There was a book review in Science last week, sort of the book that Google wasn't going to let Timnit Gebru write on their nickel.
AI empires 1. [reviewed by] Michael Spezio Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence *Kate Crawford* Yale University Press, 2021. 336 pp. Kate Crawford's new book, *Atlas of AI*, is a sweeping view of artificial intelligence (AI) that frames the technology as a collection of empires, decisions, and actions that together are fast eliminating possibilities of sustainable futures on a global scale. Crawford, a senior principal researcher at Microsoft's FATE (Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics in AI) group, conceives of AI as a one-word encapsulation of imperial design, akin to Calder Willingham's invocation of the word “plastics” in his 1967 screenplay for *The Graduate* (*1* <https://science.sciencemag.org/content/372/6539/246#ref-1>). AI, machine learning, and other concepts are here understood as efforts, practices, and embodied material manipulations of the levers of global power. -- rec -- On Wed, Apr 21, 2021 at 9:40 AM uǝlƃ ↙↙↙ <[email protected]> wrote: > Well, Chiang was, I think, arguing that there's a reductionism lurking in > the asymmetric *use* of technology. Exploitation of resources by > capitalists is just one form it can take. Reducing progressive ephemerides > to the influence of superheroes or conspiracy theories is another one. > Roko's Basilisk is yet another one. > > To gloss all that into an equivalence class of arbitrarily swappable > buzzwords or over-specific irony about the misunderstanding of socialism is > a mistake. Eschatological thinking might not rise to being a first order > trait ... a crisp category of people. But it's a persistent and prominent > pattern. > > I really enjoy optimistic narratives like Pieter's. But I can also > appreciate tragic narratives like Merle's. Eric's (and Chiang's) broach of > the emergence of detailed and echatologically ambiguous story-telling out > of the simpler types hits the right vein of ore. We're seeing more of these > ambiguous stories lately ... in spite of the render-farm nonsense Jon > laments. > > On 4/20/21 12:54 PM, David Eric Smith wrote: > > Yeah. I’m not sure what they’re afraid of, or even that they could > articulate it. (And I guess I mean this as a royal “they”. Not some > others, but a Weltanschauung that we can see rising, in which we are > immersed) You are certainly right that the words are just buzzwords, > exchangeable at the drop of a hat. > > > > There is an expression “a full world” that I took up from its use by > Herman Daly in papers like “Economics in a full world”, which argues that > the problems that need solving are different when everything is occupied, > than they were when everything was (for people) a frontier with no > effective pushback against their expansion into it. People’s anxiety and > bad behavior is somehow reflective of an awareness that the world is full, > and there might not be any room in it for them. > > > > > >> On Apr 21, 2021, at 12:23 AM, Marcus Daniels <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> > >> The hypothesis that the latent fear is of capitalism is amusing since > the anti-vaxxers who are afraid of Bill Gates doing whatever he is intent > on doing to them (what is it?) seem to be the same ones so terrified of > socialism. > >> > >> Btw, someone finally approved by Clubhouse subscription, and so I > turned it on. Let's just say the "compelling app" is not full of > compelling people. It is one thing to know that these anti-vaxxer people > exist, it is another thing to realize they have a place to talk, and do so. > >> > >> -----Original Message----- > >> From: Friam <[email protected]> On Behalf Of David Eric Smith > >> Sent: Monday, April 19, 2021 10:23 PM > >> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group < > [email protected]> > >> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] water, again (was murder offsets) > >> > >> This was a nice read, Glen, thank you. > >> > >>> On Apr 20, 2021, at 12:11 AM, uǝlƃ ↙↙↙ <[email protected]> wrote: > >>> > >>> I should have linked this: > >>> > >>> https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/30/podcasts/ezra-klein-podcast-ted-chi > >>> ang-transcript.html > >>> > >> > >> Several of Chiang’s observations have a ring of insight to me. > >> > >> On just one, for the accident that it overlaps with another factoid. > His comment that superheroes: > >> 1. Are magic == special > >> 2. Preserve the status quo > >> > >> I think it was in Jane Smiley’s introduction to the volume of the > Icelandic Sagas that she edited and compiled, that she says the Sagas are > considered a premonition of the modern novel far ahead of its normal place > in literature (the Quixote is I think usually credited as the first) > because (for the Sagas), they realized that the old heroic tales of gods > and trolls (e.g. the Eddas), didn’t have the depth to remain interesting > under the retelling. The Sagas brought the focus “down” to the real > troubles and accommodations and inventions of real people, which were > richer, more complex, and more satisfying over time than the old tropes. I > have come back to her comment many times, in thinking about what is the > cultural role, whether of Eddas, epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata in > India, Gilgamesh, etc. I think for all of these, Chiang’s characterization > works in both its dimensions, though perhaps in different degrees for > different cases. > >> > >> So the political right in the US turn to an encompassing paranoia +/= > cynicism and Qanon, and the movie industry (whoever that serves) is > dominated by Marvel Comics franchises. Having had the modern novel, we are > throwing it away for not even epics, but dumb cartoons of epics, but > keeping the magic and preservation of the status quo. After all, the real > heroics have supernatural up-enders as well as restorers (Loki or Enkidu), > and in the more advanced versions (the Eddas) the trickster is not > dominated or overcome, but a persistent force. (c.f. also the Kosare in > Tewa and Keres, and the mudheads in Hopi, in NM). > >> > >> There was another observation of a similar kind I recall, from perhaps > two sources. > >> > >> Some historian came through SFI (for weeks or so), and gave a talk > commenting on the iconography of scientists following the second world > war. The public wanted old-age Darwin, tired, patriarchal, apparently > gentle (one never saw the picture of the young man starting out to find his > way in the world, and the imperious, contemptuous Newton image was long > gone), and old-age Einstein, again the tired benevolent grandfather. From > some other source, years earlier (I think coming from agriculture), there > was the comment that sterility in the US came in the 1950s from the > front-and-center nuclear terror. Television was Ward Cleaver and Andy > Griffith. In the Cleaver home Ward wore a tie sitting in the living room > chair in the evening. In Mayberry there was nobody non-white to consider > the circumstances of, and nothing seriously bad ever happened. That was > also when food in the grocery all went under plastic, and the ability to > smell food walking into a store disappeared. > >> > >> So I guess we already know people admit they are scared, because that > is commented on everywhere, but the reworking of their lives betrays a much > more inclusive fear even than what they state. > >> > >> > >> I did wonder, too, in reading the Klein transcript, whether Chiang’s > brief characterization of the alchemists would be more congenial to DaveW’s > use of the word, since he always makes it a point to reject the common > reference as a misunderstanding. > >> > >> Eric > >> > >> > >> > >>> "It’s capitalism that wants to reduce costs and reduce costs by laying > people off. It’s not that like all technology suddenly becomes benign in > this world. But it’s like, in a world where we have really strong social > safety nets, then you could maybe actually evaluate sort of the pros and > cons of technology as a technology, as opposed to seeing it through how > capitalism is going to use it against us. How are giant corporations going > to use this to increase their profits at our expense?" > >>> > >>> On 4/19/21 8:01 AM, uǝlƃ ↙↙↙ wrote: > >>>> Ha! Sure. ... it still looks like SteveS called it with the Red > Queen's Race. Even if such tech solves more problems than it creates, it'll > still be distributed according to the power structures in place (e.g. rich > people) when the tech's ready to scale. > >>>> > >>>> On 4/19/21 7:54 AM, Marcus Daniels wrote: > >>>>> Again technology to the rescue... Nanotechnology for > desalinization. > >>>>> > >>>>> -----Original Message----- > >>>>> From: Friam <[email protected]> On Behalf Of u?l? ??? > >>>>> Sent: Monday, April 19, 2021 7:45 AM > >>>>> To: [email protected] > >>>>> Subject: [FRIAM] water, again (was murder offsets) > >>>>> > >>>>> Copper? Natural gas? Pffft! Water's the interesting one. > >>>>> > >>>>> https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2ftheconversation. > >>>>> com%2finterstate-water-wars-are-heating-up-along-with-the-climate-15 > >>>>> 9092&c=E,1,Ewpqbk1K7YvvWaN9Wq82biEau11JE47_9tv9w77esjTa5t6HYRzAKlQ2w > >>>>> -qi_xGNkEoqhkVKJuvI9hoKZ1q58ZXHgk_APFIJbNOqB5FmfTBe3-Djst8,&typo=1 > >>>>> > >>>>> And another one: > >>>>> https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.theolympian. > >>>>> com%2fnews%2fbusiness%2farticle250595449.html&c=E,1,NvMnnmssGuhqpYLB > >>>>> wvA3sYGLQlpI4LtssXofxpMUZv79UtcRK8Tqe9uBjxn8-AxuqoH2Ah-11_RcM_IlTW-T > >>>>> GgAXXpjbp6RfGPzrix6us3-O6w6BrA,,&typo=1 > >>>>> > >>>>> On 4/15/21 7:59 AM, uǝlƃ ↙↙↙ wrote: > >>>>>> Another good example is water rights across states given > >>>>>> watersheds, flood irrigation, etc. > >>>>>> <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.theguardia > >>>>>> n.com%2fus-news%2f2021%2fapr%2f05%2farizona-water-one-per&c=E,1,CH_ > >>>>>> fKbSUirJq0d8JFH7BJbRnp3VoLW_l2ZsofeB8tXplQqNrJKiPCkdY2T3Ze0zf1SFcRC > >>>>>> sXjtq_OHxVwg0cuwInTDLJULErLjTj6DMWH-ln0w,,&typo=1 > >>>>>> centers> > >>>>>> > >>>>>> So, the question you're asking (how might "storage" in BTC be less > preferable to other assets?) isn't really answerable *without* first > discussing what that reservoir is *for*, what end does it serve? > >>>> > >>> > >>> -- > >>> ↙↙↙ uǝlƃ > >>> > >>> - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . > >>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn > >>> GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam un/subscribe > >>> https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2fredfish.com%2fmailm > >>> an%2flistinfo%2ffriam_redfish.com&c=E,1,do3tyOblMVu-0VNn8up6e0tWYpPJsK > >>> J01Y2uM2wcYZS7DMtU0m0vkELMkKUtLJrDDd7q2acrwvVZGHMrtogU3JMZXny7J-cvYXl9 > >>> X-_Ud-to&typo=1 FRIAM-COMIC > >>> https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2ffriam-comic.blogspo > >>> t.com%2f&c=E,1,-i9rXcjjcGiytY-YboFO-CMS8l1iPMlt0tujKFvQqLJMfeVdtcKpk7Y > >>> v2pAru1X4-WJurnlE_Gjm-2VV7kch5yAw3dhwoHaaG7NQ0cytNmOyAnhh&typo=1 > >>> archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > > -- > ↙↙↙ uǝlƃ > > - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam > un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ >
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