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Benjamin H. Bratton
Benjamin H. Bratton (born 1968) is an American philosopher of technology known for his work spanning social theory, computer science, speculative design, artificial intelligence, and for his writing on "planetary scale computation."
He is Professor of Visual Arts at University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and author and editor of numerous books and essays. He has taught at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland and was visiting professor at NYU Shanghai (2019–22). Prior to teaching at UCSD, Bratton taught at the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles from 2001 to 2010 and is now a distinguished visiting professor. He taught in the Department of Design Media Arts at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 2003 to 2008. He founded University of California, San Diego's Speculative Design undergraduate major. He holds a PhD in the sociology of technology from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
In 2016, he succeeded Rem Koolhaas as program director of the Strelka Institute, a Moscow-based think tank and post-graduate program in architecture, media, and design. He directed two three-year programs, The New Normal and The Terraforming. At the outbreak of the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine the institute indefinitely suspended all programs.
As of 2022, Bratton is the Director of a new research program on the speculative philosophy of computation called Antikythera, incubated by the Berggruen Institute. He is Visiting Faculty Researcher in the Paradigms of Intelligence Research group in Google Technology and Society.
The Stack: On Software and Sovereignty was published by MIT Press in late 2015. The book challenges traditional ideas of sovereignty centered around the nation-state and develops a theory of geopolitics that accounts for sovereignty in terms of planetary-scale computation at various scales. Its two core arguments are that planetary-scale computation “distorts and deforms traditional Westphalian logics of political geography” and creates new territories in its own image, and that different scales of computing technology can be understood as forming an “accidental megastructure” that resembles a multi-layer network architecture stack, what Bratton calls “The Stack." The Stack is described as a platform. Bratton argues that platforms represent a technical and institutional model equivalent to states or markets but reducible to neither. Bratton refers to the book as “a design brief” suggesting that the layers of this structure are modular available to innovation and replacement.
He argues that the Anthropocene should be understood as a kind of accidental terraforming and the long-term project at hand is more deliberate and comprehensive composition of Earth systems for the extension of complex life in the future. “To terraform Earth to ensure that Earth can support Earth-like life.” With a view of biochemistry and planetary timescales, Bratton contrasts the terraforming to Environmental Humanities which, he argues, rely on social reductionist and cultural determinist views.
According to Bratton, the artificial is not contrasted to nature but rather than the evolution selects for forms of life adept at artificializing their environments for purposes of “energy, matter and information capture.” He situates this in the dynamic between autopoiesis and allopoiesis. He argues that through artificialization, it is possible to better understand naturally evolved forms, for example, synthetic biology and artificial intelligence.
In an article Benjamin Bratton wrote for New York Times in 2015, “Outing AI” criticized overly anthropomorphic views of AI. "The Model is the Message"(2022) co-authored with Blaise Aguera y Arcas, a VP of Artificial Intelligence at Google, examined recent controversies over large language models and the problems of recognizing sentience in machines. The essay inspired an edited volume of the same name published by New Centre for Research and Practice and &&&. The lecture film “After Alignment” argued that mainstream ideas of AI alignment are potentially misguided.
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Benjamin H. Bratton
Benjamin H. Bratton (born 1968) is an American philosopher of technology known for his work spanning social theory, computer science, speculative design, artificial intelligence, and for his writing on "planetary scale computation."
He is Professor of Visual Arts at University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and author and editor of numerous books and essays. He has taught at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland and was visiting professor at NYU Shanghai (2019–22). Prior to teaching at UCSD, Bratton taught at the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles from 2001 to 2010 and is now a distinguished visiting professor. He taught in the Department of Design Media Arts at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 2003 to 2008. He founded University of California, San Diego's Speculative Design undergraduate major. He holds a PhD in the sociology of technology from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
In 2016, he succeeded Rem Koolhaas as program director of the Strelka Institute, a Moscow-based think tank and post-graduate program in architecture, media, and design. He directed two three-year programs, The New Normal and The Terraforming. At the outbreak of the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine the institute indefinitely suspended all programs.
As of 2022, Bratton is the Director of a new research program on the speculative philosophy of computation called Antikythera, incubated by the Berggruen Institute. He is Visiting Faculty Researcher in the Paradigms of Intelligence Research group in Google Technology and Society.
The Stack: On Software and Sovereignty was published by MIT Press in late 2015. The book challenges traditional ideas of sovereignty centered around the nation-state and develops a theory of geopolitics that accounts for sovereignty in terms of planetary-scale computation at various scales. Its two core arguments are that planetary-scale computation “distorts and deforms traditional Westphalian logics of political geography” and creates new territories in its own image, and that different scales of computing technology can be understood as forming an “accidental megastructure” that resembles a multi-layer network architecture stack, what Bratton calls “The Stack." The Stack is described as a platform. Bratton argues that platforms represent a technical and institutional model equivalent to states or markets but reducible to neither. Bratton refers to the book as “a design brief” suggesting that the layers of this structure are modular available to innovation and replacement.
He argues that the Anthropocene should be understood as a kind of accidental terraforming and the long-term project at hand is more deliberate and comprehensive composition of Earth systems for the extension of complex life in the future. “To terraform Earth to ensure that Earth can support Earth-like life.” With a view of biochemistry and planetary timescales, Bratton contrasts the terraforming to Environmental Humanities which, he argues, rely on social reductionist and cultural determinist views.
According to Bratton, the artificial is not contrasted to nature but rather than the evolution selects for forms of life adept at artificializing their environments for purposes of “energy, matter and information capture.” He situates this in the dynamic between autopoiesis and allopoiesis. He argues that through artificialization, it is possible to better understand naturally evolved forms, for example, synthetic biology and artificial intelligence.
In an article Benjamin Bratton wrote for New York Times in 2015, “Outing AI” criticized overly anthropomorphic views of AI. "The Model is the Message"(2022) co-authored with Blaise Aguera y Arcas, a VP of Artificial Intelligence at Google, examined recent controversies over large language models and the problems of recognizing sentience in machines. The essay inspired an edited volume of the same name published by New Centre for Research and Practice and &&&. The lecture film “After Alignment” argued that mainstream ideas of AI alignment are potentially misguided.