{"title":"Ed Finn","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"what-algorithms-want-book-ed-finn-9780262035927","title":"What Algorithms Want","description":"The gap between theoretical ideas and messy reality, as seen in Neal Stephenson, Adam Smith, and Star Trek.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 this book, 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. Finn argues that the algorithm deploys concepts from the idealized space of computation in a messy reality, with unpredictable and sometimes fascinating results. Drawing on sources that range from Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash to Diderot's Encyclop die, from Adam Smith to the Star Trek computer, Finn explores the gap between theoretical ideas and pragmatic instructions. He examines the development of intelligent assistants like Siri, the rise of algorithmic aesthetics at Netflix, Ian Bogost's satiric Facebook game Cow Clicker, and the revolutionary economics of Bitcoin. He describes Google's goal of anticipating our questions, Uber's cartoon maps and black box accounting, and what Facebook tells us about programmable value, among other things.If we want to understand the gap between abstraction and messy reality, Finn argues, we need to build a model of algorithmic reading and scholarship that attends to process, spearheading a new experimental humanities.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49516621594897,"sku":"GOR009621548","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50192091808017,"sku":"CIN0262035928G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53247291851025,"sku":"CIN0262035928VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53337897337105,"sku":"GOR014857914","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0262035928.jpg?v=1750813332"},{"product_id":"hieroglyph-book-ed-finn-9780062204691","title":"Hieroglyph","description":"\u003cp\u003eInspired by New York Times bestselling author Neal Stephenson, an anthology of stories, set in the near future, from some of today's leading writers, thinkers, and visionaries that reignites the iconic and optimistic visions of the golden age of science fiction.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn his 2011 article \"Innovation Starvation,\" Neal Stephenson argued that we--the society whose earlier scientists and engineers witnessed the airplane, the automobile, nuclear energy, the computer, and space exploration--must reignite our ambitions to think boldly and do Big Stuff. He also advanced the Hieroglyph Theory which illuminates the power of science fiction to inspire the inventive imagination: \"Good SF supplies a plausible, fully thought-out picture of an alternate reality in which some sort of compelling innovation has taken place.\"\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn 2012, Arizona State University established the Center for Science and the Imagination to bring together writers, artists, and creative thinkers with scientists, engineers, and technologists to cultivate and expand on \"moon shot ideas\" that inspire the imagination and catalyze real-world innovations.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNow comes this remarkable anthology uniting twenty of today's leading thinkers, writers, and visionaries--among them Cory Doctorow, Gregory Benford, Elizabeth Bear, Bruce Sterling, and Neal Stephenson--to contribute works of \"techno-optimism\" that challenge us to dream and do Big Stuff. Engaging, mind-bending, provocative, and imaginative, Hieroglyph offers a forward-thinking approach to the intersection of art and technology that has the power to change our world. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49725887807761,"sku":"GOR006997275","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50582275457297,"sku":"CIN0062204696G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50589265101073,"sku":"CIN0062204696VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50981337891089,"sku":"GOR011894278","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53074754863377,"sku":"GOR014729016","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0062204696.jpg?v=1751432284"},{"product_id":"imagining-transmedia-book-ed-finn-9780262547437","title":"Imagining Transmedia","description":"\u003cb\u003eHow the blurring of media forms-transmedia-became the default for how we experience narratives, and how that cultural transformation has redefined the worlds of education, entertainment, and our increasingly polarized public discourse.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Over the past decade, the power of narrative has been unleashed with awesome and terrifying consequences, and it has been consumed in its blurred media forms by millions of people as news, entertainment, and education. \u003ci\u003eImagining Transmedia,\u003c\/i\u003e edited by Ed Finn, Bob Beard, Joey Eschrich, and Ruth Wylie, explores the surprising ways that narratives working across media forms became the default grammar for both media consumption and personal expression and how multiplatform storytelling creates new media literacies and modes of civil discourse.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Understanding this shift reveals transmedia as an essential building block of media literacy today. Transmedia is how we create, interpret, and participate in our increasingly mediated society. It extends beyond popular culture into professional and public spheres while, at the same time, it fuels the misinformation and polarization that have contributed to America's fraying civic discourse. Reaching beyond traditional academic analyses, this probing collection of essays and conversations features transmedia practitioners sharing their experiences and inviting readers to imagine the types of multimodal stories and experiences they might create. Prioritizing conversation over a single unified theory, each section of this volume pairs thematically linked essays from international contributors with a dialogue between authors to create an accessible, practical synthesis of ideas.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49753967067409,"sku":"NGR9780262547437","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49989716082961,"sku":"CIN0262547430G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52711262355729,"sku":"CIN0262547430VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0262547430.jpg?v=1751419947"},{"product_id":"monkees-scrapbook-book-ed-finn-9780867193565","title":"Monkees Scrapbook","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50263995121937,"sku":"CIN0867193565A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0867193565.jpg?v=1750883314"},{"product_id":"what-algorithms-want-book-ed-finn-9780262536042","title":"What Algorithms Want","description":"The gap between theoretical ideas and messy reality, as seen in Neal Stephenson, Adam Smith, and Star Trek.We depend on--we believe in--algorithms to help us get a ride, choose which book to buy, execute a mathematical proof. 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That narrative is compelling for some, but leaves others feeling hopeless, helpless, and disillusioned. Even the most ardent champions of decarbonization sometimes focus more on sounding the alarm than on mapping out what success might look like. Without positive climate futures, visions of climate adaptation and resilience that we can work toward, it's much harder to motivate broad-based efforts for change in the present.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Through short speculative fiction, essays, and visual art, \u003ci\u003eClimate Imagination\u003c\/i\u003e seeks to inspire a wave of narratives about what positive climate futures might look like for communities around the world. 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