CUSP134: Icarus’s Parachute Technology: Techne, Logos Greek Roots Technē – art or craft Logos – word, thought, ground of belief or action Alt. way of thinking about “Technology” Techno-logy as the “writing” of thought in craft; the concretization of belief, techniques, art into material objects

CUSP134: Icarus’s Parachute Attitudes Toward Technology Cultural vs. Technological Some back and forth in emphasis: -Greeks/Romans; Enlightenment/Modernity 1960’s in the West (ex): -Herbert Marcuse : tech is part of the problem -Marshall McLuhan : tech is part of the solution David E. Nye, Technology Matters (overview) Marshall McLuhan, Ch.1,2,4 in Understanding Media. 1964

CUSP134: Icarus’s Parachute Inscription, Alphabet, Writing as Technologies Walter Ong: Orality, Literacy, Secondary Orality -writing (and all tech) changes our “nature” "Without writing, human consciousness cannot achieve its fuller potentials, cannot produce other beautiful and powerful creations. In this sense, orality needs to produce and is destined to produce writing. Literacy, as will be seen, is absolutely necessary for the development not only of science but also of history, philosophy, explicative understanding of literature and of any art, and indeed for the explanation of language (including oral speech) itself.” What some differences you have experienced between conversations and writing letters, s, etc.?

CUSP134: Icarus’s Parachute Technology and Media(tion) Other Examples of Technological Mediation -Panopticon (prison) -SMS (texting) -Twitter -bittorrent -Mp3 encoding -Refrigeration How do these technical objects & systems impact us?

CUSP134: Icarus’s Parachute Technology and Media(tion) Bentham’s “Panopticon” -18thC prison design How does this reshape the prisoners’ experience? The guard experience? What new relations are enabled and privileged ?

CUSP134: Icarus’s Parachute Technology and Media(tion)

CUSP134: Icarus’s Parachute Technology and Media(tion) Cellular phone SMS -Short Message Service

CUSP134: Icarus’s Parachute Technology and Media(tion) Twitter Bittorrent MP3 Encoding mb >> 3-5mb -How does it affect sharing, the art, distribution?

CUSP134: Icarus’s Parachute Technology and Media(tion) Refrigeration -how does it affect: 1/ diet 2/ purchase of food 3/ city planning

CUSP134: Icarus’s Parachute Technology and Media(tion) Special Example: Hypertext and Reading grasshopper.html -Remediation affects reading habits and reflects a different logic of communication -Tech design is “political” in the sense that it encourages and reinforces certain modes of experience in different historical contexts