Tactical Tech

Are we building the future we want, or are we just letting it happen? 

In a world where AI-powered apps feel like magic, it’s easy to forget the tangible, ethical, and human costs behind the sleek interfaces. This handbook, by Ciana Tzuo, forces us to confront the hidden infrastructure that powers our digital lives. It’s an essential guide for anyone who wants to move past the hype and understand the real impact of modern technology.

Inside the Handbook: Unpacking the Costs and Risks

This book is a deep dive into the dual nature of AI—its immense possibilities and its profound perils.

• The Myth of Weightless Tech: We expose the "megamachine"—a global, extractive infrastructure of mines, labor, and data centers that underlies every "smart" system. The profits of AI concentrate in wealthy regions, while the harms (labor exploitation, ecological damage, water stress) are borne elsewhere.
  
• Algorithmic Bias: Learn why "Neutrality is a Lie". AI systems, trained on historical data, reproduce and amplify existing structural inequalities in domains like hiring, policing, and credit scoring. The myth of objectivity masks the politics baked into every line of code.
  
• The Climate Cost of AI: Behind every prompt is a data center consuming vast amounts of power and water. By 2030, data centers could require 1,000 TWh annually, rivaling the electricity use of entire nations.
  
• The Wearable Surveillance Question: From the discreet Oura Ring (raising concerns about health data privacy in reproductive health cases) to Smart Glasses (which can facilitate real-time facial recognition and archiving of strangers) , we explore where personal empowerment ends and intrusion begins.
  
• Global Governance: The handbook compares the three major, divergent models for regulating AI: the U.S.'s nimble but reactive "Startup Ethos," the EU's cautious, prevention-based AI Act, and China's state-aligned, control-focused approach.

Final Takeaway: AI as a Mirror

We are at a tech inflection point, but we get to decide how we walk into that future. AI isn't a monster; it's a mirror reflecting the best and worst of human society.

The critical question is not what AI will become, but who we want to be as creators, societies, and caretakers of our own tools.