We, the makers of the machines, are more than the sum of our parts. Let’s domesticate tech to aid human flourishing.
The machines are fine. I'm worried about us.
On AI agents, grunt work, and the part of science that isn't replaceable.
Taking on the Technosphere: A Kitchen Debate
In his original writings on the technosphere from the early 2010s, Peter Haff identified its existence as a grand metabolizing system. Back in early 2016, spurred on by the preparation for HKW’s Anthropocene Campus: The Technosphere Issue, a vehement debate sprang up in the home of science and technology scholars Gabrielle Hecht and Paul N. Edwards: How valid is Haff’s approach? What is its overall reality? And what is its heuristic purpose? In this republication of their dispute, you, the reader, can engage alongside Hecht and Edwards in the ongoing question of whether the concept of the technosphere is indeed “a useful tool,” “silverware,” or “a barren gadget” in understanding the current and future condition of planet Earth.
Coming of a New Sun
Reporter Jenny Gesteson visits a south Texas 'dark factory' to see how the machines there - and the minds that operate them - are learning to run themselves.
Elphinstone Farm (and regenerative solarpunk lab)
An aspiring small-scale agritech solarpunk venture on the Sunshine Coast, BC — building syntropic agroforestry labs, a native plant nursery, and a collaborative workspace.
A Research Lab for Open Source ✸ Software Stewardship Lab
Today, we're launching a world-class research lab dedicated to Open Source sustainability with a team of some of the most experienced people in the world.
Nature is Laughing at the AI Build Out -
I was catching up on Acquired episodes this week and listened to the spectacular “Google: The AI Company” episode that Ben and David put together. What the two of them have created with their podcast fascinates me in the inevitability of its success. I think Acquired proves that if you are smart and work your […]
The Machines Ran on Anguish
I The machines ran on anguish. Everybody knew that. How? “It’s very scientific.” – the Guild would say – “You wouldn’t understand.” The machines were also very dangerous, or so it was claimed. “But we
Aristotle Explorations Inc.
San Francisco Bay Area software company working on creating the machine that creates the machine.
After Forty Years, Still No Silver Bullet
As always, technology can help with production. What’s scarce is orientation.
Michael R. Crusoe (@biocrusoe@fairpoints.social)
Oh, I like this part > No AI-generated text in human-to-human communication > When our maintainers volunteer their time to review your issue, PR, or proposal, they do not want to talk to a machine. This is a basic principle of respect. https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@godotengine/116839550229253906
The brutal trade-off that will decide the future of food
A growing number of thinkers say factory farming can help save the planet. Are they right?
Appropriate Measures — Real Life
Changing the tech we use is not enough to mitigate the environmental and social harm of mass technology
Resonant Computing Lab
A movement is quietly gaining momentum. For some time, the Resonant Computing Manifesto circulated among a small circle of technologists and thinkers. Within days of going public, more than 1,200 signatories—including Alan Kay, Peter Wang, Tim O'Reilly, Kevin Kelly and Esther Dyson—joined the call for software that serves human agency.
Anthropomorphism Is Breaking Our Ability to Judge AI
Tech Policy Press fellow James Ball asks, how should we interact with a technology designed to ‘speak’ with us on what appear to be human terms?
