Technoskepticism: Between Possibility and Refusal

Jeff Nagy and the DISCO Network
Year of Publication: 2024
Publisher website

The book examines how refusing to engage in new technologies, and being skeptical of them, can lead to new possibilities in various communities. The book was a collaborative project by The DISCO Network (Digital Inquiry Speculation Collaboration Optimism Network) which is an intergenerational collective of researchers, artists, technologists, policymakers, and practitioners working together to challenge digital social and racial inequalities. Participants include David Adelman, André Brock, Aaron Dial, Stephanie Dinkins, Rayvon Fouché, Huan He, Jeff Nagy, Lisa Nakamura, Catherine Knight Steele, Rianna Walcott, Josie Williams, Kevin Winstead, M. Remi Yergeau, and Lida Zeitlin-Wu.

Jeff Nagy is an Associate Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Critical Data Studies in the Department of Communication and Media Studies at York University. Previously, he was a DISCO Network Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Michigan. He is a historian of computing and AI focused on the intersections between that history with disability and psychological and psychiatric science. He holds a PhD in Communication from Stanford University and his research has appeared in publications including Just Tech, New Media & Society, Technology & Culture.