The World of Failing Machines


Book Description

The World of Failing Machines offers the first full-length discussion of the relationship between speculative realism and literary criticism. In identifying some of the most significant coordinates of speculative-realist thought, this book asks what the implications might be for the study of literature. It is argued that the first casualty might well be the form of the traditional essay.




The Unreliable Nation


Book Description

An examination of how technological failures defined nature and national identity in Cold War Canada. Throughout the modern period, nations defined themselves through the relationship between nature and machines. Many cast themselves as a triumph of technology over the forces of climate, geography, and environment. Some, however, crafted a powerful alternative identity: they defined themselves not through the triumph of machines over nature, but through technological failures and the distinctive natural orders that caused them. In The Unreliable Nation, Edward Jones-Imhotep examines one instance in this larger history: the Cold War–era project to extend reliable radio communications to the remote and strategically sensitive Canadian North. He argues that, particularly at moments when countries viewed themselves as marginal or threatened, the identity of the modern nation emerged as a scientifically articulated relationship between distinctive natural phenomena and the problematic behaviors of complex groups of machines. Drawing on previously unpublished archival documents and recently declassified materials, Jones-Imhotep shows how Canadian defense scientists elaborated a distinctive “Northern” natural order of violent ionospheric storms and auroral displays, and linked it to a “machinic order” of severe and widespread radio disruptions throughout the country. Tracking their efforts through scientific images, experimental satellites, clandestine maps, and machine architectures, he argues that these scientists naturalized Canada's technological vulnerabilities as part of a program to reimagine the postwar nation. The real and potential failures of machines came to define Canada, its hostile Northern nature, its cultural anxieties, and its geo-political vulnerabilities during the early Cold War. Jones-Imhotep's study illustrates the surprising role of technological failures in shaping contemporary understandings of both nature and nation.




The Possibility Machine


Book Description

Singular and star-studded writings on America’s neon-lit playground At once a Technicolor wonderland and the embodiment of American mythology, Las Vegas exists at the Ground Zero of a reverence for risk-taking and the transformative power of a winning hand. Jake Johnson edits a collection of short essays and flash ideas that probes how music-making and soundscapes shape the City of Second Chances. Treating topics ranging from Cher to Cirque de Soleil, the contributors delve into how music and musicians factored in the early development of Vegas’s image; the role of local communities of musicians and Strip mainstays in sustaining tensions between belief and disbelief; the ways aging showroom stars provide a sense of timelessness that inoculates visitors against the outside world; the link connecting fantasies of sexual prowess and democracy with the musical values of Liberace and others; considerations of how musicians and establishments gambled with identity and opened the door for audience members to explore Sin City–only versions of themselves; and the echoes and energy generated by the idea of Las Vegas as it travels across the country. Contributors: Celine Ayala, Kirstin Bews, Laura Dallman, Joanna Dee Das, James Deaville, Robert Fink, Pheaross Graham, Jessica A. Holmes, Maddie House-Tuck, Jake Johnson, Kelly Kessler, Michael Kinney, Carlo Lanfossi, Jason Leddington, Janis McKay, Sam Murray, Louis Niebur, Lynda Paul, Arianne Johnson Quinn, Michael M. Reinhard, Laura Risk, Cassaundra Rodriguez, Arreanna Rostosky, and Brian F. Wright




Machines


Book Description




Architectural Model as Machine


Book Description

This book offers an explanation of why scale models are important to the design process. Albert Smith takes the reader through the history and significance of models in architecture from the magic of the Egyptian scale model to the present day. Through this description of the relationship between architecture and the scale model, Smith demonstrates the most effective process between concept and 'machine', between the idea and the final building. The great value of this book is to reveal the nature of the scale model and to unlock the tremendous potential of this design tool as a thinking and communicative advice. His chronological analysis goes on from Egypt through Rome to the relationship between the Greek paradigm scale model and then on to Medieval and Renaissance models. It concludes with the models of the Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi, the Russian Constructivists, the American architect Louis Khan and finally looks at the role of scale models in the present day through the work of the Polish/American architect Daniel Libeskind and the American Frank Gehry.




