Today Presentation 2 is a knowledge-graph page capturing the content or embedded block reference for a second working presentation session, likely associated with DreamLab AI’s applied research and demonstration programme. As a session artefact it serves as a container node linking to embedded Logseq blocks that hold presentation slides, notes, or structured outputs. It connects to broader themes of knowledge representation, immersive technology, and responsible AI governance that form DreamLab’s public-facing educational work.
Semantic Classification
Content
Corporations as final arbiters of truth
This painting is called “The Shah Alam conveying the gift of the Dewani to Lord Clive” and depicts a supposed key moment in the East India Company taking control of Indian territory. Specifically, the painting shows the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam handing over a document to Robert Clive of the East India Company after being defeated at the Battle of Buxar in 1765. The document being transferred granted the East India Company the right to collect taxes (the diwani) in the wealthy Indian provinces of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. This gave the British shareholder Company control over the finances of these regions. Of course the painting is not historically accurate, being what we now know to be ‘fake new’. The actual transfer took place in a private tent, with the emperor forced to sign “with a gun to his head” after his defeat, rather than in a grand public ceremony as the painting depicts. The artist Benjamin West had also never been to India.
Though historically inaccurate, this image may capture a truth - that corporate interests, unchecked, can subsume the sovereignty of nations. The East India Company’s reign in India was marked by oppression, famine, and the stripping of resources for the benefit of far-off shareholders. It is a stark lesson in the perils of allowing private entities to wield such dominion over people’s lives. Companies like Google and Facebook have become the gatekeepers of knowledge, with algorithms that shape what billions of people see and believe. As they develop sophisticated AI models and collect massive amounts of data, are we entrusting them with the modern equivalent of the East India Company’s power?
The diwani painting immortalized a dangerous fiction, the slick PR of Silicon Valley masks the power these firms now command over our minds and societies. The datasets and AI models of these digital colossi are the new currency of truth - and one largely minted behind closed doors. We have seen the consequences again and again:
Tobacco: For decades, Big Tobacco sowed doubt about the dangers of smoking, suppressing research and misleading the public. Millions died as corporate interests trumped scientific truth.
BPA: Chemical companies long insisted BPA plastics were safe, despite mounting evidence of hormone disruption and health risks. Only after massive public pressure did regulators act.
Climate Change: Fossil fuel giants knew the truth about climate change for decades, but funded denial and obfuscation to protect their bottom line. The cost will be borne by generations.
Opioids: Pharmaceutical companies downplayed the addiction risks of opioids, contributing to an epidemic that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. Profits were prioritized over people.
Don’t rejoice yet, Elon Musk and his tech bros-in-arms are winning the global battle for the truth | Carole Cadwalladr | The Guardian
It would be nice to think that we could demand radical transparency, meaningful oversight, and the primacy of public interest over shareholder profits in the construction and deployment of epoch-defining AI.
One potential solution is the development of open source informational agents. These AI systems, built transparently and collaboratively by the global community, could serve as a counterweight to corporate and state-controlled narratives. This is not a trivial undertaking.
— working/pages/Privacy, Trust and Safety.md
This page acts as a structured anchor in the knowledge graph for presentation session 2, embedding source blocks that contain slides, notes, or structured outputs from the relevant DreamLab session. It is part of a series of presentation pages documenting applied AI research outputs for public and stakeholder audiences.
This painting is called “The Shah Alam conveying the gift of the Dewani to Lord Clive” and depicts a supposed key moment in the East India Company taking control of Indian territory. Specifically, the painting shows the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam handing over a document to Robert Clive of the East India Company after being defeated at the Battle of Buxar in 1765. The document being transferred granted the East India Company the right to collect taxes (the diwani) in the wealthy Indian provinces of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. This gave the British shareholder Company control over the finances of these regions. Of course the painting is not historically accurate, being what we now know to be ‘fake new’. The actual transfer took place in a private tent, with the emperor forced to sign “with a gun to his head” after his defeat, rather than in a grand public ceremony as the painting depicts. The artist Benjamin West had also never been to India. Though historically inaccurate, this image may capture a truth - that corporate interests, unchecked, can subsume the sovereignty of nations. The East India Company’s reign in India was marked by oppression, famine, and the stripping of resources for the benefit of far-off shareholders. It is a stark lesson in the perils of allowing private entities to wield such dominion over people’s lives. Companies like Google and Facebook have become the gatekeepers of knowledge, with algorithms that shape what billions of people see and believe. As they develop sophisticated AI models and collect massive amounts of data, are we entrusting them with the modern equivalent of the East India Company’s power? The diwani painting immortalized a dangerous fiction, the slick PR of Silicon Valley masks the power these firms now command over our minds and societies. The datasets and AI models of these digital colossi are the new currency of truth - and one largely minted behind closed doors. We have seen the consequences again and again: Tobacco: For decades, Big Tobacco sowed doubt about the dangers of smoking, suppressing research and misleading the public. Millions died as corporate interests trumped scientific truth. BPA: Chemical companies long insisted BPA plastics were safe, despite mounting evidence of hormone disruption and health risks. Only after massive public pressure did regulators act. Climate Change: Fossil fuel giants knew the truth about climate change for decades, but funded denial and obfuscation to protect their bottom line. The cost will be borne by generations. Opioids: Pharmaceutical companies downplayed the addiction risks of opioids, contributing to an epidemic that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. Profits were prioritized over people. Don’t rejoice yet, Elon Musk and his tech bros-in-arms are winning the global battle for the truth | Carole Cadwalladr | The Guardian It would be nice to think that we could demand radical transparency, meaningful oversight, and the primacy of public interest over shareholder profits in the construction and deployment of epoch-defining AI. One potential solution is the development of open source informational agents. These AI systems, built transparently and collaboratively by the global community, could serve as a counterweight to corporate and state-controlled narratives. This is not a trivial undertaking. — working/pages/Privacy, Trust and Safety.md