Arthur Holland Michel

@writearthur.bsky.social

379 Followers 768 Following

Friendly reminders about spooky technologies. Bylines in The Economist, The Atlantic, Wired, MIT Technology Review, etc. Author of 'Eyes in the Sky' Research on AI and its discontents. https://www.arthurhollandmichel.com/

Don Draper Pitching: "What if we just say the quiet part out loud"
Th e first impression of that extraordinary spectacle is strangely overcoming. Ordinarily to look at the sky for any length o f time is impossible. Pedestrians would be impeded and disconcerted by a public sky-gazer. What snatches we get of it are mutilated by chimneys and churches, serve as a background for man, signify wet weather or fine, daub windows gold, and, filling in the branches, complete the pathos o f dishevelled autumnal plane trees in London squares. Now , become as the leaf or the daisy, lying recumbent, staring straight up, the sky is discovered to be something so different from this that really it is a little shocking. This then has been going on all the time without our knowing it!—this incessant making up of shapes and casting them down, this buffeting o f clouds together, and drawing vast trains of ships and waggons fro m North to South, this incessant ringing u p and down o f curtains of light and shade, this interminable experiment with gold shafts and blue shadows, with veiling the sun and unveiling it, with making rock ramparts and wafting them away—this endless activity, with the waste of Heaven knows how many million horse power of energy, has been left to work its will year in year out. The fact seems to call for comment and indeed for censure. Some one should write to The Times about it. Use should be made of it. One should not let this gigantic cinema play perpetually to an empt y house.
Screenshot from the Linked article showing the following text: Rather, Google is looking to fund films that explore the intersection of humanity and technology, said Mira Lane, vice president of technology and society at Google. Google is not pushing their products in the movies, and the films are not made with AI, she added. [Highlighted] “Narratives about technology in films are overwhelmingly characterized by a dystopian perspective,” Lane said. “When we think about AI, there’s so much nuance to consider, which is what this program is about. How might we tell more deeply human stories? What does it look like to coexist? What are some of those dilemmas that are going to come up?” [End of highlight] Google did not disclose how much they are investing in the films. The company said it wants to fund many more movies, but it does not have a target number. Some of the shorts could eventually become full-length features, Google said.
Screenshot from the linked article with the following text highlighted: "Mr. Shipper argues that the advent of generative A.I. is merely the latest step in a centuries-long technological march that has brought writers closer to their own ideas."
Screenshot of a technical paper. the text reads, "Acknowledgments: While drafting this article, we used ChatGPT and Grammarly for editing."
A tweet from Keir Starmer dated April 30, 2025, at 8:07 AM reads: "This is a message to the fly-tippers blighting our towns and villages: For too long, your actions have gone unpunished. That ends now. We'll use drones and new tech to identify your vehicle. Then we'll crush it."
screenshot of a notification for a DM from Grok that says “Hey it’s Grok, free to chat? We can talk about whatever you want 😏”
Screenshot of an Enron tweet from 1/6/25 that reads “Today we launched The Enron Egg, the world’s first micro-nuclear reactor made to power your home.”
NORAD announcement about an upcoming nighttime aviation exercise over DC.
NORAD announcement about an upcoming nighttime aviation exercise over DC.
Message posted on NextDoor describing frustration with the lack of details or solutions provided at the briefing
A screenshot of the mayor’s summary of the briefing, which was posted on NextDoor.