[Xmca-l] Re: The ethics of artificial intelligence, past present and future

Wed Dec 25 14:21:39 PST 2019

Delighted to read the great reactions!

I'm not yet familiar enough with what I imagine are a variety of 
uses of the term languaging (one of the reasons for which I wanted 
to organise this workshop), but my basic understanding, which 
seems to follow what Richard cited, is that it is a construal of 
language as mainly an activity (versus an abstract structure or 
system), that cannot be isolated from the concrete contexts in 
which it develops.

Another relevant reference is Di Paolo, Cuffari and De Jaegher 
(2018), "Linguistic Bodies" (or the shorter/introductory version: 
Cuffari, Di Paolo, & Jaegher, 2015, "From Participatory 
Sense-Making to Language: There and Back Again."), who flesh out a 
proposal for a theory of languaging grounded in the enactive 
approach to cognition.

> I would certainly be interested in receiving copies of the 
> papers presented, if not a list of titles so I might find them.

If all goes well I'll be recording all the talks too, and will 
send the link on this list once it's all up.

> BTW, I have no issue with your announcement post on this thread.

Thank you!

Best,
Sébastien

PS: I had first written on this list in August 2018 to gather 
thoughts about Dynamicland, and was rather overwhelmed by the 
answers. Email bankruptcy got the better part of my energy to 
answer however, so I would like to apologise here for not having 
followed up at the time.

Annalisa Aguilar <annalisa@unm.edu> writes:

