Ed Finn – What Algorithms Want – (23 mp3s)
English | Size: 246.66 MB
Category: Audio

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 What Algorithms Want, 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. [Read more…]