💥 New publication out on the alignment of AI & authoritarianism 💥
We argue that AI is not simply extending, but actively modulating, key dynamics of authoritarianism, and present a flexible analytical framework to account for these changes.
rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
🚨New article🚨 Why has the promise of universal ownership been broken, as @benbraun.bsky.social has suggested?
Our argument: because the Big Three are hardly universal. They mainly invest in those that can insulate themselves from environmental harm - big tech & financials in the Global North.
🧵
Thanks for sharing!
Rethinking urban AI: a critical posthumanist perspective on intelligence, autonomy, and agency by @fabio-iapaolo.bsky.social and @casey-lynch.bsky.social in Urban Geography www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Excited to share a new open access article with @casey-lynch.bsky.social, just out in @urbangeography.bsky.social:
"Rethinking urban AI: a critical posthumanist perspective on intelligence, autonomy, and agency":
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
New article in Urban Geography! @fabio-iapaolo.bsky.social and I question concepts of intelligence, autonomy, and agency in urban AI literature through a discussion of the critical posthumanisms of Braidotti, Latour, and (in particular) Hayles to multiply the sites and actors of urban AI politics.
Governance can't be automated. A new one from me in @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Please use this form to submit information identifying specific NSF grants that have been cancelled for any reason after January 20, 2025. We are tracking these grants to increase transparency, organize affected PIs, and facilitate responses, including via litigation. Please share the form as widely as possible with your networks. We are actively building a pipeline to organize these terminations and will soon have a tracker akin to our NIH grant tracker at https://airtable.com/appjhyo9NTvJLocRy/shrNto1NNp9eJlgpA WE WILL NOT DISCLOSE THE IDENTITY OF ANYONE WHO USES THIS FORM TO PROVIDE INFORMATION. We will keep your identity confidential. These resources are maintained by Noam Ross of rOpenSci and Scott Delaney of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, with input and support from additional volunteers. For any questions, please contact Scott Delaney on Signal (sdelaney.84).
If you’re comfortable, here’s a form to submit info on terminated NSF grants for greater collective transparency and insight among grantees:
Kudos to @scott-delaney.bsky.social for putting together.
airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...
A farm worker sitting on the tractor he uses to move the grinder
It's pruning season in the wine vineyards. on CAs Central Coast. Gerardo is grinding the branches and trunks that other workers pruned to make mulch that will be used to control weeds, improve soil health, and help the vines withstand extreme temperatures. #WeFeedYou
Iveson, K., & Melo Zurita, M. de L. (2025). The ups and downs of telecommunications infrastructure: the urban geopolitics of communications cabling in colonial Sydney. Australian Geographer, 1–31.
#geosky
First proper article in five years, due to life stuff. If you’re interested in work, automation, the future & imagination this may be of interest #geosky
doi.org/10.1177/0263...
@sophiamaalsen.bsky.social @thomas-dekeyser.bsky.social and I are hoping to organize a session on the theme of 'Authoritarianism and the Geographies of AI' at this year's RGS-IBG (26-29 August 2025, Birmingham, UK). Please consider submitting! #geography #rgs
Have you always wanted to learn about social and ethical dimensions of geotechnologies? #GéoTechE free online course now open for sign up! www.geoversity.io/courses/geot... Including introduction to #CriticalRemoteSensising #GeoAIEthics #CriticalDataStudies and much much more!
“African Tech Workers Rising is organising for better wages, mental health protections and professional standards in Kenya and beyond. We are doing this because AI is not magic. Behind every algorithm are thousands of hidden workers labelling, training & moderating data under precarious conditions.”
📣 CfP ALGORITHMIC REFUSAL: CREATIVITY AND CODEABILITY IN DIGITAL URBAN GOVERNANCE
@rgsibg.bsky.social conference in Birmingham.
Organisers: @ayonadatta.bsky.social @fennaimara.bsky.social and Mariana Reyes
DEADLINE for abstracts: 21st February 2025. 👇
www.regionalfutures.org/all-outputs/...
I had the pleasure of reading and reviewing @erinmcel.bsky.social “Silicon Valley Imperialism” published by @dukepress.bsky.social. Spoiler alert: it’s excellent! You can read my review in Dialogues in Urban Research here: doi.org/10.1177/2754...
May we stop entertaining industry self-regulation as a viable constraint now?
Are you thinking through questions about authoritarianism & AI? Do you like geographers? If so, please consider this session on ‘Authoritarianism and the Geographies of AI’ by @casey-lynch.bsky.social & @thomas-dekeyser.bsky.social & myself which we are hoping to get up at this year’s RGS-IBG.
@sophiamaalsen.bsky.social @thomas-dekeyser.bsky.social and I are hoping to organize a session on the theme of 'Authoritarianism and the Geographies of AI' at this year's RGS-IBG (26-29 August 2025, Birmingham, UK). Please consider submitting! #geography #rgs
👆Presentations by fantastic scholars @samkinsley.uk @sophiamaalsen.bsky.social @marxist.af @casey-lynch.bsky.social Matt Zook, Jingya Dai, Sanjana Krishnan, Otello Palmini, Luis Lozano-Paredes, Elizabeth Resor.
Thrilled to announce our triple session on 'Urban AI Spectrums' in the @geographers.bsky.social #AAG2025 meeting in Detroit. Co-organised with Federico Cugurullo and Caprotti.
Join us on 26 March 2025, Room 330A, Level 3, Huntington Place.
www.regionalfutures.org/all-outputs/...
Cualquier posibilidad de negociación colectiva desaparece. Una especie de espiral del silencio. Se debe considerar la culminación del modelo socioeconómico neocapitalista. Al menos, hasta ahora… ¿Podría comenzar a cambiar?
#GenteConClase Nº 79 “Caso Glovo o el principio del fin de la precariedad pedaleante” #PincharElGlovo
genteconclase.ccoo.es
Las personas empleadas en las plataformas como Glovo no establecen una relación de dependencia en el trabajo respecto a otras personas, sino respecto a un algoritmo opaco.
“While SB 1120 does not entirely prohibit the use of AI technology, it mandates that human judgment remains central to coverage decisions. Under the new law, AI tools cannot be used to deny, delay or alter health care services deemed medically necessary by doctors.”
Barcelona now the European spyware centre, especially for Israeli experts avoiding the live war for cybercrime thinly disguised www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
«Por definición, las empresas, no importa las buenas intenciones que tengan, no se pueden autorregular. Eso tiene que venir de fuera. Lo raro sería que, en la historia, todas las industrias se hayan regulado menos esta» www.mujerhoy.com/actualidad/s...
“Algorithm glitches are one facet of a dilemma that computer scientists and doctors have long acknowledged but that is starting to puzzle hospital executives and researchers: Artificial intelligence systems require consistent monitoring and staffing to put in place and to keep them working well.”
BREAKING: Amazon warehouse workers in Garner, NC have filed for a union election after three years of organizing.
If they win, RDU1 would be the second unionized warehouse in the U.S.
Happening now: Amazon Labor Union workers and supporters are rallying outside JFK8 on Staten Island ahead of a midnight strike due to Amazon refusing to come to the bargaining table following a Dec. 15 deadline.
#STRIKEMAS
