The Maybe

In light of Orban's loss in Hungary, it is SO vital to go listen to this @naomiaklein.bsky.social interview with @themaybe.org / @alixdunn.com.

Don't mistake the muscularity of anger for real, sustained power. Fascists of all kinds are showing how scared they are every single day.

I feel so much relief that Orban actually conceded. And so happy for friends that kept the faith and worked so hard at great peril and personal sacrifice to keep the resistance alive.

Not the end by any stretch or even a good replacement but it is a milestone to celebrate!

The Maybe What better way than movies to help us process the world. Brian Merchant shares how our collective anxieties turn into cultural products.

What is a Luddite horror film? Just ask @bcmerchant.bsky.social, who can draw the line from 18th century textile workers to Sigourney Weaver kicking alien ass.

Listen to the conversation here: www.themaybe.org/podcast/fantasy-factory-luddite-horror-w-brian-merchant

First episode of Tech Story of the Week is out now!

Huge thanks to @leonardocoelho.jor.br and @nicoschmidt.io for uncovering this story and sharing it with us, and to @techpolicypress.bsky.social for publishing it!

Image of a book entitled End Times Fascism - and the fight for the living world. A wide burst on a yellow background with red letters.

One year after our original Guardian essay, Naomi Klein and I are excited to reveal the North American cover of our forthcoming book END TIMES FASCISM - and the Fight for the Living World. It will be on bookshelves on September 15th and is available for pre-order. More details below. bit.ly/4cbLfEr

Why are schoolchildren in Brazil being surveilled for…attendance?

Every day, as many as one million students in the state of Paraná have their faces scanned and biometrically assessed, all to try and save a few seconds of roll call.

It's also wild for unserious chaos actor companies to have the audacity to suggest 'industrial policy'.

What SaaS god must I pray to that will strike down companies that create a new account when you log in with the wrong email address?

I greatly enjoyed this conversation on one of my favourite podcasts (an underappreciated one, IMO). It starts out about AI but it's really about fighting fascism.

Thank you for the kind words and for coming on the show! I found our conversation so helpful - both the pragmatic analysis and the dose of hope in people. Cannot wait for the book.

Vote for the best of the internet I just voted in The Webby People's Voice Awards and checked my voter registration.

My all time favourite tech politics podcast Computer Says Maybe with amazing @alixdunn.com is up for a Webby! Vote for them here:

vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting...

Almost Half of US Data Centers That Were Supposed to Open This Year Slated to Be Canceled or Delayed The vast majority of data centers scheduled for completion over the next few years have yet to even break ground.

It's indeed possible to beat bad things backed by big money

Blacksky - Open Collective Decentralized social media built for community power, culture, and collective freedom.

I single-handedly run all the same technology that Bluesky, the ~40 person, $136M company does. My @blackskyweb.xyz team does full-stack content-moderation, ships products core to our mission + partners with orgs so we can be a long-term sustainable business

If you rely on us pls pay a subscription

The Maybe Naomi Klein has spent her career studying political movements — and she thinks progressives are doing better than we think. Because the fascists are scared.

What do we get when capitalists are scared? Fascism.

I spoke with @naomiaklein.bsky.social about capitalism’s worst mood and how the left is doing better than we think we are.

Listen to the conversation here: www.themaybe.org/podcast/how-...

Also a big thanks to @naomiaklein.bsky.social for joining me twice in just a few months. Her wisdom and insights provide both a dark analysis of where we are and a hopeful assessment of what it portends if we keep at it, together.

A genuine pleasure to explore this moment with one of the greats.

We're up for a Webby award in the Best Technology Podcast category! Very cool.

Vote for us if you want a tech politics podcast to win :)

Or just listen to this week's killer ep:

How to Scare a Fascist w/ Naomi Klein

www.themaybe.org/podcast/how-...

Blumenthal Investigates Big Tech's Use of Non-Disclosure Agreements to Conceal Impact of Energy Guzzling Data Centers | U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut [WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ranking Member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, today wrote to...

