#NewYorkers! The state legislature has passed landmark #RightToRepair legislation, but @GovHochul hasn't signed it and it might die. Visit eff.org/rtr to help tell the Governor that we can't afford to wait (and tell your friends in New York, too!). 2/
2023's public domain is a banger: Hemingway! Holmes! Woolf! Pooh! Christie! Metropolis! Gershwin!
#5yrsago Researchers trick Google’s AI into thinking rifles are helicopters, without any knowledge of the algorithm’s design labsix.org/partial-inform…
#5yrsago When Las Vegas cops put on bodycams, they used 37% less force and generated 30% fewer complaints cna.org/archive/CNA_Fi… 9/
#5yrsago “Friendly” apps are good at maximizing engagement, but their context-blindness is a cesspit of algorithmic cruelty wired.com/story/the-prob… 10/
Yesterday's threads: Better failure for social media; and more!
My ebooks and audiobooks (from @torbooks, @HoZ_Books, @mcsweeneys, @beaconPressBks et al) 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."
If you're a @Medium subscriber, you can read these essays - as well as previews of upcoming magazine columns and early exclusives on doctorow.medium.com.
My latest Medium column is "'Metaverse' means 'pivot to video'"
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!
Are you trying to wean yourself off Big Tech? You can read my work elsewhere, but it is now a #TwitterCrime to tell you how. Please visit my site, pluralistic.net, for links to find me on less-unhinged places (I can only imagine that my days here are numbered). 21/
Today's top sources: Jennifer Jenkins. 22/
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Seven years ago, I was absolutely floored by *My Favorite Thing Is Monsters*, a wildly original, stunningly gorgeous, haunting and brilliant debut graphic novel from @Emilferrisdraws. Every single thing about this book was *amazing*:
The more I found out about the book, the more amazed I became. I met Ferris at that summer's San Diego Comic Con, where I learned that she had drawn it over a while recovering from paralysis of her right - dominant - hand after a West Nile Virus infection.
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The corporate wing of the Democrats has objectively terrible political instincts, because the corporate wing of the Dems wants things that are very unpopular with the electorate (this is a trait they share with the Republican establishment).
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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 , my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
Remember Hillary Clinton's *unimaginably* terrible campaign slogan, "America is already great?" In other words, "Vote for me if you believe that nothing needs to change":
One of my favorite nuggets of writing advice comes from @ManorMadhouse. Jim, a Navy vet with an encylopedic knowledge of gun lore, explained to a group of non-gun people how to write guns without getting derided by other gun people: "just add the word 'modified.'"
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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 , my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
As in, "Her modified AR-15 kicked against her shoulder as she squeezed the trigger, but she held it steady on the car door, watching it disintegrate in a spatter of bullet-holes."
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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."
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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 , my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
Capitalism's philosophers had an answer to this conundrum. The ambition that drives people to enter the business world comes from a "self-interest" that is indistinguishable from sociopathy.
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