
Transductions
Bodies and Machines at Speed
Adrian Mackenzie(Author)
Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.
Published on 27. July 2006
Book
Paperback/Softback
248 pages
978-0-8264-8169-6 (ISBN)
Description
What do the patented data structures embedded deep in the code of an online computer game or the massively complicated architecture of the latest supercomputer used to simulate nuclear explosions have to do with culture, life or meaning? Why does technology attract such wildly differing responses - from fervour to boredom to distrust? Transductions explores these questions by drawing on science and technology studies, contemporary critical theory and corporeal theory. An exploration of complex technologies such as online computer games, genomic databases and the global positioning system reveals how the borders between bodies and machines, between what counts as social and what counts as technical, are no less diverse and complicated than culture itself. Indeed, they constitute a crucial dimension of contemporary culture. Through a critical analysis of the widely accepted notion that technology speeds everything up, Transductions argues that there are only ever differences in speed. The question for us now is how can such differences be represented? Transductions was originally part of the Technologies: Studies in Culture and Theory series.
Reviews / Votes
"Mackenzie seeks to pinpoint the relationship between conceptions of technology and technology as a physical and temporal process. Although Mackenzie's philosophical exploration of transductions of the living and nonliving addresses broad subject matter, the underlying concepts are analyzed with precision." Summing Up: Recommended. -- CHOICEMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
2nd, 3rd year undergraduates, postgraduates and scholars
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
377 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8264-8169-6 (9780826481696)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Previous edition
Book
08/2002
Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.
€37.32
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Person
Adrian Mackenzie is Lecturer in the Institute for Cultural Research, Lancaster University, UK.
Content
Introduction; 1. Radical contingency and the materializations of technology; 2. From stone to radiation: the depth and speed of technical embodiments; 3. The technicity of time: 1.00 oscillations/sec to 9,192,631,770 Hz; 4. Infrastructure and individuation: speed and delay in Stelarc's Ping Body'; 5. Losing time at the PlayStation: realtime and the 'whatever' body; 6. Life, collectives and the pre-vital technicity of biotechnology Conclusion.