Bhaskar Mitra | ভাস্কর মিত্র

The left tried for decades to pass green energy subsidies, passed them, the subsidies worked, and now literally the entire planet's electricity grid is going to convert to solar+battery. It just doesn't feel like "tech" because it mostly produces kinda boring blue collar jobs instead of billionaires

Instead of "the left isn't paying enough attention to these machine gods" they're claiming to build, perhaps we should write an article about how effective altruists brand themselves "left", ask who is writing these articles, and trace their cults and sources of funding.

The legitimately innovative thing about AI is that it is a completely bottomless pit. It's swallowed up:

- all energy sources
- all our data
- all investment dollars
- all new jobs
- all capex
- all attention
- and now, all hardware components

with absolutely no end in sight. Nothing will satisfy.

Dem voters on a panel unanimously saying they want a progressive candidate, not a moderate

And this was interestingly unanimous— and not being that well reflected yet in the offerings from actual Dem politicians. Word to the wise

"Most importantly, there is no AI without massive financial and ideological backing. It is therefore pointless to discuss its techniques or capabilities without asking who controls it, who benefits from it, who builds and deploys it, and what it is doing in the world"

in 1988 his presidental platform included:

-creating a single-payer system of universal health care
-ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment
-declaring Apartheid-era South Africa to be a rogue nation
-supporting the formation of a Palestinian state

whoever runs in the Biden lane in the 2028 primary is going to get obliterated

Oh dear. Well I am familiar with it and consider it to be terrible scholarship I'm afraid Emile. But yes, it's hyperbolic, and demonstrates—in my view!—a very poor grasp of liberal political philosophy. But, as with Holly on another thread, I doubt I'll convince you of much on here

This "terrible scholarship" is our widely shared ESCREAL work exposing eugenicists. As
@sifill.bsky.social wrote, we were incessantly attacked for doing this work. But of course many people see the tech eugenicists center stage in the orange man's current presidency. And others continue to do this👇

Important. Leftists tend to be marginalized, not privileged. That's why we care about a world that works for all. We have some of the most serious stakes in the game. So when you scream at us how the right will harm us, it's not news to us. We just want more than carceral, imperialist alternatives.

Semi regularly reminder that 99% of mass shooters are cis white men. If there’s any demographic on earth that deserves extra scrutiny, start there!

OKAY

Rev. Jesse Jackson's "I *am* somebody..." remains one of the all-time great pieces of 20th century rhetoric / agitprop

And he could deliver it at a Black separatist meeting, the Democratic National Convention, or on god-blessed Sesame Street (see below 🥹)

RIP to the Voice of the Voiceless

Applications for graduate students in computing, sociology, humanities willing to participate in the FAccT 2026 Doctoral Colloquium are open! https://facctconference.org/2026/callfordc.html

"removing writing from reporters workloads" so your genius plan is to remove the communication from the mass communication job? And I'm supposed to reward you for it? Are you actually this stupid or just assuming I am

deepest regrets

Photo of a fairly generic modern bathroom with a shower/tub combo, a toilet, a sink, a mirror, and a demonic entity coming out of the mirror

What could go wrong using AI to help stage a few listing photos?

So when thousands of women (and children) were being duplicated--including in non-consensual AI porn--it was no big deal. But it took "only a 15-sec clip" of these two famous white men to draw outrage and fear. Gotcha. Cool cool.

A good answer here would be "No, I do not think President Trump is racist. I observe that he is racist."

Bangladesh's interim leader Yunus steps down as new gov't set to take over 'Let the practice of democracy continue,' said Yunus, who has overseen country's post-uprising transition since 2024.

'Let the practice of democracy continue,' said Yunus, who has overseen country's post-uprising transition since 2024.

Popping up across Brooklyn... All of the people featured in the windows are Black people.

A graphic in pink, blue, and green that illustrates how recent many Black History events are to the current day -- ranging from 1619 to 2024.

I'm sure we've all seen the graphic that lays out the United States ' relationship with slavery. It's good, but I never thought it was quite impactful enough. So I made my own.

I've used a few key events, including my birth, to highlight how recent these events are in history.

1 square = 1 year.

Brilliant!

They want to scare people out of posting ICE-critical content, because they know these posts are turning even their supporters against them. But the better option is to take a page out of their playbook and flood the zone.

No woman in a burqa (or a hijab or a burkini) has ever done me any harm. But I was sacked (without explanation) by a man in a suit. Men in suits missold me pensions and endowments, costing me thousands of pounds. A man in a suit led us on a disastrous and illegal war. Men in suits led the banks and crashed the world economy. Other men in suits then increased the misery to millions through austerity. If we are to start telling people what to wear, maybe we should ban suits. Henry Steward, London.

Watch out for men in suits. They are the worst kind!

#anticapitalism #EatTheRich #FeedThePoor #capitalism #capitalists #MenInSuits #activism #anarchism #socialism

What Is at Stake as Global Leaders Gather for India’s AI Summit The AI Impact Summit opens in New Delhi, marking India’s bid to shape global AI rules, attract investment and accelerate adoption, reports Varsha Bansal.

India says it wants a "third way" on AI, writes Tech Policy Press fellow Varsha Bansal. But with Big Tech selling "sovereignty as a service" and a desire to cut deals, experts warn of a paradox — pursuing independence while relying on the very giants it hopes to counterbalance.

India’s ‘AI Impact Summit’ Promises Little More Than Spectacle The fourth in a series of convenings that kicked off in Bletchley Park in 2023, the summit is the first held in the Global South, writes Apar Gupta.

"Any claims of AI solving for population scale problems must be matched against the reality of the Global South, in which young boys were applying enamel paint on the railings... with their bare hands to prepare for the arrival of Silicon Valley CEOs." www.techpolicy.press/indias-ai-im...

(2/11) You know dynamic pricing—think Uber rides, flights, or concert tickets that surge based on supply and demand. “Surveillance Pricing” takes this to the next level: using your data to set a “price for you” based on your predicted breaking point. This is, increasingly, everywhere.

(1/11) If you live in NY, you’ve probably started seeing a new warning: “THIS PRICE WAS SET BY AN ALGORITHM USING YOUR PERSONAL DATA.” This mandatory disclosure went into effect late last year, and it’s the first attempt by a US state to grapple with a new generation of surveillance pricing.

100+ more Google employees have signed since yesterday

Does your university use ChatGPT Edu? Please send me a DM if you do. I have identified a potential data breach affecting students' data that has not yet been fixed and I'm trying to compile further examples from other universities.

Reposts appreciated!