Post · Bonfire

Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 4 months ago

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: AI art has no anti-cooption immune system; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2024/07/20/ransom-note-force-field/

#Pluralistic

A collection of punk zines with the glaring eye of HAL 9000 from Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' in the center of the image.

Image:
Cryteria (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

--

Jake (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1970s_fanzines_(21224199545).jpg

CC BY 2.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en — A collection of punk zines with the glaring eye of HAL 9000 from Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' in the center of the image. Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en -- Jake (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1970s_fanzines_(21224199545).jpg CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

shift/reset @shift_reset@mastodon.scot · 4 months ago

@pluralistic Your description of 4chan matches my experiences during the late oughts. It was a fertile ground where new things where coming up and boiling and being discarded all the time. By the time "yo dawg I heard you like cars" was on reddit, I remember it being played out and blase.

I still have a collection of electronic music created on there by internet strangers circa 2010.

It feels strange reminding people that it used to troll stormfront, not be stormfront.

Patai Gergely :c64: @cobbpg@mastodon.gamedev.place · 4 months ago

@pluralistic There’s an “I’ve trying” in there crying for a ”been“. Other than that, an excellent read as usual. I’ll believe the AI hype when a system trained on pre-1975 data can generate the Bohemian Rhapsody…

Nico @Nico@fedi.catboy.agency · 4 months ago

@pluralistic@mamot.fr added you to my rss feed, gotta say you make some super interesting stuff. Will get around to reading your older stuff over the next few days hopefully

GhostOnTheHalfShell @GhostOnTheHalfShell@masto.ai · 4 months ago

@pluralistic

The cult of AGI the culture of the Valley has spawned terrifies me. They have convinced themselves in their absolute self assuredness they can create Silicon God / One Ring. The first to achieve it will gain total dominion over the world. It is inevitable. It will replace carbon life and consume it for breakfast. Legions of engineers hop onto the gravy train the process has created. This isn’t about profit but absolute power and tech bros will sacrifice everything to own it.

Western Exposure @WesternExposure@mastodon.ie · 4 months ago

@pluralistic
Interesting thoughts, Cory. Regarding meaning and connection, coincidentally just this morning, after seeing that someone had bought a print of one of my photos, a still life photo of a Red Bartlett pear, I had "penned" this:

Still life photo of a Red Bartlett pear.

The text in the image reads:
"Just this morning, when a buyer placed a print of a still life photo of mine in their shopping basket, my thoughts were: "It's just a photo of a pear. Or is it? An organic farmer somewhere grew it. It came from Galway in my organic fruit&veg box, delivered by the ever reliable DPD driver Joe. I remember setting up the shot in my kitchen. Then I ate it. Delicious. As an American pear variety it also conjurs up my connections to American friends who are fruit enthusiasts, my brilliant neighbour and friend P. Bartlett, and memories of the fictional POTUS Jed Bartlett. The person who just bought a print for their home will not be aware of any of that, but now I am also connected to them and they to me. Tiny little invisible threads of meaning. This is something parasitical generative AI art can never do. " — The text in the image reads: "Just this morning, when a buyer placed a print of a still life photo of mine in their shopping basket, my thoughts were: "It's just a photo of a pear. Or is it? An organic farmer somewhere grew it. It came from Galway in my organic fruit&veg box, delivered by the ever reliable DPD driver Joe. I remember setting up the shot in my kitchen. Then I ate it. Delicious. As an American pear variety it also conjurs up my connections to American friends who are fruit enthusiasts, my brilliant neighbour and friend P. Bartlett, and memories of the fictional POTUS Jed Bartlett. The person who just bought a print for their home will not be aware of any of that, but now I am also connected to them and they to me. Tiny little invisible threads of meaning. This is something parasitical generative AI art can never do. "

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Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 4 months ago

TONIGHT (July 20), I'm appearing at Chicago's Exile in Bookville:

https://exileinbookville.com/events/39808

Support me this summer on the Clarion Write-A-Thon and help raise money for the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop!

https://clarionwriteathon.com/members/profile.php?writerid=293388

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Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 4 months ago

Long thread/3

AI art has no anti-cooption immune system: The seeming of intention, with no intender.

https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/112818759372774724

Image:
Cryteria (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

--

Jake (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1970s_fanzines_(21224199545).jpg

CC BY 2.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en — Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en -- Jake (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1970s_fanzines_(21224199545).jpg CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

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Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 4 months ago

Long thread/4

Hey look at this

* A pathway forward for digital rights https://www.accessnow.org/a-pathway-forward-for-digital-rights/ (h/t Schneier)

* After the Internet https://kschroeder.substack.com/p/after-the-internet

* Not Insane 1980! Campaign Chronicles https://firesigntheatre.bandcamp.com/album/not-insane-1980-campaign-chronicles

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Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 4 months ago

