Kevin Slavin’s super brilliant talk on how algorithms are changing the urban form

It is so rare to see an intellectually brilliant talk coupled with breathless storytelling - but when it happens it is truly beautiful. Kevin’s beautiful talk at Lift 2011, Those Algorithms that Govern our Lives, walks you through how algorithms that enable financial services exploit every nanosecond are physically changing NYC. He explains the way algorithms are engineered to stealthy move massive amounts of money off the grid and how this process is tied to the physical architecture of the internet.

This talk also made me think of Mark Poster’s work on the increasing interdependence of the digital communication networks and humans. His perspective always prompts us to ask how are these technologies of power - who do they speak for? who do these algorithms work for? Who benefits from these emergent forms?

Mark Vanderbeeken, author of Putting People First, wrote a really great summary of Kevin’s talk. He also provides a useful review of his fave talks.

This is a 30 min talk - once you start watching you won’t be able to stop - just like every Kevin Slavin talk.

kenyatta:

Kevin Slavin’s brilliant talk on how algorithms govern our lives

Stealth bombers that try to look like flocks of tiny birds. Financial organizations trying to move closer to the internet. Reducing the Emperor of Wine to an algorithm.

Algorithms determine what movies we watch, who we date, how we get to places, and who gets arrested.

Kevin puts it all together in a talk that is both brilliant and eye opening.

This is my favorite conference talk of a very young 2011.

Note: Tricia just quoted me Mark Poster’s bit about how humans and machines constitute an interface outside the subject-object binary (translation: it’s maybe not so black and white, good vs evil.) I would say that this compliments Kevin’s talk and doesn’t contradict it (listen to the stuff at the end about humans, denial, and storytelling.)

from Lift11