Vitaly G. Gorokhov: Peter Klimentjevich Engelmeyer: Mechanical Engineer and Philosopher of Technology, 1855-1941 (1997) [Russian]

P. K. Engelmeyer was an engineer, philosopher of technology and creativity, encyclopedist, musician and painter. In his time, he belonged to the influential engineers, consultants, contractors and representatives in national and international technical organizations.

Inspired by the writings of a number of philosophers (Ernst Mach, Ernst Kapp, Alfred Espinas, Fred Bon), Engelmeyer set out to contribute to the emerging field of philosophy of technology. In 1898, he published the book Technical Summary of the 19th Century, in which he outlined main tasks and the program of the philosophy of technology.

He used the concept of “technology” [техника] in a broad sense to signify all the human knowledge and skills aimed at practical goals. In this sense, “technology” included: firstly, applied mechanics, physics, chemistry; secondly, the mechanical and chemical technology, metallurgy, architecture, art of engineering of buildings, shipbuilding, fortification; thirdly, all crafts; fourthly, agricultural technics; and finally, social and moral reasoning.

В книге описывается жизнь и деятельность выпускника Императорского Московского технического училища, инженера-механика и изобретателя, выдающегося философа техники, создателя теории технического творчества и автора первых русских работ по привилегированию изобретений Петра Климентьевича Энгельмейера. Годы жизни Энгельмейера пришлись на сложный период российской истории после отмены крепостного права и развития промышленной России вплоть до Великой Отечественной войны. Его судьба тесно связана с судьбой российского инженерного корпуса. В связи с этим в книге исследуется развитие профессиональной организации инженеров (прежде всего Московского политехнического общества, Императорского Русского технического общества, Всероссийской ассоциации инженеров) в России, их гуманитарной деятельности и связей с такими обществами в других странах (прежде всего с Союзом немецких инженеров), а также высшего технического образования. Исследуется возникновение философии техники как нового направления научно-философской и инженерной мысли в конце IX — начале XX в. Рассматриваются многочисленные труды П. К. Энгельмейера по философии техники, теории творчества, изобретательства, проектирования и др. Для читателей, интересующихся историей российского инженерного корпуса, философией техники и теорией творчества.

Русский инженер и философ техники Петр Климентьевич Энгельмейер (1855–1941)
Publisher Nauka, Moscow
223 pages

PDF (DJVU)
Engelmeyer at Monoskop wiki

Thomas Hermann, Andy Hunt, John G. Neuhoff (eds.): The Sonification Handbook (2011)

This book is a comprehensive introductory presentation of the key research areas in the interdisciplinary fields of sonification and auditory display. Chapters are written by leading experts, providing a wide-ranging coverage of the central issues, and can be read from start to finish, or dipped into as required (like a smorgasbord menu).

Sonification conveys information by using non-speech sounds. To listen to data as sound and noise can be a surprising new experience with diverse applications ranging from novel interfaces for visually impaired people to data analysis problems in many scientific fields.

This book gives a solid introduction to the field of auditory display, the techniques for sonification, suitable technologies for developing sonification algorithms, and the most promising application areas. The book is accompanied by an online repository of sound examples.

Publisher Logos Publishing House, Berlin, 2011
OpenAccess book
ISBN 9783832528195
586 pages
via xgz

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PDF (single PDF)
PDF (PDF articles, with audio samples)

Douglas Rushkoff: Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now (2013)

“‘If the end of the twentieth century can be characterized by futurism, the twenty-first can be defined by presentism.’

This is the moment we’ve been waiting for, explains award-winning media theorist Douglas Rushkoff, but we don’t seem to have any time in which to live it. Instead we remain poised and frozen, overwhelmed by an always-on, live-streamed re­ality that our human bodies and minds can never truly in­habit. And our failure to do so has had wide-ranging effects on every aspect of our lives.

People spent the twentieth century obsessed with the future. We created technologies that would help connect us faster, gather news, map the planet, compile knowledge, and con­nect with anyone, at anytime. We strove for an instanta­neous network where time and space could be compressed.

Well, the future’s arrived. We live in a continuous now en­abled by Twitter, email, and a so-called real-time technologi­cal shift. Yet this “now” is an elusive goal that we can never quite reach. And the dissonance between our digital selves and our analog bodies has thrown us into a new state of anxiety: present shock.

Rushkoff weaves together seemingly disparate events and trends into a rich, nuanced portrait of how life in the eter­nal present has affected our biology, behavior, politics, and culture. He explains how the rise of zombie apocalypse fic­tion signals our intense desire for an ending; how the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street form two sides of the same post-narrative coin; how corporate investing in the future has been replaced by futile efforts to game the stock market in real time; why social networks make people anxious and email can feel like an assault. He examines how the tragedy of 9/11 disconnected an entire generation from a sense of history, and delves into why conspiracy theories actually comfort us.

As both individuals and communities, we have a choice. We can struggle through the onslaught of information and play an eternal game of catch-up. Or we can choose to live in the present: favor eye contact over texting; quality over speed; and human quirks over digital perfection. Rushkoff offers hope for anyone seeking to transcend the false now.

Absorbing and thought-provoking, Present Shock is a wide-ranging, deeply thought meditation on what it means to be human in real time.”

Publisher Current, a member of Penguin Group, NY, 2013
ISBN 1101608242, 9781101608241
256 pages

review (Janet Maslin, The New York Times)
review (Paul Miller, The Verge)
review (Anthony Wing Kosner, Forbes)

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