2025-01-28
There could hardly be a clearer sign that we are living in techno-capitalism than DeepSeek's cost challenge to Silicon Valley. Yet, those who see techno-feudalism everywhere will surely twist its meaning. In its non-falsifiability, techno-feudalism borders on religion.
Bloomberg
Sam Altman says DeepSeek's R1 is an “impressive model, particularly around what they're able to deliver for the price” and OpenAI “will pull up some releases”
OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman welcomed the debut of DeepSeek's R1 model in a post on X late on Monday.
2024-12-09
“The AI We Deserve” - my essay for Boston Review https://www.bostonreview.net/ ...
Boston Review
A look at generative AI's impact, its structural issue of concentrated power among just a few companies, and utopian questions over an alternative vision for AI
Critiques of artificial intelligence abound. Where's the utopian vision for what it could be?
Dissecting generative AI with Veblen, Dewey, Hayek, Heidegger and others - my latest for @BostonReview https://www.bostonreview.net/ ...
Boston Review
A look at generative AI's impact, its structural issue of concentrated power among just a few companies, and utopian questions over an alternative vision for AI
Critiques of artificial intelligence abound. Where's the utopian vision for what it could be?
2024-07-01
Interesting comment on my FT essay, which shows how easy it is to miss the radicality of that paradigm. The point isn't to find creative uses to computers. The point is to radically change computers, turning them into toy-tool hybrids that aid in estrangement & cognitive mapping. [image]
Financial Times
How Avery Johnson and Warren Brodey, early members of the American Society for Cybernetics, created a lab in 1967 with a utopian vision to personalize computing
Researching the podcast and that FT essay, I realized that we barely know the full extent of Cold War collaboration between computer industry/academia and the CIA. For example, looking into the speaker that Brodey *removed* from the podium, here is what I found the CIA's website. [image]
Financial Times
How Avery Johnson and Warren Brodey, early members of the American Society for Cybernetics, created a lab in 1967 with a utopian vision to personalize computing
In many ways, things with AI went downhill once Cold War concepts like “Man-Computer Symbiosis” got dominant. Instead of using tech to widen the gap between people & machines - by extending human skills and talents - the industry & the military wanted to couple humans & machines. [image]
Financial Times
How Avery Johnson and Warren Brodey, early members of the American Society for Cybernetics, created a lab in 1967 with a utopian vision to personalize computing
The Homo Technologicus | Homo Economicus parallel is something that deserves an essay of its own. Ultimately, so much in our tech still relies on the same simplifying assumptions about rational action that underpin the neoclassical synthesis https://www.ft.com/... [image]
Financial Times
How Avery Johnson and Warren Brodey, early members of the American Society for Cybernetics, created a lab in 1967 with a utopian vision to personalize computing
In “AI we could have had” - a six-page spread in tomorrow's FT Weekend - I argue that there used to be another, more humane way to think about intelligence, interactivity, smartness. Sadly, we blew it! An essay inspired by A SENSE OF REBELLION: https://www.ft.com/...
Financial Times
How Avery Johnson and Warren Brodey, early members of the American Society for Cybernetics, created a lab in 1967 with a utopian vision to personalize computing
What's curious about the gang in my podcast is that someone like Warren Brodey, coming out of psychoanalysis, knew the dangers of “symbiosis.” In fact, it's only by having the infant acquire an identity separate from that of the mother that healthy development can be ensured.
Financial Times
How Avery Johnson and Warren Brodey, early members of the American Society for Cybernetics, created a lab in 1967 with a utopian vision to personalize computing
This was needed to raise productivity of firms & armies. Yet such “coupling” came at a cost, conceiving of humans as just better & faster machines to be unleashed on trickier tasks. The “symbiosis” was one-sided, aiming to build mightier machines, not harness the best in humans.
Financial Times
How Avery Johnson and Warren Brodey, early members of the American Society for Cybernetics, created a lab in 1967 with a utopian vision to personalize computing
Still can't believe that I managed to put the words “CIA,” “Maoist, “alienation” (qualified with “f*cking”!) into the pages of a single Financial Times article https://www.ft.com/...
Financial Times
How Avery Johnson and Warren Brodey, early members of the American Society for Cybernetics, created a lab in 1967 with a utopian vision to personalize computing
And yet we've spent decades wondering how to erase the differences between people & machines - either via “artificial intelligence” or “augmenting human intellect.” But the right move is to leverage machines (including LLMs and what not) to widen - not shrink - such differences!
