Shannon Mattern
Articles & links
The smart cities discourse was most prevalent when folks were still talking about "big data." I mentioned a few boosterist texts in this piece fm a decade ago, but none are AI-focused. I think the "network state" discourse (e.g., Balaji Srinivasan), which scales up from the ci…
Recent commentary
Rdg lots of stuff acknowledging mounting public *fear* of AI. Yes, I’m glad there’s more attention to the aversion — but it’s more than fear: it’s distrust, resentment, disgust, the Spectrum of Justified Bad Affect. “Fear” implies a phobia one can conquer with exposure, understanding, etc.
I just stopped by Printed Matter, where they were hosting a Parsons class. Craig, their bookshop director, told me that last year, class instructors commonly asked shop staff to pull artists’ books that exemplify 🎨 use of AI; now, students are asking to see material that offers an *antidote* to AI ✊
So many subway ads for genAI agents promising to make “killer pitch decks” – for more stupid AI agents, no doubt
Love the framing of this Times article: AI has *created* 13 new kinds of jobs at Box! Sure, you’ve invested so much in this crap, you now have to hire techs to shoehorn it into places it’s not needed, barkers + evangelists to talk up its use, folks to fix its errors and security vulnerabilities,,,
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