How Books Will Become Machines

We shape our tools and they shape us in return. Trapped in an invisible technological loop, we underestimate the pervasive impact of the tools we use, ignorant of the fact that each technological transition can change the way we act, feel or think. Worse, our understanding of technological evolutionary dynamics is still in its infancy. We are missing the equivalent of a Darwinian Theory of Evolution for technological systems. Without such a theory, technology evolves uncontrolled, impacting deeply our lives in ways we are unable to predict. Now that technological systems include various world-wide technological networks, literally producing technological personal spheres, modifying the perception of our direct surroundings, remodeling our relationships, our need for such an understanding is greater than ever. This article is an attempt to reframe the evolution of books into a larger evolutionary theory. A central concept of this theory is the notion of regulated representation. A regulated representation is