The concept of the “singularity” refers to the moment when technological evolution will result in producing an artificial super-intelligence, which will bring about unimaginable changes in human civilization. Some futurologists, …
how they imagined – and designed – the internet during the cold war era
The most widespread version of the story about the origins of the internet refers to Arpanet: in order to ensure the operation of the communications network even in the event …
for the (completely anarchic) structure of the internet
«The issue is not that laws do not have power, but that the nation-state does not have power. It is not possible to regulate the internet.» Date: mid-1990s, when the …
Fake AI
Artificial intelligence is supposedly making leaps and is expected to be one of the key technological directions of the fourth industrial revolution. It is also assumed that it will mechanize …
script and language management technologies
Gregorian calendar omissions 1789, 1871, 1917. Milestone points in the political history of Europe marked by three numbers. Three numbers that automatically refer to and are now identified with a …
about paradigm shift… again
Saying that capitalist relations of production and consumption are dominant, essentially across the entire planet by now, constitutes a truism. This is an obvious observation, at least for those who …
The uncivilized
The artifact “Plimpton 322” (photograph), for 80 years in the collections of Columbia University, is at least 3,700 years old. It comes from Mesopotamia, from the territory of ancient (and …
Suitcases… and kisses to mom!
It is a sign of the times. The last time the philosophy of “migration to other planets” went mainstream was when the Americans globally showcased their moon landing. The “Apollo” …
from online to onlife: engineering everything
History and Machines Can we perceive the ongoing parade of modern technological applications and wonders as something beyond a mere sum of “good and bad human inventions”? Can we perceive …
Risky jobs
We can make fun of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, but its bosses are ahead. Way ahead. Their latest feat was legislation granting extraction rights for raw materials from extraterrestrial …
Turing’s test: notes on a genealogy of “intelligence”
putting consciousness on the anatomical table If one takes stock of the declarations of scientists (and their funders), the last terra incognita that the techno-scientific spirit is called upon to …
cybernetics
The gentleman in the first photograph is the renowned linguist Roman Jakobson, one of the principal (if not the principal) founders of structuralism in linguistics. Taking Saussure’s theories as his …