All posts tagged: Democratic

Trust the System: Democratic Capacities in the Algorithmic Workplace (Part II)

Trust the System: Democratic Capacities in the Algorithmic Workplace (Part II)

Published by Jenni Sidey

Picture a modern, high-tech warehouse. Here, human managers occupy a sort of fallback position: They still exist and still play a kind of supervisory role, but workers receive direction and have their performance monitored through the devices with which they interact. This is algorithmic management, and it can be extremely efficient because a complex software algorithm can direct workers more minutely than even the most micromanaging supervisor. A packer in such a warehouse will find themselves at a workstation with a screen and a scanning gun: They scan a package, the screen tells them exactly how to pack it, and a machine spits out pieces of tape of the right length. Precisely how long this operation takes is fed into a monitoring and evaluation algorithm, which will calculate whether they are meeting the rate: the desired, often extremely intense, work rate. If they fall below the rate, they will get a warning and sometimes a visit from a manager following the output of their own algorithm: Go and exhort that packer to pack faster. At …

More than 100 Democratic operatives urge party leaders to reject AI cash

More than 100 Democratic operatives urge party leaders to reject AI cash

Published by Sam Flores

More than 170 Democratic organizers and campaign staff members are calling on the party’s leaders to reject campaign donations from the pro-artificial intelligence super PAC Leading the Future (LTF) as the debate over AI safety and regulations intensifies in Washington. The letter, first shared with The Hill on Friday, argues the millions of dollars from… Source link

Trust the System: Democratic Capacities in the Algorithmic Workplace (Part I)

Trust the System: Democratic Capacities in the Algorithmic Workplace (Part I)

Published by Jenni Sidey

Like all institutions, workplaces socialize those of us within them. They provide a kind of informal education, promoting the development of some skills, habits, and attitudes, and frustrating the development of others. This isn’t a new observation, and in some sense, the fact that we are a product of or work is obvious. But if all institutions socialize us, how we work is likely to do so more than most. For starters, full-time workers spend an enormous amount of their time at work: Between leaving education and reaching the (increasingly distant) age of retirement, we will spend more time working than engaged in any other single activity except sleep. For the majority of workers, our work is also where we interact most—and cooperate most—with other people, certainly people with whom we haven’t actively chosen to spend our time. Elizabeth Anderson, in her study of the work ethic in political and economic thought, writes that “by far the most important product of our economic system is ourselves.” In this, she joins a long line of political …

Hartnett: A Democratic Sweep Will Trigger A Stock Market Rout, And Pop The AI Bubble

Hartnett: A Democratic Sweep Will Trigger A Stock Market Rout, And Pop The AI Bubble

Published by Jenni Sidey

The biggest story last week was not the unexpectedly hot jobs report which, unfortunately, will be revised sharply lower next month as the labor market reverts to its deteriorating, AI-enhanced, trendline: Instead, what everyone was – or should have been focusing on – was the bottom falling out of the bond market with global yields jumping to the highest level in 2 decades, to wit:  10Y Treasury yields jumping to 4.81%, near 2008 crisis levels 30Y Treasury yields jumping to 5.31%, highest since 2007 Japan 10Y JGB  >3.0%    First time since 1996 Japan 30Y JGB  4.2%, or 4x the BoJ policy rate German 10Y Bund  3.38%, post-2011 high France OAT-Bund spread 88bps, 2012 crisis highs Italy BTP-Bund spreads, 84bps, 2012 highs A Bloomberg index of global bond yields just rose to the highest since 2007, and is just 1% away from the highest levels this century. Appropriately, the topic of soaring bond yields is also the kick-off theme of the latest weekly Flow Show (available to pro subs) from BofA’s Michael Hartnett, who writes …

Democratic senators ask McMahon for details on student loan administration spending

Democratic senators ask McMahon for details on student loan administration spending

Published by Sam Flores

Four Democratic senators sent a letter Wednesday to Education Secretary Linda McMahon, calling for her to share details on how her department used $1 billion in funding intended for student loan administration. The letter, authored by Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), questions why the Education… Source link

Democratic Senate control has moved from a reach to a toss-up

Democratic Senate control has moved from a reach to a toss-up

Published by Sam Flores

Today we discuss political forecasting, death and taxes. Goodness! We’re just 65 days from election day. Time flies when you’re watching American democracy teeter. Still think Republicans will lose the House? Your friendly political columnist makes no predictions. It’s hard to know the future, seeing as how it hasn’t happened yet. But our best guide — historical trends — suggest Democrats are exceedingly likely to seize control on Nov. 3. They need only flip three seats and, going back well over half a century, the average midterm gain for a party out of the White House is more than two dozen. Even with the advantage the GOP engineered through aggressive gerrymandering, the deadweight of a deeply unpopular president threatens to drag down a number of Republicans in competitive and some otherwise-not-so-competitive races. Right now, the biggest question seems to be whether November brings a blue wave, a big blue wave or merely a ripple. What about the fight for control of the Senate? That’s where things have gotten interesting. Oh? At the start of this …