Communications of the ACM
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How the “Frontier” Became the Slogan of Uncontrolled AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been billed as the next frontier of humanity: the newly available expanse whose exploration …
From Apophenia
Brain Candy, STS Opportunities, and Girl Scouts
I know I’ve been doing a crap job of sharing updates or juicy blog posts. Sorry! Here are some varied updates. And hopefully I’ll pen a proper commentary shortly...
From Apophenia
The 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...
From Apophenia
Still Trying to Ignore the Metaverse
Perhaps surprisingly, I don’t particularly like technology. And certainly not technology for technology’s sake. My brother was always the one who picked up every...
From Apophenia
Too 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...
From Apophenia
Deskilling on the Job
When 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...
From Apophenia
Protect 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...
From Apophenia
Resisting Deterministic Thinking
AI 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...
From Apophenia
What 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...
From Apophenia
Differential Perspectives
This update is to let you know about a new essay that’s now online in in-press form: “Differential Perspectives: Epistemic Disconnects Surrounding the US Census...
From Apophenia
Crisis Text Line, from my perspective
Like everyone who cares about Crisis Text Line and the people we serve, I have spent the last few days reflecting on recent critiques about the organization’s practices...
From Apophenia
The Muddled Speech of Numbers: Blood clots, COVID-19 vaccines, and statistical risk
Earlier this week, the CDC paused the roll-out of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccination after 6 women experienced serious blood clots. Their caution has merit...
From Apophenia
Behind every algorithm, there be politics.
In my first class in computer science, I was taught that an algorithm is simply a way of expressing formal rules given to a computer. Computers like rules. They...
From Apophenia
The US Federal Government Needs a VP of Engineering, not a CTO
If you look at the roster of the Biden-Harris transition team, it’s quickly apparent that the incoming administration is tech-forward. Given the systematic dismantlement...
From Apophenia
Teens Are Addicted to Socializing, Not Screens
Screenagers in the time of coronavirus. (This was originally written for OneZero.) If you’re a parent trying to corral your children into attending “school” online...
From Apophenia
Joyfully Geeking Out
In 2015, I was invited to join the Commerce Department’s Data Advisory Council. Truth be told, I was kinda oblivious to what this was all about. I didn’t know much...
From Apophenia
Facing the Great Reckoning Head-On
I was recently honored by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Alongside Oakland Privacy and William Gibson, I received a 2019 Barlow/Pioneer Award. I was asked...
From Apophenia
Agnotology and Epistemological Fragmentation
On April 17, 2019, I gave a talk at the Digital Public Library of America conference (DPLAfest). This is the transcript of that talk. I love the librarian community...
From Apophenia
The Messy Fourth Estate
(This post was originally posted on Medium.) For the second time in a week, my phone buzzed with a New York Times alert, notifying me that another celebrity had...
From Apophenia
The case for quarantining extremist ideas
(Joan Donovan and I wrote the following op-ed for The Guardian.) When confronted with white supremacists, newspaper editors should consider ‘strategic silence’...
From Apophenia