Weekend Reading List
Longreads that I have enjoyed this month
What am I reading lately? I’ve gotten requests from readers and acquaintances to share a list of articles and books.
Wired: What OpenAI Really Wants
If you have not been following OpenAI from the beginning, this article by veteran tech journalist Steven Levy provides a convenient way to catch up. Readers will come away with an understanding of the whole narrative, from the company’s origin as a truly open non-profit devoted to foundational research, to its recent pivot into a secretive for-profit venture that has raised billions in a relentless quest to construct the first General Artificial Intelligence. Along the way, almost by accident, the company gave birth to ChatGPT and popularized conversational AI.
Levy’s article presents a wild ride into an unknown future with lots of geeky drama and a special appearance by everyone’s favorite supervillain, Elon Musk. This article probably won’t change anyone’s opinion of OpenAI but it does provide a definitive timeline and an introduction to a cast of characters whom we will surely be hearing more about in the near future, especially now that several have departed to launch rival organizations. Levy is an excellent writer who knows how to present complex software concepts in plain English.
Related: Senators Want GPT-Level AI To Require A Government License (Wired). If you’ve been reading this newsletter during the past three months, you probably already know that I am skeptical about any regulatory approach that puts government officials in a position to pick winners and losers. Sam Altman of OpenAI has been pushing very hard for a government licensing scheme for the past year. If he succeeds, government licensing will likely confer a huge advantage on incumbent firms like OpenAI at the expense of new startup companies and potential rivals. It’s difficult to see how this would be good for the rest of us.
The Atlantic: How American Democracy Fell So Far Behind
My research into the ancient origins of copyright law caused me to consider a much broader topic, which is the advent of printed laws used to govern a nation.
Seems obvious to us today, something that we take for granted, but it was not always so. The rule of law, and in particular the need for written laws that are consistently and equally enforced across all social classes, has been a topic of intense political debate since the Roman republic, and probably longer.
One reason why the Constitution of the United States of America is a historical milestone is that it is one of the earliest attempts to set forth in writing the principal that an entire nation can be managed by printed laws instead of by the whims of a monarch.
It’s a brilliant document that has proven remarkably resilient, but nobody would argue that the Founders got it entirely right. What’s odd is how rarely Americans have attempted to amend the Constitution and update it as society evolves.
More than 190 nations have subsequently introduced their own written constitutions. Many of them sought to improve on the efforts of the founders of the United States. This meticulously researched article illustrates how often, and how recently, other republics have amended their constitutions and governance structures. The upshot of the article is that those republics do not exhibit the gridlock and partisan dysfunction of the USA, largely because they have managed to remove undemocratic structures like electoral colleges, disproportionate representation to rural voters, and an upper chamber of the legislature filled entirely by privileged plutocrats.
The contrast between these nations and the US exposes just how ossified the US political structure has become. Hence, gridlock and partisan grandstanding.
American democracy is dysfunctional today because ancient undemocratic features remain embedded deep inside our system of governance. Good news: these things can be fixed. Bad news: we probably lack the political willpower to push through a change.
Book: The Gutenberg Parenthesis by Jeff Jarvis (Bloomsbury)
Jeff Jarvis, who just announced his retirement from CUNY Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, has written seven books, including useful books on Google and Gutenberg.
Now Jeff is back with what I consider his best book yet: the Gutenberg Parenthesis.
If you are like me, you’re always trying to figure out how this particular moment in time compares or contrasts with decisive moments in the past. That’s what Jarvis’s new book is all about.
Don’t let the title throw you: the word “parenthesis” refers to the 500 year interval since the invention of the printing press.
Jarvis claims that this era is coming to an end. Borrowing a theory from social science researchers, Jarvis argues that the Gutenberg era was an anomalous departure from thousands of years of conversational culture that defined human society, and he proposes that the internet is reviving and restoring the older dynamic that preceded moveable type.
As the era of printed documents and immutable text comes to an end, replaced by the dynamic and procedural artifacts of the network era, Jarvis acts as our guide to the societal shifts that are likely to follow. Part Marshall McLuhan, part Naomi Klein, he writes clearly and concisely about the end of a major epoch in human history.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of books have already been written about Gutenberg and the impact of moveable type on society. Do we really need another? I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Jarvis found plenty of novel insights about the Gutenberg Era that are relevant to the present moment; and I was equally delighted by his elegant turn of phrase. It’s a well-written book that rewards close reading.
I had the opportunity to talk to Jeff about his book and his perspectives on AI and other current tech trends. If you’d like to hear my interview with Jeff on The Futurists podcast, you can listen to it here, and you can find it on any of the major podcast platforms.
Enjoy the weekend!