The Black Technical Object
The Black Technical Object
On Machine Learning and the Aspiration of Black Being
by Ramon Amaro

Author(s)
Ramon Amaro
Publication
London : Sternberg, 2022
Scope
232 Pages, 21.5 cm.
ISBN
9783956795633

To impair the racial ordering of the world, The Black Technical Object introduces the history of statistical analysis and “scientific” racism into research on machine learning. Computer programming designed for taxonomic patterning, machine learning offers useful insights into racism and racist behavior, but its connection to the racial history of science and the Black lived experience has yet to be developed. In this book, Ramon Amaro explores how the history of data and statistical analysis informs the complex relationship between race and machine learning. He juxtaposes a practical analysis of this type of computerized learning with a theory of Black alienation in order to inspire alternative approaches to contemporary algorithmic practice. In doing so, Amaro contemplates the abstruse nature of programming and mathematics, as well as the deep incursion of racial hierarchies.


Keywords
racism , surveillance , artificial intelligence
Location
Cabinet 11 - 4: Surveillance ; Veiligheid ; Angst
Extra themes
Decolonizing culture
Remarks
Includes notes