Death Algorithm & Other Digital Dilemmas

In this book, author Roberto Simanowski questions if society views social, political, and ethical challenges as technological problems solvable with algorithms, data, or computers. For instance, a driverless car’s “death algorithm” must decide between pedestrians and a brick wall in emergencies. Can such life-or-death decisions be left to humans?

Simanowski considers the president’s declaration of the mainstream media as an enemy of the people while Facebook transforms people into its enemies. Smartphone zombies (or “smombies”) detach from the physical world to social media networks. Adorno’s insights are called upon to analyze Trump’s tweeting. Transmedia cannibalism is discussed, where written text is transformed into a postliterate object. The sharing economy’s effects are compared to a sixteen-wheeler crushing a plastic bottle.

(This book may contain a sharpie mark on the top or bottom edge and may show mild signs of shelfwear.)