Living With Computers

Author : James W. Cortada
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3030343626
Total Pages : 126 pages
Book Rating : 4.20/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Living with Computers written by James W. Cortada and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-03-11 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The computing technology on which we are now so dependent has risen to its position of ascendency so rapidly that few of us have had the opportunity to take a step back and wonder where we are headed. This book urges us to do so. Taking a big-picture perspective on digital technology, Living with Computers leads the reader on a whistle-stop tour of the history of information and information technology. This journey culminates in a deep exploration into the meaning and role of computers in our lives, and what this experience might possibly mean for the future of human society – and the very existence of humanity itself. In the face of the transformative power of computing, this book provokes us to ask big questions. If computers become integrated into our bodies, merging with the information processing of our very DNA, will computing help to shape the evolution of biological life? If artificial intelligence advances beyond the abilities of the human brain, will this overturn our anthropocentrism and lead to a new view of reality? Will we control the computers of the future, or will they control us? These questions can be discomforting, yet they cannot be ignored. This book argues that it is time to reshape our definition of our species in the context of our interaction with computing. For although such science-fiction scenarios are not likely to happen any time soon – and may, in fact, never happen – it is nevertheless vital to consider these issues now if we wish to have any influence over whatever is to come. So, humans, let’s confront our possible destiny! James W. Cortada is a Senior Research Fellow at the Charles Babbage Institute at the University of Minnesota. He holds a Ph.D. in modern history and worked at IBM in various positions for 38 years, including in IBM’s management research institute, The IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV). He is the author of over a dozen books on management, and nearly two dozen books on the history of information technology. These include the Springer title From Urban Legends to Political Fact-Checking: Online Scrutiny in America, 1990-2015 (with William Aspray).

Author : Brian Christian
Publisher : Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 1627790365
Total Pages : 366 pages
Book Rating : 4.69/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Algorithms to Live By written by Brian Christian and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2016-04-19 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Algorithms to Live By' looks at the simple, precise algorithms that computers use to solve the complex 'human' problems that we face, and discovers what they can tell us about the nature and origin of the mind.

Author : Thomas K. Landauer
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 9780262621083
Total Pages : 444 pages
Book Rating : 4.88/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Trouble with Computers written by Thomas K. Landauer and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beginning with an explanation of why considerable outlays for computing since 1973 have not resulted in comparable payoffs, the author proposes that emerging techniques for user-centred development can turn the situation around - through task analysis, ite

Author : Patrick G. McKeown
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780155511330
Total Pages : 664 pages
Book Rating : 4.35/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Living with Computers written by Patrick G. McKeown and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 664 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Elizabeth R. Petrick
Publisher : JHU Press
ISBN 13 : 1421416476
Total Pages : 207 pages
Book Rating : 4.72/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Making Computers Accessible written by Elizabeth R. Petrick and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2015-06-01 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The revolution in accessible computer technology was fueled by disability activism, the interactive nature of personal computers, and changing public policy. In 1974, not long after developing the first universal optical character recognition technology, Raymond Kurzweil struck up a conversation with a blind man on a flight. Kurzweil explained that he was searching for a use for his new software. The blind man expressed interest: One of the frustrating obstacles that blind people grappled with, he said, was that no computer program could translate text into speech. Inspired by this chance meeting, Kurzweil decided that he must put his new innovation to work to “overcome this principal handicap of blindness.” By 1976, he had built a working prototype, which he dubbed the Kurzweil Reading Machine. This type of innovation demonstrated the possibilities of computers to dramatically improve the lives of people living with disabilities. In Making Computers Accessible, Elizabeth R. Petrick tells the compelling story of how computer engineers and corporations gradually became aware of the need to make computers accessible for all people. Motivated by user feedback and prompted by legislation such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, which offered the promise of equal rights via technological accommodation, companies developed sophisticated computerized devices and software to bridge the accessibility gap. People with disabilities, Petrick argues, are paradigmatic computer users, demonstrating the personal computer’s potential to augment human abilities and provide for new forms of social, professional, and political participation. Bridging the history of technology, science and technology studies, and disability studies, this book traces the psychological, cultural, and economic evolution of a consumer culture aimed at individuals with disabilities, who increasingly rely on personal computers to make their lives richer and more interconnected.

Author : Russ Walter
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780939151011
Total Pages : 127 pages
Book Rating : 4.14/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Tricky Living written by Russ Walter and published by . This book was released on 2004-07-01 with total page 127 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Covers everything important about life. 10 sections: health (blood chemistry, nutrition, etc.) , daily survival (housing, transportation, finances, careers, crooks, etc.), law (lawyers, judges, politics, war), intellectual life (professors, philosophers, psychologists, mathematicians, scientists), arts (Picasso's advice, music, movies, writing), American cultures (holidays, aging, regions), foreign cultures (French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Chinese), morality (ethics, prejudice, evil, Christian humor, Judaism), sexuality (male-female relationships, prostitution), and Donna's comments (about Chinese & American cultures). Fun, tricks, philosophies, and methods, written by Russ & Donna and culled from thousands of other sources.

Author : Patrick G. McKeown
Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 950 pages
Book Rating : 4.34/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Living with Computers written by Patrick G. McKeown and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P. This book was released on 1991 with total page 950 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Mckeown
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780155511859
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.58/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Living with Computers written by Mckeown and published by . This book was released on 1991-01-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Dennis Bray
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300155441
Total Pages : 280 pages
Book Rating : 4.40/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Wetware written by Dennis Bray and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2009-05-26 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A beautifully written journey into the mechanics of the world of the cell, and even beyond, exploring the analogy with computers in a surprising way” (Denis Noble, author of Dance to the Tune of Life). How does a single-cell creature, such as an amoeba, lead such a sophisticated life? How does it hunt living prey, respond to lights, sounds, and smells, and display complex sequences of movements without the benefit of a nervous system? This book offers a startling and original answer. In clear, jargon-free language, Dennis Bray taps the findings from the discipline of systems biology to show that the internal chemistry of living cells is a form of computation. Cells are built out of molecular circuits that perform logical operations, as electronic devices do, but with unique properties. Bray argues that the computational juice of cells provides the basis for all distinctive properties of living systems: it allows organisms to embody in their internal structure an image of the world, and this accounts for their adaptability, responsiveness, and intelligence. In Wetware, Bray offers imaginative, wide-ranging, and perceptive critiques of robotics and complexity theory, as well as many entertaining and telling anecdotes. For the general reader, the practicing scientist, and all others with an interest in the nature of life, this book is an exciting portal to some of biology’s latest discoveries and ideas. “Drawing on the similarities between Pac-Man and an amoeba and efforts to model the human brain, this absorbing read shows that biologists and engineers have a lot to learn from working together.” —Discover magazine “Wetware will get the reader thinking.” —Science magazine

Author : Melvin Berger
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780690041002
Total Pages : 134 pages
Book Rating : 4.04/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Computers in Your Life written by Melvin Berger and published by . This book was released on 1981 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explains how computers work and discusses their increasing importance in more and more areas of day-to-day life.