The New Nothing (with notes) – Analog/Digital: Opposition or Continuum?

A key note session early on in the Google Digital Academy/ Squared program to set the context of the program in relation to technology and its impact on business, society and human behavior. This session is a vital part of Squared in creating excitement for the opportunities inherent in a digital world.

Transcript

2. THE NEW NOTHING A D – OPPOSITION OR CONTINUUM?
3. WHAT DO YOU THINK…
4. ANALOG Please try to describe the term ”analog“.
5. ANALOG DIGITAL Please try to describe the term “digital“.
6. ANTON CORBIJN Analog is more beautiful than digital, really, 
 but we go for comfort. To quote dutch photograph Anton Corbin…
7. SYMBOLS, SOCIAL GROUPS & NUMBERS
8. CHAUVET CAVE ~35.000 BP * first analogization, development of early sign systems * cave drawings, not cave pointings * Chauvet cave, Southern France * 35.000 and 32.000 years bp (before present)
9. LASCAUX CAVE ~19.000 BP * the Lascaux cave is often called the „Sixtin Chapel“ of cave drawings * discovered by four teenagers in 1940 * ca. 19.000 years bp (before present)
10. * it took a long time until social groups where build, they simply did not exist before * immediate social relationships with each other had to be explored * believe me… this was a bloody experience
11. CORDED WARE ~2800 BP * artisanal skills had to be learned e.g. pottery * ca. 2800 bp (before present)
12. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 * according to Howard Eves counting had to be learned 50.000 years ago * decimal system * uses 10 numbers
13. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 … * have a closer look at the numbers * did you recognize that we combine numbers to build new ones * as an example of what you can do with the power of decimal … “Powers of Ten“ by Charles & Ray Eames
14. POWERS OF TEN CHARLES & RAY EAMES HTTP://D.PR/P60Y/1RB7NYDA
16. 1 2 5 10 10 * numeratives with 10 numbers are slightly effective * there are only the factors 1, 2, 5, 10
17. 12 1 2 3 6 12 * what if we would have six fingers on each hand? * we would have more factors… * to give you another example: We are used to inefficiency! The layout of a typewriter (QWERTY) was developed inefficient because otherwise the typewriters back then would have been broken. Over the time we started to get so used to this inefficient system so that we still use it today even if there are more efficient layouts like DVORAK.
18. SPACE
19. EUCLIDEAN GEOMETRY 14TH CENTURY * by Euclidean Geometry it is after all even possible to do plane spatial geometry * this was at the beginning of the 14th century
20. BRACELLI 16TH CENTURY * Bracelli, mechanical human * mechanical worldview around the 16th century * the robot drawings were from 1624
21. RENÉ DESCARTES ~1677 * René Descartes * Theory of Visual Spatial Perception, ca. 1677
22. CARL FRIEDRICH GAUß 1854 * Carl Friedrich Gauß * Non-euclidean geometry
23. ALBRECHT DÜRER 15TH CENTURY * Albrecht Dürer * Four Books on Measurement * Dürer favors methods of Ptolemy over Euclid * Four Books of Human Proportion
24. MACHINES
25. G. W. VON LEIBNIZ 1673 * Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, 1673 * shows the development of machines that are able to calculate * the machine combined numbers, a sequence of numbers as well as a group of numbers by mechanics * „Wow!" This was the invention to combine numbers with mechanics.
26. JACQUES DE VACANSON, 1738 HTTP://D.PR/UQXZ/WFNIHKSG * The Mechanical Duck from Jacques de Vacanson, 1738 * could be seen as the reinvention of the human as a machine * duck excrement – this means the duck had a digestive system
27. JOSEPH JACQUARD 1801 * Joseph Jacquard, 1801, programmable woven * holes are part of the system and are controlling it * philosophically: the hole - the nothing
28. HERMANN HOLLERITH 1890 * Hermann Hollerith, 1890 * Census Tabulator * first “bio computer“ * humans are the employees * invented out of the industrial proletariat
30. COMPUTER = RECHNER [DT.] * e.g. this also means “humans that did calculations“ * calculate as a matter to automatize, to formalize, to reduce complexity
31. ENIAC 1946 * ENIAC, 1946, US Army (Electronic Numerical Integrator & Computer) * number space will get transformed into machine space (calculating room) * before the second World War, there was no traditional differentiation between analog/digital * the term had no meaning in media debates, even further – it did not exist * even though the term “digital“ was first printed in a patent specification 1938
32. VGL. WIKIPEDIA Digital (lat. digitus „Finger“) bezeichnet „den Finger betreffend, mit dem Finger“ * digital comes from latin digits = finger * e.g. “with the finger“
33. NORBERT WIENER 1949
34. WIKIPEDIA “Wiener defined cybernetics in 1948 as ’the scientific study of control and communication in the animal and the machine.’ The word ’cybernetics’ comes from the Greek word κυβερνητική (kyverni ̱tikí ̱ , ’government’), i.e. all that are pertinent to κυβερνώ (kyvernó̱), the latter meaning to ’steer,’ ’navigate’ or ’govern,’ hence κυβέρνησις (kyvérni ̱sis, ’government’) is the government while κυβερνήτης (kyverní ̱ ti ̱s) is the governor or the captain.”
