Adam Rothstein

"Drones are in the newspaper, on the TV screen, swarming through the networks, and soon, we're told, they'll be delivering our shopping. But what are drones? The word encompasses everything from toys to weapons. And yet, as broadly defined as they are, the word "drone" fills many of us with a sense of technological dread. Adam Rothstein cuts through the mystery, the unknown, and the political posturing, and talks about what drones really are: what technologies are out there, and what's coming next; how drones are talked about, and how they are represented in popular culture.It turns out that drones are not as scary as they appear-but they are more complicated than you might expect. Drones reveal the strange relationships that humans are forming with their new technologies"-- Publisher.

Drone

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Drones are in the newspaper, on the TV screen, swarming through the networks, and soon, we're told, they'll be delivering our shopping. But what are drones? The word encompasses everything from toys to weapons. And yet, as broadly defined as they are, the word “drone” fills many of us with a sense of technological dread. Adam Rothstein cuts through the mystery, the unknown, and the political posturing, and talks about what drones really are: what technologies are out there, and what's coming next; how drones are talked about, and how they are represented in popular culture. It turns out that drones are not as scary as they appear-but they are more complicated than you might expect. Drones reveal the strange relationships that humans are forming with their new technologies. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.

Drones are a catch-all, and ominous, technological category, but when we talk about drones we are really talking about our own relationship with this technology.

Joanna Kavenna

Tim Maughan

Ned Beauman

Matthew De Abaitua

Marek Kohn

Jane Rogers

Brendan Byrne

The second volume of Arc continues with an issue that wants to peel back the futuristic shine. So we bettered ourselves, had us a couple of revolutions - agricultural, industrial - and then before we knew it our inventions had raised the seas and fried the atmosphere, reshuffled our knowledge and commodified our pleasures; they even stole our privacy. Our lives are good, but not fair at all - and signs are we’re coming to a stormy end. Our masters tell us they’ll figure things out. With predictions and scenarios, models and forecasts, they’ll find a way through the coming storms and shortages. But what if they can’t? What if it’s all moonshine, and they’re just slapping on chromewash to cover their panic and powerlessness? In Chromewash original stories scratch and scuff the oh-so-shiny prediction business. Ned Beauman plays the markets, Jane Rogers puts a market price on identity, Tim Maughan games the art market, and Matthew De Abaitua wonders what happens when creatives get destructive. Also in this issue, Joanna Kavenna learns to mistrust Al Gore’s first-person plural, and M. John Harrison examines the special weapons and tactics of English Heritage. Medical ethicist Peter Hajek’s modest proposal tackles an ageing planet; Adam Rothstein spins a ghost story out of vapourware; Marek Kohn decides that the past has a future, too; and Brendan Byrne recalls the moment modern statecraft went cyberpunk.

Arc 2.2: Chromewash

The Story of Bitcoin, Cryptocurrencies and the Blockchain Revolution

The End of Money

Murder for hire. Drug trafficking. Embezzlement. Money laundering. These might sound like plot lines of a thriller, but they are true stories from the short history of cryptocurrencies - digital currencies conceived by computer hackers and cryptographers that represent a completely new sort of financial transaction that could soon become mainstream. The most famous - or infamous - cryptocurrency is bitcoin. But look beyond its tarnished reputation and something much shinier emerges. The technology that underlies bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies - the blockchain - is hailed as the greatest advancement since the invention of the internet. It is now moving away from being the backbone for a digital currency and making inroads into other core concepts of society: identity, ownership and even the rule of law. "The end of money" is your essential introduction to this transformative new technology that has governments, entrepreneurs and forward-thinking people from all walks of life sitting up and taking notice.

Adam Rothstein

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