The Robot in the Garden: Telerobotics and Telepistemology in the Age of the Internet (Leonardo Books) Book

This collection of 18 essays by engineers, philosophers and critics looks at how telerobots--"remotely operated machines"--are changing our interactions with one another and our environment, how they affect humans' experiences of trust and knowledge. Ken Goldberg, an engineering professor who founded the University of California at Berkeley's Art, Technology and Culture Colloquium, edits the collection. His qualifications for the position are impeccable--he led the team that in 1994 developed the first robot on the Internet. Telerobots have explored on our behalf such varied and hostile environments as the surface of Mars, the wreck of the Titanic and the ruins of Chernobyl. How much of what they tell us should we, can we, believe? "Representational technologies have served two main functions throughout human history: to deceive the viewer and allow the viewer to manipulate reality through representations," writes artist/critic Dr Lev Manovich. Some of the more philosophical essays take some wading through, but the book's basic premise--that it's important for humans to question continually not the development of telerobotics but how, as "the Internet dramatically extends our scope and reach", we continue deploy them and to what extent--is a crucial one worthy of such a lengthy and in-depth examination. --Liz BaileyRead More