In Data Time and Tide: A Surprising Philosophical Guide to our Programmable Future
156
In Data Time and Tide: A Surprising Philosophical Guide to our Programmable Future
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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9788885486638 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | EGEA Spa - Bocconi University Press |
| Publication date: | 10/01/2018 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 156 |
| File size: | 800 KB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Hello, New World
Expressive code is creative, generative, and world-building
E. Swanstrom, Animal, Vegetable, Digital
As I am about to end this book, menacing clouds are hanging over our planet. The map I'm observing shows the areas where these turbulences have been most concentrated recently. However, these are not alarming atmospheric phenomena, although they have all the appearances of such. In a climate of mutual accusations and retaliations between the United States and Russia, a cyber-attack was launched last year against the American internet infrastructure by suspected Russian hackers. The map view shows, like cyclones dropping on cities, the geographic points of the network that have been the subject of this massive information assault, the largest in the era of the internet. Because of these three cyberterror waves, a series of system downs prevented access to services and applications to millions of citizens, users and consumers. Particularly heavy was the attack on Dyn, one of the US hosting giants on which many internet companies rely, such as CNN, New York Times, Netflix, Twitter, Spotify, eBay and Visa, rendering unreachable those and several other platforms for about two hours.
This was an attack on network logistics (not directly on platforms), perpetrated – as far as it is known from the first reconstructions – through a botnet, a network of machines and objects of the internet of things. Millions of connected devices, such as webcams, thermostats and infected printers, were transformed into bots and used for a denial-of-service (DoS) attack aimed at preventing the use of resources and services on the network. In a direct response, American hackers – according to NBC – penetrated the Kremlin's command-line information system, thus demonstrating their vulnerability.
And these are not the only episodes. In recent months, other hackers (assumed in this case to be Chinese) attacked an American aircraft carrier equipped with nuclear weapons for the purpose of sussing out military information. In both cases, the Department of National Security has opened an investigation to find the perpetrators and the main reasons for the attack. Beyond the suspicions and responsibilities that are yet to be verified, this event brings to the fore, albeit with a dramatic import, the deepest motivations for the design and publication of this book.
Philosophy still matters
This is not, however, an essay on computer security or a book prompted by a recent – albeit rather serious – chronicle event. Rather, it is the result of a long, philosophical journey matured over the last few years, aimed at highlighting the relevance of software code as the primary engine of our civilization, culture and contemporary economy. This code that takes multiple forms invisibly connects sensors, data, algorithms, machines, artificial intelligence (AI) and platforms. In this case, the chronicle has given visibility to something that is usually hidden from view and therefore underestimated. Usually we become aware of software only when it fails or when, as in other cases, it threatens our very existence both as individuals and as social beings. But software code is far more than what a computer war event could expound: it is a kind of "technological unconscious" that shapes and mobilizes our personal as well as our professional lives whether private or public. It is the invisible engine of our contemporary society and – this is the central point – it is also the condition that makes this world possible. This book was born, basically, with the observation that our culture lacks the speculative and philosophical view of contemporary and future software society. Its aim is to present and promote a more conceptual and speculative analysis on code culture. Time has come to think philosophically about software and its ecosystem: sensors, data, algorithms, machines, platforms.
Abroad, especially in the United States, there are presently in different universities curricula and courses (not to mention full programs and research projects) devoted to code. But the public debate on the cultural role of code, data, algorithms and artificial intelligence has only just begun to scratch the surface. In spite of its growing relevance, society is lagging behind in dealing seriously with the code revolution and its implications (consciously and critically – rather than relying on hearsay or taking matters on faith). But above all, in my opinion, we are culturally late in preparing present and future generations for digital thinking.
Today, however, software takes command – as Lev Manovich, the theorist of software culture, has recently written. Contemporary society, economics, science and culture are strongly permeated and shaped by the software code embedded in processes, architectures, environments and objects, media and even implanted in humans, animals and plants. Faced with this pervasive and constituent presence, software as a central element of contemporary culture and society remains, however, still underestimated in its scope and its meaning, often limited and narrowed to issues of technological engineering.
In particular, this restriction tends to relegate software and coding practices to a subordinate and marginal position in cultural, epistemological, social and economic domains, not partaking into the discussions, reflections and analyses that take place in the more advanced research and development laboratories of the world. Meanwhile, the code is eating the world – to take a slightly apocalyptical tone. It is the software code that though hidden, activates or, as the case may be, deactivates transports and commercial logistics, financial transaction activities, digital multimedia productions, marketing and advertising automatisms, medical devices and tools, self-driving vehicles, new monetary technologies and so on. I am convinced that a philosophical lens can help to make this technological unconscious visible or, at least, observable.
