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I'm a nerd. I love computers. If you’re not
a nerd, you may grimly tolerate or even hate computers. Maybe
you feel like this device that's supposed to make life easier
has just made your life harder. Maybe you wonder why, if technology
is supposedly advancing, we don’t move any closer to the
life of effortless leisure promised by retro science fiction.
Sales literature and scifi promise us a seamless perfection from
our technology. This expectation isn’t realistic, and it
sets us up for a lot of frustration. Particular computer programs
or devices may be designed, but technology as a whole is evolved,
like the bodies that produce it, and evolved entities aren’t
perfect. Computer failures can cause us to curse, wail and vow
never to rely on a piece of plastic again. They may even make
us feel stupid and helpless. But what if we could look behind
our magical thinking about computers, both wishful and fearful?
If we had some context on how the computer works, and doesn't
work, wouldn’t our relationship with it be a lot happier?
Wouldn’t you feel more in control of your work and play?
And perhaps you’d learn to appreciate computers they way
nerds do, with a sense of adventure.
This book is for people who use a computer every day, and who
want to know how it works underneath the user interface without
being bored senseless by a lot of acronym-laden jargon. It’s
for those who truly want to examine the sociological aspects of
something they spend most of their day sitting in front of. It’s
for those who like to impress people at parties with cool facts
and interesting connections of ideas. I equip the reader with
some practical knowledge of physics, information theory and social
history, to put a human face on all the abstractions. Video games
and electronic music are particularly good windows into the computer’s
mysterious behavior, especially its failures. Games and music
shed light on the similarities between artificial intelligence
and human intelligence, and more importantly, on the profound
differences. And as a bonus, the reader learns some practical
troubleshooting skills in the broader context of the logical paradoxes
that cause the crashes.
Clay Shirky says of computers and the internet that they’re
now technologically boring enough to be socially interesting.
Computer Evolution closes with some ideas about the possible future
of the human-computer relationship, comparing various sci-fi scenarios
with more realistic ideas drawn from evolutionary biology. Throughout,
I make a larger philosophical point that art, play and science
are all different aspects of instinctive human drive to finding
out what makes complex systems tick. All games are educational.
What do we want them to teach?
Represented by Molly Lyons, Delbourgo
& Associates
Online content:
Research
on Delicious | Metablog
post about Delicious
Visual
outline on Flickr | Metablog
post about visual outlining
