Excerpt
The challenges to humanity posed by the digital future, the first detailed examination of the unprecedented form of power called “surveillance capitalism,” and the quest by powerful corporations to predict and control our behavior.
Spotify “Recommended Songs” algorithm
It seems like Spotify don’t “have enough on me” yet for their algorithm to kick in…you can see them encouraging me to “feed it” here!
Michael saved in Pocket: ‘Re-engineering education’ (Williamson 2020)
Excerpt
‘Many new parents announce the birth of a child on Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg took it a step further, announcing in a December 2015 ‘letter to our daughter‘ that he and Priscilla Chan would give 99% of their Facebook shares during their lifetimes (estimated then at around US$45billion) to causes including education, science and social justice. The vehicle would be the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), a ‘new kind of philanthropy’ focused on ‘personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities.’’
Michael saved in Pocket: ‘Algorithmic culture. “Culture now has two audiences: people and machines”’
Excerpts
‘How will you define the “Culture of Algorithms”?
My preferred phrase is “algorithmic culture,” which I use in the first instance to refer to the the ways in which computers, running complex mathematical formulae, engage in what’s often considered to be the traditional work of culture: the sorting, classifying, and hierarchizing of people, places, objects, and ideas. The Google example from above illustrates the point, although it’s also the case elsewhere on the internet. Facebook engages in much the same work in determining which of your friends, and which of their posts, will appear prominently in your news feed. The same goes for shopping sites and video or music streaming services, when they offer you products based on the ones you (or someone purportedly like you) have already consumed.’
‘How will you define the “Culture of Algorithms”?
My preferred phrase is “algorithmic culture,” which I use in the first instance to refer to the the ways in which computers, running complex mathematical formulae, engage in what’s often considered to be the traditional work of culture: the sorting, classifying, and hierarchizing of people, places, objects, and ideas. The Google example from above illustrates the point, although it’s also the case elsewhere on the internet. Facebook engages in much the same work in determining which of your friends, and which of their posts, will appear prominently in your news feed. The same goes for shopping sites and video or music streaming services, when they offer you products based on the ones you (or someone purportedly like you) have already consumed.’
Michael commented on Val Muscat’s EDC lifestream – Computers start composing
Fascinating article, Val!
I also came across an article about algorithms being involved in the composition/improvisation of music while I was reflecting on how ‘machines’ ‘think’, how ‘humans’ ‘think’, and the blurred boundaries between the two from a posthuman standpoint.
Talking of computers being able to ‘swing’, jazz pianist and programmer Dan Tepfer uses a special ‘player piano’ (a piano with an onboard computer that can ‘play’ itself). In practice, the piano is able to ‘listen’ to what Dan plays and ‘respond’ (e.g. play additional notes) through an algorithm Dan has written.
It’s interesting how Dan speaks out about the process (“I’m not writing a piece, I’m writing the way the piece works”), and how this article describes the piano as ‘his composing partner’ (rather than as a ‘tool’ he controls):
NPR – Fascinating Algorithm: Dan Tepfer’s Player Piano Is His Composing Partner
Michael saved in Pocket: ‘Introduction: Thinking with Algorithms: Cognition and Computation in the Work of N. Katherine Hayles’ (Amoore 2019)
Abstract
In our contemporary moment, when machine learning algorithms are reshaping many aspects of society, the work of N. Katherine Hayles stands as a powerful corpus for understanding what is at stake in a new regime of computation. A renowned literary theorist whose work bridges the humanities and sciences among her many works, Hayles has detailed ways to think about embodiment in an age of virtuality (How We Became Posthuman, 1999), how code as performative practice is located (My Mother Was a Computer, 2005), and the reciprocal relations among human bodies and technics (How We Think, 2012). This special issue follows the 2017 publication of her book Unthought: The Power of the Cognitive Nonconscious, in which Hayles traces the nonconscious cognition of biological life-forms and computational media. The articles in the special issue respond in different ways to Hayles’ oeuvre, mapping the specific contours of computational regimes and developing some of the ‘inflection points’ she advocates in the deep engagement with technical systems.
This article, from a Theory, Culture and Society special issue on Thinking with Algorithms: Cognition and Computation in the Work of N. Katherine Hayles relates to some of the articles and videos I have recently shared on ‘machines’ and cognition (particularly around this idea of ‘nonconscious cognition’). I’m also saving it here as it will no doubt be relevant to our later block on algorithmic cultures!
Michael saved in Pocket: ‘Concert Music’
Excerpt
This 3-movement work explores contrasting approaches to the use of algorithms in musical composition, a subject I’ve been increasingly fascinated by in recent years.
Michael Wolfindale: