Download or read book Imagining Tomorrow written by Joseph J. Corn and published by Mit Press. This book was released on 1986 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looks at past predictions of the future, discusses how x-rays, radio, nuclear energy, and plastic were expected to change the future, and considers the impact of skyscrapers, computers, and electricity
Download or read book Imagining Slaves and Robots in Literature Film and Popular Culture written by Gregory Jerome Hampton and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2015-10-22 with total page 115 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Imagining Flight written by A. Bowdoin Van Riper and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imagining Flight is a history of the air age as the rest of us have experienced it: on the pages of books, the screens of movie theaters, and the front pages of newspapers. It focuses on the United States, but also contrasts American ideas and attitudes with those of other air-minded nations, including Britain, France, Germany and Japan.
Download or read book Future Park written by Amalie Wright and published by CSIRO PUBLISHING. This book was released on 2013-09-19 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first public parks were created on urban 'greenfields'. Once these designated sites had been used, cities looked towards post-industrial sites, and built parks in places that had suffered from environmental degradation, neglect, abandonment and conflict. With finite stocks of urban post-industrial land now also approaching exhaustion, more ways of making parks are required to create inclusive, accessible and resilient urban places. Future Park invites Australian built environment professionals and policymakers to consider the future of parks in our cities. Including spectacular images of public spaces throughout the world, the book describes the economic, social and environmental benefits of urban parks, and then outlines the threats and challenges facing cities and communities in an age when more than half the world's population are urban dwellers. Future Park introduces the need to embrace new public park thinking to ensure that benefits continue to be realised. Future Park illustrates imaginative and resourceful responses to real challenges by highlighting recent proposals and projects. These projects coalesce around four broad themes – linkages, obsolescences, co-locations and installations – responding to contemporary urban paradoxes, and ensuring parks continue to play a vital role in the lives of our cities.
Download or read book Imagining the Future written by Karl K. Szpunar and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-10-11 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One particularly adaptive feature of human cognition is the ability to mentally preview specific events before they take place in reality. Familiar examples of this ability—often referred to as episodic future thinking—include what happens when an employee imagines when, where, and how they might go about asking their boss for a raise, or when a teenager anguishes over what might happen if they ask their secret crush on a date. In this book, the editors bring together current perspectives from researchers from around the globe who are working to develop a deeper understanding of the manner in which the simulations of future events are constructed, the role of emotion and personal meaning in the context of episodic simulation, and how the ability to imagine specific future events relates to other forms of future thinking such as the ability to remember to carry out intended actions in the future. This book was originally published as a special issue of The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.
Download or read book Transforming the Future written by Riel Miller and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-04-27 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: People are using the future to search for better ways to achieve sustainability, inclusiveness, prosperity, well-being and peace. In addition, the way the future is understood and used is changing in almost all domains, from social science to daily life. This book presents the results of significant research undertaken by UNESCO with a number of partners to detect and define the theory and practice of anticipation around the world today. It uses the concept of ‘Futures Literacy’ as a tool to define the understanding of anticipatory systems and processes – also known as the Discipline of Anticipation. This innovative title explores: • new topics such as Futures Literacy and the Discipline of Anticipation; • the evidence collected from over 30 Futures Literacy Laboratories and presented in 14 full case studies; • the need and opportunity for significant innovation in human decision-making systems. This book will be of great interest to scholars, researchers, policy-makers and students, as well as activists working on sustainability issues and innovation, future studies and anticipation studies. The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781351047999, has been made available under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO (CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO) license.
Download or read book Imagining Outer Space written by Alexander C.T. Geppert and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-04-25 with total page 443 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imagining Outer Space makes a captivating advance into the cultural history of outer space and extraterrestrial life in the European imagination. How was outer space conceived and communicated? What promises of interplanetary expansion and cosmic colonization propelled the project of human spaceflight to the forefront of twentieth-century modernity? In what way has West-European astroculture been affected by the continuous exploration of outer space? Tracing the thriving interest in spatiality to early attempts at exploring imaginary worlds beyond our own, the book analyzes contact points between science and fiction from a transdisciplinary perspective and examines sites and situations where utopian images and futuristic technologies contributed to the omnipresence of fantasmatic thought. Bringing together state-of-the-art work in this emerging field of historical research, the volume breaks new ground in the historicization of the Space Age.