This is a philosophically oriented book, but it is not a philosophical book. It is designed to arouse the interest of different readers: it is addressed to managers and business leaders, to public institutions and public figures, to the protagonists of social innovation and the third sector, to students who face technology from different disciplinary perspectives, curious about how computational evolution is morphing our world. It is not, therefore, directed primarily to philosophers. So, I beg them to forgive me if the language and the discourse are not academically disciplined. I remain firmly convinced that, avoiding certain language obscurities, the contribution of philosophical discourse to illuminate and stimulate a deeper technological understanding is more and more crucial.
I am also convinced, moreover, as sustained by Luciano Floridi philosopher of information, that philosophy has to go back to dealing with the central issues of our present and near future, and not merely comment on and discuss the writings of past philosophers. However, the philosopher must have the desire and ability, strengthened by a conceptual heritage matured over time, to dig dirt again, to understand, to venture, to dissect and deconstruct the technological domains that have emerged in recent years. I will proceed in a lay manner on this path and through the various chapters, dialoguing with a selection of international philosophical texts that I consider relevant (largely unknown to the general public) to trigger and stimulate readers. As I myself have had the opportunity to do in researching digital philosophies for this volume. But not just in books.
Code, data and algos cultures
The writing of this book has benefited from a very special time and place: a long period of study, research and discussion at MIT as a visiting scientist. A summer and an autumn spent in an institution that has, in fact, been to me many places. First of all, the research center on complex sociotechnical systems, MIT SSRC (Sociotechnical Systems Research Center) inspired by professor Alex Pentland and recently affiliated to the new MIT IDSS Institute for Data, Systems and Society. But then, without any doubt, the "future factory" that give shape to this modern wonderland that is the Media Lab of MIT. Directed by Joi Ito, here innovation cultures pervade all disciplines from affective computing to civic journalism, from liquid interfaces to algorithmic cryptocurrency, from radical atoms to social physics. Finally, I have to mention CSAIL, the extraordinary center of research on computer science and artificial intelligence. All talented people that I am happy to thank collectively here for the stimulus and support they offered me. The responsibility for writing, of course, remains entirely my own. Special thanks, from everyone too, go to professor Alex Pentland, "Sandy" – as he is affectionately called at the Human Dynamics Lab – who welcomed, with openness and enthusiasm, the idea of this unusual, cultural and philosophical exploration. These thanks extend not only to the recognition of the personal and collective talent of this research group, but also and above all to the spirit of that profound vision for which innovation must serve to build a better world – as the MIT motto says.
The title In Data Time and Tide has, simultaneously a poetic value and a provocative intent. It is poetical insofar as it recalls an old English expression that today survives only in the proverb "Time and tide wait for no man". It is said to emphasize that people cannot stop the passing of time, and therefore should not delay doing things. In our case, it is inevitable to live in a world build by data, code and algos (I call it a programmable future) and we should no longer postpone to better and deeply understand our new world. But it also wants to be provocative. As we will discover at the end of this path, what we will talk about is nothing but a "proto-data" world. A world in which, due to the recent deep learning revolution, data directly feed smart code, creating our ultimate world interface. Recently criticized by some as "the tiranny of data", it seems also a world largely closed and dominated by a few.
For this reason, to remain open and inclusive in the search for a positive and better construction, it is necessary to attempt a philosophically oriented exploration. Which is, by definition, the subject of this book.
Indeed, I would like this text to help widen our perspective on the possible directions that our future can take, a future where – as we will see in the different chapters – code, sensors, data, machines, algorithms and platforms can produce a better world. I have opened this preface mapping the destruction attempted upon our world by means of the code and data (or, better, by the humans that make use of them). In closing this introduction, I would like to propose, in the form of a wish, a different map of the potential creation of a better world. We intend to also underline the possibilities offered today by digital and AI (assuming, of course, that technology will be driven by farsighted humanity). This map, of recent creation, shows the poorest areas of the planet discovered through the analysis of satellite images that are used as data sensors to which machine learning and AI algorithms have been applied. In this case, the intention of the Stanford researchers was to identify, with a data-driven and AI-driven system, the most disadvantaged areas where to engage supportive and recovery policies.
The design (not easy) of this new, better world, thanks to the help of sensing, mining and making technologies is, therefore, within our reach. Our explorative journey can now begin. With a last warning to readers. Maps of unexplored territories are built along adventurous paths, difficult and uncertain. We must balance, with confidence, courage and caution. By updating the motto of those learning to code, let's start by saying, "Hello, New World".
Finally, I would like to thank Egea and Bocconi University Press for having believed that the reading and reasoning that I was condensing might one day have the chance to become (also) an English book. It is my sincere appreciation for the fatigue, the intellect and the joint will of all people who, in various ways and at different times, have come into play in this adventure. And a special thank to Professor Derrick De Kerckhove for having appreciated the book and decided to make available his intelligence and knowledge in personally translating it. For me, it's an honor, a privilege and a real joy.
