The Seeds of Blockchain Technology Are Found in Ancient Norse Mythology
Did ancient Norse mythology anticipate the future rise of blockchain? Maybe not literally but figuratively, it’s interesting to consider.
technology
Right/Wrong: How Technology Transforms Our Ethics (excerpt)
So you think you know the difference between right and wrong? Sure about that? Juan Enriquez's Right/Wrong, excerpted here courtesy of MIT Press, might shake you loose from your convictions.
Cyber Republic: Reinventing Democracy in the Age of Intelligent Machines (excerpt)
Are you ready for the Fourth Industrial Revolution? Can you imagine, for example, a hospital completely made of software? These and other forthcoming changes to the workplace and the global economy are explored in this excerpt of George Zarkadakis' Cyber Republic, courtesy of MIT Press.
Automation and the Future of Work (excerpt)
In Automation and the Future of Work, Aaron Benanav uncovers the structural economic trends that will shape our working lives far into the future. In this excerpt, courtesy of Verso Books, he considers what's on our minds these days, "What if everyone suddenly had access to enough healthcare, education, and welfare to reach their full potential?"
For Don DeLillo, ‘The Silence’ Is Deafening
In Don DeLillo’s The Silence, it is much like our post-pandemic life – everything changed but nothing happened. Are we listening?
The Singularity of Žižek
According to Slavoj Žižek's latest work, Hegel in a Wired Brain, a new kind of Fall from the Fall is necessary.
‘How to Handle a Crowd’ Goes to the Moderators
Anika Gupta's How to Handle a Crowd casts a long-overdue spotlight on the work that goes into making online communities enjoyable and rewarding.
Home Computers: 100 Icons that Defined a Digital Generation (excerpt)
Whether you remember waiting for dial-up access, tiny screens, and green lines of text or not, you'll get a kick out of Alex Wiltshire's travel back in time to when computers came with wires. Enjoy this excerpt of Home Computers, courtesy of MIT press, with nostalgia photography by John Short.
From the Enterprise to the Discovery: The Decline and Fall of Utopian Technology and the Liberal Dream
Sci-fi TV such as Star Trek and Doctor Who have more in common with Harry Potter’s wand-waving than Gene Roddenberry’s techno-utopian dream.
‘Memento’ Is the Movie of the Attention Economy
We are afraid of time, and so like Leonard in Memento, we kill it, compulsively and indiscriminately.
Be Kind. Please Rewind: An Ode to the VCR
Like Netflix, the VCR diluted and transformed the film itself.
Does Social Media Mark the End of the End of Childhood?
Culture and media critic Kate Eichhorn's The End of Forgetting explores how relentlessly documenting young lives allows little room for the unfettered joys of imaginative freedom and perpetuates a seemingly endless state of childhood.