Download or read book The Age of Longevity written by Rosalind C. Barnett and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2016-08-22 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Long, productive lives are the destiny of most of us, not just the privilege of our great-grandchildren. The story of aging is not one of steady decline and decay; we need a new narrative based on solid research, not scare stories. Today Americans enjoy a new, healthy stage of life, between roughly 65 and 79, during which we are staying engaged in the workplace, starting new relationships and careers, remaining creative and becoming entrepreneurs and job creators. We are in the midst of a major paradigm shift in the way we live. Our major milestones are shifting. The definition of “normal” behavior is changing. Today, we marry later or not at all; cohabitation is not just a stepping stone to marriage, but a long-term arrangement for many. Women often have their first child in their 40s, and increasingly before they marry. People enjoy active sex lives well into their 6th, 7th or even 8th decades. None of our institutions will remain the same. People are working longer, and given the declining birth rate, older workers will be in great demand. Four generations are increasingly working side by side, learning from each other. But we must ensure that the benefits of long life are not limited to a wealthy few. The Age of Longevity shows how we as a society can embrace the life-altering changes that are either coming in the near future or are already underway. The authors give readers a panoramic view of how they, the institutions that affect them, and the country as a whole will need to adapt to what’s ahead. They offer strategies, based on cutting-edge research, that will enable individuals, institutions, companies, and governments to make the most of our lengthening life spans. Using real life examples throughout, the authors paint a picture of what our new longer lives will look like, and the changes that need to be made so we can all make those years both more productive and more enjoyable.
Download or read book Imagining Tomorrow written by Joseph J. Corn and published by MIT Press (MA). This book was released on 1988-03-01 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of the future is the history of a society's imagination, and ImaginingTomorrow takes a lively and informative look at the future as envisioned in the American past. Theseten original essays explore the impulse to peer into the future, particularly into the Americandream of a technological utopia. Some of the technologies discussed are x-rays, radio, plastics, theelectric light, and nuclear power (including Henry Ford's nuclear car).Joseph J. Corn is a lecturerin the Program on Values, Technology, Science, and Society at Stanford University.
Download or read book Retrofitting Cities for Tomorrow s World written by Malcolm Eames and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2017-11-13 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking exploration of the most promising new ideas for creating the sustainable cities of tomorrow The culmination of a four-year collaborative research project undertaken by leading UK universities, in partnership with city authorities, prominent architecture firms, and major international consultants, Retrofitting Cities for Tomorrow's World explores the theoretical and practical aspects of the transition towards sustainability in the built environment that will occur in the years ahead. The emphasis throughout is on emerging systems innovations and bold new ways of imagining and re-imagining urban retrofitting, set within the context of ‘futures-based’ thinking. The concept of urban retrofitting has gained prominence within both the research and policy arenas in recent years. While cities are often viewed as a source of environmental stress and resource depletion they are also hubs of learning and innovation offering enormous potential for scaling up technological responses. But city-level action will require a major shift in thinking and a scaling up of positive responses to climate change and the associated threats of environmental and social degradation. Clearly the time has come for a more coordinated, planned, and strategic approach that will allow cities to transition to a sustainable future. This book summarizes many of the best new ideas currently in play on how to achieve those goals. Reviews the most promising ideas for how to approach planning and coordinating a more sustainable urban future by 2050 through retrofitting existing structures Explores how cities need to govern for urban retrofit and how future urban transitions and pathways can be managed, modeled and navigated Offers inter-disciplinary insights from international contributors from both the academic and professional spheres Develops a rigorous conceptual framework for analyzing existing challenges and fostering innovative ways of addressing those challenges Retrofitting Cities for Tomorrow's World is must-reading for academic researchers, including postgraduates insustainability, urban planning, environmental studies, economics, among other fields. It is also an important source of fresh ideas and inspiration for town planners, developers, policy advisors, and consultants working within the field of sustainability, energy, and the urban environment.
Download or read book A U Turn to the Future written by Martin Emanuel and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2020-02-03 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From local bike-sharing initiatives to overhauls of transport infrastructure, mobility is one of the most important areas in which modern cities are trying to realize a more sustainable future. Yet even as politicians and planners look ahead, there remain critical insights to be gleaned from the history of urban mobility and the unsustainable practices that still impact our everyday lives. United by their pursuit of a “usable past,” the studies in this interdisciplinary collection consider the ecological, social, and economic aspects of urban mobility, showing how historical inquiry can make both conceptual and practical contributions to the projects of sustainability and urban renewal.
