Author: Paul N. Edwards
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262550284
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 468
Book Description
The Closed World offers a radically new alternative to the canonical histories of computers and cognitive science. Arguing that we can make sense of computers as tools only when we simultaneously grasp their roles as metaphors and political icons, Paul Edwards shows how Cold War social and cultural contexts shaped emerging computer technology--and were transformed, in turn, by information machines. The Closed World explores three apparently disparate histories--the history of American global power, the history of computing machines, and the history of subjectivity in science and culture--through the lens of the American political imagination. In the process, it reveals intimate links between the military projects of the Cold War, the evolution of digital computers, and the origins of cybernetics, cognitive psychology, and artificial intelligence. Edwards begins by describing the emergence of a "closed-world discourse" of global surveillance and control through high-technology military power. The Cold War political goal of "containment" led to the SAGE continental air defense system, Rand Corporation studies of nuclear strategy, and the advanced technologies of the Vietnam War. These and other centralized, computerized military command and control projects--for containing world-scale conflicts--helped closed-world discourse dominate Cold War political decisions. Their apotheosis was the Reagan-era plan for a " Star Wars" space-based ballistic missile defense. Edwards then shows how these military projects helped computers become axial metaphors in psychological theory. Analyzing the Macy Conferences on cybernetics, the Harvard Psycho-Acoustic Laboratory, and the early history of artificial intelligence, he describes the formation of a "cyborg discourse." By constructing both human minds and artificial intelligences as information machines, cyborg discourse assisted in integrating people into the hyper-complex technological systems of the closed world. Finally, Edwards explores the cyborg as political identity in science fiction--from the disembodied, panoptic AI of 2001: A Space Odyssey, to the mechanical robots of Star Wars and the engineered biological androids of Blade Runner--where Information Age culture and subjectivity were both reflected and constructed. Inside Technology series
The Closed World
Author: Paul N. Edwards
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262550284
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 468
Book Description
The Closed World offers a radically new alternative to the canonical histories of computers and cognitive science. Arguing that we can make sense of computers as tools only when we simultaneously grasp their roles as metaphors and political icons, Paul Edwards shows how Cold War social and cultural contexts shaped emerging computer technology--and were transformed, in turn, by information machines. The Closed World explores three apparently disparate histories--the history of American global power, the history of computing machines, and the history of subjectivity in science and culture--through the lens of the American political imagination. In the process, it reveals intimate links between the military projects of the Cold War, the evolution of digital computers, and the origins of cybernetics, cognitive psychology, and artificial intelligence. Edwards begins by describing the emergence of a "closed-world discourse" of global surveillance and control through high-technology military power. The Cold War political goal of "containment" led to the SAGE continental air defense system, Rand Corporation studies of nuclear strategy, and the advanced technologies of the Vietnam War. These and other centralized, computerized military command and control projects--for containing world-scale conflicts--helped closed-world discourse dominate Cold War political decisions. Their apotheosis was the Reagan-era plan for a " Star Wars" space-based ballistic missile defense. Edwards then shows how these military projects helped computers become axial metaphors in psychological theory. Analyzing the Macy Conferences on cybernetics, the Harvard Psycho-Acoustic Laboratory, and the early history of artificial intelligence, he describes the formation of a "cyborg discourse." By constructing both human minds and artificial intelligences as information machines, cyborg discourse assisted in integrating people into the hyper-complex technological systems of the closed world. Finally, Edwards explores the cyborg as political identity in science fiction--from the disembodied, panoptic AI of 2001: A Space Odyssey, to the mechanical robots of Star Wars and the engineered biological androids of Blade Runner--where Information Age culture and subjectivity were both reflected and constructed. Inside Technology series
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262550284
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 468
Book Description
