Category: Texts

  • Texts and publications

      Articles and other texts: Editorial Teknokultura Vol 11, No 3 (2014) Editorial Teknokultura Vol 11, No 2 (2014): Vigilancia global y formas de resistencia Vigilancia Tecnológica. Periódico Diagonal. Abril, 2014 Human After All. How non-human agencies are human and other theoretical reflections on ontology, epistemology and agency June 2013 Reframing perspectives in STS: Studies…

  • David Bloor\’s \”Anti-Latour\” and the discussion

    By Javier de Rivera  This article is about the controversy between David Bloor and Bruno Latour in 1999, when Bloor wrote an article called “Anti-Latour”, in which he defended the approach of the Sociology of Knowledge against Latour\’s philosophy, and Latour retorted with a text titled \”For David Bloor… and Beyond: A Reply to David…

  • The Googlization of Everything – Book Review

    By Javier de Rivera. Originally published in The International Journal of Communication, of USC Annenberg. The basic thesis of this book is that Google assumes roles and projects that, because of their central importance in society, should be carried out and led by public institutions, or at least subjected to regulations that assure the interests…

  • Non-human agency, but human after all

      By Javier de Rivera This paper, HUMAN AFTER ALL, overviews some issues addressed in Johanna Drucker\’s PhD seminar in Information Studies at UCLA (Spring 2013)  around the topic of New Materialisms. In it, I critique and argue against the influence of Latour\’s philosophy on some authors of New Materialisms and of some accounts of…

  • Science, Technology and Society

      This is the final paper on Science and Technology Studies that I wrote for Jean François Blanchette class at the Information Studies Department at UCLA. It is a general reflection about the STS field that goes around the differences implied in the meaning of the acronym S.T.S. The main argument is that the name of…

  • Book Review: African Fractals, by Ron Eglash

     Download the COMPLETE BOOK REVIEW African Fractals is an interesting book about ethno-mathematics in Africa. It is about about the presence of advanced mathematical concepts in traditional African cultures, and uses these findings as a way of empowerment for African cultures – diaspora included. It is a risky move, because it accepts the presence of…

  • Book Review: The Cybernetic Brain, by Andrew Pickering

    Download the COMPLETE book review: The Cybernetic Brain, by Pickering In this critical review I try to point out the flaws of the book and expose the weak arguments of Pickering. The book is awful. It is probably one of the worst books I have read. Aside from the egotistic and narcissistic tone of Pickering,…

  • Book Review: Aramis or the love for technology, Bruno Latour.

    By Javier de Rivera In this book, Latour addresses the social and political factors implicated in the development of technological projects. To such an end, he uses the case study of a failed technological project: Aramis, an innovative public transportation system developed in France between 1972 and 1987 that, despite its apparent technological interest and…

  • The Modern Invention of Information – Ron Day

    This links to the literary review of Ron Day\’s Works where I try to synthesize the most relevant points of his oeuvre. Ron Day has been one of the best discoveries I made during the time I am spending in the PhD program of the UCLA Information Studies department. \”The Modern Invention of Information\” was…