The Digital Aesthete: Human Musings on the Intersection of Art and AI

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Author :
Publisher : CAEZIK SF & Fantasy
ISBN 13 : 9781647101107
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (11 download)

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Book Synopsis The Digital Aesthete: Human Musings on the Intersection of Art and AI by : Ken Liu

Download or read book The Digital Aesthete: Human Musings on the Intersection of Art and AI written by Ken Liu and published by CAEZIK SF & Fantasy. This book was released on 2023-11-14 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What happens when AI takes over the creative process? Discussion about, and the use of artificial intelligence has exploded across the globe. Some programmers have already speculated that they are witnessing the birth of 'general' intelligence in ai which would be a game changer and decades before it was originally anticipated. Is this the next step, from robots taking over tedious repetitive tasks in factories to now taking over creative ventures as well? Here are stories that explore the relationship between artificial intelligence and art, written by top science fiction authors from across the globe. Read the tales of robot painters, AI poets, and electronic gallery curators; dystopias where human artists must eke out an existence in societies where AI generates most of the content, and utopias where artificial minds help unlock and enhance human creativity. This collection features a truly global perspective from top authors from USA, UK, China, Russia, Ukraine, Nigeria, Madagascar, Argentina, Chile, Czech Republic, and Sri Lanka.

The Digital Aesthete: Human Musings on the Intersection of Art and AI

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Author :
Publisher : UFO Publishing
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 395 pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis The Digital Aesthete: Human Musings on the Intersection of Art and AI by : Alex Shvartsman

Download or read book The Digital Aesthete: Human Musings on the Intersection of Art and AI written by Alex Shvartsman and published by UFO Publishing. This book was released on 2023-11-14 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today’s software can only imitate art, but what about tomorrow? Will true artificial intelligences be able to appreciate or even create art? Explore dystopian societies, where AI generates most of the content and human artists must eke out an existence, and utopias, where artificial minds help unlock and enhance human creativity. Delve into the minds of robot painters, AI poets, drone forgers, and electronic theater curators. These and other possible futures are imagined by award-winning and bestselling human authors from the USA, UK, China, Ukraine, Chile, Japan, Madagascar, Brazil, Czech Republic, and Sri Lanka. "In this impressive collection, a star-studded lineup of 17 authors assembled by Shvartsman (Kakistocracy) raise angst-ridden questions about human-AI collaboration. ... This smart, kaleidoscopic view into the digital future will have readers longing to log off." - Publishers Weekly

Artificial Intelligence and the Arts

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Author :
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3030594750
Total Pages : 381 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (35 download)

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Book Synopsis Artificial Intelligence and the Arts by : Penousal Machado

Download or read book Artificial Intelligence and the Arts written by Penousal Machado and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-10-13 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Emotions, creativity, aesthetics, artistic behavior, divergent thoughts, and curiosity are both fundamental to the human experience and instrumental in the development of human-centered artificial intelligence systems that can relate, communicate, and understand human motivations, desires, and needs. In this book the editors put forward two core propositions: creative artistic behavior is one of the key challenges of artificial intelligence research, and computer-assisted creativity and human-centered artificial intelligence systems are the driving forces for research in this area. The invited chapters examine computational creativity and more specifically systems that exhibit artistic behavior or can improve humans' creative and artistic abilities. The authors synthesize and reflect on current trends, identify core challenges and opportunities, and present novel contributions and applications in domains such as the visual arts, music, 3D environments, and games. The book will be valuable for researchers, creatives, and others engaged with the relationship between artificial intelligence and the arts.

Vita Nostra

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Publisher : HarperCollins
ISBN 13 : 0062694618
Total Pages : 416 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (626 download)

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Book Synopsis Vita Nostra by : Marina & Sergey Dyachenko

