Notices by danah boyd (zephoria@mastodon.social)

Calling all science/tech folks: Do you have thoughts about xkcd? Parker Bach & I are trying to understand the role that xkcd plays in the scientific/technical community. Will you share your thoughts? https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=v4j5cvGGr0GRqy180BHbR64w9CfkmX9HrkRf2PpIZWBUQ1oxRERXVFFIRERIQUhJSDhDNVoxUU1CNS4u&route=shorturl And since we are doing a snowball sample, please spread the word!

"[The obsession with AI] fundamentally has to do with power, and certainly with the power to make life... The people involved in this are men and that they have very idealistic fantasies about creating thinking robots that will ... reach a human level within the next 40 years, quickly become superior to us, and finally realize that they can get along much better without us, and they will take over and we will disappear... This is an expression of a uterus envy." - Joseph Weizenbaum, 1996

Ummm... This chart is TERRIFYING. Have the data centers that undergird AI already triggered this much of a shift in energy consumption? ::shudder:: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/03/07/ai-data-centers-power/

The Kids Online Safety Act isn’t designed to help kids. Congress is using kids to hold Big Tech accountable. Kids will get hurt in the process.

https://zephoria.medium.com/kosa-isnt-designed-to-help-kids-335ab57cddae

4S scholars: @cyberlyra and I are organizing an open panel for 4S/EASST on "The Implications of Institutional Breakdown for Science and Technology" if that's your jam: https://www.easst4s2024.net/open-panels/#14442 (Also, there are soooo many related awesome panels!!)

Parents of trans/gender affirming youth: Please consider signing this: https://www.transparentsletter.com/ Bills like KOSA won't help youth, but they will increase the harms to vulnerable youth, including those who are trans and those whose parents don't support them.

The problem with "opting out" of data tracking is that your requests can be ignored. Alex Rosenblat traced what happened to her medical opt-out requests when she was pregnant. What she found was that privilege vigilance isn't enough. https://www.statnews.com/2023/04/07/medical-data-privacy-phreesia/

I've been thinking a lot about Twitter and failure lately. And the absurdist Gladiator spectacle that we're all watching. I decided to turn it into a blog post: https://zephoria.medium.com/what-if-failure-is-the-plan-2f219ea1cd62