This book presents an entirely new way of understanding technology, as the successor to the dominant ideologies that have underpinned the thought and practices of the Western world. Like the preceding ideologies of Deity, State and Market, technology displays the features of a modern myth, promising to deal with our existential concerns on condition of our subjection to them. Utilising robust empirical evidence, Lyria Bennett Moses and David Grant argue that the pathway out of this mythological maze is the production of means to establish a new sense of political, corporate and personal self-responsibility.

TechGnosis is a cult classic of media studies that straddles the line between academic discourse and popular culture; it appeals to both those secular and spiritual, to fans of cyberpunk and hacker literature and culture as much as new-thought adherents and spiritual seekers How does our fascination with technology intersect with the religious imagination? In TechGnosis—a cult classic now updated and reissued with a new afterword—Erik Davis argues that while the realms of the digital and the spiritual may seem worlds apart, esoteric and religious impulses have in fact always permeated (and sometimes inspired) technological communication. Davis uncovers startling connections between such seemingly disparate topics as electricity and alchemy; online roleplaying games and religious and occult practices; virtual reality and gnostic mythology; programming languages and Kabbalah. The final chapters address the apocalyptic dreams that haunt technology, providing vital historical context as well as new ways to think about a future defined by the mutant intermingling of mind and machine, nightmare and fantasy.

Neuroscience has begun to intrude deeply into what it means to be human, an intrusion that offers profound benefits but will demolish our present understanding of privacy. In Privacy in the Age of Neuroscience, David Grant argues that we need to reconceptualize privacy in a manner that will allow us to reap the rewards of neuroscience while still protecting our privacy and, ultimately, our humanity. Grant delves into our relationship with technology, the latest in what he describes as a historical series of 'magnitudes', following Deity, the State and the Market, proposing the idea that, for this new magnitude (Technology), we must control rather than be subjected to it. In this provocative work, Grant unveils a radical account of privacy and an equally radical proposal to create the social infrastructure we need to support it.

Until recently, double-digit economic growth was not unusual among Asian countries and, in fact, had come to be expected of them. From western India to northeastern China, markets were booming and incredible numbers of foreign investors were racing into the Asian markets. Scholars have written laudatory books and articles, politicians want to ensure that trade with Asian countries continues on a rising trajectory, and business leaders have become the new promoters of Asian prosperity. This book attempts to inject a note of caution and reality, while giving Asian countries well-deserved credit for improving their economic status. Technological, managerial, and institutional deficiencies need to be addressed in Asian countries if the progress of the past two decades is to be restored and preserved. Although Asian nations, particularly Japan, have invested heavily in R&D, their success mainly derives from process improvements and not from new product innovations. Technology and science are the foundations of modern economic civilization, and Asia's assets fall behind Western countries in both areas. The centrality of family-based organizations in some Asian economies and the dependence on horizontal/vertical networks in others also limits the ability of Asian firms to become global operations. The lack of adequate institutions such as an independent judiciary and a responsive polity, and the absence of organizations to bridge the gap between between familism and the government, results in an uncertain societal framework in much of Asia. If robust economic growth is to return, Asian economies must rectify the weaknesses Arogyaswamy exposes in this provocative and timely book.

The Western Devaluation of Knowledge is an exploration of the causes and effects of Western cultural changes that have evolved during the past half millennium of industrialization to diminish the value of knowledge as process. Western culture has developed a conceptualization and valuation of knowledge that reverses the traditional knowledge continuum that connects data (information) to understanding. As a result, we displace the subjective and human features of knowledge with automated systems that conforms with information and devalues the knowledge process. This book explains this change as a result of the industrial influences that began to gain strength in the 15th century and continued on that path through today’s economic and cultural globalization. The author shows that science and technology, while bringing good on many fronts have also: Weakened or replaced traditional sources of cultural authority, Advanced a materialistic outlook; Hastened the broad spread of capitalist values, principles, and strategies; Fostered a pervasive dependence on technological innovation; and Nurtured an extreme rationality. Osburn shows that while any one of the above cultural currently would have been sufficient to cause deep and generalized change, their confluence was the deciding inspiration for a different epistemology, one that has altered the generally accepted meaning and valuation of knowledge.

Revisiting Marshall McLuhan's work on the ways that technologies influence societies, Adria reconsiders the effects technologies have had on Canadian regionalism and nationalism. Offering key insights into media history, the author outlines the influence that newspapers, radio, and television have had in forming a mindset ready to welcome the internet age. As the digital revolution continues to shape the world into a global village, Technology and Nationalism provides a detailed and overdue reflection on the influence of technology on the social and political bonds we form and inhabit.

This is the first comprehensive volume in English on Cassirer's philosophy for over seventy years. Eleven leading Cassirer scholars address all of the key aspects of Cassirer's multi-faceted thought and situate them in the wider context of his philosophy of culture. Their essays demonstrate the depth and richness of a philosophical enterprise that still awaits recognition as one of the most original contributions to twentieth-century philosophy. Interpreting Cassirer will prove invaluable not only for Cassirer scholars and researchers of early twentieth-century philosophy, but also for scholars of the philosophy of culture, language, science, art, history, and mind.