Litsy

Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement (A Norton Short) | Ashley Shew

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This was a really insightful discussion about disability and how most of society expects the disabled to use technology to become "normal" instead of changing our expectations and the world to better serve them.
Each topic was approached in a lighthearted manner, while also calling out the ableist biases typically involved. It definitely brought some things to my attention.
This was my May #bookspin @TheAromaofBooks and #roll100 @PuddleJumper

peanutnine #MonthlyNonfiction2025 @julieclair 2d

TheAromaofBooks Great progress!! 2d

PuddleJumper 🎉🎉 1d

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ncsufoxes This one has been on my list. Our society does expect disabled people to conform to what they find acceptable or within the norm. My son uses text to talk & talk to text software. When he was young we had so much push back on having it on his IEP. I got told he had to physically be able to write words. I always said if business people & doctors can use the same software why can‘t a kid that has speech & auditory processing delays use it. 1d

peanutnine @ncsufoxes wow 😡 the hypocrisy is ridiculous 1d

ncsufoxes @peanutnine unfortunately people blame people for their disabilities (not that it is something that people can usually prevent) & feel that it is up to them to meet societal norms. Most people don‘t realize how ableist society is until they have to navigate it. Accommodations & inclusion benefit everyone but we put those things out of reach for most disabled people. I was thinking about the new glasses Meta made, which they gave out to 1d

ncsufoxes influencers or celebrities & maybe a handful of disabled people (a guy I follow on IG has RP & he was given a pair). Instead of giving it exclusively to disabled people to test & get the word out they give it to people that don‘t necessarily need it. Instead they‘ll charge disabled people full price for something that would benefit them. Tech stuff for disabilities is super expensive, most people can‘t afford it. Unless your state has programs. 1d

peanutnine @ncsufoxes oh yeah. My cousin was paralyzed at 16 and it's crazy the amount of hoops my aunt has to go through just to keep her day to day care and fighting with insurance to prove that she needs something 23h

julieclair This sounds like a book everyone should read. 13h

peanutnine @julieclair for sure! 13h

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JLaurenceCohen

Fancy Bear Goes Phishing: The Dark History of the Information Age, in Five Extraordinary Hacks | Scott J. Shapiro

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It took me 11 months, but I finally finished this! Really great book about cybersecurity: accessible to non-specialists while including lots of detail. Shapiro writes in a highly informative yet slightly sardonic voice that I enjoyed.

Bookwormjillk I‘ve been meaning to read this 2w

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REPollock

The Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence | Kate Crawford

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A planetary perspective on the machine learning technologies now collectively referred as “AI.” The author addresses inherent biases and exploitative labor practices. This could‘ve been dry, but I found it quite readable.

17 likes

TheLudicReader

Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now | Jaron Lanier

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Can't say that I completely understood everything Lanier said, but I did get the main message: social media is ruining the world and we are its slaves. Not Litsy.

CoverToCoverGirl I have been shouting this for twenty years, so almost from the beginning. Litsy is an exception. I only have a Facebook account (7years) because it was needed for an account for my small business or Litsy would be it. I‘m very happy that schools are starting to ban them and Australia is setting age restrictions on many of these unfettered platforms. Just my thoughts and opinions. 3w

ShelleyBooksie Aww, snuggle kitty ♡♡ 3w

TheLudicReader @CoverToCoverGirl you are not wrong. I deleted FB in January and do not miss it at all. I still have Instagram, but I don't post much and mostly use it to see what my kids are up to or watch bookish content. I am so worried about young people today. I see their phone addiction and lack of critical thinking skills every day in the classroom. 3w

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dabbe I tried to get my district to order the tagged book in the hopes that it would be a text to assist students in those desperately-needed critical thinking skills. The two parents on the reading committee said “No.“ 😳 Therein lies a major problem in this country. 🤦🏼‍♀️
OTOH, I see us doing lots of what your picture shows when I'm there. I hope Lily will tolerate me! 💜

Think: Why You Should Question Everything

nanuska_153 @dabbe those parents probably spend a lot of time checking their social media while they are with their kids and don't want to explain to them why they can use it while their kids can't. Honestly, I don't know what might damage the kids more, having social media or having parents that rather look at their phones than spend quality time with their kids 3w

dabbe @nanuska_153 🎯🩵🎯 3w

TheBookHippie I sent your birthday card with a letter today!!! Here‘s hoping it arrives in time and I added the postage correctly!!!! 🤣🫣🤦🏻‍♀️😝🎉👀 Should arrive faster than the holiday card!!! OY. 3w

DogMomIrene I really want to read this one. But I‘m not buying books right now. I hit “notify me” in the Libby app for my library, so hoping they get it soon. 2w

AmyG A little something is coming your way for your bday. I can only pray it gets there, let alone in time! 🤣😘 2w

TheLudicReader @AmyG @TheBookHippie ❤️ I will keep my eyes peeled. 2w

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Billypar

Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist | Liz Pelly

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#tuesdaytunes @TieDyeDude
I always felt a little guilty for using Spotify given the little to no pay that artists receive. But Pelly's book details a long list of other problematic behavior. I never listen to the Spotify-made lists much, but they are a huge part of their business model. Artists get added to them based on less than transparent ways involving their record labels or sometimes from the artists themselves paying for the privilege 👇

