Böcker utgivna av MIT Press Ltd

An engaging, illustrated collection of insights revealing the practices and principles that expert software designers use to create great software.What makes an expert software designer? It is more than experience or innate ability. Expert software designers have specific habits, learned practices, and observed principles that they apply deliberately during their design work. This book offers sixty-six insights, distilled from years of studying experts at work, that capture what successful software designers actually do to create great software. The book presents these insights in a series of two-page illustrated spreads, with the principle and a short explanatory text on one page, and a drawing on the facing page. For example, “Experts generate alternatives” is illustrated by the same few balloons turned into a set of very different balloon animals. The text is engaging and accessible; the drawings are thought-provoking and often playful.Organized into such categories as “Experts reflect,” “Experts are not afraid,” and “Experts break the rules,” the insights range from “Experts prefer simple solutions” to “Experts see error as opportunity.” Readers learn that “Experts involve the user”; “Experts take inspiration from wherever they can”; “Experts design throughout the creation of software”; and “Experts draw the problem as much as they draw the solution.” One habit for an aspiring expert software designer to develop would be to read and reread this entertaining but essential little book. The insights described offer a guide for the novice or a reference for the veteran—in software design or any design profession.A companion web site provides an annotated bibliography that compiles key underpinning literature, the opportunity to suggest additional insights, and more.

A new way to teach macroeconomics based on problem-solving and hands-on learning.Offering an important paradigm-shift in the way macroeconomics is taught, this innovative textbook invites students to learn by doing. Organized as a series of word problems motivated by specific macroeconomic questions—Can an economy grow indefinitely by accumulating capital?  Why is nominal GDP a poor gauge of changes in economic activity?  What constrains the firm?—the text equips readers to think like macroeconomists rather than simply receive expository information. This novel approach develops intuition, analytical skills, and background knowledge simultaneously. Interrelated themes, techniques, and results emerge as students work through the problems, resulting in a dynamic but cohesive treatment of macroeconomics in which agents making choices subject to constraints are the central characters. Classroom-tested, learn-by-doing, problem-solving approach Comprehensively covers the material of a single-semester undergraduate macroeconomics course, including optimizing agents and general equilibrium, rational expectations, and modern monetary policyVersatile structure suits both large lecture formats and smaller classesRobust instructor resources support transition to new pedagogical method

Why we enjoy works of art, and how repetition plays a central part in the pleasure we receive.Leonard Bernstein, in his famous Norton Lectures (1976) extolled repetition, saying that it gave poetry its musical qualities and that music theorists’ refusal to take it seriously did so at their peril. Play It Again, Sam takes Bernstein seriously. In this book, Samuel Jay Keyser explores in detail the way repetition works in poetry, music, and painting. He argues, for example, that rhyme in metrical verse is identical to the way songwriters like Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn (Satin Doll) and Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart (My Funny Valentine) constructed their iconic melodies. Furthermore, the form of these tunes can be found in such classical compositions as Mozart’s Rondo Alla Turca and his German Dances as well as in galant music in general.The author also looks at repetition in paintings like Caillebotte’s Rainy Day in Paris, Warhol’s Campbell Soup Cans, and Pollock’s drip paintings. Finally, the photography of Lee Friedlander, Roni Horn, and Osmond Giglia—Giglia’s Girls in the Windows is one of the highest grossing photographs in history—are all shown to be built on repetition in the form of visual rhyme.The book ends with a cognitive conjecture on why repetition has been so prominent in the arts from the Homeric epics through Duke Ellington and beyond. Artists have exploited repetition throughout the ages. The reason why it is straightforward: the brain finds the detection of repetition innately pleasurable. Play It Again, Sam offers experimental evidence to support this claim.

