‘all that is digitized must converge’

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a wonderful blog-post by Michel Sacasas on Ellul’s latest book and his thoughts about the status of technology and the compensatory factors that should occur. “We have no choice but to live in a world dominated by technique,” he (i.e. Ellul, mp) explains, “but we are forced to find something providing satisfactions elsewhere and permitting us to live otherwise.” When it comes to architecture I guess there are valuable options for ‘compensation’ – man as homo faber or universalis – which to me should not be regarded as such since they are as valuable, rewarding and inescapable as ever.

the future of architecture in a digital age,

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interesting video-report of a recent meeting between architect Ben van Berkel (UN-Studio), philosopher Ad Verbrugge and computer hci-expert Arief Huhn on the consequences of digitalization in architecture for inhabitants, the city and our experience.

 

home and/or hyperconnectivity

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new article written for hyperthinkers website, a fine and welcome new initiative by philosopher Nicole Dewandre and artist Frederik de Wilde: ‘an open platform for critical reflection, dialogue and exchange that seeks to explore the ways in which the digital and physical worlds have merged to create an entangled hybrid and complex reality that encompasses us globally.’

Rethinking the Smart City

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Published in 2018, the text by Evgeny Morozov and Francesa Bria offers a clear vision and action doc on the current trend of declaring many cities ‘smart’. Their plea for a far more democratic and in-control situation is not a refusal of technological developments but for a rethinking of data-ownership  and   responsibility. “The authors discuss alternative smart city models, which rely on democratic data ownership regimes, grassroots innovation, and cooperative service provision models.”

Adams, site and place

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This Thursday, January 10th. 2019, the work of the American composer John Luther Adams will be performed in Rotterdam’s Doelen Concert Hall. Reading the text on his website I was struck by the reference he creates to e.g. the works of Robert Smithson concerning site and non-site. Adams weaves his thoughts on people, landscape, art and culture through music such as ‘Dark Waves’ and, earlier, ‘Become Ocean’. But his text alone remains timeless reading ………..

AIOTI Amsterdam meeting

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AIOTI’s WG-13 on Smart Building & Smart Architecture has held a constructive and intense meeting on Nov. 21-22 at the offices of UNSENSE in Amsterdam. After an interesting presentation by Roger Tan on the actual works of UNSENSE we experienced a very essential and significant exchange of opinions, particular about the basics of what will – beginning 2019 – result in WG-13’s white-paper. Core of the discussions was the ontology of smart building, the ethical framework and the urge to address these issues in line with human values.

lecture cyber-physical systems

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Yesterday’s afternoon, the 30th of October at the Nieuwe Instituut Rotterdam we listened to Prof.Dr. Ben van Lier who delivered his inaugural lecture for the Hogeschool Rotterdam; ‘Thinking about ecologies of autonomous cyber-physical systems and their ethics’. Afterwards a (too brief) discussion moderated by Rob van Kranenburg (Council) with Liisa Janssens (TNO), Linda Kool (Rathenau) and Jonne Hoek (TU-Twente). Again the conclusion was drawn that the overall lack of awareness is real; the english text of the lecture is published by the HR but should in fact be transformed into a summary in Dutch and published widely.

Fuller’s heritage

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To celebrate the impact of the Buckminster Fuller Challenge, Whirlwind Creative – a multi-talented creative firm based in New York City – has created a 28 minute film about the 10 years legacy and impact of the program. The film’s creators, David Lackey and Terren Baker, conducted dozens of interviews with the Fuller Challenge winners, jurors, review team members, and others to create a profile of the program. Released in conjunction with the curated archive of the whole-systems design innovations, the film provides an inspiring context and makes a compelling case for the importance of this approach to addressing the interrelated issues facing the world today.

https://www.bfi.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=4053&qid=4181949

 

Jaron Lanier on BBC

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interesting and illustrative interview July 1st. on BBC’s Hard Talk with Jaron Lanier, founding father of VR, author, thinker, writer (‘You are not a gadget’, ‘Who owns the future’)

BBC interview Lanier