Jan 31KOSA isn’t designed to help kids.Congress is using kids to hold Big Tech accountable. Kids will get hurt in the process. In a few minutes, the Senate Judiciary will start a hearing focused on “Big Tech and the Online Child Exploitation Crisis.” Like most such hearings, this will almost certainly go off the rails in…Youth13 min readYouth13 min read
Sep 26, 2023The Screens are the Symptom.I decided to re-read Fahrenheit 451 with my eldest this last week. I don’t think that I have read this classic Bradbury text since high school. What I had remembered about the book was that it described a world in which books were banned and the job of firefighters was…6 min read6 min read
Jul 19, 2023Dear Alt-Twitter Designers: It’s about the network!Last week, tech commentators were flush with stories about the speed of new users on Threads. Unprecedented downloads! A sign that Meta is stronger than ever! Networks born in one service can transfer to another! This week? There’s a lot of speculation that Threads is crashing. Folks keep asking me…Social Media7 min readSocial Media7 min read
Jun 13, 2023Seeking examples of mundane low-stakes data modeling failstl;dr: Can you give me examples of where data modeling in your everyday life is deeply flawed? I’m looking for interesting examples to think with. When we worry about our algorithmic world, there are good reasons to focus on “high stakes” modeling failures. Situations in which life/death decisions are being…Failure7 min readFailure7 min read
Apr 26, 2023Too Big to Challenge?I find it deeply disturbing that the tech industry represents 9% of the U.S. GDP and only five Big Tech companies account for 25% of the S&P 500. Prior to Covid, most of the growth in stock market came from Big Tech (not the Trump Administration…). Now, as the U.S…AI5 min readAI5 min read
Apr 21, 2023Deskilling on the JobWhen it comes to AI’s potential future impact on jobs, Camp Automation tends to jump to the conclusion that most jobs will be automated away into oblivion. The progressive arm of Camp Automation then argues for the need for versions of universal basic income and other social services to ensure…AI7 min readAI7 min read
Apr 10, 2023Protect Elders! Ban Television!!(Some thoughts on the efforts to regulate children’s use of social media) Have you noticed how many people ages 65+ watch television every day? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, almost 90% of those in this age bracket watch TV Every.Single.Day!!!! ::gasp:: And that data was collected before the…Social Media11 min readSocial Media11 min read
Apr 5, 2023Resisting Deterministic ThinkingAI is here and it will change everything! OMG the sky is falling! Programmers are now obsolete. No, they are needed more than ever before. Large language models will destroy journalism, democracy, society. No, they will free us from drudgery and we will all be happier. Cancer will be solved…Artificial Intelligence9 min readArtificial Intelligence9 min read
Dec 5, 2022What if failure is the plan?I’ve been thinking a lot about failure lately. Failure comes in many forms, but I’m especially interested in situations in which people *perceive* something as failing (or about to fail) and the contestations over failure that often arise in such situations. Given this, it’s hard not to be fascinated by…Twitter14 min readTwitter14 min read
Nov 8, 2022CFP: The Politics of Data and Quantification in the Public Sector2023 American Sociology Association / Science, Knowledge, and Technology Section Organizers: danah boyd, Microsoft Research Chuncheng Liu, UC San Diego Governments around the world leverage data and statistics to legitimize themselves and shape public policy. There is robust literature looking backward at statistics and state-building. However, the new politics of…Sociology2 min readSociology2 min read
