“AI and its adoption must work in the interests of the British people”🤦
“control and sovereignty matter” 🤡
“infrastructure must serve a national purpose and deliver for communities” ☠️
[For actual sense about data centres, come to our research & resistance panel on Friday in Kings X https://luma.com/ekh7k48b]
“A statement in response to Andreas Malm being denied entry into the Un | Verso Books”
> We can only assume, since no reasons have been given for banning him, that it is Andreas’s positions on Palestine, no different from the ICC and UN commissions, is the cause.
I'm repeating the commitment to keep a place for Nscale's CEO at our 'Stop Dirty Data Centres' panel/assembly next Fri in case he wants to learn the error of his ways https://luma.com/ekh7k48b (everyone else also welcome!)
One way or other, AI will implode leaving a financial black hole and 'they' (companies, investors, govts) will try to get us to pay the price, like 2008. Last time we were caught out; the more AI resistance there is this time, the more we'll be ready to say "screw you, no way".
A couple of London activities for next week's 'Stop Dirty Data Centres' European days of action: a panel/assembly https://luma.com/ekh7k48b and a data centre walk https://luma.com/a6pwc56f
“These newly released documents show that the WISeR rollout was rushed and rocky from the start, highlighting the dangers that arise when governments treat AI like a silver bullet for complex problems. The documents also highlight the need for more transparency about safeguards against inappropriate, AI-driven denials. The public still lacks the information needed to assess whether clinician review is providing meaningful oversight of AI systems and whether appropriate data is being used to evaluate prior authorization requests.
EFF has long argued that AI has no place in consequential government decisions about peoples’ rights or access to benefits, such as immigration enforcement and policing decisions. That’s because using automated decision-making in these contexts risks decisions that violate people’s rights or deprive them of benefits they’re entitled to based on biased or inappropriate considerations and without proper due process or accountability if there is an error.
By outsourcing decision-making to private AI companies without sufficient transparency, testing, or legal limits, WISeR jeopardizes seniors’ access to medical care. Congress should step in to place greater legal limits on the use of automated decision-making in Medicare.”
Lucas Plan 50th Anniversary Celebration - AN IDEA WHOSE TIME MUST COME! A conference for trade union, left, green, peace, community activists and students and academics.
Nov 21st 2026, University Place, Manchester
(Fully wheelchair accessible venue)
FREE - https://lucasplan.co.uk/50th-anniversary-conference/
"Was Ludditen vereint, ist die Erkenntnis, dass es immer eine Alternative gibt. Man kann immer sagen 'Nein, wir wollen das nicht und wir lassen das nicht zu'."
Hörenswerte Folge zu "Ludditen" und der fundamentalen Frage, ob sog. "KI" reformierbar ist mit u.a. @tante, @brianmerchant, @ANosthoff und @danmcquillan.
Ich selbst sehe das wie Dan: "KI" ist immer soziale Reduktion und hat für mich keinen Platz in einer lebenswerten Zukunft.
https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/tech-bro-topia-2-f5-die-maschinenstuermer-100.html
RE: https://kolektiva.social/@danmcquillan/117489145874747302
Should we offer a free ticket to the CEO of Nscale? They seem to be having some difficulties https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9m26kl5y7epo (so sad 😭)
I'm going to talk to Paris Marx about his timely new book 'Hyperscale' at London's Frontline Club next Wed 28th. Our conversation about the frontlines of data centre resistance & the implications of big tech's war on resources will be followed by a Q&A. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/book-talk-hyperscale-big-techs-data-empires-tickets-2003609201056
I am frankly shocked that Ellen M. Chen’s 2011 “In Praise Of Nothing: An Exploration of Daoist Fundamental Ontology” isn’t better known, and remains available only from the vanity press Xlibris. It’s scholarly but never obscure, splendidly clear, easily more illuminating than any number of texts on these subjects offered by prestigious academic presses.
Either I am missing something, which is always possible, or this is a major error and oversight. Recommended without hesitation to anyone interested in metaphysics as – in Chen’s words – “the search for what humans consider to be the profoundest values and their efforts to embody these values in their persons and activities.” #daoism #taoism #anarchy #nothing
There seems to be a confusion in some circles between small-models-for-languages such as Te Hiku Media's - which actually exist and need our solidarity - and 'small language models' (LLMs,chatbots) - which don't exist outside wishful thinking about community-powered AI.
RE: https://kolektiva.social/@danmcquillan/117409881803039162
First session tomorrow: Julia Ng sets Sohn-Rethel & Walter Benjamin alongside, and in contrast to, claims about LLMs & scientific discovery. Zoom registration and links to papers https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTF3KfZcIAMwKs-DCoB7inWRFZnqO6S0hDHNZ9Mrm3EF1p6LWWYJmP4aYZ6cOR94dmk62MdbOXnDON2/pub
Announcing our critical philosophy of AI seminars for 2026-2027: ‘Yet Another Machine For Producing Gods’
https://cpct.uk/2026-2027/ Each week pits a philosophical text and a technical document against each other to interrogate presuppositions and provoke radical reflections.
This is great to see. Back in the day, we called these 'cryptoparties'.
https://www.outsavvy.com/event/35773/digitally-securely-collectively
This drives me crazy.
'Days of Action across Europe to say Stop Dirty Data Centres - On 6-7 November 2026' https://stopdirtydatacentres.eu/en/
@adamgreenfield have you come across this? not lifehouses but a network of ' climate emergency centres' https://climateemergencycentre.org.uk/
Yes, our sense of smell helps us keep a dividing line between a world of AI and a world where people matter, because AI STINKS 🦨
"Anthropic leaders to control AI lab via 'Founder LLC' to promote the common good" https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/anthropic-leaders-control-ai-lab-via-founder-llc-promote-public-good-over-market-2026-09-29/. If only Elinor Ostrom was still around to explain to these AI doomer numpties that 'common good' is something we decide _in common_, not via a cabal.
