Technology Archives - Page 3 of 9

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More Productive, Greener, More Peaceful?

The false promises of digital capitalism

November 11, 2019 • by Birgit Mahnkopf

First, for some time, there has been talk of a fourth wave of industrial revolution, which will fundamentally change the global production system. In the Anglo-Saxon context, this wave is referred to as the "Internet of Things" (IOT), while in this country the term "Industry 4.0" has prevailed. Both terms describe the ...

From the Editors

The View from Europe

And it ain’t good

November 5, 2019 • by Claire Potter

It’s refreshing to spend time in a place where everyone isn’t obsessed with the Occupant of the White House, but it’s also now strange to be in Berlin, a place where the United States was once so relevant -- and is now so irrelevant. A colleague from Croatia told me kindly that America ...

Feature

Death by Omission

Power and Politics in the Amazon

September 25, 2019 • by Chris Crews

Celebrity Distractions Shellenberger begins by attacking public celebrities who shared photos that were either not from the Amazon or actually dated back to years earlier: “Celebrities, environmentalists, and political leaders blame Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, for destroying the world’s largest rainforest, the Amazon, which they say is the “lungs of the world.” Singers and ...

Feature

FBI on College Campuses, John Bolton, and Technology and Women’s Voices

Past Present Episode 196

September 17, 2019 • by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Nicole Hemmer and Neil J. Young

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: The FBI has urged U.S. universities to monitor certain students and scholars visiting from China. Natalia referred to this history of spying on campus from the Harvard Crimson.National security adviser John Bolton is the latest Trump appointee to have left the administration. Neil referred to this New Yorker profile of Mike ...

Democracy

Lies, Fakes, and Deep Fakes

Deceptions and Scams in the Age of Trump

September 11, 2019 • by Sidney Tarrow

Following the speech three things happened: first, a video was almost immediately made and posted online; a video in which Pelosi’s delivery was slowed down and her tone changed to give the impression that she was either drunk or affected by a health disorder. Second, the next day President Trump tweeted a ...

Art & Design

Silenus’ Cup, Drained by AI

A Review of The Dead Walk into a Bar

August 30, 2019 • by Kanad Chakrabarti

Set within an ‘orbital facility’ in an un-specified future, the film opens inside a cavernous hall. The scene carries a strange echo for visitors to Steyerl’s show: a musty provincial gallery, sepulchrally lit, clad in dark wood -- that is, much like the Armory, where the entire work was filmed. ...

Holy Science: The Biopolitics of Hindu Nationalism

An interview with Banu Subramaniam

July 26, 2019 • by Banu Subramaniam

Her critique is genealogical in nature. It consists in an attempt to show how modern Hindu nationalism is being constructed through a tactic she calls “archaic modernity” -- a phrase coined to capture the way that the ancient religious civilization of India is being read as prefiguring modern scientific techniques ...

Reviews

Why Intellectual Property Rights Matter

A review of Roberto Unger’s ‘The Knowledge Economy’

July 11, 2019 • by Ella Coon

The structure of The Knowledge Economy roughly mirrors this dual ambition. The 287-page work of pure theory is organized into digestible, cumulative micro-chapters. The first seven theorize the structure of the knowledge economy. Chapters eight and nine turn to the issues of inequality and precarity. The following eight chapters look at ...

Feature

Uneven Distribution: An Interview with Ned Rossiter

On logistics and mediated environments

May 31, 2019 • by Ned Rossiter and Kenneth Tay

This conversation with Ned Rossiter marks the second in a series of dialogues on the subject of logistics. In its simplest definition, we might say that logistics is the management of the flows and circulation of goods, ideas, and peoples -- with a typical emphasis placed on efficiency and optimization. ...

Uneven Distribution: An Interview with Ned Rossiter

Feature

A Complex Balance

The Boeing 737 MAX Crashes

May 3, 2019 • by Richard McGahey

The recent tragic crashes of Boeing 737 MAX airliners have raised concerns that commercial aircraft are too complicated to operate due to the increasingly complex technologies involved. Notably, Donald Trump tweeted “Airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly. Pilots are no longer needed, but rather computer scientists from MIT.” Others disagree, saying technology ...

Feature

Asymmetric Legality

The Invisibility of High-Tech Violence in Afghanistan

May 2, 2019 • by Christiane Wilke

The decision by the International Criminal Court’s pre-trial chamber to not authorize a full investigation into the “situation” in Afghanistan has served as a reminder that international criminal justice is political: it depends on political support and it shapes political debates about armed conflict, violence, and justice. Yet a closer ...