Machine Learning Systems


Book Description

Summary Machine Learning Systems: Designs that scale is an example-rich guide that teaches you how to implement reactive design solutions in your machine learning systems to make them as reliable as a well-built web app. Foreword by Sean Owen, Director of Data Science, Cloudera Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications. About the Technology If you’re building machine learning models to be used on a small scale, you don't need this book. But if you're a developer building a production-grade ML application that needs quick response times, reliability, and good user experience, this is the book for you. It collects principles and practices of machine learning systems that are dramatically easier to run and maintain, and that are reliably better for users. About the Book Machine Learning Systems: Designs that scale teaches you to design and implement production-ready ML systems. You'll learn the principles of reactive design as you build pipelines with Spark, create highly scalable services with Akka, and use powerful machine learning libraries like MLib on massive datasets. The examples use the Scala language, but the same ideas and tools work in Java, as well. What's Inside Working with Spark, MLlib, and Akka Reactive design patterns Monitoring and maintaining a large-scale system Futures, actors, and supervision About the Reader Readers need intermediate skills in Java or Scala. No prior machine learning experience is assumed. About the Author Jeff Smith builds powerful machine learning systems. For the past decade, he has been working on building data science applications, teams, and companies as part of various teams in New York, San Francisco, and Hong Kong. He blogs (https: //medium.com/@jeffksmithjr), tweets (@jeffksmithjr), and speaks (www.jeffsmith.tech/speaking) about various aspects of building real-world machine learning systems. Table of Contents PART 1 - FUNDAMENTALS OF REACTIVE MACHINE LEARNING Learning reactive machine learning Using reactive tools PART 2 - BUILDING A REACTIVE MACHINE LEARNING SYSTEM Collecting data Generating features Learning models Evaluating models Publishing models Responding PART 3 - OPERATING A MACHINE LEARNING SYSTEM Delivering Evolving intelligence




Effective Machine Learning Teams


Book Description

Gain the valuable skills and techniques you need to accelerate the delivery of machine learning solutions. With this practical guide, data scientists, ML engineers, and their leaders will learn how to bridge the gap between data science and Lean product delivery in a practical and simple way. David Tan, Ada Leung, and Dave Colls show you how to apply time-tested software engineering skills and Lean product delivery practices to reduce toil and waste, shorten feedback loops, and improve your team's flow when building ML systems and products. Based on the authors' experience across multiple real-world data and ML projects, the proven techniques in this book will help your team avoid common traps in the ML world, so you can iterate and scale more quickly and reliably. You'll learn how to overcome friction and experience flow when delivering ML solutions. You'll also learn how to: Write automated tests for ML systems, containerize development environments, and refactor problematic codebases Apply MLOps and CI/CD practices to accelerate experimentation cycles and improve reliability of ML solutions Apply Lean delivery and product practices to improve your odds of building the right product for your users Identify suitable team structures and intra- and inter-team collaboration techniques to enable fast flow, reduce cognitive load, and scale ML within your organization




Fibre & Fabric


Book Description




Machine Learning Proceedings 1990


Book Description

Machine Learning Proceedings 1990




The Charisma Machine


Book Description

A fascinating examination of technological utopianism and its complicated consequences. In The Charisma Machine, Morgan Ames chronicles the life and legacy of the One Laptop per Child project and explains why—despite its failures—the same utopian visions that inspired OLPC still motivate other projects trying to use technology to “disrupt” education and development. Announced in 2005 by MIT Media Lab cofounder Nicholas Negroponte, One Laptop per Child promised to transform the lives of children across the Global South with a small, sturdy, and cheap laptop computer, powered by a hand crank. In reality, the project fell short in many ways—starting with the hand crank, which never materialized. Yet the project remained charismatic to many who were captivated by its claims of access to educational opportunities previously out of reach. Behind its promises, OLPC, like many technology projects that make similarly grand claims, had a fundamentally flawed vision of who the computer was made for and what role technology should play in learning. Drawing on fifty years of history and a seven-month study of a model OLPC project in Paraguay, Ames reveals that the laptops were not only frustrating to use, easy to break, and hard to repair, they were designed for “technically precocious boys”—idealized younger versions of the developers themselves—rather than the children who were actually using them. The Charisma Machine offers a cautionary tale about the allure of technology hype and the problems that result when utopian dreams drive technology development.