On this page I’m keeping a running list of articles, books, videos, podcasts, and other resources that have been most helpful to me in trying to understand the emerging reality of AI and how we may live in this new digital age.
About Podcasts:. I love them! They are great when walking, riding in car or public transport. On a computer these links go to a browser page. On a smartphone, they will open the podcast app. Where available, I include links to both PocketCasts (a popular app and the one I use) and Apple Podcasts.
Overview
AI: What Could Go Wrong? with Geoffrey Hinton | Jon Stewart
Just what is AI? I recommend this interview as a good place to start.
View
There Is No AI, Really (It’s Just People), with Jaron Lanier and Neil deGrasse Tyson
View
The AI End Game: Two-Year-Olds vs. AI with Alison Gopnik
Listen (PocketCasts) | Listen (Apple)
AI and Consciousness
Are you a ‘PHILOSOPHICAL ZOMBIE’? What AI is showing us about consciousness
with David Chalmers
View
Is AI ALIVE? What AI is teaching us about consciousness with Michael Pollan
View | Listen (PocketCasts) | Listen (Apple)
Ethics and Politics
The AI End Game: The Ethics of AI with Timnit Gebru
Listen (PocketCasts) | Listen (Apple)
A Practical Guide to Messing with Big Tech Oligarchs w/ Cory Doctorow / Fighting Fascism
Listen (PocketCasts) | Listen (Apple)
Activism and Popular Resistance
The AI End Game: Pushback to Data Centers with Robinson Meyer
Listen (Apple)
The Gray Area: Why public opinion turned on AI, Jasmine Sun
Listen (PocketCasts) | Listen (Apple)
Naomi Klein: AI is a fascist idea
View
Political Economy
Is the AI Boom About to COLLAPSE? with Ed Zitron
View | Listen (PocketCasts) | Ed Zitron’s Better Offline podcast
The AI End Game: Who’s Leading the Way? with Derek Thompson
Listen (PocketCasts) | Listen (Apple)
AI and Software Development
The Truth About Software Development with Carl Brown
Listen (PocketCasts) | Listen (Apple)
Books
The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, Nicholas Carr
A little dated but still good.
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, Shoshana Zuboff
Long but essential, look for interviews by Zuboff
A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness, Michael Pollen
The Siren’s Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource, Chris Hayes
The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI, Cory Doctorow
A very significant book and great overview of AI and its impact on us.
The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State, Jill Lapore
A breath-taking survey of our relationship to things not-human, such as AI. And how the proponents of replacing government with automation have been trying to coopt our democracy, today and in years past.
The Nerd Reich, by Gil Durán
History of the new technocrats and their twisted ideologies.
End Times Fascism And the Fight for the Living World, by Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor
Just started reading this, but it looks like a block-buster so far.