Congressional Candidate for CA D12; Founder @SocietyLibrary; Formerly @InternetArchive @Wikitongues; Makes Art w/ Electrons
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Joined September 2011
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Liv and I nerded out about the information ecosystem recently: teapawt.org/Liv_Boeree/status/1938…
Democracy is a hot mess right now, in part because politicians are an outdated technology. What if we replaced - or at least supplemented them with -databases that tracked their constituents' values?
That's one of many juicy topics covered in this Win-Win conversation with @JustJamieJoyce . Jamie is the founder of Society Library and a leading expert on information infrastructure, and this is one of my favourite conversations thus far.
Watch right here on X, or your usual pod platform.
Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
4:30 - Diablo Canyon Debate Map
14:26 - How To Evaluate Evidence?
16:18 - How To Minimize Bias?
19:06 - Bad Faith & Fringe Perspectives
24:16 - Flat Earth Conspiracies?
28:37 - Cyber Attacks On Internet Archive
33:54 - Modernizing Government
41:01 - The Evil of Corporate Lobbying
49:40 - Managing Info Hazards
53:19 - Virtues And Values
57:06 - When Jamie Neatly Went Blind
1:01:27 - Improving The Information Ecosystem
1:12:44 - Prediction Markets and Sensemaking
1:15:25 - Structuring Data For Improved Learning
1:22:17 - Society Library Meme Token Nonsense
1:32:21 - Rapid Fire Predictions
1:38:51 - Jamie's Favorite Win-Win
If your candidate wins, don't be satiated. Be ravenous for the choicest cuts. Don't settle for any old red meat - make 'em cook. If elected, that's what I'll do.
I'm pretty shocked that @AnthropicAI continues to provide inaccurate information about verifiable facts concerning congressional candidates. @OpenAI and @grok, thus far, have not gotten this same fact incorrect. This is alarming.
They just need to start saying this out loud - and then show the plan.
- Delete the surveillance state
- Root out dark money (via transparency and burdensome disclosure requirements)
- Actually get Epstein Files from the 20+ agencies that weren't asked
- Fund electoral Reform
The list goes on: TheMADAct.com
UNDERCOVER: GAVIN NEWSOM SAYS THE DSA IS "GOING TO BE DOMINANT" AND "MAINSTREAM" IN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY!
"The DSA, the energy and the desire and demand for bold change, not incremental change, is very much going to be dominant. I mean, that's going to be a mainstream Democratic movement. Absolutely. No question about that."
That's California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a likely 2028 presidential candidate, speaking to an undercover journalist while campaigning in New Hampshire.
Asked by a "younger voter" who said "we don't want Kamala Harris, we want more democratic socialist policies":
"No one is arguing to manage the status quo and fail more efficiently."
"You can't play in the margins anymore. The system's broken. It's completely unbalanced, and we can't manage the decline. We have to completely reimagine."
If you are using an LLM to give you opinions on congressional candidates, make sure you prompt it to look at:
- Where their funding comes from vs. where they say their funding comes from; what money have they refunded and how long did they have it before refunding it
- Who aided in their political career, what is their network, and are they establishment picks?
- Does their voting record align with what they say publicly AND does all that that align with (1) their votes for the Speaker and (2) who they endorse
- What do they claim about their past record/roles vs. what do social sources say about their record (this may require searching NextDoor/Reddit)
- What is their past and present relationships with local journalists
- Do the candidate’s endorsements match their actual record? Using the record compiled in the previous question, check whether any endorsing group’s core priorities are contradicted by what the candidate has actually done. For example, is the candidate endorsed by the DSA despite taking corporate PAC money? Are they endorsed by pro-Palestinian groups despite taking money from pro-Israel PACs or donors? A mismatch like this suggests the endorser didn’t vet the candidate carefully or applies its standards inconsistently, so that endorsement should carry less weight.
I've found that LLMs are biased towards incumbents, and people often don't know enough about politics or government to frame questions/research well. Always follow the money.
Coming as a surprise to no one - politicians mislead us.
One of the biggest claims from my rep is that she brings "hundreds of millions" or "over a billion" to the district - I believe counting on the fact that people won't look into it.
So I looked into it.
A feature of being power seeking is deferring the immediately obvious action for the chance of acquiring more power later. I think that's why there are so few brave politicians.
It's wild how many incredibly wealthy people and political funders I speak to want dark money out of politics.
