Software Theory A Cultural and Philosophical Study [Paperback]

This book represents a landmark in the field of techno-cultural studies. Frabetti's deconstructive reading of software and code reveals their key role within the scriptorium of contemporary culture.This is a highly original contribution to understanding the writing/machine relationship and will give pause for thought amongst all those who suppose that the technics of inscription can be studied independently of the question of language itself.Putting philosophers (Derrida, Stiegler) in dialogue with engineers (Fred Brooks, Eric S. Raymond), Software Theory offers computer scientists and cultural theorists new ways to read, write, and think software. To study software, Frabetti suggests, is to risk being ensnared in a strange loop: culture explains technology; technology explains culture. But Frabetti considers software as nothing more or less than an advanced form of writing, and thereby advances a much-needed politics of transparency, revealing the precarity of this bedrock of contemporary society.Software Theory is the definitive cultural analysis of software qua software, vividly troubling the critical tendency to regard it strictly in terms of functionality, design, or use. Frabetti writes out of a deep knowledge of both continental philosophy and software engineering that is nothing short of awe inspiring. An invaluable contribution to Software Studies that will at the same time shake up the central paradigms of the field.This book engages directly in close readings of technical texts and computer code in order to show how software works. It offers an analysis of the cultural, political, and philosophical implications of software technologies that demonstrates the significance of software for the relationship between technology, philosophy, culture, and society.??The cultural and philosophical study of software is crucial, both within and outside of the university, at an international level and across disciplines. Software is increasingly considered the focus lc<