What algorithms want: imagination in the age of computing
Description
The gap between theoretical ideas and messy reality, as seen in Neal Stephenson, Adam Smith, and Star Trek . We depend on—we believe in—algorithms to help us get a ride, choose which book to buy, execute a mathematical proof. It's as if we think of code as a magic spell, an incantation to reveal what we need to know and even what we want. Humans have always believed that certain invocations—the marriage vow, the shaman's curse—do not merely describe the world but make it. Computation casts a cultural shadow that is shaped by this long tradition of magical thinking. In this book, Ed Finn considers how the algorithm—in practical terms, “a method for solving a problem”—has its roots not only in mathematical logic but also in cybernetics, philosophy, and magical thinking. Finn argues that the algorithm deploys concepts from the idealized space of computation in a messy reality, with unpredictable and sometimes fascinating results. Drawing on sources that range from Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash to Diderot's Encyclopédie , from Adam Smith to the Star Trek computer, Finn explores the gap between theoretical ideas and pragmatic instructions. He examines the development of intelligent assistants like Siri, the rise of algorithmic aesthetics at Netflix, Ian Bogost's satiric Facebook game Cow Clicker , and the revolutionary economics of Bitcoin. He describes Google's goal of anticipating our questions, Uber's cartoon maps and black box accounting, and what Facebook tells us about programmable value, among other things. If we want to understand the gap between abstraction and messy reality, Finn argues, we need to build a model of “algorithmic reading” and scholarship that attends to process, spearheading a new experimental humanities.
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ISBN:
9780262035927
9780262338844
9780262338844
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Grouping Information
Grouped Work ID | 939cfffd-a376-5a84-3579-c162103516b1 |
---|---|
Grouping Title | what algorithms want imagination in the age of computing |
Grouping Author | ed finn |
Grouping Category | book |
Grouping Language | English (eng) |
Last Grouping Update | 2024-05-01 04:52:19AM |
Last Indexed | 2024-05-01 04:54:39AM |
Solr Fields
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0
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author
Finn, Ed
author_display
Finn, Ed
available_at_lakecounty
Lake County Public Library
detailed_location_lakecounty
Lake County Non Fiction
display_description
The gap between theoretical ideas and messy reality, as seen in Neal Stephenson, Adam Smith, and Star Trek . We depend on—we believe in—algorithms to help us get a ride, choose which book to buy, execute a mathematical proof. It's as if we think of code as a magic spell, an incantation to reveal what we need to know and even what we want. Humans have always believed that certain invocations—the marriage vow, the shaman's curse—do not merely describe the world but make it. Computation casts a cultural shadow that is shaped by this long tradition of magical thinking. In this book, Ed Finn considers how the algorithm—in practical terms, “a method for solving a problem”—has its roots not only in mathematical logic but also in cybernetics, philosophy, and magical thinking. Finn argues that the algorithm deploys concepts from the idealized space of computation in a messy reality, with unpredictable and sometimes fascinating results. Drawing on sources that range from Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash to Diderot's Encyclopédie , from Adam Smith to the Star Trek computer, Finn explores the gap between theoretical ideas and pragmatic instructions. He examines the development of intelligent assistants like Siri, the rise of algorithmic aesthetics at Netflix, Ian Bogost's satiric Facebook game Cow Clicker , and the revolutionary economics of Bitcoin. He describes Google's goal of anticipating our questions, Uber's cartoon maps and black box accounting, and what Facebook tells us about programmable value, among other things. If we want to understand the gap between abstraction and messy reality, Finn argues, we need to build a model of “algorithmic reading” and scholarship that attends to process, spearheading a new experimental humanities.
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Books
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939cfffd-a376-5a84-3579-c162103516b1
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9780262035927
9780262338844
9780262338844
itype_lakecounty
Adult non-fiction
last_indexed
2024-05-01T10:54:39.513Z
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literary_form
Non Fiction
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Non Fiction
local_callnumber_lakecounty
303.48 FIN
owning_library_lakecounty
Lake County
owning_location_lakecounty
Lake County Public Library
primary_isbn
9780262035927
publishDate
2017
publisher
MIT Press
recordtype
grouped_work
subject_facet
Computer Technology
Electronic books
Nonfiction
Sociology
Electronic books
Nonfiction
Sociology
title_display
What algorithms want : imagination in the age of computing
title_full
What algorithms want : imagination in the age of computing / Ed Finn
What algorithms want [electronic resource] : Imagination in the age of computing. Ed Finn
What algorithms want [electronic resource] : Imagination in the age of computing. Ed Finn
title_short
What algorithms want
title_sub
imagination in the age of computing
topic_facet
Computer Technology
Nonfiction
Sociology
Nonfiction
Sociology
Solr Details Tables
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record_details
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ils:.b58224300 | Book | Books | English | MIT Press | [2017] | pages cm | ||
overdrivecmc:ODN0003202758 | eBook | eBook | English | 2017 | 1 online resource |
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