Rise of the Machines: A Cybernetic History

Rid, Thomas

ISBN 10: 0393354954 / ISBN 13: 9780393354959

Published by W. W. Norton & Company, 2017

About this Item

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Rise of the Machines: A Cybernetic History
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication Date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0393354954
• ISBN 13: 9780393354959
• Binding: paperback
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

"Dazzling.” ―Financial Times

As lives offline and online merge even more, it is easy to forget how we got here. Rise of the Machines reclaims the spectacular story of cybernetics, one of the twentieth century’s pivotal ideas.

Springing from the mind of mathematician Norbert Wiener amid the devastation of World War II, the cybernetic vision underpinned a host of seductive myths about the future of machines. Cybernetics triggered blissful cults and military gizmos, the Whole Earth Catalog and the air force’s foray into virtual space, as well as crypto-anarchists fighting for internet freedom.

In Rise of the Machines, Thomas Rid draws on unpublished sources―including interviews with hippies, anarchists, sleuths, and spies―to offer an unparalleled perspective into our anxious embrace of technology.

32 pages of illustrations

About the Author

Thomas Rid is a professor in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London and the author of Cyber War Will Not Take Place and War and Media Operations. He lives in London.