Undoing Dystopia: a Review of Douglas Rushkoff’s Team Human

A review of tech and social critic Douglas Rushkoff’s latest book, Team Human.

By Geoffrey Dutton | April 25, 2019 | Automation, Community, Culture, Economics, Philosophy, Relationships, Society | Algorithms, Amazon, Boston, Capitalism, Civilization, Convenience, Corporations, Douglas Rushkoff, Economics, Efficiency, Enrico Moretti, Environment, Ethics, Evolution, Extraction, Human Nature, Mechanomorphism, Neutrality, New York, Silicon Valley, Socialism, Team Human, Technologists, Venture Capital, Wages

Podcast #23: David Bosworth on Conscientious Thinking

Author and cultural critic David Bosworth discusses America’s myth of individualism and how it feeds a digital culture that ironically infantilizes its users and demands constant approval from strangers.

By Mo Lotman | December 12, 2018 | Culture, Ethics, Philosophy, Podcasts, Relationships, Society | "Momism", Accumulation, Affiliation, Atomization, Common Sense, Connection, Conscience, Convenience, Corporations, Descartes, Ethics, Idiot Savant, Individualism, Infantilization, Internet, Malls, MIT Media Lab, Nicholas Negroponte, Profit, Science, Smartphones, Superficiality, surveillance, Thomas Paine, University of Washington, Value, Virtue, Wikipedia

New AI Paper Warns of Malicious Intent

A new report on AI examines what might happen when bad actors deliberately misuse the technology. Despite its importance, politicians may not be paying attention.

By Art Keller | April 4, 2018 | Artificial Intelligence, Government, Law, Prediction, Security | AI, Artificial Intelligence, Assassination, Autonomous Systems, Cambridge, Center for the Study of Existential Risk, Cyberwarfare, Danger, EFF, Ethics, Future of Humanity Institute, Hacking, IEEE, Impersonation, Insider Threat, Intelligence, Malware, Nicolas Economou, Oxford, Phishing, Politics, Research, Sabotage, Scott Amyx, Totalitarianism

A Message From the Publisher

It’s our 2nd birthday! Publisher Mo Lotman shares a few thoughts about where we’ve come and where The Technoskeptic is going.

By Mo Lotman | February 28, 2018 | Artificial Intelligence, Automation, Community, Economics, Ethics, Government, Media, Philosophy, Privacy, Relationships, Society, Well-Being | Addiction, Amazon, Anxiety, Apple, Attention, Business, Center for Humane Technology, Community, Depression, Disconnection, Economics, Ethics, Facebook, Farhad Manjoo, Google, Microsoft, Opioids, Reality, Roger McNamee, smart phones, Specialization, Suicide, Tristan Harris

Technology is Not the Solution (Principles of Technoskepticism, Part Two)

Far from containing and being a solution to moral problems, technology blinds us to the moral source and moral essence of those problems.

By David A. J. Reynolds | November 29, 2017 | Ethics, Philosophy, Society | Criticism, Ethics, Innovation, Morality, Solutionism, Technoskepticism, Theresa Morris

Superman and the Singularity

A recent discussion of the AI film Ex Machina brings up ideas about the desire for the perfectability of humans and our irresistable urge to play god.

By Tom Valovic | November 15, 2017 | Artificial Intelligence, Culture, Ethics, Identity, Philosophy, Society | AI, Albert Einstein, Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence, David Cox, Elon Musk, Ethics, Film, Friedrich Nietzsche, God, Humanity, Justice, Law, Movies, Perfectability, Perfection, Ray Kurzweil, Sara Watson, Superman, The Singularity, Transhumanism, Ubermensch, Unintended Consequences, Values

Technology is Not a Tool (Principles of Technoskepticism, Part One)

Before we use any technologies, we submit to a technological way of thinking which alienates us from our environment, our ethics, and ultimately ourselves.

By David A. J. Reynolds | September 20, 2017 | Philosophy, Society | Borgmann, Change, Criticism, Discontentment, Ethics, Heidegger, Technoskepticism, Utopianism

A Message From the Publisher

Happy birthday us! This month marks one year since we moved to weekly updates. Publisher Mo Lotman shares a few thoughts about The Technoskeptic and the stakes of its mission.

By Mo Lotman | February 22, 2017 | Cognition, Economics, Environment, Law, Media, Philosophy, Politics, Privacy, Publishing, Relationships, Society, Well-Being | Attention, Civility, Community, Democracy, Depression, Distraction, Ethics, Impatience, Journalism, Loneliness, Public Space, Robert McChesney, Rudeness