This book is a history of the future. It shows how our contemporary understanding of the Internet is shaped by visions of the future that were put together in the 1950s and 1960s. At the height of the Cold War, the Americans invented the only working model of communism in human history: the Internet. Yet, for all of its libertarian potential, the goal of this hi-tech project was geopolitical dominance: the ownership of time was control over the destiny of humanity. The potentially subversive theory of cybernetics was transformed into the military-friendly project of 'artificial intelligence'. Capitalist growth became the fastest route to the 'information society'. The rest of the world was expected to follow America's path into the networked future. Today, we're still being told that the Internet is creating the information society - and that America today is everywhere else tomorrow. Thankfully, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the DIY ethic of the Internet shows that people can resist these authoritarian prophecies by shaping information technologies in their own interest. Ultimately, if we don't want the future to be what it used to be, we must invent our own, improved and truly revolutionary future.
- 336 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
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INDEX
Compiled by John Barker
Abbate, Janet, ref1n, ref2n, ref3n,
Abstract Expressionism, ref1
Ades, Lisa, ref1n, ref2n
ADSID sensors, ref1
Afghanistan, ref1, ref2
Agar, Jon, ref1n, ref2n
Aglietta Michel, ref1n
Al-Qa’ida, ref1, ref2
Alderman, John, ref1n
Aldrich, Richard, ref1n
Alliance for Progress, ref1, ref2
Ambrose, Stephen, ref1n, ref2n, ref3n, ref4n
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, ref1
American Communist Party, ref1
American Cybernetics Society, ref1, ref2
‘American exceptionalism’, ref1
American Revolution 1776, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9
Declaration of Independence, ref1
democratic ideals, ref1
liberal ideals, ref1, ref2
Amnesty International, ref1n
Anderson, Andy, ref1n
antiwar.com, ref1n
Anweiler, Oskar, ref1n
ANZUS, military alliance, ref1
Apokin, Igor, ref1n, ref2n
Apple. i-Tunes service, ref1
Arbatov, Georgi, ref1n
Aristotle, ref1
Armstrong, David, ref1n
ARPA, Advanced Research Projects Agency, USA), ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
ARPANET, ref1, ref2, ref3
artificial intelligence, goal/promise of, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12
Alan Turing prophecy, ref1, ref2, ref3
science fiction representation, ref1
US military finance, ref1
Asimov, Isaac, ref1, ref2, ref3
atom bomb, development of, r...
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- 01 The Future Is What It Used To Be
- 02 The American Century
- 03 Cold War Computing
- 04 The Human Machine
- 05 Cybernetic Supremacy
- 06 The Global Village
- 07 The Cold War Left
- 08 The Chosen Few
- 09 Free Workers In The Affluent Society
- 10 The Prophets Of Post-Industrialism
- 11 The American Road To The Global Village
- 12 The Leader Of The Free World
- 13 The Great Game
- 14 The American Invasion Of Vietnam
- 15 Those Who Forget The Future Are Condemned To Repeat It
- References
- Index
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Yes, you can access Imaginary Futures by Richard Barbrook in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Politics & International Relations & Political History & Theory. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.