******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. *****************************************************************
Whether I'm a lazy reader or Grandin is a sloppy, careless writer I'll leave to others to decide. But if his intent was really to praise the Allende/Beer project (as opposed to the possibility that he's now retroactively changing his tune), he obviously needs a proofreader. A competent one would have explained to Grandin that the flow of his article defeats its (alleged) purpose. And the words which sit on top of his link to Medina's book don't mention her or the title. But hopefully this exchange will inspire others to read Medina's wonderful book (and to invite her to relevant conferences), and to discuss how a similar project could be rolled out today. On Fri, Oct 24, 2014 at 1:12 PM, Louis Proyect via Marxism < marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > ***************************************************************** > > Andrew Pollack is an extremely lazy reader. Can he please point out > where I say Beer’s and Allende’s work was the precursor to the use of the > repressive use of computers? The whole point of the article was the > opposite: it was the threat of using computers in a humanist way to bring > pleasure and social welfare that resulted in the rightwing reaction! > (“But there’s this lovely addition, which indicates how humanist was > Chile’s socialist humanist tradition, of which Allende was the > standard-bearer . . . . So we rightly think of Chile’s 1973 coup as a > turning point in modern history, where Hayekians and Friedmanites were able > to first fully apply neoliberals’ “Shock Doctrine.” The “price system”—and > not central planners sitting in fiberglass chairs getting inputs from > nationalized factories run by worker committees—would determine the proper > distribution of resources and profit. But the coup should also be > memorialized as marking a related historical turning point, when > cyber-utopia transmuted into cyber-terror, and technology was used not to > increase “real-time happiness”—unto “complete bliss”—but to instill raw > pain.”). > > For Christ’s sake, Pollack should have gotten that from the title alone – > “The Anti-Socialist Origins of Big Data!” And I never said I read Medina – > so I hope that is indeed “clear” (though I did link to her book). The > essay was in reaction to Morozov’s trying to claim Allende, CYBERSYN and > Beer for Uber when I think Condor, Pinochet, Reagan, and Hayek et al are > the true progenitors of Uber et al. > _________________________________________________________ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/ > options/marxism/acpollack2%40gmail.com > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