Financial Times
How Avery Johnson and Warren Brodey, early members of the American Society for Cybernetics, created a lab in 1967 with a utopian vision to personalize computing
Machines can be humanists' allies. Yes, they can steer us towards independence & autonomy, helping to foster new aesthetic & cognitive skills. Brodey the psychoanalyst knew this is what good nurturing mothers do: they help infants develop separate, post-symbiotic identities.
Financial Times
How Avery Johnson and Warren Brodey, early members of the American Society for Cybernetics, created a lab in 1967 with a utopian vision to personalize computing
That's why their approach to intelligence & interactivity recognized the importance of non-communication to growth & identity formation: to be in an always-on, high-info environment leads to enslavement, not independence. It's not symbiosis but differentiation that they wanted.
Financial Times
How Avery Johnson and Warren Brodey, early members of the American Society for Cybernetics, created a lab in 1967 with a utopian vision to personalize computing
2024-06-30
Researching the podcast and that FT essay, I realized that we barely know the full extent of Cold War collaboration between computer industry/academia and the CIA. For example, looking into the speaker that Brodey *removed* from the podium, here is what I found the CIA's website. [image]
Financial Times
How Avery Johnson and Warren Brodey, early members of the American Society for Cybernetics, created a lab in 1967 with a utopian vision to personalize computing
https://www.ft.com/... Simonetta Vezzoso / @wavesblog : Tech solutionism"has..driven the development of wearable devices that track our health metrics and social media platforms th...
Interesting comment on my FT essay, which shows how easy it is to miss the radicality of that paradigm. The point isn't to find creative uses to computers. The point is to radically change computers, turning them into toy-tool hybrids that aid in estrangement & cognitive mapping. [image]
Financial Times
How Avery Johnson and Warren Brodey, early members of the American Society for Cybernetics, created a lab in 1967 with a utopian vision to personalize computing
https://www.ft.com/... Simonetta Vezzoso / @wavesblog : Tech solutionism"has..driven the development of wearable devices that track our health metrics and social media platforms th...
In many ways, things with AI went downhill once Cold War concepts like “Man-Computer Symbiosis” got dominant. Instead of using tech to widen the gap between people & machines - by extending human skills and talents - the industry & the military wanted to couple humans & machines. [image]
Financial Times
How Avery Johnson and Warren Brodey, early members of the American Society for Cybernetics, created a lab in 1967 with a utopian vision to personalize computing
https://www.ft.com/... Simonetta Vezzoso / @wavesblog : Tech solutionism"has..driven the development of wearable devices that track our health metrics and social media platforms th...
The Homo Technologicus | Homo Economicus parallel is something that deserves an essay of its own. Ultimately, so much in our tech still relies on the same simplifying assumptions about rational action that underpin the neoclassical synthesis https://www.ft.com/... [image]
Financial Times
How Avery Johnson and Warren Brodey, early members of the American Society for Cybernetics, created a lab in 1967 with a utopian vision to personalize computing
https://www.ft.com/... Simonetta Vezzoso / @wavesblog : Tech solutionism"has..driven the development of wearable devices that track our health metrics and social media platforms th...
In “AI we could have had” - a six-page spread in tomorrow's FT Weekend - I argue that there used to be another, more humane way to think about intelligence, interactivity, smartness. Sadly, we blew it! An essay inspired by A SENSE OF REBELLION: https://www.ft.com/...
Financial Times
How Avery Johnson and Warren Brodey, early members of the American Society for Cybernetics, created a lab in 1967 with a utopian vision to personalize computing
https://www.ft.com/... Simonetta Vezzoso / @wavesblog : Tech solutionism"has..driven the development of wearable devices that track our health metrics and social media platforms th...
What's curious about the gang in my podcast is that someone like Warren Brodey, coming out of psychoanalysis, knew the dangers of “symbiosis.” In fact, it's only by having the infant acquire an identity separate from that of the mother that healthy development can be ensured.
Financial Times
How Avery Johnson and Warren Brodey, early members of the American Society for Cybernetics, created a lab in 1967 with a utopian vision to personalize computing
https://www.ft.com/... Simonetta Vezzoso / @wavesblog : Tech solutionism"has..driven the development of wearable devices that track our health metrics and social media platforms th...