Download chaos and cyberculture pdf

In the early s, computers haunted the American popular imagination. Bleak tools of the cold war, they embodied the rigid organization and mechanical conformity that made the military-industrial complex possible. But by the s—and the dawn of the Internet—computers started to represent a very different kind of world: a collaborative and digital utopia modeled on the communal ideals of the hippies who so vehemently rebelled against the cold war establishment in the first place.

From Counterculture to Cyberculture is the first book to explore this extraordinary and ironic transformation. There are eight main sections and an epilogue. The concept of individuals with choice and identity seemed total folly, the ultimate nightmare-not just of authoritarian bureaucrats, but of common-sense liberals.

Chaos must be controlled! The standard way to tame and domesticate the impossible complexity that surrounds us is to invent a few "tooth-fairy" Gods, the more infantile the better, and to lay down a few childish rules: Honour your father and your mother, etc.

The rules are simple and logical. You passively obey. Are psychedelics invaluable therapeutic medicines, or dangerously unpredictable drugs that precipitate psychosis?

Tools for spiritual communion or cognitive enhancers that spark innovation? Activators for one's private muse or part of a political movement? In the s and s, researchers studied psychedelics in all these incarnations, often arriving at contradictory results. In American Trip, Ido Hartogsohn examines how the psychedelic experience in midcentury America was shaped by historical, social, and cultural forces--by set the mindset of the user and setting the environments in which the experience takes place.

The set was extremely successful and continues to be used to this day, due to the high quality of the writing, the distinguished contributors, and the cultural sensitivity shown in the selection of those individuals included. New Makers of Modern Culture takes into full account the rise and fall of reputation and influence over the last twenty-five years and the epochal changes that have occurred: the demise of Marxism and the collapse of the Soviet Union; the rise and fall of postmodernism; the eruption of Islamic fundamentalism; the triumph of the Internet.

Containing over eight hundred essay-style entries, and covering the period from to the present, New Makers of Modern Culture includes artists, writers, dramatists, architects, philosophers, anthropologists, scientists, sociologists, major political figures, composers, film-makers and many other culturally significant individuals and is thoroughly international in its purview.

Once again, Wintle has enlisted the services of many distinguished writers and leading academics, such as Sam Beer, Bernard Crick, Edward Seidensticker and Paul Preston.

In a few cases, for example Michael Holroyd and Philip Larkin, contributors are themselves the subject of entries. With its global reach, New Makers of Modern Culture provides a multi-voiced witness of the contemporary thinking world.

The entries carry short bibliographies and there is thorough cross-referencing. There is an index of names and key terms. Download Things books , The relation between religion and things has long been conceived in antagonistic terms, privileging spirit above matter, belief above ritual and objects, meaning above form and 'inward' contemplation above 'outward' action. This book addresses these issues. Download Altering Consciousness books , This authoritative, multidisciplinary overview of altered states of consciousness ASC shows how their study is necessary to gain a fundamental understanding of human culture, history, and biology.

Download Contested Bodies books , The body occupies a prime position in contemporary theoretical work, yet still there is no consensus on exactly what it is and what constitutes it.

Contested Bodies brings together a number of different accounts and perspectives on the body, drawing out some of the key connections and disjunctures from this most contested of topics. This volume features fresh and fascinating contributions from some of the leading thinkers and upcoming theorists in the field.