The Message in the Bottle: Voyagers, Radioactive Heat, and the Golden Record
Launched by NASA in 1977, the Voyager mission was originally engineered as a narrow, technical expedition to photograph the outer planets of our solar system. However, as the probes transcended their original parameters and escaped into interstellar space, they transformed.
Stablecoins, SACT-AI, and the Future of Global Liquidity for Sustainable Development
Citation APA (7th Edition) Pennings, A.J. (2026, Apr 28) Stablecoins, SACT-AI, and the Future of Global Liquidity for Sustainable Development. apennings.com https://apennings.com/political-economy-of-media/stablecoins-sact-ai-and-the-future-of-global-liquidity-for-sustainable-development/ Introduction The impending implementation of Treasury-backed stablecoins suggests a the onset of a profound shift in the architecture of global finance. What appears, at first glance, to be a technical innovation in digital […]
USD Liquidity: A Tiered Hierarchy Model and Implications for AI4Good and ICT4D
Citation APA (7th Edition) Pennings, A.J. (2026, Apr 12) USD Liquidity: A Tiered Hierarchy Model and Implications for AI4Good and ICT4D. apennings.com https://apennings.com/characteristics-of-digital-media/usd-liquidity-a-tiered-liquidity-hierarchy-model-and-implications-for-ai4good-and-ict4d/ Introduction The “USD” is not simply a national currency. It is a global liquidity system composed of both domestically issued US dollars and offshore Eurodollar credit created by international banks. Together, these […]
The Ghost in the Grid: Interpretants and Calculable Traces in Spreadsheet Capitalism
The spreadsheet, as a computational medium, transforms heterogeneous material realities into standardized symbolic inscriptions. To understand this transformation, semiotic theory offers two powerful but distinct conceptual tools: Charles Sanders Peirce’s notion of the interpretant and Jacques Derrida’s concept of the trace. While Peirce emphasizes the generative continuity of meaning through interpretive mediation, Derrida foregrounds the structural absence and deferral that inhabit all signification. Taken together, these frameworks illuminate how the numbers and letters populating financial spreadsheets function as representations of the messy, contingent world.
Taylor’s Fab Rescue: The AI6 Chip
My home in Austin, Texas, is about 20 miles from the newly built Samsung microprocessor fabrication “fab” factory in Taylor. The fab has been running behind schedule since it switched its plans from 4-nanometer chips to 2-nanometer chips. But in a show of support (and need), Tesla recently signed a deal with Samsung to build […]
Telecom Synchronization in Spreadsheet Capitalism
Telecom provides the connectivity through which the abstractions of finance become actionable and enforceable. Spreadsheet capitalism’s synchronization logic operates through its three stratified but interdependent layers: physical, network, and value-added, which provide the architecture of global monetary coordination.
APEC Presentation: Healing the COP (Common Operating Picture) with AI and APIs for Disaster Management
Among the various mechanisms and tools, we focused on the Common Operational Picture (COP) as a mediation tool that can incorporate novel technologies, such as AI and APIs, and create value for disaster leadership in response to climate variance and data variance. COP is a shared, real-time view of operational data for decision-makers, teams, and agencies involved in multi-agency disaster risk reduction operations. By providing up-to-date information through dashboards and alerts, COP supports situational awareness and coordinated action.
Satellites for Global E-Finance and News
The post demonstrates how satellite technology, driven by the demands of globalizing finance and the need for rapid news dissemination, navigated regulatory hurdles and technological advancements to become a crucial component of international communication infrastructure by the late 1980s.
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About Me
Professor (full) at State University of New York (SUNY) Korea since 2016. Research Professor for Stony Brook University. Moved to Austin, Texas in August 2012 to join the Digital Media Management program at St. Edwards University. Spent the previous decade on the faculty at New York University teaching and researching information systems, digital economics, and global political economy
You can reach me at:
anthony.pennings@gmail.com
apennings70@gmail.com
anthony.pennings@sunykorea.ac.kr
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