Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life

Posted on 24 April 2018 by Adam Greenfield

A field manual to the technologies that are transforming our livesEverywhere we turn, a startling new device promises to transfigure our lives But at what cost In this urgent and revelatory excavation of our Information Age, leading technology thinker Adam Greenfield forces us to reconsider our relationship with the networked objects, services and spaces that define us It is time to re evaluate the Silicon Valley consensus determining the future.We already depend on the smartphone to navigate every aspect of our existence We re told that innovations from augmented reality interfaces and virtual assistants to autonomous delivery drones and self driving cars will make life easier, convenient and productive 3D printing promises unprecedented control over the form and distribution of matter, while the blockchain stands to revolutionize everything from the recording and exchange of value to the way we organize the mundane realities of the day to day And, all the while, fiendishly complex algorithms are operating quietly in the background, reshaping the economy, transforming the fundamental terms of our politics and even redefining what it means to be human.Having successfully colonized everyday life, these radical technologies are now conditioning the choices available to us in the years to come How do they work What challenges do they present to us, as individuals and societies Who benefits from their adoption In answering these questions, Greenfield s timely guide clarifies the scale and nature of the crisis we now confront and offers ways to reclaim our stake in the future. Free Download [ Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life ] by [ Adam Greenfield ] – kino-fada.fr Ive been reading a lot about the future of work at the moment for a project at work I cant say it has made me feel all that great, to be honest In fact, I can only hope the people making the predictions Ive been reading are so far wrong as to make themselves look like fools in a decade or so when we can all have a bit of a laugh at their expense There are also lots of people saying that there will be lots of new jobs created perhaps eventhan those that are about to be wiped out in the I ve been reading a lot about the future of work at the moment for a project at work I can t say it has made me feel all that great, to be honest In fact, I can only hope the people making the predictions I ve been reading are so far wrong as to make themselves look like fools in a decade or so when we can all have a bit of a laugh at their expense There are also lots of people saying that there will be lots of new jobs created perhaps eventhan those that are about to be wiped out in the avalanche about to hit but none of them make it all that clear just where these new jobs are likely to come from, nor what skills you might need to get them.This book covers a lot of the ground other books I ve been reading also covers but this really is the book to read Not least because it explains things that most other texts take for granted The best example here is the two chapters on cryptocurrencies and blockchain Not only does he exp...If I had known that this book was published by Verso, I probably would not have bothered buying it Buying a Verso book is like buying a book from the Ignatius Press You pretty well know what you are going to get and it helps being a true believer to get maximum enjoyment from it.In this case, Greenfield fits the standard issue model gloomily negative, pessimistic, striving to find some optimism of the will and right on about yawn feminism, Marx, environmentalism, progressivism and If I had known that this book was published by Verso, I probably would not have bothered buying it Buying a Verso book is like buying a book from the Ignatius Press You pretty well know what you are going to get and it helps being a true believer to get maximum enjoyment from it.In this case, Greenfield fits the standard issue model gloomily negative, pessimistic, striving to find some optimism of the will and right on about yawn feminism, Marx, environmentalism, progressivism and Occupy Yawn, bloody yawn However, to be fair, this conservatism of the Left the prevailing ideology of our times based on a the inability to escape the deathly hold of German Idealism and b a class terror of radical change in the urban professional ...51st book for 2017.This book offers an interesting critique of a number of emerging technologies smartphone interconnectedness augmented reality digital fabrication cryptocurrencies blockchain automation machine learning artificial intelligence The tone of the book is quite negative, which was quite tiring after a while, but the critiques are insightful I found this especially ...This well written book brings home an important message capitalism is always seeking to exploit fresh resources Now its our daily life that is being commodified Our digital exhaust fumes are sequestered, cleaned, packaged and sold for myriads of purposes we are unaware of The risk is that this leads to an unwanted contraction of citizens opportunity space, as access to particular...the purpose of a system is what it does.When in the concluding chapter Greenfield invokes Stafford Beer with the above quote, all the preceding chapters click into place and it is marvellous.With great patience and care, Greenfield walks us through the smartphone, IoT, AR, 3D printing, cryptocurrency, the blockchain, automation, machine learning and finally, general artificial intelligenceshowing how each works in great detail while steering clear of technical jargon Andimportantly, the purpose of a system is what it does When i...Brilliant and frustrating Really clear, concise explorations of current and near future technologies and their potential consequencesboth good and badlet down by occasional bloody minded negativity I really liked parts of this book, and was intensely frustrated by other parts of it.The chapter on mobile smartphones is almost worth the price of the book on its own, and hes particularly strong when talking about cryptocurrency, the blockchain, and the internet of things But other chapters clunk Brilliant and frustrating Really clear, concise explorations of current and near future technologies and their potential consequences both goo...Impeccably written, well thought through, very impactful.It moves between the registers very well the first 6 chapters are very practical, very detailed deconstructions of key technologies As we move up the stack to automation and machine learning and AI, it gets less technical andconceptual Not many could have pulled such shift off It is also very warm and optimistic book The fact that the book is a rare example ...the blockchain will kill us allA terrific book that strikes a well considered balance between the real political potential offered by new technologies on the one hand, and the many institutional, ideological, technological limitations they encounter when interacting both with each other and with the world around us on the other Greenfield writes with passion, eloquence, and tremendous knowledgeability about these topics, in language that is accessible and engaging without sacrificing nuance or complexity My only point of A terrific book that strikes a well considered balance between the real political potential offered by new technologies on the one hand, and the many institutional, ideological, technological limitat...A lucid and necessary critique of the sociopolitical ramifications of emergent technology In particular, the chapters on blockchain, digital fabrication, and algorithmic production of knowledge are worth reading and rereading not only for their explanatory clarity but ...

Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life

24 April 2018

Adam Greenfield