"A critique of social norm interventions across the Global South caught between good intentions and the inequalities of past Western interventionism in the name of societal progress"--

The cultural, political, and pedagogical history of an elite Iranian engineering institution in the years directly preceding the 1979 Iranian revolution.In 1966, the Shah of Iran established Arya-Mehr University of Technology (AMUT), now known as Sharif University of Technology, as part of a larger campaign to modernize the nation. In 1979, AMUT engineering students played a critical role in the revolution that overthrew the Shah and his regime. In Revolutionary Engineers, Sepehr Vakil, Mahdi Ganjavi, and Mina Khanlarzadeh show how Western notions of scientific and technical rigor combined in unexpected ways with Iranian and Islamic values at AMUT in the years directly preceding the 1979 Iranian revolution. They also argue that global perspectives, particularly from the Global South, can deepen and complicate contemporary discussions on ethics, epistemology, and knowledge production in STEM fields. The authors present the cultural, political, and pedagogical history of AMUT, from its 1966 establishment up to its pivotal role in the 1979 revolution, while delving into the complex interplay of global, national, and Islamic values in STEM education. In the past several years, STEM education scholars have challenged the epistemological and ontological foundations of STEM education research and practice, while deepening the field's engagement with questions of power, ethics, race, and justice. The case of AMUT presents the opportunity to contribute a Global South perspective to studies of the civic, cultural, and political functions and foundations of science and engineering education. Sharif University continues to be at the epicenter of politics in Iran.

An in-depth look at how we make and circulate art today, and how creative and economic processes shape the meaning and value of artworks.In Ecologies of Artistic Practice, Ashley Lee Wong explores the economic relationships of artists working at the nexus of art and technology as they negotiate a means to make art in a neoliberal creative economy. Wong looks at the diverse ways in which artworks circulate, both online and offline, in galleries, on digital platforms, and media facades, and investigates some of the mechanisms that enable artists to create works, including selling artworks and NFTs, grants, licensing, commissions, and artist residencies. The book also looks at the ways in which artists collaborate with corporations and develop practices as commercial entities themselves. The book provides unique insights into the diverse creative and economic processes that shape the meaning and value of artworks. Wong seeks to shift away from notions of individual authorship and finite artworks that can be bought and sold, and instead toward an understanding of artistic practices as collaborative, social, and cultural processes.Rather than critique this economy, Ecologies of Artistic Practice opens space for engaging in hypercommercialized contexts, while considering how money is not an end goal, but a means to initiate or continue an artistic process.

An essential resource for anyone committed to fostering equality and fairness in employment—with actionable proposals for public policy that can address these inequities.In a world where discrimination against minorities remains a pressing issue even in economically and socially advanced countries, Invisible Barriers delves into the multifaceted nature of this pervasive problem. Drawing on extensive research from economics, management, psychology, and sociology, Stéphane Carcillo and Marie-Anne Valfort present a comprehensive examination of discriminatory practices in employment and their profound social and economic impacts.The first part of the book methodically explores the forms, sources, and consequences of discrimination in the labor market, offering readers a solid understanding of the approaches used to measure and identify discriminatory practices. In the second part, the book details research findings on specific groups, illustrating how discrimination manifests uniquely across different demographics; women, ethnic minorities, older workers, LGBTI+, and more. From recruitment biases to career advancement hurdles, the book sheds light on the varied and often hidden ways discrimination operates. Finally, the authors discuss public policies aimed at mitigating discrimination, advocating for a multifaceted approach that combines punitive measures with incentives, educational programs, and communication campaigns to effectively combat biases, prejudices, and stereotypes.

"On the politics of disaster. How humanity might make a positive transition to more sustainable forms of social organization among the wreckage left by extreme events"--

