The convergence of biology and technology is not an entirely new phenomenon but and has its origin in the concept of modern technology itself. This concept understands technology as something bigger, stronger, and more reliable than ourselves. But, unlike human beings, technologies are always tied to specific men-defined purposes. In so far as men define purposes and build the technology to achieve those purposes, technology is smaller than ourselves. The understanding of technology as a man-controlled tool has been called the instrumental and anthropological understanding of technology.
However, this understanding is becoming insufficient when technologies become fast and interdependent, i.e. when fast technologies form systems and global networks. Powerful modern technologies, especially in the field of informatics, have long ceased to be mere instruments and have created constraints for human action which act to predetermine activity and predefine purposes.
As a consequence, the metaphysical distinction between subject and object has become blurred. In the 1950s Heidegger already speaks of modern technology not as the negation but as the culmination of metaphysical thought which provokes men to "overcome" metaphysics. The weakening of metaphysical determinations which occurs in the project of modern technology has also meant that it become impossible to clearly define what being human is, and to determine the line that separates non-human from human being. These changes are not progressing at a controllable rate, but they are undergoing constant acceleration. The very efficiency and power of calculation of modern technologies means that acceleration itself is being accelerated. Every new technological development produces new shortcuts in socio-technical systems and in communication.
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In 1997 NASA's Cassini mission to Saturn and its moons led to heated controversies, because it was fueled by plutonium, a substance that could cause serious environmental and health problems if it were released into the atmosphere.
Still no major U.S. news outlet in broadcasting or print reported in depth on the risks of the Cassini mission. Westinghouse-owned media like CBS and NBC (also partly owned by General Electric) for example had only reported that children were invited to sign a plaque inside Cassini. Not surprisingly Westinghouse and General Electric are two of the largest corporations with defense contracts and nuclear interests.
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The skytale (pronunciation: ski-ta-le) was a Spartan tool for encryption. It consisted of a piece of wood and a leather-strip. Any communicating party needed exactly the same size wooden stick. The secret message was written on the leather-strip that was wound around the wood, unwound again and sent to the recipient by a messenger. The recipient would rewound the leather and by doing this enciphering the message.
Addressed as one of the fathers of the Internet, Vinton Cerf together with Robert Kahn developed the
In 1992, he co-founded the
Today, Vinton Cerf is Senior Vice President for Internet Architecture and Technology at
Vinton Cerf's web site: http://www.wcom.com/about_the_company/cerfs_up/
The story of Frank-N-furter, Brad and Janet ... Don't dream it, be it!
http://www.rockyhorrorpictureshow.com/
Claude Chappe built a fixed optical network between Paris and Lille. Covering a distance of about 240kms, it consisted of fifteen towers with semaphores.
Because this communication system was destined to practical military use, the transmitted messages were encoded. The messages were kept such secretly, even those who transmit them from tower to tower did not capture their meaning, they just transmitted codes they did not understand. Depending on weather conditions, messages could be sent at a speed of 2880 kms/hr at best.
Forerunners of Chappe's optical network are the
For more information on early communication networks see