CHAPTER 2The Code
Software is Eating the Planet
The newly coded, encoded, supracoded, encrypted world speaks, of course, to the impossibility of ever understanding the code itself. The discussion of ontology has to be updated. The world is designed from macro to micro level to fuse the algorithmic with the ontological [...] So, what is this new ontology?
M. Jarzombek, Digital Stockholm Syndrome
Software is now in command
Software code is nowadays increasingly embedded – installed within our world, could we say to stay on track – in forms and dynamics that are as obvious as they are, in reality, invisible. Software today embodies, to the utmost extent, the idea that the most influential technologies on human existence are those that, when they become familiar, disappear from view as such, becoming indistinguishable from life itself. Who would think today about the book as a technology, for example?
We certainly talk of software in an indirect way, through its most obvious experiences: a playful application downloaded by millions of people like Pokémon GO, an on-demand sharing platform for rooms (Airbnb), a wearable bracelet for fitness (Fitbit), a self-driving car (my thought here runs on Google Car, Uber or Tesla), a digital factory with sensors, robots and AIs that Adidas imagined for its productive return in Germany, a new cryptocurrency (Bitcoin, for example) or legal contracts algorithmically executable on blockchain. We could continue, of course, with many other examples. Or software is evoked when it is likely to fail or as it fails, causing incidents and injuries, sometimes even lethal, to individuals or communities. The summer of 2016 provided us with two episodes of this paradox: while software was driving a Tesla car in an autopilot mode, it collided with a truck, causing the first death of a driver occupying an intelligent car; and again, software, on another self-driving Tesla car, drove another passenger with a heart attack while on the highway, saving his life. More recently, in March 2018, the first fatality of a pedestrian: a 49-year-old woman walking her bike across the street was killed by an autonomous car operated by Uber in Arizona.
Beyond these incidents, however, the software remains an invisible presence, pervasive and hidden at the same time. We are, in fact, in the same condition as Neo, the hero of the Matrix movie, before deciding to ingest the red pill that will allow him to see, with his eyes, the code that simulates the world. Like Neo, we are surrounded by code that, however, we do not see. Opaque is the software that animates our institutions, that organizes our cities, that mobilizes our lives, that keeps our money safe, that cares for our diseases, that matches successfully our dating preferences. Or, conversely, that endangers our own existence.
Many today agree that if electricity and the combustion engine have made industrial society possible, similarly, software is designing and building the new way of being in our world – the ontology, says Jarzombek, of our society and our future. It has also been noted recently that General Electric itself is turning into a software-driven company (as specialists say), having been for more than 120 years in industrial production areas such as civil aviation and military equipment, oil and gas extraction and transport facilities, systems for medical diagnostics and biopharmaceutical technologies. This change has been so sudden and accelerated that Jeffrey Immelt, former CEO of GE, in a public intervention observed: "If you went to bed last night as an industrial company, you're going to wake up today as a software and analytics company". And GE needs to run. One fact for all: in the five years from 2011 to 2016, the top five companies in the world by market capitalization were no longer companies in the oil or banking sector, or low tech (Exxon, PetroChina, Shell, ICBC), but they were all powerful software companies (Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook), built on code that has taken on a peculiar ontological configuration as platforms. And more recently (2017-2018) other tech companies are joining the $500 billion club: to name a few, Alibaba and Tencent. However, upon reflection, the comparison of the two rankings, spread over five years is impressive. Doubtless, we now live in a code economy – says Auerswald. An economy in which a new alphabet came into existence, an alphabet of only two letters, 0 and 1.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "In Data Time and Tide"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Bocconi University Press.
Excerpted by permission of Bocconi University Press.
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Table of Contents
Foreword vii
Hello, New World 1
Philosophy still matters 2
Code, data and algos cultures 4
Notes 6
The Code: Software is Eating the Planet 7
Software is now in command 7
Technological unconscious 9
Code meets philosophy 14
Hidden and sudden 19
A programmable world 25
Notes 28
The Sensor: Senses, Sensorium and New Sense 31
The empire of sensors 31
Beyond measurements 34
Socrates wears the fitbit 37
Movements and logistics 41
Environmental sensing 44
Notes 50
The Algorithm: Exploring/Exploiting Alien Intelligences 53
Kasparov returns to move 53
Inhuman, too inhuman 56
Ontologies as algorhythmies 61
A squared automation 66
Are humans still driving? 69
Notes 74
The Datum: Ex-perience Beyond the Experience 77
It's the end of experience 77
New digital temporalities 80
The birth of code/space 85
Elemental, my dear Watson! 88
Data as ultimate interface 94
Notes 97
The Platform: Emerging Accidental Megastructures 101
Living in a stacked world 101
Earth to cloud and back 104
Platforms: hybrid species 110
Network, stack and chain 113
Vulnerability beyond risk 117
Notes 121
Conclusion: Toward a Proto-Data Age 125
Seven surprising A's 125
Led by future (not past) 128
Afterword 131
References 135