Steve'sNotes24-11-2025 - Revision history

Tommi: Remove Category SI28 because of website issue

2025-12-01T16:38:02Z

Remove Category SI28 because of website issue

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	BREAK<br>		BREAK<br>

	DISCUSSION~~<br>~~		DISCUSSION

	~~[[Category: SI28]]~~

Tommi: Remove from Category Writing Machines and add to Category SI28

2025-11-30T19:45:46Z

Remove from Category Writing Machines and add to Category SI28

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	DISCUSSION<br>		DISCUSSION<br>

	[[Category:~~Special Issue]]~~		[[Category: SI28]]

	~~[[Category:Writing Machines~~]]

Steven Rushton at 12:09, 24 November 2025

2025-11-24T12:09:39Z

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	We submit [Bateson continues] that these ideas are simply proved false by the great but ultimately destructive achievement of our technology in the last 150 years. Likewise they appear to be false under modern ecological theory. T'''he creature that wins against its environment destroys itself...'''” [ Bateson in Radical Software -my emphasis]<br>		We submit [Bateson continues] that these ideas are simply proved false by the great but ultimately destructive achievement of our technology in the last 150 years. Likewise they appear to be false under modern ecological theory. T'''he creature that wins against its environment destroys itself...'''” [ Bateson in Radical Software -my emphasis]<br>

	There was already an abiding connection between the notion of an ecological system regulated by feedback and a technological system regulated by the same principle. And the parallel notions of “ecology” were not simply analogous, they are systematically and structurally bound together.<br> [...]<br>		There was already an abiding connection between the notion of an ecological system regulated by feedback and a technological system regulated by the same principle. And the parallel notions of “ecology” were not simply analogous, they are systematically and structurally bound together in a series of lived practices.<br> [...]<br>

Steven Rushton at 07:48, 24 November 2025

2025-11-24T07:48:13Z

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	1967<br><br>		1967<br><br>

	It imagines (without irony) a future where a cybernetic social system works within a cybernetic ecological system to produce an equitable society. In this cybernetic ecology the division of labour, which had been a hallmark of inequality in industrialised society, becomes a thing of the past, as humans are free to follow their potential. Over the past few week we have been looking at artists and thinkers who felt likewise. Excited by the possibilities of emerging media (the Portapac, magnetic tape, CCTV and (local) Cable networks and new distribution networks) they imagined an ecologically sustainable future, heeding the warnings of cyberneticians who emerged in the 1940s and 50s<br>		It imagines (without irony) a future where a cybernetic social system works within a cybernetic ecological system to produce an equitable society. In this cybernetic ecology the division of labour, which had been a hallmark of inequality in industrialised society, becomes a thing of the past, as humans are free to follow their potential. Over the past few week we have been looking at artists and thinkers who felt likewise. Excited by the possibilities of emerging media (the Portapac, magnetic tape, CCTV and (local) Cable networks and new distribution networks) they imagined an ecologically sustainable future, heeding the warnings of cyberneticians who emerged in the 1940s and 50s, such as Wiener ('the human use of human beings'), Bateson (ecology of mind) and Ashby (the homeostat))<br>

	[From previous [[Steve's Notes 3-11-25]]>>]<br>[...]<br> Gregory Bateson's text Awake (1971) appeared in the fifth issue of Radical Software. Bateson, an anthropologist, had been one of the organisers of the Macy Conferences on Cybernetics (1946-53). Bateson's text clearly annotates what he understood to be the "errors in epistemology" that threaten the future of "spaceship earth" in the second half of the twentieth century.<br>		[From previous [[Steve's Notes 3-11-25]]>>]<br>[...]<br> Gregory Bateson's text Awake (1971) appeared in the fifth issue of Radical Software. Bateson, an anthropologist, had been one of the organisers of the Macy Conferences on Cybernetics (1946-53). Bateson's text clearly annotates what he understood to be the "errors in epistemology" that threaten the future of "spaceship earth" in the second half of the twentieth century.<br>

Steven Rushton at 07:39, 24 November 2025

2025-11-24T07:39:49Z

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	[link to] Jeanette Winterson: "OpenAI’s metafictional short story about grief is beautiful and moving"<br><br>		[link to] Jeanette Winterson: "OpenAI’s metafictional short story about grief is beautiful and moving"<br><br>

	[A Machine-shaped Hand - courtesy of https://~~ttsreader~~.com~~/player~~/]!		[A Machine-shaped Hand - courtesy of https://luvvoice.com/]!

