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Most of us are on the Internet on a daily basis and whether we like it or not, the Internet is affecting us. It changes how we think, how we work, and it even changes our brains. We interviewed Nicholas Carr, the author of, "The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains," about how the Internet is influencing us, our creativity, our thought processes, our ideas, and how we think. There's a lot of hidden references in this video.
Watch the producer walk you through each one: I do not intend to break copyright however I feel the usefulness of the programme in inspiring innovation and improving lives is more important. Hopefully will make the content available online themselves. Apologies for the missing 10 minutes at the end, I rushed to find an sd card for the last showing of the programme, and I already had data on it so the final 10 mintutes wasn't recorded, I remember it as being a recap of the rest of the programme.
Use my link http: Experience the cutting edge of the world around us in a fun relaxed atmosphere. Polaroid Corporation https: Strizzolo - Broken Feelings Click Here To Subscribe! Like us on Facebook: Quantum computers are just on the horizon as both tech giants and startups are working to kickstart the next computing revolution. Quantum Computing and the New Space Race http: Visit the Seeker website https: The existence of mankind seems simple enough on the surface The Roko's Basilisk theory doesn't concern how mankind came into existence or how it exists today, but rather how it's existence may end.
This theory is based on the assumption that everything that makes humans feel human can be found within that pink squishy thing inside your skull. Your soul, your consciousness, your sense of existence; all of these are basic functions of a working human brain. Even if the brain in a vat theory is incorrect, it's still possible that we are being manipulated and surveilled by a race whose presence we cannot detect. The Great Filter is a theoretical sieve which will determine whether humanity continues, or becomes extinct. Being the blissfully ignorant playthings of an alien life-form may seem quite scary, and so might the idea that humanity is approaching some kind of biological firewall.
The place of worship has become a place of pilgrimage and wonder for Ridley Scott fans. But now, the mystery of the Alien gargoyle looks to have been resolved once and for all. First people get a free 2 month trial of Skillshare http: Whatever you need a website for, create yours today with Wix: Do we even stand a chance? Could the United States, Russia and China work together to protect us?
What are these aliens even capable of doing, especially if they have already traveled most likely at a light speed. They must be far superior to us and their alien technology is incredibly better than ours. Could we simply deploy more debris in to our orbit? In this episode we focus on all the ways we could defend Earth against an alien invasion and what the best strategy is against it! Check out our other videos about space: If you ever dream of being able to see the future, this video is something just for you. Nowadays you don't need to be a psychic to predict the future, sometimes it's enough to just analyze the present.
Here're the events that are planned to happen or will probably happen by the year Those of you who have "visiting all the countries in the world" on their bucket list, you'll have more work to do, since new countries are likely to appear on the political map of the world in Tesla will manufacture more than half a million cars for the first time in the history of the company. By , more than 6,1 billion people will be using smartphones all over the world. In more than half of the USA, solar energy will become more economical than usual electricity.
By , the population of Earth will reach 8 billion people. People's life expectancy will get longer and there will be 50 times more centenarians. By , the area of the Arctic ice sheet will get extremely small. People will mass-produce artificial blood for transfusions. By , solar activity will decrease by 1 percent, and as a result, Earth will experience a mini ice age.
People will be able to widen the range of their senses using implants that will detect more signals such as X-rays, radio waves and others. By , world population will reach the number of 9 billion people. In , brain implants that people will use both for entertainments and for curing disabilities will become available.
In , first colonists might come to the Red Planet as a part of the Mars One project. The population of big cities will reach 6,3 billion people. The European Union will allow to use self-driving cars on the roads within its borders. More people will have mobile phones than electricity in their homes. There will appear new prostheses that will convey the sensations. It will be possible to charge electronic devices using Wi-Fi. Google will invest enough money to make the Internet 1, times faster. Contact lenses with in-built cameras will become available. Scientists will invent injectable brain implants.
Bionic eyes that will have extremely high resolution will become commercially available. Deafness at any stage will be cured. Brain prints will join the security measures. Subscribe to Bright Side: Robots are the future of food delivery and the temptation to steal from them is real. A lot of people think of bad things then they hear the word, "hacking," but hacking your life can actually be a good thing. We talked with Whitson Gordon, the deputy editor of Lifehacker. Joe Rogan talks about robots, brain-computer Interfaces, "neural lace", transdermal stimulation, AI, drones, and nanotechnology.
