Neil Gershenfeld

This book first covers exact and approximate analytical techniques (ordinary differential and difference equations, partial differential equations, variational principles, stochastic processes); numerical methods (finite differences for ODE's and PDE's, finite elements, cellular automata); model inference based on observations (function fitting, data transforms, network architectures, search techniques, density estimation); as well as the special role of time in modeling (filtering and state estimation, hidden Markov processes, linear and nonlinear time series). Each of the topics in the book would be the worthy subject of a dedicated text, but only by presenting the material in this way is it possible to make so much material accessible to so many people. Each chapter presents a concise summary of the core results in an area, providing an orientation to what they can (and cannot) do, enough background to use them to solve typical problems, and pointers to access the literature for particular applications.

What if you could someday put the manufacturing power of an automobile plant on your desktop? It may sound far-fetched-but then, thirty years ago, the notion of “personal computers” in every home sounded like science fiction. According to Neil Gershenfeld, the renowned MIT scientist and inventor, the next big thing is personal fabrication–the ability to design and produce your own products, in your own home, with a machine that combines consumer electronics with industrial tools. Personal fabricators (PF’s) are about to revolutionize the world just as personal computers did a generation ago. PF’s will bring the programmability of the digital world to the rest of the world, by being able to make almost anything-including new personal fabricators. In FAB, Gershenfeld describes how personal fabrication is possible today, and how it is meeting local needs with locally developed solutions. He and his colleagues have created “fab labs” around the world, which, in his words, can be interpreted to mean “a lab for fabrication, or simply a fabulous laboratory.” Using the machines in one of these labs, children in inner-city Boston have made saleable jewelry from scrap material. Villagers in India used their lab to develop devices for monitoring food safety and agricultural engine efficiency. Herders in the Lyngen Alps of northern Norway are developing wireless networks and animal tags so that their data can be as nomadic as their animals. And students at MIT have made everything from a defensive dress that protects its wearer’s personal space to an alarm clock that must be wrestled into silence. These experiments are the vanguard of a new science and a new era-an era of “post-digital literacy” in which we will be as familiar with digital fabrication as we are with the of information processing. In this groundbreaking book, the scientist pioneering the revolution in personal fabrication reveals exactly what is being done, and how. The technology of FAB will allow people to create the objects they desire, and the kind of world they want to live in.

An inventor analyzes digital intelligence in action as demonstrated by his computerized contrivances, offers insights into the relationship between computation and the structure of matter, and predicts a brave new world of education and research. Reprint.

That's the promise, and peril, of the third digital revolution, where anyone will be able to make (almost) anythingTwo digital revolutions -- computing and communication -- have radically transformed our economy and lives. A third digital revolution is fabrication. Today's 3D printers are only the start of a trend, accelerating exponentially, to turn data into Neil Gershenfeld and his collaborators ultimately aim to create a universal replicator straight out of Star Trek. While digital fabrication promises us self-sufficient cities and the ability to make (almost) anything, it could also lead to massive inequality. The first two digital revolutions caught most of the world flat-footed, thanks to Designing Reality that won't be true this time.

The Physics of Information Technology explores the familiar devices that we use to collect, transform, transmit, and interact with electronic information. Many such devices operate surprisingly close to very many fundamental physical limits. Understanding how such devices work, and how they can (and cannot) be improved, requires deep insight into the character of physical law as well as engineering practice. The book starts with an introduction to units, forces, and the probabilistic foundations of noise and signaling, then progresses through the electromagnetics of wired and wireless communications, and the quantum mechanics of electronic, optical, and magnetic materials, to discussions of mechanisms for computation, storage, sensing, and display. This self-contained volume will help both physical scientists and computer scientists see beyond the conventional division between hardware and software to understand the implications of physical theory for information manipulation.

What if you could someday put the manufacturing power of an automobile plant on your desktop? It may sound far-fetched-but then, thirty years ago, the notion of "personal computers" in every home sounded like science fiction. According to Neil Gershenfeld, the renowned MIT scientist and inventor, the next big thing is personal fabrication -the ability to design and produce your own products, in your own home, with a machine that combines consumer electronics with industrial tools. Personal fabricators (PF's) are about to revolutionize the world just as personal computers did a generation ago. PF's will bring the programmability of the digital world to the rest of the world, by being able to make almost anything-including new personal fabricators. In FAB , Gershenfeld describes how personal fabrication is possible today, and how it is meeting local needs with locally developed solutions. He and his colleagues have created "fab labs" around the world, which, in his words, can be interpreted to mean "a lab for fabrication, or simply a fabulous laboratory." Using the machines in one of these labs, children in inner-city Boston have made saleable jewelry from scrap material. Villagers in India used their lab to develop devices for monitoring food safety and agricultural engine efficiency. Herders in the Lyngen Alps of northern Norway are developing wireless networks and animal tags so that their data can be as nomadic as their animals. And students at MIT have made everything from a defensive dress that protects its wearer's personal space to an alarm clock that must be wrestled into silence. These experiments are the vanguard of a new science and a new era-an era of "post-digital literacy" in which we will be as familiar with digital fabrication as we are with the of information processing. In this groundbreaking book, the scientist pioneering the revolution in personal fabrication reveals exactly what is being done, and how. The technology of FAB will allow people to create the objects they desire, and the kind of world they want to live in.

