Silicon Simulacra: Post-humans of the Machine Worlds
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.82 (573 Votes) |
| Asin | : | B003V4B2IG |
| Format Type | : | |
| Number of Pages | : | 349 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-06-27 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
in history at Columbia University and earned his living as a strategist in data-based and digital communications at big Madison Avenue agencies. . Len Ellis earned a Ph.D
Although based on us, neither looks like the continuous, whole and bounded self of the modern tradition. This speculative essay in social theory argues that both are hybrid entities – part human and part machine – and post-human forms of humans assimilated into machines. Rather, these post-human entities are contingent, relative and open to others. Ellis examines the data profile and cyber-persona separately—how each comes to be, how each represents us, and the opportunities and challenges each poses—and as similar phenomena. But each machine also shapes us in its terms. The cyber-persona is a pattern of our online connections, created as we present ourselves to and interact with others; it’s a network effect. In the datascape, the vast array of databases in which the electronic traces of our everyday lives are stored and analyzed, we appear as data profiles. Humans provide the raw material for both, and each changes as we change in near real time. Virtual versions of everyone exist inside the two giant machines of the late modern age. Since these hybrids are increasingly the forms in which we appear to others, we all have a stake in how these digital doppelgangers represent us.. The data profile is a probabilistic portrait of our future behavior, conjured up by others to inform their decision-making; it’s an informational output. In cyberspace, the worldwide computer network in which everyone can connect wit
A Virtual X-ray: the Internet, Privacy and End of the Solely Human Identity scotty reiss Silicon Simulacra by Len Ellis may be the most important book of our times. Rich in historical perspective and penned in an engaging and accessible voice, it is as modern and pertinent as any attempt to date to explain what the hell is going on, and what it means to the life and happiness of us all. Most importantly, it primes the canvass from which we each can paint our own predictions of where Internet-induced human behavior and
in history at Columbia University and earned his living as a strategist in data-based and digital communications at big Madison Avenue agencies. . About the Author Len Ellis earned a Ph.D