UID:
almahu_9949481300502882
Format:
1 online resource (216 p.) :
,
6 b/w illus.
ISBN:
9780691229683
,
9783110993899
Content:
An original deep history of the internet that tells the story of the centuries-old utopian dreams behind it-and explains why they have died todayMany think of the internet as an unprecedented and overwhelmingly positive achievement of modern human technology. But is it? In The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is, Justin Smith offers an original deep history of the internet, from the ancient to the modern world-uncovering its surprising origins in nature and centuries-old dreams of radically improving human life by outsourcing thinking to machines and communicating across vast distances. Yet, despite the internet's continuing potential, Smith argues, the utopian hopes behind it have finally died today, killed by the harsh realities of social media, the global information economy, and the attention-destroying nature of networked technology.Ranging over centuries of the history and philosophy of science and technology, Smith shows how the "internet" has been with us much longer than we usually think. He draws fascinating connections between internet user experience, artificial intelligence, the invention of the printing press, communication between trees, and the origins of computing in the machine-driven looms of the silk industry. At the same time, he reveals how the internet's organic structure and development root it in the natural world in unexpected ways that challenge efforts to draw an easy line between technology and nature.Combining the sweep of intellectual history with the incisiveness of philosophy, The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is cuts through our daily digital lives to give a clear-sighted picture of what the internet is, where it came from, and where it might be taking us in the coming decades.
Note:
Frontmatter --
,
Contents --
,
Acknowledgments --
,
Introduction. "Let us calculate!" --
,
1. A Sudden Acceleration --
,
2. The Ecology of the Internet --
,
3. The Reckoning Engine and the Thinking Machine --
,
4. "How closely woven the web": The Internet --
,
5. A Window on the World --
,
Notes --
,
General Bibliography --
,
Index
,
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
,
In English.
In:
EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2022 English, De Gruyter, 9783110993899
In:
EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2022, De Gruyter, 9783110994810
In:
EBOOK PACKAGE Philosophy 2022 English, De Gruyter, 9783110992762
In:
EBOOK PACKAGE Philosophy 2022, De Gruyter, 9783110992755
In:
Princeton University Press Complete eBook-Package 2022, De Gruyter, 9783110749731
Additional Edition:
ISBN 9780691212326
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1515/9780691229683
URL:
https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691229683?locatt=mode:legacy
URL:
https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9780691229683
URL:
Volltext
(URL des Erstveröffentlichers)
