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The Ascent of GIM, the Global Intelligent Machine

A History of Production and Information Machines

  • Book
  • © 2019

Overview

Authors:
  1. Teun Koetsier

    1. Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

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  • Original view on the history of machines
  • Written in an accessible style
  • Contains a considerable number of illustrations

Part of the book series: History of Mechanism and Machine Science (HMMS, volume 36)

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Table of contents (13 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
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  2. Introduction

    • Teun Koetsier
    Pages 1-5

  3. The Rise of Homo Sapiens

    • Teun Koetsier
    Pages 7-31

  4. Tools in the Early Agricultural Empires

    • Teun Koetsier
    Pages 33-53

  5. The Axial Age and the Birth of Western Science

    • Teun Koetsier
    Pages 55-82

  6. Machines in Classical Antiquity

    • Teun Koetsier
    Pages 83-110

  7. The Middle Ages

    • Teun Koetsier
    Pages 111-143

  8. The Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution

    • Teun Koetsier
    Pages 145-175

  9. The First Wave of Industrial Revolution: Cotton Textiles and Pig Iron

    • Teun Koetsier
    Pages 177-207

  10. The Second Wave of Industrial Revolution: Railroads and Steel

    • Teun Koetsier
    Pages 209-239

  11. More Scientific Technology

    • Teun Koetsier
    Pages 241-266

  12. Electronic Brains

    • Teun Koetsier
    Pages 267-291

  13. Towards the Global Intelligent Machine

    • Teun Koetsier
    Pages 293-317

  14. Epilogue

    • Teun Koetsier
    Pages 319-325

  15. Back Matter

    Pages 327-364
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Keywords

About this book

In  the concluding chapters of this book the author introduces GIM, the Global Intelligent Machine. GIM is a huge global hybrid machine, a combination of production machinery, information machinery and mechanized networks.  In the future it may very well encompass all machinery on the globe.

The author discusses the development of machines from the Stone Age until the present and pays particular attention to the rise of the science of machines and the development of the relationship between science and technology.

The first production and information tools were invented in the Stone Age. In the Agricultural empires tools and machinery became more complex. During and after the Industrial Revolution the pace of innovation accelerated. In the 20th century the mechanization of production, information processing and networks became increasingly sophisticated. GIM is the culmination of this development.

GIM is no science fiction. GIM exists and is growing and getting smarter and smarter. Individuals and institutions are trying to control parts of this giant global robot. By looking at its history and by putting GIM in the context of the current developments, this book seeks to reach a fuller understanding of this phenomenon.

Reviews

“The book presents an ambitious, clearly written, and well-organized history of technology from before the emergence of Homo sapiens until the development of the Internet of Things in the twenty-first century. … The concept of GIM is the book’s most important contribution to the big history of technology. … Koetsier’s The Ascent of GIM is a useful contribution to the growing literature on the big history of technology.” (Dustin Abnet, Isis, Vol. 113 (4), December, 2022)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Teun Koetsier

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Ascent of GIM, the Global Intelligent Machine

  • Book Subtitle: A History of Production and Information Machines

  • Authors: Teun Koetsier

  • Series Title: History of Mechanism and Machine Science

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96547-5

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Engineering, Engineering (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-96546-8Published: 01 December 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-96547-5Published: 20 November 2018

  • Series ISSN: 1875-3442

  • Series E-ISSN: 1875-3426

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIII, 364

  • Number of Illustrations: 158 b/w illustrations, 80 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Machinery and Machine Elements, Artificial Intelligence, History of Technology

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