Kickoff For February 17, 2025
After a weekend away house hunting, it's back to the grind. Not that preparing The Monday Kickoff is part of that grind. It's one of the parts of the week to which I actually look forward.
With that out of the way, let's get Monday started with these links:
What Is Distributed Computing? — Wherein Max G. Levy looks at the history and uses of something many of us have heard about but which not all of us understand (fully or otherwise).
From the article:
Hundreds of CERN scientists would collaborate on a single experiment, and the giant detectors that they used created an enormous volume of raw data that had to be analyzed. Distributed computing allowed these researchers to efficiently share the computational load between giant mainframes and individual workstations, even if those machines came from different manufacturers and used different operating systems. This type of work paved the way for reliable intercontinental collaboration and, eventually, email.
Improv-da — Wherein David V. Johnson looks at how surveillance capitalism firm Palantir adopted, and co-opted, the concepts and techniques of improvisational theatre to mold its business model and serve its own ends.
From the article:
Insofar as Palantir is a cult like Scientology, Impro is its Dianetics. Only here, the famed character “audit” isn’t the recruitment tool that it is for L. Ron Hubbard’s devoted minions. No, the central inventory of your inner psychic assets comes later in Palantir’s improvisational odyssey. And in contrast to the Scientology-branded version, it doesn’t cost you money—except, that is, in foregone salary and stock windfalls.
Bad influence — Wherein we step into the almost unreal world of the so-called Amazon influencer, get a look at how two of them are in a battle over one copying the other's aesthetic, and learn about what role copyright is playing in this silliness.
From the article:
In another world, these two parallel lives could go on indefinitely, accented by the same cream furniture, without crossing paths. But the same systems that make the careers of Sheil and Gifford possible — fine-tuned recommendation algorithms, affiliate marketing, fast fashion and cheap home goods — are now entangling them in a legal battle around ownership, style, and the creator industry.
On the Ethics of Writing With AIs — Wherein, in an essay from 2022, Carlos Baquero explores that and provides ideas and arguments that are still valid today.
From the article:
We have seen ample evidence of the potential and risks of blended writing with AIs. One of the main risks is its ability to create convincing content that is factually wrong. The algorithm is not tuned for fact-checking, it is tuned to produce credible content. I believe it has no means to distinguish fiction from reality. This makes the co-creation of non-fiction content much more challenging.
The Beginning of the End of Big Tech — Wherein Meredith Whittaker ponders the fall from grace of, and backlash against, huge technology corporations and what that could mean in the short and longer terms.
From the article:
And just as the money people are joining in critique, they’re also exploring investments in new paradigms. A crop of tech investors are developing models of funding for mission alignment, focusing on tech that rejects surveillance, social control, and all the bullshit.
The cult of the ‘Spoons’: Inside the spartan, cavernous pubs that divide Britain — Wherein Will Noble tries to explain the appeal of, and the reasons why people despise, the Weatherspoon chain of pubs, establishments that (inadvertently) followed the template for a pub set out in one of George Orwell's essays.
From the article:
The more you try to explain what a Wetherspoon is, the more you realize it must be seen to be understood. Martin — a man so lofty and square-jawed, he was once mistaken by a small child for Frankenstein’s monster — has created a freak of a pub empire, stitched together from the discarded limbs and organs of Britain’s architectural heritage. A beast of epic proportions like this comes imbued with its own legends.