#109 - Dr. DAN MCQUILLAN - Resisting AI

YT version: https://youtu.be/P1j3VoKBxbc (references in pinned comment) Support us! https://www.patreon.com/mlst MLST Discord: https://discord.gg/aNPkGUQtc5 Dan McQuillan, a visionary in digital culture and social innovation, emphasizes the importance of understanding technology's complex relationship with society. As an academic at Goldsmiths, University of London, he fosters interdisciplinary collaboration and champions data-driven equity and ethical technology. Dan's career includes roles at Amnesty International and Social Innovation Camp, showcasing technology's potential to empower and bring about positive change. In this conversation, we discuss the challenges and opportunities at the intersection of technology and society, exploring the profound impact of our digital world. Interviewer: Dr. Tim Scarfe [00:00:00] Dan's background and journey to academia [00:03:30] Dan's background and journey to academia [00:04:10] Writing the book "Resisting AI" [00:08:30] Necropolitics and its relation to AI [00:10:06] AI as a new form of colonization [00:12:57] LLMs as a new form of neo-techno-imperialism [00:15:47] Technology for good and AGI's skewed worldview [00:17:49] Transhumanism, eugenics, and intelligence [00:20:45] Valuing differences (disability) and challenging societal norms [00:26:08] Re-ontologizing and the philosophy of information [00:28:19] New materialism and the impact of technology on society [00:30:32] Intelligence, meaning, and materiality [00:31:43] The constraints of physical laws and the importance of science [00:32:44] Exploring possibilities to reduce suffering and increase well-being [00:33:29] The division between meaning and material in our experiences [00:35:36] Machine learning, data science, and neoplatonic approach to understanding reality [00:37:56] Different understandings of cognition, thought, and consciousness [00:39:15] Enactivism and its variants in cognitive science [00:40:58