If it hasn’t come across yet, I’m one of those pesky people who read books to learn about stuff.
I’ll be updating the library on discordia with books about various topics.
On the list, at the very top is Victor Papanek’s “Design for the Real World”. Papanek makes the case for designers taking responsibility for our designs. We honestly have to start thinking about how our work impacts people, and we need to make sure our work is sustainable, accessible and ethical.
On that note, I’ll also be adding “Ruined by Design” by Mike Monteiro. He’s talking about what to do about the, frankly, unethical business practices of some companies, such as Facebook and Twitter and how the economy of outrage and attention rather than good content has taken over and drive these companies.
“Brotopia” is a good follow up. It’s written by Emily Chang and provides a sometimes frightening insight into the minds and hearts of the company culture that tules Silicon Valley. If you don’t believe any of this is connected, then you really do need to read the book.
“Tricky Design: The Ethics of Things” go into ethics more in detail. It’s edited by Lorraine Gamman and Tom Fisher.
And because Im a nerd, I also picked up “Make It So: Interaction Design Lessons from Science-Fiction” which honestly reads more like a manual on how to not make it so. It’s written by Nathan Shedrope and Christopher Noessel.
The last two books are about ethics and feminism of a kind as well. They’re about sex robots and fembots. The first is called “Turned on: Science, Sex and Robots” by Kate Devlin and if you’re looking for something salacious, look elsewhere. If you’re looking for a lesson on AI and why AI might need to a sexuality, this is an excellent book. It also talks, at length about the need to turn the narrative around a bit. Most sex bots are made by men for men, and that is somewhat problematic.
The last one os written by Julie Wosk and it ties a nice ribbon on the whole lot of these books. It’s called “My Fair Ladies: Female Robots, Androids and other Artificial Eves” and it goes into detail as to why fembots can be both liberating and restrictive. It also takes a stab at explaining why men are so scared of women in control.
2020-02-20 at 20:07
Thanks for your great tips. But, weirdly, you have to address yourself as a pesky person who reads books. Although I understand what you mean as I have experienced the same how the guard comes up if exuding any theories which sound they came from an academic sphere. It’s like you unexpectedly brought your ex to dinner.