The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads tagged with “technology”

How the Bit Was Born: Claude Shannon and the Invention of Information
How the Bit Was Born: Claude Shannon and the Invention of Information

“Information is what our world runs on: the blood and the fuel, the vital principle … transforming every branch of knowledge.”

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Swifter Than a Bird Flies: An Astonishing Account of Riding the First Passenger Train and How the Invention of Railroads Changed Human Consciousness
Swifter Than a Bird Flies: An Astonishing Account of Riding the First Passenger Train and How the Invention of Railroads Changed Human Consciousness

“When I closed my eyes this sensation of flying was quite delightful, and strange beyond description.”

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The Evolution of the Book, Animated
The Evolution of the Book, Animated

From stretched animal skins to metal alloys to pixels, an inquiry into what makes a book.

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The Best Science Books of 2015
The Best Science Books of 2015

From Earth’s largest-hearted creature to the interconnectedness of the universe, by way of Einstein and artificial intelligence.

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A State of Wonder: Margaret Atwood on How Technology Shapes Storytelling While Obeying Its Eternal Constants
A State of Wonder: Margaret Atwood on How Technology Shapes Storytelling While Obeying Its Eternal Constants

“Everybody is telling a ‘Story of My Life’ to themselves all the time.”

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How Horses Civilized Humanity, Shrank the Distance of Love, and Shaped the Way We Conduct Our Romantic Relationships
How Horses Civilized Humanity, Shrank the Distance of Love, and Shaped the Way We Conduct Our Romantic Relationships

“People no longer conducted romances as they did before… The horse revamped the limits of our personal freedom.”

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Aristotle’s Aperture: An Animated History of Photography, from the Camera Obscura to the Camera Phone
Aristotle’s Aperture: An Animated History of Photography, from the Camera Obscura to the Camera Phone

…and how a greedy attitude to intellectual property made the camera’s primary competitor perish.

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The Annihilation of Space and Time: Rebecca Solnit on How Muybridge Froze the Flow of Existence, Shaped Visual Culture, and Changed Our Consciousness
The Annihilation of Space and Time: Rebecca Solnit on How Muybridge Froze the Flow of Existence, Shaped Visual Culture, and Changed Our Consciousness

“Before, every face, every place, every event, had been unique, seen only once and then lost forever among the changes of age, light, time. The past existed only in memory and interpretation, and the world beyond one’s own experience was mostly stories.”

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What to Think About Machines That Think: Leading Thinkers on Artificial Intelligence and What It Means to Be Human
What to Think About Machines That Think: Leading Thinkers on Artificial Intelligence and What It Means to Be Human

“Once we had neurons. Now we’re becoming the neurons.”

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Theodor Adorno on Work, Pleasure, and How the Cult of Efficiency Limits Our Happiness
Theodor Adorno on Work, Pleasure, and How the Cult of Efficiency Limits Our Happiness

“One is forced to have fun in order to be well adjusted or at least appear so to others because only well-adjusted people are accepted as normal and are likely to be successful.”

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