Category: knowledge politics

knowledge politics by Josh LepawskyAug 10, 20263:03 pm

A satellite image of a tailings pond. From this altitude the pond appears as a large white mass with a bright blue water feature at the center.

Key concept: Upstream

Data centers are becoming politically potent infrastructure. But what happens before the severs they house are even put in place?

knowledge politics by Josh LepawskyJul 31, 20269:52 am

This image is a collage with a colourful Japanese vintage landscape showing a mountain, hills, flowers and other plants and a small stream. There are 3 large black data servers placed in the bottom half of the image, with a cloud of black smoke emitting from them, partly obscuring the scenery.

Key concept: worlding

‘Worlding’ is a concept that offers an analytical foothold for researchers trying to understand how seemingly unlike elements of a broader situation do or don’t hang together.

knowledge politics by Josh LepawskyMay 18, 20263:23 pm

A blue coloured icon of a data server, surrounded with comic-book style words 'Gasp!', 'Boom!' and 'Pow!' in colours of yellow and red.

Experiments with ‘local AI’

Given my broader research interests and the non-consensual inclusion of my work into AI data training sets, I figure I have some license to play around with these tools to get a sense of what […]

Discard Studies by Josh LepawskyMay 2, 202510:18 am

An image of the cover of Technocracy Digest magazine from May 1940. The title and iconography are shown in bright red. The centre image is a black and white photo of a sawmill. At the bottom left corner of the cover is a depiction of a map in red showing the Technate of America. In the opposite corner is a similar icon shown in red that simply states "Facts".

Network, Patchwork, Technate: geographical imaginations of the ‘tech right’

Is it possible to design a structure of government which will be stable and predictable? Hopefully, of course, stably and predictably benign? History affords no evidence of it. But history affords no evidence of semiconductors, […]

Discard Studies by Josh LepawskyMar 31, 20253:07 pm

Precaution, PFAS, and Pattern Collapse

In 1854 in the Soho district of London England a cholera outbreak was killing people. You probably know this story. Its usually told with a physician named John Snow in the role of hero who […]

Discard Studies by Josh LepawskyJan 28, 202510:01 am

Chemicals and Coalitions

Chemicals are an issue over which a powerful coalition disagree.

Discard Studies by Josh LepawskyOct 22, 20249:13 am

What is insignificant impact?

US geopolitical worries, largely focused on rivalry with China, have given permission for the federal government to offer an overt industrial policy for semiconductor manufacturing. The US has embarked on a massively state funded program […]

Discard Studies by Josh LepawskyJul 30, 202412:59 pm

Carbon Fixation

It is common practice for companies in the electronics sector to publish annual environmental reports. These reports can be very enlightening. After all, they represent a story about a given company in a situation in […]

knowledge politics by Josh LepawskyDec 15, 202210:48 am

The Last Computer

This is a project I’m calling, ‘The Last Computer’. It boils down to these questions: What if I could not buy another computer? How long can I keep the computers I already have in working […]

knowledge politics by Josh LepawskyOct 28, 202010:39 am

Sources and streams of electronic waste

Within one or two decades, the mass of electronic devices discarded by consumers could exceed 100 million tons annually. Yet, far more pollution and waste arise “upstream” during the mining for and manufacturing of electronics. […]