Technomanifestos: Visions of the Information Revolutionaries [Hardcover]

Adam Brate (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Technomanifestos is the story of the information revolution as it was shaped and imagined in the writings of its most inspired revolutionaries. Each manifesto-writer is a "technological humanitarian"; each has a worldly, bold, optimistic vision of how computers will change and serve humankind. Manifestos include Vannevar Bush’s "As We May Think" (1945), Alan Turing’s "Computing Machinery & Intelligence" (1950) Norbert Wiener’s The Human Use of Human Beings (1951), Doug Englebart’s "Augmenting Human Intellect (1962), JCR Licklader’s "Man-Computer Symbiosis (1962), Seymour Papert’s Mindstorms (1980), Richard Stallman’s "GNU Manifesto (1984), Ted Nelson’s "The Future of Information" (1993) and Jaron Lanier’s "1/2 a Manifesto" (2000), among others. Key to this book are the evolution of concepts like "information", "computer", "intelligence", "system", "noise", "feedback", "network", "ownership", and "life". Technomanifestos will link these individuals, their writings and the information revolution to larger social movements of the post World War II era onward: education reform, environmentalism, anti cold war and nuclear arms, anti-monopolization, and anti-globalization. It will draw associations and conclusions based on the manifestos, autobiographical and biographical writings about the manifesto-writers, and period histories. It will examine the decisions -- good and bad -- made by the technologists. It will reveal tensions among one another or with the "establishment," and chronicle the legacies of each milestone idea. Most of all, this book will examine the interplay between technology and society, computers and culture, information and meaning.

About the Author

Adam Brate is a technology writer who lives in downtown Manhattan, just around the corner from Silicon Alley. A product of a liberal arts education in Amherst, MA, he has dabbled in the hard sciences, television, publishing, music, and programming and has an MA in English. He seeks to understand how it all relates. Adam’s first book was Making the Cisco Connection, a business history of the super corporation that builds the Internet’s infrastructure. His inspiration is the reclusive Thomas Pynchon, who contemplates the interchange between technology and imagination in all his writings.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Texere; 1 edition (July 4, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587991039
• ISBN-13: 978-1587991035
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,917,791 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent History of the Future, November 26, 2002

By	"garyschlecker" (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Technomanifestos: Visions of the Information Revolutionaries (Hardcover)

"Technomanifestos" is neither another Unix manual nor another cynical, Gen-X page turner. Rather, it is a thoughtful book that, in accessible language for the non-specialist, excerpts and discusses the fascinating and wide-sweeping ideologies and social goals set out in the groundbreaking writings of the information revolution's key figures. What were the founders of the internet aiming for, beyond another intra-office communication tool or the ability to shop on-line? What exactly paved the way for today's flurry of cyber-activity? How compatible are current attempts to legislate cyber-space with the information revolution's original ideals? How did we move from data compilations to hypertext and Java? "Technomanifestos" addresses all of these questions and more.

Kicking off with a chapter centered on the writings of Norbert Wiener, father of the theory of Cybernetics, the book is structured around the most well-known figures of the Information Revolution, their respective contributions and their visions of where it would all lead, as seen in their own writings. By no means, however, is it limited to just the movement's technical or computer-based aspects and thinkers. On the contrary, tied in throughout the shrewd exploration of the true significance of today's increased communication possibilities are such famous pop and counter-culture icons as Marshall McLuhan and Abbie Hoffman.

From the origins of digital thought to such modern issues as open source, "Technomanifestos" offers a chronological panorama of what the great minds behind the Information Revolution actually thought.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating history of computers, January 20, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Technomanifestos: Visions of the Information Revolutionaries (Hardcover)

Computers have revolutionized our society. Yet most people have little idea of how this happened, who were behind these changes, and what are the issues we still face. This book provides an excellent history of the ideas and the people who changed our lives. I loved the photo inserts of the 20 visionaries the book highlights - from MIT professors in the 1940s in suits and ties, to John von Neumann, Marvin Minsky, and Seymour Papert with their machines, to long-haired Abbie Hoffman, Richard Stallman, and Jaron Lanier. The book is very well written, combining technical details, personal anecdotes, and quotations to give an inspirational overview of how computer technology came to be, and how it effects the world. From information technology to cybernetics to nanotechnology, I learned a lot.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Technomanifestos is a key text, January 24, 2005

By	Angelica Kauffmann - See all my reviews

This review is from: Technomanifestos: Visions of the Information Revolutionaries (Hardcover)

As someone with no background in computers or information technology, I found Technomanifestos to be a key text. The work not only provided a factual background on the history of computers, programming, and the internet, but also demonstrated the ideologies behind their development. In addition, through an engaging narrative and constant use of non-tech analogy and vocabulary, Adam Brate translates the basics of computer and program development into accessible and digestible language. Most importantly, Technomanifestos encouraged me to relate the politics and polemics of modern technology to my own computer use, newspaper headlines, and the history of knowledge.