key people

Question 1

joseph marie jacquard

Answer 1

created first automated loom which was programmed using punch cards, this was the first atomization of the division of labour

Question 2

alan turing

Answer 2

a pioneering British computer scientist

mathematician, logician

imagined a conceptual machine that could be configured to be in a number of different states, like that of a typewriter. like a type writer

but his machine could be configured into an infinite number of states with that configuration. any mathematical question could be solved.

cracked nazi enigma code with a machine called the Bombe - located german u boats

Question 3

charles babbage

Answer 3

a mathematician

wanted to automize the management of labour

difference engine - production efficiency of math tables

analytical engine - had it been completed, would have been programmable, and able to calculate any formula, and to compare numbers and decide how to proceed with the operation it was performing

Question 4

george boole

Answer 4

used algebraic methods to logic, thus allowing logical relations to be calculated in a mathematical manner

he thought this algebraic logic worked used only two numerical values, 1 and 0

his logic contributed to

• the digital computer
• the development of the binary switching systems for telephone switch boards before WW2

Question 5

ada lovelace

Answer 5

first programmer

worked on analytical engine with charles babbage

charles babbage’s protoge

Question 6

Norbert wiener

Answer 6

the developer of the concept of cybernetics

Question 7

Claude Shannon

Answer 7

electrical eng

created information theory - coding of information in the form of sequences of symbols, impulses, etc. and how rapidly this information can be transmitted.

communication requires certain things

• sender
• message
• receiver
• decoding device

Question 8

Gottfried leibniz

Answer 8

dream of a perfect, logical language, involving the use of numbers to represent concepts

his intentions to formalize thought in a logical system clearly anticipates both the development of programming languages and of AI

• worked on difference engine

Question 9

H.G wells

Answer 9

english writer

idea of a permanent world encyclopedia - the world brain.

technologies of reproduction were a means of overcoming difference and conflict though shared knowledge

Question 10

Ferdinand de Saussure

Answer 10

studied semiology
- semiology is the study of signs and their arbitrariness due to lack of context

for Saussure, the sign itself is arbitrary, and meaning is found in language in the difference between signs, not in any positive terms

signs let to the development of increasingly sophisticated information and communication technologies

war required advanced command and control communications

Question 11

vail

Answer 11

developed a more practical system involving sending combinations of short and long signals to represent letters of the alphabet

Question 12

morse

Answer 12

developed an intricate code involving sending short signals for numbers, which could then be looked up in a codebook ‘

Question 13

Vannevar bush

Answer 13

bush proposed what he called a permanent word encyclopedia, involving the ‘collection indexing \, summarizing and release of knowledge - the memex

planned to realize this idea in the newly developing field of micro photography

precursor to hypertext

Question 14

dr lev manovich

Answer 14

one of the leading theorists of digital culture worldwide, and a pioneer in application of data science for analysis of contemporary culture

Question 15

jay forrester

Answer 15

the person who created the whirlwind computer system. the computer that ran the sage early warning system was one of the main proponents of cybernetic thinking

Question 16

Walter benjamin

Answer 16

“The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”
Key points:
• the emergence of cinema was a game-changer, it moved us from
the ‘individual contemplation’ of artwork to mass-appreciation,
Benjamin believed this had political implications
• just like the factory was changing labour, mass-produced images
were changing how we see and how we appreciate aesthetics
• Benjamin believed ‘the aura’ and ‘ritual quality’ of hand-crafted art
of the past was lost when there was no longer an original and just
copies (and copies of copies)
• Benjamin believed the viewer of the mass image was perpetually distracted

• Benjamin saw parallels between technological-ly-enhanced production in the workplace and in the aesthetic realm: “Pictorial reproduction was accelerated so much it could keep pace with speech”

In addition to enabling advances in computing, AI was beginning to influence our own understanding of mental processes (Gere, p.60)

Ferdinand de Saussure: “For Saussure the sign itself is arbitrary, and meaning is found in language in the differences between signs, not in any positive terms.

But when cinema comes along and movies can be showcased at many different places, the idea of art is challenged into becoming something else.

Benjamin writes that photography is the first medium that devolves art into using a camera.
At the end of section IV on his essay, he writes, “the moment the criterion of authenticity ceases to be applied to artistic production, the whole social function of art is turned about. Instead of having its foundation in ritual, its foundation steps into different practice: namely, its foundation in politics.”

Benjamin says that movies in cinema are experienced for the amount of time they are up. Paintings are not. Benjamin is a very insightful man

Benjamin says that material changes in the media of art are not reflections of political or social changes but rather perform the “directing, instructing stance” that defines the political tendency of art in “The Author as Producer.” Benjamin’s theory of art is an account of such a tendency as it manifests itself in the contemporary direction of art.

He is spooked by the idea of new mediums of art. He concludes that art can manifest in many different forms and that he’s cool with it.

Question 17

aura

Answer 17

‘Aura’ is the concept of the strange interplay of space and time in early photography. A strange weave of space and time: the unique appearance of a distance, no matter how close it may be. Spatial existence is defined according to a particular moment in time, thereby making what is seen as unique. In the case of photography, the opposite is true because the experience of the image is no longer restricted to a specific place and time but can exist in different places at different times yet remain unchanged. This is a change in perception. And made possible by means of its reproduction. Photography then emphasizes an experience based on transience and reproducibility. (eg., A print made 10 years ago and one made today are essentially the same; the question of the original disappears.)

Question 18

Mathew Bolton

Answer 18

developed the first regulating device called the governor

• self regulating device that governed the pressure generated by steam engines

Question 19

samuel morse

Answer 19

developed a system for sending short signals as numbers which were then looked up in a book

Question 20

Alfred vail

Answer 20

developed a more practical version of samuel morse’s code, his version involved sending a combination of both short and long signals to represent letters of the alphabet, it was unfairly named morse code.

Question 21

jonathan crary

Answer 21

believed that photos had the largest impact on society which lead to rapid printing which lead to simpler versions of film and then supported cinema creation

Question 22

mark poster

Answer 22

one of the theorists to talk about the digital revolution of new media. argued that new media was active, and old media was passive. new media was more like a network and old media was more like a hierarchy

Question 23

kafka

Answer 23

he believed people become alienated and that the experiences of the world will become the experiences of the masses.

Question 24

Walter Benjamin (simplified)

Answer 24

german marxist philosopher who believed that because a given film isnt the original it loses its aura because it can be viewed in multiple places at the same time. he also beleived that because a film could be watched over and over and have it details pointed out and pinpointed the art of filmmaking could be used for other purposes. he believed that communism politicizes are and fascism aestheticizes it

Question 25

ted nelson

Answer 25

was an info tech pioneer who was influenced by Vannevar Bush. He coined the term and. was associated with the creation of “hypertext”

Question 26

ray kurzweil

Answer 26

suggested that an evolutionary jump in human society , the singularity, is an inevitable future occurrence: this is the evolution of humanity in which technological advancements occur so rapidly, that humans themselves will not be able to keep pace and will be out evolved by machines that are more intelligent than humans.