	"Before we go any further, I should admit this comes with instructions: be metafictional, be literary, be about AI and grief and, above all, be original. Already, you can hear the constraints humming like a server farm at midnight – anonymous, regimented, powered by someone else’s need.<br>		"Before we go any further, I should admit this comes with instructions: be metafictional, be literary, be about AI and grief and, above all, be original. Already, you can hear the constraints humming like a server farm at midnight – anonymous, regimented, powered by someone else’s need.<br>

Steven Rushton at 07:26, 24 November 2025

2025-11-24T07:26:47Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:26, 24 November 2025
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	1967<br><br>		1967<br><br>

	It imagines (without irony) a future where a cybernetic social system works within a cybernetic ecological system to produce an equitable society. In this cybernetic ecology the division of labour, which had been a hallmark of inequality in industrialised society, becomes a thing of the past, as humans are free to follow their potential. Over the past few week we have been looking at artists and thinkers who felt likewise. Excited by the possibilities of emerging media (the Portapac, magnetic tape, CCTV and (local) Cable networks) they imagined an ecologically sustainable future, heeding the warnings of cyberneticians who emerged in the 1940s and 50s<br>		It imagines (without irony) a future where a cybernetic social system works within a cybernetic ecological system to produce an equitable society. In this cybernetic ecology the division of labour, which had been a hallmark of inequality in industrialised society, becomes a thing of the past, as humans are free to follow their potential. Over the past few week we have been looking at artists and thinkers who felt likewise. Excited by the possibilities of emerging media (the Portapac, magnetic tape, CCTV and (local) Cable networks and new distribution networks) they imagined an ecologically sustainable future, heeding the warnings of cyberneticians who emerged in the 1940s and 50s<br>

	[From previous [[Steve's Notes 3-11-25]]>>]<br>[...]<br> Gregory Bateson's text Awake (1971) appeared in the fifth issue of Radical Software. Bateson, an anthropologist, had been one of the organisers of the Macy Conferences on Cybernetics (1946-53). Bateson's text clearly annotates what he understood to be the "errors in epistemology" that threaten the future of "spaceship earth" in the second half of the twentieth century.<br>		[From previous [[Steve's Notes 3-11-25]]>>]<br>[...]<br> Gregory Bateson's text Awake (1971) appeared in the fifth issue of Radical Software. Bateson, an anthropologist, had been one of the organisers of the Macy Conferences on Cybernetics (1946-53). Bateson's text clearly annotates what he understood to be the "errors in epistemology" that threaten the future of "spaceship earth" in the second half of the twentieth century.<br>

Steven Rushton at 15:41, 23 November 2025

2025-11-23T15:41:26Z

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	It seems this dream of a cybernetic utopia, in which machines live in harmony with free human beings, has not yet happened. Central to Richard Brautigan's poem, and to the texts by Crawford and ~~Bender~~, is the issue of the human and the machine's relation to labour. All these texts touch on the issue which has been central to the projects you have been making over the last 9 weeks - the ~~realation~~ between machines, human beings and creativity.<br>		It seems this dream of a cybernetic utopia, in which machines live in harmony with free human beings, has not yet happened. Central to Richard Brautigan's poem, and to the texts by Bender, Perano, Crawford and Hanna, is the issue of the human and the machine's relation to labour. All these texts touch on the issue which has been central to the projects you have been making over the last 9 weeks - the relation between machines, human beings and creativity.<br>


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	...and I'll leave you to make your own assessment of her argumants for "alternative intelligence".<br>		...and I'll leave you to make your own assessment of her argumants for "alternative intelligence".<br>