An innovative history of heartbeats, pulse, and technoscience in the works of a wide international array of artists and composers.Heartbeat Art is the first study of how artists have engaged with heartbeats from the 1960s to the present, creating sophisticated and technological works that project in unique ways the circulatory processes of the body beyond its physical limits. Drawing on a long history of scientific and artistic experimentation, Claudia Arozqueta offers detailed case studies of heartbeat works by a wide range of international artists working at the interconnections of our bodies, art, and science and technology, including Yoko Ono, Pauline Oliveros, Heinz Mark, Brian O’Doherty, Teresa Burga, and many others.Technoscientific advances in monitoring heartbeats and pulses in the nineteenth century—such as René Laennec’s stethoscope, Étienne-Jules Marey’s sphygmograph and chronophotograph, and Willem Einthoven’s electrocardiograph—transformed the movements of the heart into audible and visual representations. Artists saw in the language of these scientific technologies a way of mingling the inner with the outer, the physical with the technological, and data with flesh. Using archival research, interviews, and correspondence, Arozqueta describes significant works in detail, discusses their contexts and development, and examines the larger classes and contours of this neglected area of artistic activity. Other artists in the volume include Éliane Radigue, Jean Dupuy, Linda Montano, Catherine Richards, Diana Domingues, Mona Hatoum, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, and Christian Boltanski.

"Gear: Cultures of Audio and Music Technologies, traces the life and socio-cultural relations of professional audio recording technologies from their material origins through to heritage status"--

A rich account of the world’s leading science prize told through the lives it has changed, the controversies it has generated, and the impact it has made on the public.In a world where the work of science largely remains inscrutable to the general public, the Nobel Prize confers a degree of intelligibility like no other honor. Our best-known and most prestigious award for individual scientific achievement, the Nobel attaches a brilliant face to a story of profound discovery, making moving headlines. In Geniuses, Heroes, and Saints, Massimiano Bucchi tells an equally compelling story of the Nobel’s transformation of science into an epic pursuit legible both to the field and to the public, bound up with the currents of historical change. Three main narratives characterize the Nobel. The scientist as genius, portrayed as a creative visionary, an exceptional intellect reflecting a solitary and romantic ideal of great communicative impact. The scientist as national hero acts as a surrogate of competition among nations in a peaceful, rational contest. The scientist as saint shines with moral exceptionality, a figure worthy of celebration and worship, known for virtues such as modesty, humility, and total dedication, body and soul, to the scientific enterprise. Whether the recipient was Albert Einstein or a countryside doctor toiling for years in obscurity, whether the prize was worthily given or awarded to work later disproved, or whether we even remember the honorees today, the Nobel defined the image of science in the twentieth century, Bucchi shows, an image that still lives in all sorts of fascinating ways today.

"A revised and expanded edition of an essential resource for parents and educators, written by a leading authority in communication disorders"--

A timely and important perspective on how people frame decisions and how relying on sacred values unwittingly leads to social polarization.When you are faced with a decision, do you consider the best outcome, or do you consider your deepest values about which actions are appropriate? The Cost of Conviction contrasts these two primary strategies for making decisions: consequentialism or prioritizing one’s sacred values. Steven Sloman argues that, while both modes of decision making are necessary tools for a good decision maker, people err by deploying sacred values more often than they should, especially when it comes to sociopolitical issues. As a result, we oversimplify, grow disgusted and angry, and act in ways that contribute to social polarization. In this book, Sloman provides a new understanding of today’s societal ills and grounds that understanding in science.Drawing on historical and current examples of the two decision-making strategies in action, the author provides a thorough overview of the psychology of decision making, including work on judgment, conscious and unconscious decision-making processes, the roles of emotion, and even an analysis of habit and addiction. With its unique emphasis on sacred values, The Cost of Conviction is an eye-opening must-read for all decision makers, especially those who wish to understand judgment, social decision making, and leadership.

