Showing results for "free" in Technology & Society

Although we usually think of technology as something unique to modern times, our ancestors began to create the first technologies millions of years ago in the form of prehistoric tools and weapons. Over time, eight key technologies gradually freed us from the limitations of our animal origins.

In this witty, often terrifying work of cultural criticism, Postman chronicles our transformation into a Technopoly: a society that no longer merely uses technology as a support system but instead is shaped by it. According to Postman, technology is rapidly gaining sovereignty over social institutions and national life to become self-justifying, self-perpetuating, and omnipresent. He warns that this will have radical consequences for the meanings of politics, art, religion, family, education, and more.

When two Stanford graduate students set out to create a new kind of cigarette that wouldn’t kill them, they didn’t foresee all the obstacles that lay ahead — or the powerful forces their invention would unleash. Nearly 10 years after the launch of the JUUL, Backfired: The Vaping Wars asks: Could e-cigarettes have been the solution to one of the world’s most pressing public health problems—or was this technology doomed to introduce a whole new generation to nicotine, and end up perpetuating an intractable addiction?

Technology promises to save humanity. How's that working out? In this comedy-science podcast, comedy legends Richard Ayoade (determinedly pessimistic) and Warwick Davis (inexplicably cheerful) venture beneath Audible HQ to the Future Tense lab, fully equipped to interrogate the future we're all being told to look forward to.

Sometimes designed objects reject their users: a computer mouse that doesn't work for left-handed people, for example, or a touchscreen payment system that only works for people who read English phrases, have 20/20 vision, and use a credit card. These mismatches are the building blocks of exclusion. In Mismatch, Kat Holmes describes how design can lead to exclusion, and how design can also remedy exclusion.

In Understanding Artificial Intelligence: Of Minds and Machines, philosopher Patrick Grim traces the story of AI from ancient legends to the neural networks behind today’s breakthroughs. You see how modern systems became so powerful so quickly. You also explore the very meaning of “intelligence,” discovering how modern AI succeeds by drawing on three resources: vast datasets that let systems learn from examples; deep-learning architectures loosely modeled on the brain’s layers; and feedback loops that help models refine their behavior.

Emily M. Bender e Alex Hanna spiegano perché le tecnologie vendute come "intelligenza artificiale" non sono una magia capace di risolvere ogni problema. L'IA di oggi è fatta di sistemi statistici su larga scala, che producono linguaggio e immagini senza comprenderli ‒ non un'intelligenza pensante ma «pappagalli stocastici». Le autrici ne sfatano i falsi miti e mettono in luce le insidie del loro impiego in ambiti chiave ‒ lavoro, sanità, giustizia, istruzione, scienza, arte e giornalismo.

To be human in today’s world means that you engage in constant linguistic interactions with some form of technology, from your smart phone to your refrigerator. That’s not as new a trend as you might think. Language has shaped - and been shaped by - some of our world’s most significant communication technologies. Our current language bears the marks of millennia of interaction between humans and our technologies, beginning with the very first primitive writing systems and moving into the age of the printing press, the telegraph, and the typewriter.

In the late 1850s, a physician in New York City used a syringe and glass tube to inject half a drop of sperm into a woman's uterus, marking the first recorded instance of artificial insemination. From that day forward, doctors and scientists have turned to technology in ever more innovative ways to facilitate conception. Fertility Technology surveys this history in all its medical, practical, and ethical complexity, and offers a look at state-of-the-art fertility technology in various social and political contexts around the world.

Life Mode On is a revolutionary approach to living a better life with technology and our personal devices, from digital lifestyle expert Dr Joanne Orlando. These are no quick fixes; these are real, practical solutions for long-term fulfilment in our increasingly digital world. Dr Jo helps people to understand their technology use and make it better.

Digital technology definitely shapes us. But once we learn how it does so, we can make good decisions for our ourselves and our children.

Die Wirtschaft wächst und wächst, Technologie wird leistungsfähiger und das globale Klima erwärmt sich weiter und weiter. Gefühlt wird alles immer schneller. Doch es ist nicht nur ein Gefühl. "Große Beschleunigung" nennen Forschende dieses Phänomen, um das es auch in diesem Podcast geht. Der Journalist Christian Stöcker hilft im Gespräch mit Expertinnen und Experten, die Große Beschleunigung besser zu begreifen.

Von #FreeBritney über Katzencontent bis zum Fall Justine Sacco: Das Internet ist ein hektischer Ort geworden. In den sozialen Netzwerken jagt ein Meme das nächste, ein Hashtag den anderen. Für alle, denen vom Swipen ganz schwindelig wird, fragt Sophie Passmann gemeinsam mit dem Radiojournalisten Simon Dömer nach: Welche wahren Geschichten stecken hinter den mal empörenden, mal rührenden Posts, die durchs Netz gehen? Was verrät dieser Shitstorm oder jenes virale Video über unsere Gesellschaft? Und wie kommen Menschen eigentlich mit ihrem plötzlichen Internet-Ruhm klar?

Noch nie waren sich Mensch und Maschine so nah wie heute. Algorithmen denken für uns. Maschinen retten unser Leben. Roboter machen unsere Arbeit. Und der Mensch? Der muss aufpassen, dass er den Überblick behält. Denn nie zuvor hat das Netz unsere Gesellschaft so demokratisch und gleichzeitig so kompliziert gemacht. Dennis Kogel spricht für den Podcast "VICE - Radio Motherboard" mit Menschen, die die Welt von morgen bauen. Denn Technik kann unsere Welt verbessern, verunsichern, verändern. Mit "VICE - Radio Motherboard" verlieren Sie den Anschluss nicht.

Fake News, Smart Cars, Darknet, Bots, Big Data, Big Brother, Cyborgs, Bitcoins und Blockchain - Häh? Wenn es darum geht, welche Algorithmen unser Leben bestimmen und wer wo welche Daten von uns speichert, sieht man oft nicht durch. Dabei fühlen, sehen und leben wir jeden Tag digital und vernetzt.

L'accelerazionismo è Legione: proprio come il demone biblico, esso è una miriade di forze contrastanti, uno spettro multiforme che aspetta di incarnarsi e gridare il proprio nome. Non è una via d'uscita dal capitalismo, né un'alternativa valida in cui sperare: è soprattutto una nuova e radicale modalità di vivere il presente e le sue infinite contraddizioni".

日本人がSFを語る上で絶対に外してはいけない作家、海野十三。数多くのSF作品を執筆し、他にもシャーロック・ホームズをもじった「帆村荘六」シリーズや、丘丘十郎の名で科学小説を執筆したり、蜆貝介、栗戸利休の名で科学解説記事を、京人生の名で漫画、海十斎の号で俳句や川柳を発表している。また、日本の漫画界にも多くの影響を与えている。「科学が臍を曲げた話」は、丘丘十郎の名で発表された短編科学エッセイ。錬金術、電気メス、避雷針…科学史において画期的な発明がなされる時の裏側、当たり前だと思っていた科学に人間がまんまと裏切られる瞬間。一筋縄ではいかない科学の本質を、分かりやすく面白く解説。海野十三ならではの洒落た文体が織り成す、不思議な科学の世界へようこそ。

La confianza en la Inteligencia Artificial no es solo un requisito regulatorio, sino una cuestión de ética empresarial, conciencia cultural y diseño responsable. Este libro adopta un enfoque integral, revelando cómo los Sistemas de IA Confiables van más allá de algoritmos, servidores y bases de datos, para incluir también la apariencia, el entorno y a los humanos.