een fascinerende kijk op een toekomst waarin schoenen computers zijn en de koelkast zelf boodschappen doet

In When Things Start to Think , Neil Gershenfeld tells the story of his Things that Think group at MIT's Media Lab, the group of innovative scientists and researchers dedicated to integrating digital technology into the fabric of our lives.Gershenfeld offers a glimpse at the brave new post-computerized world, where microchips work for us instead of against us. He argues that we waste the potential of the microchip when we confine it to a box on our the real electronic revolution will come when computers have all but disappeared into the walls around us. Imagine a digital book that looks like a traditional book printed on paper and is pleasant to read in bed but has all the mutability of a screen display. How about a personal fabricator that can organize digitized atoms into anything you want, or a musical keyboard that can be woven into a denim jacket?When Things Start to Think is a book for people who want to know what the future is going to look like, and for people who want to know how to create the future.

Wenn die denken lernen

一个全新的概念 一场新商业引擎推动的数字革命 一种人工智能时代全新的生产方式 一套全新的思维方式和未来话语体系 一份通向未来的生存与发展指南 如果说前两次数字革命（计算和通信）改变了我们的世界——数字通信使我们得以交互全球，数字计算使我们得以分享知识，那么正在到来的第三次数字革命的核心议题就将是“设计现实”，它将更广泛地惠及每一个人，并给每一个普通人带来改变自己、改变社会和改变世界的全新机会。无论是技术层面，个人数字化赋能的方式、原子的本地化和标准化、与机器学习和深度学习的融合发展，还是从单线经济模式到新循环经济转换过程中物流、原材料、能源的新发展模式，甚至建造数制工坊本身，当所有的机器就像细胞一样可以不断复制，当机器可以不断复制机器的时候；当我们不只是在编程电路板，还可以编程生命细胞，完成从“智造万物”到“生长万物”的演化的时候，我们又将如何设计现实，并将设计出怎样的现实世界呢？这就是这本书所探讨的内容。可以说，《设计现实》通过一个个真实生动的案例，从个人、社会、经济、教育多个维度为我们展示了一份通向未来的生存与发展指南。1.全新的概念：设计现实利用数字化的可编程性重塑原子世界，让被编程的对象不再只是电脑中的代码和存入电脑的数据，现实的物理世界也可以实现原子重塑。或许在未来的某一天，在世界上的任何一个角落，都分布着像便利店一样方便可及的数制工坊，任何个人都可以发送比特文档，通过3D打印机、模切机等设备将个性化的产品智造出来，便捷地实现比特与原子之间的转换。2.推动下一个万亿级经济增长的新商业引擎：无论是技术层面，个人数字化赋能的方式、原子的本地化和标准化、与机器学习、深度学习的融合发展，还是从单线经济模式到新循环经济转换过程中物流、原材料、能源新的发展模式，甚至建造数制工坊本身，在科研、制造、教育等多个领域都蕴含巨大商机。3. 人工智能时代全新的生产方式：简单来说，当所有的机器就像细胞一样可以不断复制，并通过不断复制新的零件以组装更多智能机器，也就是当机器可以不断复制机器的时候；当我们不只是在编程电路板，我们还可以编程生命细胞，完成从“智造万物（Maker Almost Anything）”到“生长万物(Grow Almost Anything)”的演化的时候，我们又将如何设计现实，并将设计出怎样的现实世界呢？这不仅是这本书所探讨的内容，也是尼尔在MIT教授的课程。4. 通向未来的生存与发展指南与思维方式：智能时代到来，人类如何精进人性的智慧，如何掌握未来世界的话语体系，所谓“原子与比特”之间的转换究竟如何完成，甚至从“智造”一件产品到整个“创制”思维，如何让越来越多的创客得以将他们大脑里的创意智造出来，真正实现“数字化对个人的赋能”，从“设计现实”引领的数制工坊教学，到通过线上直播平台、网络学习平台，将知识、创意同步系统链接起来，推进从个人自造（DIY，Do It Yourself) 到共创和分享（DIT，Do It Together）的转变，让更多人得以实现设计的能力。尼尔·格申斐尔德麻省理工学院原子和比特中心主任，全球“数制”工坊网络的创始人，该网络已发展到超过1 000个实验室，被誉为“创客运动的智慧之父”，著有《当事物开始思考》和《智造》。艾伦·格申斐尔德美国动视前设计部经理，“改变的游戏”公司前主席，E线传媒联合创始人、总裁，他致力于利用数字媒体的力量促进学习和产生社会影响。乔尔·卡彻·格申斐尔德工作场所转型和制度变革的全球领导者，其客户包括福特、美国汽车工人联合会以及澳大利亚公平工作委员会。他也是布兰迪斯大学海尔社会政策与管理学院的教授。