Michelle Shevin
@michebox.bsky.social
110 followers 170 following 32 posts
Future Preservation Society
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michebox.bsky.social
David Graeber once said “this feeling of hopelessness that everyone has is a manufactured product.”

Today I’ve published a piece about how the future gets foreclosed and how we fight back with our minds and relationships.
Possibility + Power = Plan
I soured on my first strategic foresight job gradually, and then all at once.
medium.com
michebox.bsky.social
I have never run more than 5 miles and have gotten runner’s high more than once. It is like a creeping & then sudden bodily euphoria that makes you feel you could run indefinitely. Still never made it past 5 miles though. It is a stress response in the brain and probably a bad thing to have happen!
Reposted by Michelle Shevin
drfrancisyoung.bsky.social
People are always saying on social media that gen-AI is here to stay and that it’s retrograde and standing in the way of progress if we reject it. But there are plenty of things that were once the embodiment of progress that we collectively decided to reject, from cocaine in soft drinks to eugenics
Reposted by Michelle Shevin
tressiemcphd.bsky.social
The hysteria when you say, “nah I’m good” on all the chat bots is how you know they’re in the grips of roulette fever. You know the guy at a casino, shaking at 2 am, telling you how dumb you are not to get in on this?
wstafrican.bsky.social
The chatbot people are so upset. What are you going to do? Come to my home and force me to use ChatGPT?
michebox.bsky.social
I’ve just eaten a braised chicken thigh and a fried wing at hat yai with extra pickles and I feel compelled to tell you that you buried the lede!
Reposted by Michelle Shevin
juliaangwin.com
DOGE is assembling a master database of personal data from across the government -- including tax records, social security files, immigration dossiers etc.

This cross-agency master database is exactly what Congress tried to prevent when it passed the Federal Privacy Act of 1974.
Reposted by Michelle Shevin
juliaangwin.com
A centralized database will be "ill-equipped to correct errors, allow for extenuating circumstances, or bring facts up to date," warned Vance Packard. "The notion of the possibility of redemption is likely to be incomprehensible to a computer."
A centralized database will be "ill-equipped to correct errors, allow for extenuating circumstances, or bring facts up to date," warned Vance Packard. "The notion of the possibility of redemption is likely to be incomprehensible to a computer."
michebox.bsky.social
Big fan of friction, myself.

Reading them next to each other tbf but also rhymes with Postman’s critique of “entertainment” as something that helps with education.
“…conceived by someone asking What is the television good for? Not what is education good for?” could easily be about AI…
michebox.bsky.social
An unforgettable, excellent, and timeless article!
Reposted by Michelle Shevin
seanmartinmcdonald.bsky.social
This consolidation started long before now and was a product of a lot of American hubris. But this is definitely the “find out” phase and it’s going to be brutal.
alondra.bsky.social
The alarming consolidation of federal government data and processes into private corporate control threatens democratic oversight, public transparency, and national security – all without adequate safeguards or accountability.
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
"On the rooftop patio of the General Services Administration headquarters, an agency staffer recently discovered something strange: a rectangular device attached to a wire that snaked across the roof... a transceiver that communicates with Elon Musk’s vast and private Starlink satellite network."
Reposted by Michelle Shevin
bcmerchant.bsky.social
This is, the therapists say, very dangerous—the algorithm doesn't know how to detect nuance, or when to ask follow up questions, for instance, and may be turning away people in genuine crisis. Algorithmic triage, they say, has been a disaster, and they've fought it since its inception.
Reposted by Michelle Shevin
ali-alkhatib.com
i'm ambivalent about litigating algorithmic fairness and accuracy; this is why. negotiating administrating this system fairly or accurately is nonsense. there's no running a colony ethically, or an empire in a human-centered way. you can make up bullshit and hit those targets, but they mean nothing.
michebox.bsky.social
Evidently rich terroir 💫
michebox.bsky.social
Genuinely weird bit of resonance for me here. I have just booked my first ever trip to Portland and am naturally already looking for food. In immediate succession I encountered this place on the map near my hotel, bookmarked it, and then switched over here to find this at the top of my feed…
Reposted by Michelle Shevin
bcmerchant.bsky.social
After Trump was elected the first time, there was also a lot of talk about making iPhones in the US. At the time, I co-edited the sci-fi outlet Terraform, and asked @timmaughan.bsky.social to imagine what such a future might really look like.

With his permission, I'm republishing the story in full:
Flyover Country
What a future where iPhones are made in America would really look like.
www.bloodinthemachine.com
Reposted by Michelle Shevin
michebox.bsky.social
“Is your heart beating and do you plan to live? Come this way…” —@adriennemareebrown.bsky.social
Reposted by Michelle Shevin
annabower.bsky.social
Erez Reuveni argued on behalf of the Justice Department during Friday’s hearing in the Abrego Garcia case.

Reuveni has reportedly been placed on leave.

Here’s one exchange with the judge that may have contributed to his ouster:
THE COURT: Mr. Abrego Garcia should not have been removed, right?
MR. REUVENI: Yes.
THE COURT: Can you answer for me, then, on what authority was he seized? When he was --when he was taken off the street, taken out of his car, what authority did those law enforcement officers have to do that?
MR. REUVENI: So, Your Honor, my answer to a lot of these questions is going to be frustrating. I am also frustrated that I have no answers for
you on a lot of these questions.
michebox.bsky.social
whose future is not only a space of problems to be solved, but also circumstances to navigate in community with one another. Through this lens, choices become not just good or bad, true or false, left or right, but assessed against their potential to cultivate the conditions for right relationship.”
michebox.bsky.social
“Planning on co-liberation and collective thriving doesn’t mean things proceed according to a plan. It looks more like prioritizing, over and over again, the reality that while the future is unwritten, my destiny is tied up with yours— that all life is an interconnected web…
michebox.bsky.social
David Graeber once said “this feeling of hopelessness that everyone has is a manufactured product.”

Today I’ve published a piece about how the future gets foreclosed and how we fight back with our minds and relationships.
Possibility + Power = Plan
I soured on my first strategic foresight job gradually, and then all at once.
medium.com