> When I searched "languaging" I found this:
>
> "A term coined by Swain (1985) relating to the cognitive process 
> of negotiating and producing meaningful, comprehensible
> output as part of language learning."
>
> Oddly, I've never heard this word before, I've heard "speaking" 
> though. I would like to know what the nuanced difference of
> this word-use is from "speaking."
>
> Or is it the act of translating from one language to another, as 
> in the bridging one does as one becomes fluent in another
> language. Is that it?
>
> Or is it what one does when one is writing a poem and trying to 
> make a rhyme or have a phrase fit in the meter of the line?
>
> Are we languaging now?
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Annalisa
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu 
> <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu> on behalf of Richard Beach
> <rbeach@umn.edu>
> Sent: Tuesday, December 24, 2019 12:56 PM
> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
> Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: The ethics of artificial intelligence, 
> past present and future
>
> Annalisa asked, “What does ‘languaging’ mean?”
>
> For more on “languaging” theory, a primary resource is Per 
> Linnell’s 2009 book, Rethinking Language, Mind, and World
> Dialogically: Interactional and Contextual Theories of Human 
> Sense-making. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
>
> For research on application of languaging theory to teaching 
> literacy see Beach & Bloome (Eds.) (2019). Languaging Relations
> for Transforming the Literacy and Language Arts Classrooms 
> (Routledge) and the resource website for Beach & Beauchemin
> (2019). Teaching Language as Action in the ELA Classroom 
> (Routledge).
>
> Richard Beach, Professor Emeritus of English Education, 
> University of Minnesota
> rbeach@umn.edu
> Websites: Digital writing, Media literacy, Teaching literature, 
> Identity-focused ELA Teaching, Common Core State Standards,
> Apps for literacy learning, Teaching about climate change, 
> Teaching language as action
>
>  On Dec 24, 2019, at 12:47 PM, Annalisa Aguilar 
>  <annalisa@unm.edu> wrote:
>
>  Hi Sébastien,
>
>  This sounds like a marvelous conference. I wish I could attend.
>
>  What does "languaging" mean?
>
>  I would certainly be interested in receiving copies of the 
>  papers presented, if not a list of titles so I might find them.
>
>  BTW, I have no issue with your announcement post on this 
>  thread.
>
>  Kind regards,
>
>  Annalisa
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu 
>  <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu> on behalf of Sébastien 
>  Lerique
>  <sebastien.lerique@normalesup.org>
>  Sent: Monday, December 23, 2019 1:05 PM
>  To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
>  Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: The ethics of artificial intelligence, 
>  past present and future
>
>  Dear all,
>
>  I'm jumping on the occasion created by Annalisa's email to
>  announce a workshop I am organising which might interest some 
>  in
>  this community: it is the "Embodied interactions, Languaging 
>  and
>  the Dynamic Medium Workshop" (ELDM2020), an event gathering
>  interests and works in embodiment, languaging, diversity 
>  computing
>  and humane technologies, on **18th February in Lyon, 
>  France**. As
>  is confirmed in the messages here, recent developments in these
>  communities are ripe for focused conversations, and this 
>  workshop
>  will be a coming-together for cross-pollination and 
>  explorations
>  of possible common futures.
>
>  Invited speakers:
>  - Elena Clare Cuffari (Worcester State University)
>  - Mark Dingemanse (Radboud University)
>  - Omar Rizwan (Dynamicland.org)
>  - Jelle van Dijk (University of Twente)
>
>  There is an open call for proposals until 6th January 2020, and
>  registration opens on 1st January. All the details are 
>  available
>  on the main website: https://wehlutyk.gitlab.io/eldm2020/ . I 
>  will
>  be delighted to answer any questions that might arise!
>
>  Best wishes,
>  Sébastien Lerique
>
>  PS: My sincere apologies for somewhat hijacking the thread with
>  this announcement. I have in fact already sent this message 
>  three
>  times to the list, and they seem to be spam-filtered as the
>  announcements neven went through.
>
>  Annalisa Aguilar <annalisa@unm.edu> writes:
>
>  > Hello fellow and distant XMCArs,
>  >
>  > So today I saw this in the Intercept and thought I would 
>  > share
>  > for your awareness, because of the recent developments that
>  > likely impact you, namely:
>  >
>  > * the neoliberalization of higher academic learning
>  > * the compromise of privacy and civil life in the US and 
>  > other
>  > countries
>  > * the (apparently) hidden agenda of technology as it 
>  > hard-wires
>  > biases and control over women, minorities, and other
>  >  vulnerable people to reproduce past prejudices and power
>  >  structures.
>  >
>  > In my thesis I discuss historical mental models of mind and 
>  > how
>  > they inform technology design. During reading for my thesis I
>  > had always been bothered about the story of the AI Winter.
>  >
>  > Marvin Minsky, an "august" researcher from MIT labs of that
>  > period, had discredited Frank Rosenblatt's work on 
>  > Perceptrons
>  > (which was reborn in the neural networks of the 1980's to 
>  > early
>  > naughts). That act basically neutralized funding of 
>  > legitimate
>  > research in AI and, through vicious academic politics, 
>  > stymied
>  > anyone doing research even smelling like Perceptrons. Frank
>  > Rosenblatt died in 1971, likely feeling disgraced and ruined,
>  > never knowing the outcome of his lifework. It is a nightmare 
>  > no
>  > academic would ever want.
>  >
>  > Thanks to Herbert Dreyfus, we know this story which is 
>  > discussed
>  > in What Computers Still Can't Do
>  > https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/what-computers-still-cant-do
>  >
>  > Well, it ends up that Minksy has been allegedly tied up with
>  > Jeffery Epstein and his exploitation of young women.
>  >
>  > This has been recently reported in an article by Rodrigo
>  > Ochigame of Brazil, who was a student of Joichi Ito, who ran 
>  > the
>  > MIT
>  > Media Lab. We know that Ito's projects were funded by none 
>  > other
>  > than Epstein, and this reveal forced Ito's resignation. Read
>  > about it here:
>  > https://theintercept.com/2019/12/20/mit-ethical-ai-artificial-intelligence/
>  >
>  > I have not completed reading the article, because I had to 
>  > stop
>  > just to pass this on to the list, to share.
>  >
>  > One might say that computer technology is by its very nature
>  > going to reproduce power structures, but I would rather say 
>  > that
>  > our mental models are not serving us to create those 
>  > technology
>  > tools that we require to create an equitable society. How 
>  > else
>  > can we free the tools from the power structures, if the only
>  > people who use them are those who perpetuate privilege and
>  > cheat, for example by thwarting academic freedom in its 
>  > process?
>  > How can we develop equality in society if the tools we
>  > create come from inequitable motivations and interactions? Is 
>  > it
>  > even possible?
>  >
>  > As I see it, the ethics at MIT Labs reveals concretely how 
>  > the
>  > Cartesian model of mind, basically normalizes the mind of the
>  > privileged, and why only a holistic mental model provides
>  > safeguards against these biases that lead to these
>  > abuses. Models
>  > such as distributed cognition, CHAT, and similar constructs,
>  > intertwine the threads of thought to the body, to culture,
>  > history,
>  > tool-use, language, and society, because these models
>  > encapsulate how environment develops mind, which in turn
>  > develops
>  > environment and so on. Mind is not separate, in a certain 
>  > sense,
>  > mind IS material and not disembodied. It is when mind is
>  > portrayed otherwise that the means of legitimizing abuse is
>  > given its nutrition to germinate without check.
>  >
>  > I feel an odd confirmation, as much as I am horrified to 
>  > learn
>  > this new alleged connection of Minsky to Epstein, how the 
>  > ways
>  > in
>  > which as a society we fool ourselves with these 
>  > hyper-rational
>  > models which only reproduce abusive power structures.
>  >
>  > That is how it is done.
>  >
>  > It might also be a reminder to anyone who has been unethical 
>  > how
>  > history has a way of revealing past deeds. Justice does
>  > come, albeit slowly.
>  >
>  > Kind regards as we near the end of 2019,
>  >
>  > Annalisa