robert smith

Ezra Klein digs in to the mundane realities of AI productivity hype. (Available on library)

Defining a geological epoch based on humans always seemed hubristic. That changed a bit as people began to use the term anthropocene to represent ecological crisis. It seems like it is actually going to be hubristic science all along.

Robbie Lawrence taking photos of gannets to document bid flu.

so so good

I have thought this too. Mundane sociology of technology.

Explainer of how large language models work.

There’s no knowledge in chat GPT…

Chat GPT is an epistemic agent

Actually good AI images

The first good analysis of language models I’ve seen.

more 99%I teaching content on bicycles.

99% invisible does it again – a story about people representing wild rice in the US legal system.

Interview with Vauhini Vauna who is a tech writer. She wrote an essay collaboratively with the open AIs GPT3. End of the interview touches on this, and particularly the affective dimensions of working with AI. It would be a good unexpected teaching case.

Sensitive podcast on American’s relationship with an endangered species. Takes a kind of socio-technical systems / actor-centred approach to Grouse as an issue.

The default metaphor for intellectual property in modern times is “ownership.” In this model of ownership, all ideas, stories, inventions, characters, product names, techniques are understood to be inherently born as the property of their creator. These thoughts-made-real are seen to be owned by the mind that births them. You think them, you own them. With this status of ownership, intangible creations such as a novel, a musical melody, a plot, a phrase, formula, etc — all things created by a mind — are given a monopoly of rights in order to encourage further creations by the same creator. And to spur others to create. This lawful monopoly — such as copyright, patents, trademarks — protects the creation from being used by others for gain. By current law, this inherent monopolistic ownership is held strongly for long periods of time, ranging from decades to a century, depending on the conceptual type (patents may be 17 years while copyright may exceed lifetimes). This awarded monopoly has a few exceptions for very limited special cases, such as “fair use” and public domain. In these modes anyone can fairly use the invention for their own purposes. Certain restrictions may apply, like if the use might need to be for education, or for parody, or so used in a transformative way, or bettered by the use. These exceptions were to be kept to an absolute minimum in order to maximize the monopoly of the hard working creator. This framing plays into both the modern idea of ownership as the sacred foundation of wealth and prosperity, but it also plays into the idea of creator as a hero, or at least as the bedrock of progress.

Big tech companies’ research budgets are massive

An inventor finally offers an interesting take on responsibility, centring on narratives and the ability to talk about the ambivalences of NFTs.

Podcast with Max Chafkin, author of a book on Peter Thiel. Has a really nice bit of emerging tech disassembly on a scary technology (Palantir) and an example of how the wrong assessment of some tech visionaries about a problem (9/11 – failure of surveillance) led to its development.

Surreptitious data sharing mental health apps

Uranium mining in the USA

Economist article on Google releasing petition folding predictions

Government creates a new science and technology council, chaired by the prime minister, to make decisions about research to address societal challenges.