The document traces the development of analog and digital concepts from early cave drawings dated 35,000 years ago to modern virtual and augmented reality technologies. Key topics discussed include the origins of counting systems, developments in geometry and spatial understanding, early machines for calculation, the rise of computers in the mid-20th century, and influential figures such as Wiener, Leary, Gibson, and Rosedale who helped shape modern ideas of cyberspace. The document concludes that analog and digital exist on a continuum rather than as distinct categories, with technology progressing in an accelerating natural fashion over time.

2. THE NEW NOTHING
A D– OPPOSITION OR CONTINUUM?

3. WHAT DO YOU THINK…

4. ANALOG
Please try to describe the term ”analog“.

5. ANALOG DIGITAL
Please try to describe the term “digital“.

6. ANTON CORBIJN
Analog is more beautiful than digital, really,
but we go for comfort.
To quote dutch photograph Anton Corbin…

7. SYMBOLS, SOCIAL GROUPS
& NUMBERS

8. CHAUVET CAVE
~35.000 BP
* first analogization, development of early sign systems
* cave drawings, not cave pointings
* Chauvet cave, Southern France
* 35.000 and 32.000 years bp (before present)

9. LASCAUX CAVE
~19.000 BP
* the Lascaux cave is often called the „Sixtin Chapel“ of cave drawings
* discovered by four teenagers in 1940
* ca. 19.000 years bp (before present)

10. * it took a long time until social groups where build, they simply did not exist before
* immediate social relationships with each other had to be explored
* believe me… this was a bloody experience

11. CORDED WARE
~2800 BP
* artisanal skills had to be learned e.g. pottery
* ca. 2800 bp (before present)

12. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
* according to Howard Eves counting had to be learned 50.000 years ago
* decimal system
* uses 10 numbers

13. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31 32 33 34 …
* have a closer look at the numbers
* did you recognize that we combine numbers to build new ones
* as an example of what you can do with the power of decimal … “Powers of Ten“ by Charles & Ray Eames

14. 1 2 5 10
10
* numeratives with 10 numbers are slightly effective
* there are only the factors 1, 2, 5, 10

15. 121 2 3 6 12
* what if we would have six fingers on each hand?
* we would have more factors…
* to give you another example: We are used to inefficiency! The layout of a typewriter (QWERTY) was developed inefficient because otherwise the
typewriters back then would have been broken. Over the time we started to get so used to this inefficient system so that we still use it today even if
there are more efficient layouts like DVORAK.

16. SPACE

17. EUCLIDEAN GEOMETRY
14TH CENTURY
* by Euclidean Geometry it is after all even possible to do plane spatial geometry
* this was at the beginning of the 14th century

18. BRACELLI
16TH CENTURY
* Bracelli, mechanical human
* mechanical worldview around the 16th century
* the robot drawings were from 1624

19. RENÉ DESCARTES
~1677
* René Descartes
* Theory of Visual Spatial Perception, ca. 1677

20. CARL FRIEDRICH GAUß
1854
* Carl Friedrich Gauß
* Non-euclidean geometry

21. ALBRECHT DÜRER
15TH CENTURY
* Albrecht Dürer
* Four Books on Measurement
* Dürer favors methods of Ptolemy over Euclid
* Four Books of Human Proportion

22. MACHINES

23. G. W. VON LEIBNIZ
1673
* Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, 1673
* shows the development of machines that are able to calculate
* the machine combined numbers, a sequence of numbers as well as a group of numbers by mechanics
* „Wow!" This was the invention to combine numbers with mechanics.

24. JACQUES DE VACANSON
1738
* The Mechanical Duck from Jacques de Vacanson, 1738
* could be seen as the reinvention of the human as a machine
* duck excrement – this means the duck had a digestive system

25. JOSEPH JACQUARD
1801
* Joseph Jacquard, 1801, programmable woven
* holes are part of the system and are controlling it
* philosophically: the hole - the nothing

26. HERMANN HOLLERITH
1890
* Hermann Hollerith, 1890
* Census Tabulator
* first “bio computer“
* humans are the employees
* invented out of the industrial proletariat

28. COMPUTER
=
RECHNER [DT.]
* e.g. this also means “humans that did calculations“
* calculate as a matter to automatize, to formalize, to reduce complexity

29. ENIAC
1946
* ENIAC, 1946, US Army (Electronic Numerical Integrator & Computer)
* number space will get transformed into machine space (calculating room)
* before the second World War, there was no traditional differentiation between analog/digital
* the term had no meaning in media debates, even further – it did not exist
* even though the term “digital“ was first printed in a patent specification 1938

