Future Hype

This fascinating look at innovations past and present—and our sometimes mistaken beliefs about them—“puts technological change into historical perspective” (Henry Petroski, author of The Evolution of Useful Things). Everyone knows that today’s rate of technological change is unprecedented. With breakthroughs from the Internet to cell phones to digital music and pictures, everyone knows that the social impact of technology has never been as profound or overwhelming. But how much is truth and how much is hype? Future Hype surveys the past few hundred years to show that many of the technologies we now take for granted transformed society in far more dramatic ways than more recent developments so often touted as unparalleled and historic. In this thoughtful book, Bob Seidensticker exposes the hidden costs of technology—and helps both consumers and businesses take a shrewder position when the next “essential” innovation is trotted out.

Most people feel certain that the pace of technological change increases exponentially. They think that the Internet and personal computers are only the most prominent of the many innovations that surge around us and that new ones arrive ever faster. They're certain that never before has the social impact of technological change been as profound or as pervasive as it is today. But they are wrong. The Internet isn't that big a deal. Neither is the PC. Abandon all technology and live in the woods for a week and see if it's your laptop you miss most. In fact, the technologies most important to us are the older ones - the car and telephone, electricity and concrete, textiles and agriculture, to name just a few. The popular perception of modern technology is inflated and out of step with reality. We overestimate the importance of new and exciting inventions, and we underestimate those we've grown up with. Change is not increasing exponentially. In fact, technology has disoriented and delighted for centuries. This book will attempt to recalibrate your thinking by looking at how technological change really happens....If people see technology more clearly, we would have a shrewder citizenry that would demand practical and constructive, rather than expedient or convenient, decisions from their politicians. They would be more able to analyze and discuss the relevant technology issues of the day - from the digital divide, to government support for space and other science programs, to national defense, to the value of computers in schools - and weigh more knowledgeably the pros and cons of what is being offered....Over three decades ago, Future Shock by Alvin Toffler created a sensation by portraying technology spinning out of society's control. Future Hype approaches the same topic but reaches a very different conclusion: that the popular view of technological change is wrong and the future won't be so shocking. We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.

Explore the potential for nanotechnologies to transform future mobile and Internet communications. Based on a research collaboration between Nokia, Helsinki University of Technology, and the University of Cambridge, here leading researchers review the current state-of-the art and future prospects for: • Novel multifunctional materials, dirt repellent, self-healing surface materials, and lightweight structural materials capable of adapting their shape • Portable energy storage using supercapacitor-battery hybrids based on new materials including carbon nanohorns and porous electrodes, fuel cell technologies, energy harvesting and more efficient solar cells • Electronics and computing advances reaching beyond IC scaling limits, new computing approaches and architectures, embedded intelligence and future memory technologies. • Nanoscale transducers for mechanical, optical and chemical sensing, sensor signal processing, and nanoscale actuation • Nanoelectronics to create ultrafast and adaptive electronics for future radio technologies • Flat panel displays with greater robustness, improved resolution, brightness and contrast, and mechanical flexibility • Manufacturing and innovation processes, plus commercialization of nanotechnologies.

A vibrant guide to the artistic, cultural, and social faces of the new media.

Industrial robots, self-driving cars, customer-service chatbots and Google’s algorithmic predictions have brought the topic of artificial intelligence into public debate. Why is AI the source of such intense controversy and what are its economic, political, social and cultural consequences? Tracing the changing fortunes of artificial intelligence, Elliott develops a systematic account of how automated intelligent machines impact different spheres and aspects of public and private life. Among the issues discussed are the automation of workforces, surveillance capitalism, warfare and lethal autonomous weapons, the spread of racist robots and the automation of social inequalities. Elliott also considers the decisive role of AI in confronting global risks and social futures, including global pandemics such as COVID-19, and how smart algorithms are impacting the search for energy security and combating climate change. Making Sense of AI provides a judiciously comprehensive account of artificial intelligence for those with little or no previous knowledge of the topic. It will be an invaluable book both for students in the social sciences and humanities and for general readers.

User Error doesn't argue that we should simply reject computers, but neither does it uncritically embrace the current state of affairs but offers other options.