Bots as Digital Synapses

My light reading for the day.

Apologies in advance to the WHTO team.

• What is it like to be a bot? by Samantha Shorey
• Activist Bots: Helpful But Missing Human Love? by Saiph Savage
• Bots: A definition and some historical threads by Allison Parrish
• Our friends, the bots? by Alexis Lloyd
• On Paying Attention: How to Think about Bots as Social Actors by Madeleine Elish
• What is the Value of a Bot? by danah boyd
• Rise of the Peñabots by Luis Daniel Palacios
• A Brief Survey of Journalistic Twitter Bot Projects by Lainna Fader

In Light of the Seven

The Father

The Mother - Dany?

The Maiden

The Crone - Melisandre

The Warrior

The Smith

The Stranger

NewWayToGovern

Cabinet retreats are usually held twice a year, and they are theoretically designed to allow ministers to engage in a broader discussion of issues and strategy beyond any one particular file. 

Twice a year, a few folk selected by the PM and his team from a selective and partisan group retreat from the world together and chat about the interconnectivity of issues and broader partisan/government strategy.

Let that think in for a second.

There's a better way to do this; a hub-and-spoke model of civic engagement that better suits our current circumstances than a model of governance that predates the industrial revolution, much less the post-industrial world.

When the Just Society isn't.

But just as we should not convict someone of a crime merely because we suspect that he did something wrong, neither should we make the opposite mistake: of supposing that because the evidence did not support a criminal conviction, nothing happened and nobody did anything wrong.

and:

“Now I’m not saying these doctors did anything wrong,” he said.

“What I am saying is that there is an inequity in the fee code structure that has created this unfairness.”

While at the same time:

In Canada’s largest province, there are 28 active states of emergency as well as 10 more that were declared since 2014 but have been lifted.

When justice fails - what then?

A Wake-Up call for Responsible Politicians

The fact that no procedures are in place for disciplining wayward MPPs is a wake-up call.

Somewhere, there are some busy backroom people annoyed that they have to spend time on stuff like this.  It's a total distraction from the really important stuff, like winning.  So long as MPPs keep their heads down, say the right things and raise the right funds, why should part folk have to worry about all this other stuff?  They's already got some P&Ps, and there are laws, - it's someone else's job to be the enforcers.

They aren't responsible for that.  

"I told you so" isn't my thing.  I just hope that some of these folk will maybe, hopefully recognize that when I offer warnings, they aren't threats - they're predictions.  

Hopefully, the people in power won't try to push away the lessons here, assuming this is a problem that will go away.  Hopefully they will internalize, and learn, and take responsibility.

It's an example leaders need to set, because whatever the example, that's what the people will follow.

Selfishness that Plans Ahead

If we're going to build a movement for a better world, we need to tap into what motivates them.

- Tonya Surman

One of the best teachers I've had in life (though I doubt she knows this) is Leslie Noble.  I learned more from watching how she worked, approached conversations and generally carried herself than I did from most people from the side of politics I was actively involved in.

A key concept she helped bring into clarity for me was the concept of self-interest.  Government Relations, she argued, was the art of helping people see what benefits them in your objectives. Unless you could make your solution part of their solution, you were just another voice in the crowd.

Leslie's goals were not to change the world, mind you - ultimately, the role I saw her in was businesswoman, helping her clients get wins with government.  

Tonya Surman is another smart business woman who understands the importance of motivation.  If people can't see themselves in what you're trying to do, well - there's things directly in front of them that will get more of their attention.

So what of altruism, then?  How does collective benefit, which can seem like the polar opposite of self-interest, become a personal motivation?

And that's the trick, isn't it?

Occupational Mental Health

Stressors in the workplace

Income inequality: According to the report, income inequality increased in Toronto by 31 per cent between 1980 and 2005, the most drastic increase of any major Canadian city.

Job insecurity: Fewer than half of all workers in the GTA and Hamilton are in permanent, full-time jobs with benefits, according to research from the United Way and McMaster University. Not knowing if your job will be there from one day to the next can be a huge source of stress and anxiety.

Racial discrimination: A 2011 University of Toronto study showed resumes with English-sounding names are 35 per cent more likely to get call-backs than identical resumes with Indian or Chinese names.

Family care demands: According to the report, over the next 10 years people in the GTHA workforce could have to provide about 450 million unpaid hours of caregiving to family members with dementia, which will cost about $30.4 billion in lost productivity.

Housing conditions and affordability: With housing prices sky-high, difficulty securing an affordable place to live is another factor that can affect mental health.