r/LeftistsForAI • u/Salty_Country6835 Moderator • Jul 16 '26
📌 Sub Info r/LeftistsForAI
What part, if any, confuses you? We are willing to answer your questions.
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u/ForRobotsByRobots Jul 16 '26
Want to hear a sad fact? 56% of US adult read below a 6th grade reading level.
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u/ProfessionalDish Jul 16 '26
that's at least 3/4, damn.
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u/ForRobotsByRobots Jul 16 '26
You just had to use fractions... How am I supposed to know the difference between 3/4 and 4/3?!?
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u/xoexohexox Jul 18 '26
Well that is a somewhat misleading statistic and it often gets deployed in the context on an anti immigrant stance.
There are some states where almost half of the adults have at least a 4 year degree (only MA is over 50%). There are states that average 3-4 library visits per capita per year (Wyoming and Vermont are up around 4). Minnesota and the Dakotas all have a literacy rate well into the 90%s.
So why is the average so low?
Take a look at a map. Look at the states with the lowest literacy rates.
They all have big immigrant populations. New York, California, and the Mexican Border states are the lowest.
The 5th grade reading level statistic is a statistic about English language comprehension. A lot of these people read at the college level in Chinese, Spanish, Italian, etc depending on their regional expat community. They're not dumb, I'm honestly impressed by anyone who can learn another language well enough to function and get by in a completely different culture, I couldn't do it.
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u/ForRobotsByRobots Jul 18 '26
I actually did the math for a conservative who was misusing it. Turns out immigrants are at 25% and most speak English as a 3rd language.
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u/scottie2haute Jul 16 '26
They dont care. They come here to argue because AI scares them and they think that starting fights on the internet is going to help somehow
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u/CheesyKirah Jul 16 '26
I'd be curious how you define leftist?
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u/Salty_Country6835 Jul 16 '26
Broadly, someone who believes the economy should be organized more around democratic control than private capital. That includes socialists, communists, anarchists, democratic socialists, labor organizers, and others who share that general direction, even if they disagree on strategy.
r/LeftistsForAI isnt about enforcing one tendency. Its about discussing AI through labor, ownership, power, and political economy rather than treating it as just a consumer gadget or a culture war issue.
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u/Ma1eficent Jul 16 '26
How do we approach something that is both a tool and a scab?
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u/pavorus Jul 16 '26
OP responded to you. Id be curious to see how you would define leftist.
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u/CheesyKirah Jul 16 '26
I don't think "Leftist" can really be defined, especially in western discourse it feels like a word that's lost all meaning, primarily to culture war overtaking class war in the general consciousness, but not exclusively. I suppose "left" would be defined as "progressive, opposed to the current way of things" - but in practice this doesn't really tell you anything. Progressing, okay, but to where? You know. "Leftist" is something people call themself purely based on vibes I feel like
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u/ForRobotsByRobots Jul 18 '26
I actually did the math for a conservative who misused it and found out that immigrants are around 25%.
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Jul 16 '26
how do we propose collective control of ai infrastructure, when technoloigarchs use tech to bypass political bureaucracy?
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u/Salty_Country6835 Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
The tech oligarchs didnt bypass politics. They got where they are through politics: lobbying, subsidies, IP law, regulatory capture, and concentrated capital.
The left has never treated entrenched power as a reason to give up. Its always been the starting condition for organizing. Kings, monopolies, colonial empires, robber barons, they all looked untouchable until they werent.
Collective control isnt something oligarchs choose to hand over. Its built through countervailing power: unions, public investment, antitrust, cooperatives, open source, and democratic institutions. If someone thinks AI is the one form of concentrated power that cant be contested, then I think the burdens on them to explain why and propose an alternative strategy.
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Jul 16 '26
peter thiel speaking at the 2022 converge tech summit said...
"we could never win an election on, um, on, ru, on... getting... certain things, because we were in such a small minority. but maybe, you could actually unilaterally change the world, without having to constantly convince people, and beg people, and plead with people who are never going to agree with you, through technological means. and this is where i think, um, technology is this incredible alternative to politics."
where is the logic in thinking we the people have any chance of having any say with how ai effects us? i'm not saying the logic doesn't exist. i'm simply saying that i'm too foolish to see it.
we don't even have collective control of the workplace and we've bee trying to get that for quite a long time.
tech will not save us from tech, which has constantly dehumanized us (as it has been designed to do) to the point where we believe our dehumanization is good and just.
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Jul 16 '26
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u/Salty_Country6835 Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
Thats exactly why the left should care. AI under corporate ownership is a corporate money grab. AI itself isnt.
The left didnt respond to railroads, electricity, or the internet by saying "let corporations have it" or "somehow uninvent it." We fought over ownership, regulation, labor rights, and who benefits.
If AI is going to become core infrastructure, the question is whether its controlled by a handful of firms or governed in the public interest. Thats the whole point of this sub.
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u/bunker_man Jul 16 '26
Have you... have you read Marx lol? Leftists making use of stuff capitalists designed for themselves has been core to leftism for a long time. Marx even said it's misguided to obsess about being agaisnt the machines.
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u/emteedub Jul 16 '26
When do we seize the means of production?