archive

The garden of technology

From Ars Technica, Matthew Lasar on the noosphere in 1996, when the Internet was Utopia; Rudolf van der Berg on ENUM: Dragging telephone numbers into the Internet Age; and a tale of two qubits: Joseph Altepeter on how quantum computers work. For half a century computer performance has roughly doubled every two years, but the laws of physics place insurmountable barriers on how long this growth can occur. The trend in supercomputing is not only one of faster machines, but a steady erosion of how super supercomputing actually is. From Wired, in the next Industrial Revolution, Chris Anderson says, atoms are the new bits (and more). Lo-fi vs hi-tech: You don’t need to have access to the latest or most expensive technology to create your own media — you can do it your own way. Andrew Sullivan on how the iPhone and IED rule the Age of Asymmetry: Everywhere, technology is subverting the old forces of order. Gizmos and the City: How our new toys can derange civic life. The rebellion of the tools: Geoff Olson on techno-Darwinism, cyber addiction and natural play. Computers were supposed to be labor-saving devices — how come we're still working so hard? What happened to those inventions of the future?: Real life hasn't always lived up to the visions of science fiction in books and movies. Tending the garden of technology: An interview with Kevin Kelly. Clive Thompson reviews You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto by Jaron Lanier (and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more).