Discussion
One of the key messages I carry is that we don't have to accept any of this. Sometimes I see opposition in the form of "Get in loser, you'll be left behind" and other times it's in the form of "It's all over the place, what do you mean you think you can opt out?"
[Note to the mansplainers of Mastodon: This is a thread, meaning you should read the whole thing and then even still think twice before replying.]
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To the second, I say not accepting it isn't the same as denying that people are using the janky tech sold as "AI", some by choice, others because it is forced on them in their job.
Not accepting it means not normalizing it, refusing everywhere I can refuse, pushing for holding the companies producing this accountable with existing & new regulation, working to protect the environment & important social infrastruture.
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"It's already here, what do you mean you think you can refuse?" is just another variation of the agency-stealing inevitability narrative. The future is not yet written, and we can shape it, starting with rejecting inevitability and claiming our agency.
/fin
@emilymbender Agreed 
I wrote an article about this! Not directly about, but also applicable to, and intersecting with, so-called "AI" technologies: https://www.privacyguides.org/articles/2025/06/17/you-can-say-no/
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To the first, I say: Fine, I don't want to go where that bandwagon is headed.
"Left behind" is an interesting phrase, it indexes a notion of a race towards a desirable/shining "future" that only some can access, and which we should all hope to participate in.
But the TESCREAList/tech bro future is not one I want any part in and in fact one that I actively resist --- and I hope others will too.
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