The Closed World offers a radically new alternative to the canonical histories of computers and cognitive science. Arguing that we can make sense of computers as tools only when we simultaneously grasp their roles as metaphors and political icons, Paul Edwards shows how Cold War social and cultural contexts shaped emerging computer technology--and were transformed, in turn, by information machines. The Closed World explores three apparently disparate histories--the history of American global power, the history of computing machines, and the history of subjectivity in science and culture--through the lens of the American political imagination. In the process, it reveals intimate links between the military projects of the Cold War, the evolution of digital computers, and the origins of cybernetics, cognitive psychology, and artificial intelligence. Edwards begins by describing the emergence of a "closed-world discourse" of global surveillance and control through high-technology military power. The Cold War political goal of "containment" led to the SAGE continental air defense system, Rand Corporation studies of nuclear strategy, and the advanced technologies of the Vietnam War. These and other centralized, computerized military command and control projects--for containing world-scale conflicts--helped closed-world discourse dominate Cold War political decisions. Their apotheosis was the Reagan-era plan for a " Star Wars" space-based ballistic missile defense. Edwards then shows how these military projects helped computers become axial metaphors in psychological theory. Analyzing the Macy Conferences on cybernetics, the Harvard Psycho-Acoustic Laboratory, and the early history of artificial intelligence, he describes the formation of a "cyborg discourse." By constructing both human minds and artificial intelligences as information machines, cyborg discourse assisted in integrating people into the hyper-complex technological systems of the closed world. Finally, Edwards explores the cyborg as political identity in science fiction--from the disembodied, panoptic AI of 2001: A Space Odyssey, to the mechanical robots of Star Wars and the engineered biological androids of Blade Runner--where Information Age culture and subjectivity were both reflected and constructed. Inside Technology series
Reasoning with the Infinite
Author: Michel Blay
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226058351
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 230
Book Description
Until the Scientific Revolution, the nature and motions of heavenly objects were mysterious and unpredictable. The Scientific Revolution was revolutionary in part because it saw the advent of many mathematical tools—chief among them the calculus—that natural philosophers could use to explain and predict these cosmic motions. Michel Blay traces the origins of this mathematization of the world, from Galileo to Newton and Laplace, and considers the profound philosophical consequences of submitting the infinite to rational analysis. "One of Michael Blay's many fine achievements in Reasoning with the Infinite is to make us realize how velocity, and later instantaneous velocity, came to play a vital part in the development of a rigorous mathematical science of motion."—Margaret Wertheim, New Scientist
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226058351
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 230
Book Description
Until the Scientific Revolution, the nature and motions of heavenly objects were mysterious and unpredictable. The Scientific Revolution was revolutionary in part because it saw the advent of many mathematical tools—chief among them the calculus—that natural philosophers could use to explain and predict these cosmic motions. Michel Blay traces the origins of this mathematization of the world, from Galileo to Newton and Laplace, and considers the profound philosophical consequences of submitting the infinite to rational analysis. "One of Michael Blay's many fine achievements in Reasoning with the Infinite is to make us realize how velocity, and later instantaneous velocity, came to play a vital part in the development of a rigorous mathematical science of motion."—Margaret Wertheim, New Scientist
The Architecture of Closed Worlds
Author: Lydia Kallipoliti
Publisher: Lars Muller Publishers/Storefront for Art and Architecture
ISBN: 9783037785805
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 352
Book Description
What do outer space capsules, submarines, and office buildings have in common? Each is conceived as a closed system: a self-sustaining physical environment demarcated from its surroundings by a boundary that does not allow for the transfer of matter or energy. Contemporary discussions about global warming, recycling, and sustainability have emerged as direct conceptual constructs related to the study and analysis of closed systems. From the space program to countercultural architectural groups experimenting with autonomous living, this publication documents a disciplinary transformation and the rise of a new environmental consensus in the form of a synthetic naturalism. It presents an archive of 39 historical living prototypes from 1928 to the present that put forth an unexplored genealogy of closed resource regeneration systems. Prototypes are presented through unique discursive narratives with historical images, and each includes new analysis in the form of a feedback drawing that problematizes the language of environmental representation by illustrating loss, derailment, and the production of new substances and atmospheres.
