Counter-hegemonic AI

Abstract

Transformative improvements require systemic change in an economy marked by extreme wealth inequality, stratified by geography, identity and other social markers. In this chapter, we seek to raise awareness in the technology, design and scientific communities of the long history of artisans—skilled, independent labor striving to keep a relatively unalienated workplace—that can offer a crucial resource to those interested in designing for a liberated economy. It is a resource as a history of counter-hegemonic movements and identities organized around technology. But it is also a potential site for participatory design, solidarity design and other methods for co-developing innovative strategies by which automation can support the rise of an unalienated economy. Rather than simply a throwback to a romantic past, artisans offer a present-day space for understanding work as a liberated form of expression and a locus for technological innovation grounded in just and sustainable ways of life.