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Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK Profile picture
Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK
@doctorow
Author/activist/journalist. New novel: THE BEZZLE, a thriller of hi-tech fraud and the Shitty Tech Adoption Curve https://t.co/4ZExCQHv6q @pluralistic@mamot.fr
Chris Bugbee Profile picture eDo Profile picture Adam Smithee Profile picture Hamish MacEwan Profile picture no Profile picture 282 subscribed
Apr 25 • 65 tweets • 12 min read
This is huge: yesterday, the @FTC finalized a rule banning noncompetes for every American worker. That means that the person working the register at a Wendy's can switch to the fry-trap at McD's for an extra $0.25/hour, without their boss suing them:



1/ ftc.gov/news-events/ne…
An ominous long institutional corridor. At the far end of it is a collection of workers with their upraised fists merging into a single giant fist. In the foreground is a guillotine manned by a pair of revolutionary French executioners who labor over a prone, doomed aristocrat. 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:



2/pluralistic.net
pluralistic.net/2024/04/25/cap…
Apr 23 • 68 tweets • 13 min read
If AI has a future (a big if), it will have to be economically viable. An industry can't spend 1,700% more on Nvidia chips than it earns indefinitely - not even with Nvidia being a principle investor in its largest customers:



1/ news.ycombinator.com/item?id=398835…
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:



2/pluralistic.net
pluralistic.net/2024/04/23/max…
Apr 22 • 29 tweets • 19 min read
Today's Twitter threads (a Twitter thread).

NOTE: I DID NOT BUY A BLUE-TICK. IT WAS NONCONSENSUALLY ADDED TO MY ACCOUNT.

Inside: Paying for it doesn't make it a market; and more!

Archived at:

#Pluralistic

1/ pluralistic.net/2024/04/22/kar…
A man working at an old-fashioned control panel covered in dials and buttons. The screen in front of him reads HORROR! in old-fashioned, dripping horror-movie letters. The control panel has the logos of Google, Apple and Meta. To his left sits an enthroned demon, sneering at the viewer. The background is a code waterfall effect as seen in the credit sequences of the Wachowskis' 'Matrix' movies. I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel *The Bezzle*! Catch me in THIS SATURDAY (Apr 27) in MARIN COUNTY, Winnipeg (May 2), Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), and beyond!



2/ pluralistic.net/2024/02/16/nar…
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Apr 19 • 56 tweets • 12 min read
Combine Angelou's "When someone shows you who they are, believe them" with the truism that in politics, "every accusation is a confession" and you get: "Every time someone accuses you of a vice, they're showing you who they are and you should believe them."

1/ A tightrope walker in a tuxedo and top-hat. He is about to fall off his tightrope and his eyes are white and staring, while his mouth is open in a scream. The tightrope is anchored to a street-post with a 'Wall Street' sign on it. The post is being knocked askew by hundreds of tiny workers and farmers whose upraised fists have combined into one giant fist that is pushing the post over. In front of the tightrope walker is a black anarchist cat, barring his way. Image: Vlad Lazarenko (modified) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wall_Street_Sign_%281-9%29.jpg CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creati... 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:



2/pluralistic.net
pluralistic.net/2024/04/19/mak…
Apr 18 • 87 tweets • 16 min read
This week on my podcast, I read "Capitalists Hate Capitalism," my latest column for @LocusMag:



1/ locusmag.com/2024/03/cory-d…
An illuminated manuscript drawing of two serfs threshing wheat. Behind them is a portrait of a fat-cat type in a business suit, with a dollar-sign money-bag for a head. 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:



2/pluralistic.net
pluralistic.net/2024/04/18/in-…
Apr 15 • 24 tweets • 5 min read
Corporate crime is underpoliced and underprosecuted. We just choose not to do anything about it. US corporations commit crimes at 20X the rate of humans, and their crimes are far worse than any human crime, but they are almost never prosecuted:



1/ pluralistic.net/2021/10/12/no-…
A proletarian-looking figure glowering from between rusty bars. In front of the bars is a capitalist-type guy in a top hat holding a huge money-sack emblazoned with a dollar-sign. He's shouting over his shoulder at the imprisoned prole. A whistle sits on the ledge of the cell bars. 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:



2/pluralistic.net
pluralistic.net/2024/04/15/whi…
Apr 12 • 52 tweets • 10 min read
Using Amazon, or Twitter, or Facebook, or Google, or Doordash, or Uber doesn't make you lazy. Platform capitalism isn't enshittifying because you made the wrong shopping choices.

