Johan Eddebo Background: the epistemology of modern mass media I often come back to Neil Postman’s 1985 classic Amusing Ourselves to Death. It’s a penetrating analysis on the cognitive effects of media technology. His focus is mainly on how the format and mode of communication influences the character of content and how that content then trains us, …
Ramiro Romani of TakeBackOurTech.org and AbovePhone.com joins James Corbett on the latest edition of SolutionsWatch to discuss technology: what it is, how it works, and how we can make it work for us. They discuss how governments and big tech corporations are collaborating to undermine our rights to privacy, free expression and even freedom of …
Karen Hunt In the opening scene of the original Blade Runner film, Leon, a Nexus-6 replicant is given a “Voight-Kampff Test” to determine whether or not he is human. The test is designed to provoke an emotional response. Emotions are read by scanning the iris, the colored part of your eye. The color of your …
Karen Hunt “Forget the fountain of youth, pal of mine. You can live to be a thousand, and it won’t matter. Mediocrities like you deserve immortality.” Gary Shteyngart, Super Sad True Love Story In Leo Tolstoy’s A Confession and Other Religious Writings, he retells an Eastern fable about a traveler who is ‘taken unawares on the …
Edward Curtin I think it is generally accepted that the practice of medicine has changed radically over the past fifty or so years. The medicalization and corporatization of life have “progressed” simultaneously as most doctors have become obedient servants of the corporate state. But wait, one may object, and with some justification. The development of …
TE Creus I’ve noticed that self-checkout is taking over more and more shops and supermarkets. They have existed for a while, of course, but more as an alternative to reduce lines, but now many shops have exclusively self-checkout machines. Yet, self-checkout appears not to be very effective or convenient, neither for shops nor for customers. …
Todd Hayen I must be missing a chip in my brain or something. Why have I never been blown away by the advances in technology that attempt to replace humans? I mean, I am fascinated by the next great robot vacuum cleaner, or a car that will pick you up after you’ve had your fine …
Todd Hayen When I was a young lad of 11, I was fascinated with computers, or what little there was of them at the time. It was about 1966, and I checked out a book from the school library on the short but exciting history of the machines. I pored over every page of it. …
VN Alexander I’ve never wanted to be able to control any of my devices with my thoughts. I am perfectly happy to use a physical interface that I can turn off, let go of, or walk away from. What about you? Is your keyboard holding you back? Is your mouse slowing you down? Do you …
Dustin Broadbery Part 1: Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth As the digital revolution was underway in the mid-nineties, research departments at the CIA and NSA were developing programs to predict the usefulness of the world wide web as a tool for capturing what they dubbed “birds of a feather” formations. That’s when flocks …
