It’s pub day for Blood in the Machine, the book I’ve been working on for over five years. It tells the story of a chapter in history too often papered over—how workers rose up at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution when entrepreneurs used machines to take or degrade their jobs. These workers, these Luddites, did not hate technology at all, though the elites of the age—and every age since—hoped the public might be convinced that they did. That would make it easier to dismiss those inclined to question or protest exploitative technologies.

Okay, how about this. How about we take the "top AI experts," tech giants and CEOs *at their word*: AI is an existential threat to humanity. Given that, let's do what we do with other such threats: Ban it. Ban it from the commercial marketplace. It's the only way to keep us safe. We don't allow virologists to manufacture deadly agents for commercial sale, nor do we let weapons makers to sell nuclear weapons to the public.

AI researchers may apply for permits to work on AI programs for non-commercial uses in regulated environments

https://twitter.com/justinhendrix/status/1663509719120576512

Writers and artists standing up to AI are the modern-day Luddites—and for all our sakes, we’d better hope they win.

I've been researching and writing about the Luddites for oh 3-4 years, and it's a good time to discuss the parallels and the stakes, which get higher every day. First, when I say “Luddite,” I'm talking about the men and women who saw businessmen using automated machinery to drive down wages and subordinate workers into factories—bosses aiming to profit at their direct expense—and organized a spirited rebellion against them.

Tara Hernandez & Damon Lindelof's new show "Mrs. Davis" is getting rave reviews. It's great for another reason, too—it shows that the best approach to consumer AI may simply be to say, "no."

I spoke with the creators about why it's OK to be a Luddite:

latimes.com/business/techn… The show is remarkable for a lot of reasons—I binged it all last week—but chief among them is that it doesn't have a cartoonishly dystopian view of how AI will enslave or destroy us all. It knows how tech addicts and entrances us—and it sends its hero on a mission to destroy it.

This is not a new sentiment by any means but it's fairly staggering what a mess has been made of the big digital media companies. So much talent assembled at BuzzFeed and VICE et al, so much great work. Now they are sinking into the sea, the journalists going down first VICE was never perfect, never even great, especially regarding management, but it *did* feel like there was so much promise, freedom to take swings, do ambitious or weird stories that wouldn't have fit at legacy outlets. It really feels now like that promise has been squandered

This is also a good a wake up call to everyone who enjoys living in a world where written materials are comprehensible, accountants do due diligence, and programs are built with good code—because mgmt is going to *try* to replace it all of with subpar, unreliable ChatGPT output

https://twitter.com/gregisenberg/status/1648677152005451777

For the record, this guy's thread I QT'd above *is not* the good wakeup call, it's utter tripe; derivative business mgmt literature at its worst. Greg here is trying to profit off the moment, by fanning the phenomenon, suggesting AI text output *can* and *should* replace people

This is just such a disaster on every count, it’s so embarrassing for 60 minutes to have bought this hook line and sinker without ever having consulted a credible AI scholar or tech journalist

https://twitter.com/60Minutes/status/1647742247444553732

Google [screens the scene in Her where Scarlett Johansson’s AI transcends for 60 Minutes] “This is the future.”

60 Minutes: “The humanity at superhuman speed was a shock. How is this possible?"

Silicon Valley Bank broke because venture capital-dominated Silicon Valley is broken

latimes.com/business/techn… Wrote this before the news that all deposits, even the ~90% that were not FDIC insured, would be made whole, and am only more convinced it's true now

The big tech layoffs aren't about "economic realities" or simply streamlining operations—Silicon Valley is moving to slash rising wages and bring an increasingly empowered workforce to heel.

My 1st column for @latimes:

latimes.com/business/techn… @latimes Historically, this approach has worked, as Malcolm Harris (@BigMeanInternet) points out in the piece. Big tech has kept labor costs low via a range of techniques, from mass layoffs to, most famously, perhaps, outright collusion. This time, however, it might finally backfire.