Download or read book Vita Nostra written by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-11-13 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Vita Nostra” — a cross between Lev Grossman’s “The Magicians” and Elizabeth Kostova’s “The Historian” [...] is the anti-Harry Potter you didn’t know you wanted.” -- The Washington Post “Vita Nostra has become a powerful influence on my own writing. It’s a book that has the potential to become a modern classic of its genre, and I couldn’t be more excited to see it get the global audience in English it so richly deserves.” -- Lev Grossman Best Books of November 2018 -- Paste Magazine The definitive English language translation of the internationally acclaimed Russian novel—a brilliant dark fantasy combining psychological suspense, enchantment, and terror that makes us consider human existence in a fresh and provocative way. Our life is brief . . . Sasha Samokhina has been accepted to the Institute of Special Technologies. Or, more precisely, she’s been chosen. Situated in a tiny village, she finds the students are bizarre, and the curriculum even more so. The books are impossible to read, the lessons obscure to the point of maddening, and the work refuses memorization. Using terror and coercion to keep the students in line, the school does not punish them for their transgressions and failures; instead, it is their families that pay a terrible price. Yet despite her fear, Sasha undergoes changes that defy the dictates of matter and time; experiences which are nothing she has ever dreamed of . . . and suddenly all she could ever want. A complex blend of adventure, magic, science, and philosophy that probes the mysteries of existence, filtered through a distinct Russian sensibility, this astonishing work of speculative fiction—brilliantly translated by Julia Meitov Hersey—is reminiscent of modern classics such as Lev Grossman’s The Magicians, Max Barry’s Lexicon, and Katherine Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale, but will transport them to a place far beyond those fantastical worlds.

Vagabonds

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Publisher : Gallery / Saga Press
ISBN 13 : 1534422099
Total Pages : 624 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (344 download)

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Book Synopsis Vagabonds by : Hao Jingfang

Download or read book Vagabonds written by Hao Jingfang and published by Gallery / Saga Press. This book was released on 2021-03-02 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A century after the Martian war of independence, a group of kids are sent to Earth as delegates from Mars, but when they return home, they are caught between the two worlds, unable to reconcile the beauty and culture of Mars with their experiences on Earth in this “thoughtful debut” (Kirkus Reviews) from Hugo Award–winning author Hao Jingfang. This “masterful narrative” (Booklist, starred review) is set on Earth in the wake of a second civil war…not between two factions in one nation, but two factions in one solar system: Mars and Earth. In an attempt to repair increasing tensions, the colonies of Mars send a group of young people to live on Earth to help reconcile humanity. But the group finds itself with no real home, no friends, and fractured allegiances as they struggle to find a sense of community and identity trapped between two worlds.

Future Science Fiction Digest Issue 1

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781790821754
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (217 download)

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Book Synopsis Future Science Fiction Digest Issue 1 by : Mike Resnick

Download or read book Future Science Fiction Digest Issue 1 written by Mike Resnick and published by . This book was released on 2018-12-13 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Science fiction magazine featuring stories from across the globe. In this issue we have original fiction and translations from China, the Ukraine, Nigeria, Italy, and the United States. Fiction contents:"The Rule of Three" by Lawrence M. Schoen, "SisiMumu" by Walter Dinjos, "The Emperor of Death" by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko, "One Bad Unit" by Steve Kopka, "The Substance of Ideas" by Clelia Farris, "In All Possible Futures" by Dantzel Cherry, "Perfection" by Mike Resnick, "Wordfall" by Liang Ling. Also included is an interview with Hollywood showrunners Javier Grillo-Marxuach and Jose Molina, an essay about the role of empire in SF storytelling, and a profile of Marina and Sergey Dyachenko by their translator and friend Julia Meitov Hersey. Includes 65,000 words of fiction and articles.

The Cackle of Cthulhu

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Publisher : Baen Books
ISBN 13 : 1625796242
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (257 download)

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Book Synopsis The Cackle of Cthulhu by : Alex Shvartsman

