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The Virtual
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Download or read book The Virtual written by Rob Shields and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-06-27 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book looks at the origins and the many contemporary meanings of the virtual. Rob Shields shows how the construction of virtual worlds has a long history. He examines the many forms of faith and hysteria that have surrounded computer technologies in recent years. Moving beyond the technologies themselves he shows how the virtual plays a role in our daily lives at every level. The virtual is also an essential concept needed to manage innovation and risk. It is real but not actual, ideal but not abstract. The virtual, he argues, has become one of the key organizing principles of contemporary society in the public realms of politics, business and consumption as well as in our private lives.
Book Synopsis The Virtual Body of Christ in a Suffering World by : Deanna A. Thompson
Download or read book The Virtual Body of Christ in a Suffering World written by Deanna A. Thompson and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2016-11-01 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We live in a wired world where 24/7 digital connectivity is increasingly the norm. Christian megachurch communities often embrace this reality wholeheartedly while more traditional churches often seem hesitant and overwhelmed by the need for an interactive website, a Facebook page and a twitter feed. This book accepts digital connectivity as our reality, but presents a vision of how faith communities can utilize technology to better be the body of Christ to those who are hurting while also helping followers of Christ think critically about the limits of our digital attachments. This book begins with a conversion story of a non-cell phone owning, non-Facebook using religion professor judgmental of the ability of digital tools to enhance relationships. A stage IV cancer diagnosis later, in the midst of being held up by virtual communities of support, a conversion occurs: this religion professor benefits in embodied ways from virtual sources and wants to convert others to the reality that the body of Christ can and does exist virtually and makes embodied difference in the lives of those who are hurting. The book neither uncritically embraces nor rejects the constant digital connectivity present in our lives. Rather it calls on the church to a) recognize ways in which digital social networks already enact the virtual body of Christ; b) tap into and expand how Christ is being experienced virtually; c) embrace thoughtfully the material effects of our new augmented reality, and c) influence utilization of technology that minimizes distraction and maximizes attentiveness toward God and the world God loves.
Book Synopsis Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy by : David J. Chalmers
Download or read book Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy written by David J. Chalmers and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2022-01-25 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A leading philosopher takes a mind-bending journey through virtual worlds, illuminating the nature of reality and our place within it. Virtual reality is genuine reality; that’s the central thesis of Reality+. In a highly original work of “technophilosophy,” David J. Chalmers gives a compelling analysis of our technological future. He argues that virtual worlds are not second-class worlds, and that we can live a meaningful life in virtual reality. We may even be in a virtual world already. Along the way, Chalmers conducts a grand tour of big ideas in philosophy and science. He uses virtual reality technology to offer a new perspective on long-established philosophical questions. How do we know that there’s an external world? Is there a god? What is the nature of reality? What’s the relation between mind and body? How can we lead a good life? All of these questions are illuminated or transformed by Chalmers’ mind-bending analysis. Studded with illustrations that bring philosophical issues to life, Reality+ is a major statement that will shape discussion of philosophy, science, and technology for years to come.
Book Synopsis Aesthetics of the Virtual by : Roberto Diodato
Download or read book Aesthetics of the Virtual written by Roberto Diodato and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2012-11-15 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Arguing that the virtual body is something new—namely, an entity that from an ontological perspective has only recently entered the world—Roberto Diodato considers the implications of this kind of body for aesthetics. Virtual bodies insert themselves into the space opened up by the famous distinction in Aristotle's Physics between natural and artificial beings—they are both. They are beings that are simultaneously events; they are images that are at once internal and external; they are ontological hybrids that exist only in the interaction between logical-computational text and human bodies endowed with technological prostheses. Pursuing this line of thought, Diodato reconfigures classic aesthetic concepts such as mimesis, representation, the relation between illusion and reality, the nature of images and imagination, and the theory of sensory knowledge.
