The Resource What algorithms want : imagination in the age of computing, Ed Finn
What algorithms want : imagination in the age of computing, Ed Finn
Resource Information
The item What algorithms want : imagination in the age of computing, Ed Finn represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in European University Institute Library.This item is available to borrow from 1 library branch.
Resource Information
The item What algorithms want : imagination in the age of computing, Ed Finn represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in European University Institute Library.
This item is available to borrow from 1 library branch.
- Summary
- 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.--
- Language
- eng
- Extent
- viii, 257 pages
- Contents
-
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- What is an algorithm?
- Building the star trek computer
- House of cards: the aesthetics of abstraction
- Coding cow clicker: the work of algorithms
- Counting bitcoin
- Coda: the algorithmic imagination
- Notes
- Figure credits
- Works cited
- Index
- Isbn
- 9780262035927
- Label
- What algorithms want : imagination in the age of computing
- Title
- What algorithms want
- Title remainder
- imagination in the age of computing
- Statement of responsibility
- Ed Finn
- Language
- eng
- Summary
- 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.--
- Assigning source
- Provided by Publisher
- Cataloging source
- DLC
- http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
- Finn, Ed
- Dewey number
- 519.4
- Illustrations
- illustrations
- Index
- index present
- Literary form
- non fiction
- Nature of contents
- bibliography
- http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
-
- Information technology
- Computers
- Algorithms
- Label
- What algorithms want : imagination in the age of computing, Ed Finn
- Bibliography note
- Includes bibliographical references and index
- Carrier category
- volume
- Carrier category code
-
- nc
- Carrier MARC source
- rdacarrier
- Content category
- text
- Content type code
-
- txt
- Content type MARC source
- rdacontent
- Contents
- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- What is an algorithm? -- Building the star trek computer -- House of cards: the aesthetics of abstraction -- Coding cow clicker: the work of algorithms -- Counting bitcoin -- Coda: the algorithmic imagination -- Notes -- Figure credits -- Works cited -- Index
- Control code
- ocn958795990
- Dimensions
- 24 cm
- Extent
- viii, 257 pages
- Isbn
- 9780262035927
- Isbn Type
- (hardcover : alk. paper)
- Media category
- unmediated
- Media MARC source
- rdamedia
- Media type code
-
- n
- Other physical details
- illustrations
- System control number
- (OCoLC)958795990
- Label
- What algorithms want : imagination in the age of computing, Ed Finn
- Bibliography note
- Includes bibliographical references and index
- Carrier category
- volume
- Carrier category code
-
- nc
- Carrier MARC source
- rdacarrier
- Content category
- text
- Content type code
-
- txt
- Content type MARC source
- rdacontent
- Contents
- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- What is an algorithm? -- Building the star trek computer -- House of cards: the aesthetics of abstraction -- Coding cow clicker: the work of algorithms -- Counting bitcoin -- Coda: the algorithmic imagination -- Notes -- Figure credits -- Works cited -- Index
- Control code
- ocn958795990
- Dimensions
- 24 cm
- Extent
- viii, 257 pages
- Isbn
- 9780262035927
- Isbn Type
- (hardcover : alk. paper)
- Media category
- unmediated
- Media MARC source
- rdamedia
- Media type code
-
- n
- Other physical details
- illustrations
- System control number
- (OCoLC)958795990
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<div class="citation" vocab="http://schema.org/"><i class="fa fa-external-link-square fa-fw"></i> Data from <span resource="http://link.library.eui.eu/portal/What-algorithms-want--imagination-in-the-age-of/ObD_id0HJLA/" typeof="Book http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/Item"><span property="name http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/label"><a href="http://link.library.eui.eu/portal/What-algorithms-want--imagination-in-the-age-of/ObD_id0HJLA/">What algorithms want : imagination in the age of computing, Ed Finn</a></span> - <span property="potentialAction" typeOf="OrganizeAction"><span property="agent" typeof="LibrarySystem http://library.link/vocab/LibrarySystem" resource="http://link.library.eui.eu/"><span property="name http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/label"><a property="url" href="https://link.library.eui.eu/">European University Institute Library</a></span></span></span></span></div>
