Main content

Digital devices operate in binary ways; either they're working or they're a brick. Aleks Krotoski asks what this means for our natural instincts as tool builders and tool breakers.

Digital devices operate in binary ways; either they're working or they're a brick! Aleks Krotoski asks what this means for our natural instincts as tool builders and tool breakers?

As technology becomes more resistant to prying fingers and minds are we losing the ability to imagine it differently? Take the dying art of tuning an engine it can make cars faster and more efficient but only comes through a symbiotic relationship between mechanic and machine and of course every child knows the joy of taking something apart to see how it works at least until they're caught doing it

Are these the same sensibilities we see in the digital world? From hacking to playing a video game in such a perverse way as to see if it can be broken? Do the constraints of digital technology lock us out of our devices; licensing us to only use them in the prescribed ways, that while convenient are also dis-empowering?

Producer: Peter McManus.

Available now

30 minutes

Last on

Tue 6 Oct 2015 23:30
Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 4

More episodes

Previous

QuantizeSeries 5

Next

SellSeries 5

See all episodes from The Digital Human

Clip

Music Played

  • Isan

    Device

    • Glow in the Dark Safari Set.

  • Hauschka

    Ginsterweg

    • Snowflakes & Carwrecks.

  • Gene Vincent

    Well I Knocked, Bim Bam

  • Isan

    SAT 73

    • Meet Next Life.

  • Lullatone

    The Hands of a Clock

    • Songs That Spin in Circles.

  • Isan

    What this Button Did

    • Lucky Cat.

Professor Thomas M. Malaby

Professor Thomas M. Malaby

Thomas Malaby is Professor and Chair of Anthropology in the  at the , where he studies virtual worlds, games, institutions, and indeterminacy.

His primary interest is in the relationships among institutions, unpredictability, and technology, particularly as they are realized through games and game-like processes.

Jamie Gibbon

Jamie Gibbon
Jamie Gibbon has been driving and tinkering with cars since he was 12. It's a family tradition with his father building and racing cars during 1940s and 50s. Jamie works on his beloved Jaguars and other classic cars in his workshop in the north of Glasgow.

Edinburgh Hacklab

Edinburgh Hacklab
Grace Kane is a founding member of the Edinburgh Hacklab, part of the worldwide movement of  – shared spaces for people who mess around with technology for fun. Edinburgh Hacklab was launched on 24th August 2010 and is now based at  on the south side of Edinburgh. If you’d like to see or use the space,  us or come to one of our open .

Rosa Menkman

Rosa Menkman

Rosa Menkman is a Dutch artist and theorist who likes to focus on visual artifacts created by accidents in both analogue and digital media.

" The visuals I make are the result of , compressions, feedback and other forms of noise. Although many people perceive these accidents as negative experiences, I emphasize their positive consequences: I believe that these artifacts facilitate an important insight into the otherwise obscure world of media resolutions. "

Kurt J. Mack

Kurt J. Mack

On the 28th March 2011 Kurt J Mack loaded a new of Minecraft and since then he's been walking west in search of the edge of this infintelty generating universe the farlands. Its a quest he's been sharing in a youtube game channel  - .

Broadcasts

  • Mon 5 May 2014 16:30
    Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 4
  • Tue 6 Oct 2015 23:30
    Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 4

Featured in...

  • Evening Commute

    A selection of downloadable programmes, perfect for the journey home

Podcast

Related Links

  • (thedigitalhuman.tumblr.com)
  • (twitter.com)
  • (twitter.com)
  • (farlandsorbust.com)
  • (www.youtube.com)
  • (en.wikipedia.org)