The Robot in the Garden: Telerobotics and Telepistemology in the Age of the Internet

by Ken Goldberg (Editor)

Overview

An interdisciplinary collection of essays on telepistemology—the study of knowledge acquired at a distance.

The Robot in the Garden initiates a critical theory of telerobotics and introduces telepistemology, the study of knowledge acquired at a distance. Many of our most influential technologies, the telescope, telephone, and television, were developed to provide knowledge at a distance. Telerobots, remotely controlled robots, facilitate action at a distance. Specialists use telerobots to explore actively environments such as Mars, the Titanic, and Chernobyl. Military personnel increasingly employ reconnaissance drones and telerobotic missiles. At home, we have remote controls for the garage door, car alarm, and television (the latter a remote for the remote).

The Internet dramatically extends our scope and reach. Thousands of cameras and robots are now accessible online. Although the role of technical mediation has been of interest to philosophers since the seventeenth century, the Internet forces a reconsideration. As the public gains access to telerobotic instruments previously restricted to scientists and soldiers, questions of mediation, knowledge, and trust take on new significance for everyday life.

Telerobotics is a mode of representation. But representations can misrepresent. If Orson Welles's "War of the Worlds" was the defining moment for radio, what will be the defining moment for the Internet? As artists have always been concerned with how representations provide us with knowledge, the book also looks at telerobotics' potential as an artistic medium.

The seventeen essays, by leading figures in philosophy, art, history, and engineering, are organized into three sections: Philosophy; Art, History, and Critical Theory; and Engineering, Interface, and System Design.

Contributors:
Albert Borgmann, Tom Campanella, John Canny, Judith Donath, Hubert Dreyfus, Ken Goldberg, Alvin Goldman, Oliver Grau, Marina Gržinić, Blake Hannaford, Michael Idinopulos, Martin Jay, Eduardo Kac, Machiko Kusahara, Jeff Malpas, Lev Manovich, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Eric Paulos, Catherine Wilson

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262571548
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	08/24/2001
Series:	Leonardo
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	386
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.75(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Ken Goldberg is Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering and founder of the Art, Technology, and Culture Colloquium at the University of California, Berkeley. His Net art installations include "Dislocation of Intimacy," "Memento Mori," and "The Telegarden."

Table of Contents

	Series Foreword	viii
	Acknowledgments	ix
	Contributors	xi
1.	Introduction: The Unique Phenomenon of a Distance	2
2.	Eden by Wire: Webcameras and the Telepresent Landscape	22
I	Philosophy
3.	Telepistemology: Descartes's Last Stand	48
4.	Vicariousness and Authenticity	64
5.	Information, Nearness, and Farness	90
6.	Acting at a Distance and Knowing from Afar: Agency and Knowledge on the Internet	108
7.	Telerobotic Knowledge: A Reliabilist Approach	126
II	Art, History, and Critical Theory
8.	The Speed of Light and the Virtualization of Reality	144
9.	To Lie and to Act: Potemkin's Villages, Cinema, and Telepresence	164
10.	Dialogical Telepresence and Net Ecology	180
11.	Presence, Absence, and Knowledge in Telerobotic Art	198
12.	Exposure Time, the Aura, and Telerobotics	214
13.	The History of Telepresence: Automata, Illusion, and the Rejection of the Body	226
III	Engineering, Interface, and System Design
14.	Feeling Is Believing: A History of Telerobotics	246
15.	Tele-Embodiment and Shattered Presence: Reconstructing the Body for Online Interaction	276
16.	Being Real: Questions of Tele-Identity	296
17.	Telepistemology, Mediation, and the Design of Transparent Interfaces	312
IV	Postscript
18.	The Film and the New Psychology (1945)	332
	Index	347

What People are Saying About This

N. Katherine Hayles

The Robot in the Garden brings together some of the most profound thinkers currently writing about such issues as telepresence, internet art, and the statusof the real in a virtual age. Moreover, they frequently disagree with oneanother, an indication of the intellectual vitality of this work. Ken Goldbergs discussion of his pioneering work with robotic art sets the high standard that other distinguished contributors carry on, from Martin Jay to Eduardo Kac, Lev Manovich to Albert Borgmann. Don't miss out on this important collection.

Endorsement

The Robot in the Garden brings together some of the most profound thinkers currently writing about such issues as telepresence, internet art, and the statusof the real in a virtual age. Moreover, they frequently disagree with oneanother, an indication of the intellectual vitality of this work. Ken Goldbergs discussion of his pioneering work with robotic art sets the high standard that other distinguished contributors carry on, from Martin Jay to Eduardo Kac, Lev Manovich to Albert Borgmann. Don't miss out on this important collection.

—N. Katherine Hayles, Professor of English, University of California, Los Angeles

From the Publisher

The Robot in the Garden brings together some of the most profound thinkers currently writing about such issues as telepresence, internet art, and the statusof the real in a virtual age. Moreover, they frequently disagree with oneanother, an indication of the intellectual vitality of this work. Ken Goldbergs discussion of his pioneering work with robotic art sets the high standard that other distinguished contributors carry on, from Martin Jay to Eduardo Kac, Lev Manovich to Albert Borgmann. Don't miss out on this important collection.

—N. Katherine Hayles, Professor of English, University of California, Los Angeles

Editorial Reviews

""The Robot in the Garden" brings together some of the most profound thinkers currently writing about such issues as telepresence, internet art, and the status of the real in a virtual age. Moreover, they frequently disagree with one another, an indication of the intellectual vitality of this work. Ken Goldberg's discussion of his pioneering work with robotic art sets the high standard that other distinguished contributors carry on, from Martin Jay to Eduardo Kac, Lev Manovich to Albert Borgmann. Don't miss out on this important collection."--N. Katherine Hayles, Professor of English, University of California, Los Angeles

"

& quot; The Robot in the Garden brings together some of the most profound thinkers currently writing about such issues as telepresence, internet art, and the status of the real in a virtual age. Moreover, they frequently disagree with one another, an indication of the intellectual vitality of this work. Ken Goldberg's discussion of his pioneering work with robotic art sets the high standard that other distinguished contributors carry on, from Martin Jay to Eduardo Kac, Lev Manovich to Albert Borgmann. Don't miss out on this important collection.& quot; -- N. Katherine Hayles, Professor of English, University of California, Los Angeles

" "The Robot in the Garden" brings together some of the most profound thinkers currently writing about such issues as telepresence, internet art, and the status of the real in a virtual age. Moreover, they frequently disagree with one another, an indication of the intellectual vitality of this work. Ken Goldberg's discussion of his pioneering work with robotic art sets the high standard that other distinguished contributors carry on, from Martin Jay to Eduardo Kac, Lev Manovich to Albert Borgmann. Don't miss out on this important collection." -- N. Katherine Hayles, Professor of English, University of California, Los Angeles

-- N. Katherine Hayles, Professor of English, University of California, Los Angeles

From the Publisher