The difference in 2126 isn’t technological, it’s political — a revolution in how people choose to use the tools in their hands. People see data differently now: not as the raw material of automated systems but
as a collective resource leading to transparent, community-led decisions. Data no longer automatically equals power. Once a tool of inequality, it has become the ground where fairness is contested and defended.
This shift did not come from better machines. It came from people’s decisions, renewed each generation, because they refused to give up the future. Their actions remade the world and clarified a simple truth:
Technology never decided anything on its own. Humans did.
Data has always been more than numbers: the clay of memory, the account of tribute, the ledger of conquest — a currency of control and, sometimes, a language of solidarity. Over and over, its history has shown that how it is interpreted shapes how we live. Data itself has never been the threat; the danger has always come from the hands that bend it toward their own purposes and from the political and economic structures that grant those actors that power.
For too long, too many of us have treated data as fate — a resource to be mined, raw material for surveillance that we just accept, a colossus beyond human control. But history shows that no data regime lasts forever. Each one carries the marks of its builders and collapses under new crises, new demands, new claims to power. The corporate data regime that spans the globe today — and the states that make it possible — holds onto power only until we take that power back.
Data’s future is not set in stone. It does not hinge on the size of networks, the brilliance of code, or even the mountains of personal and public information that feed them. It never did. Human choices decide how these technologies work — and who they serve.
The next chapter for data and power will not be written by the algorithms. It will be written by us.
15 Jul 2026 04:56
false false false false. probably AI generated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVtw-4Eox2E 15 Jul 2026 05:00
I'm head over heels in love with the idea of communities taking back control of their data and using it to leverage power.
But I also think we should be thinking in terms of how do we achieve this before 2126 bc we need to establish and gain control before it can be used to train anymore shitty oligarchy controlled AI that keeps failing to perform in the real world.
Even if this is just step one of a marathon, it seems like something most cities should be aiming to catch up with sooner rather than later:
https://debeaumont.org/programs/made-for-health-justice/
About MADE for Health Justice
Modernized Anti-racist Data Ecosystems (MADE) for Health Justice partners with communities who are creating, using, and
governing civic data on their own terms to advance health equity and more just decision making. 15 Jul 2026 05:11
what do you mean false? the idea of people taking control of data?
This isn't saying sit back and let it happen, it's saying it doesn't have to be an either or Luddite rejection of technology or dystopian skynet, but it requires people demand control instead of allowing giant tech companies to just take it while making us believe we're powerless and have no say in our own data
15 Jul 2026 05:13
It's not AI generated. I swear people are just starting to label everything AI. Justifiably, probably, but still wrong and doing a disservice to actual people.
15 Jul 2026 05:20
Seriously, the author is a digital humanities prof at Dartmouth. If there is any hope, it's going to come from people like her:
https://faculty-directory.dartmouth.edu/roopika-risam
Risam received the Massachusetts Library Association Civil Liberties Champion Award (2018) for her work promoting equity and justice in the digital cultural record and the 2023 International Association for Research in Service Learning and Community Engagement Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award for her work on anti-racist community engagement.
Honestly have to wonder sometimes is it all well meaning but misinformed knee jerk reactions? Or is some of it targeted propaganda/misinformation aimed at undermining people who are the most dangerous to the future plans of oligarchs
15 Jul 2026 05:27
probably AI generated.
Unlikely.
Author:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roopika_Risam
She's actually an associate professor at Dartmouth.
Book this is excerpted from:
https://www.harpercollins.com/products/data-empire-roopika-risam?variant=44401427513378 15 Jul 2026 06:25
I am sorry but
It actually kinda looks to me like an ai generated advertisement for this persons book. The adapted from makes me think its not the original text which genuinely feels uncanny and convoluted like ai does.
Are we sure this person is directly involved or was ai generated self authored articles part of the small print of a advertisement contract.
Or are we sure that their qualifications make
them really immune to make use of ai like this.
15 Jul 2026 07:09
Personal data is highly sensitive. There is a very real need for people to keep their data private.
But data is also capital. And we’re locked in a very real struggle between corporate powers trying to secure ownership over our personal data and civil society trying to protect their privacy.
I can’t stress enough just how dangerous it is, especially given current world events, that big tech seems to appropriate personal data about people’s social networks, jobs, daily commutes, shopping habits, sexual preferences, political views etc.
15 Jul 2026 09:54
Lemmy
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