2 Matching Annotations
  1. Jan 2023
    1. It was Eric Williams (Capitalism and Slavery) who first developed the idea thatEuropean slave plantations in the New World were, in effect, the first factories; theidea of a “pre-racial” North Atlantic proletariat, in which these same techniques ofmechanization, surveillance, and discipline were applied to workers on ships, waselaborated by Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker (The Many-Headed Hydra).

      What sort of influence did these sorts of philosophy have on educational practices of their day and how do they reflect on our current educational milieu?

  2. Oct 2020
    1. And so, engineers are faced with two realities. One reality is the atmosphere of new technology, its incredible power to transform the human condition, the joy of the art of doing science and engineering, the trials of the creative process, the romance of the frontier. The other reality is the frustration and drudgery of operating in a world of corporate politics, bureaucracy, envy and greed— a world so depressing, that many people quit in frustration, never to come back.

      alas most technology itself is more Prescriptive & mechanistic than it is Holistic & creative. most users live in an easy to use commercialized mechanized environment, their entire lives. they are afforded some capabilities to be creative, but the regime of computing at large is oppressive & controlling, is increasingly un-personal, far away, in some cloud we cannot see or control.

      techies have let computing become a bad part of reality. and in my mind, its because not enough of us have opted to use it personally, in personal manners, to set up forward bases for a more liberated computing experience, first for ourselves, for the alpha geeks, & to have that radical departure into optimism light the way for others, to get glimpses of what better ways might be.

      we must live the better existence ourselves, techies.