The Return of the Luddites | Los Angeles Review of Books Erik J. Larson considers “The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want” by Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna.

"By insisting on the term 'automation,' Bender and Hanna reveal that what’s sold as innovation is often just labor displacement with better branding."

Erik J. Larson discusses "The AI Con" by Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-return-of-the-luddites/

World's biggest bank designs factory for 'cyborg workers' 'We want people here all day,' admitted the bank's global head of real estate, in an interview. 'We don't want you to leave.'

Penny for my thoughts for the Daily Mail. Sure. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

Ugly Cyborg (@uglycyborg) On Expectations: As we think about how to measure the response to AI, we had a fertile meeting with the Ginsberg Center about civic engagement. Among other useful resources, they mentioned a Spectrum...

On Expectations for Public Engagement:
As we think about how to measure responses to AI, the team had a fertile meeting with the Ginsberg Center about civic engagement. Among other useful resources... (read more) substack.com/@uglycyborg/...

I’m thrilled to be named an Advisor on the 2025 WELL Mind Advisory, working alongside experts and leaders from around the world. Together, we’ll work to identify strategies to help shape the future of WELL. www.wellcertified.com/advisories/c...
#WELLadvisor

How People with Disabilities Use the Web Introduces how people with disabilities, including people with age-related impairments, use the Web.

People who want to make the web accessible need to understand the many different ways that people with disabilities use the web. This W3C resource offers a good introduction to how disabled people navigate the web, and barriers they commonly encounter.

www.w3.org/WAI/people-u...

[Image description: neon green slide with black and white text says "are you a student, designer, or activist invested in designing a more accessible world? Join us for the summer institute on disability and design. July 9-July 18, 2025. ASL, CART, Virtual. Apply at labsforliberation.org. In the background is a graphic symbol of a circuit]

Announcing the Labs for Liberation Summer Institute on Disability and Design! Are you a student, designer, or activist who is invested in designing a more accessible world? Join us July 9-July 18 for a virtual, free, and accessible online summer program.

Reading about synesthesia, "an internally pleasant but apparently useless trait." Though I get the sense that Richard Cytowic will shortly show us that it's quite useful for creativity and intuition. @neuromandc.bsky.social

Fuck this will-they-wont-they government dependence. Come out of the next 4 years with sustainable community solutions.

We keep us safe.

It appears a rush of small magazines have all joined bluesky and so we have gathered them in this convenient starter pack so that you can follow them all, too.

go.bsky.app/2JYffeG

And more wonderful #maritimehist!

Listening to Tim Spence @LifeStructures
talk about the balance of 'inboard' and 'outboard' bathrooms in hospital rooms and balancing perception of spaciousness & visibility for the care team. Seemingly small choices are much-studied yet still an art. #healthbydesign

US patients charged for ‘hospital facility fees’ – even if they don’t set foot in one Hospitals adding charge to bills from doctors’ offices, outpatient surgical clinics and diagnostic centers they own

'“hospitals are at the center of a massive market failure”, where consolidation is driving price hikes for patients.'

www.theguardian.com/us-news/arti...

Reading about Russian ergonomics during the Cold War, and wondering if the American embrace of behaviorism really isn't a bigger problem than we admit.

Psychology was used for ergonomics in World War I, but why wasn't there a field of Human Factors Engineering born at that time? Asks David Meister. He thinks the experience of total war was necessary to systematically push the human capacity to integrate with machines. Frown.

"in 2022, half of all US renters were cost burdened. This all-time high of 22.4 million renter households spent more than 30 percent of their income on rent and utilities." Half is a lot. Watching the recorded presentation to hear recs for fixing that... www.jchs.harvard.edu/americas-ren...

Grading the final projects from this year's version of History of Unsustainable Architecture, and I am delighted to hear students state "comfort is destroying the future one click or hum at a time." Stay uncomfortable, future architects. Thanks to @danielbarber.bsky.social for a great text.

Rather than an expensive masters degree on top of your professional degree, how can we coordinate a path through the degree and existing required classes that helps students specialize and create community? Design + Health info session tonight and Mon Nov 20. taubmancollege.umich.edu/event/design...

Planning a few info sessions about the Design Health concentration in the next few weeks, looking forward to connecting with like minded designers and others.

Reading K. Jake Chakasim's "The Consummation of Plastic Emotions" with agreement that “Due to their longstanding inferiority complex, Settler societies have yet to come to terms with their unscrupulous behavior.” A good ending for the UnSustainable Architecture course...

Beautiful. And happily not only about function, but gosh I wish we had a word other than user. A name for the person holding the mug? If that makes sense.

I just learned what a "sacrifice zone" is. Though apparently the term was coined for West Virginia in the 1970s. It's quite the euphemism. Who sacrificed for what? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacrifi...

The Future of Healthy Cities series takes on the timely intersection of environmental justice and health with Dr. Isabelle Anguelovski. Seems cool that the keynote is followed by a panel, hopefully in dialogue? sph.umich.edu/the-exchange/ #healthbydesign

Very cool. Yea... do you think about it in the immediate? Asking how they feel to humans who are holding them, or are there abstract metrics? Do you think and design with regard to emotion and touch?

This new data poisoning tool lets artists fight back against generative AI The tool, called Nightshade, messes up training data in ways that could cause serious damage to image-generating AI models.

Nightshade is a "new data poisoning tool" that "lets artists fight back against generative AI" www.technologyreview.com/2023/10/23/1...

There are three funded PhD positions for artistic research on climate rights with my friend Nabil Ahmed at Trondheim University!
jobbnorge.no//en/availabl...

Reading a history of war, noting that the US had seen its large military as a sign of greatness rather than a means to greatness. Then with WWI, Michael Sherry notes that "War in the name of the people sanctioned their mobilization and death at unimaginable levels." Lessons of history.