Kester Brewin

An interesting story today about a scientist who implanted a microchip in his hand, which he then deliberately infected with a computer virus. He uses the chip to open doors and activate his mobile phone (weirdly, as his biological hand might seem the best tool to do that) but has now shown that his infected [...]

I’m still very much enjoying Jaron Lanier’s You Are Not A Gadget manifesto and have been especially struck by his thesis that the philosophy of computationalism – the theory that everything can be coded – is actually flawed. A totally pixelated and bit-rated world would be a lesser world… but that doesn’t make this video [...]

News International confirmed today that their papers in the UK will move to a subscription-based service in the coming months, starting with The Times and moving on to other titles such as The Sun. I’m no supporter of Murdoch or NI at all, but I do have some sympathy for the model they are trying [...]

[ Lock In [1] ]  [ Lock In [2] ] [ Lock In [3] ] Our interaction with technologies does have an effect on our personhood. While we may not be gadgets, our tool-use is actually an important part of our personhood. It is one of the things that makes us human. The danger that Jaron [...]

Little aside before I get back to the series… We may not be gadgets, but when we coordinate beautifully with machines, the results can be stunning. Just love this!

[ Lock In [1] ]  [ Lock In [2] ] Finally got my hands on Lanier’s book. Been devouring it like a good doughnut. In the last post I explained how Sartre sets up this paradox: we are what we are, but precisely part of our being is that we are not simply what we are. Having [...]

One of my favourite podcasts is Material World – a science review from the BBC. In a recent episode, Jaron Lanier discussed his recently published manifesto: You Are Not A Gadget. I’ve ordered it, but not read it yet, but was very much taken by one line of thought he introduced in the interview – [...]