Uncomputable: Play and Politics In the Long Digital Age
Format
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About
A journey through the uncomputable remains of computer history.
Narrating some lesser-known episodes from the deep history of digital machines, Alexander R. Galloway explains the technology that drives the world and the fascinating people who brought these machines to life. In the twentieth century, scientists defined the "uncomputable" through specific limits on mechanical rationality. Galloway shows how computation emerge or fails to emerge from certain systems, how the digital thrives but also atrophies, how networks interconnect but also fray and fall apart. By rebuilding obsolete technology using today's software, the past comes to light in new ways, from intricate algebraic patterns woven on a hand loom to striking artificial-life simulations to war games and black boxes.
A description of the past, this book is also an assessment of all that remains uncomputable as we continue to live in the aftermath of the long digital age.
Narrating some lesser-known episodes from the deep history of digital machines, Alexander R. Galloway explains the technology that drives the world and the fascinating people who brought these machines to life. In the twentieth century, scientists defined the "uncomputable" through specific limits on mechanical rationality. Galloway shows how computation emerge or fails to emerge from certain systems, how the digital thrives but also atrophies, how networks interconnect but also fray and fall apart. By rebuilding obsolete technology using today's software, the past comes to light in new ways, from intricate algebraic patterns woven on a hand loom to striking artificial-life simulations to war games and black boxes.
A description of the past, this book is also an assessment of all that remains uncomputable as we continue to live in the aftermath of the long digital age.
- ISBN:
- 9781839763984
- Publication Date:
- 2021-11-02
- Publisher:
- Verso
- Language:
- English
- Page Count:
- 263
- Size:
- 8.55" l x 5.73" w x 1.02" h
Info
- Political Science
- Computers
Category