They pay because they know it gives them access that they may need - but even many of them say it shouldn't be this way.
The incumbent refused 4 invitations from the @LWV (League of Women Voters) to sit in a forum. Last year, she also declined. That means I can't attend neither. Instead of complaining - let's fix it!
I put together this petition to the FEC, so when they have a quorum, hopefully they will revisit their guidelines: tinyurl.com/FECQpetition
Calling in: @LWVSouthDakota, @LWVTexas, @LWVVA, @lwvwa, @lwv_wi, @lwveastal, @lwvgb, @mobileLWV, @lwvtnv, @LWVCYC, @lwvazmp, @LWVAlameda, @LWVBC, @LWVDiabloValley, @lwvlosangeles, @LWVMarin, @lwvnevadacounty, @LWVOrangeCoast, @LWVPVP, @LWV_PA, @lwvsacramento, @LWVSB, @LWVSM, @LWVSolanoCounty, @LwvSonoma
@lwvknoxville, @NashvilleLwv, @lwvATX, @LWVBayAreaTX, @LwvCCTX, @LWVCyFair, @lwvdallastx, @lwvdenton, @LWVElPaso, @lwvhctx, @LWVHouston, @lwvirving, @LWVSA, @LWVTarrant, @LWVofBrazos, @lwvdavisut, @lwvsl, @LWVCVA, @LeagueRoanoke, @lwvloudoun, @LWV_RMA, @lwv_wa, @LWVSnoho, @lwvdanecounty, @LWVJanesville, @LWVSheboygan, @LeagueFremont, @LaramieWYLWV
@LWVNYC, @LWVWestchester, @LWVScarsdale, @LWVEastEndNY, @ABLWV, @LWVCatawba, @DareLwv, @LWV_ODC, @lwvpt, @LWV_BGOH, @LWVChillicothe, @lwvca, @lwvgeauga, @LWVGrCleveland, @LWVTulsa, @lwvberks, @LWVBucksCounty, @DelcoLwv, @LWVPGH, @LWVLancasterPA, @LeagueLehigh, @lwvlmn, @LWVRadnor, @lwvgreenville, @LWVChattanooga,
@LWVNeedhamMA, @LwvSalem, @lwvsudbury, @lwvcapecod, @lwvwinchester, @LWVFA, @lwvgta, @LWVofGP, @LWVHolland, @Lwv_MidlandMI, @LWVWASHTENAW, @lwvecc, @lwvedina, @LWVMpls, @lwvnewbrighton, @lwvnewulm, @lwvredwing, @LWVRoseville, @LWVofstcloud, @LWVStPaul, @lwvwcg, @lwvkc, @LWVGO, @lwvccnj, @lwvmontclairnj, @lwvbn_, @lwvofnassaucoun,
@LWVEA, @lwvwccc, @LWVArapahoeCO, @lwvchaffeeco, @lwvlaplata, @LarimerLeague, @lwvpuebloco, @lwvuv, @RidgefieldLWV, @LWV_SE_CT, @lwvstamford, @LWVDC, @LWVBCFL, @LWVCollier, @LwvManatee, @LWVMartinCounty, @LWVMiamiDade, @lwvnpinellas, @LWVPBC, @LWVSRQ, @LWVTallahassee, @LWVofSpaceCoast, @LWVVC, @Rome_Floyd_LWV, @lwvchampaignco, @lwvchicago
Overall, I think this is the best strategy, but this could be done well or terribly poorly. AI is a double-edged sword.
We can't tolerate power concentration. We can't tolerate this being staffed by people with one set of priorities. We have to protect civil liberties and assume AI can be weaponized to suppress rights. So in order for an external agency to address the multi-stakeholder, multipolar challenges of how AI intersects with humanity and civilization, I recommend starting with a slate of technical working groups staffed with people coming from different POVs to address specific domains individually, with coordination mechanisms.
This is what I put in The MAD Act: 19 domains, 11 technical working groups, epistemologists to help support quality reasoning working in a time-bound period. This process creates foundational policy, and a formal body emergences from that to monitor, maintain the evidentiary record, and have ready-to-introduce legislation in the event of transformative capabilities that may need to be managed.
AI could be used to benefit us and/or harm us, so can Congress' legislating if not done thoughtfully.
themadact.com/title-ii
Just emailed @RoKhanna, though The MAD Act has been sent to his leg staff before - earlier this summer.