Download or read book The Cackle of Cthulhu written by Alex Shvartsman and published by Baen Books. This book was released on 2018-01-02 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: TOP AUTHORS POKE FUN AND PAY TRIBUTE TO H.P. LOVECRAFT'S CTHULHU MYTHOS. Knock, knock! Who’s there? Cthul. Cthul who? Exactly! I've come to tickle your funnybone. Oh, and also to eat your soul. In 1928, Weird Tales debuted “The Call of Cthulhu” by H.P. Lovecraft, and the Cthulhu Mythos was born. In the 90 years since, dozens of writers have dared play within HPL’s mind-blowing creation—but never with such terrifyingly funny results. Now top authors lampoon, parody, and subvert Lovecraft’s Mythos. See Cthulhu cut short his nap at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to invade North Korea! Watch the Unspeakable Eater of Souls solve crimes on the pulpy streets of Innsmouth! And speaking of largish Elder Gods, listen to a plastic Elvis doll dispense folksy advice straight from the heart of the Emperor of Dread! Again Ol’ Tentacle-Face is confronted by frail humans who dare defy the Incarnation of Ultimate Evil—but this time not by brave monster hunters and terrified villagers, but by fan fiction writers, clueless college students, and corporate lawyers (okay, we realize it’s hard to know who to root for in that confrontation). Twenty-three mirthful manifestations within the Cthulhu Mythos from best-selling and award-winning authors Neil Gaiman, Mike Resnick, Esther Friesner, Ken Liu, Jody Lynn Nye, Laura Resnick, Nick Mamatas, and many more! Guaranteed to leave you howling. Because if you look at it just right, there’s nothing funnier than a soul writhing in cosmic horror before a tentacled maw of malevolence. As HPL himself saith: “From even the greatest of horrors irony is seldom absent.” Praise for the Unidentified Funny Objects anthologies, edited by Alex Shvartsman: “This book is a delight. There are a lot of giggles here, and every now and then you’ll laugh your head off. This is a hoot from start to finish.”—Galaxy’s Edge “Shvartsman delivers a wonderful anthology and if you want to broaden your humorous SFF reading, Unidentified Funny Objects is a great place to start.”— A Fantastical Librarian Praise for Alex Shvartsman: “Shvartsman is an entertaining writer who can take on many voices and make them his.” –Locus “Alex Shvartsman’s comedy is bright and direct with clever dialogue of both the inner and outer sort.”—Tangent Online Complete Contributor List: Neil Gaiman Jody Lynn Nye Mike Resnick Ken Liu Nick Mamatas Esther Friesner David Vaughan Kevin Wetmore Shaenon K. Garrity Brian Trent Alex Shvartsman Rachael Klahn Jones Yvonne Navarro Scott Huggins Gini Koch Aidan Doyle Konstantine Paradias Amanda Helms Laura Resnick Matt Mikalatos Laura Pearlman Lucy A. Snyder Original stories by David Vaughan, Jody Lynn Nye, Mike Resnick, Brian Trent, Yvonne Navarro, G. Scott Huggins, Gini Koch, Aidan Doyle, Amanda Helms, Laura Resnick, Laura Pearlman, Lucy Snyder, and Nick Mamatas. Reprints by Esther Friesener, Kevin Wetmore, Shaenon K. Garrity, Alex Shvatsman, Ken Liu, Rachael K. Jones, Neil Gaiman, Konstantine Paradias, and Matt Mikalatos. **

The Future of Another Timeline

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Author :
Publisher : Tor Books
ISBN 13 : 0765392127
Total Pages : 252 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (653 download)

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Book Synopsis The Future of Another Timeline by : Annalee Newitz

Download or read book The Future of Another Timeline written by Annalee Newitz and published by Tor Books. This book was released on 2019-09-24 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A revolution is happening in speculative fiction, and Annalee Newitz is leading the vanguard."--Wil Wheaton From Annalee Newitz, founding editor of io9, comes a story of time travel, murder, and the lengths we'll go to protect the ones we love. 1992: After a confrontation at a riot grrl concert, seventeen-year-old Beth finds herself in a car with her friend's abusive boyfriend dead in the backseat, agreeing to help her friends hide the body. This murder sets Beth and her friends on a path of escalating violence and vengeance as they realize many other young women in the world need protecting too. 2022: Determined to use time travel to create a safer future, Tess has dedicated her life to visiting key moments in history and fighting for change. But rewriting the timeline isn’t as simple as editing one person or event. And just when Tess believes she's found a way to make an edit that actually sticks, she encounters a group of dangerous travelers bent on stopping her at any cost. Tess and Beth’s lives intertwine as war breaks out across the timeline--a war that threatens to destroy time travel and leave only a small group of elites with the power to shape the past, present, and future. Against the vast and intricate forces of history and humanity, is it possible for a single person’s actions to echo throughout the timeline? Praise for The Future of Another Timeline: "An intelligent, gut-wrenching glimpse of how tiny actions, both courageous and venal, can have large consequences. Smart and profound on every level.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) "You close the book reeling with questions about your own life and your part in changing the future."—Amy Acker, actress (Angel and Person of Interest) At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Tactical Entanglements