This is how it begins

https://twitter.com/jasoncolavito/status/1611710986871767041

AI is not going suddenly “replace” workers, it’s going to give employers a massive tool to wield leverage over them, to justify eroding wages and standards

The lesson from all this good Facebook reporting is very simple, and was clear before the massive leaks: If you build a social network whose profits depend on continually expanding engagement, ultimately, whatever drives that engagement will be allowed to triumph. That's it. The reports today are filled with accounts of dissenting employees and researchers pleading that their work be taken seriously—but whether the failings are because of sprawling, inept bureaucracy or direct favoring of business imperatives by leadership, the failures are the same

Uber and Lyft's pitch was always that they'd reduce congestion, emissions, car ownership and the total costs that cars impose on society. A new paper shows that the complete opposite has happened—taking an Uber costs society ~60% more than your own car.

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ac… There is only one (1) net environmental benefit of people taking a Lyft and Uber over their own car, and that's with particulate pollution exhaust, which is less because cars are being started less frequently since drivers are moving between riders without turning off their cars

My prediction is that this is going to be a disaster for everyone involved — the workers, Kroger, even customers — a glaring example of shitty automation in action

bloomberg.com/news/features/… First, it only looks fully automated—tucked away in the piece is that each of these facilities will need 400 human workers; drivers, baggers, etc and who will have to work strenuously to keep up with the machines. As we know from Amazon, this is likely going to be a nightmare

It's worth noting that the man who is about to become Amazon's CEO has aggressively pursued contracts with top oil companies, helping firms like BP and Shell streamline, automate, and accelerate the rate of extraction of fossil fuels

https://twitter.com/CNBCnow/status/1356710842088054786

Here is Jassy in 2018, at one of the oil industry's largest events in Houston, talking about how Amazon has tailored its web services for fossil fuel companies:

gizmodo.com/amazon-is-aggr…

It's remarkable to look back at the science fiction from the 80s + 90s that imagined the 2020s—everyone from Octavia Butler to cyberpunk authors to Deep Space 9 writers saw a world w vast wealth inequality, corporate-dominated geopolitics + invasive tech

onezero.medium.com/how-science-fi… Butler famously even predicted a southern California ravaged by climate change, and a populace in thrall to a politician who vowed to "Make America Great Again."

But as @timmaughan notes in this essay—which was a pleasure to edit—it's not about keeping score of the predictions

Came home just literally shaking with rage from a quick trip to pick up a pizza in the neighborhood last night. Wanted to share why. On a major throughway near my neighborhood in West LA, there’s a wide cement median between the lanes going either way. It’s big enough to fit tents + entirely out of the way of pedestrians (you have to run through traffic to get there), so unhoused people often make it home.

Let's try this another way: What was one work of speculative fiction—book, game, movie, tv show, whatever—that profoundly imagined a new future during the last decade and that is likely to have a lasting impact? I see you lurking on here @jomc @MikeIsaac @round gotta answer

Uber didn't want its white collar employees to have to wash their hands in the same sink as its gig worker drivers.

This really tells you everything you need to know about Uber. Every single thing.

vice.com/en_us/article/… I mean, it's been obvious forever, but this puts so fine a point on it that it's impossible to see it in any other light: This is a company predicated on exploiting one class to benefit another. Period.

Sooo I just got back from a two-week work trip/vacation/Twitter exile to Sweden, and let me tell you, what you've heard is all true: the Swedes we met enjoy a quality of life that is demonstrably higher than any non-wealthy person in the US. It's not even close I met an accomplished engineer at a high profile consultancy firm who had, in total, taken over a year off of paternity leave. He said it made him a better dad, and had a bond with his kids that was immediately discernible.

Honestly, researching this story flat out shocked me. The lengths that Google, Microsoft, Amazon & other tech companies are going to help the oil industry accelerate the climate crisis—and the profits they're reaping in the process—is astonishing. gizmodo.com/how-google-mic… Last year, around the height of climate crisis awareness, Google started an ENTIRE OIL & GAS DIVISION aimed at supplying innovations in AI & automation to big oil. It's literally angling to be, and I quote "the partner of choice" to the oil industry. How did we miss this?

Apple hit a record-breaking $1 trillion valuation yesterday, on the strength of a single, immensely profitable product—iPhone, obviously.

So it's worth pointing out a few things (& folks) that haven’t been getting much attention amidst the awe: The trillion dollar device was designed by a team you most likely have still not heard of—Steve Jobs & Tim Cook dominate the PR photos, but either had little to do with its initial invention. Bas Ording, Imran Chaudhri, Wayne Westerman & so many others deserve recognition too