"Pioneering technologist and AI ethicist sounds the alarm on AI as a threat to humanity if left unregulated. De Kai suggests that we all need to act as parents and to train our AI to avoid this future"--

What it means to design at a time when, for many people, the future seems to have become an impossibility.When reality fails us, what can design do? Question design’s relationship to reality, as Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby do, in this exhilarating, yet thoughtful journey to the edges of science, philosophy, and literature to find new ways of thinking about the possible—and about the meaning, function, and place of design in that speculative world of “not here, not now.” A conceptual travelogue of sorts, Not Here, Not Now brings together words, images, and objects that capture, in design form, some of the ideas encountered along the way. Itself a design experiment, the book explores ways to bring these ideas into conversation with objects through imagined archives, libraries, glossaries, taxonomies, lists, tales, and essays.The design responses in Not Here, Not Now—to a stone raft, e.g., or a vegetable lamb, swatches of imaginary colors, a pocket universe in the home, objects undergoing space-time collapse—are, like the most compelling utopias, impossible by design, aiming instead to nourish the creative, intellectual, and imaginative ground from which new possibilities, still unknown, might begin to emerge.

A groundbreaking approach to currency and community that may allow us to seize carbon from the atmosphere—and offer a new tool in the fight against climate change.Through the ages, currencies have been based on all manner of objects—from tobacco leaves to salt to gold to collateralized debt obligations. The only thing that this odd assortment of objects shares is the communal belief that these objects could harness and direct economic growth—that they were, in a sense, fertile. In The First and Last Bank, Gustav Peebles and Benjamin Luzzatto propose that atmospheric carbon could be seen anew as fertile in this same sense. In other words, carbon, rather than loom as waste in our skies, could instead be “drawn down” to the earth by millions of currency users and the communally owned banks they rely on, where it could serve as a foundation of new biological life.Seeing currency as a powerful tool for collective action, the authors argue that dovetailing developments in digital currencies and the biosequestration of carbon have, together, made a new and radical intervention in the climate battle possible: a nonproprietary currency backed by sequestered carbon. This new currency would be managed via Wikipedia-style open-source policies that privilege sustainability and equity over endless growth and pollution. Because it is backed by sequestered carbon, the use of the currency would draw gaseous carbon out of the atmosphere and push it back into the ground, following the exact same trajectory as gold during the era of the international gold standard. While it is no silver bullet, such a currency would act as a necessary complement to wide-scale mitigation efforts, at the same time engaging ordinary citizens in the fight to reduce the dangerous levels of carbon in our atmosphere.

A moving, patient-centered portrait of the social importance of speech, from a medical expert known for his humanizing explorations of health.Language comes to us through culture, environment, and family. Words embed over time, as we use our minds to comprehend them and then our mouths to say, mean, and own them. Without the ability to speak, or when talking becomes difficult, we face a challenge like few others, forced to reconnect with a world that assumes its communicators are eloquent vocally. In Hard Talk, Jonathan Cole takes a necessary look at the privilege of speech so we can better accommodate those for whom it presents problems. Cole creates space for people with a variety of conditions, including cerebral palsy, vocal cord palsy, cleft palate, Parkinson’s, and post-stroke aphasia, to describe in their own words what the experience of difficult speech is like. No struggle is the same. Each develops along its own axis of factors—cognitive, social, and physical—that lead to unique vulnerabilities as well as extraordinary moments of adaptation and resilience. One person finds social chatter becoming more problematic than work speech. Another grows alarmed as changes in speech begin to constrain inner thoughts. Some lose the ability to find or make words though they retain awareness, while others lose self-awareness but maintain fluent speech bereft of meaning. One even loses the ability to speak with family while continuing to interact at work.Hard Talk reacquaints us with the social power of speech while affirming the humane value of listening. Cole also reflects on the neuroscientific advances we’ve made in understanding barriers to speech and how we might reduce them.

