Pluralistic: AI's pogo-stick grift (02 Aug 2025)

Today's links

AI's pogo-stick grift: The hard part is operating in an unpredictable, adversarial, unstructured world.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: Galaksija, TSA shock-wand, Reverse-centaur apocalypse.
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
Recent appearances: Where I've been.
Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Colophon: All the rest.

Mattie Lubchansky's 'Simplicity': A tale of walled cities, omnisexual communes, and Cthulhoid horrors.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: MP3s on punchcards; German Potter fan-trans; Healthy Boundary Tree.
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
Recent appearances: Where I've been.
Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Colophon: All the rest.

You can't fight enshittification: (But we can.)
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: Apple and trusted computing; TSA mocks travelers; Self-bricking med-tech.
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
Recent appearances: Where I've been.
Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Colophon: All the rest.

Delta's AI-based price-gouging: Running an airline like a hedge-fund.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: DHS RFIDs tourists; Solar heroin; International development and the copyfight
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
Recent appearances: Where I've been.
Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Colophon: All the rest.

Boss-politics antitrust and the MAGA crackup: The Tunney Act stirs the pot.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: Hearware, 10,000 superballs; Bitcoin is not socialist; Stupid and dangerous video game cheating lawsuit.
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
Recent appearances: Where I've been.
Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Colophon: All the rest.

How twiddling enshittifies your brain: They preferentially mess with the stuff you rely on the most.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: Used books economics; Adbusters sf; Branson vs virgins; Shark knife; Protesters must pledge souls to Satan; Cop "unions" aren't; Afterland.
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
Recent appearances: Where I've been.
Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Colophon: All the rest.

Iranian brickwork, arbitrated pillows, smothered comics, and aerogel desalination: Also: bricked exercise gear, Air Canada luggage mystery, and praise for *Enshittification*.
Object permanence: Unix War on Terror; Massive PVR; NIST meth lab; Georgia calls Carl Malamud a terrorist; Private equity destroys value; Facebook's poor morale; Surveillance pricing; NYC after Craigslist; D&D existentialism; Mexico vs US copyright; AI's productivity theater
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
Recent appearances: Where I've been.
Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Colophon: All the rest.

Trump's FCC abandons the future: Starlink is a technology that gets worse every time it acquires a customer.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: Bill Waterson's comics for Berkeley Breathed; Ian McDonald's research; BLM vs copyright bots; UN Cybercrime Treaty
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
Recent appearances: Where I've been.
Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Colophon: All the rest.

Installing Android phones in Blackberry chassis: From e-waste to a better phone.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: Owning "freedom of expression"; Spider-silk thread; Auditing your body's code; RIP EL Doctorow; Little Brother RPG; Unpersoned.
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
Recent appearances: Where I've been.
Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Colophon: All the rest.

Conservatism considered as a movement of bitter rubes: And the grifters who love them.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: Banana split history; Heinlein plots; Hacking a jeep
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
Recent appearances: Where I've been.
Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Colophon: All the rest.