the future might hold.The late fifties and sixties were times of significant change - social, cultural, and technological. We had the good fortune of being drawn together from many places, spending time together, and then being blasted out into the real world - to amass experiences and to evolve beliefs and views of what the world (big and small) might be like for our grandchildren. That's what this book is about.Lots of people before us have written about: the way things were, or the history of "X," of the future of "Y." What we capture in these essays is a sense of the people of our times, change as we saw it unfold and our belief as to its future impact. The essays are about hobbies, politics, culture, business, science and technology."Then" is the late 50's early 60's. We took exams with your "slip stick" (slide rule) and often you could bring anything into an exam except another person. Telecommunications was often teletype and computer input was punched cards and paper tape. Computers were big and not very powerful - such as the IBM 709, 7090, 7094, TX-0, or PDP-1. You waited your turn for the main frame much as a supplicant to the gods. Then there was MIT Project MAC (Mathematics and Computation) which introduced timesharing. "Now" is well NOW. Computers abound - they wait on our wanting to use them and applications get written with stuff you don't need to prove you need an update and a faster machine. More power in a tiny device than existed in a room full in 1964. Wi-Fi antennas abound. The Internet has a lot of information including, old stuff about our undergraduate days, where we now live, what we do, meetings we go to, etc. etc. Would George Orwell, author of "1984," have recognized the "New privacy?"And "Beyond" is in the offing - much like what a landlubber sees when she stares toward the horizon and sees the ships going to far off places. It's where predictions of the future don't necessarily come true, but that is hardly a reason not to predict.Authors: Jim Allen, Bob Blumberg, Robert Colvin, Ron Gilman, Bob Gray, Conrad Grundlehner, Leon Kaatz, Jim Lerner, Paul Lubin, John Meriwether, Jim Monk, Lita Nelsen, Bob Popadic, David Saul, Tom Seay, David Sheena, Don Stewart, Bob Weggel, and Warren Wiscombe.Essay TopicsArts and CultureThen and Now - Did our world get better? Maybe yes. - David SheenaIt Was Different Then - Especially for Women - Lita NelsenCoeducation at MIT - Bob GrayBusinessHow Technology Has Changed the Law - Ron GilmanTechnology Comes to Shopping - Conrad GrundlehnerChecks are Going Away and Have Been for a Long Time - Bob PopadicScience and TechnologyMoonshot - David SaulThe Journey of an Aeronomer - John MeriwetherHalf a Century of Medicine - Robert ColvinAnalog to Digital - Close Up View - Don StewartFrom Pong to PCs - Jim AllenHow Electronics Changed since Graduation - A Compression of Space and Time - Bob BlumbergFrom Aeronautics Student to Citizen Lobbyist - Jim LernerReflections on Energy - Jim MonkMy Personal Odyssey in Climate Science - Warren WiscombeNuclear Deterrence and Satellite Communications - Thomas Seay My Many Years With Magnets - Bob WeggelThe Evolution of Instant Photography - Paul Lubin RecreationAmateur Photography and Cinematography - Bob Popadic How Small Boat Costal Navigation Has Changed - Bob Popadic Ice Climbing and Technology- Leon Kaatz
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781694336583
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 185
Book Description
Then, Now, and Beyond is a book of essays by members of the MIT Class of 1964 written on the occasion of their 55th reunion. It is about how the world has changed since they entered MIT in 1960. The essays are a blend of history and biography written by those who led, participated, or observed the unfolding events in many disciplines, not just science and engineering. The essays cover 1960 through 2019, and for some a view of what the future might hold.The late fifties and sixties were times of significant change - social, cultural, and technological. We had the good fortune of being drawn together from many places, spending time together, and then being blasted out into the real world - to amass experiences and to evolve beliefs and views of what the world (big and small) might be like for our grandchildren. That's what this book is about.Lots of people before us have written about: the way things were, or the history of "X," of the future of "Y." What we capture in these essays is a sense of the people of our times, change as we saw it unfold and our belief as to its future impact. The essays are about hobbies, politics, culture, business, science and technology."Then" is the late 50's early 60's. We took exams with your "slip stick" (slide rule) and often you could bring anything into an exam except another person. Telecommunications was often teletype and computer input was punched cards and paper tape. Computers were big and not very powerful - such as the IBM 709, 7090, 7094, TX-0, or PDP-1. You waited your turn for the main frame much as a supplicant to the gods. Then there was MIT Project MAC (Mathematics and Computation) which introduced timesharing. "Now" is well NOW. Computers abound - they wait on our wanting to use them and applications get written with stuff you don't need to prove you need an update and a faster machine. More power in a tiny device than existed in a room full in 1964. Wi-Fi antennas abound. The Internet has a lot of information including, old stuff about our undergraduate days, where we now live, what we do, meetings we go to, etc. etc. Would George Orwell, author of "1984," have recognized the "New privacy?"And "Beyond" is in the offing - much like what a landlubber sees when she stares toward the horizon and sees the ships going to far off places. It's where predictions of the future don't necessarily come true, but that is hardly a reason not to predict.Authors: Jim Allen, Bob Blumberg, Robert Colvin, Ron Gilman, Bob Gray, Conrad Grundlehner, Leon Kaatz, Jim Lerner, Paul Lubin, John Meriwether, Jim Monk, Lita Nelsen, Bob Popadic, David Saul, Tom Seay, David Sheena, Don Stewart, Bob Weggel, and Warren Wiscombe.Essay TopicsArts and CultureThen and Now - Did our world get better? Maybe yes. - David SheenaIt Was Different Then - Especially for Women - Lita NelsenCoeducation at MIT - Bob GrayBusinessHow Technology Has Changed the Law - Ron GilmanTechnology Comes to Shopping - Conrad GrundlehnerChecks are Going Away and Have Been for a Long Time - Bob PopadicScience and TechnologyMoonshot - David SaulThe Journey of an Aeronomer - John MeriwetherHalf a Century of Medicine - Robert ColvinAnalog to Digital - Close Up View - Don StewartFrom Pong to PCs - Jim AllenHow Electronics Changed since Graduation - A Compression of Space and Time - Bob BlumbergFrom Aeronautics Student to Citizen Lobbyist - Jim LernerReflections on Energy - Jim MonkMy Personal Odyssey in Climate Science - Warren WiscombeNuclear Deterrence and Satellite Communications - Thomas Seay My Many Years With Magnets - Bob WeggelThe Evolution of Instant Photography - Paul Lubin RecreationAmateur Photography and Cinematography - Bob Popadic How Small Boat Costal Navigation Has Changed - Bob Popadic Ice Climbing and Technology- Leon Kaatz
The Imagination of the New Left
Author: George N. Katsiaficas
Publisher: South End Press
ISBN: 9780896082274
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352
Book Description
"The Imagination of the New Left" brings to life the social movements and events of the 1960s that made it a period of world-historical importance: the Prague Spring; the student movements in Mexico, Japan, Sri Lanka, Italy, Yugoslavia, and Spain; the Test Offensive in Vietnam and guerilla movements in Latin America; the Democratic Convention in Chicago; the assassination of Martin Luther King; the near-revolution in France of May 1968; and the May 1970 student strike in the United States. Despite its apparent failure, the New Left represented a global transition to a newly defined cultural and political epoch, and its impact continues to be felt today.
Publisher: South End Press
ISBN: 9780896082274
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352
Book Description
"The Imagination of the New Left" brings to life the social movements and events of the 1960s that made it a period of world-historical importance: the Prague Spring; the student movements in Mexico, Japan, Sri Lanka, Italy, Yugoslavia, and Spain; the Test Offensive in Vietnam and guerilla movements in Latin America; the Democratic Convention in Chicago; the assassination of Martin Luther King; the near-revolution in France of May 1968; and the May 1970 student strike in the United States. Despite its apparent failure, the New Left represented a global transition to a newly defined cultural and political epoch, and its impact continues to be felt today.
