Technology
Beware the “Investment”!
A crash-course in economic literacy as the AI bubble gets blown up with hot air and public funding I recently learnt that a $20 ChatGPT subscription gets you access to about $700 worth of computing power.1 This inspired two ideas: WOW, I’d better turn my whole camera roll into Studio Ghibli-style remakes before this awesome…
Read MoreIs a Mass Revolt Against Technocracy Starting to Happen?
Ted Gioia has a popular Substack called “The Honest Broker.” Although, as an author, his books tend to focus on music and popular culture, he writes eloquently about a wide range of topics and offers insightful commentary about the global forced march toward technocratic lifestyle and governance that we’re now immersed in. In one posting,…
Read MoreHumanity Is Not the Problem!
‘Humanity has missed the mark. Humanity has failed.’ As COP30 gets underway, this was the media’s take on the UN Secretary-General’s announcement that 1.5 degrees of global warming has now been locked in. We should be rolling our eyes at such proclamations. Once again, humanity takes the blame for the impotence of corporate-led summits. …
Read MoreThe Global/Local Conundrum: Backing Away from Technocracy
Decades ago, some interesting ideas were in circulation about how to combine global awareness with local action. The phrase “Think globally, act locally” was in vogue and represented an attempt to combine planetary and ecological awareness with actions at the local community level that fostered those values in a pragmatic way. This line of thinking…
Read MoreTechno Feudalism Takes Root on the Farm in India and China
– Techno feudalism: a term first coined by Yanis Varoufakis in his 2023 book Techno Feudalism: What Killed Capitalism, describes a rent-driven, technology-dominated society—echoing conditions similar to those that existed before capitalism, known as feudalism. The largest tech corporations have all launched initiatives in agriculture in recent years. But, among these tech giants, Microsoft is…
Read MoreEmbracing Sub-Optimal Relationships
By many measures, it would seem that we are not okay, and, more specifically, that the kids are not, in fact, alright.(1) These measures include rates of isolation, loneliness, unhappiness, self-harm, burnout, anxiety, depression, etc. I am not a social scientist, but, as best as I can judge, the findings are well-attested, and they are…
Read MoreGo Back and Fetch It: Sankofa and the Cult of Progress
Last year, I was one of an international throng of localists (yes, international localists) to descend on Bristol, UK. We were there for the Planet Local Summit – perhaps the largest gathering of this movement to date. It was as if everyone I’d ever read or listened to on a podcast or seen in a…
Read MoreWe Built the Technosphere. Now We Must Resist It
Our brave new world of plastic, wire and concrete promises liberation. Instead, its cult of efficiency controls and kills. “People will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.” — Aldous Huxley In the 19th century the Austrian geologist Eduard Suess hiked the Alps to study rock formations…
Read MoreOverview of Digital Technology
Overview of Digital Technology: Marking Four Global Days of Action, June 2024 The Global 5G Protest Days, World EHS Day, World Localization Day (WLD), and 24 Hour Peacewave all coincidentally fall out this year in mid-June. In marking these days, I’d like to offer a brief overview of the current digital technology rollout which profoundly impacts us all and is at…
Read MoreWhy Artificial Intelligence Must Be Stopped Now
The promise of AI is eclipsed by its perils, which include our own annihilation. Introduction Those advocating for artificial intelligence tout the huge benefits of using this technology. For instance, an article in CNN points out how AI is helping Princeton scientists solve “a key problem” with fusion energy. AI that can translate text to audio…
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