pluralistic

pluralistic, 17 days ago to random

Fun fact: "The Tragedy Of the Commons" is a hoax created by the white nationalist Garrett Hardin to justify stealing land from colonized people and moving it from collective ownership, "rescuing" it from the inevitable tragedy by putting it in the hands of a private owner, who will care for it properly, thanks to "rational self-interest":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/04/analytical-democratic-theory/#epistocratic-delusions

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pluralistic, 3 days ago to random

I have been a published writer since I was 17, and never in all those years have I encountered worse editorial suggestions than the automated ones generated by Microsoft Office365.

Makes Clippy look like EB White.

pluralistic, 23 days ago to random

Even Google admits - grudgingly - that it is losing the spam wars. The explosive proliferation of botshit has supercharged the sleazy "search engine optimization" business, such that results to common queries are 50% Google ads to spam sites, and 50% links to spam sites that tricked Google into a high rank (without paying for an ad):

https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2024/03/core-update-spam-policies#site-reputation

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pluralistic, 22 days ago to random

Cyberpunk trifecta

Me with Bruce Sterling on the streets of Turin
Me with Neal Stephenson at a bookstore in Seattle

pluralistic, 5 days ago to random

Oh, fuck you, British Airways.

pluralistic, 13 days ago (edited 12 days ago) to random

When it comes to AI art (or "art"), it's hard to find a nuanced position that respects creative workers' labor rights, free expression, copyright law's vital exceptions and limitations, and aesthetics.

--

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/13/spooky-action-at-a-close-up/#invisible-hand

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pluralistic, 27 days ago to random

Cigna - like all private health insurers - has two contradictory imperatives:

I. To keep its customers healthy; and

II. To make as much money for its shareholders as is possible.

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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/29/what-part-of-no/#dont-you-understand

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pluralistic, 3 days ago to random

Hey, @mozilla I'm really proud to be a paid Media Monitor subscriber, and I'm happy with the service, too.

But why do your emails pass their links through a tracking redirection service controlled by a third party?

My May statement links through https://blrv1ly5.r.us-west-2.awstrack.me/

?!

pluralistic, 13 days ago (edited 12 days ago) to random

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: AI "art" and uncanniness; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/13/spooky-action-at-a-close-up/

#Pluralistic

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pluralistic, 23 days ago to random

The DRM-free ebooks for my pre-apocalyptic, hopeful climate emergency novel The Lost Cause is on sale in the USA!

Today, you can get the Kobo edition for $2.99:

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-lost-cause-4

And all month, the Kindle edition is also $2.99:

https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Cause-Cory-Doctorow-ebook/dp/B0CF5475GR

pluralistic, 24 days ago to Halifax

That is some straight up devilry right there.

#ViolaDesmond #CanadianMuseumForHumanRights #Winnipeg #Halifax #Desegregation #PettyBullshit #Race

pluralistic, 29 days ago to random

One of my weirder and more rewarding hobbies is collecting definitions of "conservativism," and one of the jewels of that collection comes from Corey Robin's must-read book The Reactionary Mind:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Reactionary_Mind

--

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/27/for-the-little-people/#alden-capital

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pluralistic, 21 days ago to random

Well that's a hell of a chart

https://www.ft.com/content/dc47c5f3-9bd4-4da0-a5cb-c795efd14c9c?accessToken=zwAGF77R-34okdPcR8Xzm9RNoNOly8eV79FMnA.MEUCIQDlzK8iKXqo2IyOBx3R95kEVglrA1-3Z4mV7SAgvpY71AIgFYrY0LX0A5YB_Wsm5EFBv08XfD1H5letjmzX-ZO_lw8&sharetype=gift&token=959a5d69-00b3-4117-b2cd-5231e1dccc9c

via @jjn1

https://memex.naughtons.org/monday-6-may-2024/39413/

pluralistic, 10 days ago to random

Residents of 21 cities in Utah have access to some of the fastest, most competitively priced broadband in the US, at speeds up to 10gb/s and prices as low as $75/month. It's uncapped, and the connections are symmetrical: perfect for uploading and downloading. And it's all thanks to the government.

--

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/16/symmetrical-10gb-for-119/#utopia

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pluralistic, 19 days ago to random

There's one overwhelmingly common mistake that people make about enshittification: assuming that the contagion is the result of the Great Forces of History, or that it is the inevitable end-point of any kind of for-profit online world.

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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/07/treacherous-computing/#rewilding-the-internet

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pluralistic, 23 days ago to random

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: Google is (still) losing the spam wars to zombie news-brands; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/03/keyword-swarming/

#Pluralistic

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pluralistic, 9 days ago to random

As a science fiction writer, I find it weird that some sf tropes - like space colonization - have become culture-war touchstones. You know, that whole "we were promised jetpacks" thing.

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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/17/fake-it-until-you-dont-make-it/#twenty-one-seconds

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pluralistic, 6 days ago to random

Depending on how you look at it, I either grew up in the periphery of the labor movement, or atop it, or surrounded by it. For a kid, labor issues don't really hold a lot of urgency - in places with mature labor movements, kids don't really have jobs, and the part-time jobs I had as a kid (paper route, cleaning a dance studio) were pretty benign.

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pluralistic, 3 days ago to random

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: Red Lobster was killed by private equity, not Endless Shrimp; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/23/spineless/

#Pluralistic

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pluralistic, 4 days ago to random

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: How finfluencers destroyed the housing and lives of thousands of people; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/22/koteswar-jay-gajavelli/

#Pluralistic

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pluralistic, 26 days ago to random

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: Live Nation/Ticketmaster is buying Congress; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/30/nix-fix-the-tix/

#Pluralistic

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pluralistic, 2 days ago to random

In "The Scorpion and the Frog," a trusting frog gives a scorpion a ride across a brook, only to be stung to death by his passenger upon arrival. The dying frog gasps "why?" and the scorpion replies, "I am sorry, but I couldn't resist the urge. It's my character":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scorpion_and_the_Frog

--

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/24/record-scratch/#autoenshittification

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The interior of a luxury sedan as seen from the driver's PoV, with the driver's hands on the wheel. Mounted to the vent is a Spotify 'Car Thing' - a $90 tablet designed to stream Spotify music. The image has been altered. The sky behind the driver's windscreen is animated TV static. The album thumbnail on the Car Thing UI has been replaced with a 'code waterfall' effect as seen in the credit sequences of the Wachowskis' 'Matrix' movies. A skeletal robed figure, clutching a sheaf of documents headed with the Spotify logo, reaches out a bony finger to prod at the Car Thing from the left side of the image.

pluralistic, 1 day ago to random

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: Inkjump Linkdump; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/25/anthology/

#Pluralistic

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pluralistic, 2 days ago to random

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: They brick you because they can; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/24/record-scratch/

#Pluralistic

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The interior of a luxury sedan as seen from the driver's PoV, with the driver's hands on the wheel. Mounted to the vent is a Spotify 'Car Thing' - a $90 tablet designed to stream Spotify music. The image has been altered. The sky behind the driver's windscreen is animated TV static. The album thumbnail on the Car Thing UI has been replaced with a 'code waterfall' effect as seen in the credit sequences of the Wachowskis' 'Matrix' movies. A skeletal robed figure, clutching a sheaf of documents headed with the Spotify logo, reaches out a bony finger to prod at the Car Thing from the left side of the image.