No Regime Can Buy or Sell me
Plus: Palantir is Watching
Dear Citizens,
Quite a week in Liverpool, where Palantir was in the sites of Labour … and The Citizens. Read our dispatch from the annual conference here, and Carole Cadwalladr’s chilling, revealing interview with MP Clive Lewis here. His warning to advocates? Palantir is watching 👀.
Here’s what else to read, know and do this week.
🛠️ONE READ: Some Assembly Required 🛠️
As we plot the future of AI and humanity, maybe the people should have a say? That’s the heart of the argument from Audrey Tang and Hélène Landemor in the latest issue of Noema: that “Slogans won’t slow the rapid development of dangerously powerful AI. But a citizens’ assembly representative of humanity’s diversity and independent of frontier labs and national governments could.” They write -
What is needed to nudge all players toward the cooperative equilibrium, therefore, is a body with enough moral authority to be an obvious coordination point and with the political legitimacy to set the terms of cooperation, coordinate the verification process and raise the reputational costs for any form of defection.
A great idea, worth watching! Read the whole piece here.
(Bonus read: Eight Years On, Cambridge Analytica Scandal Catches Up With Meta in Santa Fe)
🤔ONE LISTEN: Face-ing The Truth 🤔
While it’s good to see “pervert glasses” accepted as the mainstream default for Meta wearables, what does it mean to live in a world “where anyone can basically dox anyone else now.” In this great conversation with journalist Kashmir Hill at 404 media, the focus is on facial recognition writ large, and how soon almost anyone can “take clips of people, run them through facial recognition software, and then post their name and other personal info for everyone to see.”
It’s a great conversation. Listen here.
⛓️💥ONE ACTION: Declare Your Independence ⛓️💥
Still looking for alternatives to the mainstream platforms? Coming up this weekend (online!) is Digital Independence Day, which takes place every first Sunday of the month. The idea is simple: switch from a proprietary service to a free/libre/open-source solution — together. With shared learning, gentle guidance, and space for questions, the program aims to “help each other transition away from Big Tech services at a pace that feels realistic.”
Check it out this Sunday, here.
That’s all for this week.
Team Citizens
