{"id":6874,"date":"2017-11-20T21:35:59","date_gmt":"2017-11-21T01:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zephoria.org\/thoughts\/?p=6874"},"modified":"2018-07-21T21:36:55","modified_gmt":"2018-07-22T01:36:55","slug":"the-radicalization-of-utopian-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zephoria.org\/thoughts\/archives\/2017\/11\/20\/the-radicalization-of-utopian-dreams.html","title":{"rendered":"The Radicalization of Utopian Dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Amazon Fulfillment Center, CC\u00a0Scottish Government<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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The following is a transcript of my lightning talk at\u00a0<\/em>The People\u2019s Disruption: Platform Co-Ops for Global Challenges<\/a>\u200a\u2014\u200aheld at The New School.\u200a<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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When you listen to people in tech talk about the future of labor, they will tell you that AI is taking over\u00a0all\u00a0<\/em>of the jobs.\u00a0What they\u00a0<\/span>gloss over<\/span>\u00a0is the gendered dynamics of the labor force.<\/span>\u00a0Many of the shortages in the workforce stem from labor that is culturally gendered \u201cfeminine\u201d and seen as low-status. There\u2019s no conception of how workforce dynamics in tech are also gendered.<\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore,\u00a0<\/span>anxieties about automation don\u2019t tend to focus on work that is seen as the work of immigrants,<\/span>\u00a0even at a time when immigration is a hotly contested conversation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>As a result, when we talk about automation as the major issue in the future of work, we lose track of the broader anxiety about identities that\u2019s shaping both technology and work.<\/span><\/p>\n

Identities matter because they shape how people respond to the society around them.<\/span>\u00a0How do people whose identities have been destabilized respond to a culture where institutions and information intermediaries no longer have their back?\u00a0When they can\u2019t find their identity through their working environment?<\/span><\/h4>\n

Our current crisis around opioids offers one harrowing answer. Religious extremism offers another.\u00a0Yet, we also need to consider how many people turn to activism, both healthy and destructive, as a way of finding meaning.<\/span><\/p>\n

People often find themselves by engaging with others through collective action, but collective action isn\u2019t always productive.<\/span>\u00a0Consider this in light of the broader conversation about\u00a0<\/span>media manipulation<\/span>:\u00a0<\/span>for those who have grown up gaming, running a raid on America\u2019s political establishment is thrilling<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0It\u2019s exhilarating to game the media to say ridiculous things.\u00a0<\/span>Hacking the attention economy produces a rush.<\/span>\u00a0It doesn\u2019t matter whether or not you memed the president into being if you believe you did. It doesn\u2019t even matter if your comrades were foreign agents with a much darker agenda.<\/p>\n

For a lot of folks in tech, being a part of tech has been a way of grounding themselves.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Many who built the social media infrastructure that we know today grew up with the utopian idealism of people like John Perry Barlow. HisDeclaration of Independence of Cyberspace<\/a>\u00a0is now of drinking age, but today\u2019s reality is a lot more sober.\u00a0<\/span>Cybernaut<\/span>\u00a0geeks imagined building\u00a0<\/span>a new world rooted in a different value structure<\/span>. They wanted to resist the financialized logic of Wall Street, but ended up contributing to the latest evolution of financialized capitalism.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>They wanted to create a public that was more broadly accessible, but ended up enabling a new wave of corrosive populism to take hold.<\/span><\/p>\n

They wanted to disrupt the status quo, but weren\u2019t at all prepared for what it would mean when they controlled the infrastructure underlying democracy, the economy, the media, and communication.<\/span><\/h4>\n
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Google Plex CC\u00a0Sebastian Gamboa<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You\u2019re at\u00a0this event today<\/a>\u00a0because you also want a new world, a sociotechnical reality that is more cooperative and equitable in nature.\u00a0You see Silicon Valley as emblematic of corrosive neoliberalism and libertarianism run amok.<\/span>\u00a0I get it.\u00a0But\u00a0<\/span>I can\u2019t help but think of how\u00a0<\/span>social media was birthed out of idealism that got reworked by economic and political interests,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>by the stark realities of what people did with technology vs. what its designers hoped they would do<\/span>.<\/span>So many of the people that I knew in the early days of tech wanted what you want.<\/p>\n