Publisher: Lars Muller Publishers/Storefront for Art and Architecture
ISBN: 9783037785805
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 352
Book Description
What do outer space capsules, submarines, and office buildings have in common? Each is conceived as a closed system: a self-sustaining physical environment demarcated from its surroundings by a boundary that does not allow for the transfer of matter or energy. Contemporary discussions about global warming, recycling, and sustainability have emerged as direct conceptual constructs related to the study and analysis of closed systems. From the space program to countercultural architectural groups experimenting with autonomous living, this publication documents a disciplinary transformation and the rise of a new environmental consensus in the form of a synthetic naturalism. It presents an archive of 39 historical living prototypes from 1928 to the present that put forth an unexplored genealogy of closed resource regeneration systems. Prototypes are presented through unique discursive narratives with historical images, and each includes new analysis in the form of a feedback drawing that problematizes the language of environmental representation by illustrating loss, derailment, and the production of new substances and atmospheres.
From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe
Author: Alexandre Koyré
Publisher: BEYOND BOOKS HUB
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 616
Book Description
From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe by Alexandre Koyré is a profound exploration of the transition in scientific thought from the Middle Ages to the modern era. The book offers a detailed analysis of the philosophical and intellectual shifts that led to the conception of an infinite universe.
Publisher: BEYOND BOOKS HUB
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 616
Book Description
From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe by Alexandre Koyré is a profound exploration of the transition in scientific thought from the Middle Ages to the modern era. The book offers a detailed analysis of the philosophical and intellectual shifts that led to the conception of an infinite universe.
From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe
Author: Alexandre Koyré
Publisher: Library of Alexandria
ISBN: 146557851X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 407
Book Description
Publisher: Library of Alexandria
ISBN: 146557851X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 407
Book Description
Closed World Assumption
Author: Fouad Sabry
Publisher: One Billion Knowledgeable
ISBN:
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 171
Book Description
What Is Closed World Assumption In a formal system of logic that is used for the representation of knowledge, the closed-world assumption (often abbreviated as CWA) is the supposition that a statement that is true is also known to be true. Therefore, the inverse of this is true, which is that which cannot currently be verified as being accurate. Raymond Reiter is the author of a logical formalization of this assumption that bears the same name as this assumption. The open-world assumption (OWA), which holds that a lack of knowledge does not automatically entail that something is untrue, is the hypothesis that directly contradicts the closed-world hypothesis. The interpretation of the real semantics of a conceptual statement with the same notations of ideas is determined by the decisions made regarding CWA versus OWA. In most cases, a good formalization of natural language semantics is going to need an explicit revelation of whether the implicit logical underpinnings are based on CWA or OWA. This is because CWA and OWA are two distinct schools of logical thought. How You Will Benefit (I) Insights, and validations about the following topics: Chapter 1: Closed-world assumption Chapter 2: Frame problem Chapter 3: Propositional calculus Chapter 4: Inductive logic programming Chapter 5: Contradiction Chapter 6: Intuitionistic logic Chapter 7: Paraconsistent logic Chapter 8: Default logic Chapter 9: Method of analytic tableaux Chapter 10: Belief revision (II) Answering the public top questions about closed world assumption. (III) Real world examples for the usage of closed world assumption in many fields. (IV) 17 appendices to explain, briefly, 266 emerging technologies in each industry to have 360-degree full understanding of closed world assumption' technologies. Who This Book Is For Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of closed world assumption.
Publisher: One Billion Knowledgeable
ISBN:
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 171
Book Description
What Is Closed World Assumption In a formal system of logic that is used for the representation of knowledge, the closed-world assumption (often abbreviated as CWA) is the supposition that a statement that is true is also known to be true. Therefore, the inverse of this is true, which is that which cannot currently be verified as being accurate. Raymond Reiter is the author of a logical formalization of this assumption that bears the same name as this assumption. The open-world assumption (OWA), which holds that a lack of knowledge does not automatically entail that something is untrue, is the hypothesis that directly contradicts the closed-world hypothesis. The interpretation of the real semantics of a conceptual statement with the same notations of ideas is determined by the decisions made regarding CWA versus OWA. In most cases, a good formalization of natural language semantics is going to need an explicit revelation of whether the implicit logical underpinnings are based on CWA or OWA. This is because CWA and OWA are two distinct schools of logical thought. How You Will Benefit (I) Insights, and validations about the following topics: Chapter 1: Closed-world assumption Chapter 2: Frame problem Chapter 3: Propositional calculus Chapter 4: Inductive logic programming Chapter 5: Contradiction Chapter 6: Intuitionistic logic Chapter 7: Paraconsistent logic Chapter 8: Default logic Chapter 9: Method of analytic tableaux Chapter 10: Belief revision (II) Answering the public top questions about closed world assumption. (III) Real world examples for the usage of closed world assumption in many fields. (IV) 17 appendices to explain, briefly, 266 emerging technologies in each industry to have 360-degree full understanding of closed world assumption' technologies. Who This Book Is For Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of closed world assumption.
