(Simon & Schuster/Saga 978-1-9821-4806-5, $27.00, 416pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, March 2, 2021)
Science fiction thriller about artificial intelligence, sentience, and labor rights in a near future dominated by the gig economy.
There’s a great deal going on in
Machinehood, from Divya’s sophisticated critique of a post-privacy gig economy to her evident expertise in AI systems, ‘‘weak AI’’ digital assistants, nanotech, and prosthetic body modifications. Individually, none of the tech extrapolations are particularly new, and Divya on occasion lapses into clichéd dialogue (‘‘this is so much bigger than us’’), but the economy she describes is sharply imagined and convincingly detailed, and she artfully balances the cybertech thriller chapters involving Welga and the more character-oriented narrative of Nithya and her family, eventually weaving them together in a conclusion both suspenseful and ingenious, if a bit idealistic given the problems and complexities s
Join us for a conversation that will explore themes in Vanessa Freije s latest book,
Citizens of Scandal: Journalism, Secrecy, and the Politics of Reckoning in Mexico. Please note, this event will be available in English and Spanish through simultaneous translation. Co-organized with the CLACS at NYU. Free and open to the public. Register via Eventbrite.
About the Event:
Mexico is one of the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists, and murders against media workers have only increased under the presidency of Andrés Manuel López Obrador. This event brings together scholars and journalists from Canada, Mexico, and the United States to discuss how the historical development of Mexican media, and the use of scandal as a mode of politics, has shaped the challenges and promises for Mexican journalists reporting today. In addition to considering the dangerous conditions under which reporters work, participants will discuss questions of representation and access: which st
Monthly Review | Racial Capitalism and COVID-19 monthlyreview.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from monthlyreview.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Let s talk about the grand
Slate Star Codex brouhaha.
A lot of people have already written about this. Here is the original
New Yorker essay from last June is probably the best “neutral” piece that has been written yet; If you do not know anything about
Slate Star Codex or why so many people are writing about it now, start there. Sebastian Benthall s commentary is also a very good middle ground analysis.[4]
I am sure there has been a great deal of debate on twitter as well. I have not read it and thus cannot link to it: I unfollowed everyone on Twitter except a handful of newspapers and thus dwell in blissful ignorance. Indeed, from the perspective of one slowly letting go of Twitter following this debate has been great fun. Linking to all those blogs and substacks feels like reliving a memory from an older, better internet.
Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick is a collection of stories about love and migration, gender and class, racism and sexism that reflect African American folk culture. Brought together for the first time in one volume, the book includes eight of Hurston’s lost Harlem stories, which were found in forgotten periodicals and archives. These stories challenge conceptions of Hurston as an author of rural fiction and include gems that flash with her biting, satirical humor, as well as more serious tales reflective of the cultural currents of Hurston’s world. All are timeless classics that enrich our understanding and appreciation of this exceptional writer’s voice and her contributions to America’s literary traditions.