The Pragmatic Imagination
Author: Ann Pendleton-Jullian and
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781367563124
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
Pragmatic Imagination is a small book that presents a valuable resource for navigating our broadly connected, rapidly changing, and radically contingent world. It begins from an assumption that agency in the world today requires a productive entanglement of imagination and action. It then presents a framework for unpacking the imagination as a wide range of mental activity that can be put to purpose in this world. This is the Pragmatic Imagination: a concept and framework of six principles.This book is the last chapter of a larger work. It is both parent and child of a soon to be published five-book system of books called Design Unbound: Designing for Emergence in a White Water World, which provides a tool set for agency and impact in our world today. Like a single released before an album, this previews the larger work, introducing concepts and themes that both anticipate and encapsulate the larger project. But also like a single, it can stand along because of the way in which it anticipates and encapsulates the larger project with a singular coherence.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781367563124
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
Pragmatic Imagination is a small book that presents a valuable resource for navigating our broadly connected, rapidly changing, and radically contingent world. It begins from an assumption that agency in the world today requires a productive entanglement of imagination and action. It then presents a framework for unpacking the imagination as a wide range of mental activity that can be put to purpose in this world. This is the Pragmatic Imagination: a concept and framework of six principles.This book is the last chapter of a larger work. It is both parent and child of a soon to be published five-book system of books called Design Unbound: Designing for Emergence in a White Water World, which provides a tool set for agency and impact in our world today. Like a single released before an album, this previews the larger work, introducing concepts and themes that both anticipate and encapsulate the larger project. But also like a single, it can stand along because of the way in which it anticipates and encapsulates the larger project with a singular coherence.
Design Futuring
Author: Anthony Hart Fry
Publisher: UNSW Press
ISBN: 9781921410840
Category : Design
Languages : en
Pages : 278
Book Description
Design Futuring argues that ethical, political, social and ecological concerns now require a new type of practice which recognises design's importance in overcoming a world made unsustainable. By using case studies in industrial design and architecture, Tony Fry exposes the limitations of existing 'sustainable design'.
Publisher: UNSW Press
ISBN: 9781921410840
Category : Design
Languages : en
Pages : 278
Book Description
Design Futuring argues that ethical, political, social and ecological concerns now require a new type of practice which recognises design's importance in overcoming a world made unsustainable. By using case studies in industrial design and architecture, Tony Fry exposes the limitations of existing 'sustainable design'.
Culture Jam
Author: Kalle Lasn
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0688178057
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
America is no longer a country but a multimillion-dollar brand, says Kalle Lasn and his fellow "culture jammers". The founder of Adbusters magazine, Lasn aims to stop the branding of America by changing the way information flows; the way institutions wield power; the way television stations are run; and the way the food, fashion, automobile, sports, music, and culture industries set agendas. With a courageous and compelling voice, Lasn deconstructs the advertising culture and our fixation on icons and brand names. And he shows how to organize resistance against the power trust that manages the brands by "uncooling" consumer items, by "dermarketing" fashions and celebrities, and by breaking the "media trance" of our TV-addicted age. A powerful manifesto by a leading media activist, Culture Jam lays the foundations for the most significant social movement of the early twenty-first century -- a movement that can change the world and the way we think and live.
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0688178057
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
America is no longer a country but a multimillion-dollar brand, says Kalle Lasn and his fellow "culture jammers". The founder of Adbusters magazine, Lasn aims to stop the branding of America by changing the way information flows; the way institutions wield power; the way television stations are run; and the way the food, fashion, automobile, sports, music, and culture industries set agendas. With a courageous and compelling voice, Lasn deconstructs the advertising culture and our fixation on icons and brand names. And he shows how to organize resistance against the power trust that manages the brands by "uncooling" consumer items, by "dermarketing" fashions and celebrities, and by breaking the "media trance" of our TV-addicted age. A powerful manifesto by a leading media activist, Culture Jam lays the foundations for the most significant social movement of the early twenty-first century -- a movement that can change the world and the way we think and live.
