I am an anthropologist and historian of science and technology, with a focus on computing and artificial intelligence. My research project, Remodeling Rationality, is a history of unorthodox models of computational reasoning during the Cold War, such as non-classical logics, non-binary Turing machines, and unconventional artificial neural networks. Another project, Beyond “Ground Truth”, is an ethnography of computational modeling, especially machine learning, in contemporary mathematics and physics. It is supported by a Veni grant from the Dutch Research Council.
I live in Amsterdam and teach at Leiden University as an assistant professor. I received my PhD from the Program in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology, and Society at MIT, and previously studied computer science and social sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Cambridge.
News
On 2 June 2026, the Leiden Declaration on Artificial Intelligence and Mathematics was published and endorsed by the International Mathematical Union. For context, see the editorial in Nature and our interview with The New York Times.
On 23 February 2026, I am delivering a History & Theory of New Media lecture at UC Berkeley.
I am at CERN for the summer of 2025. I am studying the epistemology of machine learning in searches for new physics. If you are interested in the topic, please do not hesitate to reach out.
My book Informática do oprimido (2025, in Portuguese, with a foreword by the Instituto Paulo Freire) is published in Brazil. It is open access and also available in print.
- O meu livro Informática do oprimido está disponível no Brasil. A versão digital é gratuita. Uma entrevista foi publicada na Folha de S.Paulo.
Publications
Coloring Black Holes: Epistemic and Aesthetic Choices in Astronomical Imaging (with Emilie Skulberg and Jeroen van Dongen), Philosophy of Physics 4, no. 1 (2026): 14, 1–43.
Toward a Phenomenology of Mystification: The Ambivalence of Magic among AI Technologists (with Graham M. Jones), Anthropological Theory 26, no. 3 (2026), 260–277.
Shaping the Future of Mathematics in the Age of AI (with Johan Commelin, Mateja Jamnik, Lenny Taelman, and Akshay Venkatesh), Notices of the American Mathematical Society 73, no. 6 (2026), 480–483.
- This article is based on discussions at the NIAS-Lorentz Workshop on Mechanization and Mathematical Research.
Automated Mathematics and the Reconfiguration of Proof and Labor, Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 61, no. 3 (2024), 423–437.
- This article develops the analysis I first presented at the 2022 Fields Medal Symposium (in honor of Akshay Venkatesh).
Search Atlas: Visualizing Divergent Search Results Across Geopolitical Borders (with Katherine Ye), Designing Interactive Systems Conference (2021).
Informatics of the Oppressed, Logic(s) Magazine no. 11 (2020), 53–74.
- Winner of the 2020 Bob Williams Research Paper Award from the Association for Information Science and Technology.
The Long History of Algorithmic Fairness, Phenomenal World (2020).
- Portuguese translation: A longa história da justiça algorítmica, Revista Rosa (2022).
The Invention of “Ethical AI”: How Big Tech Manipulates Academia to Avoid Regulation, The Intercept (2019).
- Reprinted in Economies of Virtue: The Circulation of “Ethics” in AI (Institute of Network Cultures, 2022).
Filtering Dissent: Social Media and Land Struggles in Brazil (with James Holston), New Left Review no. 99 (2016), 85–108.
- Spanish translation: Filtrar la disidencia: Redes sociales y luchas por la tierra en Brasil (2016).
Art
Quantum Poetry and Algorithmic Poetry are on view in the exhibition Universal Language: Concrete Composure, curated by Rachael Rakes, at Stroom Den Haag from 25 September 2026 to 3 January 2027.
Teaching
At Leiden University, I teach courses on Contemporary Anthropological and Social Theory (graduate) and Digital Anthropology (undergraduate).
I previously contributed to the design of MIT’s largest machine learning course. This work was featured in MIT News.
Contact
Email address: rodrigo@ochigame.org