Paul Edwards seminar : Infrastructuration & Algos
Venue
G10 - Drummond Library (adjacent to Old Surgeons Hall)Description
This is Not a (Unix) Pipe: Infrastructuration and Algorithmic Systems
Professor Paul Edwards
Stanford University
In the age of “platforms” using machine learning, neural networks, and other forms of artificial intelligence, interactions among people and algorithmic systems are characterized by radical complexity, opacity, and the radical otherness of machine logic. These principles limit the ability of data subjects, governments, and software developers alike to understand, regulate, and control algorithmic systems — despite the fact that some platforms have acquired infrastructure-like embeddedness, transparency, reach, and scope. As with other forms of infrastructure, platforms are shaping human behavior, thought, and action patterns.
Paul Edwards is William J. Perry Fellow in International Security at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford as well as his established position as Professor of Information and History, University of Michigan. His latest book is A Vast Machine: Computer Models, Climate Data, and the Politics of Global Warming (MIT Press, 2010).
Key speakers
- Professor Paul Edwards