[SIGCIS-Members] Email "inventor" claimant to run for U.S. Senate -- alternative facts about technology and democracy collide

Mon Sep 18 14:51:29 PDT 2017

Thanks a lot, Luke, for these interesting observations. Two things come to my mind: 

1) "that tools are more important than politics; they eventually morph into code and then into law." looks like a good expression of technical determinism. It fits with the now widespread belief that "Law must adapt to Technology". 

2) I don't know it is relevant to your query on the civic orientation of engineers, but years ago we had a good doctoral dissertation defended at the Sorbonne about Engineers in French Parliament since the mid-XIXth century. It revealed that Engineers had been most present in the French Parliament during the 2nd Empire (Napoleon III, 1852-1870), an authoritarian regime which favored the creation of technical schools, the development of railways and telegraph, and the industrial revolution in general. Engineers in this context had considerable leeway to push their agenda. Their number decreased sharply during the following 3rd Republic, which was ruled mainly by lawyers, local notabilities and professors. 

Best, 
Pierre Mounier-Kuhn 

PS : Sorry not to be able to join you all at the SHOT & SIGCIS meetings next month: We are opening a Turing exhibition at the new Museum of Computing, in Namur (Belgium) – a must-see for SIGCIS members travelling in Europe, by the way. 

CNRS & Université Paris-Sorbonne 
https://cnrs.academia.edu/PierreMounierKuhn 
http://www.centrerolandmousnier.fr/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/CV-de-Pierre-Mounier-Kuhn1.pdf 
http://koyre.ehess.fr/docannexe/file/2183/mounier_kuhn_cv_anglais_2016.compressed.pdf 

De: "Luke Fernandez" <luke.fernandez at gmail.com> 
À: "Chuck House" <housec1839 at gmail.com> 
Cc: "members" <members at sigcis.org> 
Envoyé: Lundi 18 Septembre 2017 23:13:31 
Objet: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Email "inventor" claimant to run for U.S. Senate -- alternative facts about technology and democracy collide 

The parallel question, of course, is *why* are there so few software engineers in politics? 

The flip answer is that standing up in front of a crowd is many engineer's personal version of hell. Below though, are two observations by silicon valley pundits that might also explain why engineers often avoid the hustings: 

>From [ https://youtu.be/B5kQYWLtW3Y | https://youtu.be/B5kQYWLtW3Y ] (A Panel Discussion on "From Counterculture to Cyberculture: The Legacy of the Whole Earth Catalog"): 

Fred Turner: Minute 17:15 You talk in the [Whole Earth] catalog about it being a place where people can get access to tools can you say a bit about what tools meant, what access meant in that time period? 

Stewart Brand: I was in the thrall of Buckminster Fuller who pretty much put out the idea that it's no use trying to change human nature, it's been the same for a long time and if you want to change behaviour don't try to change human nature don't bother with politics go after the tools tools make new practices and better tools make better practices. 

Kevin Kelly: I don't want to jump ahead but I think that point is fundamental; the tool view of the world; that tools are more important than politics; they eventually morph into code and then into law. I think that strand -- the way to change science, to change culture, to change politics is through the tools -- is one of those overarching connections between the hippies and Web 2.0. 

And, across the bay in Berkeley here's Lanier's take on it (from You Are Not A Gadget): 

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Technologists don't use persuasion to influence you -- or, at least, we don't do it very well. There are a few master communicators among us (like Steve Jobs), but for the most part we aren't particularly seductive.....We tinker with your philosophy by direct manipulation of your cognitive experience, not indirectly, through argument. 

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Of course, the above are just a couple of juicy introductions to a question that has a whole array of interesting answers. Since I'm about to teach a module on the civic orientation of engineers I'm curious how have other SIGCIS members introduced this question to students? 
Best, 

Luke 
[ http://lfernandez.org/ | lfernandez.org ] 

On Mon, Sep 18, 2017 at 11:59 AM, Chuck House < [ mailto:housec1839 at gmail.com | housec1839 at gmail.com ] > wrote: 

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It’s a “late entry” but I would include Ed Zschau as a techie who later ran for the House of Representatives and won; later for the Senate and narrowly lost; and later as VP for a third party 

From: Members < [ mailto:members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org | members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org ] > on behalf of "NOVEMBER, JOSEPH" < [ mailto:NOVEMBER at mailbox.sc.edu | NOVEMBER at mailbox.sc.edu ] > 
Date: Saturday, February 25, 2017 at 10:40 AM 
To: "Sarah T. Roberts" < [ mailto:sarah.roberts at ucla.edu | sarah.roberts at ucla.edu ] >, Andrew Meade McGee < [ mailto:amm5ae at virginia.edu | amm5ae at virginia.edu ] > 
Cc: " [ mailto:members at sigcis.org | members at sigcis.org ] " < [ mailto:members at sigcis.org | members at sigcis.org ] > 

Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Email "inventor" claimant to run for U.S. Senate -- alternative facts about technology and democracy collide 

I wonder if "former video game developer" Curt Schilling is still planning to run against Warren. Would Schilling and Ayyadurai face each other in a primary race? 

