PhD, former librarian, pessimistic utopian. History of tech, disasters, & doom-saying. Wrote my dissertation on Y2K (currently turning that into a book).
Joined February 2013
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“If the Luddites had never existed, their critics would need to invent them.” - Roszak.
If you oppose AI, eventually someone is going to call you a Luddite, so you might as well be ready to respond with “sure, I oppose machinery hurtful to commonality.”
librarianshipwreck.wordpress…
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“The danger of the past was that men became slaves. The danger of the future is that men may become robots.” - Erich Fromm (1955)
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The clearer it becomes that there is a broad base of opposition to AI (and its data center infrastructure), and the clearer it becomes that pushback against AI is securing tangible victories, the more you will hear AI boosters insisting that resistance is futile.
May 29
Breaking: Andover New Jersey cancels data center project and passes complete ban!! Rural NJ is fighting back against Big Tech!
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There are a lot of people who feel guilty (consciously or unconsciously) about using AI, but instead of deciding not to use AI they just convince themselves that it’s okay if they use it because everyone else is also using it.
But everyone else is not using it.
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I’ll say it again: the clearest explanation for anti-AI sentiments is that people are hearing the types of things AI executives are saying, and they don’t like what they’re hearing.
The anti-AI wave isn’t being driven by Pope Leo (or Bernie), it’s being driven by AI companies.
May 28
Elon Musk: “AI and robots will replace all jobs.”
Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft: Most white-collar work “will be fully automated" in 12-18 months.
Dario Amodei, Anthropic: AI is a “general labor substitute for humans.”
Congress must act NOW to protect American workers.
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One of the things that doesn’t get said enough in the discussions about AI and universities, is how professors/instructors/TAs are being expected to clean up the giant mess that these AI companies have made.
May 28
“My emotional response to all this is hard to describe, something between disgust and despair,” a history professor writes, about A.I. use in the classroom. “Was it always the case that half of our students would cheat if it were easy enough?” newyorkermag.visitlink.me/1J…
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I really do wonder at what point one of these accusations of AI use is going to result in a lawsuit with the accused person suing the company behind the detector or suing the person making the accusation for defamation.
theglobeandmail.com/culture/…
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The more obvious it becomes that public opposition to AI is significant, and that artists recognize being associated with AI will result in a huge backlash, the more desperately will the AI boosters and AI companies insist that AI’s triumph is inevitable…
May 29
‘El Tigre' co-creator Jorge R. Gutierrez has dropped out of Amazon’s new GenAI program after backlash
“I will not be making a Punky Duck series. Actions speak louder than words”
“My sincerest apology to those I upset. I promise to do better moving forward”
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In terms of the Pope’s comments on AI, more people really need to pay attention to what he is saying below. Despite what many wish he said, or are pretending he said, the Encyclical wasn’t really anti-AI. He treats it as “a valuable tool,” albeit one that needs to be regulated…
May 29
#AI can be a valuable tool and, at the same time, it calls for a measured and vigilant approach. The speed and simplicity with which practical assistance can be accessed undoubtedly makes life easier. Yet they can also encourage excessive reliance and the search for ready-made answers, and weaken personal creativity and judgment. #MagnificaHumanitas
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One of the things that has most caught me off guard about AI in the classroom is how often I’ve had students reporting other students for using AI.
In my experience many of the most adamant enforcers of anti-AI classroom policies aren’t the instructors but the students.
May 28
“'I’ve seen students respond w/ disdain for teachers who just let AI use happen. There’s this indignance, ‘Why don’t you want more from us than this?’ Even if they’re using it, they’re still wanting us to hold them to a higher standard.”
@jaycaspiankang: newyorker.com/news/fault-lin…
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Did the Pope just do the “a computer can never be horny or sad, therefore a computer can never make art” meme?
May 29
Artificial intelligences do not undergo experiences, do not possess a body, do not feel joy or pain, do not mature through relationships, and do not know from within what love, work, friendship or responsibility mean. Nor do they have a moral conscience, since they do not judge good and evil, grasp the ultimate meaning of situations, or bear responsibility for consequences. They may imitate or even simulate, but they do not understand what they produce, for they lack the affective, relational, and spiritual perspective through which human beings grow in wisdom. #MagnificaHumanitas
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Me (writing an article): okay, this time I should format my citations correctly from the beginning.
Also me (writing that article): meh, I’ll just do quick citations now and fix them later.
Me (editing that article): [deep sigh] okay, next time I’ll do it right from the start.
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For what it’s worth, “Made by humans for humans” is a great slogan for an anti-AI movement.
And if I saw a book, record, game, movie poster, article, etc…with a “Made by humans for humans” label on it, my interest in that work (and willingness to support it) would increase.
May 28
Made by humans for humans.
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Considering that the below tweet has more than 85,000 likes I think it’s pretty clear that there are a hell of a lot more than 500 people who don’t use AI chatbots in daily life.
i feel like i'm one of the last 500 people on earth who does not use an ai chatbot in daily life
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Please, I am begging all of you to stop acting like the Pope’s Encyclical was a radical anti-AI manifesto.
There was good stuff in it, but it was a call for regulation and for AI to serve humanity, it was not a call to completely destroy or reject AI.
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Yeah, it’s a pretty good statement. But it would be better if instead of saying “Use AI as a tool, but do not use AI as the final word on anything creative” he had just said “do not use AI.”
May 27
Steven Spielberg gives his thoughts on AI usage in filmmaking:
“I don't believe there is any substitute for the soul. I don't think that's an algorithm that is inventible... don't tell me I don't have the right antagonist in this story, don't tell me how to write my dialogue, don't tell me where the camera has to go…
If AI wants to help me find locations, that's great. Saves us some leg work… Use AI as a tool, but do not use AI as the final word on anything creative.”
(Source: youtube.com/watch?v=Orr-EnuJ…)
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It’s becoming pretty obvious that accusing someone of using AI is a tactic being employed to delegitimize people and what they are saying.
Which leads me to believe that it’s only a matter of time before we see someone get sued for accusing someone else of using AI.
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When you definitely didn’t read the Encyclical…
May 25
As the head of a power structure, the Pope is jealous of the power AI might give to others. Protestant pastors have better things to worry about.
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I think that it’s only a matter of time before we see an accusation like this become the basis for a slander/libel/defamation lawsuit.
May 26
In my new post, I argue that the first papal encyclical *on* AI is also the first papal encyclical substantially *by* AI.
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Neat fact: the historic Luddites were not defeated because they lacked popular support or because of the “inevitable” march of technological progress. Rather they were violently put down by state force (military).
Just a neat fact! Meanwhile, on a totally unrelated note…
May 26
The NYPD has just coined the term "anti-tech violent extremist activity" in light of the mass opposition to AI and data centers, according to @DRBoguslaw.
The New York Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureau at the NYPD has written a report that includes: "The chaotic atmosphere that may result from emergent AI technology in the next five years may fuel large-scale protests that devolve into civil unrest and anti-tech violent extremist activity, especially in large urban areas such as New York City."
Read more in @WIRED: wired.com/story/us-law-enfor….
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Anyone who uses AI to analyze the Pope’s Encyclical on AI is making it pretty obvious that the Pope was right to warn about AI.
May 28
What does AI think of Magnifica Humanitas? Not much, apparently.
This analysis by Claude is brutal. And because it was run very soon after publication, it’s not a compilation of other critiques, but an analysis far more objective than most you’ll read. michaeljosephpakaluk.substac…
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