Hello. This week, we're finishing Resisting AI by Dan McQuillan. Here's what I'll be reading:

• Resisting AI, Chapter 7: "Anti-fascist AI"
• "AI: The New Aesthetics of Fascism" by Gareth Watkins in New Socialist

Also, here are some other interesting articles I've seen lately:

• Brian Merchant in Blood in the Machine: "Actually, the left is winning the AI debate"
• Matthew Gault in 404 Media: "Amazon Data Centers on Fire After Iranian Missile Strikes on Dubai"

time-sensitive stuff

video chat time & date

This week, we're not meeting on Thursday; we are meeting on Sunday afternoon.

We have an opportunity to speak with Dan McQuillan about Resisting AI and about developments since the book came out, but in the interest of chatting at a reasonable hour of the day, we're going to move our video chat this one time to Sunday at 2pm. We'll go back to Thursday evenings next week.

(I also want to point out that Daylight Saving Time in much of the United States (for example in Michigan) starts over the weekend, meaning your clocks go forward by an hour on Sunday, so this might be doubly confusing.)

We'll have the same format and plan - I'll send an email an hour before we start, possibly with an icebreaker question to help prime us to have a conversation. If you keep an eye on your inbox, things should be fine.

next book

We're starting Why We Fear AI next week; if you're just joining us (or if it snuck up on you), and if you want a hard copy, please order the book as soon as you possibly can.

If you want an ebook, then I guess you can order it whenever you want and this is actually not that urgent.

subscribe

You're viewing this on the web; if you subscribe, you'll get these updates in your inbox (as well as updates that don't get archived).

(okay, let's get back to it)

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.

schedule

Here's most of what we've read these past few weeks. I'm clearing this out and starting fresh with next week's email, so if you wanted to copy over links, this is the last time you'll see this particular arrangement of links and stuff.

next books

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.

last thoughts

I'm working through a list of good articles, zines, and other stuff people have sent me, and I'd like to schedule guests to come chat with us each week and help us tie together our understanding and struggles against AI initiatives and projects (like the UM-LANL datacenter) to other facets of our lives, and other movements and struggles. If you have suggestions (or if you've written or produced something you'd like to share), I'd love to hear about it; contact me.

Okay, that's it; see you on Sunday to discuss the book.