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A book that you just have to read
"Turing's Man. Western Culture in the Computer Age"
article written by Trophy
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It's not the newest bestseller and maybe many of you have already read it. But
this book is very interesting especially for all kind of computer freaks.
Programmers will feel this beautifull feeling of importance while reading many
of the chapters. Coders will also feel satisfied - because of standing on a
lowest level - much closer to the computer. Others will feel inspired by
Bolter's thoughts.
It's a book for all the people from computer society - from philosophers thru
programmers to hard-coders, from graphicians painting their digital signs of
our times - as they're the descendants of Cro-Magnon artists. The musicians ?
Yes they also should have a look at this book because they're using the most
abstractive material to compose their songs - they also are the builders of our
computer-community. Everyone interested in the wide area of 'active computer'
living - creating, should read it closely.
Yes. I know what some of you are asking. It's not a book about the Internet,
'global villages' or 'information society'. It has the more universal idea to
show the historical context - how much do the computers and their users change
the human culture ? Is the Turing Man as a human equal with computer the next
step in evolution of living stereotypes in our culture? such as the philosopher
of ancient times, the ideal knight, lover or king in the middle ages or the
Erasmus kind of humanists in the Renesaince and so on...
Who is David Bolter ? He graduated both in Computer Science and Classic
Philology. The first faculty gives him a strong knowledge as an expert on
computers, the second can help him in comparing a lot of things from our past
to these days to help build the synthetic image of culture evolution. Where are
the computers in this book ? Everywhere. The author has amazing points of view
on a lot of problems, when he is talking about a programming job, when he sees
a creator in a programmer and compares him to the poet translating reality in
his poems, just like the programmer (or coder) is the one that can translate
the computer logic, taken from the world of digital reality to the codes easly
understanded by ordinary people - the users. And many, many more...
The book is a written journey from the ancient past, Greek and Roman philosophy
thru middle-ages to the age of computers. Our age. And that is why we should
read this book. We just have to know who we are and what is the human condition
in this special moment we are living. The book has some answers for us.
And it's inspiring.
But remember. It's not a historical or technical account. It's rather culture
oriented so if you're an expert in computing please don't blame Bolter for his
writing, because sometimes he is trying to talk to readers that are only users.
But he does it with a quite unique elegance. So, Turing's people - read about
world of computer culture or culture of computers and ask yourself:
"Do you agree that you're Turing's men ?"
Personally I think - I am !
I don't want to tell any more because the readers should have their own
interpretation. But please believe me it's worth losing a few hours reading it
Where can you find this book ? In the libraries I think. The orginal is in
English but I'm 100% sure that this is translated to Polish (I have one).
There's a big chance this book is also translated to your own national language
but you can always try the following:
English original:
Bolter David, "Turing's Man. Western Culture in the Computer Age",
The University of North Carolina, 1984
Polish translation:
Bolter David, "Czlowiek Turinga. Kultura zachodu w wieku komputera", Warszawa,
1990
By the way. If some of your friends don't see the sense with your fascination
in computers you have to read this book. You will have very strong arguments in
discussion and maybe you will explain to them that you're not a kind of 'maniac
or 'technocrat'. To be a Turing's Man means to be a descendant of all this
beautifull ideas from the past. It's the same quality now, like being the
Humanist in the Renesaince, a knight in middle-ages or the philosopher/or poet
in ancient Greece or Roma. Don't belive me ? Read the book.
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