Dear Becoming Ones: In my travels through the American South eating with people and being hosted by strangers, I have come face to face with technological colonialism and the acceleration of AI in all things. So, today, I want us to meditate on longing for inconvenience.
Recently, the New Yorker published an essay by Hanif Abdurraqib, back in April of this year. The author wrote on how people are longing for inconvenient technology, CD players, VCRs, and more.
This has me thinking about my own use of technology.
I like slow food; slow evenings on the catio or porch; and, slow conversation, the kind of conversation that helps you wander through various emotional and psychological terrain to help us become another possible world.
I don’t see how logics of coloniality will nurture our society. I see potential harm to the underside of history, a term that has been used for decades to describe the marginalized and minoritized people who are at the bottom rung of the social ladder.
In the American South, which is where I’ve been since late August, I have noticed how blatant the racism is and the bigotry. There is no hiding, and I understand this terrain, because it is where I grew up! Though I left Texas in my mid 20s, I was deeply shaped by the fascism of Texas and the surrounding areas of the American South.
I have thought for many years that this country has always been fascist and using logics of colonialism to fortify the remaining imperialism of this country. So, what do we do now that technology has embraced the same logics of settler colonialism?
An Anthropic researcher has stepped down and is sounding the alarm that super intelligence could threaten the lives of humans.
Extinction by 2030.
We’ve been using Artificial Intelligence for decades already, from navigation to translation, and yet now we see how AI is taking over so much territory and harming the land, ecosystems, and people.
What do we do, now?
Slowing down and embracing logics of inconvenience might be the next best step. If you want to read the essay by Hanif Abdurraqib, here it is!
So, today, on Monday, take some time to slow down and contemplate on logics of inconvenience. Settle into inconvenience and see what bubbles up. This might be the precipice of imagination for another possible world.
Paz, —RCE+