On Wednesday, @zeynep and I are delivering the Mellon Sawyer Seminar on Contemporary Political Struggle: Social Movements, Social Surveillance, Social Media: ucdavis.zoom.us/webinar/regist…
2/
What Democrats need to do: Don't just stand there, govern.
This week on my podcast, part two of the spoken-word version of "Privacy Without Monopoly: Data Protection and Interoperability," a major new white-paper that Bennett Cyphers and I co-authored for @EFF.
It’s a paper that tries to resolve the tension between demanding that tech platforms gather, retain and mine less of our data, and the demand that platforms allow alternatives (nonprofits, co-ops, tinkerers, startups) to connect with their services.
2/
I read the second portion of it this week – about 30 minutes' worth – and I'll finish it next week. If you don't want to wait, you can dive in with the written version straightaway:
Automated manufacturing is a dream as old as the Shoemaker and the Elves, a nightmare as old as the Sorcerer's Apprentice. But the (delightful) science fiction dreams about automated manufacturing so often fall short of the reality.
1/
Not always, though! @MITCSAIL researchers' "Laserfactory" demo at this year's @sig_chi is a marvel straight out of a novel I wish I'd written:
The demo uses a modified laser-cutter to print, assemble and finish a working drone that then flies off the build plate, with only the tiniest human interventions.
Although a significant majority of Americans support "progressive" policies, the US electoral equilibrium is forever balanced on a knife-edge between GOP and Democratic victories. That's not merely a result of gerrymandering and voter-suppression, either.
1/
US elections are decided by mobilizing habitual nonvoters, who primarily stay home because they don't believe change is possible.
That's not an unreasonable position in a country where the minimum wage and care deductions have been frozen since the 80s.
2/
The Democrats control the White House, the Congress and the Senate. They have an opportunity not seen since 2008 - when Obama threw away this hard-won opportunity, on the eve of a grave economic crisis created and exacerbated by ignoring progressive values and policies.
3/