Virus is a Language

AI, QAnon, COVID-19 and the New Abnormal

AvChris Hables Gray

Inbunden, Engelska, 2025

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Beskrivning

On how Generative AI and cults such as QAnon spread digitally and culturally follow the same rules as biological viruses.Viruses can be biological, digital, or cultural. All share basic viral properties that can be analyzed as a language (with its own principles, grammar, and vocabulary), which can help us achieve a better understanding of how they propagate and mutate. This is crucial for controlling their impact on human society. Generative AI, the Covid-19 pandemic and QAnon are the case studies. They are used to develop a full theory of Virus as a Language. The goal is to foster a conversation on viruses in various parts of society. And, in some ways, to learn to “speak” virus, so as to better think through such concepts as percentages, exponential growth, infection, immunization, mutation, agency, and extinction.The book will help concerned readers understand and navigate our strange, complex world. In particular, it offers new insights on Generative AI, COVID-19 and other pandemics to come, Facebook, QAnon, and similar phenomena that impact almost everyone.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2025-10-21
Mått:152 x 229 x 24 mm
Vikt:567 g
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:240
Förlag:Goldsmiths, University of London
ISBN:9781915983374

Utforska kategorier

Artificiell intelligens inom Data och IT

Mer om författaren

An academic in the Cultural Studies of Science and Technology Chris Hable Gray is a well known authority on human-machine systems, especially cyborgs (Cyborg Citizen, lead editor of The Cyborg Handbook and Modified: Living as a Cyborg). He is also known for his work on how digital technology shapes society, including AI and other computing approaches to war (Postmodern War; Peace, War and Computers). His work includes hundreds of articles—peer reviewed and otherwise—in a dozen disciplines and fields. He has been a guest professor at University College Cork in Ireland, Jan Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, the University of Toronto in Canada, and has lectured extensively in the Netherlands, the UK, and Spain.

Innehållsförteckning

AcknowledgmentsIntroducing a Spiraling WorldControlling OurselvesAccelerating HistoryBeyond Fallacies and IllusionsThe Relentless Calls of the SirensA very important note on language1: Viral PrinciplesOn the Necessity of Speaking VirusThe Grammar of VirusViral Life CyclesLanguage is a Virus From Outside Space2: Viral Vocabulary’Ronaverse SlangTechnical DictionaryRhetorical VariantsHosts, Vectors, Catalysts and Controls3: Viral IdeasConspiracies: Burning Books, Bodies, Minds, 5G Towers, FeversScience and COVID-19Spreading VaccinesDangerous Cultural Contagions4: Culturing CulturesViral Evolution and CivilizationPlagues in HistoryFashions and Fads, Status and SolidarityViolence Begets Violence5: Political ContagionsThe Rise of Algorithmic IntelligenceThe Politics of Social MediaQAnon—The Gamification of AlienationWhy Black Lives Matter, Matters6: Mutational EconomiesSacred HungersSurveillance CapitalismGoing Full CircleSpreading Innovations and Digital Proliferations7: Speaking Virus—Cyberpunk StyleThe Dialect of CyberpunkThe Panoptic PresentVeillance and VirusesThe Affordances of Our Cyberpunk World8: Viral Futures—New AbnormalsNo NormalWeird LessonsPredictions and PossibilitiesLiving in PompeiiCited SourcesIllustrations, Figures, and TablesIndex