What teeth can tell us about human evolution, development, and behavior.Our teeth have intriguing stories to tell. These sophisticated time machines record growth, diet, and evolutionary history as clearly as tree rings map a redwood's lifespan. Each day of childhood is etched into tooth crowns and roots—capturing birth, nursing history, environmental clues, and illnesses. The study of ancient, fossilized teeth sheds light on how our ancestors grew up, how we evolved, and how prehistoric cultural transitions continue to affect humans today. In The Tales Teeth Tell, biological anthropologist Tanya Smith offers an engaging and surprising look at what teeth tell us about the evolution of primates—including our own uniqueness.Humans' impressive set of varied teeth provides a multipurpose toolkit honed by the diet choices of our mammalian ancestors. Fossil teeth, highly resilient because of their substantial mineral content, are all that is left of some long-extinct species. Smith explains how researchers employ painstaking techniques to coax microscopic secrets from these enigmatic remains. Counting tiny daily lines provides a way to estimate age that is more powerful than any other forensic technique. Dental plaque—so carefully removed by dental hygienists today—records our ancestors' behavior and health in the form of fossilized food particles and bacteria, including their DNA. Smith also traces the grisly origins of dentistry, reveals that the urge to pick one's teeth is not unique to humans, and illuminates the age-old pursuit of “dental art.” The book is generously illustrated with original photographs, many in color.

How and why the US government gave up its control of ICANN, the global coordinator of internet names, numbers, and protocols—and what the geopolitical consequences were.In 1997 the U.S. decided that the Internet should be governed not by governments, but by something called the “global Internet community.” In Declaring Independence in Cyberspace,Milton Mueller tells the story of why it took 20 years of organizational and geopolitical stuggle to make that happen.ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), created in 1998, was the US government’s answer to the question of who would control the Internet registries—a key part of the Internet infrastructure supporting domain names, network numbers, IP addresses, and other protocol parameters. Originally, ICANN was a bold institutional innovation based on a vision of Internet governance that was thoroughly globalized and independent of nation-states. Declaring Independence in Cyberspace explains where this vision came from, the problems posed by its implementation, and the organization’s near-self destruction in its first five years. The U.S. government refused to let go of ICANN for 15 years, triggering geopolitical conflicts over sovereignty and U.S. power. Mueller details why, what prompted its change of heart, and how the problem of making ICANN accountable to its community in the absence of U.S. government control sparked a political battle in Washington. His account gets to the very heart of a pressing question with profound global implications: Is state sovereignty the immutable foundation of global governance, or do new technological capabilities change the model?

A media history of how the UK and US governments have surveilled citizens by intercepting their private communications.It may not be Big Brother (yet), but the state is watching you—watching all of us, in fact, systematically intercepting our private communications and putting them to work in its own interests. In Interception, a media genealogy of the surveillance state at its most intimate, Bernard Keenan investigates the emergence of this practice as a governmental power, and the secret role it has played in the development of communication systems and law. His book exposes the complex, largely obscure history of a covert and fundamental connection between the secret powers of the state and the means by which we communicate our everyday lives. Keenan analyzes key moments in this history, from the formation of the postal system to cable networks, satellites, and the internet, with particular attention to the role that media play in determining the political and legal conditions of the power of interception in governmental affairs. While chiefly focused on Britain, the Empire, and the post-1945 UK-USA signal intelligence alliance, the book’s analysis has international reach across networks and jurisdictions, connecting Edward Snowden’s disclosures, and post-2013 developments, to a longer media history, foregrounding the technical dimensions of an inherently secret practice and well-guarded political power. Ultimately, Keenan’s work reveals how law and information systems have been interpolated over time, linking communication, governmental power, law, and information science—often to dark, anti-democratic ends.

A compelling proposal for new international law and institutions to address the planetary crisis that improves biodiversity protection, supports Indigenous peoples, and prevents catastrophic climate change.In The Ecology Politic, Anthony Burke and Stefanie Fishel contend that the roots of our planetary crisis lie in the modern state: in its destructive entanglement with capitalism and its colonial legacies of extraction and oppression. This, in turn, has shaped global governance and international law, as they continue to fail to curb global heating, deforestation, and extinction. In a far-reaching critique of the foundational political theory of the modern state—the Body-Politic—the authors insist that nothing less than a radically different model of the polity—an Ecology Politic—is needed if we are to escape this impasse.Burke and Fishel argue that the international rule of law enacts a sovereign ban of nature that appropriates nonhuman lives for profit and use while denying them political and legal standing. We fail because we rely on the very institutions, worldviews, and systems that generated the crisis to solve it. The authors reconsider political power, agency, scale, and democracy in the Anthropocene and assert a biospheric ethic that values the entangled planetary structure of matter, energy, and life. Further, they argue for more-than-human beings to be represented in an ecological democracy that flows across borders. In short, they imagine a polity whose fundamental purpose is to protect planetary ecosystems and nurture interlocking systems of social and ecological justice.