30. VGL. WIKIPEDIA
Digital (lat. digitus „Finger“) bezeichnet „den Finger
betreffend, mit dem Finger“
* digital comes from latin digits = finger
* e.g. “with the finger“

31. NORBERT WIENER
1949

32. WIKIPEDIA
“Wiener defined cybernetics in 1948 as ’the scientific study of
control and communication in the animal and the machine.’ The
word ’cybernetics’ comes from the Greek word κυβερνητική
(kyverni ̱tikí ̱, ’government’), i.e. all that are pertinent to κυβερνώ
(kyvernó̱), the latter meaning to ’steer,’ ’navigate’ or ’govern,’
hence κυβέρνησις (kyvérni ̱sis, ’government’) is the government
while κυβερνήτης (kyverní ̱ti ̱s) is the governor or the captain.”

33. WIKIPEDIA
“Wiener defined cybernetics in 1948 as ’the scientific study of
control and communication in the animal and the machine.’ The
word ’cybernetics’ comes from the Greek word κυβερνητική
(kyverni ̱tikí ̱, ’government’), i.e. all that are pertinent to κυβερνώ
(kyvernó̱), the latter meaning to ’steer,’ ’navigate’ or ’govern,’
hence κυβέρνησις (kyvérni ̱sis, ’government’) is the government
while κυβερνήτης (kyverní ̱ti ̱s) is the governor or the captain.”

34. MACY CONFERENCE
1953
PARTICIPANTS e.g. Gregory Bateson (Anthropoligist), Heinz von Foerster (Biophysicist), Kurt Lewin (Psychologist), John von Neumann (Mathematician),
Norbert Wiener (Mathematician)

35. MICHAEL NOLL
1967
* In 1967 Michael Noll published the text „The Digital Computer as a Creative Medium“ where he describes the potential of computers as an image
media

36. ^
1943
* Paul Otlet, Belgian nationality
* Model of the World City, 1943

37. Paul Otlet published his plans for the Mundane 1934 (!). A global network(!) that enables immediate contact between humans, e.g. also to send text,
photographs etc.

38. Paul Otlet published his plans for the Mundane 1934 (!). A global network(!) that enables immediate contact between humans, e.g. also to send text,
photographs etc.

39. JCR LICKLIDER
1968
* J.C.R. Licklider and Robert Taylor published their text “The Computer as a Communication Device“ in 1968. Later on they had significant impact on
building the first nodes of the ARPANET.

40. APPLE II
1977
* Apple II, 1977
* before the reality was insanely big machines in even bigger halls, men in white kitten
* humans that wrote program code and people that were educated “to insert“ these codes

41. APPLE II
1977
* Apple II, 1977
* before the reality was insanely big machines in even bigger halls, men in white kitten
* humans that wrote program code and people that were educated “to insert“ these codes

42. TIME MAGAZINE COVER
1983
* Time Magazine Cover, 1983
* The Computer Moves In

43. ALAN KAY
* Alan Kay, American computer scientist
* HP Lab, Adjunct Professor at MIT
* 10 years Xerox PARC
*

44. ALAN KAY
”The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”
45

52. MACHINES
CYBERSPACE & ITS INFLUENCE

53. DEFINITION & INFLUENCES
“Cyberspace” is a term created by William Gibson in his fantasy novel
Neuromancer to describe the “world” of computers, and the society that gathers
around them. Gibson’s fantasy of a world of connected computers has moved
into a present reality in the form of the Internet. In cyberspace people are met
electronically, without a face or body.
As Gibson mentioned some of his influences were excerpts from Burroughs’
Naked Lunch, which first ”made no sense to him at all” or as he said ”like reading
messages from Mars”.

54. DEFINITION & INFLUENCES
“Cyberspace” is a term created by William Gibson in his fantasy novel
Neuromancer to describe the “world” of computers, and the society that gathers
around them. Gibson’s fantasy of a world of connected computers has moved
into a present reality in the form of the Internet. In cyberspace people are met
electronically, without a face or body.
As Gibson mentioned some of his influences were excerpts from Burroughs’
Naked Lunch, which first ”made no sense to him at all” or as he said ”like reading
messages from Mars”.

55. WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS
1914, 1997* †
* American author of the Beat Generation (besides Kerouac and Ginsberg)
* style-defining for the cut up technique
* travelled to Yage (South Africa), wrote the book “Junkie“
* travelled to Tangiers (Morocco), wrote the book “Book of Dreams“ which was made into a film by David Cronenberg (1991)

56. BRION GYSIN,
IAN SOMMERVILLE
DREAM MACHINE
HTTP://D.PR/REHX/2HXENBFD
* The dreamachine (or dream machine) is a stroboscopic flicker device that produces visual stimuli. Artist Brion Gysin and William S. Burroughs's
"systems adviser" Ian Sommerville created the dreamachine after reading William Grey Walter's book, The Living Brain.

