Writing Assignment at Siegen University

Dated: 

22 December 2017

Dear Students,

Thank you for attending class on 14 and 15 December 2017. I have also had one-on-one discussions with most of you concerning your writing assignment. In this regard, you can consult this link and that link for more advice.

OPTIONAL: I will be available in my office on

  • Wednesday 3 January, between 9.00 and 11.30 am
  • Wednesday 10 January, between 5.00 and 7.00 pm

You can pay me a visit without making an appointment via email. Please try to bring your laptop with you as well.


The rest of the present blog post contains references to the literature, which were provided orally by prof. E. Schuettpelz and myself during class.

  • Philip Agre, `Beyond the Mirror World: Privacy and the Representational Practices of Computing, Chapter in: Technology and Privacy: The New Landscape, MIT Press, 1997
  • Alan Turing, `Computing Machinery and Intelligence,' Mind, Vol. 49, pp. 433-460, 1950.
  • Subrata Dasgupta, It Began with Babbage: The Genesis of Computer Science, Oxford University Press, 2014.
  • David Edgerton, The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History Since 1900, Profile Books Ltd, 2008
  • W. Ross Ashby, An Introduction to Cybernetics, Martino Fine Books, 2015 (= reprint of the 1956 printing)
  • J.-F. Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, Manchester University Press, 1984 (= translation from the French edition)
  • Dennis Gabor, Inventing the Future, Secker & Warburg, 1963
  • Norbert Wiener, The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society, Da Capo Press, 1988 (= reprint from the 1954 edition)

Also mentioned: F. Sigaux and `The Law of Irreducibility of Skills,' Gutthard Guenthe, A. Leroi-Gourhan, and A.-G. Haudricourt.