Close to the Machine

Close to the Machine PDF Author: Ellen Ullman
Publisher: Picador
ISBN: 1250024587
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
With a New Introduction by Jaron Lanier A Salon Best Book of the Year In 1997, the computer was still a relatively new tool---a sleek and unforgiving machine that was beyond the grasp of most users. With intimate and unflinching detail, software engineer Ellen Ullman examines the strange ecstasy of being at the forefront of the predominantly male technological revolution, and the difficulty of translating the inherent messiness of human life into artful and efficient code. Close to the Machine is an elegant and revelatory mediation on the dawn of the digital era.

Close to the Machine

Close to the Machine PDF Author: Ellen Ullman
Publisher: Picador
ISBN: 1250024587
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
With a New Introduction by Jaron Lanier A Salon Best Book of the Year In 1997, the computer was still a relatively new tool---a sleek and unforgiving machine that was beyond the grasp of most users. With intimate and unflinching detail, software engineer Ellen Ullman examines the strange ecstasy of being at the forefront of the predominantly male technological revolution, and the difficulty of translating the inherent messiness of human life into artful and efficient code. Close to the Machine is an elegant and revelatory mediation on the dawn of the digital era.

Heart of the Machine

Heart of the Machine PDF Author: Richard Yonck
Publisher: Arcade
ISBN: 195069111X
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
For Readers of Ray Kurzweil and Michio Kaku, a New Look at the Cutting Edge of Artificial Intelligence Imagine a robotic stuffed animal that can read and respond to a child’s emotional state, a commercial that can recognize and change based on a customer’s facial expression, or a company that can actually create feelings as though a person were experiencing them naturally. Heart of the Machine explores the next giant step in the relationship between humans and technology: the ability of computers to recognize, respond to, and even replicate emotions. Computers have long been integral to our lives, and their advances continue at an exponential rate. Many believe that artificial intelligence equal or superior to human intelligence will happen in the not-too-distance future; some even think machine consciousness will follow. Futurist Richard Yonck argues that emotion, the first, most basic, and most natural form of communication, is at the heart of how we will soon work with and use computers. Instilling emotions into computers is the next leap in our centuries-old obsession with creating machines that replicate humans. But for every benefit this progress may bring to our lives, there is a possible pitfall. Emotion recognition could lead to advanced surveillance, and the same technology that can manipulate our feelings could become a method of mass control. And, as shown in movies like Her and Ex Machina, our society already holds a deep-seated anxiety about what might happen if machines could actually feel and break free from our control. Heart of the Machine is an exploration of the new and inevitable ways in which mankind and technology will interact. The paperback edition has a new foreword by Rana el Kaliouby, PhD, a pioneer in artificial emotional intelligence, as well as the cofounder and CEO of Affectiva, the acclaimed AI startup spun off from the MIT Media Lab.

Close to the Machine (25th Anniversary Edition)

Close to the Machine (25th Anniversary Edition) PDF Author: Ellen Ullman
Publisher: Picador USA
ISBN: 1250884128
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This 25th Anniversary Edition of Close to the Machine, featuring a new introduction by Anna Wiener, author of Uncanny Valley, resurfaces Ellen Ullman’s astonishing account of computing and the ways it shapes our very existence. A Salon Best Book of the Year In 1997, the computer was still a relatively new tool—a sleek and unforgiving machine that was beyond the grasp of most users. With intimate and unflinching detail, the software engineer Ellen Ullman examines the strange ecstasy of being at the forefront of the predominantly male technological revolution, and the difficulty of translating the inherent messiness of human life into artful and efficient code. Close to the Machine is an elegant and revelatory meditation on the dawn of the digital era. “There are no crazed hackers here; no zen-master software moguls; no media stereotypes; just a wonderfully written book about Ullman’s days and nights at the heart of the new machine. I recommend it with unfettered enthusiasm.”—San Francisco Chronicle

The Truth Machine

The Truth Machine PDF Author: James L. Halperin
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0345439805
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 492

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Book Description
Prepare to have your conception of truth rocked to its very foundation. It is the year 2004. Violent crime is the number one political issue in America. Now, the Swift and Sure Anti-Crime Bill guarantees a previously convicted violent criminal one fair trial, one quick appeal, then immediate execution. To prevent abuse of the law, a machine must be built that detects lies with 100 percent accuracy. Once perfected, the Truth Machine will change the face of the world. Yet the race to finish the Truth Machine forces one man to commit a shocking act of treachery, burdening him with a dark secret that collides with everything he believes in. Now he must conceal the truth from his own creation . . . or face his execution. By turns optimistic and chilling--and always profound--The Truth Machine is nothing less than a history of the future, a spellbinding chronicle that resonates with insight, wisdom . . . and astounding possibility. "PROFOUND." --Associated Press

The Machine

The Machine PDF Author: Lee Fang
Publisher: The New Press
ISBN: 1595586393
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Before Obama took the oath of office after his historic victory, lobbyists, political hacks, oil tycoons and right-wing politicians had planned his political demise. The massive conservative infrastructure created by business groups beginning in the 1970s would not be sufficient, they concluded: in the age of Obama, something new had to be done. Written by the blogger who was the first to report on the lobbyists who staged the Tea Parties, here is a groundbreaking expose of the plans to make America conservative again.