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9783957961839
Total Pages : 188 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (618 download)

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Book Synopsis Tactical Entanglements by : Martin Zeilinger

Download or read book Tactical Entanglements written by Martin Zeilinger and published by . This book was released on 2021-06-18 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do artistic experiments with artificial intelligence problematize human-centered notions of creative agency, authorship, and ownership? Offering a wide-ranging discussion of contemporary digital art practices, philosophical and technical considerations of AI, posthumanist thought, and emerging issues of intellectual property and the commons, this book is firmly positioned against the anthropomorphic spectacle of "creative AI." It proposes instead the concept of the posthumanist agential assemblage, and invites readers to consider what new types of creative practice, what reconfigurations of the author function, and what critical interventions become possible when AI art provokes tactical entanglements between aesthetics, law, and capital.

Gunfight on Europa Station

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Publisher : Baen
ISBN 13 : 9781982125721
Total Pages : 400 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (257 download)

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Book Synopsis Gunfight on Europa Station by : David Boop

Download or read book Gunfight on Europa Station written by David Boop and published by Baen. This book was released on 2021-11-02 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ALL-NEW STORIES TAKE THE WILD, WILD WEST TO THE FINAL FRONTIER An actual wagon train to space? Gunslinging cowpokes riding in rickety rocketships? What isn’t possible when you mix science fiction and Westerns? The final frontier ain’t so final in these 12 tales of space exploration and adventure: each a timeless yarn told around the warm glow of a nuclear reactor just before it goes supernova. There’s a story for everyone who’s ever dreamed of traveling the stars. From the lone stranger who flies into town to help a widow and her daughter to the alien rancher trying to pose as human, they are familiar, yet with completely new twists. Take the pair of mercenaries who sign on to stop a mining camp insurrection only to discover they might be on the wrong side of evolution, or the prospector who finds the strike of a lifetime but ends up stranded on a barren moon without hope of rescue. And if that’s not enough to catch your fancy, then how about a cloned Doc Holliday making his way in a future where both sickness and gambling are ancient history? Assembled inside are the biggest names in science fiction, taking you to the farthest reaches of the galaxy like they’ve never done before. Elizabeth Moon, Alan Dean Foster, Jane Lindskold, and Wil McCarthy are some of the exciting yarn-spinners inside. So get ready to hit the hyper-thrusters as you set course for adventure, mystery, romance, and two-lasergun slinging action! Featuring Elizabeth Moon, Alan Dean Foster, Jane Lindskold, Wil McCarthy, Gini Koch, Martin Shoemaker, Cat Rambo with J.R. Martin, Alastair Mayer, Alex Shvartsman, Patrick Swenson, and Michael L. Haspil. Edited by David Boop (Straight Outta Tombstone). About Straight Outta Dodge City: “A dark, diverting anthology of 14 original tales, the third in a series. . . . By tossing weird fiction concepts into western settings, these tales give rise to unusual what-ifs. . . . [T]he ever-enjoyable Joe R. Lansdale is on hand with 'The Hoodoo Man and the Midnight Train,' an energetic tale of a mystical gunfighter, and Harry Turtledove presents the delightful 'Junior & Me,' set in an alternate world in which evolution favored reptiles rather than mammals, and the ornery galoot narrating the yarn is actually a highly evolved dinosaur. The result is an amusing . . . bunch of stories.”—Publishers Weekly About Straight Outta Tombstone: “The authors were having fun. Even when they are not playing the stories for laughs, they are taking an opportunity to . . . tell a story with a fresh twist, and expand out of their expected boundaries.”—The Galveston County Daily News

Funny Science Fiction

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Author :
Publisher : UFO Publishing
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 209 pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Funny Science Fiction by : Mike Resnick

Download or read book Funny Science Fiction written by Mike Resnick and published by UFO Publishing. This book was released on 2017-02-14 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seventeen of the funniest science fiction stories published in the past decade (2005-2015), featuring alien invasions, global conspiracies, time travel and even animal uprisings. Fiction by Hugo and Nebula award winners and nominees as well as talented newcomers. Stories were selected by the Unidentified Funny Objects series curator Alex Shvartsman.

