Silicon Dreams: The History of the Cell Phone

Description

That magical device that you hold in your hand draws on a suite of technologies – the telephone, computer, and GPS – whose origins can all be traced to a tightly circumscribed hub of innovation in Manhattan that was once celebrated worldwide, but which has long been forgotten as those innovations have taken over the entire globe. To understand both the physical and metaphysical history of this shattering communications technology, we will traverse cobblestone Greenwich Village streets, resurrected railroad right-of-ways, a flagship Apple retail store, and the island’s densest concentration of dark fiber cables. The walk unfolds chronologically, with a fully elaborated narrative of surprise, shock, and artful suggestion. It will play with the intersections of technology, fashion, and eroticism, generating an eyebrow-raising array of questions and commentary. After this walk, no user of Bell’s invention will ever pick up his device with quite the same innocent nonchalance that he did before.

That magical device that you hold in your hand draws on a suite of technologies – the telephone, computer, and GPS – whose origins can all be traced to a tightly circumscribed hub of innovation in Manhattan that was once celebrated worldwide, but which has long been forgotten as those innovations have taken over the entire globe. To understand both the physical and metaphysical history of this shattering communications technology, we will traverse cobblestone Greenwich Village streets, resurrected railroad right-of-ways, ...