Women and the Machine

Women and the Machine PDF Author: Julie Wosk
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press+ORM
ISBN: 0801877814
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 636

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Book Description
“An engaging study of the ways women and machines have been represented in art, photography, advertising, and literature.” —Arwen Palmer Mohun, University of Delaware From sexist jokes about women drivers to such empowering icons as Amelia Earhart and Rosie the Riveter, representations of the relationship between women and modern technology in popular culture have been both demeaning and celebratory. Depictions of women as timid and fearful creatures baffled by machinery have alternated with images of them as being fully capable of technological mastery and control—and of lending sex appeal to machines as products. In Women and the Machine, historian Julie Wosk maps the contradictory ways in which women’s interactions with—and understanding of—machinery has been defined in Western popular culture since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Drawing on both visual and literary sources, Wosk illuminates popular gender stereotypes that have burdened women throughout modern history while underscoring their advances in what was long considered the domain of men. Illustrated with more than 150 images, Women and the Machine reveals women rejoicing in their new liberties and technical skill even as they confront society’s ambivalence about these developments, along with male fantasies and fears. “Engaging and entertaining . . . Using illustrations, cartoons and photographs from the past three centuries, Wosk delineates shifts in social acceptance of women’s relationship to technology . . . her work is complex, comprehensive and highly readable.” —Publishers Weekly “Art historian Wosk analyzes the overt and covert messages in depictions of women and machines in an array of fiction and, more impressively, in some 150 visual images.” —Booklist

Tell the Machine Goodnight

Tell the Machine Goodnight PDF Author: Katie Williams
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525533133
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
FINALIST FOR 2018 KIRKUS PRIZE NAMED ONE OF THE "BEST LITERARY FICTION OF 2018' BY KIRKUS REVIEWS "Sci-fi in its most perfect expression…Reading it is like having a lucid dream of six years from next week, filled with people you don't know, but will." —NPR "[Williams’s] wit is sharp, but her touch is light, and her novel is a winner." – San Francisco Chronicle "Between seasons of Black Mirror, look to Katie Williams' debut novel." —Refinery29 Smart and inventive, a page-turner that considers the elusive definition of happiness. Pearl's job is to make people happy. As a technician for the Apricity Corporation, with its patented happiness machine, she provides customers with personalized recommendations for greater contentment. She's good at her job, her office manager tells her, successful. But how does one measure an emotion? Meanwhile, there's Pearl's teenage son, Rhett. A sensitive kid who has forged an unconventional path through adolescence, Rhett seems to find greater satisfaction in being unhappy. The very rejection of joy is his own kind of "pursuit of happiness." As his mother, Pearl wants nothing more than to help Rhett--but is it for his sake or for hers? Certainly it would make Pearl happier. Regardless, her son is one person whose emotional life does not fall under the parameters of her job--not as happiness technician, and not as mother, either. Told from an alternating cast of endearing characters from within Pearl and Rhett's world, Tell the Machine Goodnight delivers a smartly moving and entertaining story about the advance of technology and the ways that it can most surprise and define us. Along the way, Katie Williams playfully illuminates our national obsession with positive psychology, our reliance on quick fixes. What happens when these obsessions begin to overlap? With warmth, humor, and a clever touch, Williams taps into our collective unease about the modern world and allows us see it a little more clearly.

Fundamental C: Getting Closer To The Machine

Fundamental C: Getting Closer To The Machine PDF Author: Harry Fairhead
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781871962604
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
C is a good language to learn. It was designed to do a very different job from most modern languages and the key to understanding it is not to just understand the code, but how this relates to the hardware. Fundamental C takes an approach that is close to the hardware, introducing addresses, pointers, and how things are represented using binary. An important idea is that everything is a bit pattern and what it means can change. As a C developer you need to think about the way data is represented, and Harry Fairhead encourages this. He emphasizes the idea of modifying how a bit pattern is treated using type punning and unions. This power brings with it the scourge of the C world - undefined behavior - which is ignored in many books on C. Here, not only is it acknowledged, it is explained together with ways to avoid it. A particular feature of the book is the way C code is illustrated by the assembly language it generates. This helps you understand why C is the way it is. For beginners, the book covers installing an IDE and GCC before writing a Hello World program and then presents the fundamental building blocks of any program - variables, assignment and expressions, flow of control using conditionals and loops. Once the essentials are in place, data types are explored before looking at arithmetic and representation. Harry then goes deeper into evaluating expressions before looking at functions and their scope and lifetime. Arrays, strings, pointers and structs are covered in separate chapters, as is bit manipulation, a topic that is key to using C, and the idea of a file as the universal approach to I/O. Finally, he looks at the four stages of compilation of a C program, the use of static and dynamic libraries and make. This is C as it was always intended to be written - close to the metal. Harry Fairhead has a hardware background and, having worked with microprocessors and electronics in general, for many years, he is an enthusiastic proponent of the IoT. His recent titles include Raspberry Pi IoT in C and Micro: bit IoT in C. His next, Applying C For The IoT With Linux at intermediate/advanced level is intended as a companion to this book for those working in a Linux/POSIX environment, in particular the Raspberry Pi.

The Machine Stops. Illustrated

The Machine Stops. Illustrated PDF Author: E.M. Forster
Publisher: Strelbytskyy Multimedia Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
"The Machine Stops" by E.M. Forster, now presented in a beautifully illustrated edition, is a visionary and thought-provoking novella that explores the perils of technological dependency and the potential consequences of a society overly reliant on machines. Set in a future where humanity lives underground, isolated in individual cells, their every need attended to by an all-encompassing Machine, the story follows Vashti, a lecturer and true believer in the Machine's omnipotence. However, as the Machine begins to show signs of malfunction, Vashti's worldview is challenged, leading to a series of events that question the very foundations of her society. "The Machine Stops" remains a compelling exploration of the dangers of sacrificing human connections for the convenience of technology. This illustrated edition provides a fresh perspective on Forster's timeless work, making it an engaging and visually captivating experience for both new and returning readers.

Inside the Machine

Inside the Machine PDF Author: Jon Stokes
Publisher: No Starch Press
ISBN: 1593271042
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Om hvordan mikroprocessorer fungerer, med undersøgelse af de nyeste mikroprocessorer fra Intel, IBM og Motorola.