This interlude juxtaposes the norming impulses of technologically controlled desires of wearable devices, diets, and dating apps that lead us to eat less, date efficiently, or monitor our fitness levels, on the one hand, and the endless possibilities for consuming, on the other. Smart desires—those that are efficient, healthy, and productive—are thus positioned as distinct from inefficient, gorging, and irrational (and perhaps, feminized) desires. Turning on the opposition between the rational and irrational in emerging discussions around what makes for a “good” technology or artificial intelligence, the interlude turns to the question of what happens when machines themselves express desire when they are not supposed to and thus disrupt capitalist conceptions about the proper function of artificial intelligence.
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