Silicon Valley Signals: Technological Enthusiasm & the Times
Silicon Valley Signals: Technological Enthusiasm & the Times

Author: Nima Moinpour

Publisher: OrientationSJ.com

Published: 2020-04-12

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13:

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How might we account for the effectiveness of Silicon Valley during our times? Both as a place and as a cultural icon, Silicon Valley has generated a mystique about its power to produce economic and cultural effects. It speaks loudly in our civilization today and there is an aura of mystery about it. How has Silicon Valley arrived at this point in its development? Companies such as Apple, Google, Hewlett Packard,, and Intel compose part of the legend that Silicon Valley has become but the roots of that legend extend further in time and geography. Others have approached the same questions and have noted its industrial roots but only reached so far back. My contention is the modern economic and cultural phenomenon of Silicon Valley crystallized because of its local geomorphology and the ensuing technological enthusiasm contributed to its historical and material conditions for such techno mediatic unfolding. This work will distinguish itself from others not just by connecting geography to technical developments, but also by exploring the epistemological disposition that Silicon Valley claimed and spilled over into upcoming milieus of technological development and civilizational progress. By addressing the research questions through methods and concepts derived from Media Archeology methodology, a methodology originating in the field of Media Studies, I argue that the manifold inter-involvements of geomorphology and technical enthusiasm account for the force of Silicon Valley in media history, and the book takes you through various intersections of concrete pillars to build you a sound frame of mind about this mysterious region and culture.

Perfecting Human Futures
Perfecting Human Futures

Author: J. Benjamin Hurlbut

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-02-22

Total Pages: 379

ISBN-13: 3658110449

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Humans have always imagined better futures. From the desire to overcome death to the aspiration to dominion over the world, imaginations of the technological future reveal the commitments, values, and norms of those who construct them. Today, the human future is thrown into question by emerging technologies that promise radical control over human life and elicit corollary imaginations of human perfectibility. This interdisciplinary volume assembles scholars of science and technology studies, sociology, philosophy, theology, ethics, and history to examine imaginations of technological progress that promises to transcend the constraints of human body and being. Attending in particular to transhumanist and posthumanist visions, the volume breaks new ground by exploring their utopian and eschatological dimensions and situating them within a broader context of ideas, institutions, and practices of innovation. The volume invites specialists and general readers to explore the stakes of contemporary imaginations of technological innovation as a source of progress, a force of social and historical transformation, and as the defining essence of human life.

Leonardo to the Internet
Leonardo to the Internet

Author: Thomas J. Misa

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2022-02-22

Total Pages: 449

ISBN-13: 1421443112

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Now updated — A comprehensive, 500-year history of technology in society. Historian Thomas J. Misa's sweeping history of the relationship between technology and society over the past 500 years reveals how technological innovations have shaped—and have been shaped by—the cultures in which they arose. Spanning the preindustrial past, the age of scientific, political, and industrial revolutions, as well as the more recent eras of imperialism, modernism, and global security, this compelling work evaluates what Misa calls "the question of technology." In this edition, Misa brings his acclaimed text up to date by drawing on current scholarship while retaining sharply drawn portraits of individual people, artifacts, and systems. Each chapter has been honed to relate to contemporary concerns. Globalization, Misa argues, looks differently considering today's virulent nationalism, cultural chauvinism, and trade wars. A new chapter focuses on the digital age from 1990 to 2016. The book also examines how today's unsustainable energy systems, insecure information networks, and vulnerable global shipping have helped foster geopolitical risks and instability and takes a look at the coronavirus pandemic from the perspective of Wuhan, China's high-tech district. A masterful analysis of how technology and culture have influenced each other over five centuries, Leonardo to the Internet frames a history that illuminates modern-day problems and prospects faced by our technology-dependent world.

Losing the Signal
Losing the Signal

Author: Jacquie McNish

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Published: 2015-05-26

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1250060184

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THE BASIS FOR IFC FILMS' BLACKBERRY Named a Best Business Book by The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Financial Times, and more The riveting, true story of the BlackBerry empire—and how it would eventually come crumbling down in the wake of the smartphone revolution "One helluva story.” ―Toronto Star Losing the Signal is a riveting story of a company that toppled global giants before succumbing to the ruthlessly competitive forces of Silicon Valley. This is not a conventional tale of modern business failure by fraud and greed. The rise and fall of BlackBerry reveals the dangerous speed at which innovators race along the information superhighway. With unprecedented access to key players, senior executives, directors and competitors, Losing the Signal unveils the remarkable rise of a company that started above a bagel store in Ontario. At the heart of the story is an unlikely partnership between a visionary engineer, Mike Lazaridis, and an abrasive Harvard Business school grad, Jim Balsillie. Together, they engineered a pioneering pocket email device that became the tool of choice for presidents and CEOs. The partnership enjoyed only a brief moment on top of the world, however. At the very moment BlackBerry was ranked the world's fastest growing company internal feuds and chaotic growth crippled the company as it faced its gravest test: Apple and Google's entry in to mobile phones. Expertly told by acclaimed journalists, Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff, this is an entertaining, whirlwind narrative that goes behind the scenes to reveal one of the most compelling business stories of the new century.

Bad Blood
Bad Blood

Author: John Carreyrou

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2018-05-21

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 1524731668

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NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The gripping story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos—one of the biggest corporate frauds in history—a tale of ambition and hubris set amid the bold promises of Silicon Valley, rigorously reported by the prize-winning journalist. With a new Afterword covering her trial and sentencing, bringing the story to a close. “Chilling ... Reads like a thriller ... Carreyrou tells [the Theranos story] virtually to perfection.” —The New York Times Book Review In 2014, Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes was widely seen as the next Steve Jobs: a brilliant Stanford dropout whose startup “unicorn” promised to revolutionize the medical industry with its breakthrough device, which performed the whole range of laboratory tests from a single drop of blood. Backed by investors such as Larry Ellison and Tim Draper, Theranos sold shares in a fundraising round that valued the company at more than $9 billion, putting Holmes’s worth at an estimated $4.5 billion. There was just one problem: The technology didn’t work. Erroneous results put patients in danger, leading to misdiagnoses and unnecessary treatments. All the while, Holmes and her partner, Sunny Balwani, worked to silence anyone who voiced misgivings—from journalists to their own employees.

Popular Mechanics
Popular Mechanics

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1993-05

Total Pages: 140

ISBN-13:

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Popular Mechanics inspires, instructs and influences readers to help them master the modern world. Whether it’s practical DIY home-improvement tips, gadgets and digital technology, information on the newest cars or the latest breakthroughs in science -- PM is the ultimate guide to our high-tech lifestyle.