Turning a Technology into a concrete thing that does something requires a lot of decisions, and most of those decisions are about what NOT to do. This is not solely a commercial pressure, but the nature of the game - the ways scientists package their own tools is often extremely limited. - ThreadSky

spavel.bsky.social • 29 days ago

Turning a Technology into a concrete thing that does something requires a lot of decisions, and most of those decisions are about what NOT to do.

This is not solely a commercial pressure, but the nature of the game - the ways scientists package their own tools is often extremely limited.

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capnrickysully.bsky.social•29 days ago

The state of Kansas realized that technology had the capacity to replace laws and government. It built all three branches of government into its state IT structure specifically because it’s not “neutral”. Just look at all the institutions advising its IT policy.

https://www.ebit.ks.gov/resources/governance/it-executive-council/itab

stl8k.bsky.social•29 days ago

I didn't seen any commercial institutions at the link, but expected to?

capnrickysully.bsky.social•29 days ago

They have other boards that involve the private sector. This one is solely concerned with the ensuring that IT structure and policy reflect state governance. So all three branches have a say.

spavel.bsky.social•29 days ago

The decisions that go into those tools embed additional values into the technology. The tool creates a new path of least resistance - this activity is now easier to do, which makes it a preferred course of action over this other activity.

But different activities also attain different outcomes.

spavel.bsky.social•29 days ago

An architect once said that he could tell what version of CAD was used to make a blueprint, just by looking at it.

By making certain activities preferable to others, any tool (regardless of whether it's cutting edge IT or a new kind of pasta shape maker) changes the set of *possible outcomes*.

spavel.bsky.social•29 days ago

If you're still following - even if the underlying technology were neutral (and it can't be), you don't interface with "pure technology." The act of wrapping a technological capability inside a tool that actually does something imprints your values onto the world through the something that you chose

jazznix.bsky.social•28 days ago

Yes! The imperfect logic of the human brain leaves huge gaps of rationale based on bias; A.K.A - you only hear the cricket amidst the din of Times Square if you're listening for it. But we keep building biased systems that ignore our world's crickets as a factor.

susankayequinn.bsky.social•29 days ago

I figure you would appreciate this

spavel.bsky.social•29 days ago

And then you have to go and put that thing out into the world.

spavel.bsky.social•29 days ago

AI is not "a neutral technology" because every single one of these three dimensions skews its impact towards far right goals:
- the underlying tech reproduces bias
- the form factor of it sidelines expertise
- the way it's productized breaks down critical thinking and labor power

dudedoeslife.bsky.social•29 days ago

Don't forget the environmental impact.

tylerbranston.bsky.social•29 days ago

This thread is 👌👌 and exactly what I wrote a book on, but how the technology of AI only arises because of Christian-Platonic asceticism and the idea of human inferiority. It’s a technology overflowing with bias and dangerous assumptions about humanity.

https://www.amazon.ca/Artificial-General-Intelligence-Spirit-Science/dp/B0F2M3NNGK/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=20YX6L72AUQZA&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.YeQXV6x1xVvzzXDgZLVqSg.qQ2FBs8Fqba2Qbpxjrt7mUZbECYpFbXUCaq2Of0agXc&dib_tag=se&keywords=tyler+branston&qid=1745939246&sprefix=tyler+branston%2Caps%2C183&sr=8-1

spavel.bsky.social•29 days ago

"Tech is neutral" is really just the "guns don't kill people, people kill people" argument reused.

Sure, guns don't have agency. But they have what's called affordance - they are designed to make killing as easy as possible, which makes murder a viable* solution for a greater range of problems.

goldavelez.org•29 days ago

hey its a weapon and i am definitely not about to unilaterally disarm

ericallyn.bsky.social•29 days ago

I think the "tech is neutral" thing is closely related to the tendency of people - especially cis-het white guys - to think of their own perspectives as neutral (and rational).

spavel.bsky.social•29 days ago

"I came to all my conclusions from first principles" -- guy who listens to 16 hours of Marc Andresseen podcasts a day

marbiek.bsky.social•29 days ago

This is a 100% true, and sometimes you can even pinpoint the version

stl8k.bsky.social•29 days ago

Send them this (award-winning research), tell them to read and send excerpts of what truths/lessons they took from it, and engage accordingly.

sigmundfrood.bsky.social•29 days ago

Is it incorrect to say that the argument you’re making can be summed up that “the more complex a technology is, the less neutral it can be”? I’m trying to male sure I understand because if that’s the case, then yes I wholeheartedly agree.

spavel.bsky.social•28 days ago

Let me answer your question with a song

A gun kills many men before it's done
Hundreds
Long before you shoot the gun
Men in the mines to dig the iron
Men in the mills to forge the steel
Men at machines to turn the barrel, mold the trigger, shape the wheel

sigmundfrood.bsky.social•29 days ago

And I mean that very literally. I can’t see a shovel being very biased but I can definitely see a steam shovel as something that can’t have neutrality.

jazznix.bsky.social•28 days ago

I can. I have rough sketches of a biased, yet fault-tolerant push shovel, based on my arthritic shoulder. Though that tech could be expounded to extend the lives of snowplows, it'll never see fruition. Most enabled of means switch to powered shovels, etc., once it hurts their arms.

sigmundfrood.bsky.social•28 days ago

I was referring more to the massive digging machines used before the advent of hydraulic excavators.

jazznix.bsky.social•28 days ago

Yes, and my point is my idea might go viral and influence wrongly on the larger shovel market. A similar pattern emerged after synthesizers caught on in the early '80's, and pop bled with bad synth songs rushed to production. We see the same with early AI.

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