This book argues that Marxist theory is essential for understanding the contemporary industrialization of the form of artificial intelligence (AI) called machine learning. It includes a political economic history of AI, tracking how it went from a fringe research interest for a handful of scientists in the 1950s to a centerpiece of cybernetic capital fifty years later. It also includes a political economic study of the scale, scope and dynamics of the contemporary AI industry as well as a ...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has seen major advances in recent years. While machines were always central to the Marxist analysis of capitalism, AI is a new kind of machine that Marx could not have anticipated. Contemporary machine-learning AI allows machines to increasingly approach human capacities for perception and reasoning in narrow domains.This book explores the relationship between Marxist theory and AI through the lenses of different theoretical concepts, including surplus-...

On 5 December 2017 the Steinhoff group was still worth R199 billion. 24 hours later more than R160 billion of this fortune was wiped out. The Steinhoff empire, that took 20 years to build into an international business giant, had crumbled overnight. Markus Jooste, Steinhoffs flashy CEO, resigned via sms and has since been fleeing an avalanche of scandals and accusations: luxury homes for a blonde mistress, allegations of fraud, racing horses and unparalleled extravagance, a lavish, black J...

Wat is Steinhoff, wie is Markus Jooste en wat het dit met die sogenaamde Stellenbosch-mafia te doen? Hoe pas Christo Wiese, Shoprite en Pepkor in en waar is die pensionarisse se geld heen? Die bekende sakeskrywer James-Brent Styan beantwoord diA(c) en talle ander vrae in hierdie verstommende verhaal van die grootste finansiAle ineenstoring in die geskiedenis van Suid-Afrika.

In the 1940s and 1950s, Albert Schweitzer was one of the best-known figures on the world stage. Courted by monarchs, world statesmen, and distinguished figures from the literary, musical, and scientific fields, Schweitzer was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952, cementing his place as one of the great intellectual leaders of his time. Schweitzer is less well known now but nonetheless a man of perennial fascination, and this volume seeks to bring his achievements across a variety of areas...

What would you do if your real estate wealth suddenly dropped 30 percent? Well, that is exactly what happened to the American homeowner in 2009-2010. Real estate in America today is a disaster! Property values have fallen dramatically, resulting in a loss of real estate wealth averaging over $70,000 per household, with a total loss nationwide of 5.5 trillion dollars. Foreclosures are on the rise, and short sales are rampant. Homeowners are in trouble, homebuyers are afraid, and they all ne...