Long thread/5

#20yrsago Militant wing of the accessibility movement https://web.archive.org/web/20040722063824/http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,64253,00.html

#15yrsago UK National Portrait Gallery threatens Wikipedia over scans of its public domain art https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8156268.stm

#15yrsago Publishers’ shibboleths vs the future of publishing https://publishingperspectives.com/2009/07/why-publishing-cannot-be-saved-as-it-is/

#15yrsago Amazon’s Orwellian deletion of Kindle books https://memex.craphound.com/2009/07/20/amazons-orwellian-deletion-of-kindle-books/

#10yrsago Anti-NSA messages projected on US embassy in Berlin https://www.theverge.com/2014/7/19/5918473/german-artist-protests-nsa-with-light-graffiti-on-us-embassy-in-berlin

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Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 4 months ago

Long thread/6

#10yrsago US “suspected terrorist” database had 1.5M names added to it in past 5 years https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2014/07/18/terrorist-database-continues-to-grow-at-rapid-rate/

#10yrsago Audio from Snowden/Ellsberg panel at HOPEX https://www.mediafire.com/download/mu7yqb1b1y7jty5/Ellsberg-Snowden-at-HopeX.mp3

#5yrsago Three California Nazis sentenced to prison for their participation in the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdva/pr/three-members-california-based-white-supremacist-group-sentenced-riots-charges-related

#5yrsago A free, accessible, hyperlinked version of the Mueller Report https://blog.archive.org/2019/07/19/the-mueller-report-now-with-linked-footnotes-and-accessible/

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Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 4 months ago

Long thread/7

#5yrsago Eminent psychologists condemn “emotion detection” systems as being grounded in junk science https://www.psychologicalscience.org/publications/emotional-expressions-reconsidered-challenges-to-inferring-emotion-from-human-facial-movements.html

#5yrsago Equifax settles with FTC, CFPB, states, and consumer class actions for $700m https://nypost.com/2019/07/19/equifax-agrees-to-pay-700m-after-massive-data-breach/

#5yrsago Chrome is patching a bug that lets sites detect and block private browsing mode, declares war on incognito-blocking https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/07/chrome-76-prevents-nyt-and-other-news-sites-from-detecting-incognito-mode/

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Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 4 months ago

Long thread/8

#1yrago Private equity ghouls have a new way to steal from their investors https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/20/continuation-fraud/#buyout-groups

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Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 4 months ago

Long thread/9

Yesterday's threads: FCC strikes a blow against prison profiteering; and more!

https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/112814001218673318

Image:
Cryteria (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

--

Flying Logos (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Over_$1,000,000_dollars_in_USD_$100_bill_stacks.png

CC BY-SA 4.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

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kgbo (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Suncorp_Bank_ATM.jpg

CC BY-SA 3.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en — Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en -- Flying Logos (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Over_$1,000,000_dollars_in_USD_$100_bill_stacks.png CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en -- kgbo (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Suncorp_Bank_ATM.jpg CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

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Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 4 months ago

Long thread/10

My latest nationally bestselling novel is "The Bezzle," an ice-cold revenge story of high-tech finance crime starring the forensic accountant Martin Hench:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865878/thebezzle

Signed copies from Chevalier's Books:

https://www.chevaliersbooks.com/product-page/the-bezzle

My latest nonfiction book is "The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation" from Verso Books:

http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org

Signed copies available from Book Soup:

https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245

Both are national bestsellers!

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Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 4 months ago

Long thread/11

My ebooks and audiobooks (from Tor Books, Head of Zeus, McSweeneys, Beacon, Verso and others) are for sale all over the net, but I sell 'em too, and when you buy 'em from me, I earn twice as much and you get books with no DRM and no license "agreements."

https://craphound.com/shop/

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Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 4 months ago

Long thread/12

Upcoming appearances:

* Exile in Bookville, (Chicago), July 20
https://exileinbookville.com/events/39808

* American Association of Law Libraries keynote (Chicago), Jul 21
https://www.aallnet.org/conference/agenda/keynote-speaker/

* @defcon 32 (Las Vegas), Aug 8-11
https://shop.defcon.org/products/def-con-32-las-vegas-convention-center

* Albacon (Albuquerque/remote), Sep 13-15
https://albacon.org/2024/

* TusCon (Tucson), Nov 8-10
https://tusconscificon.com/

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Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 4 months ago

Long thread/13

Recent appearances:

* The Paradigm Shift
https://paradigm-shift-on-4zzz.pinecast.co/episode/dbf12eaf/tech-criticism-with-cory-doctorow

* How To Fix The Internet ( @eff)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/06/podcast-episode-fighting-enshittification

* Big Tech and the News (Tech Policy Press)
https://www.techpolicy.press/big-tech-and-the-news/

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Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 4 months ago

Long thread/14

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