sidewalk mutiny: artist albo jeavons questions the existence of autonomous supply autos

artificial intelligence versus manual labor

 

artificial intelligence has beaten – yet again – manual labor with the entrance of autonomous delivery machines. through these electronic crawlers, the e-commerce industry promises faster deliveries, an increase in technological developments and research for future use, and lower fuel consumption. while those benefits may outweigh the cons, not everyone is a fan of this advanced technology. surely, not the multimedia artist albo jeavons.

 

like most people these days, jeavons is worried about the future. and also, of course, about the present, and about ‘the little bits of the dystopian future that are being shoved into it by many too-rich, too-powerful, techno-capitalists. with their (pseudo)autonomous, artificially (supposedly) intelligent techno-solutions, they are offering us fixes for terrible social problems like… non-rich people having jobs?’  says jeavons.

 

introductory image

 

autonomous delivery machines everywhere

 

the artist also shares that autonomous delivery machines are starting to appear more in his neighborhood, ‘on our sidewalks and our streets and in our bicycle lanes, scurrying around like huge cockroaches with fancy paint-jobs and a lot of cameras on them.‘ in pennsylvania, where jeavons lives, a recently-passed state law allows the machines to weigh up to 550 pounds without cargo and travel on sidewalks at 12 mph, and in bike lanes at 25 mph, legally classifying them as pedestrians.

 

‘these machines will take jobs away from human beings who need them, and make our public walking and bike-riding spaces more dangerous. they will also accelerate the more general problem of the privatization of public spaces. what can ordinary people do to stimulate critical discussions about these techno-solutions to mostly-nonexistent problems? the mutiny on the sidewalk project has some ideas!‘ says jeavons.

the front and rear covers of ‘mutiny on the sidewalk’, a free PDF booklet by artist albo jeavons

thoughts on the problems created by autonomous delivery machines

 

how do we help people?

 

‘until we move our societies into a post-work, post-money model – maybe even some sort of fully-automated luxury communism? – we are stuck with the reality that most people need to have jobs to get money to survive. how do we help people to see that dangerous, surveillance-ready job-stealing machines, no matter how cute they may be made to look, are not a good idea?‘ asks jeavons. as a response, he created a free booklet with some creative ideas, strategies, and tactics that may usher in suggestions on how to move forward with this recent development (now available at sidewalkmutiny.org).

 

from unauthorized adaptive reuse ideas like autonomous rolling billboards to community-stimulating practices, such as temporary adversarial performance art situations and roving support circles for unemployed people, the sidewalk mutiny project hopes to get people talking – and acting – to intervene in yet another situation where the interests of the wealthy few are rolling roughshod over the needs and safety of the many. the mutiny on the sidewalk booklet and all of the images from the project are available for free on the website, in web and print quality files, to be freely reproduced for any not-for-profit purpose.

a proposal for mobile speech platforms, from the sidewalkmutiny.org website

unauthorized adaptive reuse of machines as rolling billboards; one of the proposals from the didewalk mutiny project

a celebration around a future monument to a failed technological experiment

an introduction to the ‘mutiny on the sidewalk’ project by artist albo jeavons

 

 

project info:

 

name: mutiny on the sidewalk!
artist: albo jeavons

 

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

 

edited by: matthew burgos | designboom