Prof. Emily M. Bender(she/her)Jan 27

RE: https://dair-community.social/@emilymbender/115967431998954575

Predictably, this film is also drawing negative reviews from people who would really prefer not to have the "AI" narrative challenged. It's informative (and entertaining) to see what the criticisms from such quarters are.

One review is headlined "‘Ghost in the Machine’ is Already Behind the Times" ... which is particularly hilarious because the film does an amazing job of tracing the historical roots of today's "AI" ideology.

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Show threadProf. Emily M. Bender(she/her)Jan 27

Not just back to the 1956 Dartmouth workshop (and excellent historical footage of McCarthy and Shannon) but also to the connections between the founding of statistics and eugenics.

The film is of this moment because it situates the narrative being pushed by the AI bros in its both its historical (see upthread) and present context -- the latter being coverage of environmental damage and the exploitative labor practices behind "AI".

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Show threadProf. Emily M. Bender(she/her)
The people who complain that it is "out of date" because it doesn't speak to this week's buzzwords or this week's specific hype are frantically trying to stay within the narrative that the tech companies want to restrict us to.
Jan 27 at 2:19pmWeb
Show threadAaron Brick — אהרן בריקJan 27
@emilymbender Thank you for keeping us up to date on this debate!