Andrew Feenberg: Between Reason and Experience: Essays in Technology and Modernity (2010)
Filed under book | Tags: · critical theory, critique of technology, dystopia, environment, history of technology, internet, modernity, philosophy of technology, technology
“The technologies, markets, and administrations of today’s knowledge society are in crisis. We face recurring disasters in every domain: climate change, energy shortages, economic meltdown. The system is broken, despite everything the technocrats claim to know about science, technology, and economics. These problems are exacerbated by the fact that today powerful technologies have unforeseen effects that disrupt everyday life; the new masters of technology are not restrained by the lessons of experience, and accelerate change to the point where society is in constant turmoil. In Between Reason and Experience, leading philosopher of technology Andrew Feenberg makes a case for the interdependence of reason—scientific knowledge, technical rationality—and experience.
Feenberg examines different aspects of the tangled relationship between technology and society from the perspective of critical theory of technology, an approach he has pioneered over the past twenty years. Feenberg points to two examples of democratic interventions into technology: the Internet (in which user initiative has influenced design) and the environmental movement (in which science coordinates with protest and policy). He examines methodological applications of critical theory of technology to the case of the French Minitel computing network and to the relationship between national culture and technology in Japan. Finally, Feenberg considers the philosophies of technology of Heidegger, Habermas, Latour, and Marcuse. The gradual extension of democracy into the technical sphere, Feenberg argues, is one of the great political transformations of our time.”
Foreword by Brian Wynne
Afterword by Michel Callon
Publisher MIT Press, 2010
Inside Technology series
ISBN 0262514257, 9780262514255
248 pages
PDF, PDF (updated on 2015-12-22)
Comments (2)Katie Hafner, Matthew Lyon: Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet (1996/1998)
Filed under book | Tags: · 1960s, computing, history of communications, history of computing, history of technology, internet, technology
In the 1960s, when computers were regarded as giant calculators, J.C.R. Licklider at MIT saw them as the ultimate communication device. With Defence Department funds, he and a band of computer whizzes began work on a nationwide network of computers. This is an account of their daring adventure.
Published by Simon & Schuster
A Touchstone Book
ISBN 0684872161
PDF (updated on 2012-7-17)
Comment (0)Tim Berners-Lee, Mark Fischetti: Weaving the Web. The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web (1999)
Filed under book | Tags: · history of technology, internet, technology, web
Berners-Lee reveals the Web’s origins and the creation of the now ubiquitous http and www acronyms and shares his views on such critical issues as censorship, privacy, the increasing power of software companies, and the need to find the ideal balance between commercial and social forces. He offers insights into the nature of the Web, showing readers how to use it to its fullest advantage. And he presents his own plan for the Web’s future, calling for the active support and participation of programmers, computer manufacturers, and social organizations to manage and maintain this valuable resource so that it can remain a powerful force for social change and an outlet for individual creativity.
Foreword by Michael Dertouzos
Publisher HarperSanFrancisco, 1999
ISBN 0062515861, 9780062515865
226 pages
Download (removed on 2013-1-15 upon request of the publisher)
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