Data & Society Resisting Predatory Data | Book Talk
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Apr 18, 2025 
Anita Say Chan, a scholar focused on feminist and decolonial tech, joins Timnit Gebru, founder of DARE and advocate for AI equity, and philosopher Émile P. Torres. They explore the disturbing ties between past eugenics and today's big data practices. The guests emphasize the dangers of technogenics, highlighting the need for ethical awareness and community solidarity in confronting data inequities. They advocate for reimagining technology narratives to prioritize social justice and inclusivity, promoting a future where marginalized voices shape the conversation.
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Big Tech Echoes Eugenics History
- Big tech's current data practices echo historic eugenics, aiming to prioritize certain human groups over others.
- Eugenics shaped foundational data methods like correlation and prediction, still influencing today’s tech narratives.
Tech Uses Eugenics Arguments Again
- Silicon Valley arguments for monitoring and filtering human lives are recycled eugenics claims.
- Claims around AI supremacy often dismiss democratic values and promote majoritarian monoculturalism.
Techno-Eugenics: A New Extreme
- Eugenics is an eternal return, rooted in ancient philosophy and supported across multiple countries and eras.
- Today’s techno-eugenics seeks to replace humanity with superior digital beings, a more extreme evolution of past ideologies.