35. WIKIPEDIA “Wiener defined cybernetics in 1948 as ’the scientific study of control and communication in the animal and the machine.’ The word ’cybernetics’ comes from the Greek word κυβερνητική (kyverni ̱tikí ̱ , ’government’), i.e. all that are pertinent to κυβερνώ (kyvernó̱), the latter meaning to ’steer,’ ’navigate’ or ’govern,’ hence κυβέρνησις (kyvérni ̱sis, ’government’) is the government while κυβερνήτης (kyverní ̱ ti ̱s) is the governor or the captain.”
36. MACY CONFERENCE 1953 PARTICIPANTS e.g. Gregory Bateson (Anthropoligist), Heinz von Foerster (Biophysicist), Kurt Lewin (Psychologist), John von Neumann (Mathematician), Norbert Wiener (Mathematician)
37. MICHAEL NOLL 1967 * In 1967 Michael Noll published the text „The Digital Computer as a Creative Medium“ where he describes the potential of computers as an image media
38. ^ 1943 * Paul Otlet, Belgian nationality * Model of the World City, 1943
39. Paul Otlet published his plans for the Mundane 1934 (!). A global network(!) that enables immediate contact between humans, e.g. also to send text, photographs etc.
40. Paul Otlet published his plans for the Mundane 1934 (!). A global network(!) that enables immediate contact between humans, e.g. also to send text, photographs etc.
41. JCR LICKLIDER 1968 * J.C.R. Licklider and Robert Taylor published their text “The Computer as a Communication Device“ in 1968. Later on they had significant impact on building the first nodes of the ARPANET.
42. APPLE II 1977 * Apple II, 1977 * before the reality was insanely big machines in even bigger halls, men in white kitten * humans that wrote program code and people that were educated “to insert“ these codes
43. APPLE II 1977 * Apple II, 1977 * before the reality was insanely big machines in even bigger halls, men in white kitten * humans that wrote program code and people that were educated “to insert“ these codes
44. TIME MAGAZINE COVER 1983 * Time Magazine Cover, 1983 * The Computer Moves In
45. ALAN KAY * Alan Kay, American computer scientist * HP Lab, Adjunct Professor at MIT * 10 years Xerox PARC *
46. ALAN KAY ”The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” 45
50. IVAN SUTHERLAND
 (SKETCHPAD DEMO) HTTP://D.PR/TZEG/1AWGW5YC Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USyoT_Ha_bA
53. ALAN KAY ABOUT THE
 SKETCHPAD DEMO HTTP://D.PR/CD0D/1NJVXIAO Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6h-zDOggYQ
56. MACHINES
 CYBERSPACE & ITS INFLUENCE
57. DEFINITION & INFLUENCES “Cyberspace” is a term created by William Gibson in his fantasy novel Neuromancer to describe the “world” of computers, and the society that gathers around them. Gibson’s fantasy of a world of connected computers has moved into a present reality in the form of the Internet. In cyberspace people are met electronically, without a face or body. As Gibson mentioned some of his influences were excerpts from Burroughs’ Naked Lunch, which first ”made no sense to him at all” or as he said ”like reading messages from Mars”.
58. DEFINITION & INFLUENCES “Cyberspace” is a term created by William Gibson in his fantasy novel Neuromancer to describe the “world” of computers, and the society that gathers around them. Gibson’s fantasy of a world of connected computers has moved into a present reality in the form of the Internet. In cyberspace people are met electronically, without a face or body. As Gibson mentioned some of his influences were excerpts from Burroughs’ Naked Lunch, which first ”made no sense to him at all” or as he said ”like reading messages from Mars”.
59. WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS 1914, 1997 * † * American author of the Beat Generation (besides Kerouac and Ginsberg) * style-defining for the cut up technique * travelled to Yage (South Africa), wrote the book “Junkie“ * travelled to Tangiers (Morocco), wrote the book “Book of Dreams“ which was made into a film by David Cronenberg (1991)
60. BRION GYSIN, IAN SOMMERVILLE DREAM MACHINE
 HTTP://D.PR/REHX/2HXENBFD * The dreamachine (or dream machine) is a stroboscopic flicker device that produces visual stimuli. Artist Brion Gysin and William S. Burroughs's "systems adviser" Ian Sommerville created the dreamachine after reading William Grey Walter's book, The Living Brain.
