While strongly associated with computational technologies today, the term ‘algorithm’ predates the digital computer by over a thousand years, with an etymology traceable to the Islamic scholar al-Khwārizmī. Since then, many dreamed of mathematics as a body of knowledge made up of sets of instructions, to be implemented by humans who were supposed to behave like machines, or in mechanical devices.

 

This symposium brings together leading thinkers in the history of mathematics to reflect on the longue durée presence and influence of "algorithmic thinking." We emphasize continuities over ruptures and expose recurrent themes, such as the mechanization of logical and mathematical procedures, which predate the dawn of electronic computing but are often presented today as if they were radically new. This event serves as an opportunity to bridge the clear gap between the sophisticated historiography of mathematics and the current debate on digital algorithms. We intend to produce an edited volume based on the papers presented at this event.

 

This event is organized by a Social Science Matrix Research Team, "Examining the Global Reach of Algorithms," and is co-sponsored by the Institute of International Studies at UC Berkeley and the UC Berkeley Center for Science, Technology, Medicine and Society.

 

Participants Include:

 

Coordinators

• Massimo Mazzotti, Director, CSTMS, UC Berkeley
• Morgan G. Ames, Postdoctoral Scholar, CSTMS, UC Berkeley 
• Gretchen Gano, Associate Director of Research, CSTMS, UC Berkeley