Holding the Line @ Backchannels
CARE→ STEWARDSHIP
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I’m joining 4S Backchannels—the Society for Social Studies of Science blog for shorter, timelier, media-rich STS scholarship—and my first piece is live: “Holding the Line: Values Drift, AI Anomia, and the Craft of Accountable Leadership.” 👇
I wrote it from a familiar scene: a room full of dashboards and “uplift” projections, with almost no language for what the system would do to people, how it would quietly redefine good work, care, and enough.
In the essay, I name three patterns I see repeatedly in AI-intensive environments:
🔹 Values drift: not necessarily intentional betrayal, but a thousand plausible decisions that move the moral center to the side.
🔹 AI anomia: when “fairness,” “governance,” “transparency,” etc., stop meaning the same thing to the people using them.
🔹 Artificial mirroring: systems that simulate attunement so well we forget to ask who owns the defaults.
What I’m most excited to do in this role is help prospective authors find their clearest voice to share the story they want to tell.
🚨 If you’re working in a university, public sector shop, lab, company, classroom, or community org: Where are you seeing “the dashboard win” while meaning leaks out the side? [View our submission guidelines, share with your networks.]
📫 Contact me if you’d like to publish with Backchannels, especially if you’ve got a story worth surfacing.
🙏 Huge thanks to Aaron Gregory, PhD, for his insightful and supportive editorial stewardship, and the editorial and production staff for assisting in getting my piece posted. It was thirty years in the making.
Link to the article here.
Image: Firefly
Supporting the Work
This work is sustained, not sponsored.
Each month, I invest significant time, care, and personal resources to keep The Dispatch alive. It remains free to read, ad-free, algorithm-free, and intentionally human. There’s no team behind it—no staff, no interns, no assistant. It’s a one-person practice of thinking, writing, editing, and holding space.
This work is also part of my livelihood.
If The Dispatch has helped you think more clearly, slow down, notice what matters, or stay oriented in a noisy world, I invite you to support it—once, or on an ongoing basis. Patronage is what allows this work to remain independent and intact.
Thank you for being here.
Each month, I invest substantial time, money, and attention in keeping The Dispatch alive. It’s free to read, ad-free, and deliberately human—no sponsors shaping the message, no automation standing in for judgment. There’s no team behind it. No interns. No assistant. It’s just me—thinking, writing, editing, and maintaining this space because I believe this kind of work matters. Your contributions enable this work to continue and make all the difference.
Monthly Support
Ongoing support helps keep the work steady and sustainable.
♥ $3 / month
♥ $5 / month
♥ $7 / month
♥ $10 / month
♥ $25 / month
One-Time Support
If you prefer, you can offer a one-time contribution in any amount; no commitment required.
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If you’re looking for depth and curation, and are getting wary of algorithms determining the conversation, try the monthly newsletter. It will weave together popular posts from the past with new insights. Here is an example.