Playing Software
Author: Miguel Sicart
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262047721
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 205
Book Description
The play element at the heart of our interactions with computers—and how it drives the best and the worst manifestations of the information age. Whether we interact with video games or spreadsheets or social media, playing with software shapes every facet of our lives. In Playing Software, Miguel Sicart delves into why we play with computers, how that play shapes culture and society, and the threat posed by malefactors using play to weaponize everything from conspiracy theories to extractive capitalism. Starting from the controversial idea that software is an essential agent in the information age, Sicart considers our culture in general—and our way of thinking about and creating digital technology in particular—as a consequence of interacting with software’s agency through play. As Sicart shows, playing shapes software agency. In turn, software shapes our agency as we adapt and relate to it through play. That play drives the creation of new cultural, social, and political forms. Sicart also reveals the role of make-believe in driving our playful engagement with the digital sphere. From there, he discusses the cybernetic theory of digital play and what we can learn from combining it with the idea that playfulness can mean pleasurable interaction with human and nonhuman agents inside the boundaries of a computational system. Finally, he critiques the instrumentalization of play as a tool wielded by platform capitalism.
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262047721
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 205
Book Description
The play element at the heart of our interactions with computers—and how it drives the best and the worst manifestations of the information age. Whether we interact with video games or spreadsheets or social media, playing with software shapes every facet of our lives. In Playing Software, Miguel Sicart delves into why we play with computers, how that play shapes culture and society, and the threat posed by malefactors using play to weaponize everything from conspiracy theories to extractive capitalism. Starting from the controversial idea that software is an essential agent in the information age, Sicart considers our culture in general—and our way of thinking about and creating digital technology in particular—as a consequence of interacting with software’s agency through play. As Sicart shows, playing shapes software agency. In turn, software shapes our agency as we adapt and relate to it through play. That play drives the creation of new cultural, social, and political forms. Sicart also reveals the role of make-believe in driving our playful engagement with the digital sphere. From there, he discusses the cybernetic theory of digital play and what we can learn from combining it with the idea that playfulness can mean pleasurable interaction with human and nonhuman agents inside the boundaries of a computational system. Finally, he critiques the instrumentalization of play as a tool wielded by platform capitalism.
The Meaning of Technology. Selected Readings from American Sources
Author: Montserrat Ginés Gibert
Publisher: Univ. Politèc. de Catalunya
ISBN: 8483017334
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 198
Book Description
The significance of "technology" has been subject of continuous discussion. This selection of readings, ranging from primary sources to scholarly and critical works and literary renderings, is intended to furnish elements for that discussion. The history of the United States began with the advent of the industrial revolution, which, in turn, became an integral part of American national and cultural identity. Accordingly, that country provides an appropriate setting in which to examine the debate on technology. The reader is asked to relate the selected views herein included to his or her own notion of technology and progress as they both relate to the also controversial terms of culture, ideology, nature and gender
Publisher: Univ. Politèc. de Catalunya
ISBN: 8483017334
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 198
Book Description
The significance of "technology" has been subject of continuous discussion. This selection of readings, ranging from primary sources to scholarly and critical works and literary renderings, is intended to furnish elements for that discussion. The history of the United States began with the advent of the industrial revolution, which, in turn, became an integral part of American national and cultural identity. Accordingly, that country provides an appropriate setting in which to examine the debate on technology. The reader is asked to relate the selected views herein included to his or her own notion of technology and progress as they both relate to the also controversial terms of culture, ideology, nature and gender
The Modern Stage and Other Worlds (Routledge Revivals)
Author: Austin E. Quigley
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131761965X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 339
Book Description
Modern plays are strikingly diverse and, as a result, any attempt to locate an underlying unity between them encounters difficulties: to focus on what they have in common is often to overlook what is of primary importance in particular plays; to focus on their differences is to note the novelty of the plays without increasing their accessibility. In this study, first published in 1985, Austin E. Quigley takes as his paradigm case the relationship between the world of the stage and the world of the audience, and explores various modes of communication between domains. He asks how changes in the structure of the drama relate to changes in the structure of the theatre, and changes in the role of the audience. Detailed interpretations of plays by Pinero, Ibsen, Strindberg, Brecht, Ionesco, Beckett and Pinter question principles about the modern theatre and establish links between drama structure and theatre structure, theme, and performance space.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131761965X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 339
Book Description
Modern plays are strikingly diverse and, as a result, any attempt to locate an underlying unity between them encounters difficulties: to focus on what they have in common is often to overlook what is of primary importance in particular plays; to focus on their differences is to note the novelty of the plays without increasing their accessibility. In this study, first published in 1985, Austin E. Quigley takes as his paradigm case the relationship between the world of the stage and the world of the audience, and explores various modes of communication between domains. He asks how changes in the structure of the drama relate to changes in the structure of the theatre, and changes in the role of the audience. Detailed interpretations of plays by Pinero, Ibsen, Strindberg, Brecht, Ionesco, Beckett and Pinter question principles about the modern theatre and establish links between drama structure and theatre structure, theme, and performance space.
