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aThousandCateaus (bookwyrm)

athousandcateaus@bookwyrm.social

Joined 1 year, 8 months ago

| lgbtq | marxist | linux | furry | sometimes nsfw |

learning haskell & deleuze

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aThousandCateaus (bookwyrm)'s books

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Assemblage Theory (2016, Edinburgh University Press) 4 stars

I'm finally done!

4 stars

I finished Assemblage Theory! I thought this day would never come. Good book though, just feels a little repetitive sometimes.

It's very transdisciplinary which I really like (similar to ATP). I made a (sort of) joke about looking for a "Deleuze and Guattari for Computer Programers" because there's a book called "Deleuze and Guattari for Architects" and some of Assemblage Theory is sort of that. It talks about cellular automata in one part and specifically goes into Conway's Game of Life and the way that the main requirements to implement turning machines are the ability to implement logic gates.

All in all, I think it's a good work that's linguistically much easier than the works of Deleuze and Guattari, but conceptually certain sections are still really difficult, the main parts that are harder are the last 2 or 3 chapters because they go a lot into the math or physical …

Designing freedom (1994, Wiley) No rating

In these 1973 Massey Lectures, Stafford Beer states the case for a new science of …

review of "Designing Freedom"

No rating

A very short and approachable work that functions as a good introduction to Beerian Cybernetics. It actually makes me really sad to think about because it was mostly written in Chile during a period of turbulence that led to the end of Chilean Socialism.

The main idea of the book is that our institutions are failing us, they're not sufficiently dynamic and their main purpose is reproducing themselves. If we are to overcome the problems of our societies and to build something that works better for all we have to think cybernetically and redesign our societies. The book was/is a set of lectures given in the 70s and sadly its criticisms are still as relevant today as they were then.

The lecture version are here: archive.org/details/DesigningFreedom_CBC_Lectures. Recommend a listen, Beer has a really nice voice.

State and Revolution (Paperback, 2014, Haymarket Books) No rating

On the Russian Revolution, 1917-1921.

The State as an Instrument of Class Rule

No rating

The State and Revolution was incredibly important for my political development. It was the work that plunged me into a Marxist worldview. One of the main realizations that I remember from reading it was the idea that the state isn't just a neutral entity that represents the interests of all classes in society, but rather, it's an instrument of class rule that suppresses the will of the working class to the benefit of the capitalist class (under capitalism). That idea clicked with me and transformed my worldview.

The State and Revolution is a pretty good introduction to Marxism.

The cybernetic brain (2010, University of Chicago Press) No rating

Cybernetics is often thought of as a grim military or industrial science of control. But …

Essential for anyone curious about Cybernetics

No rating

Collective biography about some British second order cyberneticists (g.e. Ross Ashby, Stafford Beer, others). The history dances around disciplines like you'd expect cybernetics to. Would also recommend the related episodes of General Intellect Unit (and the podcast in general) as well!

the communist manifesto (1948, International Publishers Co., Inc.) 4 stars

Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License: www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/

One of the most influential political tracts …

Communist Manifesto is gud

4 stars

I think it's pretty good. It's pretty polemical and lays out the political goals of communists, it doesn't really get into Marxist philosophy and the methods in which Marx comes to his conclusions though. I'd probably recommend "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific" as a better introduction to Marxism.