An Occult History of the Television Set

An Occult His­to­ry of the Tele­vi­sion Set

This arti­cle on the weird ori­gins of the tele­vi­sion set remind­ed me of the very enjoy­able nov­el Carter Beats the Dev­il. In which the the tv and its inven­tor Phi­lo Farnsworth are a sig­nif­i­cant plot point and major character.

It’s a good reminder of how ratio­nal­i­ty will only get you so far when invent­ing new things.

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Kars Alfrink

Designer turned design researcher. Postdoc at TU Delft. Exploring contestable AI.