Osiris, Volume 38: Beyond Craft and Code: Human and Algorithmic Cultures, Past and Present

Algorithms and humans have always worked together to advance knowledge and produce social consequences. This volume of Osiris explores how the history of science can contribute to understanding today's world, suggesting a new way to approach the questions posed by an algorithmic culture.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 312 pages
Publication date: 31 July 2023
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press

In the modern era, the book perceptively explores the evolving intersections between algorithmic systems and human practices. It challenges the notion that algorithms and human skills are inherently opposed, highlighting their interdependence and collaborative nature in advancing knowledge and shaping social outcomes. By presenting alternative computational imaginaries, the book expands the understanding of algorithmic diversity, governance, and conservation.

The volume features essays by experts from various fields, including early modern arithmetic, contemporary robotics, politics, historical epistemology, aesthetics, and artificial intelligence. These contributors propose a novel conceptual framework to understand how the history of science can contribute to our understanding of the contemporary world, traversing a range of cases and arguments.

Ultimately, the book reconfigures the historiography of science and technology to suggest a new approach to the challenges posed by an algorithmic culture. It enhances our understanding of algorithmic pasts and futures, enabling us to govern our present more effectively. The book's insights offer valuable contributions to the ongoing discourse on the role of algorithms in shaping our society.

Dimension: 254 x 171 x 33 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780226827872