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⚙️ Neo-Luddite Reading Group: ‘Race After Technology’ by Ruha Benjamin

January 16 @ 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

The cover of 'Race After Technology' by Ruha Benjamin, with a black-and-white backlit photo of a black person wearing futuristic-looking metal glasses.

Our current book for the Neo-Luddite Reading Group is Race After Technology (2019) by Ruha Benjamin. We’ll meet Tuesday, January 16th at 6:30 p.m. to discuss the introduction through chapter 2.

Meetup link

 ➡️ Official schedule
“Remember to imagine and craft the worlds you cannot live without, just as you dismantle the ones you cannot live within.” -R. BenjaminContact:
neoluddite@victorgom.es
Twitter
Bluesky
Substack3rd Tuesday each month 6:30-8:30 @ Iffy BooksDiscord: Email neoluddite@victorgom.es for an invite!

The issues and harms surrounding emergin technologies are especially concerning given the lack of regulation in the tech industry generally, and the tendency of productivity-increasing technology to further concentrate power in the hands of the few. This reading group will explore these risks and engage with how they work in the hopes of better organizing to protect the rights of workers and individuals. The goal is to have a better understanding of the costs (data, carbon, human labor) and risks (misinformation, unpredictability, bias) of making these machines, as well as limitations in what they can learn about the world primarily through text.

We’re currently reading Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code by Ruha Benjamin and will decide what to read next at our first session of the year.

So far, we’ve read “Resisting AI: An Anti-fascist Approach to Artificial Intelligence” by Dan McQuillian and The Human Use of Human Beings by Norbert Wiener. The following archived pages include more Information on those sessions: Resist AI and The Human Use of Human Beings. If you’d like to learn more about me, you can visit victorgom.es for a bio.

Schedule

If you’re joining for the first time, I’d suggest you read this before anything else for some historical context: What the Luddites Really Fought Against by Richard Conniff.

The only expectation is that you read the chapter(s) of the book that’s listed for that meeting. You’re still welcome to participate if you haven’t done the readings as long as you are mindful.

The author kindly provides a free reading guide on her website, so I’d reccomend checking it out for the relevant chapters prior to each meeting to get you thinking. For each chapter, I’ve also noted some optional readings for context, so I’d suggest checking those out rather than reading ahead in the book. And remember, if you ever find yourself struggling with any of the readings or concepts, reach out! Either directly to me over email or to the entire group over discord.

Additional resources

Details

Date:
January 16
Time:
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Venue

Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St.)
319 N. 11th St. #2I
Philadelphia, PA 19107 United States
Phone
2153953956
View Venue Website

Organizer

Iffy Books
Phone
2153953956
Email
iffybooks@iffybooks.net