TDSlowdown

We are living in a time defined by the emergence of advanced AI systems. While the technology has a storied history, something changed in November 2022. The release of ChatGPT kicked off a technological race of historic proportions, ushering in an era of larger models, "agentic" AI, and always-on intelligence.But AI is not just technology. It is politics and economics. And right now, the stock market is telling a very interesting story. Today, Nvidia boasts a market value of $4.4 trillion USD. To put that in context: this single company is now worth approximately the entire GDP of Germany, and it surpasses the economies of Japan and the UK by a nice margin. Meanwhile, giants like Microsoft and Alphabet are each worth around $3.5 trillion USD, and private players like OpenAI are announcing massive – trillion scale – deals that are starting to feel like everyday occurrences.In this episode, we dive into the numbers behind the hype. We are doing a 101 on AI economics to focus on the one word increasingly used to describe these massive valuations: Bubble.What is an economic "bubble," and can they actually be good?Are we in one right now?If we are, what happens when it pops?To guide us through the ins and outs of bubble economics and AI, we are joined by Stuart Mills, economist at Leeds University.

What is the role of values and moral change in the digital society? To try to answer this I’m joined by John Danaher, whose work on axiological futurism makes him uniquely positioned to guide us through this exploration of values, how they change, and how we can analyse such change.  Danaher’s work mentioned in the episode: Axiological futurism: The systematic study of the future of values (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2021.102780) In Defence of the Hivemind Society (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12152-020-09451-7) Technology and moral change: the transformation of truth and trust (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-022-09661-y) Mechanisms of Techno-Moral Change: A Taxonomy and Overview (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10677-023-10397-x) The normative significance of future moral revolutions (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2022.103046) Also, make sure to follow John’s blog - “Philosophical disquisitions” (https://philosophicaldisquisitions.blogspot.com/)

In the highly anticipated second season of our podcast, we dive deep into the heart of the digital society—a phenomenon that's already reshaping our lives, yet still holds plenty of mysteries and possibilities. As we embark on this season's journey, our exploration is guided by none other than Thomas D’Hooge, a futurist and expert on futures literacy, who’ll be introducing us to thinking about the futures of the digital society? Why the emphasis on the plural form of future? The answer to this and many other questions will be provided in this episode. Through a discussion of futures theories, tools, methods, and approaches, Thomas will introduce us to the foundational aspects of futures thinking and futures literacy. Tune in to this episode as we delve into the basics of futures thinking, setting the stage for a season filled with exploration and discovery. For more on Thomas D’Hooge and his work, visit his LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasdhooge/

New technologies are an everyday part of modern living - to the joy of some and the chagrin of others. Today we focus on one specific area of life - a relatively large area for most us, namely work! Technology has always been a key part of working. We work to produce technology, we use technology to work, new technologies create new opportunities for work, and make others obsolete. We focus on one particular aspect, however: how new technologies are used to produce massive amounts of data. About people, and about workers. But how is this data used? Who uses it? And might it be time to introduce another layer in the labour-management hierarchy now that that Big Tech companies increasingly permeate the world of work? Listen in and find out as Christine J. Colclough joins TDSlowdown. The Why Not Lab: https://www.thewhynotlab.com

How does AI and big data relate to fate, destiny, and the manipulation of human action? Gry Hasselbalch joins TDSlowdown for a discussion about what she refers to as “destiny machines”. We focus on how machines could shape our futures, but also how human agency and culture matters in that we have the potential to take control of our own destinies. We also discuss her new book “Data Ethics of Power: A Human Approach in the Big Data and AI Era, so listen in! Links: Gry’s new book: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/data-ethics-of-power-9781802203103.html Gry’s article on the destiny machines: https://mediamocracy.org/2015/05/14/society-of-the-destiny-machine-and-the-algorithmic-god-s/ Henrik’s “When nudge comes to shove”: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160791X19300661 Henrik’s “Tyranny of perceived opinion”: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160791X19300983

In this episode of TDSlowdown we’ll be discussing power, AI, and the environment. Benedetta Brevini will be joining me, as we’ll discuss her latest book called "Is AI good for the planet?". While AI is routinely presented as the solution of most of the challenges we face, Benedetta argues that there are also potential downsides on the environmental side. Furthermore, as a political economist she highlights the linkages between AI, power and capitalism, which  means we have a lot on our plate in this episode. Link to Benedetta's book "Is AI good for the planet"? https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Is+AI+Good+for+the+Planet%3F-p-9781509547951 Link to Sætra's forthcoming book "AI for the Sustainable Development Goals" https://www.routledge.com/AI-for-the-Sustainable-Development-Goals/Saetra/p/book/9781032044064  Link to Sætras article: "AI in Context and the Sustainable Development Goals: Factoring in the Unsustainability of the Sociotechnical System" https://doi.org/10.3390/su13041738

As robots become increasingly capable, the debate about the potential of rights for robots is attracting more and more attention. But not everyone is happy with this development, and argue that discussing robot rights is a dangerous distraction. Can the very act of debating robot rights harm marginalised human beings, for example? Does it dehumanise us? Or is it all just an attempted corporate power grab? Who better to answer these questions than David Gunkel, the author of, amongst many other works, the book “Robot Rights”? This episode of TDSlowdown is about challenging robot rights. Both because exploring these issues are challenging, but also because robot rights as a research agende is being challenged. David's book on the subject: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/robot-rights

AI hype refers to a situation in which the claimed or perceived capabilities of AI surpasses the actual capabilities of the systems in question. Not all such hype is innocent, however, as the perception that the public, academics, business owners, and politicians have about I shape how they act, invest, behave, and legislate. In today’s episode Dwayne Monroe comes on the TDSlowdown to discuss these issues, and in particular to allow me to dig a bit deeper into his thinking about what he calls AI as propaganda. Here is a link to Dwayne’s article on the subject: https://monroelab.net/attack-mannequins-ai-as-propaganda And here is a link to a related article I have written on a related subject: https://www.igi-global.com/article/confounding-complexity-of-machine-action/269437

Welcome to TDSlowdown! This episode introduces the podcast.  My name is Henrik Skaug Sætra, and if you have suggestions for topics, guests, etc., please reach out on twitter (@tdslowdown , http://twitter.com/tdslowdown) or [email protected]. My profile on Google scholar, for those interesting in seeing more about what sort of content to expect: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=pvgdIpUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao