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Cyhist Mar 17 1997 G
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Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 12:29:25 -0800
Reply-To: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> Sender: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> From: "Mark Stahlman (via RadioMail)" <stahlman@RADIOMAIL.NET>
Subject: CM>Social History of Computing
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Community Memory: Discussion List on the History of Cyberspace ______________________________________________________________________
Folks:
"The History of PI" is by Petr Beckmann and was published by St. Martins in paparback in 1971 although the copyright was held by GOLEM, Press -- which seems like a enough good excuse to segue to Norbert Wiener and his concerns about monstrous evil as embodied in computers.
I was interested to hear in an earlier post that Richard Hull is looking at "investigating the role of the social sciences in the history of computing" -- which a topic that I'm also quite interested in researching.
There is some treatment of the concerns of early cyberneticians about the social implications of computers in Steve Heims' book regarding the Macy Conferences, but I have been able to find little else. Is anyone on this list aware of any thorough treatment of the early debates and the larger policy implications regarding the social impact of computerization. I'm looking for scholarship, not popular or speculative treatments, BTW.
Norbert Wiener engaged in a widespread educational campaign around the dangers of the open-ended application of feedback-based machinery in a world that didn't value humanity -- as is captured in the first edition (1950) of his book, "The Human Use of Human Beings." I'm looking for the works of or about others who may been a party to what I've been calling the "humanity" debate of the late 1940's and early 1950's.
Mark Stahlman
New Media Associates
New York City
newmedia@mcimail.com
______________________________________________________________________
Reply-To: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> Sender: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> From: "Mark Stahlman (via RadioMail)" <stahlman@RADIOMAIL.NET>
Subject: CM>Social History of Computing
______________________________________________________________________
Community Memory: Discussion List on the History of Cyberspace ______________________________________________________________________
Folks:
"The History of PI" is by Petr Beckmann and was published by St. Martins in paparback in 1971 although the copyright was held by GOLEM, Press -- which seems like a enough good excuse to segue to Norbert Wiener and his concerns about monstrous evil as embodied in computers.
I was interested to hear in an earlier post that Richard Hull is looking at "investigating the role of the social sciences in the history of computing" -- which a topic that I'm also quite interested in researching.
There is some treatment of the concerns of early cyberneticians about the social implications of computers in Steve Heims' book regarding the Macy Conferences, but I have been able to find little else. Is anyone on this list aware of any thorough treatment of the early debates and the larger policy implications regarding the social impact of computerization. I'm looking for scholarship, not popular or speculative treatments, BTW.
Norbert Wiener engaged in a widespread educational campaign around the dangers of the open-ended application of feedback-based machinery in a world that didn't value humanity -- as is captured in the first edition (1950) of his book, "The Human Use of Human Beings." I'm looking for the works of or about others who may been a party to what I've been calling the "humanity" debate of the late 1940's and early 1950's.
Mark Stahlman
New Media Associates
New York City
newmedia@mcimail.com
______________________________________________________________________
