•  1029
    Extended Reality (XR) and Large Language Model (LLM) technologies have the potential to significantly influence higher education practices and pedagogy in the coming years. As these emerging technologies reshape the educational landscape, it is crucial for educators and higher education professionals to understand their implications and make informed policy decisions for both individual courses and universities as a whole. This paper has two parts. In the first half, we give an overview of XR te…Read more
  •  590
    The mental health crisis and loneliness epidemic have sparked a growing interest in leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and chatbots as a potential solution. This report examines the benefits and risks of incorporating chatbots in mental health treatment. AI is used for mental health diagnosis and treatment decision-making and to train therapists on virtual patients. Chatbots are employed as always-available intermediaries with therapists, flagging symptoms for human intervention. But chatbo…Read more
  •  515
    We are likely to have immersive virtual reality and ubiquitous augmented reality in the coming decades. At least some people will use extended reality or “the metaverse” to work, play and shop. In order to achieve the best possible versions of this virtual future, however, we will need to learn from three decades of regulating the Internet. The new virtual world cannot consist of walled corporate fiefdoms ruled only by profitmaximization. The interests of workers, consumers and citizens in virtu…Read more
  •  157
    This paper serves a dual function: (1) it is intended to proffer a stable understanding of our digital engagement on the Internet as a form of labor that is co-opted by digital firms for private profit; (2) it extends the concept of participatory democracy to our digital world, arguing that our collective or common production of value for digital firms (in the form of what I call“knowledge goods”) requires the implementation of participatory democratic governance mechanisms over these digital fi…Read more
  •  37
    Automation, Artificial Intelligence, and the God/Useless Divide
    Perspectives on Global Development and Technology 16 (6): 700-716. 2017.
    Automation, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology have become topics of increasing interest in both academia as well as in popular media. The goal of this article is to establish which issues are the most pressing, and what are the underlying causes of the rise of robots. I demonstrate that fears of automation are well supported by current trends of automation as well as the inherent tendency within a capitalist system to automate at the expense of workers and working wages. Additionally, I…Read more
  •  37
    Technocapitalism, the Intangible Economy, and Economic Centralization
    Perspectives on Global Development and Technology 19 (1-2): 32-44. 2020.
    The aim of this article is to analyze the underlying economic structures which have led to the rise of the tech giants. In their book Capitalism without Capital: The Rise of the Intangible Economy, economists Jonathan Haskel and Stian Westlake outline the four fundamental features of the technocapitalist (or what they consider the intangible) economy. Key to the emerging intangible economy, they suggest, are the four “S’s” of this new form of capitalism, viz., scalability, sunkenness, synergies,…Read more
  •  24
    Owning the future of work
    In S. A. Hamed Hosseini, James Goodman, Sara C. Motta & Barry K. Gills (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Transformative Global Studies, Routledge. pp. 388-400. 2021.
    This chapter focuses the future of work as it relates to automation, artificial intelligence, the gig economy, and the technologies that will emerge from the so-called “fourth industrial revolution.” The goal here is to analyze the ways in which our modern capitalist economy drives technological development and the ownership structures which are built into our economic and technological relations. Our current ownership structures point to a future of “precariatized” labor, leading to less stable…Read more
  •  21
    Post-Work as Post-Capitalist: Economic Democracy for a Post-Work Future
    In Kory P. Schaff, Michael Cholbi, Jean-Phillipe Deranty & Denise Celentano (eds.), _Debating a Post-Work Future: Perspectives from Philosophy and the Social Sciences_, Routledge. 2024.
    What economic conditions are necessary for us to arrive at a post-work future, and what should a post-work future look like? This chapter argues that only through the democratization of core economic institutions can we properly experiment with post-work imaginaries. I argue, based on principles of participatory autonomy and relational equality, for the democratization of workplaces, finance and investment, and the knowledge commons. Given these necessary structural changes, the possibility of a…Read more