Media, Information and Technoculture 2500A/B Lecture Notes - David Suzuki, Frankenfish, Asimo

• School: Western University
• Department: Media, Information and Technoculture
• Course: Media, Information and Technoculture 2500A/B
• Professor: John Reed

Document Summary

The blurring between the biological and the artificial. Automata (automaton): machines that seem to operate on their own: early automata. Automated clock from the 1200"s, a clock that runs itself. Hydrolis, water powered organ 300 bc: machines as a model for the body. Looking at machines for an analogy of how the body works. Lungs = bellows, heart = pump, all linked by pipes. Kircher"s talking head from the 17th century. Vancanson"s digesting duck (used to study the way that bodies operate. Automated biological systems: androids (look human) All of these appear to function on their own but they don"t, they are connected to a network. Machines that are not really self operating. Self-regulating machines: governance, i. e. regulation, ungoverned (must be governed by a human being) Human must feed the fire and control the steam. Very simple technology, but a radical innovation in self-regulation and computer science. This is also an automaton, it can control itself.