The Internet as Idea:For a Transcendental Philosophy of Technology

This article attempts to render the Internet an object of philosophical consideration. It does so by referring to Kant’s transcendental approach. The argument is that Kant’s “transcendental idealism” is one example of an approach focused on conditions that much contemporary philosophy of technology misunderstands or ignores. Diverse contemporary thinkers are engaged, including Verbeek, Brey, Stiegler, Clark and Chalmers, Feenberg, and Fuchs. The article considers how these thinkers stand in relation to tendencies towards determinism, subjectivism and excessive forms of optimism and pessimism in relation to the Internet. In terms of Kant’s transcendental idealism, I argue that contemporary philosophy of technology does not go far enough in considering the Internet as a “regulative idea.” In terms of broader transcendental approaches, I argue that openness to the transcendental calls into question presuppositions regarding what constitutes an “empirical” object of enquiry, opening philosophy of technology to important new areas of research

Digital Radio Technologies for Better Mobile Services

Digital mobile communications is one of the great success stories of recent years, offering people levels of mobility and services never available before. The new 3G services will push mobile even further, opening up opportunities for true broadband mobile services. This is not the end of the road for mobile, however. On the contrary, we are still only at the beginning of the mobile revolution. Already the requirements for the next generation of mobile and wireless communications technology are emerging. Future systems must put user needs centre stage - seamlessly integrating the many different communication systems we see emerging today so as to deliver personalised enhanced services to users. In addition, they will require open interfaces and architectures to allow different players to inter-work and offer new services. Such an open approach will be essential for players to compete in a market where users are increasingly mobile and their requirements continually changing. Digital rights management and content management will also be important considerations