Human create technologies, but technologies modify humanity. This book "Technology Mirage" collects my past experiences dealing with technologies and depicts them as short stories. This book reflects my thoughts behind my new media art creations.

Paper Book:
http://www.books.com.tw/products/0010578755
Traditional Chinese iBook:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/ke-ji-shen-lou/id901334533?mt=11
Simplified Chinese iBook:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/%E7%A7%91%E6%8A%80%E8%9C%83%E6%A5%BC/id901659916?mt=11
English iBook:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/technology-mirage/id1016778007?mt=11

Here is one of the stories in the book:

The 1.7 Billion Dollar Firework

The Challenger space shuttle exploded shortly after take-off
(©NASA Center: Kennedy Space Center/public domain)

For the generation that grew up watching sci-fi animes, such as Mazinger Z or Space Battleship Yamato, the fantasy about roaming in the great big galaxy in a super powerful machine seemed like something destined to happen in the future.  

And the spacecraft was the answer to that fantasy.  A 1.7 billion US dollar colossal white vessel created with the highest technologies was blasted into space, as the roaring rocket lifted off with flames and smokes trailing behind.    I think that was regarded as a very sacred moment in time for the world’s mechanical industry. 
I was a junior mechanical engineering student at the National Taiwan University on January 28th, 1986.  I was eating lunch in the dormitory that day, while watching the news broadcast of the Challenger shuttle launch.  As expected, it was a venerated moment for all mechanical engineering students, as we watched our Holy Grail broke free from gravity, and anticipated for it to prove once again the kind of great achievement that was made possible by mechanical engineering.  However, the excursion of the mechanical Holy Grail encountered a slight problem.  A minute and 13 seconds into its flight, the spacecraft exploded into a giant fireball right in front of the watchful eyes of people around the world.    

This is very likely the reason why I didn’t continue with a mechanical engineering career later on in life, and instead went into the field of design and entertainment. 

There is always a lingering dark shadow in my mind: when humans proceed to build complex technologies on top of existing complexities, I could only be capable of understanding the miniscule part that I am responsible for.  Would my carelessness one day become the culprit for a huge disaster? 

If I were one of the many engineers responsible; would I then be held accountable for only one-thousandth of the fatalities?

This simple mathematics could easily be solved by any grade school student, but it is something that I could never solve deep down inside.