1/ A Rube Goldberg drawing of a man using an elaborate automatic napkin, a contraption that integrates a wall-clock, a parrot, a pop-up toaster and other contrivances. The background has been replaced with the 'code waterfall' effect seen in the credits of the Wachowskis' 'Matrix' movie. The fact of the wall-clock has been replaced with the staring eye of HAL 9000 from 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 , my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:



2/pluralistic.net
pluralistic.net/2024/04/12/giv…
Apr 10 • 26 tweets • 7 min read
Here's a silver lining to global monopolies: we're all fighting the same enemy, who uses the same tactics everywhere. The same tools that allow firms to extend their tendrils to every corner of the Earth allows regulators and labor organizers to coordinate their resistance.

1/ Abraham Bosse's 17th century etching of David with a defeated Goliath. In the original, David marvels at his sling while standing astride the giant head of Goliath, which has been severed and sports a notable forehead-dent. The image has been modified, replacing the rock in David's sling with the Earth, and adding a monocle and top-hat to Goliath's severed head. 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:



2/pluralistic.net
pluralistic.net/2024/04/10/an-…
Apr 8 • 87 tweets • 16 min read
Audre Lorde counsels us that "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House," while MLK said "the law cannot make a man love me, but it can restrain him from lynching me."

1/ A period oil-painting depicting 'The Defenestrations of Prague,' in which wealthy people were thrown out of windows. This image contains two of these wealthy people, one about to be pushed backwards out the window by other stolid burghers, the other being dragged toward the same window to face a similar fate. Both look terrified. The skyline outside of the window has been replaced with the Manhattan skyline. The wall behind them has been replaced with a green-on-black stock ticker. Image: KMJ (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boerse_01_KMJ.jpg CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creati... 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:



2/pluralistic.net
pluralistic.net/2024/04/08/mon…
Apr 5 • 28 tweets • 16 min read
Today's Twitter threads (a Twitter thread).

Inside: General Mills and cheaply bought "dietitians" co-opted the anti-diet movement; and more!

Archived at:

#Pluralistic

1/ pluralistic.net/2024/04/05/cor…
A lab-coated scientist in a chem lab filled with retorts, glassware, etc. The image has been modified. The scientist's head has been replaced with the head of the Trix rabbit, and his labcoat now has a General Mills logo patch stitched onto the shoulder. The contents of his main beaker have been replaced with a floating Cocoa Puffs logo. I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel *The Bezzle*! Catch me NEXT THURSDAY (Apr 11) in BOSTON with Randall "@XKCD" Munroe (Apr 11), then PROVIDENCE, RI (Apr 12) and beyond!



2/ pluralistic.net/2024/02/16/nar…
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Apr 5 • 42 tweets • 9 min read
Steve Bannon isn't wrong: for his brand of nihilistic politics to win, all he has to do is "flood the zone with shit," demoralizing people to the point where they no longer even *try* to learn the truth.

1/ A lab-coated scientist in a chem lab filled with retorts, glassware, etc. The image has been modified. The scientist's head has been replaced with the head of the Trix rabbit, and his labcoat now has a General Mills logo patch stitched onto the shoulder. The contents of his main beaker have been replaced with a floating Cocoa Puffs logo. 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:



2/pluralistic.net
pluralistic.net/2024/04/05/cor…
Apr 4 • 34 tweets • 7 min read
Remember the first time you used Google search? It was like magic. After years of progressively worsening search quality from Altavista and Yahoo, Google was literally stunning, a gateway to the very best things on the internet.

1/ A demon from Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights. It has a bulbous, tick-like body and the legs of a hoofed animal. Its ass is open, revealing a hollow space within, populated by other demons. A flag sprouts from its back. It has been altered so that its face is a Google 'G' logo and the flag bears a tiny Android logo. Its broad, flat hat is decorated the the 'shrug' ASCII art. 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:



2/pluralistic.net
pluralistic.net/2024/04/04/tea…
Apr 2 • 31 tweets • 8 min read
Beware of geeks bearing gifts. When prison-tech companies started offering "free" tablets to America's vast army of prisoners, it set off alarm-bells for prison reform advocates - but not for the law-enforcement agencies that manage the great American carceral enterprise.

1/ A black-and-white photo of a late 19th century French prison; prisoners crowd against the bars in the background while a guard stands in front of the cell, holding a rifle with a fixed bayonet. The guard's has been tinted purple and head has been replaced with the glaring eye of HAL 9000 from Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' A mountain of jumbled, bundled US$100s crowd the bottom of the image. An ATM is superimposed on the bars. Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en -- Flying Logos h... 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:



2/pluralistic.net
pluralistic.net/2024/04/02/cap…
Apr 1 • 47 tweets • 10 min read
Here's a fun AI story: a security researcher noticed that large companies' AI-authored source-code repeatedly referenced a nonexistent library (an AI "hallucination"), so he created a (defanged) malicious library with that name and uploaded it.

