Democratic governance of technology: myth or reality ? With Dr Mar Hicks from the University of Virginia School of Data Science
Welcome back to the last episode of this special series exploring the relationship between power and technology! We now know that power and technology are intertwined and led to the rise of techno-oligarchy in the United States. Beyond structural impacts on democracy and the power structure that allowed this to happen, I wondered if democratic governance of technology was even possible considering this power structure, on top of intense lobbying from Big Tech companies, their wealth, and the inevitability rhetoric they push. Beyond that, I wanted to talk with an expert about the impacts on gender minorities like women and non-binary people, as well as other marginalized communities. To answer these questions and tell us some dad jokes, I am welcoming Dr Mar Hicks, an associate professor with tenure at the University of Virginia in the School of Data Science. Dr Hicks is a historian of technology, gender and modern Europe, working on the history of women in computing,and technology powered inequalities. Two books Dr Hicks has published are available everywhere, the first one is titled “Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing”, and the most recent one titled “Your Computer Is on Fire”, a book on the inequality, marginalization, and biases in our technological systems. I hope you enjoy this episode.Get Dr Mar Hicks books: https://mitpress.mit.edu/author/mar-hicks-23807/
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The TESCREAL to fascism pipeline with Adrienne Williams from the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR)
Reading about TESCREAL feels like reading a bad sci-fi storyline written by a man with a god complex. Unfortunately, it’s real: a movement that allows its proponents to use the threat of human extinction to justify expensive or harmful projects and demand billions of dollars to save us from these "existential threats". Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? These are very real aspirations, and some of the tech billionaires setting the rules of the tech industry even call themselves “creators”. It’s worse than godfather, if you ask me, though it’s fairly close. We’ve seen it for example with OpenAI asking for billions to “save us” from the very AI systems they are still trying to build, somehow, and more generally AI gurus working on how to save us from killer robots or AI systems becoming conscious instead of addressing hunger, homelessness, inequalities, or, environmental issues in their country (even just in their city would have more of an impact than stealing money under the excuse of saving people who don’t exist yet from evil AI systems that also don’t exist yet). But it’s not about helping, or “AI for Humanity” as they like to call it: it’s about power, influence and money. And the pipeline from these delusions to the far right ideology and technofascism is pretty straightforward.Adrienne Williams, researcher at the Distributed AI Research Institute joined me to talk about TESCREAL, neocolonialism, policymaking, and everything in between.Created, hosted and produced by Mélissa M'Raidi-Kechichian.
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Back to basics: Technofascism 101 with Emile Dirks from the Citizen Lab
After Trump was elected and tech oligarchs like Elon Musk, an unelected person, started to get power in decision making at the White House, the topic of technofascism got very popular. But this political trend of leveraging technology to empower fascist ideologies is nothing new. A lot has been written about technofascism in the 21st century, but I wanted to go back to the basics: what is fascism before technology? How do fascist movements use technology to take power and what kind of power dynamic is created? How can we resist the rise of technofascism? To answer these questions, I welcomed Dr Emile Dirks. Emile is a Senior Research Associate at the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, where he explores Chinese politics and digital authoritarianism.Created, hosted and produced by Mélissa M'Raidi-Kechichian.
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The datafication of refugees: humanitarian agencies & biometrics with Zara Rahman from the Superrr Lab
Biometrics – our fingerprints, faces, irises, for instance – are increasingly used to verify identity. But what happens when this data collection is applied to vulnerable populations, like refugees and asylum seekers, in ways that can remove agency rather than offer them protection? In the humanitarian space, organizations justify biometric data collection in a way to increase efficiency, yet stories have shown that such mechanisms can be weaponized: data handed over to oppressive governments, misidentifications leading to life-altering mistakes, and accountability often falling on the very people humanitarian programs claim to help. Beyond survival depending on data-driven systems, racial capitalism also plays a critical role by reinforcing the same global inequalities that force people to migrate in the first place. Who benefits from implementing biometric data collection in a humanitarian context, and who bears the consequences when it fails?To answer these questions and more, I had the pleasure to talk with Zara Rahman, author of “Machine Readable Me: The Hidden Ways That Technology Shapes Our Identities”, Strategic Advisor at the SUPERRR Lab and Visiting Research collaborator at the Citizens and Technology Lab at Cornell University. Zara is a researcher, writer, public speaker and non-profit executive, whose interests lie at the intersection of technology, justice and community. For over a decade, her work has focused on supporting the responsible use of data and technology in advocacy and social justice, working with activists from around the world to support context-driven and thoughtful uses of tech and data.Created, hosted and produced by Mélissa M'Raidi-Kechichian.
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Mapping for justice: from cartography to GIS, with Cathy Richards from the Open Environmental Data Project
If cartography, the ancestor of GIS, already displayed colonial patterns and racist stereotypes back in the day, why would the digital legacy of maps be any different? Maps have an authoritative value and hold power through the representation of the world from the perspective of who creates them. However, communities are often excluded from their design leading to the misrepresentation or omission of important landmarks and third places. In this episode, Cathy Richards explains why it is critical for communities to have the tools to paint their own stories through mapping, what is the role of communities in the development of tech powered solutions that include GIS and what are the risks associated with the exclusion of said communities.Cathy is the Civic Science Fellow and Data Inclusion Specialist at the Open Environmental Data Project. Previously, she was the Associate for Digital Resilience and Emerging Technology at The Engine Room where she advised civil society organizations on their use of technology and data. As a Green Web Fellow, she investigated the benefits, ethical questions, and security risks associated with using GIS for environmental justice. Cathy holds a Bachelor's degree in International Relations from Boston University, an MPA from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and she comes from beautiful Costa Rica.Created, hosted and produced by Mélissa M'Raidi-Kechichian.
Acerca de Activists Of Tech — The responsible tech podcast
Shifting the narrative from Big Tech to Responsible Tech by sharing & archiving the work of change makers.At the intersection of technology and social justice, Activists Of Tech is a seasonal weekly podcast dedicated to the amplification and archival of minority voices among activists, thought leaders, academics, and practitioners of responsible tech. Shifting the narrative from Big Tech to responsible tech takes honesty: this is a "say it as it is" type of podcast, and no topic is too taboo not to be named and addressed.The topics covered encompass a variety of responsible tech areas and focus on social justice, AI harm, AI bias, AI regulation and advocacy, minorities in tech, gender equality, tech and democracy, social media, and algorithmic recommendations, to name a few. We also talk about solutions and how to make tech inclusive and beneficial for all.
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