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A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century

Donna Haraway’s essay discusses the relationship of cyborgs and feminism in relation to mythological goddesses. She sees the goddesses as an image founded by a matriarchal utopia, whereas the cyborg is relative only to the present. She analyses the history of the cyborg through many veins, including science fiction. Her essay has been very influential in relation to science and technology; it offers a model for cultural and political engagement.


The GNU Manifesto

Richard Stallman was unhappy with the shift from free software to closed programs. He was a member at MIT, and saw the shift from free software to proprietary software. He then decided to develop software that would be free to all users. He would make programs that allowed people to manipulate or alter the programs to their choosing. The main issue is the value of intellectual property. He comes up with the term “copyleft”, which means that a programmer would copyright a program, but then add distribution terms which allows everyone to modify it. I really like his idea, and I think his philosophy would really open up the computer world, allowing ideas to build on each other, and for people to augment ideas. I think the programs would be a lot more powerful, and a lot more customized to our individual purposes.


Using Computers: A Direction for Design

Winograd and Flores wrote this article in regards to artificial intelligence. They essentially tell us that computers will never be able to attain human-like intelligence. They say that the “essence of intelligence is to act appropriately when there is no simple pre-definition of the problem.” They think that the artificial research should not be abandoned, only that they should focus on designing tools. They are more focused on the ontological perspective of communication technology.


Two Selections by Brenda Laurel: The Six Elements and the Causal Relations Among Them, Star Raiders: Dramatic Interaction in a Small World.

Brenda Laurel writes a unique essay on how computer work in relation to Aristotle’s Poetics. She approaches computers from a humanistic perspective, using models that have been used on other forms of art. She says computer art can only happen if it is taken away from technologists, and put in the hands of humanists. She applies the elements of drama as explained by Aristotle to computers. I think this is a really interesting approach to computer art, and I like how she explains that in order for computer art, or drama to occur, it needs to be developed by people who understand human interactions, not scientists or programmers.


Towards a New Classification of Tele-Information Services

Bordewijk and Kaam consider the social role of various digital media, and not on a sensory level like McLuhan describes. He classifies the various applications on the internet as either being conversational or for consultation. I’m really unclear as to what he’s actually saying in this essay. The intro points out the social roles that technology creates, and he sees that eventually computer communication will integrate into almost every aspect of human interaction. He seems to just put out a way that describes how we communicate.