Hacking Ourselves

Thu, Apr 25

We have revisited the long history of hacking of more than half a century. We have found the right fit for several parts of this complex puzzle of "hacking" that is at once technical, political, anthropological, and historical. Not only the practice of hacking (what counts as "hacking" and who counts as a "hacker") has been extended to encompass pretty much everything under the sun, but the future of digital technologies are increasingly shaping up the relationship we have with ourselves and others---as become more and more vulnerable to hacking ourselves through self-deception. This is where AI hacking comes into play and how, anthropologically speaking, we become more and more like the tools we make (instead of being the ones who shape the tools and infrastructures).

What does the future of hacking reserves for us? It is certainly not too soon to say that we will experience an intensification of hacker politics, but also of self-deception through the widespread use of AI and IoT applications. We will see more data-intensive and energy-hungry applications, but also a strong movement of computer technologists to develop more sustainable and renewable energy-based digital systems. We will also see more of what Norbert Wiener called the "human use of human beings" through digital systems, and, most importantly, the digital systems' use of human beings. There's got to be a better way of doing this! Well, the future of tech belongs to you all...

After this class, you should be able to:

1. Identify the most prominent areas of "future hacking";
2. Situate the most important debates regarding AI, IoT, and hacking;
3. Discuss alternative computing projects, so you can be the change you want to see in the world.

As always, here are the slides.