Download or read book Eschatology and the Technological Future written by Michael S. Burdett and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-12-05 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The rapid advancement of technology has led to an explosion of speculative theories about what the future of humankind may look like. These "technological futurisms" have arisen from significant advances in the fields of nanotechnology, biotechnology and information technology and are drawing growing scrutiny from the philosophical and theological communities. This text seeks to contextualize the growing literature on the cultural, philosophical and religious implications of technological growth by considering technological futurisms such as transhumanism in the context of the long historical tradition of technological dreaming. Michael Burdett traces the latent religious sources of our contemporary technological imagination by looking at visionary approaches to technology and the future in seminal technological utopias and science fiction and draws on past theological responses to the technological future with Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Jacques Ellul. Burdett’s argument arrives at a contemporary Christian response to transhumanism based around the themes of possibility and promise by turning to the works of Richard Kearney, Eberhard Jüngel and Jürgen Moltmann. Throughout, the author highlights points of correspondence and divergence between technological futurisms and the Judeo-Christian understanding of the future.
Download or read book Region and Nation written by James Brennan and published by Palgrave Macmillan. This book was released on 2003-01-30 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The study of twentieth-century Argentine history is undergoing a radical transformation. Both Argentine and U.S. historians of Argentina are recasting the great debates in the historiography by challenging the Buenos Aires-centered focus of most of the existing historical scholarship and offering a new perspective on the country's modern history. Argentina's supposed 'exceptionalism' is being challenged by these historians. The persistence of political clientilism and oligarchic rule, enclave economies and pre-capitalist social relations, the role of traditional institutions such as the Church and family, intense class conflict and working class militancy, all approximate Argentina closer to the Latin American experience than the previous historiography would suggest. This book is a unique collaboration between Argentine and U.S. historians of this 'other Argentina.'
Download or read book Big Switch written by Nicholas Carr and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2008 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this lucid and compelling look at the new computer revolution and the coming transformation on the economy, Carr weaves together history, economics, and technology to explain why computing is changing--and what it means.
Download or read book Meals to Come written by Dr. Warren Belasco and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2006-10-18 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this provocative and lively addition to his acclaimed writings on food, Warren Belasco takes a sweeping look at a little-explored yet timely topic: humanity's deep-rooted anxiety about the future of food. People have expressed their worries about the future of the food supply in myriad ways, and here Belasco explores a fascinating array of material ranging over two hundred years—from futuristic novels and films to world's fairs, Disney amusement parks, supermarket and restaurant architecture, organic farmers' markets, debates over genetic engineering, and more. Placing food issues in this deep historical context, he provides an innovative framework for understanding the future of food today—when new prophets warn us against complacency at the same time that new technologies offer promising solutions. But will our grandchildren's grandchildren enjoy the cornucopian bounty most of us take for granted? This first history of the future to put food at the center of the story provides an intriguing perspective on this question for anyone—from general readers to policy analysts, historians, and students of the future—who has wondered about the future of life's most basic requirement.
Download or read book Endless Propaganda written by Paul Rutherford and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rutherford shows how politics, social behaviour, and public morals have become subject to the philosophy and discipline of marketing.
Download or read book Imagining Mars written by Robert Crossley and published by Wesleyan University Press. This book was released on 2011-01-03 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mars in the human imagination from the invention of the telescope to the present For centuries, the planet Mars has captivated astronomers and inspired writers of all genres. Whether imagined as the symbol of the bloody god of war, the cradle of an alien species, or a possible new home for human civilization, our closest planetary neighbor has played a central role in how we think about ourselves in the universe. From Galileo to Kim Stanley Robinson, Robert Crossley traces the history of our fascination with the red planet as it has evolved in literature both fictional and scientific. Crossley focuses specifically on the interplay between scientific discovery and literary invention, exploring how writers throughout the ages have tried to assimilate or resist new planetary knowledge. Covering texts from the 1600s to the present, from the obscure to the classic, Crossley shows how writing about Mars has reflected the desires and social controversies of each era. This astute and elegant study is perfect for science fiction fans and readers of popular science.
