The Jetsons Rosie Come Home

Imagining Slaves and Robots in Literature, Film, and Popular Culture: Reinventing Yesterday's Slave with Tomorrow's Robot is an interdisciplinary study that seeks to investigate and speculate about the relationship between technology and human nature. It is a timely and creative analysis of the ways in which we domesticate technology and the manner in which the history of slavery continues to be utilized in contemporary society. This text interrogates how the domestic slaves of the past are being re-imaged as domestic robots of the future. Hampton asserts that the rhetoric used to persuade an entire nation to become dependent on the institution of chattel slavery will be employed to promote the enslavement of technology in the form of humanoid robots with Artificial Intelligence. Imagining Slaves and Robots in Literature, Film, and Popular Culture makes the claim that science fiction, film, and popular culture have all been used to normalize the notion of robots in domestic spaces and relationships. In examining the similarities of human slaves and mechanical or biomechanical robots, this text seeks to gain a better understanding of how slaves are created and justified in the imaginations of a supposedly civilized nation. And in doing so, give pause to those who would disassociate America’s past from its imminent future.

The fantasy of a male creator constructing his perfect woman dates back to the Greek myth of Pygmalion and Galatea. Yet as technology has advanced over the past century, the figure of the lifelike manmade woman has become nearly ubiquitous, popping up in everything from Bride of Frankenstein to Weird Science to The Stepford Wives. Now Julie Wosk takes us on a fascinating tour through this bevy of artificial women, revealing the array of cultural fantasies and fears they embody. My Fair Ladies considers how female automatons have been represented as objects of desire in fiction and how “living dolls” have been manufactured as real-world fetish objects. But it also examines the many works in which the “perfect” woman turns out to be artificial—a robot or doll—and thus becomes a source of uncanny horror. Finally, Wosk introduces us to a variety of female artists, writers, and filmmakers—from Cindy Sherman to Shelley Jackson to Zoe Kazan—who have cleverly crafted their own images of simulated women. Anything but dry, My Fair Ladies draws upon Wosk’s own experiences as a young female Playboy copywriter and as a child of the “feminine mystique” era to show how images of the artificial woman have loomed large over real women’s lives. Lavishly illustrated with film stills, artwork, and vintage advertisements, this book offers a fresh look at familiar myths about gender, technology, and artistic creation.

This book spans three centuries of popular entertainment and everyday culture, showcasing both mainstream and submerged channels and voices to examine how once reviled business values gained supremacy and poisoned the American spirit. The office in popular culture is often depicted as a topsy-turvy parallel universe where psychological disorders are legitimized as "managerial styles" and comically depraved bosses torment those who do the actual work. During the 1950s, the Beats chose denim and the open road over gray flannel suits and office jobs, but today their grandchildren—Generation Y—aggressively covet desk jobs. "Greed Is Good" and Other Fables: Office Life in Popular Culture examines how office life is both extolled and lampooned in popular culture. The book tracks how business values ascended to cultural dominance in the United States today, revealing our incessant struggle between financial and spiritual goals in the pursuit of "freedom" and the fulfillment of the American dream. By drawing upon sources as varied as books, newspapers, magazines, television shows, movies, blogs, message boards, documentaries, public speeches, corporate training films, and employee newsletters, the author provides compelling insights into the range of competing values and ideals interwoven throughout office life.

Fred decides that he and Barney will build a shared swimming pool.

How the Internet of Things will change your life: all you need to know, in plain English! The Internet of Things (IoT) won’t just connect people: It will connect “smart” homes, appliances, cars, offices, factories, cities... the world. You need to know what’s coming: It might just transform your life. Now, the world’s #1 author of beginning technology books has written the perfect introduction to IoT for everyone. Michael Miller shows how connected smart devices will help people do more, do it smarter, do it faster. He also reveals the potential risks—to your privacy, your freedom, and maybe your life. Make no mistake: IoT is coming quickly. Miller explains why you care, helps you use what’s already here, and prepares you for the world that’s hurtling toward you. --What is IoT? How does it work? How will it affect me? --What’s realistic, and what’s just hype? --How smart is my “smart TV” really? (And, is it watching me?) --Can smart IoT devices make me healthier? --Will smart appliances ever be useful? --How much energy could I save with a smart home? --What’s the future of wearable tech? --When will I have a self-driving car? --When will I have a nearly self-driving car? (Hint: Surprisingly soon.) --Is IoT already changing the way I shop? --What’s the future of drones, at war and in my neighborhood? --Could smart cities lower my taxes? --Who gets the data my devices are collecting? --How can I profit from the Internet of Things? --What happens when the whole world is connected? --Will I have any privacy left at all?

How the Internet of Things will change your life: all you need to know, in plain English! The Internet of Things (IoT) won’t just connect people: It will connect “smart” homes, appliances, cars, offices, factories, cities... the world. You need to know what’s coming: It might just transform your life. Now, the world’s #1 author of beginning technology books has written the perfect introduction to IoT for everyone. Michael Miller shows how connected smart devices will help people do more, do it smarter, do it faster. He also reveals the potential risks—to your privacy, your freedom, and maybe your life. Make no mistake: IoT is coming quickly. Miller explains why you care, helps you use what’s already here, and prepares you for the world that’s hurtling toward you. --What is IoT? How does it work? How will it affect me? --What’s realistic, and what’s just hype? --How smart is my “smart TV” really? (And, is it watching me?) --Can smart IoT devices make me healthier? --Will smart appliances ever be useful? --How much energy could I save with a smart home? --What’s the future of wearable tech? --When will I have a self-driving car? --When will I have a nearly self-driving car? (Hint: Surprisingly soon.) --Is IoT already changing the way I shop? --What’s the future of drones, at war and in my neighborhood? --Could smart cities lower my taxes? --Who gets the data my devices are collecting? --How can I profit from the Internet of Things? --What happens when the whole world is connected? --Will I have any privacy left at all?