In Digital Apollo, MIT professor of the history of engineering David Mindell plumbs the archives at the university in order to explore the tenuous relationship between man and machine during the Apollo landings. While machines had long defined human undertakings, it was the rise of software and intelligent machines that caused the most pronounced shift in mechanical interactions. As Mindell puts it, “Astronauts and their …
Among the dystopian visions of a Matrix-style digital future, interaction designer John Kestner comes as a welcome voice, “enhancing the successful physical interfaces between humans and objects.” The graduate and research affiliate of M.I.T. Media Lab, along with fellow grad David Carr, runs Supermechanical, a studio devoted to relating old-world craftsmanship with modern technology, in essence, giving electronics some soul. “When each object has an …
Boasting a list of innovations of sci-fi proportions, designer and researcher Marcelo Coelho paints a future that is both accessible and immediate. Referencing daily materials and human behavior, Coelho creates objects that feel technologically tailored and socially integrated. After completing his BFA in Computation Arts at Montreal’s Concordia University, Coelho relocated to Cambridge, MA, where he is currently a PhD candidate at the MIT Media …
