Presentation: The City as Cyborg: a history of Civic Technology in the first quarter of the 21st Century

Description

Join us this July, 2056, as we hear Historian Mjumbe Poe give a lecture on the developments in civic technology in the early 21st Century, particularly between the years 2001 and 2026. He will address the major movements in the first quarter of the 21st century that led to the modern notion that cities are, in fact, cyborgs.

Abstract

~~LECTURE ANNOUNCEMENT~~
The Cyborg City Lecture Series
July 19, 2056

As an increasing number of scholars debate precisely what it means for our cities to be organisms unto themselves -- specifically cybernetic organisms -- we will take a retrospective look at the historical period that preceded this trend in ideas. Technology Historian Mjumbe Poe will share his perspectives on the first quarter of the 21st Century, and the evolution of the mediated relationship between people and cities by technology.

Among other themes related to cities, Poe will address:

Cyborgification -- individuals increasingly empathizing with their technology
The ever decreasing latency in all forms of communication, and the effects on neighborhoods and local politics
The ubiquity of digital representation and reluctant conversion of state business to electronic form
Privacy, security, particularly important rulings around rights to encryption, and digital devices as extensions of the self

Special attention will be paid to the role that the Web and ubiquitous network connectivity played in these developments.