Neural Networks

“Neural Networks is an elegant, compact book that renders visible the too-often naturalized equation of brain and computer. The authors illuminate the march of neural networks through colonial hierarchies, clinical psychiatry, and the present era of machine learning along with its parascientific mediations.” -Beth Coleman, University of Toronto

“This multifaceted book reveals how neural networks today still play the ambivalent role of an almost mythological object, in between idealized visions of the brain and naturalized technology.” -Matteo Pasquinelli, Ca’ Foscari University, Venice

“A tightly written little book, Neural Networks convincingly weaves together methods from the history of science, media theory, and critical perspectives on AI development to produce a fresh account of how neural networks have been understood, represented, and put to work.”-H-Net Reviews

Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal is Ruth and Paul Idzik Collegiate Chair in Digital Scholarship and assistant professor of English and film, television, and theater at the University of Notre Dame. His research-which spans media theory, science and technology studies, and literary criticism-has appeared in Critical Inquiry, Configurations, and Design Issues.

Theo Lepage-Richer is a UTM postdoctoral fellow in the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information, and Technology at the University of Toronto. His last piece on government organization and artificial intelligence was published in Big Data & Society.

Lucy Suchman is professor emerita in the anthropology of science and technology at Lancaster University, UK. Her most recent article on military imaginaries of AI-enabled warfighting was published in the journal Social Studies of Science.