October 18, 2023
South By South West.
Sydney.
First time in the South Hemisphere.
Lots of #hype for sure.
It’s #big. Huge actually. I’ve visited more venues in Sydney in the past 3 days than in the last 3 years. A great #showcase for #Sydney #TechCentral and all their partners.
It’s #loud. I like #loud, somehow…
It’s #fast. Very fast. Trust me on this one, I listen to podcasts at 1.3X speed in average. One has to be super realistic with their #time management and #FOMO expectations.
But it is also #deep and #focused. I really feel privileged I’ve been given access to so much insight and creativity.
I wasn’t operational on Sunday, celebrating my recovery from the 4th longest commercial airline route in the world (aka zzzzzzzz).
So Monday was my first gig - and I jumped in head first. Frances Haugen, #OG #Facebook #Whistleblower, has been a hero of mine for a long time (I createdatht.org domain in 2021). Amazing session, during which Haugen and her co-panelists Nic Cuzor, Julie Grant, Rys Farthing discuss the need for Transparency in tech. They explore the dangers of #Microtargeting. That true facts can be part of #misinformation. That our #democracies are outsourcing their defense in the information war :( Frances mentioned #validation a fair bit. THX for that. I actually felt #validated that she quoted word for word that “you can’t have accountability without transparency”. A motto for ATHT. “Companies are uncomfortable with transparency”. Gold. We need according to her:
- an ecosystem of accountability.
- to start by properly framing things before the industry does the reframing.
- to work on closing the feedback loop
- to use the 3 leveRs: revenue, reputation, regulation
Later in the day I was lucky to secure a seat to see Genevieve Bell, one of my favorite’s storytellers, anthropologist, VP @Intel, distinguished Professor and just appointed Vice Chancellor of the ANU. Her perspective on the Brewarrina’s fish traps and her personal international experience emphasized the importance of “Negating the #Silence”, everywhere, particularly this week. Her “Brief History” of computing technology is super entertaining. Her evocation of the passionate post-war debates, of #Bowie, #Eno or #Gibson, offer #hope that scientific progress is possible outside of political correctness and institutional conformism. It requires a #politic, and the ability to deal with #discomfort (something that has been a recurring theme along most of the talks I’ve heard after this one!). This work is required to define better responsibilities an accountability, to be able to “invest in conversations”. “A system to be sustainable must have strength and grace”.
This fascinating talk took most of the hour allocated so there was no time for questions sadly. I had submitted two questions using the QR Code facility:
A/ Putting the history of Cybernetics in perspective with the current AI revolution/race - to what extend do you think it is important for democracy that public regulations ensure transparency and encourage the use of free and open source computing resources for public services?
B/ To what extend are the concepts of cybernetics compatible with the work of Herbert Simon? Is this something that could help provide a scientific basis to the design of public regulations?