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Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK Profile picture
@doctorow
Aug 23, 2021 • 27 tweets • 24 min read • Read on X
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Today's Twitter threads (a Twitter thread).

Inside: Podcasting "Disneyland at a stroll"; The Unraveling; What kind of emergency is our emergency?; The secrets of hospital bills; and more!

Archived at: pluralistic.net/2021/08/23/don…

#Pluralistic

1/
Tonight (Aug 23), I'm helping @Ben_Rosenbaum's launch his new novel, "The Unraveling," in a livestreamed event with LA's excellent @BookSoup.

booksoup.com/event/benjamin…

2/
Podcasting "Disneyland at a stroll": Winding up my series on "amusement parks, crowd control, and load-balancing" (for now).



3/
The Unraveling: Ben Rosenbaum's stunning debut novel.



4/
What kind of emergency is our emergency?: Kim Stanley Robinson on the structure of feeling of this perilous moment.



5/
The secrets of hospital bills: What do you call a "market" where no one chooses the services or knows the prices?



6/
#20yrsago Brazil to break patent, make AIDS drug cnn.com/2001/WORLD/ame…

#20yrsago Copyright Your DNA web.archive.org/web/2001082717…

#20yrsago Public wifi is doomed because no one owns it web.archive.org/web/2006031319…

7/
#15yrsago How to run a successful sf convention room party nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/ar…

#15yrsago Google: We are not a verb. Yahoo: Go ahead and remix our brand web.archive.org/web/2006111117…

8/
#10yrsago How paid FBI anti-terror informants lead “terrorist attacks” that the FBI foils web.archive.org/web/2011091510…

#10yrsago Jack Layton’s final public words: “Love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear.” web.archive.org/web/2011101001…

9/
#10yrsago Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/fal…

#10yrsago William Gibson on cities and the future scientificamerican.com/article/gibson…

#10yrsago RIP, Jack Layton bbc.com/news/world-us-…

10/
#5yrsago The Equation Group’s sourcecode is totally fugly web.archive.org/web/2016081801…

#5yrsago Robert Moses wove enduring racism into New York’s urban fabric web.archive.org/web/2015120401…

11/
#5yrsago How the New York Public Library made ebooks open, and thus one trillion times better crummy.com/writing/speaki…

#5yrsago Inside the “sweatshop” terminally ill Britons must call to get benefits theguardian.com/public-leaders…

12/
#5yrsago Bill Gates’ net worth hits $90B, proving Thomas Piketty’s point bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

#5yrsago 5 years after Texas GOP’s attack on women’s reproductive health, TX leads developed world in maternal mortality theguardian.com/us-news/2016/a…

13/
#1yrago Quantifying the meritocratic delusion pluralistic.net/2020/08/23/vis…

#1yrago Facebook overrules its own fact-checkers pluralistic.net/2020/08/21/zuc…

#1yrago Zombie postcapitalism pluralistic.net/2020/08/22/thi…

14/
Saturday's threads: Bubble; and more!



15/
My latest novel is Attack Surface, a sequel to my bestselling Little Brother books. @washingtonpost called it "a political cyberthriller, vigorous, bold and savvy about the limits of revolution and resistance."

Get signed books from @darkdel: darkdel.com/store/p1840/Av…

16/
My book "How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism" is a critique of Big Tech connecting conspiratorial thinking to the rise of tech monopolies (proposing a way to deal with both) is now out in paperback:

onezero.medium.com/how-to-destroy…

Signed copies here:
darkdel.com/store/p2024/Av…

17/
My ebooks and audiobooks (from @torbooks, @HoZ_Books, @mcsweeneys, and others) are for sale all over the net, but I sell 'em too, and when you buy 'em from me, I earn twice as much and you get books with no DRM and no license "agreements."

craphound.com/shop/

18/
Upcoming appearances:

* Launch for @Ben_Rosenbaum's The Unraveling, Aug 23 (@Booksoup)
booksoup.com/event/benjamin…

* Ethics in Tech with @ubiquity75, @C2i2_UCLA, Aug 25 eventbrite.com/e/ethics-in-te…

19/
Recent appearances:

* Privacy Without Monopoly (@Defcon)


* Building the Digital Commons (@moneyontheleft)
moneyontheleft.org/2021/08/01/bui…

* Reset the Internet? (Project Syndicate)
project-syndicate.org/podcasts/reset…

20/
My first picture book is out! It's called Poesy the Monster Slayer and it's an epic tale of bedtime-refusal, toy-hacking and monster-hunting, illustrated by Matt @mcRockefeller. It's the monster book I dreamt of reading to my own daughter.

pluralistic.net/2020/07/14/poe…

21/
You can also follow these posts as a daily blog at pluralistic.net: no ads, trackers, or data-collection!

Here's today's edition: pluralistic.net/2021/08/23/don…

22/
If you're a @Medium subscriber, you can read these - as well as previews of upcoming magazine columns and early exclusives on doctorow.medium.com.

