We live in incredible times with such possibilities that is clear. Although its easily dismissed reading how the prediction markets are arresting people, how smart TV’s have been hovering up all data and how little push back Apple has received for live rewind?
To quote Buckminster Fuller “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.“
You are seeing aspects of this with the AI Doc now on Netflix, the open wallet a permanent member of the Linux foundation now and Germany investing 500000 euros in sovereignty via the Flatpak packaging system.
Attitudes on AI from Gen-Z
Ian thinks: Although focused on America Gen-Z, I found the attitudes of these young people thoughtful and well balanced. The conversation with Bernie Sanders was also a good conversation
The stories from the tech industry
Ian thinks: So many stories of tech industry people being let go, its awful to hear but a clear reminder of how broken the tech industry is in right now. Its clear things must change and the status-quo is no more.
How does AI watermarketing work in a decentralised world?
Ian thinks: Hof does a good job explaining how AI water-marketing works and then casts an eye on what this means for the decentralised and federated future we should be moving towards.
The machine god story some forget
Ian thinks: As AI becomes more mainstream, the history and cult like status is unknown by many. However as Zittron and friends dredge through the past uncovering some of the motivations behind key people. Its clear a lot of people are not aware. Gebru’s thoughts on TESCREAL and quote is perfectly placed… “I understood that it was an ideological thing. It was almost like a secular religion, and these are true believers.”
This also comes up in a recent book Nerd Reich, which I just finished and don’t miss Gebru’s interview.
The genie is out of the bottle
Ian thinks: Schneier has an amazing way of thinking about different things in real life with a hackers mindset. In this talk Schneier, goes deep on AI and the future uses of it. Its a seriously thoughtful speech and worth every moment.
Self tracking has never been so valuable?
Ian thinks: Gary’s piece about the potential Oura IPO speaks volumes about the state of data, subscriptions and enshittification. Oura has been quite a darling of the the quantified self movement but knowing where the data maybe going even has me looking for an alternative.
How to really tax the super rich?
Ian thinks: I recently read the book by Gabriel Zucman, We Need to Tax Billionaires; which is a very good and short read and a blueprint for how to tax the super rich. This video covers the basics and rights some of the misunderstandings I still hear in debates about taxing the rich.
Traditional social media as a prison?
Ian thinks: I like the way JD thinks, its a clever and honest observation of traditional social media through the eyes of a black man. It also makes a number of good comparisons which will make you think a little deeper.
The fodder of smart glasses…
Ian thinks: The debate over mainly Meta smart glasses is intense but the people most affected right now are women, hence the term pervert glasses. I think this is pretty much summed up when one of the guests tries to say tech are looking to make useful products to which everyone laughs, and rephrases it with yes it a money grab. Something which is summed up in the pervert economy video.
Less Human more artificial
Sherry Turkle’s new book, is casing a lot of conversation. Although I am waiting for the Audiobook, this interview with 404 media is one of the better interviews with Turkle. Honestly this book covers not only now such as social media, LLMs but also deeply human topics like empathy and Intimacy.
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