I often gently ask a conversation partner to specify what they mean by "AI". I find myself generalizing and saying "AI" but usually i mean generative AI, which though also a marketing term does help clarify what space in this large automation mess i mean. Bender's thread has more thoughts.

so...infuriating...

You were more optimistic than me on that front. I presume they want to completely gut NASA so it becomes dependent on SpaceX and/or Blue Origin. neither of which care about space science.

I feel so grateful that i'm still asked to weigh in on the space conversation, even as my research has led me elsewhere. i don't always feel i have anything new to say, but because so many folks have entered this conversation, being able to reflect on their work serves as suitable inspiration.

This essay with Olson appears in Otherwhere Ethnography, one of several recently published critical outer space collections. Unfortunately, not OA.
global.oup.com/academic/pro...

With Valerie Olson, we wrote "Spaced Out: Bringing Outer Space into Anthropological Conversations." We observe: "When anthropologists include outer spaces within anthropological space, they surface hidden binaries that shape anthropological conceptualizations of 'space' as a general category."

I really wish i could see this. won't be anywhere near a cosm, alas.

I’ve been tracing this intellectual genealogy for the past few months. There’s one blog post on less more (if you dig deep) that explains this. Basically it sounds like yud didn’t read GS but ready van Vogt who read GS

i think this would be important to do. i'm putting a little 'to do' note for this week and i'll shoot you and email to get this going. more soon!

if you'll be at AAA we should meet up! and maybe with anyone else who wants to strategize...

is the pre-print on a server (or would you be willing to send)? I'm serving on the university wide AI committee and I am arming myself. A main point i want to make is about lack of evidence. would love to see your paper and the references!

If you want an anthropologist who can talk about why Hollywood and Silicon Valley both love Sapiens, I shamelessly volunteer