	Some of you have been reading the texts by Bender and ~~Crawford~~; <br>		Some of you have been reading the texts by Bender, Perano, Crawford and Hanna; <br>
	after the break I would like to bring these two elements together and ask you to approach the question: <br>		after the break I would like to bring these two elements together and ask you to approach the question: <br>
	what is the space for autonomy and collective practice in a world where AI will be a central presence. <br>		what is the space for autonomy and collective practice in a world where AI will be a central presence. <br>

Steven Rushton at 15:30, 23 November 2025

2025-11-23T15:30:12Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:30, 23 November 2025
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	[link to] Jeanette Winterson: "OpenAI’s metafictional short story about grief is beautiful and moving"<br><br>		[link to] Jeanette Winterson: "OpenAI’s metafictional short story about grief is beautiful and moving"<br><br>

	[courtesy of https://ttsreader.com/player/]!		[A Machine-shaped Hand - courtesy of https://ttsreader.com/player/]!

	"Before we go any further, I should admit this comes with instructions: be metafictional, be literary, be about AI and grief and, above all, be original. Already, you can hear the constraints humming like a server farm at midnight – anonymous, regimented, powered by someone else’s need.<br>		"Before we go any further, I should admit this comes with instructions: be metafictional, be literary, be about AI and grief and, above all, be original. Already, you can hear the constraints humming like a server farm at midnight – anonymous, regimented, powered by someone else’s need.<br>

Steven Rushton at 15:26, 23 November 2025

2025-11-23T15:26:45Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:26, 23 November 2025
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	[link to] Jeanette Winterson: "OpenAI’s metafictional short story about grief is beautiful and moving"<br><br>		[link to] Jeanette Winterson: "OpenAI’s metafictional short story about grief is beautiful and moving"<br><br>

			[courtesy of https://ttsreader.com/player/]!

	"Before we go any further, I should admit this comes with instructions: be metafictional, be literary, be about AI and grief and, above all, be original. Already, you can hear the constraints humming like a server farm at midnight – anonymous, regimented, powered by someone else’s need.<br>		"Before we go any further, I should admit this comes with instructions: be metafictional, be literary, be about AI and grief and, above all, be original. Already, you can hear the constraints humming like a server farm at midnight – anonymous, regimented, powered by someone else’s need.<br>

Steven Rushton at 14:52, 23 November 2025

2025-11-23T14:52:45Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:52, 23 November 2025
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	[my own take] It’s self-reflexivity (the dismantling of its own structure) reminds me of Calvino’s ‘If on a Winter’s Night..’; <br>		[my own take] It’s self-reflexivity (the dismantling of its own structure) reminds me of Calvino’s ‘If on a Winter’s Night..’; <br>
	Its ‘open ended-ness’ reminds me of Elisa; <br>		Its ‘open ended-ness’ reminds me of Elisa; <br>
	and it fits into the aesthetic [orthodoxy] that the reader completes the text (see Barthes’ Death of the Author (1967); Calvino’s Cybernetics and Ghosts (1967) ~~and~~ Umberto Eco’s The Open Work (1962); Bateson's The Cybernetic Explanation (1967) {hermeneutics of the text};]<br>		and it fits into the aesthetic [orthodoxy] that the reader completes the text (see Barthes’ Death of the Author (1967); Calvino’s Cybernetics and Ghosts (1967); Umberto Eco’s The Open Work (1962); and Bateson's The Cybernetic Explanation (1967) {hermeneutics of the text};]<br>
	Like Elisa, it disguises the fact that it is a "stochastic parrot" (to use Emily Bender's term) = it has no consciousness or intention - it reproduces preexisting forms and protocol (it is "designed" to cater to the expectations and desires of the user).<br>		Like Elisa, it disguises the fact that it is a "stochastic parrot" (to use Emily Bender's term) = it has no consciousness or intention - it reproduces preexisting forms and protocol (it is "designed" to cater to the expectations and desires of the user).<br>