The Media Lab: Inventing the Future at M. I. T.

by Stewart Brand

Book Overview

Personalized newspapers, life-sized holograms, telephones that chat with callers, these are all projects that are being developed at MIT's Media Lab. Brand explores the exciting programs, and gives... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140097015
• ISBN13: 9780140097016
• Release Date: September 1988
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A worthwhile addition to the history of computing

As many reviewers have already noted, this book is a bit of a mixed bag. While the specific technologies and predictions seem a bit dated, Brand's insightful analysis and excellent presentation make this an enjoyable and informative read. There is one characteristic of this text that doesn't appear to be mentioned by other reviewers, however, and that is its "time capsule" aspect. That is, Brand does a pretty good job of transporting the reader "back" to the mid-late 80s, when the book was written. Not only are the technologies indicators of the time, but the socio-political landscape as well (at least as far as I remember it). I think that, for today's reader, Brand's excellent explorations of the impact of Reaganomics, Japan's usurping of American manufacturing, the globalizing impact of technology, etc. provide tremendous value. I think that it is a somewhat rare thing for an author to so wholly encapsulate a time such that the later reader can access the notions and movements of an age so effectively. Brand provides such a rare glimpse in this work - a time portal back to the mid-80s, if you will. As a chapter in the history of computing, I think that most will agree that this work is a worthwhile addition. I suspect that most readers will also find this an interesting trip back to an earlier time.

Descriptive

Even though this book is somewhat dated now, it still has a purpose in that it provides a look at what one innovative facility was like at the time. For example, an opening observation made by the founder and director of the MIT lab, Nicolas Negroponte still applies, i.e., that all communications media and technologies are poised for redefinition. In terms of innovation, Brand writes "Once a technology rolls over you, if you're not part of the steamroller, you're part of the road."We're told that Negroponte views all communication technologies as a single subject and the process itself as a craft. He divides advertising into two categories, "advertising as noise" and "advertising as news." This book goes to show that while the delivery systems are always changing, content is significant. Some of the technologies which were relatively new at the time this book came out are commonplace now. The philosophical insights Brand makes are worth consideration at any time. As a result this book is still pertinent.

Future past?

This book was given to me as a gift when I learned that I was admitted to MIT in 1988. Over the years (and more so recently), I often see things that are the end result of the research done during the '80s at the Media Lab and documented in this book. Lego Mindstorms, custom Portals and personalized Internet, virtual reality games, this was all developed, envisioned, conceptualized, or influenced by Media Lab research. After reading it, I lost it somewhere along the way. I came here to see if I could find a copy to re-read it and check my memory. It really should be an interesting read after all these years for anyone interested in the process and history of science.