dustJun 27
danmcquillan
Just out: 'Resisting the Techno-Fascist Takeover: Are We Ready for Decomputing?' https://berlinergazette.de/resisting-the-techno-fascist-takeover-are-we-ready-for-decomputing/ in which I diagnose DOGE as institutional cyberattack and argue that the way to stop it spreading is to revive an alternative technopolitics.
Jun 27 at 6:04amWeb
Show threaddanmcquillanJun 29
"It’s hard to know how much the DOGE boys buy into the ‘AI is nearly AGI’ line and it doesn’t matter. They already know the woke leviathan must be destroyed and that AI is the way to go in hard, while throwing up a smokescreen that systems are being upgraded rather than trashed".
[2/n]
Show threaddanmcquillanJun 29
"The populists shout for DOGE while supposedly left-leaning think tanks argue for ‘progressive efficiency’ and ‘DOGE done better’. Political parties everywhere are genuflecting to AI and appeasing the far right, and none seem willing to prevent a techno-fascist takeover"
[3/n]
Show threaddanmcquillanJun 29
"Fans of ‘sovereign AI,’ the current favorite move of European states freaked out by the thought of Trump’s finger on an AI kill switch but as hooked as the UK on AI for growth and geopolitical leadership, should note that it doesn’t escape any of the problems described here"
[4/n]
Show threaddanmcquillanJun 29
"social ordering within the EU embraces the centralization, bureaucratization and digitization which makes it vulnerable to techno-fascist takeover. What’s unclear is whether that will come via DOGE or whether the far right will simply take over the EU from the inside"
[5/n]
Show threaddanmcquillanJun 29
"Pushing back against data centers through forms of collective and democratic assembly, rather than by fruitlessly appealing to existing authorities to follow the rules, tackles the scaling of the material infrastructures and the distancing of decision-making at the same time."
[6/n]
Show threaddanmcquillanJun 29
"A technopolitics that opposes both AI and the obsession with growth that consumes its political and financial backers is one that can provide a framework for moving forward, and this is where the concept of conviviality comes in."
[7/n]
Show threaddanmcquillanJun 29
"demanding the social determination of technology is a way to dispel the loss of collective agency which has resulted from decades of neoliberalism. This combination of degrowth and critical technopolitics is what I call ‘decomputing’."
[8/n]
Show threaddanmcquillanJun 29
"Resisting AI means rejecting its consequences, such as the resurgence of eugenics through welfare and healthcare systems. It also means rejecting the conditions that allow AI to become so important and influential, like our growth-obsessed, centralized political economies. "
[9/n]
Show threaddanmcquillanJul 1
For incisive critiques of AI's technopolitics, see the other articles in the @berlinergazette collection 'Unboxing AI-Capitalism' https://berlinergazette.de/category/feuilleton-en/dossier/ai-capitalism/
Unboxing AI-Capitalism · BG · berlinergazette.de · EN|DE

Before the invention of artificial intelligence (AI) as a technology, capitalism in general was driven by what might be called an AI fantasy: the most important economic processes – from decision-making to production – were gradually delegated to a higher, magically autonomous intelligence, imagined, for example, as an “invisible hand” guiding the “self-regulated market.” In the 20th century, this AI fantasy paved the way for the rise of AI technology. At the intersection of AI as a fantasy of capitalism and AI as a technology of capital, something emerged that could be called AI-capitalism.

BG · berlinergazette.de · EN|DE
Show threadJames TindallJul 1
@danmcquillan @berlinergazette Extremely useful list of articles!
Show threadPhilJul 6
@danmcquillan the inelegance of a comment I made has been playing on my mind; about regulation. “Regulation removes the need to expect people to be moral” doesn’t, I think, convey what I meant in the right way. “Regulation writes out rules of right and wrong in some context. It removes the need for us to expect people to act in line with some higher moral code. Especially those who are incentivised to act against it.” Is a little closer. Regulation is constraints on a system. A forcing function on what that system does, and therefore, is for.
Show threaddanmcquillanJul 6
@codebeard I don't disagree, but that's not the whole story. What happens when those with power over the 'forcing' decide not to be held to the same standards (e.g. Trump, Johnson)? Also, while regulation can be a constraint, I think the main agency is a positive commitment by most people to comply out of fairness and neighbourliness; when that culture has degraded, mere regulation will not hold.
Show threadPhilJul 6
@danmcquillan thank you, yes. Your point about the ‘regulation land grab’ was also well heard - and agreed. And the reference to anarchist cybernetics. I suppose I hold on to the Beer quote you gave, “a system’s purpose is what it does” in as much as Meadow’s leverage points allow us to feel optimistic that change is possible. I see the pro-social side in the work of Audrey Tang but despair when I look more locally.
Show threadChris RealJun 27

@danmcquillan

People who claim to resist, but REQUIRE "Essential Cookies", are not to be trusted.

The opportunists are starting to swoop in.

Trust your instincts here—reject these strident and self-deceiving poseurs!!

Yes. You . . .

Show threadFayeJun 27
@danmcquillan It has been fun though… 🥸
Show threadAline BlankertzJun 27
@danmcquillan Great article! Great connections between different domains including GKN :) I had not come across convivial technology before - just to share here for everyone else who came up against the academic paywall: https://www.academia.edu/66617622/The_Matrix_of_Convivial_Technology_Assessing_technologies_for_degrowth
The Matrix of Convivial Technology – Assessing technologies for degrowth

This article introduces the notion of convivial technology as a conceptual framework for technologies suitable for degrowth societies. This paper is inspired by Ivan Illich's notion of convivial tools but reconsiders it in the light of current

Show threaddanmcquillanJun 27
@alineblankertz Glad you liked it! What's KPN? (sorry if I'm being dim)
Show threadAline BlankertzJun 27
@danmcquillan sorry, really strange typo (possibly autocorrect), I meant GKN! (corrected above now)
Show threadosfa_2030Jun 29
@danmcquillan This is an excellent text, thx! "All politics is technopolitics".
Take care! Resist AI!
Show threaddanmcquillanJun 29
@osfa_2030 Thank you, I'm glad you liked it. Solidarity!