Plato and the Nerd

The Creative Partnership of Humans and Technology

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Technology, Social Aspects, Engineering
Cover of the book Plato and the Nerd by Edward Ashford Lee, The MIT Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Edward Ashford Lee ISBN: 9780262341219
Publisher: The MIT Press Publication: September 22, 2017
Imprint: The MIT Press Language: English
Author: Edward Ashford Lee
ISBN: 9780262341219
Publisher: The MIT Press
Publication: September 22, 2017
Imprint: The MIT Press
Language: English

How humans and technology evolve together in a creative partnership.

In this book, Edward Ashford Lee makes a bold claim: that the creators of digital technology have an unsurpassed medium for creativity. Technology has advanced to the point where progress seems limited not by physical constraints but the human imagination. Writing for both literate technologists and numerate humanists, Lee makes a case for engineering—creating technology—as a deeply intellectual and fundamentally creative process. Explaining why digital technology has been so transformative and so liberating, Lee argues that the real power of technology stems from its partnership with humans.

Lee explores the ways that engineers use models and abstraction to build inventive artificial worlds and to give us things that we never dreamed of—for example, the ability to carry in our pockets everything humans have ever published. But he also attempts to counter the runaway enthusiasm of some technology boosters who claim everything in the physical world is a computation—that even such complex phenomena as human cognition are software operating on digital data. Lee argues that the evidence for this is weak, and the likelihood that nature has limited itself to processes that conform to today's notion of digital computation is remote.

Lee goes on to argue that artificial intelligence's goal of reproducing human cognitive functions in computers vastly underestimates the potential of computers. In his view, technology is coevolving with humans. It augments our cognitive and physical capabilities while we nurture, develop, and propagate the technology itself. Complementarity is more likely than competition.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

How humans and technology evolve together in a creative partnership.

In this book, Edward Ashford Lee makes a bold claim: that the creators of digital technology have an unsurpassed medium for creativity. Technology has advanced to the point where progress seems limited not by physical constraints but the human imagination. Writing for both literate technologists and numerate humanists, Lee makes a case for engineering—creating technology—as a deeply intellectual and fundamentally creative process. Explaining why digital technology has been so transformative and so liberating, Lee argues that the real power of technology stems from its partnership with humans.

Lee explores the ways that engineers use models and abstraction to build inventive artificial worlds and to give us things that we never dreamed of—for example, the ability to carry in our pockets everything humans have ever published. But he also attempts to counter the runaway enthusiasm of some technology boosters who claim everything in the physical world is a computation—that even such complex phenomena as human cognition are software operating on digital data. Lee argues that the evidence for this is weak, and the likelihood that nature has limited itself to processes that conform to today's notion of digital computation is remote.

Lee goes on to argue that artificial intelligence's goal of reproducing human cognitive functions in computers vastly underestimates the potential of computers. In his view, technology is coevolving with humans. It augments our cognitive and physical capabilities while we nurture, develop, and propagate the technology itself. Complementarity is more likely than competition.

More books from The MIT Press

Cover of the book America's Assembly Line by Edward Ashford Lee
Cover of the book The End of the Wild by Edward Ashford Lee
Cover of the book International Currency Exposure by Edward Ashford Lee
Cover of the book March 4 by Edward Ashford Lee
Cover of the book Language in Our Brain by Edward Ashford Lee
Cover of the book Treading Softly by Edward Ashford Lee
Cover of the book Open Minds by Edward Ashford Lee
Cover of the book The Dash—The Other Side of Absolute Knowing by Edward Ashford Lee
Cover of the book Open Development by Edward Ashford Lee
Cover of the book The Least Likely Man by Edward Ashford Lee
Cover of the book Beyond the Self by Edward Ashford Lee
Cover of the book The Aesthetics of Imagination in Design by Edward Ashford Lee
Cover of the book Neuroscience of Creativity by Edward Ashford Lee
Cover of the book Measuring Happiness by Edward Ashford Lee
Cover of the book Abelard to Apple by Edward Ashford Lee
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy