↪ Replying to @zcobb
@zcobb Thank you Stephen! 🙏 Yes, all these are very briefly explained right now. And I agree, the recklessness is in many ways enormous… a conviction that has only grown stronger since I wrote the post.
Tagged: Twitter
The word autonomous is being thrown around these days, often to imply that software is running without human intervention. But it still does not mean software can make decisions outside of the constraints of its own programming. #fauxtonomy Thread 🧵 >>
Software can not learn what it was not programmed to learn. Importantly, it can not arrive at the conclusion: “no, I do not want to do this anymore”. Something that perhaps should be considered a core part of autonomy.
In The Elements of Digital Ethics I referred to autonomous, changing algorithms within the topic of invisible decision-making.
axbom.com/elements/
> “The more complex the algorithms become, the harder they are to understand. The more autonomously they are allowed to progress, the further they deviate from human understanding.”
I was called out on this phrasing and am on board with the criticism. Our continued use of the word autonomous is misleading and could itself contribute to harm.
qoto.org/@Shamar/108220…
First, it underpins the illusion of thinking machines – something it is important to remind ourselves that we are not close to achieving. Second, it provides makers with an excuse to avoid accountability.
If we contribute to perpetuating the idea of autonomous machines with free will, we contribute to misleading lawmakers and society at large.
More people will believe makers are faultless when the actions of software harm humans, and the duty of enforcing accountability will weaken.
Going forward I will work on shifting vocabulary. For example, I believe ‘faux-tonomy’ (with an added explanation of course) can bring attention to the deceptive nature of autonomy.
When talking about learning I will try to emphasise simulated learning. When talking about behavior I will strive to underscore that it is illusory.
I’m sure you will notice I have not addressed the phrase AI. This is itself an ever-changing concept and used carelessly by creators, media and lawmakers alike. We do best when we manage to avoid it altogether, or are very clear on describing what we mean by it.
The point I make about invisible decision-making still stands, as it is really about the lack of control over algorithms.
This has been clearly exemplified by recent exposure of how Facebook engineers do not even know how data travels vice.com/en/article/akv…, and where, within Facebook.
> “We do not have an adequate level of control and explainability over how our systems use data,” Facebook engineers say in leaked document.
I will, however, want to find a way to phrase my explanation of this issue in The Elements of Digital Ethics differently.
Your thoughts on this are appreciated. #fauxtonomy
The thread is available as a post here, which I will update when necessary:
axbom.com/fauxtonomy/
I would love for journalists to have an account on micro.blog and post a link there every time they write an article. That way I could subscribe (in several ways) to individual journalists wherever they write.
↪ Replying to @JesperBylund
@JesperBylund The one I used for a while when teaching was Samba Live. Couldn't motivate the cost in the long-term though. Now I use @whereby for all meetings I initiate as well as teaching.
@JesperBylund @whereby For a free one without an account I often tell people to just go to Jitsi. meet.jit.si
↪ Replying to @DesignerGeeking
@DesignerGeeking I think this is the reason I don’t use design tools (Figma, etc) like many other designers. I most often go straight to coding prototypes… because that’s the only way I can test accessibility issues. My other main tool is having regular, ongoing conversations with developers.
↪ Replying to @beantin
@beantin @mrmacleod I’ve just deleted all my feeds in @feedbin and am starting over. Feedbin can also show tweets and lists from Twitter, so my idea is to read Twitter first from there. Will make it always chronological as well.
↪ Replying to @mrmacleod
@mrmacleod Not yet.😊 I can see how it looks that way. But my intent is to be prepared for all eventualities. And spend less time here than I do currently. As an independent consultant it's hard not to have a presence here.
I liked this post @beantin shared with me: nolanlawson.com/2022/02/02/fiv…
The latest issue of my newsletter is out, aptly titled The Mammoth in the Room.
newsletter.axbom.com/issues/the-mam…
#DigitalEthics
Gah. I forgot to add the story that the @EU_Commission is now part of the Fediverse. Here's their Mastodon instance. social.network.europa.eu/about
The European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) has a Mastodon account :)
Notice how owning your own instance guarantees you get the correct username. On Twitter they had to settle with @EU4Space
social.network.europa.eu/@EUSPA
↪ Replying to @rnadworny
@rnadworny @Loukas_RS @SternStefan Nah, it's still up. I can see it from my other accounts.
(People reading this, yes I have more accounts, representing e.g. the podcast and other projects, not fake or impersonating anyone.)
↪ Replying to @unknown
@Loukas_RS @rnadworny Yup. Gone for me now as well. I'll add screen dumps for posterity.
In Sweden we have controversial privately owned, publicly funded schools. Lobbyists for the status quo are making up research questions about a reform implying things that are far from true, and then saying: "look the public doesn't want reform!"
Classic survey corruption. x.com/SternStefan/st…
I'm blocked now and apparently you will be blocked by Stefan if you just like my tweet. Here are screenshots for reference. (the part about a change towards busing students to other towns is simply not true)
↪ Replying to @deeped
@deeped @mattipalm Håller verkligen med. Han får hitta på något radikalt för att göra det till en vinstmaskin. macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/…
↪ Replying to @mattipalm
@mattipalm @deeped Ungefär 200 dollar per användare :)
↪ Replying to @tsvenson
@tsvenson I do love that you thought it might be on purpose. 😄
↪ Replying to @unknown
@Loukas_RS I haven't yet tested making a toot thread and going the other way.
But Cory Doctorow publishes blog threads to here if you want to see what Twitter threads end up as. It's obvious that numbering threads helps a lot. mamot.fr/@pluralistic
@Loukas_RS Actually, that is threaded! Now wondering if that is automated or manual publishing. 🤔
↪ Replying to @unknown
@Loukas_RS 😊 Hadn't thought of desktop-only services. One caveat here is of course that if you publish a thread on Twitter, those will be separate tweets on Mastodon. And a 280+ character toot will link back to Mastodon from Twitter.
↪ Replying to @unknown
@Loukas_RS Hmm, interesting that you wonder about mobile specifically. I will need to clarify this then. It will catch anything that is published to Twitter or Mastodon, regardless of how you publish it. That service won't care about what app you use.