Comedy and Philosophy; How Data Happened
An essay from comedian Will Franken on comedic first principles; final event in the "AI and the Digital" series
Dear all,
We are almost at the end of the the current event series. Tomorrow is the final installment of Audrey Borowski’s brilliant “AI and the Digital” series. For those of you who have enjoyed it, we are delighted to say that Audrey has agreed to put together a second series next year. We have also finalised the line-up for our autumn events series. More details to follow shortly. This week, we also uploaded an essay by comedian Will Franken on comedy and philosophy. It’s a wonderfully written, highly entertaining, and very erudite piece. We really hope you enjoy it!
Sunday Read
“On Violent Laughter (and Other Comedic First Principles)”: an essay by Will Franken
For comedian Will Franken, contemporary comedy has lost its way. There are orchestrated acts of political outrage, the smirking coziness of mainstream radio and television success, tragedian tugs at collective heartstrings, and now scores of psychiatric self-diagnoses, but nothing resembling an aesthetic appreciation of an ancient meaning and objective to comedy. In this wonderful essay on philosophy and comedy, Franken looks to Plato, Aristotle, Aristophanes, and Hipponax to formulate three comedic first principles: 1) Surprise, 2) Authentic laughter, and 3) Subversion. As he concludes, “Even if it can only be realised as an artistic wish or an idealised promise, comedic happiness, initiated through surprise and propelled by laughter, must constitute an act of subversion”. You can read Will’s essay here.
Monday Event: 11am PT/2pm ET/7pm UK
“How Data Happened”
Chris Wiggins and Matthew L. Jones in conversation with Audrey Borowski
In this final event of Audrey Borowki’s hugely successful “AI and the Digital” series, Chris Wiggins, professor of applied mathematics at Columbia University and chief data scientist at The New York Times, and Matthew L. Jones, professor of history at Princeton University, will discuss their recently published book, How Data Happened: A History from the Age of Reason to the age of Algorithms.
Working together across the two cultures, as a historian and as a practicing data scientist, our speakers will discuss how data-empowered algorithms came to shape our personal, professional, and political realities using the functional, critical, and rhetorical capabilities necessary to understand and shape the future of data, as well as data’s interaction with truth and power. You can find out more and register here.
Event Recording
For those of you who missed Monday’s brilliant event with Sherry Turkle and Audrey Borowski, “Who Do We Become When We Talk to Machines”, the recording is here:
Ending
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Wishing you all a lovely Sunday, wherever you are.
Andie Cook and Anthony Morgan
Newsletter Team