ALGORITHMS OF ANXIETY

Machine learning algorithms are widely presumed to herald a world in which the crippling burdens of anxiety can be left behind The digital revolution promises a brave new world where individuals communities and organizations can at last take control of the future anticipating designing and commanding the future possibly even with mathematical exactitude Yet paradoxically algorithms have unleashed widespread fears and forebodings about the impact of digital technologies Whether it s worries about unemployment distress about social media s harmful effects on teenagers or the fear of intrusive digital surveillance we live in an age of turbo charged anxiety where the prophecies of algorithms are increasingly enmeshed with fundamental disruption and anxieties about the future In this book Anthony Elliott examines how machine learning algorithms are not only transforming global institutions but also rewriting our personal lives He tells this story through a wide ranging analysis which takes in ChatGPT Amazon the Metaverse Martin Ford Netflix Uber Bernard Stiegler Squid Game Kate Crawford LaMDA Byung Chul Han autonomous drones Jean Baudrillard and the automation of warfare Questioning why people often assume that they need to adopt new technologie