Metal Machine Music by Ben Tarnoff

Metal Machine Music by Ben Tarnoff offers left-wing critiques and perspectives on technology, emphasizing the need for decommodification, democratization, and ethical development within the sector. It explores themes of labor, capitalism, AI ethics, the changing nature of work, and historical movements for democratising technology, advocating for collective decision-making and equitable tech practices.

Technology Policy Labor and Work Dynamics Artificial Intelligence Ethics Digital Platforms and Power Capitalism and Technology Democratization of Technology The Future of Work Algorithmic Accountability Historical Tech Movements

The hottest Substack posts of Metal Machine Music by Ben Tarnoff

And their main takeaways

The metaverse is a cubicle

119 implied HN points • 30 Nov 21
🕹 Technology Virtual reality Remote work Metaverse Workplace dynamics Technology Trends
  1. The concept of the metaverse has been around for some time, but current advancements in technology and societal shifts due to the pandemic may pave the way for its potential realization.
  2. Remote and hybrid work arrangements are becoming more prevalent, with the COVID-19 pandemic playing a significant role in reshaping white-collar work dynamics and preferences.
  3. The metaverse has the potential to become the new organizational architecture for white-collar work, balancing the needs and desires of both employers and employees in a digital environment.

Platforms don't exist

339 implied HN points • 22 Nov 19
🕹 Technology Digital Infrastructure Tech Policy Taxonomy
  1. A left tech policy should aim to reduce the central role of markets in people's lives through decommodification, providing resources as a right and enabling democratic decision-making.
  2. When considering tech platforms, it's essential to move beyond the generic term 'platforms' and analyze size, function, and type of power they have to guide regulation effectively.
  3. Methods of decommodification and democratization for digital infrastructures can include public ownership, cooperative ownership, non-ownership, or abolition, accompanied by legislative regulations on data usage and algorithms.

A Halloween fright fest

59 implied HN points • 31 Oct 19
🕹 Technology AI Ethics Cloud Computing Object Oriented Programming Data Systems
  1. AI ethics initiatives are aiming to establish responsible rules for AI system development but can lack democratic input from those impacted by the technology.
  2. Democratizing AI involves making decisions about values political, requiring mechanisms for collective decision-making to ensure fairness and transparency in algorithmic processes.
  3. Kristen Nygaard, a Norwegian computer scientist, was instrumental in developing object-oriented programming and also worked to empower workers in their workplaces through understanding and influencing technology.

Discipline at a distance

39 implied HN points • 04 Dec 19
🕹 Technology Tech Ethics AI Machine Learning
  1. There are both continuities and discontinuities in the evolution of work systems, and understanding the balance between old and new elements is crucial.
  2. Digital technologies have enabled employers in the gig economy to exercise authority over workers even if they are not technically employees, creating a form of discipline at a distance.
  3. The rise of networked digital technologies has allowed for the creation of a labor regime that combines aspects of modern factories and older subcontracting systems, presenting both challenges and opportunities for workers.

The dead are at our backs

39 implied HN points • 07 Nov 19
🕹 Technology History Socialism Labor Innovation
  1. Technology Left needs to learn from the past: It's important to look back at the history of movements democratizing technology to find inspiration, learn lessons, and feel connected to a community.
  2. Past experiments in democratizing technology: The GLC in 1980s London created Technology Networks to democratize design and development, emphasizing socially useful production. This innovation from below aimed to involve communities in technology creation.
  3. Creating spaces for democratic technological practice today: The idea of Technology Networks could inform creating spaces where participants engage in self-organization, politicization, and work towards meaningful social change.
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Hello world

39 implied HN points • 25 Oct 19
🕹 Technology
  1. The newsletter offers left-wing perspectives on tech inspired by Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music album.
  2. The author is a tech worker, writer, and co-founder of Logic magazine.
  3. Themes guiding the author's reading and thinking about tech include labor, automation, capitalism, climate, race, gender, machine learning, the carceral state, and the cloud.

The technologies of all dead generations

2 HN points • 09 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Social media Open Source
  1. The third wave of algorithmic accountability focuses on building new technologies, not just critiquing existing ones.
  2. Taking a dialectical approach to technology means acknowledging the contradictions in our technological inheritance and using them as points of subversion.
  3. Critique is essential for understanding the difficulties that condition our technological activities and for navigating the contradictory terrain of creating a better technological future.

The old gods are dead

19 implied HN points • 14 Jan 20
🕹 Technology Analysis Ethics Innovation Policy AI
  1. The techlash has torn down old beliefs about technology, but new ideas to replace them are still in flux.
  2. The left hasn't solidified a clear stance on tech issues yet, despite the abundance of progressive thinkers.
  3. To create a meaningful tech agenda, understanding the role of capitalism in technology is crucial in addressing wealth disparities and societal hierarchies.

Cloud fortress

19 implied HN points • 15 Nov 19
🕹 Technology Platforms Privacy Surveillance Activism Data
  1. The expanding definition of 'platforms' in tech can have significant implications, shaping responsibilities and liabilities of tech companies.
  2. The use of platforms in law enforcement can impact accountability, public trust, and insulation from criticism and legal action.
  3. Historical instances of groups like CLODO attacking computer centers highlight concerns over surveillance, control, and societal impacts of computerization.

Machine learnings

0 implied HN points • 25 Oct 19
🕹 Technology Automation Tech regulation Digital history
  1. The mainstream discourse on automation often contains misinformation and exaggerated claims, such as the idea that automation is the primary reason for job loss.
  2. Persistent low demand for labor is attributed not to automation but to long-standing economic factors like global industrial overcapacity.
  3. Historical examples, like the role of the Polaroid Revolutionary Workers Movement in challenging ties with South Africa during apartheid, show the impact of collective action.