[AI Skeptics] Techno-Negative, chapter 2 (+extra)
Hello! We're reading Techno-Negative by Thomas Dekeyser and continuing with chapter 2: "Prohibition: Medieval Demonology of Machines".
I'm also going to point us to another text of... ecclesiastical focus?
If you have any extra time, please consider reading this interview between Gavin Jacobson (founding editor of Equator) with Antonio Spadaro (advisor to the Pope): "To Dwell in Possibility". I don't think I've linked to this before, and I'm keen to see if people draw connections or ideas after reading the chapter.
(You can find a reading schedule at the bottom of the email)
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Ok, let's get back to the rest of the thing.
routine stuff
As a reminder, there are a few good ways to keep up with the reading group:
- newsletter: I send updates on Mondays and Thursdays. In the Monday updates, I'll point to what to read; in the Thursday updates, I'll send some reflections and an icebreaker question to think about, and a reminder of where & how to join the video chat.
- video chats: Thursdays at 8pm ET we have a video chat on jitsi where we talk about the week's readings.
- group chat: if you want to chat with people, we have a few pretty active group chats: You can join our signal group chat (but keep in mind that Signal doesn't have some features for big group chats that make projects like Discord and Slack popular). I'm also experimenting with Fluxer, a service pretty similar to Discord and Slack, but without ID verification requirements and all that stuff. There are a number of channels there, and in my opinion it's much better-structured for conversations to branch off manageably. If a Signal chat with 300+ people sounds overwhelming, I think you might find Fluxer more appealing.
reading plans
Here's my reading plan for Techno-Negative:
| Reading | Week of... |
|---|---|
| Introduction: "Burning Down Artifice: Technology, Negativity, and Ontological Policing" | June 29 |
| Chapter 1: "Delay: Homo Humanus and the Ontological Horror of Technē" | July 6 |
| Chapter 2: "Prohibition: Medieval Demonology of Machines" | July 13 |
| Chapter 3: "Breaking: State Luddites, Predators, and a Capitalist Theory of Law" | July 20 |
| Chapter 4: "Indifference: Techno-Colonialism, Onticide, and the Limits of Posthumanism" | July 27 |
| Chapter 5: "Extinguishing: Vandals and Epistemics on Black Boulevard" | August 3 |
| Chapter 6: "Exodus: Phobia and (Techno-)Rationalism in an Epoch of Planetary Technicity" | August 10 |
| Chapter 7: "Arson: An Entropic History of Computation" | August 17 |
| Conclusions: "Against a Humanist Politics: Techno-Abolitionist Beginnings" | August 24 |
If you're worried that you don't have time to catch up, I can offer that I'm aiming to have us read about 20 pages per week, with something relevant or timely alongside that week's reading when I think of it. I think if you make a goal of it, it's not too late to order the book and skim to catch up.
It's also fine to just chill in the video chats, even if you didn't get to the reading that week. On any given day/week, I assume someone has reached the end of their rope and they just need a place to decompress. If this is that place for you, you're totally welcome here.
after this book
... I have very tentative ideas for what we'll read after Techno-Negative, but if you have suggestions, I'd love to hear them.
last thoughts
If you come across something you think we'd like to read, I'd love to hear about it; contact me.
Okay, that's it for now; see you Thursday.