Profile of Philip Agre, a computer scientist turned humanities professor, whose work is considered foundational in studying the effects of technology on society
Philip Agre, a computer scientist turned humanities professor, was prescient about many of the ways technology would impact the world Tweets: @ibishblog , @mireillemoret , @jennaburrell , @meta_lab , @aakarpost , @goodmanmetrics , @richmondywong , @j2bryson , @monostich , @drewharwell , @reedalbergotti , @reedalbergotti , @shashib , @reedalbergotti , @rosenbergjr , @hotlinejosh , @mj_coren , @joshdcaplan , @reedalbergotti , and @leighgturner Tweets: Hussein Ibish / @ibishblog : Nearly 30 years later, Philip Agre's paper seems eerily prescient, a startling vision of a future that has come to pass in the form of a data industrial complex that knows no borders and few laws. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Mireille Hildebrandt / @mireillemoret : ""We're living in the aftermath of ignoring people like Phil," said @MarcRotenberg , who edited a book with Agre in 1998 on technology and privacy". I have been quoting the definition of the right to privacy in that book for ages, brilliant foresight re the meaning of privacy 1/ https://twitter.com/... Jenna Burrell, PhD / @jennaburrell : yes, read more Phil Agre...pointers for what to read and why in this thread. https://twitter.com/... @meta_lab : He predicted the dark side of the Internet 30 years ago. *Why did no one listen?* (WashPo @ReedAlbergotti) https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Phil Agre on #surveillance (via @murakamiwood) Your Face Is Not a Bar Code: https://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/ ... (Whole Earth 106, Winter 2001, pages 74-77.) https://twitter.com/... Aakar Anil / @aakarpost : 30 years ago, Agre wrote in the paper that the mass collection of data would change and simplify human behavior to make it easier to quantify... https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Steven Goodman / @goodmanmetrics : Must-read article on the prescient work of Phillip Agre, who understood the social dangers of algorithmic AI developed w/o human oversight or social insight. Some is now mainstream critique, but too little has been implemented. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Richmond Wong / @richmondywong : It's not everyday you see a discussion of Phil Agre and social informatics in a national newspaper! https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Joanna J Bryson / @j2bryson : I met Phil Agre because he turned around on his way out of the building on his last day @uchicago to see who was knocking on his door, didn't recognise her, found out I was thinking about grad school, reopened the empty office & talked to me about it. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Gregory Crosby / @monostich : “But Agre isn't available. In 2009, he simply dropped off the face of the earth, abandoning his position at UCLA. When friends reported Agre missing, police located him and confirmed that he was OK, but Agre never returned to the public debate.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Drew Harwell / @drewharwell : “Genuinely worrisome developments can seem ‘not so bad’ simply for lacking the overt horrors of Orwell's dystopia.” He predicted the dark side of the Internet 30 years ago. Why did no one listen? https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... @ReedAlbergotti Reed Albergotti / @reedalbergotti : And if you haven't heard about his Red Rock Eater News Service, it was really like the proto blog and was an important part of the early internet discourse https://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/ ... Reed Albergotti / @reedalbergotti : A lot of his work undoubtedly goes over my head, but I think anyone who takes time reading his papers will learn something and come away thinking differently about subjects they thought they understood. UCLA maintains this web page of his work. https://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/ ... Shashi Bellamkonda / @shashib : 30 years ago Phillip Agre predicted “our inability to resist well-crafted disinformation and he foretold that artificial intelligence would be put to dark uses if not subjected to moral and philosophical inquiry.” @ReedAlbergotti https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Reed Albergotti / @reedalbergotti : Agre has pulled away from the world, but his work I think will live on for a long time. Jeff Rosenberg / @rosenbergjr : Fascinating article in @washingtonpost — a UCLA professor who, 30 years ago, predicted all that could be trouble with AI, big data, etc., and has since disappeared off the grid. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Josh Kraushaar / @hotlinejosh : “Agre foresaw the authoritarian misuse of facial recognition technology, predicted our inability to resist well-crafted disinformation and foretold that artificial intelligence would be put to dark uses if not subjected to moral and philosophical inquiry” https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Michael J. Coren / @mj_coren : Great piece by @ReedAlbergotti about how a brilliant mathematician and academic predicted how technology was going to transform our lives, writing “analyses read like predictions come true,” before dropping out of sight https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Josh Caplan / @joshdcaplan : In 1994 — before most Americans had an email address or Internet access or even a personal computer — Philip Agre foresaw that computers would one day facilitate the mass collection of data on everything in society. Why did no one listen? https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Reed Albergotti / @reedalbergotti : I recently ‘discovered’ the work of Philip Agre, and I found myself wondering why his name is not more known in the tech industry. It's decades old now, but helped me better understand a lot of the debates we're now having about tech and society. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Leigh Turner / @leighgturner : “I'm seeing things Phil [Agre] wrote about in the 90s being said today as though they're new ideas.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... By @ReedAlbergotti