Book Synopsis The Virtual Window by : Anne Friedberg
Download or read book The Virtual Window written by Anne Friedberg and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2009-02-13 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Renaissance idea of the painting as an open window to the nested windows and multiple images on today's cinema, television, and computer screens: a cultural history of the metaphoric, literal, and virtual window. As we spend more and more of our time staring at the screens of movies, televisions, computers, and handheld devices—"windows" full of moving images, texts, and icons—how the world is framed has become as important as what is in the frame. In The Virtual Window, Anne Friedberg examines the window as metaphor, as architectural component, and as an opening to the dematerialized reality we see on the screen. In De pictura (1435), Leon Battista Alberti famously instructed painters to consider the frame of the painting as an open window. Taking Alberti's metaphor as her starting point, Friedberg tracks shifts in the perspectival paradigm as she gives us histories of the architectural window, developments in glass and transparency, and the emerging apparatuses of photography, cinema, television, and digital imaging. Single-point perspective—Alberti's metaphorical window—has long been challenged by modern painting, modern architecture, and moving-image technologies. And yet, notes Friedberg, for most of the twentieth century the dominant form of the moving image was a single image in a single frame. The fractured modernism exemplified by cubist painting, for example, remained largely confined to experimental, avant-garde work. On the computer screen, however, where multiple 'windows' coexist and overlap, perspective may have met its end. In this wide-ranging book, Friedberg considers such topics as the framed view of the camera obscura, Le Corbusier's mandates for the architectural window, Eisenstein's opinions on the shape of the movie screen, and the multiple images and nested windows commonly displayed on screens today. The Virtual Window proposes a new logic of visuality, framed and virtual: an architecture not only of space but of time.
Download or read book Virtual War written by Gloria Skurzynski and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-05-11 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imagine a life of virtual reality -- a childhood contained in a controlled environment, with no human contact or experiences outside of the world of computer-generated images. Corgan has been genetically engineered by the Federation for quick reflexes, high intelligence, and physical superiority. Everything Corgan is, everything he has ever seen or done, was to prepare him for one moment: a bloodless, computer-controlled virtual war. When Corgan meets his two fellow warriors, he begins to question the Federation. Now Corgan must decide where his loyalties lie, what he's willing to fight for, and exactly what he wants in return. His decisions will affect not only these three virtual warriors, but all the people left on earth.
Book Synopsis Parables for the Virtual by : Brian Massumi
Download or read book Parables for the Virtual written by Brian Massumi and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2002-04-09 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although the body has been the focus of much contemporary cultural theory, the models that are typically applied neglect the most salient characteristics of embodied existence—movement, affect, and sensation—in favor of concepts derived from linguistic theory. In Parables for the Virtual Brian Massumi views the body and media such as television, film, and the Internet, as cultural formations that operate on multiple registers of sensation beyond the reach of the reading techniques founded on the standard rhetorical and semiotic models. Renewing and assessing William James's radical empiricism and Henri Bergson's philosophy of perception through the filter of the post-war French philosophy of Deleuze, Guattari, and Foucault, Massumi links a cultural logic of variation to questions of movement, affect, and sensation. If such concepts are as fundamental as signs and significations, he argues, then a new set of theoretical issues appear, and with them potential new paths for the wedding of scientific and cultural theory. Replacing the traditional opposition of literal and figural with new distinctions between stasis and motion and between actual and virtual, Parables for the Virtual tackles related theoretical issues by applying them to cultural mediums as diverse as architecture, body art, the digital art of Stelarc, and Ronald Reagan's acting career. The result is an intriguing combination of cultural theory, science, and philosophy that asserts itself in a crystalline and multi-faceted argument.
Download or read book The Virtual written by Rob Shields and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work argues that the virtual has become one of the key organizing principles of contemporary society for the public realms of politics and business as well as private life from sex to shopping.