In use while cultivating: We often think that bread is healthier for us than sugar, but we talked with J. Stanton about the real truth behind white bread and candy. We're back in Adam's cave to check out his latest obsession, a robot spider with incredibly realistic movement. Adam shows off the special box and platform he built to tinker and calibrate the spider, and then sends it crawling around the pool table in his shop.
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Subscribe for more Tested videos! Titan the Robot hands out a tasty right hook to drunk stag who tried his luck! To find out more about Titan the Robot please visit www. It's socio-political satire that's refreshingly more socio than political, and it's no less relevant now, 55 years after its first pressing, than it was then.
Somewhere in the book's final third, the resistance movement gains a strong voice, and the writing may coax the reader into aligning with it. The wit and intellect of the author really comes through here: After this, his first novel, Vonnegut went on to write far more original and versatile works, many of which I've read. Absent here are the non-linear narratives, single-word commentary sentences, chatty introductions and frequent narrator editorializing which would become his M.
However, reading 'Player Piano' should make it obvious why he soon created his own rules for writing a novel: There are probably several reasons why Kurt Vonnegut was such a popular writer, but I will give you two. Vonnegut had a distinct voice. Sarcastic and biting, yet also forever sticking up for the little guy. He was funny as hell. He had Personality - and it was this Personality that his readers adored. With each successive novel, his readership craved more of the same, which meant that the actual plot of the books became less important than the voice of Vonnegut himsel There are probably several reasons why Kurt Vonnegut was such a popular writer, but I will give you two.
With each successive novel, his readership craved more of the same, which meant that the actual plot of the books became less important than the voice of Vonnegut himself speaking though narrators that resembled each other more and more, and all the narrators eventualy became not even thinly disguised versions of Vonnegut himself. The man knew his craft.
Which, unfortunately I think, mattered less and less as the Personality took over. To get a sense of how gifted a writer he was - how tightly he could plot, how quickly he could develop a diverse range of characters, how expertly he could build tension and keep a reader's attention - one should read both the short stories found in Welcome to the Monkey House and his first novel Player Piano. In both these books the Personality of Vonnegut had yet to become the dominate force in his writing, and so the full range of his craftsmanship can be appreciated.
At least that's what I think. I began to read this book the week SOL an acronym Vonnegut would have loved These are the tests that apparently establish competence or confirm mental infirmity. T "The most beautiful peonies I ever saw," said Paul, "Were grown in almost pure cat excrement" The description of Player Piano on the dust jacket made my decision to read the book that much more poignant: Want machines to give you everything you need? Want to be taken care of from cradle to grave by an industrial society that knows what is best for you?
Want to find out what hell is really like? And furthermore, hell, for my 9th and 11th grade students, would be a room without a wall socket, cellphone reception, or a WiFi password. I would not, however, recommend this as an introduction to Vonnegut for new readers--it lacks the fluidity, perceived brevity, and good-humored irreverence other books of his Slaughterhouse Five, Cat's Cradle, Timequake, Breakfast of Champions, etc.
However, as a literary artifact--especially for devotees of Vonnegut's work--Player Piano is worth your time; evidence of his future philosophical meanderings and socio-political perspectives are albeit in a primal state embedded within. Vonnegut's jabs at the higher education institutions of the future, in spite of the book's vintage , read like prophesy.
In Player Piano, protagonist Paul Proteus' realtor has a PhD in real estate, and he brags of his writing the "longest dissertation" of any real estate student at his university. Later in the book, a state dept. Education is the key, of course, but Vonnegut asks us to contemplate the practicality of the keys we choose to cut Haycox seemed annoyed and disappointed.
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Three kinds of doctors: You one of those? In a society where humans, their culture, and their potential contributions to the world are increasingly irrelevant in light of mechanical innovation, Paul Proteus comes to endorse a sort of philosophical luddism--not one rooted in techophobia but rather in necessity: They must, therefore, be returned to participating in such enterprises" I could have fun with this book, as a teacher, paired with some of my other favorite dystopian classics: Even though Player Piano isn't hitting on "all cylinders" in relation to some of Vonnegut's more complete works, there is early evidence of his poignant humor that seems absent in the other dystopian classics mentioned above.
Give it a shot if you are a Vonnegut buff! For some reason I had thought that I had long ago run through the works of Kurt Vonnegut. He was one of the first writers whose books I can remember consciously deciding that I needed to read each and every one of. The moment is still clear in my memory- I had just been introduced to Kilgore Trout and his trunk of pulp novellas in Breakfast of Champions. I'm not quite sure what happened with that goal, but I'm guessing I lost the thread of the quest sometime after reading Galapagos back in high For some reason I had thought that I had long ago run through the works of Kurt Vonnegut.
