About
I study contemporary information technologies, with a focus on artificial intelligence and “big data,” their mathematical techniques, and their impacts on science, privacy, and spycraft, alongside mathematics, philosophy and technology in early modern Europe. I investigate how people equipped with mathematical methods for studying nature and society claim expertise and gain authority; I examine the tools—metal, silicon, and paper—that enable such sciences and technologies; and I investigate the diverse forms intelligence is said to take in natural and artificial entities.
Awards
- Paul-Bunge-Preis in the history of scientific instruments, 2022
- Andrew Mellon New Directions Fellowship, 2012-2015
- John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, 2012-2013
Relevant Publications
- Wiggins, C., & Jones, M. L. (2023). How Data Happened: A History from the Age of Reason to the Age of Algorithms. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
- M. Mazzotti (Eds.), Algorithmic Modernity: Mechanizing Thought and Action, 1500-2000 (pp. 190–215). Oxford University Press
- Jones, M. L. (2016). Reckoning with Matter: Calculating Machines, Innovation, and Thinking about Thinking from Pascal to Babbage. The University of Chicago Press
Support Us
CIFAR is a registered charitable organization supported by the governments of Canada, Alberta and Quebec, as well as foundations, individuals, corporations and Canadian and international partner organizations.