Toward Wisdom
Author: Copthorne Macdonald
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 059520256X
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 164
Book Description
Toward Wisdom addresses the nature of wisdom, humanity’s need for it, and ways and means of developing it. The situation the world faces today is extremely complex. Long-cherished values have begun to conflict with each other: material comfort vs. an uncontaminated world; economic growth now vs. economic well-being for our grandchildren. Toward Wisdom takes the position that the only way to make the world a better place is to make it a wiser place. Wisdom is no longer an option or a frill. We, and the world, need wisdom-based analyses of our problems followed by wisdom-based action. In the past, becoming wise was left to chance; a few people became wise before they died, but most did not. This lackadaisical approach will no longer do. Wisdom can be developed intentionally, and Toward Wisdom shows us how. The book examines some of the key impediments to wisdom — what they are, how they work, how they came to be — and introduces us to techniques for getting beyond them.
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 059520256X
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 164
Book Description
Toward Wisdom addresses the nature of wisdom, humanity’s need for it, and ways and means of developing it. The situation the world faces today is extremely complex. Long-cherished values have begun to conflict with each other: material comfort vs. an uncontaminated world; economic growth now vs. economic well-being for our grandchildren. Toward Wisdom takes the position that the only way to make the world a better place is to make it a wiser place. Wisdom is no longer an option or a frill. We, and the world, need wisdom-based analyses of our problems followed by wisdom-based action. In the past, becoming wise was left to chance; a few people became wise before they died, but most did not. This lackadaisical approach will no longer do. Wisdom can be developed intentionally, and Toward Wisdom shows us how. The book examines some of the key impediments to wisdom — what they are, how they work, how they came to be — and introduces us to techniques for getting beyond them.
Understanding Innovation Through Exaptation
Author: Caterina AM La Porta
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030457842
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 199
Book Description
This book explores the role of exaptation in diverse areas of life, with examples ranging from biology to economics, social sciences and architecture. The concept of exaptation, introduced in evolutionary biology by Gould and Vrba in 1982, describes the possibility that already existing traits can be exploited for new purposes throughout the evolutionary process. Edited by three active scholars in the fields of biology, physics and economics, the book presents an interdisciplinary collection of expert viewpoints illustrating the importance of exaptation for interpreting current reality in various fields of investigation. Using the lenses of exaptation, the contributing authors show how to view the overall macroscopic landscape as comprising many disciplines, all working in unity within a single complex system. This book is the first to discuss exaptation in both hard and soft disciplines and highlights the role of this concept in understanding the birth of innovation by identifying key elements and ideas. It also offers a comprehensive guide to the emerging interdisciplinary field of exaptation, provides didactic explanations of the basic concepts, and avoids excessive jargon and heavy formalism. Its target audience includes graduate students in physics, biology, mathematics, economics, psychology and architecture; it will also appeal to established researchers in the humanities who wish to explore or enter this new science-driven interdisciplinary field.
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030457842
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 199
Book Description
This book explores the role of exaptation in diverse areas of life, with examples ranging from biology to economics, social sciences and architecture. The concept of exaptation, introduced in evolutionary biology by Gould and Vrba in 1982, describes the possibility that already existing traits can be exploited for new purposes throughout the evolutionary process. Edited by three active scholars in the fields of biology, physics and economics, the book presents an interdisciplinary collection of expert viewpoints illustrating the importance of exaptation for interpreting current reality in various fields of investigation. Using the lenses of exaptation, the contributing authors show how to view the overall macroscopic landscape as comprising many disciplines, all working in unity within a single complex system. This book is the first to discuss exaptation in both hard and soft disciplines and highlights the role of this concept in understanding the birth of innovation by identifying key elements and ideas. It also offers a comprehensive guide to the emerging interdisciplinary field of exaptation, provides didactic explanations of the basic concepts, and avoids excessive jargon and heavy formalism. Its target audience includes graduate students in physics, biology, mathematics, economics, psychology and architecture; it will also appeal to established researchers in the humanities who wish to explore or enter this new science-driven interdisciplinary field.