Design, User Experience, and Usability

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Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3031357051
Total Pages : 558 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (313 download)

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Book Synopsis Design, User Experience, and Usability by : Aaron Marcus

Download or read book Design, User Experience, and Usability written by Aaron Marcus and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-07-08 with total page 558 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This 5-volume HCII-DUXU 2023 book set constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Design, User Experience, and Usability, DUXU 2023, held as part of the 24th International Conference, HCI International 2023, which took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, in July 2023. A total of 1578 papers and 396 posters have been accepted for publication in the HCII 2023 proceedings from a total of 7472 submissions. The papers included in this volume set were organized in topical sections as follows: Part I: Design methods, tools and practices; emotional and persuasive design; Part II: Design case studies; and creativity and design education; Part III: Evaluation methods and techniques; and usability, user experience and technology acceptance studies; Part IV: Designing learning experiences; and chatbots, conversational agents and robots: design and user experience; Part V: DUXU for cultural heritage; and DUXU for health and wellbeing.

Daughter from the Dark

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Publisher : HarperCollins
ISBN 13 : 0062916238
Total Pages : 297 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (629 download)

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Book Synopsis Daughter from the Dark by : Marina & Sergey Dyachenko

Download or read book Daughter from the Dark written by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2020-02-11 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this extraordinary stand-alone novel, the authors and translator of Vita Nostra—a "dark Harry Potter on steroids with a hefty dose of metaphysics" (award-winning author Aliette de Bodard)—return with a story about creation, music, and companionship filled with their hallmark elements of subtle magic and fantasy. Late one night, fate brings together DJ Aspirin and ten-year-old Alyona. After he tries to save her from imminent danger, she ends up at his apartment. But in the morning sinister doubts set in. Who is Alyona? A young con artist? A plant for a nefarious blackmailer? Or perhaps a long-lost daughter Aspirin never knew existed? Whoever this mysterious girl is, she now refuses to leave. A game of cat-and-mouse has begun. Claiming that she is a musical prodigy, Alyona insists she must play a complicated violin piece to find her brother. Confused and wary, Aspirin knows one thing: he wants her out of his apartment and his life. Yet every attempt to get rid of her is thwarted by an unusual protector: her plush teddy bear that may just transform into a fearsome monster. Alyona tells Aspirin that if he would just allow her do her work, she’ll leave him—and this world. He can then return to the shallow life he led before her. But as outside forces begin to coalesce, threatening to finally separate them, Aspirin makes a startling discovery about himself and this ethereal, eerie child.

The Practice of Art and AI

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Author :
Publisher : Hatje Cantz
ISBN 13 : 9783775751421
Total Pages : 307 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (514 download)

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Book Synopsis The Practice of Art and AI by : Andreas J. Hirsch

Download or read book The Practice of Art and AI written by Andreas J. Hirsch and published by Hatje Cantz. This book was released on 2022-01-04 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Multidisciplinary explorations of AI and its implications for art In this multidisciplinary volume, European ARTificial Intelligence Lab, in partnership with Ars Electronica, considers the incredibly rapid development of Artificial Intelligence in the context of the cyber-arts. Bringing together 13 cultural and six scientific institutions from across Europe, this publication explores the interdisciplinary exchange between art and science and summarizes the accomplishments of the AI Lab since its opening. This guide to the events and exhibitions for this project includes more than 500 reproductions, profiles on featured exhibitors and essays. In keeping with the project's focus on the interplay between art and technology, the book includes QR codes which link the reader to video lectures and other supplementary materials. Artists and researchers include: Eva Smrekar, Eduardo Reck Miranda, Ian Gouldstone, Aarati Akkapeddi, Cecilie Waagner Falkenstrøm, Tega Brain, Sam Lavigne, Hannah Jayanti, Sarah Petkus, Mark J. Koch, Mimi Onuoha, Caroline Sinders, LaJuné McMillian, Victoria Vesna and many more.

