Life by Algorithms - How Roboprocesses Are Remaking Our World (Paperback)

Computerized processes are everywhere in our society. They are the automated phone messaging systems that businesses use to screen calls; the link between student standardized test scores and public schools' access to resources; the algorithms that regulate patient diagnoses and reimbursements to doctors. The storage, sorting, and analysis of massive amounts of information have enabled the automation of decision-making at an unprecedented level. Meanwhile, computers have offered a model of cognition that increasingly shapes our approach to the world. The proliferation of "roboprocesses" is the result, as editors Catherine Besteman and Hugh Gusterson observe in this rich and wide-ranging volume, which features contributions from a distinguished cast of scholars in anthropology, communications, international studies, and political science. Although automatic processes are designed to be engines of rational systems, the stories in Life by Algorithms reveal how they can in fact produce absurd, inflexible, or even dangerous outcomes. Joining the call for "algorithmic transparency," the contributors bring exceptional sensitivity to everyday sociality into their critique to better understand how the perils of modern technology affect finance, medicine, education, housing, the workplace, food production, public space, and emotions--not as separate problems but as linked manifestations of a deeper defect in the fundamental ordering of our society.

General

Imprint:	University of Chicago Press
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	June 2019
Editors:	Catherine Besteman • Hugh Gusterson
Dimensions:	229 x 152 x 13mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - Trade
Pages:	224
ISBN-13:	978-0-226-62756-4
Categories:	Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Communication studies > Media studies Books > Science & Mathematics > Science: general issues > Impact of science & technology on society Books > Computing & IT > General theory of computing > Data structures Books > Computing & IT > Computer programming > Algorithms & procedures Books > Computing & IT > Applications of computing > Artificial intelligence > General Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Anthropology > Social & cultural anthropology > General
LSN:	0-226-62756-X
Barcode:	9780226627564

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!