The early adopters of social technologies<\/span>\u200a\u2014\u200aand many of those sites\u2019 creators\u200a\u2014\u200awere self-identified and marginalized geeks, freaks, and queers<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0Early social tech was built by those who felt like outsiders in a society that valued suave masculinities.<\/span>\u00a0Geeks like me who flocked to the Bay felt disenfranchised and vulnerable and turned to technology to build solidarity and feel less alone. In doing so, we helped construct a form of geek masculinity that gave many geeky men in particular\u00a0a sense of pride that made them feel empowered through their work and play.<\/span><\/p>\n

But as many of you know,\u00a0<\/span>power corrupts<\/span>. And\u00a0<\/span>the same geek masculinities that were once rejuvenating have spiraled out of control<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0Today,\u00a0we\u2019re watching as diversity becomes a wedge issue that can be used to radicalize disaffected young men in tech.<\/span>\u00a0The gendered nature of tech is getting ugly.<\/span><\/p>\n

A decade ago, academics that I adore were celebrating participatory culture as emancipatory, noting that technology allowed people to engage with culture in unprecedented ways.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Radical leftists were celebrating the possibilities of decentralized technologies as a form of resisting corporate power.<\/span>\u00a0Smart mobs were being touted as the mechanism by which authoritarian regimes could come crashing down.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, even the most hardened tech geek is quietly asking:<\/p>\n

What hath we wrought?<\/em><\/p>\n

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Screen capture courtesy of Ethan Zuckerman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We\u2019ve seen massively decentralized networks coordinating and mobilizing on both for-profit\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>not-for-profit platforms, challenging the status quo.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>But the movements that they\u2019re so strategically building are shaped by tribalistic and hate-oriented values<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>There are many people coordinating online who are willing to share tactic without sharing end goal, yet their tactical moves collectively achieve a form of societal gaslighting that causes unbearable pain.<\/span>Tech wasn\u2019t designed to enable this, but it did so none-the-less.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Geophysics Hackathon, CC\u00a0Matt<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This room is filled with people who hold dear many progressive values, who see the tech sector as the new establishment, and who are pushing for a more equitable future. I share your values and desires. You rightfully want a more fair and just society. And you rage against the machine.\u00a0But I also want you to know that I saw similar desires among the early developers of social media as they worked to eject the dot-com MBA culture from Silicon Valley, as they worked to resist the 1980s Wall Street culture, as they tried to operate differently than their parents.. I saw idealism corrupted, good intentions go awry, and malignant forces capitalize on weaknesses within the system.<\/span><\/p>\n

So as you relish each other\u2019s presence today and tomorrow, I have a favor to ask.\u00a0Don\u2019t simply focus on what would be ideal or critique the status quo.<\/span>Genuinely examine how what you\u2019re seeking could also be corrupted and abused.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>I believe, more than anything, that\u00a0<\/span>deep empathy and self-reflection is critical for us to build a healthier future.<\/span><\/p>\n

Too often,\u00a0<\/span>it\u2019s easier to rally people to tear down what we hate than it is to build a sustainable future.<\/span>\u00a0And yet,\u00a0<\/span>at this moment in time in particular, we desperately need builders<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0We need you.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amazon Fulfillment Center, CC\u00a0Scottish Government The following is a transcript of my lightning talk at\u00a0The People\u2019s Disruption: Platform Co-Ops for Global Challenges\u200a\u2014\u200aheld at The New School.\u200a When you listen to people in tech talk about the future of labor, they will tell you that AI is taking over\u00a0all\u00a0of the jobs.\u00a0What they\u00a0gloss over\u00a0is the gendered dynamics […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zephoria.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zephoria.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zephoria.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zephoria.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zephoria.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6874"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.zephoria.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6875,"href":"https:\/\/www.zephoria.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6874\/revisions\/6875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zephoria.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zephoria.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zephoria.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}