JineJun 17, 2020

It is crucial to understand and make people understand that technology is a social relationship and not just an application of physical-mathematical principles.

It is contradictory when some tech-bros argue that terms in a programming language should not be changed because the language is not ‘human‘. It is because of its artificiality that changes won’t throw the whole thing over the top and everything will still function.

The request to change terms because of their connotations alone is too much ‘human’ huh?

Show threadJineJun 17, 2020
The prevalent culture of technology is driven by the idea of control and domination. Sold as ‘efficiency’ and marketed as making the world a better place. Which world? Whose world?
In the nineteenth century a machine was defined as a combination of bodies so arranged that “by their means the mechanical forces of nature can be compelled to do work” (Franz Reuleaux). https://archive.org/details/kinematicsmachi00kenngoog
This is the so-called modernity: A piece of technology works perfectly when it subjugates forces. It is still in the heads and also in the circuits.
The Kinematics of Machinery: Outlines of a Theory of Machines : Franz Reuleaux , Alexander Blackie William Kennedy : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Book digitized by Google from the library of the University of California and uploaded to the Internet Archive by user tpb.

Show threadJineJun 17, 2020

Ubiquitous Computing and Physical Computing, everything wearable, tangible, kinesthetic etc. invokes an abstract body that is de-raced, rendered race-less. Working with the idea of an universal body in tech is grounded in its white eurocentric history.

Also Ubiquitous Computing can be considered as an imperialistic endeavor. The global Internet of Things sits on a prior network of things, ”the international network of land, resources, and enslaved humans as objects […] situated in a colonized periphery constituted by colonizing human subjects situated in ‘the core.’”

See Syed Mustafa Ali’s Introduction to Decolonial Computing https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/2930886

Show threadJineJun 17, 2020

There is so much work to be done. It is not just about ethics in tech. Is is about a whole mindset and a history of thought. It starts with the question what we understand as a technical invention.

The tech-bros who insist that a programming language is not ‘human’ to defend it against marginalized voices have to go! Jeff Bezos has to go! Decolonize technology!

Show threadJineJun 17, 2020
Dismantle the whole idea of “high tech”. Why isn’t a sewing machine considered as high tech? How many tech-bros are able to handle a sewing machine? How many woman were and are fabricating protective masks for the pandemic by operating a sewing machine? How many provide clothes for the whole planet since centuries? Not only the work is undervalued but also their technical skills.
Show threadjosh g.
@jine sewing > 3D printing
Jun 17, 2020 at 5:27pmWeb