57. TIMOTHY LEARY
1920, 1996* †
* Timothy Francis Lear was a US-american psychologist, author and “guru“ of the hippie movement. Leary was widely known in 60s/70s to
propagandize to give broad access to psychedelic (mind-bending) drugs like LSD, Mescaline or Psilocybin.
* Reprogramming > “Turn on, Tune in, Drop out!“

58. TIMOTHY LEARY
ON THE CYBER WORLD
HTTP://D.PR/7ZQM/5TSX35T2

59. PAT CADIGAN (MINDPLAYERS)
"One morning in 1979, I was getting ready for work and
Gary Numan’s ’Cars’ came on the radio. Afterwards, the
DJ said, ’There’s some cyberpunk for you.’ He was making
a joke; in 1979, the punk movement was in full flower but
the chaotic noise of punk music was starting to evolve
into electronic noise."

60. THE EARLY 80S
The popularity of the film Bladerunner and William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer
accelerated the term cyberpunk. Authors like Cadigan, Bruce Sterling and Rudy
Rucker were only a few of the pioneers which created worlds where humans and
computers merge.

61. THE EARLY 80S
The popularity of the film Bladerunner and William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer
accelerated the term cyberpunk. Authors like Cadigan, Bruce Sterling and Rudy
Rucker were only a few of the pioneers which created worlds where humans and
computers merge.

62. THE 1990S
Back in the 80s the term cyber was more or less related to the underground.
Though in the 1990s more and more people got internet access so that an
utopian vision changed towards a “household consumer item“.
This led to the creation of terms like ”cyber-bull”, ”cybercommunity”, ”cybergeek”,
”cyberlaw”, ”cyberstalker” as well as ”cybersex” and ”cyberwar”. Shortly…
everything turned ”cyber” out of a sudden.

63. THE 1990S
Back in the 80s the term cyber was more or less related to the underground.
Though in the 1990s more and more people got internet access so that an
utopian vision changed towards a “household consumer item“.
This led to the creation of terms like ”cyber-bull”, ”cybercommunity”, ”cybergeek”,
”cyberlaw”, ”cyberstalker” as well as ”cybersex” and ”cyberwar”. Shortly…
everything turned ”cyber” out of a sudden.

64. R.U. Sirius, founder of Mondo 2000, Futurist Magazine

65. R.U. Sirius, founder of Mondo 2000, Futurist Magazine

66. R.U. Sirius, founder of Mondo 2000, Futurist Magazine

67. A Nintendo ad for the Power Glove.

68. Back in the days of AOL chat rooms, IRC channels, and text-only multi-user games, lots of people started having cybersex (MOSTLY VIA TEXT).
TELEDILDONICS
“Wanna cyber?“ did not mean “Wanna take down the national security infrastructure?“ It meant “let’s f*** on our private IRC channel.“

69. MACHINES
CONTINUUM

70. PHILIP ROSEDALE
2006
* Second Life founder Philip Rosedale at the beginning of the hype in 2006

71. * Myself lecturing at Second Life in 2007

72. * WoW strategy planning in Second Life

73. MARKUS PERSSON
NOTCH
* Minecraft founder Notch

74. MINECRAFT
HTTP://D.PR/KZ39/4LI495RI

75. GAME OF THRONES
REBUILT IN MINECRAFT

76. GOOGLE EARTH
* Google Earth can be seen as a Mirror World

77. JOHANNESBURG STADION
REBUILT IN GOOGLE EARTH
* Google built as an example the Johannesburg station during World Cup 2010 as a digital mirror in Google Earth

78. MINECRAFT
REAL EARTH MAP
HTTP://D.PR/QGNE/9F8PZ2GN
* Minecraft Mirror World of the real earth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvtAZYtIWJI
Making of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNvFaxiZeVw

80. * The book Ready Player One gives a lot of insights on what could happen with facebook and Oculus Rift

81. OCULUS RIFT
FIRST TRIP INTO TUSCANY
HTTP://D.PR/E19G/SPQF3PW6
* The demo which comes with the Oculus Rift „Trip into Tuscany“ shows another perfect example for a Mirrorworld

82. OUTERRA
HTTP://D.PR/CEFE/3X2H37NI

84. CONCLUSION

85. ANALOG DIGITAL
* In my personal opinion there is not a really a difference between analog or digital
* Instead it is a natural continuous progression that is accelerating throughout time

86. ANALOG DIGITAL
* In my personal opinion there is not a really a difference between analog or digital
* Instead it is a natural continuous progression that is accelerating throughout time

87. MAIL@AXELQUACK.DE WWW.AXELQUACK.DE