The most suspicious things that AI boosters say are not the positive things. They're the apparently negative things. The AI broke containment. The agents set up a message board to secretly conspire. Or the most egregious, that the AI will become Skynet and kill us all. As @pluralistic says, it's part of the scam, the fearmongering is aimed at investors, who want to invest in a growing industry. AI needs to be perceived as growing, even if that growth is supposedly a threat.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/09/ai-superintelligence-risks-warnings-scientists-politicians

RE: https://mastodon.social/@mercedesallen/117077689931650031

The best kind of malicious compliance 😄

RE: https://mastodon.social/@CelloMomOnCars/117025903783163491

This kind of article really makes me anxious and deeply sad. When I see something in my life that's broken, I just take the time and money to fix it. But the climate crisis is too big for me to fix, even a little bit. I always vote for the most climate conscious party, but they never win in my conservative riding. I change my lifestyle to reduce my carbon output, but it's just a drop in the bucket. I tell others to vote progressive, or make lifestyle changes, but again, it's not nearly enough.

RE: https://mastodon.social/@trans_rescue/116726409792403422

This is fascinating. It's targeted at American trans people, who are currently living in worsening conditions, but it seems useful for any person being persecuted for being LGBTQ or other "out" group...

Ohhhh. It all makes sense now.
Cory Doctorow @pluralistic points out that Trump's trade shenanigans are all part of a long history of US enshittificaton of the international trade system, for all the same reasons as Facebook's and YouTube's decline.
Who would have thought that an international trade system could be vulnerable to enshittificaton? It turns out that it breeds in the shadows of all kinds of monopoly.
https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/26/i-dont-want/#your-greenback-dollar

Thanks to @angusm and @kiwi for pointing out that this particular Torment Nexus was written about in 2008:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_Dealer

"We haven't found any writings describing what we're looking for, but this one author wrote about the Pleasure Nexus, and this other author wrote about the Pleasure - Torment Converter, and that gave us a great idea..."

This is like some creepy cross between William Gibson @GreatDismal and Cory Doctorow @pluralistic ...
A Japanese company is hiring low wage Philipino workers to remotely operate robots in Japanese convenience stores. They get migrant labour without the migrants.
https://restofworld.org/2025/philippines-offshoring-automation-tech-jobs/

My rural household has been EV-only for five years. No regrets. We just finished an enjoyable 1000 km electric road trip. Once you begin driving an EV, you'll wonder why you didn't switch sooner.

To clarify my position on violence: I won't argue that violence is never the answer, because that will lead to endless quibbling over edge cases. I feel it's safe to say violence is the worst choice, and should always be the last choice. Violence is often the easiest choice, especially in heated situations, making things harder.

I have come to realize that my pacifism, my aversion to violence, is utterly central to my world view, and many other leftists and socialists preach violence and revolution, which is unconscionable to me. Violence doesn't bring a better world; healthcare, education, and housing do. I've been calling myself a progressive, but maybe there's a better word for it? Any ideas?

I came across this older article about using WiFi to see through walls, and it reminded me of "Someone Comes To Town, Someone Leaves Town" by @pluralistic
https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/security/a42575068/scientists-use-wifi-to-see-through-walls/

'[H]undreds of people have gotten in touch with me to ask me how I feel about this turn of events, how it feels to have "predicted" this.
I've been thinking about it for a few days now, and I gotta tell you, I have complicated feelings.'
@pluralistic writes an awesome response to the assassination and its fallout.
https://pluralistic.net/2024/12/09/radicalized/#deny-defend-depose

My timeline is being flooded with posts that might be tagged with #YouShouldBeAfraid in the Radicalized universe. There's a worrying amount of anger out there.

Here's 3 examples.
https://hachyderm.io/@freeformz/113619602615115978
https://sfba.social/@drahardja/113621279623367620

@pluralistic
There's a big difference between Radicalized (published 5 years ago) and real life, of course. In the story, older men monologue into YouTube videos before suicide bombing the C suites of health insurance buildings. The actual assassin seems to be young, remains anonymous and clearly had no plans to die. There also seems to be a surprising amount of public support for the assassin.

After the events of the past few days, I decided to reread "Radicalized" by @pluralistic
and I was shocked again at its prescience. There's even a politician who gets his earlobe shot by an AR-15. Makes me wonder when #YouShouldBeAfraid will start trending.

"Decriminalizing drugs is not intended to be a solution to drug problems. Rather, it is a critical first step that’s necessary, but not sufficient, for replacing prohibition with a public health approach."

@thetyee
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2024/05/30/We-Did-Drug-Decriminalization-Wrong-Safe-Supply-Recovery/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=editorial