Semantic Matchmaking with Nonmonotonic Description Logics
Author: S. Grimm
Publisher: IOS Press
ISBN: 1614993351
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 278
Book Description
Semantic web has grown into a mature field of research. Its methods find innovative applications on and off the World Wide Web. Its underlying technologies have significant impact on adjacent fields of research and on industrial applications. This new book series reports on the state-of-the-art in foundations, methods, and applications of semantic web and its underlying technologies. It is a central forum for the communication of recent developments and comprises research monographs, textbooks and edited volumes on all topics related to the semantic web. In this first volume several non-monotonic extensions to description logics (DLs) are investigated, namely auto-epistemic DLs, circumscriptive DLs and terminological default rules, all of which extend standard DL inference mechanisms by forms of closed-world and default reasoning associated to common-sense features. A matchmaking framework is established for semantic resource descriptions formulated in the DL formalism that uses various DL inferences to judge resource compatibility. Special emphasis lies on mapping the technical formalities of model-theoretic semantics of DLs to more intuitive notions that abstract from the details of logic for the framework’s easier adoption in applications. The particular contributions of Semantic Matchmaking with Nonmonotonic Description Logics span the fields of non-monotonic reasoning with description logics in artificial intelligence, matchmaking of ontology-based descriptions and semantic web service discovery. A novel tableaux calculus for reasoning in circumscriptive DLs is introduced and it is demonstrated how the various nonmonotonic extensions to description logics can be used to realize common-sense features and local closed-world reasoning in a semantic web setting in general.
Publisher: IOS Press
ISBN: 1614993351
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 278
Book Description
Semantic web has grown into a mature field of research. Its methods find innovative applications on and off the World Wide Web. Its underlying technologies have significant impact on adjacent fields of research and on industrial applications. This new book series reports on the state-of-the-art in foundations, methods, and applications of semantic web and its underlying technologies. It is a central forum for the communication of recent developments and comprises research monographs, textbooks and edited volumes on all topics related to the semantic web. In this first volume several non-monotonic extensions to description logics (DLs) are investigated, namely auto-epistemic DLs, circumscriptive DLs and terminological default rules, all of which extend standard DL inference mechanisms by forms of closed-world and default reasoning associated to common-sense features. A matchmaking framework is established for semantic resource descriptions formulated in the DL formalism that uses various DL inferences to judge resource compatibility. Special emphasis lies on mapping the technical formalities of model-theoretic semantics of DLs to more intuitive notions that abstract from the details of logic for the framework’s easier adoption in applications. The particular contributions of Semantic Matchmaking with Nonmonotonic Description Logics span the fields of non-monotonic reasoning with description logics in artificial intelligence, matchmaking of ontology-based descriptions and semantic web service discovery. A novel tableaux calculus for reasoning in circumscriptive DLs is introduced and it is demonstrated how the various nonmonotonic extensions to description logics can be used to realize common-sense features and local closed-world reasoning in a semantic web setting in general.