1/ Children playing on a climber. The colors of the climber and the foliage behind them has been oversaturated and shifted, making it surreal. The kids' heads have been replaced with the red eye of HAL 9000 from Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' Standing in the foreground at rigid attention is a man in short-sleeved military garb, wearing aviator shades. Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en -- Jorge Royan (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Munich_-_Two_boys_playing_in_... 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:



2/pluralistic.net
pluralistic.net/2024/04/01/hum…
Mar 30 • 92 tweets • 17 min read
For 20+ years, I've processed info that comes over my transom by blogging - mulling on why something I saw in caught my attention and summarizing it for strangers. This turns out to be a very powerful way to do a lot of different kinds of mental work:



1/ pluralistic.net/2021/05/09/the…
A box of assorted donuts. Image: Waffleboy https://www.flickr.com/photos/waffleboy/28198395465/ CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ 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:



2/pluralistic.net
pluralistic.net/2024/03/30/dew…
Mar 28 • 67 tweets • 12 min read
The headline was pure David and Goliath: America's small businesses had finally triumphed in their 20-year litigation campaign against Visa and Mastercard over price-gouging on fees, and V/MC were going to cough up $30B as reparations:



1/ edition.cnn.com/2024/03/26/eco…
An old-time, hand-tinted picture-postcard of a small-town main street. The sky has been replaced by a giant Visa logo. In the foreground is a giant 'capitalist' figured in top-hat and suit, carrying a bulging sack with a dollar-sign on it. He is bellowing over his shoulder. 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:



2/pluralistic.net
pluralistic.net/2024/03/28/con…
Mar 26 • 44 tweets • 10 min read
"Enshittification" isn't just a way of describing the *symptoms* of platform decay: it's also a theory of the *mechanism* of decay - the means by which platforms get shittier and shittier until they are a giant pile of shit.

1/ comic-book panel illustrating the final stage of the shell game, in which the con artist lifts the shell to reveal nothing beneath it. I have inserted a banana, making it appear as though that was what was hidden under the shell. The background of the panel has been altered to insert the 'code waterfall' effect from the Wachowskis' Matrix movies. The code waterfall fades out halfway down the image. 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:



2/pluralistic.net
pluralistic.net/2024/03/26/gli…
Mar 25 • 110 tweets • 20 min read
Last year, Ed Pierson was supposed to fly from Seattle to New Jersey on Alaska Airlines. He boarded his flight.

1/ A grand paneled hearing room, seen from the back of the room, looking at a dais over the heads of an audience of smartly turned out, attentive people. On the dais itself is a gargantuan, badly damaged cardboard box bearing a FRAGILE sticker. The saturation of the audience has been tuned down, while the saturation of the box has been cranked up. Image: Nuclear Regulatory Commission (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/nrcgov/15993154185/ meanwell-packaging.co.uk https://www.flickr.com/photos/195311218@N08/52159853896 CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ 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:



2/pluralistic.net
pluralistic.net/2024/03/25/bla…
Mar 22 • 73 tweets • 17 min read
The foundational tenet of "the Cult of Mac" is that buying products from a $3t company makes you a member of an oppressed ethnic minority and therefore every criticism of that corporation is an ethnic slur:



1/ pluralistic.net/2024/01/12/you…
An early 20th century trustbusting cartoon from Punch depicting the Standard Oil company as a world-girding, fanged octopus, its tentacles gripping the US Capitol, a generic statehouse, the White House, and a cluster of screaming, tuxedoed politicians. The Apple 'Think Different' wordmark has been placed in the background above the octopus. The top of the octopus's head bears an original Apple '6-color' logo. 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:



2/pluralistic.net
pluralistic.net/2024/03/22/rea…
Mar 21 • 82 tweets • 15 min read
The news that Gen Z users have abandoned Tiktok in such numbers that the median Tiktoker is a Millennial (or someone even older) prompted commentators to dunk on Tiktok as uncool by dint of having lost its youthful sheen:



1/ garbageday.email/p/tiktok-mille…
A scythe-wielding, crook-backed Father Time bends low to stare into the face of a cherubic Baby New Year. Father Time wears a backwards baseball-cap with the Tiktok logo. Baby New Year is waving goodbye and holding a satchel decorated with the 'code waterfall' from the credit sequences of the Wachowskis' 'Matrix' movies. The background is a stormy sky, with a forked lightning striking between the two figures. 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:



2/pluralistic.net
pluralistic.net/2024/03/21/inv…
Mar 14 • 28 tweets • 8 min read
A key requirement for being a science fiction writer without losing your mind is the ability to distinguish between science fiction (futuristic thought experiments) and *predictions*. SF writers who lack this trait come to fancy themselves fortune-tellers who SEE! THE! FUTURE!

1 A Mobius strip made of shiny metal posed on a 'code waterfall' background as seen in the credit sequences of the Wachowskis' 'Matrix' movies. Image: Plamenart (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Double_Mobius_Strip.JPG CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/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 , my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:



2/pluralistic.net
pluralistic.net/2024/03/14/14/…