I'm not quite sure what happened with that goal, but I'm guessing I lost the thread of the quest sometime after reading Galapagos back in high school. So it was with much joy that I received the news that my book club had decided to read Vonnegut's first novel, Player Piano , published in Paul Proteus lives in an allegedly utopian world.
All industry has been mechanized, the sweat of the worker's brow replaced by the drip of oil from the pistons and pulleys manufacturing all the household goods, widgets and whatsits that EPICAC, a giant computer inhabiting the immenseness of the Carlsbad Caverns, has computed that Americans need in order to be happy. Only those who can program or repair the machines still have jobs in the traditional sense, the rest of the country's vast labor pool being forced to join either the army or what amounts to the Works Project Administration building bridges and roadways.
As a member of the elite cadre that maintains the machines, and thus their power, you would think Proteus would be far more satisfied with his life. He feels more at home slumming in bars with the disaffected across the river than he does in his immaculate home with his status-seeking wife and it's only a matter of time before this dissatisfaction with the world becomes out and out rebellion.
This book is classic Vonnegut in the sense that he has clearly seen the future repercussions of what his society was moving toward and railed against it as best he knew how. I can't help but draw comparisons to the rampant unemployment of today and the growing hordes of dispossessed unable to find even the most mundane of jobs. A service economy with no one to service.
Vonnegut knew that, regardless of how often we rail against the strictures of employment, the majority of people derive satisfaction in earning an honest dollar. Remove this obligation and you are also likely to remove the sense of self worth a person has. Regardless of whether or not it's healthy to base one's self worth on their employability, this is the cultural message we inherit at birth- the value of honest labor.
Of course, it's easy to rail against a system that disenfranchises millions but, as Vonnegut shows in Player Piano , it's damn near impossible to root it out. What is missing from Player Piano , and the reason I can't give it that fifth star, is the trademark sense of humor that runs rampant through his other books.
Sure, he's got his dystopian world and his biting satire but there is no sense of detachment or whimsy here. This is Vonnegut at his most acerbic, the cynicism that he would return to in his final years of writing during the Bush reign. This is a book written by a man who fully understands the harm that humans inevitably wreak upon ourselves and our world, but who has yet to admit to himself that it's all just one giant joke and the best thing we can do is lean back, sip our whiskey, and say "so it goes.
View all 3 comments. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. You could see Vonnegut's genius in his first novel. On a blog I read, the Devil Vet's been thinking about hope and hopelessness in dystopian fiction. I think Player Piano is good example of how hope plays into dystopian narratives.
The Ghost Shirt Society of the book rises in rebellion against the soul-numbing mechanized society even though they know they will fail. Simply to show that it can be done. That there can be light at the end of that tunnel, if power is wrested from the managers an You could see Vonnegut's genius in his first novel.
That there can be light at the end of that tunnel, if power is wrested from the managers and engineers who hold it in that society. But then, that's one of Vonnegut's favorite themes literally from the beginning, as we see to kick around. You might have the whole world against you, you might know from the beginning that stretching your wings will just result in being shot out of the sky, but the exercise of whatever freedom you can snatch is worth the fall.
Of course, he didn't rely simply on ideas. The man could spin a yarn. The whole section of the book where Proteus has to go on an annual weekend team-spirit-building retreat had me chuckling through my anger. I hate that kind of workaday pep rally crap, and that particular scenario sounds like my idea of four days of hell. And the chapter in which Proteus buys a small, old school farm - thinking that will calm his need to get out of the "we are all cogs" system - and his wife takes it completely the wrong way sort of broke my heart.
Though, I have to admit, I felt some for the wife - it's not like he spent any time communicating his feelings or situation to her. The running thread of the Shah of Bratpuhr touring the US, with his guide in more and more dire straits, was a nice touch. Sometimes that kind of show-and-tell subplot can feel tacked on or unnecessary, but Vonnegut's storytelling allowed it to weave in and out of the major action.
No surprise, I agree with him. If you take away a person's chance to do for themselves, you take away a major reason to get out of bed every morning. I'm not saying we all have to work hard or die. I'm just saying, yeah, we all need that feeling of dignity that honest work can provide, whether for decent wages or just for our own benefit.
It's pretty amazing that Vonnegut could write so brilliantly about a technological backlash in a computerized society well before the age of the PC and the internet. Besides the fact that vacuum tubes are considered high tech in this book, it could have been written yesterday. You know, if he hadn't died. I didn't love the way the book wrapped up, but I'll cut him some slack since it was his first. In reading this I was surprised to find a book that wasn't filled with Vonnegut's usual sarcasm and absurdity in a good way.