Sen. Blumenthal says he contacted utility regulators in all 50 states, requesting documents about NDAs or other agreements that may be hiding data centers' energy use, water consumption, and environmental and economic impacts from the public.

Memeification and digital slop: AI and the fog of war - Coda Story Using Silicon Valley tools, Iran has waged a propaganda and misinformation campaign that is finding its mark. The U.S. has only itself to blame

I wrote about why Iran is winning the meme war, and how the White House, US tech leaders have surrendered a long-standing American information advantage www.codastory.com/disinformati...

The Science of Partying Against Fascism YouTube video by Degenerate Art by Andrea Pitzer

"The future is made of the decisions that we take together." @anatosaurus.bsky.social speaking with @andreapitzer.bsky.social

AI newsletters sound more and more like when the STEM kid eats an edible.

Political superintelligence would be so amaaaaazing. If it was technically possible and we could devote previously unavailable political coordination to reorganise all of society...

Short: Grand Theft Grammarly w/ Julia Angwin & Peter Romer-Friedman Grammarly launched a feature that no one wanted and now they’re getting sued. They used the names of writers, journalists, and editors to pretend that AI versions of those people were making writing…

Grand Theft Grammarly! What a great headline @alixdunn.com!

Listen in if you'd like 24 minutes of clean fun as we discuss my lawsuit against Grammarly for its AI theft of my name.

pocketcasts.com/podcast/comp...

Not only was Grammarly using the names of experts, it was FABRICATING QUOTES for articles under the name of those experts!!!

@juliaangwin.com not kidding when she says it's criminal

pca.st/episode/aa8f...

@alixdunn.com @themaybe.org

Grammarly, a glorified AI spellchecker, briefly introduced a feature called “Expert Review,” where users could ask writers, dead and alive, to review their writing.

Table of contents page from an amicus curiae legal brief. Sections include: Table of Authorities (p. iii), Interest of Amici Curiae (p. 1), Preliminary Statement (p. 1), Argument (p. 1) with three main sections — I. 'Even Without Full Autonomy, Militarized AI Poses Catastrophic and Irreversible Human Rights Risks' (p. 2) with subsections on human input failing to mitigate lethal AI mistakes (p. 3) and AI's ability to facilitate war crimes (p. 5); II. 'The Department of War and Anthropic Are Jointly Engaged in War Crimes' (p. 6); III. 'Attacks against Civilians and Civilian Infrastructure Constitute War Crimes under U.S. and International Law' (p. 8) — followed by Conclusion (p. 11) and Appendix (p. 13).

Tech Justice Law Project, Abolitionist Law Center, and Center for Constitutional Rights file Amicus brief in Anthropic vs US Dept of War, supporting neither party, and demonstrating that the Dept of War and Anthropic are jointly engaged in war crimes:

techjusticelaw.org/wp-content/u...

Funny that the OpenAI foundation launched today.

I was just thinking about a Fuck Up(s) Fund, where AI investors would be required to tithe a portion of their investment into a fund designed to clean up their messes.

Like 50% or so.

Who could have guessed.

Reddit User Uncovers Who Is Behind Meta’s $2B Lobbying for Invasive Age Verification Tech Meta funneled $2B through nonprofit shells to push age verification laws targeting Apple and Google while exempting its own platforms from surveillance requirements.

"A Reddit researcher just exposed how Meta funneled over *$2 billion* through shadowy nonprofits to push age verification laws that would force Apple and Google to build surveillance infrastructure into every device—while conveniently exempting Meta’s own platforms from the same requirements."

Thanks for listening! I found it pretty revelatory even though I've listened to her podcast / talked to her before. It's SO hard to focus on framing messaging about the aims but it's a skill that I think we (very broadly!) needs learn...

Great piece!

The Ends of AI Sycophancy and psychosis

I wrote about AI --
but, really, about the close proximity to psychosis it brings us all to... a trillion dollar project to detach us all from reality, one way or another...

disjunctionsmag.com/articles/end...