Neo-Luddite Reading Group

Schedule Resources Race After Tech.

Time and Place:⊕

"🤖🔨❤️" -B. Merchant

Contact:
neoluddite@victorgom.es
Twitter
Bluesky
Substack Roughly 2nd and 4th Wednesday each month 6:30-8:30 EST virtually, with hosting provided by Iffy Books

Email neoluddite@victorgom.es, or sign up at iffy to be added to the mailing list! Necessary for receiving the jitsi link (video-conferencing software we will use) and if you'd like to join the discord.

The issues and harms surrounding emerging technologies are especially concerning given the lack of regulation in the tech industry generally, and the tendency of productivity-increasing technology to further concentrate power in the hands of the few. This reading group will explore these risks and engage with how they work in the hopes of better organizing to protect the rights of workers and individuals. The goal is to have a better understanding of the costs (data, carbon, human labor) and risks (misinformation, unpredictability, bias) of making these machines, as well as limitations in what they can learn about the world primarily through data scraped from the internet.

We're currently reading Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech by Brian Merchant. Our next book is slated to be The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff.

Archived pages of our previous books include: Resisting AI, The Human Use of Human Beings, Race After Technology. If you'd like to learn more about me, you can visit victorgom.es for a bio.

Schedule

If you're joining for the first time, I'd suggest you read this before anything else for brief context: What the Luddites Really Fought Against by Richard Conniff.

The only expectation is that you read the chapter(s) of the book that's listed for that meeting. You're still welcome to participate if you haven't done the readings as long as you are mindful. For each chapter, I've also noted some optional readings for context, so I'd suggest checking those out rather than reading ahead in the book. And remember, if you ever find yourself struggling with any of the readings or concepts, reach out! Either directly to me over email or to the entire group over discord.