Billypar Or some artists agree to make generic 'chill vibes' music for small amounts of money and without their identity linked, which supplants authentic ambient artists from playlists. And if all that's not bad enough, there's a whole phony music pseudoscience underlying all this that tries to identify the least offensive, most homogeneous music possible to promote while generating ever increasing fake subgenre labels to trick people into thinking 👇 3w

Billypar they've discovered some kind of new, niche musical scene that doesn't exist. The whole thing is demoralizing, and it sounds like Spotify's employees who may have joined out of a genuine love of music are becoming increasingly disillusioned with their tech-bro leadership. I may be too addicted to delete my account, but this definitely reminded me of how important it is for music fans to find other ways to support our favorite artists. 3w

CSeydel It‘s so frustrating because they really have a good service. I don‘t feel guilty about making playlists and listening to them — much of what I listen to on Spotify, I already own on CD or cassette (or both!), anyway — but I‘ve definitely started to be more cautious about Spotify-supplied playlists. And more intentional about buying concert tickets and merch rather than just streaming. 3w

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Billypar @CSeydel Yeah, concert tickets and merch are really the best ways. I also do like Bandcamp - I think the streaming payment is only marginally better, but it's great for discovering new indie artists and makes it easy to buy their songs, albums, and merch. 3w

CSeydel @Billypar Yes, everyone always recommends Bandcamp, and I made an account. I‘m sure it‘s better for discovering new artists, but most of the artists I usually listen to aren‘t on there - I thought it would be a replacement for Spotify, but it‘s very different. 3w

Billypar @CSeydel Oh yeah, it doesn't replace Spotify by a longshot for me either. But I'm very happy with the artists/albums I have found there. 3w

The_Book_Ninja I retired from the music industry. I have 2 albums on Spotify…I have no idea who put them there or where the royalties go but it‘s so minuscule I don‘t let it bother me. But if you‘re not going to listen to music in solidarity with musicians you shouldn‘t listen to any format (besides live) because I‘ve been ripped off by record labels, managements and distributors. It is what it is 3w

Billypar @The_Book_Ninja Yeah, definitely true. The author was wise not to portray streaming as across the board worse than other models, just bad in a different way than the traditional exploitative practices of record labels. 3w

The_Book_Ninja @Billypar 👍🏼yep…if they can find a way to shaft you, they will. 3w

Bookwomble @The_Book_Ninja Capitalism wears a t-shirt with that logo: If I can find a way to shaft you, I will 😉🫵🏼 👕 Looks good topped of with a MAGA cap 😏 2w

Billypar @Bookwomble 🤑🤢 2w

vivastory This is such a fascinating review!! I have definitely experienced Spotify playlist burnout the past couple of months and have been intentionally listening to FULL albums. It's been a great change 6d

Billypar @vivastory Yeah, of all the bad things the book mentioned, the most chilling was how Spotify's ideal is for you to just push play on a playlist and keep it on in the background for hours. Engaging with what artists you're listening to isn't part of that equation, and neither is discovering new artists. 5d

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annamatopoetry

The Medieval Machine: The Industrial Revolution of the Middle Ages | Jean Gimpel

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Which will win, my distaste for history of science or my love for medieval shit? Medieval shit, it turns out. A concise little summary of how it's wrong to label the medieval era as stagnant, with lots of interesting bits about engineering, astronomy, clockwork, but more importantly their impact on society. That said, Gimpel is VERY based in the mid-1970s and draw some far fetched (we've seen) conclusions about the fate of the western world.

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annamatopoetry

The Medieval Machine: The Industrial Revolution of the Middle Ages | Jean Gimpel

"... That christianity, by destroying classical animism, brought about a basic change in the attitude towards natural objects and opened the way for their rational and unabashed use for human ends..."

4 likes

REPollock

Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines | Joy Buolamwini

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I didn‘t expect this to read like a memoir (a genre I typically don‘t read) but I appreciate how the author interweaves her own history and story with the illuminating information about facial recognition and image processing AI technologies.

I‘m glad I have read other books about the different technologies grouped together in the description of “AI.”

16 likes

ImperfectCJ

Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now | Jaron Lanier

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I'm not sure if this short book was compelling on its own or just along with my other reading/experiences, but it definitely struck a chord for me. A Silicon Valley insider, Lanier makes a distinction between social media that uses what he terms BUMMER algorithms to target and manipulate users and other, less insidious types of online interaction. I don't like his Solitary/Pack terminology, but aside from that, it's a very convincing read.

TheLudicReader I am currently reading Lanier‘s book, too. I am becoming increasingly distressed about social media…I dumped out of FB in January and don‘t miss it at all. Insta is probably next. 1mo

ImperfectCJ @TheLudicReader His comparison to lead paint was really helpful to me, the idea that I'm not leaving social media forever, just until a better system is in place. And then I remind myself that I was keeping in touch with people fine before Facebook, and I just need to remember what that looked like. The fact that it's difficult to remember is a bit alarming to me, how thoroughly social media has changed how I relate to people. 4w

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JLaurenceCohen

Fancy Bear Goes Phishing: The Dark History of the Information Age, in Five Extraordinary Hacks | Scott J. Shapiro