Joe 

Joseph November 
Associate Professor and McCausland Fellow 
Department of History 
University of South Carolina 
223 Gambrell Hall 
Columbia, SC 29208 
[ mailto:november at sc.edu | november at sc.edu ] 

From: Members [ [ mailto:members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org | members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org ] ] on behalf of Sarah T. Roberts [ [ mailto:sarah.roberts at ucla.edu | sarah.roberts at ucla.edu ] ] 
Sent: Saturday, February 25, 2017 12:26 PM 
To: Andrew Meade McGee 
Cc: [ mailto:members at sigcis.org | members at sigcis.org ] 
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Email "inventor" claimant to run for U.S. Senate -- alternative facts about technology and democracy collide 

- Carly Fiorina, folks. She just spoke at CPAC. 

- Meg Whitman, eBay. Lost CA gubernatorial election. 

Both Republicans. Both lost (obviously). 

Any chance we could discuss this Ayyadurai matter at the meeting next month? 

Guy's playing the long game, obviously. 

With thanks, 

Sarah 

--- 

S a r a h T. R o b e r t s, P h. D. 

Assistant Professor 
University of California, Los Angeles 
Department of Information Studies 
Graduate School of Education & Information Studies 
[ https://is.gseis.ucla.edu/ | https://is.gseis.ucla.edu/ ] 

Blogging periodically at 
[ http://illusionofvolition.com/ | http://illusionofvolition.com ] 

On Feb 25, 2017, at 9:18 AM, Andrew Meade McGee < [ mailto:amm5ae at virginia.edu | amm5ae at virginia.edu ] > wrote: 

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Thanks for this suggestion, Debbie. I will look into this Massie fellow with great interest -- it would be fascinating to see how a technology background would shape an incredibly retail politics level of campaigning like for the House. 

Thanks, 

Andrew 

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
Andrew Meade McGee 
Corcoran Department of History 
University of Virginia 
PO Box 400180 - Nau Hall 
Charlottesville, VA 22904 

On Sat, Feb 25, 2017 at 11:41 AM, Deborah Douglas < [ mailto:ddouglas at mit.edu | ddouglas at mit.edu ] > wrote: 
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Depending on how liberal a definition of software industry one uses, another example is: 

Tom Massie, now a Representative from Kentucky, invented PHANTOM while at MIT (he won the Lemelson Student Prize for this) and founded SensAbleTechnologies. 

[ http://lemelson.mit.edu/winners/thomas-massie | http://lemelson.mit.edu/winners/thomas-massie ] 

[ http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2012/05/17/from-mit-entrepreneur-to-tea-party-leader-the-thomas-massie-story/ | http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2012/05/17/from-mit-entrepreneur-to-tea-party-leader-the-thomas-massie-story/ ] 

[ http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2012/11/meet-representative-thomas-massie-constitutional-conservative-mit-pedigree | http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2012/11/meet-representative-thomas-massie-constitutional-conservative-mit-pedigree ] 

[ https://massie.house.gov/about | https://massie.house.gov/about ] 

Debbie Douglas 

On Feb 25, 2017, at 10:41 AM, Andrew Meade McGee < [ mailto:amm5ae at virginia.edu | amm5ae at virginia.edu ] > 

wrote: 

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As a follow up to Ayyadurai's candidacy -- have there been any previous instances of people who identify with the software industry running for major political office in the United states or internationally? 

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--Andrew 

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
Andrew Meade McGee 
Corcoran Department of History 
University of Virginia 
PO Box 400180 - Nau Hall 
Charlottesville, VA 22904 

On Sat, Feb 25, 2017 at 10:37 AM, Andrew Meade McGee < [ mailto:amm5ae at virginia.edu | amm5ae at virginia.edu ] > wrote: 
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Continuing with the ongoing saga of V. A. Shiva and his claims regarding the invention of e-mail, that gentleman has just announced his candidacy for the United States Senate. 

[ https://twitter.com/va_shiva/status/835420061993218048 | https://twitter.com/va_shiva/status/835420061993218048 ] 

As several SIGCIS contributors noted earlier this month, this nicely parallels the upcoming SHOT themes of technology and democracy. "Alternate facts" about the history of technology will play a major public element of this campaign next year. 

--Andrew 

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Deborah G. Douglas, Ph.D. • Director of Collections and Curator of Science and Technology, MIT Museum • Room N51-209 • 265 Massachusetts Avenue • Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 • [ mailto:ddouglas at mit.edu | ddouglas at mit.edu ] • [ tel:(617)%20253-1766 | 617-253-1766 ] telephone • [ tel:(617)%20253-8994 | 617-253-8994 ] facsimile • [ http://web.mit.edu/museum | http://web.mit.edu/museum ] • [ http://museum.mit.edu/150 | http://museum.mit.edu/150 ] 

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_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at [ http://sigcis.org/ | sigcis.org ] , the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at [ http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ | http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ ] and you can change your subscription options at [ http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org | http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org ] 

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This email is relayed from members at [ http://sigcis.org/ | sigcis.org ] , the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at [ http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ | http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ ] and you can change your subscription options at [ http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org | http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org ] 

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