Book Synopsis The Virtual Manager by : Kevin Sheridan
Download or read book The Virtual Manager written by Kevin Sheridan and published by Red Wheel/Weiser. This book was released on 2012-01-22 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The mere suggestion of employees working from home is enough to make many managers sweat. Faced with the prospect of managing an employee they can’t even see, many discover that their managerial style just doesn’t work anymore. As an increasing number of jobs can be executed from home, managers must learn how to adapt their leadership style to cater to remote employees. Based on years of research, The Virtual Manager provides any manager with the tools he or she needs to successfully work with virtual employees. Trust us: it’s not like managing office-bound employees! This book is a tell-all user manual for a new generation of managers. To stay competitive in a global marketplace, it is essential to incorporate virtual employees into talent management strategy. The Virtual Manager arms managers with the knowledge they need to be become effective virtual leaders, including actionable advice on how to: Leverage the top engagement drivers for virtual employees Develop or alter policies and procedures to fit virtual employees’ needs Impact business outcomes through a flexible work strategy
Download or read book Becoming Virtual written by Pierre Levy and published by Da Capo Press, Incorporated. This book was released on 1998-03-21 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examining the cultural and social impact of new digital technologies, Levy tackles the concept of "the virtual," clearly defining it alongside "the real," "the actual," and "the possible." He shows how the body, the text, and the economy, are made virtual. He then reveals how the Internet and web sites are now transforming the virtual into a "collective intelligence" linked to digital communication. Though Levy agrees with many contemporary philosophers of science that these changes are producing a cultural revolution, he is uniquely optimistic. Allaying the fears of those who think technology will dehumanize society, he demonstrates how the virtual has always been an enduring component of the human mind.
Author :William Sims Bainbridge Publisher :Springer Science & Business Media ISBN 13 :0857299042 Total Pages :204 pages Book Rating :4.8/5 (572 download)
Book Synopsis The Virtual Future by : William Sims Bainbridge
Download or read book The Virtual Future written by William Sims Bainbridge and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2011-09-06 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The newest communication technologies are profoundly changing the world's politics, economies, and cultures, but the specific implications of online game worlds remain mysterious. The Virtual Future employs theories and methods from social science to explore nine very different virtual futures: The Matrix Online, Tabula Rasa, Anarchy Online, Entropia Universe, Star Trek Online, EVE Online, Star Wars Galaxies, World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade, and The Chronicles of Riddick. Each presents a different picture of how technology and society could evolve in coming centuries, but one theme runs through all of them, the attempt to escape the Earth and seek new destinies among the stars. Four decades after the last trip to the moon, a new conception of spaceflight is emerging. Rather than rockets shooting humans across vast physical distances to sterile rocks that lack the resources to sustain life, perhaps robot space probes and orbiting telescopes will glean information about the universe, that humans can then experience inside computer-generated environments much closer to home. All nine of these fantastically rich multiplayer masterpieces have shown myriads of people that really radical alternatives to contemporary society could exist, and has served as a laboratory for examining the consequences. Each is a prototype of new social forms, a utopian subculture, and a simulation of technologies that have yet to be invented. They draw upon several different traditions of science fiction and academic philosophy, and they were created in several nations. By comparing these nine role-playing fantasies, we can better consider what kind of world we want to inhabit in the real future.
Book Synopsis The View from Split Rock by : Lee Radzak
Download or read book The View from Split Rock written by Lee Radzak and published by . This book was released on 2021-05 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A modern lighthouse keeper tells the fascinating stories of his tenure at a celebrated historic site.
Download or read book Metropolis written by Ben Wilson and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2020-11-10 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a captivating tour of cities famous and forgotten, acclaimed historian Ben Wilson tells the glorious, millennia-spanning story how urban living sparked humankind's greatest innovations. “A towering achievement.... Reading this book is like visiting an exhilarating city for the first time—dazzling.” —The Wall Street Journal During the two hundred millennia of humanity’s existence, nothing has shaped us more profoundly than the city. From their very beginnings, cities created such a flourishing of human endeavor—new professions, new forms of art, worship and trade—that they kick-started civilization. Guiding us through the centuries, Wilson reveals the innovations nurtured by the inimitable energy of human beings together: civics in the agora of Athens, global trade in ninth-century Baghdad, finance in the coffeehouses of London, domestic comforts in the heart of Amsterdam, peacocking in Belle Époque Paris. In the modern age, the skyscrapers of New York City inspired utopian visions of community design, while the trees of twenty-first-century Seattle and Shanghai point to a sustainable future in the age of climate change. Page-turning, irresistible, and rich with engrossing detail, Metropolis is a brilliant demonstration that the story of human civilization is the story of cities.
