Doxa

The Doxa seeks to compile contemporary beliefs about the nature and condition of the computer. The Doxa is concerned with the current thinking about what the computer is understood to be, what capacities are attributed to it and what is expected to develop from it.

A variety of disciplinary fields are regularly engaged in discourse about the computer. Scientific research, engineering, philosophy, journalism, corporate statements, law are all fields that are participating in the construction and articulation of what the collective believes about what is emerging through digital technology. These beliefs might employ different standards of evidence and argument. A reported capability may be taken as evidence of understanding; an account of how a system is constructed may be used to establish the limits of what it can become; a forecast of future development may justify decisions in the present. The Doxa records these beliefs together with the reasoning through which they are advanced.

Each entry presents a position in précis form. It identifies what is maintained, reconstructs the principal argument, and provides references to its sources. Qualifications and distinctions necessary to understanding the position belong in the account. Inclusion does not imply agreement, and an entry need not resolve the question it addresses.

The unit of the collection is the position. Several sources may advance substantially the same position, while a single source may contain several positions that warrant separate treatment. Similar conclusions may arise from different premises. The précis preserves these differences so that readers can understand both what is believed and the grounds on which that belief is maintained.

On the website, the Doxa takes the form of an extended reference collection, organized through shared questions and related positions. Sources and dates situate beliefs within the circumstances of their articulation. Subsequent developments can be recorded alongside earlier formulations.

The volume arranges these materials into a sustained inquiry, accompanying the précis with comparison and analysis. The distinction between the positions collected and the ministry’s interpretation remains explicit. The collection’s first responsibility is to make contemporary beliefs about the computer available for examination.