Then I realized this was his first book and that he was still probably finding his voice as a writer when he wrote it. Instead of relying solely on comical misunderstandings and dialogue, you find a more genuine story of people struggling to find a purpose in an unhappy world. Although nothing for me will ever match 'Slaughterhouse-Five,' I enjoyed this more than books l In reading this I was surprised to find a book that wasn't filled with Vonnegut's usual sarcasm and absurdity in a good way.
Although nothing for me will ever match 'Slaughterhouse-Five,' I enjoyed this more than books like 'Breakfast of Champions' and 'Galapagos. Apr 23, S. My first Vonnegut novel. I was very impressed. If this is his first novel than the others must be fantastic. It never fails for me to be in a very different place after reading anything by Kurt Vonnegut. This is now my 15th book I have read of his and it, like the others, has made me think.
Somehow, Vonnegut always finds a way to make you wonder what is wrong with humanity while enjoying the simple pleasures of our world. He shows what true happiness is, all while showing the utter destruction of the organized hierarchy. And oh does he have a special place for people with degrees who take themselves too It never fails for me to be in a very different place after reading anything by Kurt Vonnegut. And oh does he have a special place for people with degrees who take themselves too seriously!
In Player Piano, he shows how having all of that "knowledge" doesn't make you better than someone who works with their hands. He also shows that there is a place for both types of people. Your IQ does not make you who you are A great tale by one of the greatest writers ever. Is it just me or does Vonnegut's prolific use of the response "Umm" make you laugh? It's like he captured the perfect way to not answer someone Presents a thought provoking, dystopian future, where only the 'know-how' of engineers and managers is valued.
Everyone else has been replaced by machines and consigned to the scrapheap, in the interests of efficiency and the greater good! Despite the omnipresence and virtual omipotence of machines, human society is still human society. This could have been a depressing read, but Vonnegut's sharp observations and wry humour drove a poignant story home in a light-hearted way. Satirical scenes, sometimes bordering on the slap-stick, made this an enjoyable, memorable read. Conversely, the author's insight and prophetic thinking is astounding - and extremely quotable.
This is a hard book to describe. Well written, well paced and a great story but it scared and depressed me a bit because we are coming close to this. Right now, we are creating computers that can do ever more things -- put together things, compute things, etc. Its as if this could come very easily to real life. Its a story set sometime in the future where machines are pretty much doing everything and the only positions of value are those that machines can't do. There are two groups of people -- t This is a hard book to describe. There are two groups of people -- those who have gone onto college and earned doctorates in engineering, real estate, management -- and those deemed 'too stupid' to go to college.
And then there are those who create machines that make the human obsolete. Those in the favored class think that because they give all the material things anyone could want, they have created a good life for those they see as inferior, but what it does is create a layer of resentment. And in the midst of all this is one man who wants to be a bridge between both sides. He sees the evil ends of a society dominated by machines and managers, and compares humanity to slaves. The satirical visit of a Shah provides a counterpoint to the dissatisfaction of the main character.
Paul Proteus a great name! What this story lacks is the sense of humor honed through later novels. This mild dystopia is interesting, but dry, and the characters sometimes fall flat. The conclusion a court-room scene, complete with rallying speech feels forced. That said, the nuggets of future Vonnegut are here, and the overall book is still quite good - especially for having been written 63 years ago. I read this as my entry in a "defining science fiction of the 50s" challenge.
Well written and far reaching is this original first Vonnegut publication. So much so that it could easily have been written today instead of six decades earlier. I read a bunch of Vonnegut's stuff in late high school and college years ago and remember really enjoying him. I didn't recall if I had read this one or not and now after reading it am sure I did not before and figured either way he is probably worth a re-visiting in an effort to update these reviews. This one which I have discovered to be Vonnegut's first and was published in , 5 years before Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged was engaging and forward thinking social commentary.
Certainl I read a bunch of Vonnegut's stuff in late high school and college years ago and remember really enjoying him. Certainly supports the idea that I should read and re-read more of his stuff. Paul Proteus is a wishy-washy hero, but provides a great vehicle through which Vonnegut can make his comments and predictions of the future mechanization of American society. Certainly 60 years after its publication, I have the benefit of the unfolding of history to point out some of Vonnegut's weaknesses: However, one can imagine how especially in the 50s the events of this novel may not have seemed so far fetched.
