Post · Bonfire

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

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: AI's productivity theater; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2024/07/25/accountability-sinks/

#Pluralistic

A medieval tapestry depicting an overseer gesturing imperiously with his stick at three bent peasants who are grubbing in a field. The image has been altered. Contrasts and colors have been pushed into psychedelic pinks, greens and blues. Part of the tapestry fades into a 'code waterfall' effect as seen in the credit sequences of the Wachowskis' 'Matrix' movies. The overseer's head has been replaced with the hostile red eye of HAL 9000 from Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.'

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

CC BY 3.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en — A medieval tapestry depicting an overseer gesturing imperiously with his stick at three bent peasants who are grubbing in a field. The image has been altered. Contrasts and colors have been pushed into psychedelic pinks, greens and blues. Part of the tapestry fades into a 'code waterfall' effect as seen in the credit sequences of the Wachowskis' 'Matrix' movies. The overseer's head has been replaced with the hostile red eye of HAL 9000 from Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

Dianne Hackborn @hackbod@mastodon.social · 4 months ago

@pluralistic My theory: LLMs will allow people to generate a lot more documentation, which people will then need LLMs to make summaries of. 😛

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aradian @aradian@fosstodon.org · 4 months ago

@pluralistic "But adding IT to a bureaucracy is like adding lanes to a highway: the easier it is to demand fine-grained record-keeping, the more record-keeping will be demanded of you."

It's a fun thought experiment to imagine how we would conduct our modern society with pre-computing technology. Every business stuffed with bulky analog video cameras. A significant portion of the land area near every major city is just giant warehouses full of paperwork documenting every action and word spoken.

Susan Calvin @Susan_calvin@mastodon.social · 4 months ago

@aradian @pluralistic many of the warehouses would be full of tablets explaining that Ea-nāṣir had once again sent poor quality copper to someone, just in case one warehouse burnt down and the complaints were lost.

MicroBlog Castellano @microblogc@paquita.masto.host · 4 months ago

@aradian @pluralistic I experience that in my work. We have to fill tons of documentation documenting and regulating our practices —such amount we can't easily navigate it when we have to check how to do something—, an amount that would've been considered excessive if we have had to *print* it and *give it by hand* to our superintendent.

Xenofact :jrbd: @RevXenoFact@dobbs.town · 4 months ago

@aradian @pluralistic IT Project Manager here and I've done similar thought experiments. It's accumulation over function.

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

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

Veronika Cheplygina @DrVeronikaCH@dair-community.social · 4 months ago

@pluralistic briefly misread this as "Clarivate" and was very confused 😅

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

Long thread/3

AI's productivity theater: AI CAN'T do your job, but an AI salesman CAN convince your boss to fire you and replace you with AI.

https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/112848218708725838

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

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

c-x-b :verified: :verified: @cxberger@mastodon.boiler.social · 4 months ago

re: Long thread/3

@pluralistic patiently waiting for someone to compare GenAI to some bit of early industrialization, without a hint of irony

bonus points if it's literally the cotton gin

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

Long thread/4

Hey look at this

* The Files are in the Computer: On Copyright, Memorization, and Generative AI https://james.grimmelmann.net/files/articles/the-files-are-in-the-computer.pdf

* This Machine Exposes Privacy Violations https://www.wired.com/story/webxray-online-privacy-violations/

* World of Warcraft developers form Blizzard’s largest and most inclusive union https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/24/24205366/world-of-warcraft-developers-form-union-blizzard-entertainment

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

Long thread/5

#20yrsago Kalashnikov: US gov’t is pirating my AK-47 design https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/26/world/who-s-a-pirate-russia-points-back-at-the-us.html

#20yrsago Real ships guerrilla DRM for the iPod https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/26/business/media-realnetworks-plans-to-sell-songs-to-be-played-on-ipod.html

#20yrsago 30,000 anti-Induce Act letters sent to Congress https://web.archive.org/web/20040723084653/https://action.eff.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=2918

#10yrsago Journalist believes his phone was hacked by spooks at HOPE X, will upload image for forensics https://thecryptosphere.com/2014/07/23/report-from-hope-x-surveillance-snowden-stratfor-and-surprises/

#10yrsago What’s original? Cloning games versus making games https://www.raphkoster.com/2014/07/23/when-is-a-clone/

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

Long thread/6

#10yrsago Great video explainer: Vint Cerf on ICANN and NTIA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd3dH90tdhk

#5yrsago Trade war: Hasbro is shifting manufacturing to Vietnam and India, drawing down production in China https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-24/world-s-top-toymaker-joins-companies-leaving-china-s-factories

#5yrsago #Rickyrenuncia: Bowing to popular pressure, Puerto Rican governor Ricardo Rossello has resigned https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-24/puerto-rico-lawmakers-push-to-impeach-crisis-beset-governor

#5yrsago #29leaks: someone leaked 15 years’ worth of data from London’s most notorious shell-company factory https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/07/24/this-london-firm-helps-the-wealthy-hide-assets-or-steal-them-luckily-we-have-15-years-of-their-client-communications/

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

Long thread/7

#5yrsago E-scooter companies are desperate for repo men to stop impounding their vehicles https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/24/20696405/dockless-scooters-share-repo-men-repossessor-lawsuit-tow-yard-lime-bird-lyft-uber-razor

#5yrsago Adblocking: How about nah? https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/07/adblocking-how-about-nah

#5yrsago Countries with higher levels of unionization have lower per-capita carbon footprints https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331445998_Is_Labor_Green

#5yrsago Analyzing 800 daily tweets that say “Today was the day that Donald Trump became president” https://twitter.com/waxpancake/status/1154098035183329280

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

Long thread/8

Yesterday's threads: FTC vs surveillance pricing; and more!

https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/112843210309695506

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

Long thread/9

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/10

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/11

Upcoming appearances:

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

* Albacon (Albany/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/12

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/13

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