SIGGRAPH speech by Bruce Sterling (our IDSA Western Conf. keynote)
The lines between Artifacts, Machines, Products and Gizmos aren't mechanical. They're historical. The differences between them are found in the material cultures they make possible. The kind of society they produce and the kind of human being that is necessary to make them and use them. Artifacts are made and used by hunter-gatherers and subsistence farmers. Machines are made and used by customers. in an industrial society. Products are made and used by consumers in a military-industrial complex. While Gizmos are made and used by end-users in whatever today is a New World Disorde - a Terrorism-Entertainment Complex - our own brief interregnum.
