Coming soon..ãã The Philosopher of Palo Alto: Mark Weiser, Xerox PARC, and the ãOriginal Internet of Things | 1st Edition | HardcoverããJohn TinnellããUniversity of Chicago Press | University of Chicago PressãTechnology & Engineering / History / Social Science / Technology Studies / Computers / Internet of Things (IoT)ããRelease date May 18, 2023ãã"This riveting, up-close account reveals how one man's dreamãof benevolent computing helped set us on the road to the hyper-ãconnected, surveillance-driven nightmare we inhabit today. Aãdeeply unsettling and cautionary tale." - Fred Turner, authorãof From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, theãWhole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianismãã"A compelling biography of Mark Weiser, a pioneering innovator ãwhose legacy looms over the tech industry's quest to connect ãeverything-and who hoped for something better.ãã"When developers and critics trace the roots of today'sãInternet of Things-our smart gadgets and smart cities-they mayãsingle out the same creative source: Mark Weiser (1952-99), theãfirst chief technology officer at Xerox PARC and the so-calledã"father of ubiquitous computing." But Weiser, who died young atãage 46 in 1999, would be heartbroken if he had lived to see theãways we use technology today.ãã"As John Tinnell shows in this thought-provoking narrative,ãWeiser was an outlier in Silicon Valley. A computer scientistãwhose first love was philosophy, he relished debates about theãmachine's ultimate purpose. Good technology, Weiser argued,ãshould not mine our experiences for saleable data or demand ourãattention; rather, it should quietly boost our intuition as weãmove through the world.ãã"Informed by deep archival research and interviews withãWeiser's family and colleagues, The Philosopher of Palo Altoãchronicles Weiser's struggle to initiate a new era ofãcomputing. Working in the shadows of the dot-com boom, Weiserãand his collaborators made Xerox PARC headquarters the site ofãa grand experiment. Throughout the building, they embeddedãsoftware into all sorts of objects-coffeepots, pens, energyãsystems, ID badges-imbuing them with interactive features.ãTheir push to integrate the digital and the physical soonãcaught on. Microsoft's Bill Gates flagged Weiser's ScientificãAmerican article "The Computer for the 21st Century" as a must-ãread. Yet, as more tech leaders warmed to his vision, Weiserãgrew alarmed about where they wished to take it.ãã"In this fascinating story of an innovator and a big idea,ãTinnell crafts a poignant and critical history of today'sãInternet of Things. At the heart of the narrative is Weiser'sãdesire for deeper connection, which animated his life andãinspired his notion of what technology at its best could be.ã---ã þ Synchronet þ End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.comã