61. TIMOTHY LEARY 1920, 1996 * † * Timothy Francis Lear was a US-american psychologist, author and “guru“ of the hippie movement. Leary was widely known in 60s/70s to propagandize to give broad access to psychedelic (mind-bending) drugs like LSD, Mescaline or Psilocybin. * Reprogramming > “Turn on, Tune in, Drop out!“
62. TIMOTHY LEARY
 ON THE CYBER WORLD HTTP://D.PR/7ZQM/5TSX35T2
63. PAT CADIGAN (MINDPLAYERS) "One morning in 1979, I was getting ready for work and Gary Numan’s ’Cars’ came on the radio. Afterwards, the DJ said, ’There’s some cyberpunk for you.’ He was making a joke; in 1979, the punk movement was in full flower but the chaotic noise of punk music was starting to evolve into electronic noise."
64. THE EARLY 80S The popularity of the film Bladerunner and William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer accelerated the term cyberpunk. Authors like Cadigan, Bruce Sterling and Rudy Rucker were only a few of the pioneers which created worlds where humans and computers merge.
65. THE EARLY 80S The popularity of the film Bladerunner and William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer accelerated the term cyberpunk. Authors like Cadigan, Bruce Sterling and Rudy Rucker were only a few of the pioneers which created worlds where humans and computers merge.
66. THE 1990S Back in the 80s the term cyber was more or less related to the underground. Though in the 1990s more and more people got internet access so that an utopian vision changed towards a “household consumer item“. This led to the creation of terms like ”cyber-bull”, ”cybercommunity”, ”cybergeek”, ”cyberlaw”, ”cyberstalker” as well as ”cybersex” and ”cyberwar”. Shortly… everything turned ”cyber” out of a sudden.
67. THE 1990S Back in the 80s the term cyber was more or less related to the underground. Though in the 1990s more and more people got internet access so that an utopian vision changed towards a “household consumer item“. This led to the creation of terms like ”cyber-bull”, ”cybercommunity”, ”cybergeek”, ”cyberlaw”, ”cyberstalker” as well as ”cybersex” and ”cyberwar”. Shortly… everything turned ”cyber” out of a sudden.
68. R.U. Sirius, founder of Mondo 2000, Futurist Magazine
69. R.U. Sirius, founder of Mondo 2000, Futurist Magazine
70. R.U. Sirius, founder of Mondo 2000, Futurist Magazine
71. A Nintendo ad for the Power Glove.
72. Back in the days of AOL chat rooms, IRC channels, and text-only multi-user games, lots of people started having cybersex (MOSTLY VIA TEXT). TELEDILDONICS “Wanna cyber?“ did not mean “Wanna take down the national security infrastructure?“ It meant “let’s f*** on our private IRC channel.“
73. MACHINES
 CONTINUUM
74. PHILIP ROSEDALE 2006 * Second Life founder Philip Rosedale at the beginning of the hype in 2006
75. * Myself lecturing at Second Life in 2007
76. * WoW strategy planning in Second Life
77. MARKUS PERSSON NOTCH * Minecraft founder Notch
78. MINECRAFT HTTP://D.PR/KZ39/4LI495RI
79. GAME OF THRONES
 REBUILT IN MINECRAFT
80. GOOGLE EARTH * Google Earth can be seen as a Mirror World
81. JOHANNESBURG STADION
 REBUILT IN GOOGLE EARTH * Google built as an example the Johannesburg station during World Cup 2010 as a digital mirror in Google Earth
82. MINECRAFT REAL EARTH MAP HTTP://D.PR/QGNE/9F8PZ2GN * Minecraft Mirror World of the real earth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvtAZYtIWJI Making of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNvFaxiZeVw
84. * The book Ready Player One gives a lot of insights on what could happen with facebook and Oculus Rift
85. OCULUS RIFT FIRST TRIP INTO TUSCANY HTTP://D.PR/E19G/SPQF3PW6 * The demo which comes with the Oculus Rift „Trip into Tuscany“ shows another perfect example for a Mirrorworld
86. OUTERRA HTTP://D.PR/CEFE/3X2H37NI
88. CONCLUSION
89. ANALOG DIGITAL * In my personal opinion there is not a really a difference between analog or digital * Instead it is a natural continuous progression that is accelerating throughout time
90. ANALOG DIGITAL * In my personal opinion there is not a really a difference between analog or digital * Instead it is a natural continuous progression that is accelerating throughout time
91. MAIL@AXELQUACK.DE WWW.AXELQUACK.DE