[AI Skeptics] Techno-Negative, chapter 6
Hello! We're reading Techno-Negative by Thomas Dekeyser and continuing with chapter 6: "Exodus: Phobia and (Techno-)Rationalism in an Epoch of Planetary Technicity".
next books
If you're just recently joining us, you may find it difficult to catch up in time and might prefer to acquire the next book (or next few books) and get yourself ready to join at the next book. To that end, I think I'm ready to lay out our next three books:
After Techno-Negative, we'll read The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy by Gil Durán. We'll start The Nerd Reich on August 31, so preorder it at bookshop.org or put in a request at your local library ASAP.
After The Nerd Reich, we'll read The Eye of the Master by Matteo Pasquinelli. I think we'll get to this around the end of September. Please plan accordingly (it may be available at your local library already, but if not, you might consider asking them to acquire it).
After The Eye of the Master, we'll read Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech's Data Empires by Paris Marx. The book launches October 20, so my goal is to arrive at the doorstep of the launch, (more or less) ready to start the book.
(I usually don't plan this far in advance, so I hope this roadmap is helpful. If it is, I'll try to continue to plan ahead like this.)
to do
Buy or reserve the following books at your local library (with descending urgency):
- Preorder The Nerd Reich by Gil Durán (August 31)
- The Eye of the Master by Matteo Pasquinelli (appx end of September)
- Preorder Hyperscale by Paris Marx (October 19)
Also: I recently I made a page on bookshop.org to list the books we've been reading and will be reading going forward. If you want to point someone to a rundown of what we've been reading, this is an easy option: AI Skeptics Books on Bookshop.org.
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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: We're using Fluxer, which is similar to Discord or Slack. We also have a signal group chat (but keep in mind that Signal group chats can get overwhelming, especially at large scales).
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 |
I'll figure out our week-by-week reading plans for the next few books soon, but we'll start The Nerd Reich on August 31.
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.