Hello. This week there's some special info (about our video chat this week, and also about a potential run of stickers), so please read on to learn more.

Welcome (or welcome back) - we're reading Why We Fear AI by Hagen Blix & Ingeborg Glimmer.

Last week we read chapter 1. This week, we'll keep moving along; please note that I'm altering this week's schedule to accommodate some guests; read on to the section "unique stuff this week" for more info.

• Why We Fear AI chapter 2: "Resistance is Futile: There is No Alternative"
• "Open Letter: End the University of Edinburgh's Contract with OpenAI"

(If you haven't ordered Why We Fear AI, please place an order as soon as possible - you can order it here as an ebook or physical copy.)

This week I wanted to point everyone to an example of people at a university outside of the United States - at the University of Edinburgh - pushing for administrators to end their university's contract with OpenAI. The letter (linked above) has more resources to chew on if you read something you want to know more about, and I encourage you to follow whatever links (both literal hyperlinks, and links as in connections) you see that you're interested in.

One of the reasons I'm so keen on this letter is because I think a lot of universities (and other workplaces) have dragged AI initiatives into the landscape so abruptly and with so little discussion that it sometimes feels like people have forgotten that they can (and should) exercise autonomy over what kinds of conditions they have to work under from the outset. We're not obligated to accept things all the way up until they get unbearable; we can look at this arrangement (or any other) and say "no, change it" without giving that management initiative time to immiserate us.

I'm also really keen to hear how they tactically chose these boundaries (naming OpenAI's shortcomings specifically; drawing attention to the particular commitments the University of Edinburgh has made; etc...), but I'll digress for now. I'll just let it suffice to say that I'm looking forward to trade notes with, and learn from, a parallel like-minded effort.

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(okay, let's get back to it)

unique stuff this week

special guest(s) this week

Usually we meet on Thursdays at 8pm ET; I'm going to shift our video chat just for this week to Sunday at 1pm ET (5pm UTC) so that we can have guests from the University of Edinburgh join us and talk about the open letter, and so we can ask them questions and "trade notes" as organizers, so to speak. I'm super excited to hear from them, and I hope you look forward to it as well.

As with the last time we did something like this, I'll send an email an hour before the video chat, so if you just keep an eye out for that email in your inbox, you should be good.

stickers? (optional) premium subscription?

Would people be interested in stickers? I won't make any promises, but they would probably look something like one or several of these "paper prototypes", but with vinyl backing:

A little while ago I got to thinking about getting some simple stickers printed, namely for the campaign to stop the UM-LANL data center project, but you all might also have some feelings about data centers and AI in general, and want to share those feelings in sticker format.

I made a couple of "paper prototypes" (above), with slogans/messages like

"fuck off with your data center"

"fuck AI"

"all bots are cops"

(h/t @hypervisible.blacksky.app for that last one)

If you have suggestions or feel strongly in favor of one design or another, please get in touch.

Premium subscriptions & stickers

Short version: if you want to support the reading group/newsletter, you can upgrade to a paid subscription (pay what you want). If we happen to get past $50/month, I'll have stickers printed and send some to you.

It's unclear if I can justify getting a run of stickers made; decent vinyl-backed stickers cost some money to get a run of prints started (the per-sticker cost is low, especially on large runs, but initial/startup costs make it extremely preferable to lean into economies of scale and get a huge run of stickers made).

I realized that one way to gauge interest and support would be to let people pitch in to support the newsletter if you want to do that (and if you have the spare cash).

If you're not interested in stickers, or in helping pay for the cost of Buttondown, that's totally fine; the reading group will continue unless I absolutely can't continue it (for totally non-financial reasons).

On the other hand, if you're in a position to do so, and you want to, you can upgrade your subscription here and become a premium subscriber.

(Premium doesn't come with any additional content or other guaranteed perks. Please only upgrade if you want to help offset the operating costs of the reading group, like the Buttondown account.)

If it looks like we'll clear the monthly costs and get a little extra (let's aim for $50/month), I'll email everyone to say we made it, order the stickers, and send some stickers to all the premium subscribers (at any level) as soon as the stickers arrive in my hands.

(Yes, that means you could jump in after we reach the goal, if you want to do that; that's honestly totally fine. There's just a slight chance that a critical mass of people will all be waiting for the signal to jump in, and it'll never happen. That seems unlikely, but it would be funny, so I felt like pointing it out.)

I'll say again because I don't want anyone to be disappointed: please don't subscribe if money is tight, or if you're expecting the stickers as a guarantee. If we get stickers made, I'll announce to everyone that we reached the goal. If money is really tight, or if you're a student or something, just email me and I'll try and get you some stickers.

(if I'm really overwhelmed by subscriptions, I'll look into holographic stickers, or doing additional runs with different designs, or just scaling up the order; I'll figure it out, but please @ me on Signal or email me if you have preferences)

routine stuff

If you've read these emails before, this is mostly the same stuff as last week (except for the discount code at the end). You can probably skip it if you're caught up.

format

As a reminder, there are numerous 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 an icebreaker question to think about, and a reminder of where & how to join the video chat later that day.
• video chats: Thursdays at 8pm ET we have a video chat on jitsi¹ where we talk about that week's readings. Sometimes we'll have a guest to talk about something related to what we read that week.
• group chat: if you want to chat with people on signal, we have a pretty active group chat. You can join the signal group chat here.

schedule

Here's my tentative schedule for the book. I'm not including the additional readings, but I'm thinking about ways to archive what we read each week - it just doesn't fit well in a table sent via email. If you have suggestions (the signal chat has recommended Zotero - if you have thoughts; please join the signal chat and let us know.)

next book(s)

After Why We Fear AI, we'll read Disabling Intelligences by Rua Williams. If you go to the link to order the book, I've been advised that the discount code PALAUT will give you a 20% discount on the book. Please order the book at your earliest convenience!

I'm also thinking about what our book after Disabling Intelligences will be; if you have suggestions, please feel free to reach out and make a suggestion!

last thoughts

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, etc... please feel free to reach out. Talk soon.

Also, 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; see you Thursday to discuss the chapter and other reading.