Raphaels Knowledge from School of Athens - Book Report/Review Example

Raphael’s knowledge from School of Athens: Aristotle said metaphors arise from intuition of analogy between things. Borges identified metaphor as a common thread in world literatures. Raffaello Sanzio (1483-1520) painted “La Scuola di Atene” in 1509 -1511, a metaphor with two clear messages. First, that knowledge is a dialogue, shown by scholars from different times and places congregated on the steps engaging a continuously changing community of contemporaries, precursors and future scholars. Second, knowledge is united, teaching many disciplines simultaneously constitutes the strength of the liberal arts as shown in the architectural structure. Cyborg’s Posthumans: Since 1939, improved interfaces have led to several types of cyborg soldiers, including pilot-cybors, teleoperators, info-cyborgs and various fighting cyborgs, indicating technoscience will make posthumans probable. Hayles said the posthuman view is suggestive, preferring mechanical pattern over spontaneous generation, considering consciousness as an evolutionary upstart and the body as the original prosthesis, so extending or replacing it with other prostheses becomes a continuation of a process. In the posthuman, there are no essential differences between bodily existence and computer simulation, cybernetic mechanism and biological organism, robot teleology and human goals. Information Revolution: Recent literature on the spatial dimension and geographic analysis of cyberspace includes Hepworth; Brunn and Leinbach; Kellerman; Batty; Bakis, Abler and Roche; Castells; Wilson and Corey; Dodge; Rheingold; Graham and Marvin; Mitchell; and Horan. The spatial organization of regulation, taxation, and enforcement in cyberspace demands researchers trained in spatially oriented disciplines as these lend themselves to pattern among activities, representing fundamental building blocks to identification. Geography offers these insights into physical infrastructure, electronic information/finance flows, information technology-generated economic activities and a hierarchical perspective. This hierarchy includes: intelligent corridors; cyber communities; cyber conurbations; intelligent megalopolitan development; national-scale information infrastructures; regional-scale information infrastructures; and the global-scale intelligent “ecumenopolis.” (Doxiadis and Papaioannou 1974) Comparisons in spatial disparities might be made between “information colonies” that need measurement, mapping, spatial analysis and interpretation. The Internet is multinational and non-national because the cost and speed of transmission is independent of physical location. LOCALITY, SPATIAL ORGANIZATION, AND ELECTRONIC COMMERCE Geographers Stanley Brunn and Thomas Leinbach launched understanding of ICT in 1991 and updated it in 2001. Peter Drucker wrote E-commerce is to the Information Revolution what the railroad was to the Industrial Revolution, in economy, society, and politics. In the mental geography of the railroad, humanity mastered distance; with e-commerce, distance is replaced with a different geography (cf., Glater January 7, 2001). Cyberspace geography has changed our perception of space. Questions center on emerging patterns, the extent bandwidth and response time figure in spatial organization, and the mobility and information flow implications of various devices. These technologies transform our collective perception of the interdependencies between space and time (cf., Kopomaa 2000). Townsend said “the individual is rarely the unit of analysis” and the telecommunications revolution cannot be ignored like other emotionally charged technologies were in the past (Townsend 2000: 98). Impact of Cyber space on geography: Observing how people find meaning in cyberspace illuminates these processes in realspace. A testing ground for hypotheses, cyberspace forces the rethinking of assumptions about place and space. Charting a place that is nowhere and everywhere and analyzing the interactions that emerge is a redoubtable task. Modernity is defined by governance, construction of subjectivity, ‘destruction of space by time’, and factory, exhibition, and cinema spaces. Innovations include rapid progress in communications from the telegraph to the internet (Williams, 1982) that shaped an understanding of the urban image and changed the experiences of modern living. Modernisation is defined by subjectivity, space and technology; the speed factor of transportation; geographical limits; relations of the subject with the city; modern consumption; role of the exhibition and communication. Pictures as a measure of urban changes and exhibitions of images as a means of communicating this experience should also be recognized. Around 3500BC, written language was invented, followed by postal services in 900BC and books in 100AD. By 1450, Europe had newspapers made easier by the typewriter in 1714. Joseph Henry invented the electric telegraph in 1831; Alexander Graham Bell the telephone in 1876. Photographs and movies were developed in 1877. In 1888, George Eastman patented the Kodak roll film camera. By 1930, radio and then television became popular home entertainments (Rowland, 1997). Computers were sold commercially by 1951. The first internet, APRANET (1969) had cable services in 1972 (Slevin, 2000; Rowland, 1997). In 1979, mobile phones emerged, with PC and laptop services by 1981. Cellular phones went worldwide by 1985 and the World Wide Web changed the face of global communication in 1994 (Rowland, 1997). From a philosophical perspective, Francis Bacon considered science and technology a means to understand and master nature. René Descartes argued for a world controlled by mathematical principles (in Ferre and Allan, 1994). Technological advancement is necessary for advancement of civilization and to overcome the limitations of nature (Mitcham, 1994). Downey (2002) suggests historians of telegraphy focus on system builders and geographers traced changes brought to the speed of business. Both have ignored the history of the human element of the telegraph network (Downey, 2002), which should form an element of study, blending the human geographical element and history of technology to understand urban experiences of technological changes. Winston’s (1998) model of historical change begins with scientific developments, ideation and the phenomena of invention and diffusion. Society intervenes to stimulate, facilitate or repress certain changes and all major technological changes were accommodated by pre-existing social formations. He asserts all new technology takes time to diffuse to full popularity so transformations are slow. That new technologies change society quickly is revealed in exhibitions that depict individual experiences and surrounding changes. By the end of the nineteenth century, the photographic process was simplified with the introduction of George Eastmans Kodak camera. Exhibitions were used to showcase technological developments and as a tool to take technology to the masses. They also demonstrated achievement, power and technological superiority. They had a cinematographic appeal and brought the industrial revolution to the public. Read More