“The concept of the state, like most concepts which are introduced by “The,” is both too rigid and too tied up with controversies to be of ready use. It is a concept which can be approached by a flank movement more easily than by a frontal attack.” - John Dewey

humility and earnestness cut through technocracy, but they’re not generally comfortable to wield

“The machine cannot make us yield our ground. It is true that other humans can turn the machine against us, but that is a different problem. Here, I simply want to encourage us not to abandon those activities that bring us purpose, meaning, and delight…often activities that also bring us together.”

minister of abstraction

Keep up the pressure.

One for those protesting data centres in Fife and Lammermuirs.

“The [data centre] site "meets all the regulations," for the severance Reid said when the time came to vote, but "because of residents, the way they came out today and voiced their opinions, I would like a motion to deny the severance." www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

“The [data centre] site "meets all the regulations," for the severance Reid said when the time came to vote, but "because of residents, the way they came out today and voiced their opinions, I would like a motion to deny the severance." www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

taking a minister of ai seriously is a choice

do enjoy how funny this is given that it’s not going away soon. it helps with persistence.

almost a decade into the pan-Canadian ai strategy and now we’re getting to sector specific playbooks… you gotta love this country’s dedication to the announcement

and remember that announceable is a political term people use with a straight face

training, literacy, adoption. all efforts to shift more power to the supply-side of the product equation.

cultural literacy > technical literacy

thankfully, “I don’t like this” isn’t a literacy or adoption problem, no matter how much industry and govt want to make it one.

next up: the ai strategy remediation strategy

technology politics are second order politics. it’s a frame that installs power in the machine realm.

it’s not just a thing we don’t want it’s a CANADIAN thing we don’t want

sovereignty conversations are a great distraction from the question of do we even want to do this at all?

Operating actively against the industrialized clock of never-ending productivity is part of disability justice. It’s also a way to protect the time and space necessary to reconsider and reconfigure relations. medium.com/@biancawylie...

If we understand that language shapes possibilities, and that our cultural myths and scripts (whether historically or mechanistically created) are the breeding grounds of climate complacency……how do we go FERAL?! Come get into it with us on Sat June 6 at Allan Gardens luma.com/tocw-zu1d?tr...

the conditions that produce inaction remain untouched: our scripts about crisis have not yet disturbed our day-to-day ​At the same time, our decisions, interactions, and language are increasingly scripted by systems with no body, no home, and no existential stake luma.com/tocw-zu1d?tr...

"Time’s Lie [by @leocookman.com] analyses the history, the science and the philosophy behind the creation of linear stories, or ‘Narrativisation’ as this book dubs it." www.simonandschuster.com/books/Times-...

Great article and nice to read someone talking about Narrativisation. I wrote a whole book on the subject, published back in 2020 www.simonandschuster.com/books/Times-...

democracy without philosophy is how we got to the current empty discussions about trust in govt

Philosophy, as we use the word, is a fight against the fascination which forms of expression exert on us. —Ludwig Wittgenstein, The Blue and Brown Books

"​The night begins with a talk: “Feral ecologies & mythologies for a feral public imagination” with Bianca Wylie, Xuan Ye, and facilitated by Luisa Ji - and ends with performances by artists Doraa, Ben McCarthy, and more..." Join us at Allan Gardens, Saturday June 6 at 5.30 pm :) luma.com/tocw-zu1d

remember to luxuriate in the context collapse

from passive democratic participation to the recruitment of active capacity for self-governance and community control, from a focus on rights to a focus on responsibilities, and in the tech space, from a focus on digital rights to a focus on digital responsibilities: medium.com/p/fbfc612d3d7

newsletter 6 out monday. topics include: summary of the AI-note taker etiquette session, creating AI use guidelines at your organization, and how artists can help us deal with the constant influx of new technologies. it's a monthly thing (at most) - sign up here: time-and-space-studios.ghost.io

the things that need to be said and repeated right now about computers and society feel so obvious and repetitive that you don’t want to say them. say them anyway. that instinct to silence has been how bad practices have normalized. don’t get into advocacy if you don’t want to repeat yourself.

@biancawylie.com: “Opinions cannot be automated. Opinions that seek to build a different future cannot be wholesale modeled on the past. Friction is where slowness and specificity can take root, and these are necessary ingredients…” (V good) biancawylie.medium.com/consensus-do...

Consensus is a myth. This idea was shared with me years ago, handed down through others that have worked for decades in facilitation. It’s a phrase that stuck, challenging me constantly to accurately retell events that I’m part of, or witness to. biancawylie.medium.com/consensus-do...

Toronto - come get feral with us :) Saturday June 6 from 5.30 - 11.00 pm at Allan Gardens, as part of Toronto Climate Week. UKAI Projects is doing some of the best work out there on tech and culture, if you don’t know them come out and change that, you’ll be happy you did. luma.com/tocw-zu1d?tr...

Sometimes it is only after I publish my newsletter, that I realize that what I had just shared had an obvious through-line or theme. But I only notice it in retrospect. In this case, the three items that I shared all concerned themselves with a collective harmony www.uofwinds.com/438/

In The Power of Cute, Simon May "argues that cuteness is an addictive antidote to today’s pressured expectations of knowing our purpose, being in charge, and appearing predictable, transparent, and sincere." press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

paradox of canada - its potential lies in its disinterest to wrap itself in the flag

newsletter 6 out monday. topics include: summary of the AI-note taker etiquette session, creating AI use guidelines at your organization, and how artists can help us deal with the constant influx of new technologies. it's a monthly thing (at most) - sign up here: time-and-space-studios.ghost.io

we had a great conversation about AI in the context of municipal operations, history, and hype.

every conversation about nationalism is an opportunity to talk about colonialism - come talk with us about it.

new Sarah Sharma book www.dukeupress.edu/insufferable...

Last call to join us this Friday May 29th at 12.15 pm ET to talk about AI note-taking tools and related etiquette. How we use tech within our teams and in the broader world has consequences on our relationships, and there is power here to make intentional choices. luma.com/eclgzpj1

Replay is up: Boring Tiny Tools for Transportation - aka Just Enough AI m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws-G...

Toronto - come get feral with us :) Saturday June 6 from 5.30 - 11.00 pm at Allan Gardens, as part of Toronto Climate Week. UKAI Projects is doing some of the best work out there on tech and culture, if you don’t know them come out and change that, you’ll be happy you did. luma.com/tocw-zu1d?tr...

Join us Thursday, June 18, from 6 to 9 p.m. CT at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg - Advancing the conversation on digital sovereignty. Hosted by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority. Free to attend, register here: www.cira.ca/en/resources...

We're not starting at operations and talking about AI, which would make sense. We're starting at AI, then talking about operations, which doesn't. newsletter 5: time-and-space-studios.ghost.io/meeting-hype...

there is no reason to ante up on self-surveillance by increasing your use of transcripts and automated note-taking and other AI tools just because they’re there

“Tech critics become technocrats when they overlook the daunting administrative density of a digital-first society. The author implores critics to reject structural dependencies on digital tools rather than naturalize their integration via critique/reform“ J.Penn www.policyready.ca/policymaking...

Consensus is a myth. This idea was shared with me years ago, handed down through others that have worked for decades in facilitation. It’s a phrase that stuck, challenging me constantly to accurately retell events that I’m part of, or witness to. biancawylie.medium.com/consensus-do...