Book Synopsis The Virtual Life of Film by : D. N. RODOWICK
Download or read book The Virtual Life of Film written by D. N. RODOWICK and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As almost every aspect of making and viewing movies is replaced by digital technologies, even the notion of "watching a film" is fast becoming an anachronism. With the likely disappearance of celluloid film stock as a medium, and the emergence of new media, what will happen to cinema--and to cinema studies? In the first of two books exploring this question, Rodowick considers the fate of film and its role in the aesthetics and culture of the twenty-first century.
Book Synopsis Building the Virtual State by : Jane E. Fountain
Download or read book Building the Virtual State written by Jane E. Fountain and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2004-05-28 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The benefits of using technology to remake government seem almost infinite. The promise of such programs as user-friendly "virtual agencies" and portals where citizens can access all sections of government from a single website has excited international attention. The potential of a digital state cannot be realized, however, unless the rigid structures of the contemporary bureaucratic state change along with the times. Building the Virtual State explains how the American public sector must evolve and adapt to exploit the possibilities of digital governance fully and fairly. The book finds that many issues involved in integrating technology and government have not been adequately debated or even recognized. Drawing from a rich collection of case studies, the book argues that the real challenges lie not in achieving the technical capability of creating a government on the web, but rather in overcoming the entrenched organizational and political divisions within the state. Questions such as who pays for new government websites, which agencies will maintain the sites, and who will ensure that the privacy of citizens is respected reveal the extraordinary obstacles that confront efforts to create a virtual state. These political and structural battles will influence not only how the American state will be remade in the Information Age, but also who will be the winners and losers in a digital society.
Book Synopsis The Virtual Weapon and International Order by : Lucas Kello
Download or read book The Virtual Weapon and International Order written by Lucas Kello and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2017-09-26 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An urgently needed examination of the current cyber revolution that draws on case studies to develop conceptual frameworks for understanding its effects on international order The cyber revolution is the revolution of our time. The rapid expansion of cyberspace brings both promise and peril. It promotes new modes of political interaction, but it also disrupts interstate dealings and empowers non-state actors who may instigate diplomatic and military crises. Despite significant experience with cyber phenomena, the conceptual apparatus to analyze, understand, and address their effects on international order remains primitive. Here, Lucas Kello adapts and applies international relations theory to create new ways of thinking about cyber strategy. Kello draws on a broad range of case studies, including the Estonian crisis, the Olympic Games operation against Iran, and the cyber attack against Sony Pictures. Synthesizing qualitative data from government documents, forensic reports of major incidents and interviews with senior officials from around the globe, this important work establishes new conceptual benchmarks to help security experts adapt strategy and policy to the unprecedented challenges of our times.
Book Synopsis Exodus to the Virtual World by : Edward Castronova
Download or read book Exodus to the Virtual World written by Edward Castronova and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2007-11-27 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Virtual worlds have exploded out of online game culture and now capture the attention of millions of ordinary people: husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, workers, retirees. Devoting dozens of hours each week to massively multiplayer virtual reality environments (like World of Warcraft and Second Life), these millions are the start of an exodus into the refuge of fantasy, where they experience life under a new social, political, and economic order built around fun. Given the choice between a fantasy world and the real world, how many of us would choose reality? Exodus to the Virtual World explains the growing migration into virtual reality, and how it will change the way we live--both in fantasy worlds and in the real one.
