Liz Cultivates | L.M. Fern

Well, we did it again.

I thought we had said most of what actually needed to be said about artificial intelligence and how we feel about it. It’s basically a sexier way to say “applied statistics,” the hype cycle around it is exhausting, and whether or not it’s a useful product, the way people talk about it like it’s the next sliced bread is . . . we’ll say problematic.

I guess we weren’t done talking about it, though, because we spent another hour and change walking through some of the conferences I attended over the last six months. I work in the tech field (specifically education technology) and in going to some of these events, I was able to see the hype cycle firsthand. It was fun, and exhausting, and a little worrisome.

I say this in the show, but I’ll write it here too: All of these opinions are my own. I did attend these things as part of my job, and I had fun and learned a lot. It’s important to me that we learn all we can about these tools and get as much context as possible. But there are some trends here that I wanted to call out — especially in terms of content creation, artistic endeavors, copyright issues, and more. And I did not have an opportunity to say this in the show, but: There are a lot of people doing good work and thinking critically about these issues. In fact, one session I attended was about artificial intelligence and copyright law, and how it’s not so clear-cut. But these things I say with my mouth are my own opinions, and I am sure others have much more nuanced thoughts than I.

I do worry that we as a society spend too much time talking about how great and cool these tools are, how they can drive innovation and efficiencies. Why are we driving efficiencies? To create more content? To ultimately produce more labor? As someone on a journey trying to define why labor, work, and productivity are important beyond their contributions to maintaining capitalism, lauding these tools because they allow us to work more seems . . . uh . . . bad.

Anyway, please enjoy our latest episode. I promise that after this, we are done talking about AI for a while.

David Golumbia retrospective, part 1: "Is Wario cyberlibertarian?" – Literally 2 Cents About Content!

Alex and Liz discuss only some of the works of linguist, philosopher, and academic David Golumbia, including:  The Cultural Logic of Computation (2009) The Politics of Bitcoin: Software as Right-Wing Extremism (2016) Cyberlibertarianism: The Right-Wing Politics of Digital Technology (2024) Technology and Silicon Valley are often associated with left-leaning politics. Still, various causes (SOPA/PIPA discourse, internet publication and copyright discourse, digital innovation) have roots in libertarian or conservative and reactionary narratives. Golumbia’s work shows that it’s difficult (read: impossible) to divorce reactionary values from Silicon Valley and its staunchest supporters. Reading list: The Great White Robot God A declaration of the independence of cyberspace The Language of Science and the Science of Language: Chomsky's Cartesianism  

1. David Golumbia retrospective, part 1: "Is Wario cyberlibertarian?" 01:36:50
2. An insult to dumpsters and fires 01:19:03
3. Book club: Kate Manne's "Unshrinking" 01:25:52
4. Unspoiled paradise of streaming content 01:24:17
5. Our most hated "content" words 01:26:52