Over and over he gives us examples of the inefficiency created by the "uber-efficiency" of the machines: The well oiled machine of American society has been bureaucratized to such an extent that they are no longer making the best decisions on a global scale. Vonnegut's plot is thin and the use of Halyard's tour with the Shah simply a vehicle for conversations with "interesting" other member of the population barbers, Edgar Hagstrohm.. I found the Shah's insistence on calling the averageman a Takaru slave and Halyard's original refutation of this term followed by his eventual agreement to be entertaining.
Of course Vonnegut is not attempting to really draft a compelling story; the whole thing is a ruse for social commentary. And so, there are quite a few conveniences and mishaps along the way. Some of the unhappiest people in this world are the smartest ones. This novel, Vonnegut's first, is a more traditional narrative than his later books. The story is told linearly, the chapters are much longer, etc.
However, the unmistakable Vonnegut themes are very much present, and make their first appearances here. Writing in about the "false gods" of technology, one need only look around today to think that Vonnegut was This novel, Vonnegut's first, is a more traditional narrative than his later books.
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Writing in about the "false gods" of technology, one need only look around today to think that Vonnegut was a prophet foretelling our doom. Frankly, I have a hard time nailing down "Player Piano" because I think it meant something different in its original context than perhaps it does now. There are times when the novel seems very anti-communist and anti strong centralized government.
The line is even uttered by a government official "Are you against us? Clearly Vonnegut does not think that is the case. There is also a very intriguing character, the Reverend Lasher. Of particular interest to me was a scene in a saloon where the Reverend gives a lovely speech on the dangers of class warfare. Moments such as this seem tailor made for the early s and what was happening at the time. They come across as a defense of capitalism and American values.
If one has read Vonnegut's biography they know that despite the image many people have of him, these were issues that he cared about deeply. I don't want to give away plot points, but the text left me with the distinct impression that Vonnegut had a negative opinion of the impetus and results of most revolutions. I don't see where the novel comes down decidedly in one camp or the other. However, one thing the book seems definitive about is in its belief that the general population are nothing more than sheep that easily drift from whim to whim. Vonnegut, in this book at least, seems to have a low opinion of the masses.
You only have to pay attention to the "common man" during an election season or during the midst of the latest pop culture fad to see that Vonnegut's pessimism is justified. It meanders at times and could have been edited into a "tighter" novel. However, there are many moments scattered throughout that make it worth your attention. It is thought provoking and timely, despite being 60 years old.
It endures, and that alone is reason enough to read it! I optimistically hoped that re-reading Vonnegut's canon would get me out of my current, severe! I ambitiously even thought that I might be diligent enough to take copious notes, add to my thesis, and publish a book! Somehow a new house with all the accompanying new projects and a new child with all the accompanying needs and the same old two year old with more energy than ever have managed to keep me in my slump.
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Keep reading when the urge strikes and, in lieu of writ I optimistically hoped that re-reading Vonnegut's canon would get me out of my current, severe! Keep reading when the urge strikes and, in lieu of writing anything expansive and coherent, jot down disorganized notes and thoughts here. This first novel didn't have the same Vonnegut-ian style that I remember; however, it's amazing to see the seeds of so many of his constant themes.
Instead of Tralfamadorians--or even Kilgore Trout's stories--serving as the completely removed observer of American culture, we have the visiting Shah of Braptur. There is, what I have called the essential Vonnegut question, "what are people for? In addition to searching for meaning, the protagonist is also a very lonely man just looking for a place to belong, an extended family if you will. Something to examine further on future readings: For my money, this is just shy of the quality of the former and better than the latter. This should enjoy the acclaim of other dystopian classics.
How timely to read this book as technology is in overdrive during this first and second decade of the 21st Century. November 11, — April 11, was an American writer with such famous works as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five , and Breakfast of Champions which blend satire, gallows How timely to read this book as technology is in overdrive during this first and second decade of the 21st Century. November 11, — April 11, was an American writer with such famous works as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five , and Breakfast of Champions which blend satire, gallows humor, and science fiction.
As a citizen he was a lifelong supporter of the American Civil Liberties Union and a critical pacifist intellectual. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association. He died at age 84 in New York City after falling down a flight of stairs in his home and suffering massive head trauma. At this point in history, A. He folded his arms and leaned against the keyboard of the player piano.
In the silence of the saloon, a faint discord came from the piano, hummed to nothingness. It annoyed him that the feeling should be automatic, because he fancied himself in the image of his father, and, in this situation, his father would have been completely in charge--taking the first, last, and best lines for himself. He was a social cretin, apparently unaware that he was anything but suave and brilliant in company.