"On the role of women in Islamic culture, told largely through the films of Iranian filmmaker Kiarostami and the broader philosophical concept of the cloud and veiling in Persian culture"--

A highly anticipated and richly illustrated anthology of essays on the work of artist Tacita Dean.This volume explores the deeply-influential work of Tacita Dean, recognized increasingly as one of the key artists of our times. Emerging initially as part of the generation of the so-called “Young British Artists” in the 1990s, Dean (b. 1965) has reinvented the manner in which artists use analogue mediums such as drawing, photography, and film, prompting major questions in her work around the issues of time, memory, history, and chance events. Dean’s films embrace long takes that achieve a near-photographic stillness; they have been dedicated to obsolescent objects or stranded buildings, failed quests, as well as extraordinary figures—usually other artists and writers—nearing the end of their lives. But Dean’s contemplative films have been rigorously reinvented as a form over the course of her career, and linked to a widening series of projects involving writing, chalk drawings, found photographs, dance, and theater. This anthology explores the artist’s expansive practice, gathering essays and interviews by authors from an array of disciplines including art criticism, philosophy, literature, and film. Spanning 25 years of the artist’s career, the volume includes writings by George Baker, Douglas Crimp, Brian Dillon, Briony Fer, Hal Foster, Mark Godfrey, Louise Hornby, Rosalind Krauss, Elisabeth Lebovici, Jean-Luc Nancy, Tamara Trodd, Marina Warner, Peter Wollen, and the artist herself.

"Traces anti-env. from the 19th-c frontier to the 1950s suburb, from the shuttered shops of Main St to Trump Country and presents a political theory of anti-env. grounded in class struggle"--

"An attempt to solve the problems of algorithmic injustice by bringing Rawl's theory of fairness to the domain of AI ethics"--

"More than a practice of war, military targeting has become a self-propelling worldview driven by dominance, violence, and power. This book helps us understand its prevalence and alarming ubiquity"--

An ecological epistemology arguing that epistemic agents, communities, and environments adapt to one another to generate evolving understandings of the world.Mainstream epistemology focuses on static states. In Epistemic Ecology, Catherine Elgin adopts a dynamic stance, viewing epistemic subjects as agents rather than onlookers. She examines how, individually and collectively, we construct our epistemic practices, policies, principles, and procedures to overcome our limitations, exploit our assets, and correct our mistakes. Taking an ecological approach, she shows how human organisms and their social and natural environments mutually adjust to accommodate each other. Elgin’s ecological model of understanding reveals that epistemic agents and communities are interdependent and are more deeply implicated in the individuation and characterization of the phenomena they access than standard spectatorial approaches to epistemology assume. Elgin maintains that a commitment’s epistemic acceptability turns in large part on its providing resources for further epistemic advancement. Epistemic progress is an iterative process that corrects, refines, and extends current understanding. Epistemic subjects are agents, not mere observers, and the positions they accept are springboards for improvement rather than windows into the world.  Responsible disagreement is an asset because it has the potential to identify and correct shortfalls in the views that are currently accepted.  Rather than treat epistemic success—knowledge, understanding, wisdom—as fixed and final, Elgin views success as a stable platform on which to build. How, she asks, should we leverage our findings to move beyond them? Her holistic conception of understanding is integral to education.

"An attempt to construct a broad, interdisciplinary framework for thinking about ethical issues, and acting on them, from a leading researcher in the field"--

"A reissue of a classic work in philosophical biology written by Francisco Varela, with introductory material by Evan Thompson and Ezequiel Di Paolo"--