And, across the bay in Berkeley here's Lanier's take on it (from You Are Not A Gadget):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.
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?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.
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 <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of "NOVEMBER, JOSEPH" <NOVEMBER@mailbox.sc.edu>
Date: Saturday, February 25, 2017 at 10:40 AM
To: "Sarah T. Roberts" <sarah.roberts@ucla.edu>, Andrew Meade McGee <amm5ae@virginia.edu>
Cc: "members@sigcis.org" <members@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
november@sc.eduFrom: Members [members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org] on behalf of Sarah T. Roberts [sarah.roberts@ucla.edu]
Sent: Saturday, February 25, 2017 12:26 PM
To: Andrew Meade McGee
Cc: members@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/
Blogging periodically at
http://illusionofvolition.com
On Feb 25, 2017, at 9:18 AM, Andrew Meade McGee <amm5ae@virginia.edu> wrote: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 <ddouglas@mit.edu> wrote:
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.
Debbie Douglas
On Feb 25, 2017, at 10:41 AM, Andrew Meade McGee <amm5ae@virginia.edu>
wrote:
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?
--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 <amm5ae@virginia.edu> wrote:
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.
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 • ddouglas@mit.edu • 617-253-1766 telephone • 617-253-8994 facsimile • http://web.mit.edu/museum • http://museum.mit.edu/150
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This email is relayed from members at 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/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at 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/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org
_______________________________________________
This email is relayed from members at 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/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org