23/
My latest @Medium column is "Raiders of the lost ARC," about the dysfunctional world of Advance Review Copies and what to do about it.

doctorow.medium.com/raiders-of-the…

24/
If you prefer a newsletter, subscribe to the plura-list, which is also ad- and tracker-free, and is utterly unadorned save a single daily emoji. Today's is "🪗". Suggestions solicited for future emojis!

Subscribe here: pluralistic.net/plura-list

25/
Are you trying to wean yourself off Big Tech? Follow these threads on the #fediverse at @pluralistic@mamot.fr.

Here's today's edition: mamot.fr/@pluralistic/1…

26/
Today's top sources: @jjn1 (memex.naughtons.org), @NakedCapitalism (nakedcapitalism.com).

eof/

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More from @doctorow

Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK Profile picture
Oct 29
Amazon made $35b profit last year. They're celebrating by firing 14k workers (a number they say will rise to 30k). It's the kind of thing Wall St loves. It comes after a string of pronouncements from Andy Jassy about how AI is going to let him fire *tons* of workers.

1/ A black and white image of an armed overseer supervising several chain-gang prisoners in stripes doing forced labor. The overseer's head has been replaced with the glaring red eye of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' The prisoners' heads have been replaced with hackers' hoodies. Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en
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:

pluralistic.net/2025/10/29/wor…

2/
That's the AI story, after all. It's not about making workers more productive or creative.

3/
Read 45 tweets
Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK Profile picture
Oct 11
I am an environmentalist, but I'm not a climate activist. I used to be - I even used to ring strangers' doorbells on behalf of Greenpeace.

1/ A field of utility scale solar. Behind the mountains on the horizon line loom two logos: the original EFF 'clenched fist and lightning bolt' logo and the first Earth Day logo. They are reflected in the solar panels. Behind them roils hellish red-shot smoke.
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:

pluralistic.net/2025/10/11/cyb…

2/
But a quarter of a century ago, I fell in with the Electronic Frontier Foundation and became a lifelong digital rights activist, and switched to cheering on environmental activists from the sidelines of their fight:



3/eff.org
Read 53 tweets
Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK Profile picture
Sep 27
Like you, I'm sick to the back teeth of talking about AI. Like you, I keep getting dragged into AI discussions. Unlike you‡, I spent the summer writing a book on why I'm sick of AI⹋, which @fsgbooks will publish in 2026.

‡probably

⹋"The Reverse Centaur's Guide to AI"

1/ A Zimbabwean one hundred trillion dollar bill; the bill's iconography have been replaced with the glaring red eye of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' and a stylized, engraving-style portrait of Sam Altman. Image: TechCrunch https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sam_Altman_-_TechCrunch_Disrupt_SF_2017_(36522988343).jpg CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en -- Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en
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:

pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/eco…

2/
A week ago, I turned that book into a speech, which I delivered as the annual Nordlander Memorial Lecture at Cornell, where I'm an AD White Professor-at-Large.

3/
Read 52 tweets
Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK Profile picture
Sep 24
Billionaires don't think we're real. How could they? How could you inflict the vast misery that generates billions while still feeling even a twinge of empathy for the sufferer in your extractive enterprise. No wonder Elon Musk calls us "NPCs":



1/ pluralistic.net/2025/08/18/see… An oil painting of a French king atop a throne, draped in sumptuous robes. His head has been replaced with a screaming, toothless man wearing a top-hat. Over his shoulder looms the hostile red eye of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en
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:

pluralistic.net/2025/09/24/rob…

2/
Ever notice how people get palpably stupider as they gain riches and power? Musk went from a cringe doofus to a world-class credulous dolt, and it seems like he loses five IQ points for every $10b that's added to his net worth.

3/
Read 26 tweets
Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK Profile picture
Sep 23
I'm only a few chapters into Bill McKibben's stupendous new book *Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization* and I already know it's going to change my outlook forever:



1/ billmckibben.com/books/here-com…A rooftop solar installation. Behind the roof rages a blazing forest fire. Reflected in the solar panels is the poop emoji from the cover of my book 'Enshittification,' which has angry eyebrows and a black, grawlix-filled bar across its mouth." Image: Bastique (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Solar_Panels_on_Church_Roof_full.jpg CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en
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:

pluralistic.net/2025/09/23/our…

2/
McKibben is one of our preeminent climate writers and activists, noteworthy for his informed and brilliant explanations of the technical limits - and possibilities - of various climate interventions, and for his lifelong organizing work.

3/
Read 80 tweets
Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK Profile picture
Sep 22
One of the dumbest, shrewdest tricks corporate America ever pulled was teaching us all to reflexively say, "If a corporation blocks your speech, that doesn't violate the First Amendment and therefore it's not censorship":



1/ pluralistic.net/2022/12/04/yes…Two figures in royal robes seated back to back atop a pile of gold bars. One wears a tophat, the other, a crown in the form of a gilded crown. A forest of angled broadcast towers sits behind them. The sky is overshadowed by thunderheads.
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:

pluralistic.net/2025/09/22/one…

2/
Censorship isn't limited to government action: it's the act of preventing a message from a willing speaker from reaching a willing listener. The fact that it's censorship doesn't (necessarily) mean that it's illegitimate or bad.

3/
Read 62 tweets

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