Episode 5
The Other Lab
LONDON, 2023: Evgeny finally meets Nicholas Negroponte, one of the most famous prophets of the digital age and a key figure inspired by Brodey and Johnson. As their conversation unfolds, questions arise: Has Negroponte remained true to their pioneering concepts, or has he ventured into realms they would disapprove of? And what about the MIT Media Lab—does it extend the legacy of the Environmental Ecology Lab, or has it charted its own course?
episode timestamps
WNYC. "Men, Machines, and the World About Them." WNYC Studios, February 10, 2015.
This is clip from Christian Grote's Telling Fish about Water film from 1970.
Brodey, Warren. "If You Can't Support the Revolution Let the Revolution Support You." Innovation 15 (October 1970): 12-22.
This is a clip from Christian Grote's Telling Fish about Water film from 1970.
Warren Brodey—Interviews and Verite Video of Ecological Design, 1969-71 A copy is available in the Raindance Archive at the Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe.
Telling Fish About Water
The audio clip of Brodey's lecture is available here: Brodey, Warren. RIT Cary Graphic Design Archives, Will Burtin Papers, Subseries H. Audio/Visual, c.1956-1969, Vision 67.
The audio clip of Brodey's lecture is available here: Brodey, Warren. RIT Cary Graphic Design Archives, Will Burtin Papers, Subseries H. Audio/Visual, c.1956-1969, Vision 67.
Johnson, Avery R. "Organization, Perception, and Control in Living Systems." Industrial Management Review 10, no. 2 (Winter 1969): 1.
Negroponte, Nicholas. "A 30-year History of the Future." YouTube video, 18:09. February 4, 2015.
Negroponte, Nicholas. "Nicholas Negroponte at the 5th Anniversary of MIT Media Lab." YouTube video, October 1, 1990. VPRI 330.
C-SPAN. "Q&A with Nicholas Negroponte." C-SPAN video, January 21, 2007. Accessed June 12, 2024.
Wolfe, Glenn. "MIT Media Lab's Early History Includes Steve Jobs, Martha Stewart." YouTube video, 6:06. January 14, 2020.
Brodey, Warren M. "Normal Developmental Learning and the Education of the Child Born Blind." Gifted Child Quarterly 6, no. 4 (1962): 187-190.
Warren Brodey—Interviews and Verite Video of Ecological Design, 1969-71 A copy is available in the Raindance Archive at the Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe.
Brodey, Warren. "Human Enhancement." Proposal to National Aeronautics and Space Administration Office of Advanced Research and Technology Biotechnical and Human Research. Washington, D.C., November 5, 1964.
Forces Shaping the Role of the Principal. Boston: Boston University, 1961.
Brodey, Warren. "Human Enhancement." Proposal to National Aeronautics and Space Administration Office of Advanced Research and Technology Biotechnical and Human Research. Washington, D.C., November 5, 1964.
Brodey, Warren. “Soft Architecture: The Design of Intelligent Environments.” Landscape, Autumn 1967.
MIT Infinite History. "Nicholas Negroponte '66, MAR '66." InfiniteMIT video, 1:13:45. Accessed June 12, 2024.
For a fascinating account of how urban riots opened up space for a new kind of computerized urban planning and architecture, see Chapter 7 of Scott, Felicity D.. Outlaw Territories: Environments of Insecurity/Architecture of Counterinsurgency: Environments of Insecurity/Architectures of Counterinsurgency. Zone Books.
Negroponte, Nicholas. "The Responsive House: Selected Papers and Discussions from the Shirt-Sleeve Session in Responsive Housebuilding Technologies Held at the Department of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 3-5, 1972," edited by Edward Allen, 302–306. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1974.
Negroponte , N. , & Grossier , L. B. The semantics of architecture machines . Architectual Design , 1970 , 9 , 466-469
Cited in Scott, Felicity D.. Outlaw Territories: Environments of Insecurity/Architecture of Counterinsurgency: Environments of Insecurity/Architectures of Counterinsurgency (Zone Books) . Zone Books. Kindle Edition.
MIT Infinite History. "Nicholas Negroponte '66, MAR '66." InfiniteMIT video, 1:13:45. Accessed June 12, 2024.
Negroponte, Nicholas. "Introduction." In Reflections on Computer Aids to Design and Architecture, edited by Nicholas Negroponte. New York: Petrocelli/Charter, 1975, 1-11.
He already mentions "surrogate butlers and maids" in The Soft Architecture Machines (Negroponte, Nicholas. Soft Architecture Machines. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1976, 144).
Negroponte, Nicholas. Being Digital. New York: Knopf, 1995, 151.
Brand, Stewart. The Media Lab: Inventing the Future at MIT. New York: Penguin Books, 1988, 151.
Brand, Stewart. The Media Lab: Inventing the Future at MIT. New York: Penguin Books, 1988, 263.
Negroponte, Nicholas. "Beyond Digital." YouTube video, 23:13. March 20, 2015.
Page 258 of Brand's Media Lab. The section is actually called "Communication Ecologists" but in it he also discusses "ecologists of communications."
Avery Johnson to Warren Brodey, letter dated 16 April 1973. Warren Brodey Archive. University of Vienna.
Diary Entry dated 29 May 1969. Warren Brodey Archive. University of Vienna. (Book: April - July 1969)
Page 147 of Soft Architecture Machines.
The audio clip of Brodey's lecture is available here: Brodey, Warren. RIT Cary Graphic Design Archives, Will Burtin Papers, Subseries H. Audio/Visual, c.1956-1969, Vision 67.
Diary entry dated April 18, 1969. Warren Brodey Archive. University of Vienna. (Book: April - July 1969)
Diary Entry dated 28 Nov 1971. Warren Brodey Archive. University of Vienna. (Book: May '70 - Dec '71)
Jungk, Robert. The Everyman Project: Resources for a Humane Future. New York: Avon Books, 1977.
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Nicholas Negroponte interviewed for this podcast. London, October 2023
Photo: by Evgeny Morozov