cool links 11: xenolinguistics, web exploration, surveillance pricing
What I recently read or watched worth sharing:
The grammar of a god-ocean by Eli K. P. William. Great in-depth essay about xenolinguistics, anthropomorphization of aliens, and how a genuine improvement in imagining alien language could not only help sci-fi, but also our capacity to endure otherness. Quote: "We inhabit a world in which algorithms corral us into petty tribalism, populists and fake news stoke xenophobic nationalism, and indifference to the plight of other species sustains both factory farming and anthropogenic mass extinction. Opening ourselves to every conceivable degree of otherness can, even if only abstractly, broaden the scope of our toleration and renew our appreciation for the diversity of aliens that already exist here on Earth."
Anatomy of a Hit Piece: Deconstructing The New York Times' Attack on Transgender Rights in U.S. v. Skrmetti by Alejandra Caraballo. This article shines a light on how a seemingly neutral, matter-of-fact article is deliberately misleading and manipulative about recent legislation. Quote: "A choice made under duress is not a gamble; it is a survival tactic. The alternative to challenging these laws in court was not a neutral status quo. The alternative was the guaranteed, immediate loss of medically necessary healthcare for thousands of young people, the forced medical detransition of those already in treatment, and the normalization of absolute state control over the bodily autonomy of a targeted minority."
The Force-Feeding of AI on an Unwilling Public by Ted Gioia. About how AI is crammed into the existing products to artificially inflate user numbers to justify burning more money and making the numbers look better. I am personally disappointed about the displayed learned helplessness around switching services, but the rest is good. I understand first wanting to make the products you already use better again and holding them accountable, but really, if it seems futile (and it is), your biggest way to hold them accountable is to stop paying for their products and to not give them user data anymore that they can sell, but okay.
The Techno-Fascist Soul of Marc Andreessen by Alejandra Caraballo. Opinion piece offering a closer look on this influential investor's past and opinions, and how they shape the current tech culture.
Pivot to AI has some opinionated, humorous articles critical about AI that I enjoyed reading. It's kind of a "Web3 is going great" for AI.
It’s True, “We” Don’t Care About Accessibility on Linux by Hari Rana. A GNOME developer is venting about how progress in accessibility features on Linux is not appreciated enough and that the people clamoring the most about accessibility do nothing to advance it. I liked this one because it dared to put a number on the often soul-sucking volunteer work that goes into contributing for Linux distros: even just three merge requests over months totaled to 9,393.60$ CAD (6,921.36$ USD). Providing this much free labor just to hear you're not doing enough, when otherwise you'd be paid thousands, is not okay, especially when supported by others in the community who should know better.
Surveillance pricing lets corporations decide what your dollar is worth by Cory Doctorow. A piece about how personalized pricing is weaponizing your data and discriminating you, squeezing as much money out of you as possible based on desperation and other factors. Quote: "This is one of the real labor consequences of AI: not the hypothetical millions of people who will become technologically unemployed, numbers that AI bosses pull out of their asses and hand to dutiful stenographers in the tech press who help them extol the power of their products; but rather the millions of people whose wages are suppressed by algorithms that continuously recalculate how desperate a worker is apt to be and lower their wages accordingly."
Your Meta AI prompts are in a live, public feed by Cory Doctorow. Meta is publishing your AI prompts, even verbal ones, in a feed, without the users knowing or clearly consenting to it because it depends on what "submit" button you click. The results are as you would expect: Porn, crime, sensitive personal details.
Vulgar, horny, and threatening by Iris. Observation about how being vulgar, horny and threatening is opposing some of the goals and mentalities in the tech industry and can be valid resistance.
Eurostack is building a European alternative for technological sovereignty to lessen dependence on the US and China.
You don't need to be connected to the world by Andreas. Quote: "The point is, you don't need to be connected to the whole world and read every little outrageous thing that people all over the world are writing all the time. It's terrible for you and your mental health, and it's terrible for society as a whole. Find a community of people that share your values and interests, interact with them and ignore the rest. You'll be better off, I can pretty much guarantee it."
the web as a space to be explored by Roy Tang. Interesting perspective that questions the much-used talking point about the supposed bargain between Google and the rest of the web, and that expresses that browsing the web isn't a chore or unfortunate byproduct that should be done away with. "There is still plenty of "web", the real web, to be explored."
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