The Middling Affliction

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Author :
Publisher : CAEZIK SF & Fantasy
ISBN 13 : 9781647100544
Total Pages : 230 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (5 download)

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Book Synopsis The Middling Affliction by : Alex Shvartsman

Download or read book The Middling Affliction written by Alex Shvartsman and published by CAEZIK SF & Fantasy. This book was released on 2022-04-12 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Dresden Files meets American Gods in New York City. What would you do if you lost everything that mattered to you, as well as all means to protect yourself and others, but still had to save the day? Conrad Brent is about to find out. Conrad Brent protects the people of Brooklyn from monsters and magical threats. The snarky, wisecracking guardian also has a dangerous secret: he's one in a million - literally. Magical ability comes to about one in every 30,000 and can manifest at any age. Conrad is rarer than this, however. He's a middling, one of the half-gifted and totally despised. Most of the gifted community feels that middlings should be instantly killed. The few who don't flat out hate them still aren't excited to be around middlings. Meaning Conrad can't tell anyone, not even his best friends, what he really is. Conrad hides in plain sight by being a part of the volunteer Watch, those magically gifted who protect their cities from dangerous, arcane threats. And, to pay the bills, Conrad moonlights as a private detective and monster hunter for the gifted community. Which helps him keep up his personal fiction - that he's a magical version of Batman. Conrad does both jobs thanks to charms, artifacts, and his wits, along with copious amounts of coffee. But little does he know that events are about to change his life...forever. When Conrad discovers the Traveling Fair auction house has another middling who's just manifested her so-called powers on the auction block, he's determined to save her, regardless of risk. But what he finds out while doing so is even worse - the winning bidder works for a company that's just created the most dangerous chemical weapon to ever hit the magical community. Before Conrad can convince anyone at the Watch of the danger, he's exposed for what he really is. Now, stripped of rank, magical objects, friends and allies, Conrad has to try to save the world with only his wits. Thankfully though, no one's taken away his coffee.

A Prehistory of the Cloud

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Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262529963
Total Pages : 241 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (625 download)

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Book Synopsis A Prehistory of the Cloud by : Tung-Hui Hu

Download or read book A Prehistory of the Cloud written by Tung-Hui Hu and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2016-09-02 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The militarized legacy of the digital cloud: how the cloud grew out of older network technologies and politics. We may imagine the digital cloud as placeless, mute, ethereal, and unmediated. Yet the reality of the cloud is embodied in thousands of massive data centers, any one of which can use as much electricity as a midsized town. Even all these data centers are only one small part of the cloud. Behind that cloud-shaped icon on our screens is a whole universe of technologies and cultural norms, all working to keep us from noticing their existence. In this book, Tung-Hui Hu examines the gap between the real and the virtual in our understanding of the cloud. Hu shows that the cloud grew out of such older networks as railroad tracks, sewer lines, and television circuits. He describes key moments in the prehistory of the cloud, from the game “Spacewar” as exemplar of time-sharing computers to Cold War bunkers that were later reused as data centers. Countering the popular perception of a new “cloudlike” political power that is dispersed and immaterial, Hu argues that the cloud grafts digital technologies onto older ways of exerting power over a population. But because we invest the cloud with cultural fantasies about security and participation, we fail to recognize its militarized origins and ideology. Moving between the materiality of the technology itself and its cultural rhetoric, Hu's account offers a set of new tools for rethinking the contemporary digital environment.

The New Aesthetic and Art

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Author :
Publisher : Instituut Voor Netwerkcultuur
ISBN 13 : 9789492302083
Total Pages : 280 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (2 download)

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Book Synopsis The New Aesthetic and Art by : Scott Contreras-Koterbay

Download or read book The New Aesthetic and Art written by Scott Contreras-Koterbay and published by Instituut Voor Netwerkcultuur. This book was released on 2016-07-14 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New Aesthetic and Art: Constellations of the Postdigital is an interdisciplinary analysis focusing on new digital phenomena at the intersections of theory and contemporary art. Asserting the unique character of New Aesthetic objects, Contreras-Koterbay and Mirocha trace the origins of the New Aesthetic in visual arts, design, and software, find its presence resonating in various kinds of digital imagery, and track its agency in everyday effects of the intertwined physical world and the digital realm. Contreras-Koterbay and Mirocha bring to light an original perspective that identifies an autonomous quality in common digital objects and examples of art that are increasingly an important influence for today's culture and society.