| Alan N. Shapiro | |
|---|---|
| Born | 23 April 1956 Brooklyn, New York |
| Nationality | USA |
| Fields | Science fiction studies, Media theory, Technological art, Social choreography, Humanities informatics, Computer Science 2.0 |
| Alma mater | MIT Cornell University New York University |
| Known for | Changed public perceptions of Star Trek, Changed public perceptions of Baudrillard |
| Influences | Baudrillard, Derrida, Virilio, Camus |
Alan N. Shapiro (Brooklyn, New York, 23 April 1956) is an American science fiction and media theorist. He is a lecturer and essayist in the fields of science fiction studies, media theory, French philosophy, technological art, sociology of culture, social choreography, software theory, humanities informatics, Computer Science 2.0, robotics, rethinking science, and futuristic design. Shapiro's book[1] and other published writings on Star Trek have contributed to a change in public perception about the importance of Star Trek for contemporary culture.[2][3][4] His published essays on Jean Baudrillard - especially in the International Journal of Baudrillard Studies[5][6][7] - have contributed to a change in public perception about the importance of Baudrillard's work for culture, philosophy, and sociology.
Shapiro has co-developed many of the core ideas of the emerging field of social choreography, contributing many essays to the field's most important journal, Choreograph.net.[8][9][10] He has also contributed many essays to the journal of technology and society NoemaLab.org—on technological art,[11] software theory ,[12] Computer Science 2.0, and futuristic design.[13] In 2010-2011, Shapiro lectured on "The Car of the Future" at Transmediale in Berlin, Germany,[14][15] and on robots and androids at Ars Electronica and at the Interface Culture lab of the Arts University in Linz, Austria.[16][17] In September 2011, Shapiro gave a major speech at the Plektrum Festival in Tallinn, Estonia on "The Meaning of Life."[18] In November 2011, Shapiro was the keynote speaker at the conference on "Knowledge of the Future" at the University of Vienna.[19]
Shapiro is the editor and translator of The Technological Herbarium by Gianna Maria Gatti, a groundbreaking book about technological art.[20] He has three contributions to the innovative book on social choreography Framemakers: Choreography as an Aesthetics of Change[21] edited by Jeffrey Gormly.
Shapiro is also a software developer, with nearly 20 years industry experience in C++ and Java development. He has worked on several projects for Volkswagen, Deutsche Bahn (DB Systel), and media and telecommunications companies. He is an expert on English/German language internationalisation in the IT industry. Shapiro's entrepreneurial goal is to found a company that will be active in humanities informatics and Computer Science 2.0. Existing informatics tends to automate everything, and it is based only on the rational-calculating left brain (see Marshall McLuhan, The Global Village). A different informatics that incorporates the creativity and human knowledge of the entire brain is possible, Shapiro describes in Re-Thinking Science conducted by Ulrike Reinhard.
Key texts published so far towards the invention of Computer Science 2.0 are: "Design for a Working Quantum Computer in Software"[22] and "The Paradigm of Object Spaces: Better Software is Coming" (co-author: Bernhard Angerer).[23]
Shapiro was accepted at age 15 as an undergraduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He studied at MIT for 2 years. He received his B.A. from Cornell University, where he studied government and European Intellectual History. He has an M.A. in sociology from New York University (NYU). Shapiro completed all requirements for his Ph.D. in sociology from NYU, except that he failed to submit his dissertation within 10 years following the completion of the oral comprehensive exams. After the 10-year deadline passed, Shapiro developed his dissertation into the book Star Trek: Technologies of Disappearance. In a 10-page review-essay, the journal Science Fiction Studies called his book one of the most original works in the field of science fiction theory.[24] See also the extensive discussions of Star Trek: Technologies of Disappearance in Csicsery-Ronay's major reference work on science fiction studies,[25] in The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction[26] and in The Yearbook of English Studies.[27]
Shapiro has lived most of his life in the United States, but also 23 years in Europe (19 of them in Germany).