HUPOMNEMATA

a classical compilation of sci-fi movies through history by Tim Dirks.
a home-made page as I like them

go and see

A nice and exhaustive history of telephone in Atlanta:
images and sounds from early telephones, documenting the technological evolution but you can learn more about the social movements inside the company(strikes) and early hackers(Phone Freaking)

read more

I had since long forgotten it. A bookmark’s resurrection, the unabomber manifesto’s table of contents and the link to the text, the other link to the trial and the third to the unabomber timeline

The Unabomber’s Manifesto

Industrial Society And Its Future

Table of Contents
# Introduction
# The Psychology Of Modern Leftism
# Feelings Of Inferiority
# Oversocialization
# The Power Process
# Surrogate Activities
# Autonomy
# Sources Of Social Problems
# Disruption Of The Power Process In Modern Society
# How Some People Adjust
# The Motives Of Scientists
# The Nature Of Freedom
# Some Principles Of History
# Industrial-Technological Society Cannot Be Reformed
# Restriction Of Freedom Is unavoidable In Industrial Society
# The ‘Bad’ Parts Of Technology Cannot Be Seperated From The ‘Good’ Parts
# Technology Is A More Powerful Social Force Than The Aspiration Freedom
# Simpler Social Problems Have Proved Intractable
# Revolution Is Easier Than Reform
# Control Of Human Behavior
# Human Race At A Crossroads
# Human Suffering
# The Future
# Strategy
# Two Kinds Of Technology
# The Danger Of Leftism
# Final Note
# Notes

In complement to the book of Bruce Sterling, here is another history of hackers.
But this time written by a Swedish computer enthousiast, Linus Walleij.

“The word originally applied to the people who spent their time crawling under the railroad tracks at the Tech Model Railroad Club’s (TMRC) facilities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the 1950’s, connecting switches and relays with cables. This model railroad was one of the first computer-like structures. A hack originally meant a prank of the kind that students and faculty played on their school (or rivaling institutions), such as wrapping the entire roof in tinfoil. A good hack would be very conspicuous, and also prompt the observer to ask him- or herself: “How in the hell did they do that!?”. Later, the word became synonymous with a spectacular solution to a technical problem, or an ingenious computer program, or some other generally brilliant design. A hacker , therefore, was someone who created and implemented things of this kind.

A hacker, generally speaking, is a person who uses a computer for its own sake because it’s fun. An author that uses a word processor all day is not a hacker. Neither is a graphic designer, inventory specialist, or computer instructor. Their professions simply require them to use a computer to simplify or improve the efficiency of some other task. However, a programmer that loves his or her work is a hacker. Likewise, an enthusiastic computer technician or microcomputer designer is also a hacker. Last but definitely not least, there are hobby hackers , who actually constitute the largest and most overlooked group of computer enthusiasts – probably because they don’t use a computer in a professional sense. These amateurs do not have PR directors shouting their cause, nor do they have publishers or trade journals that print their opinions. Some elements of the media focus on this group, but they seldom speak for them; rather, the computer media generally focuses on “bringing up” the amateurs to the standards and norms of the professionals. ”

read more

By sci-fi author’s David Brin, the first chapter is online:

“This is a tale of two cities. Cities of the near future, say ten or twenty years from now.
Barring something unforeseen, you are apt to live in one of these two places. Your only choice may be which.

At first sight, this pair of municipalities look pretty much alike. Both contain dazzling technological marvels, especially in the realm of electronic media. Both suffer familiar urban quandaries of frustration and decay. If some progress is being made at solving human problems, it is happening gradually. Perhaps some kids seem better educated. The air may be marginally cleaner. People still worry about over-population, the environment, and the next international crisis.

None of these features are of interest to us right now, for we have noticed something about both of these 21st century cities that is radically different. A trait that marks them distinct from any metropolis of the late nineteen-nineties.
Street crime has nearly vanished from both towns. But that is only a symptom, a result.
The real change peers down from every lamp post, every roof-top and street sign.

Tiny cameras, panning left and right, surveying traffic and pedestrians, observing everything in open view.”

read online

The Closed World:
Computers and the Politics of Discourse in Cold War America

The sensors — shaped like twigs, jungle plants, and animal droppings — were designed to detect all kinds of human activity, such as the noises of truck engines, body heat, motion, even the scent of human urine. When they picked up a signal, it appeared on the ISC’s display terminals hundreds of miles away as a moving white “worm” superimposed on a map grid. As soon as the ISC computers could calculate the worm’s direction and rate of motion, coordinates were radioed to Phantom F-4 jets patrolling the night sky. The planes’ navigation systems and computers automatically guided them to the “box,” or map grid square, to be attacked. The ISC central computers were also able to control the release of bombs: the pilot might do no more than sit and watch as the invisible jungle below suddenly exploded into flames. In most cases no American ever actually saw the target at all.

The “worm” would then disappear from the screen at the ISC. This entire process normally took no more than five minutes.

the first chapters of The Closed World are online:
the closed world

How can we protect ourselves against the threats of germs and toxins? Cold War America gears up to fend off threats from unconventional bioweapons.

Sponsor: U.S. Federal Civil Defense Administration

see movie

Plenty of wild wired promises are already being made for all the infant media. What we need is a somber, thoughtful, thorough, hype-free, even lugubrious book that honors the dead and resuscitates the spiritual ancestors of today’s mediated frenzy. A book to give its readership a deeper, paleontological perspective right in the dizzy midst of the digital revolution. We need a book about the failures of media, the collapses of media, the supercessions of media, the strangulations of media, a book detailing all the freakish and hideous media mistakes that we should know enough now not to repeat, a book about media that have died on the barbed wire of technological advance, media that didn’t make it, martyred media, dead media. THE HANDBOOK OF DEAD MEDIA. A naturalist’s field guide for the communications paleontologist.
Bruce Sterling

see the dead media project

suggested by michel cleempoel

“Ever since computers began to make the physical presence of workers less necessary, many ideas have been put forward, all trying to answer one of the most popular questions asked by businessmen: How to save money and take advantage of new technology?

A few years ago Roger H. Buck, computer scientist and president of Remote Labor Systems, had the invented a concept which he would name “Cybracero.”

“Cybracero is a program that uses robotic technology to replace the bracero, who has to travel from other countries to work in the fields of this country. Through Cybracero, robots take care of the agricultural tasks like planting seeds, and harvesting, by being remote-controlled by workers who stay in their country of origin,” explained a spokesman for Remote Labor Systems, in an interview with La Opinión.”

read on: cybracero

A very documented archive of the interconnection of electromagnetism, matter, energy and information.
If you only have just one minute, these samples will give you an idea of the general imagery:

• sample 1
• sample 2

but if you have more time, just d i v e into it.