Hito Steyerl

Wendy Hui Kyong Chun

Florian Cramer

Clemens Apprich

How do "human" prejudices reemerge in algorithmic cultures allegedly devised to be blind to them? How do "human" prejudices reemerge in algorithmic cultures allegedly devised to be blind to them? To answer this question, this book investigates a fundamental axiom in computer science: pattern discrimination. By imposing identity on input data, in order to filter--that is, to discriminate--signals from noise, patterns become a highly political issue. Algorithmic identity politics reinstate old forms of social segregation, such as class, race, and gender, through defaults and paradigmatic assumptions about the homophilic nature of connection. Instead of providing a more "objective" basis of decision making, machine-learning algorithms deepen bias and further inscribe inequality into media. Yet pattern discrimination is an essential part of human--and nonhuman--cognition. Bringing together media thinkers and artists from the United States and Germany, this volume asks the urgent questions: How can we discriminate without being discriminatory? How can we filter information out of data without reinserting racist, sexist, and classist beliefs? How can we queer homophilic tendencies within digital cultures?

Pattern Discrimination

Edited by Clemens Apprich, Josephine Berry Slater, Anthony Iles and Oliver Lerone Schultz. Fe lix Guattari's visionary term 'post-media', coined in 1990, heralded a break with mass media's production of conformity and the dawn of a new age of media from below. Understanding how digital convergence was remaking television, film, radio, print and telecommunications into new, hybrid forms, he advocated the production of 'enunciative assemblages' that break with the manufacture of normative subjectivities. In this anthology, historical texts are brought together with newly commissioned ones to explore the shifting ideas, speculative horizons and practices associated with post- media. In particular, the book seeks to explore what post- media practice might be in light of the commodification and homogenisation of digital networks in the age of Web 2.0, e-shopping and mass surveillance. With texts by: Adilkno, Clemens Apprich, Brian Holmes, Alejo Duque, Felipe Fonseca, Gary Genosko, Michael Goddard, Fe lix Guattari, Cadence Kinsey, Oliver Lerone Schultz, Rasa Smite & Raitis Smits, and Howard Slater Part of the PML Books series. A collaboration between Mute & the Post-Media Lab

A Post-Media Anthology

Provocative Alloys

How do “human” prejudices reemerge in algorithmic cultures allegedly devised to be blind to them? How do “human” prejudices reemerge in algorithmic cultures allegedly devised to be blind to them? To answer this question, this book investigates a fundamental axiom in computer science: pattern discrimination. By imposing identity on input data, in order to filter—that is, to discriminate—signals from noise, patterns become a highly political issue. Algorithmic identity politics reinstate old forms of social segregation, such as class, race, and gender, through defaults and paradigmatic assumptions about the homophilic nature of connection. Instead of providing a more “objective” basis of decision making, machine-learning algorithms deepen bias and further inscribe inequality into media. Yet pattern discrimination is an essential part of human—and nonhuman—cognition. Bringing together media thinkers and artists from the United States and Germany, this volume asks the urgent questions: How can we discriminate without being discriminatory? How can we filter information out of data without reinserting racist, sexist, and classist beliefs? How can we queer homophilic tendencies within digital cultures?

By looking back to the early days of network building within the Internet, Clemens Apprich looks at how those pioneer projects have shaped new forms of media and social practices, and critically engages with current discourses about the weal and woe of the Internet.

A Media Genealogy of Net Cultures

Technotopia

Felix Stalder

Mitte der 1990er Jahre ist in Europa eine vielfältige Netzkultur entstanden. Während die US-amerikanische Szene den Cyberspace als Raum jenseits der Politik imaginierte, waren die europäischen Netzpioniere darauf bedacht, die Möglichkeiten des Internet für neue politische und kulturelle Initiativen in der realen Gesellschaft zu nutzen. Anhand von Zeitdokumenten, aktuellen Textbeiträgen und Interviews geht dieser Band erstmals auf die kritische Haltung europäischer Netzkulturen ein. Die Beiträge liefern so wichtige Referenzpunkte zur Gestaltung unserer techno-kulturellen Gegenwart jenseits von Facebook und Google.

Clemens Apprich

Books

Your next favorite book is out there