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Cory Doctorow
@pluralistic@mamot.fr  ·  activity timestamp 5 days ago

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: The real (economic) AI apocalypse is nigh; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/econopocalypse/

#Pluralistic

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https://pluralistic.net

Pluralistic: The real (economic) AI apocalypse is nigh (27 Sep 2025)

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.

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TechCrunch
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https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en
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
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
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Quercus 🟡⚪🟣⚫
@coppercrush@beige.party replied  ·  activity timestamp 4 days ago

@pluralistic
The entirety of the US economy in the 21st century has been a tech bubble, and AI is the thing that is finally going to cause it to burst. Its perfectly ironic and fitting that they created a technology that literally eats itself and its forebears.

The monopolists have finally run dry of easy shit to sell us junkies. Currently we are snorting baking soda and watching Bluey while they consolidate everything they can politically before we finally hit bottom. As painful as it is going to be, the only way out is through. Politically, its going to open a lot of doors. Sobriety can be both beautiful and deadly.

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William Canna-bass
@JizzelEtBass@kolektiva.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 5 days ago

@pluralistic Such a great quote:
"AI is the asbestos we are shoveling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations"

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Cory Doctorow
@pluralistic@mamot.fr replied  ·  activity timestamp 5 days ago

My latest novel is "Picks and Shovels," a historical technothriller set in the Weird Era of the PC, about Ponzi schemes, techbros, and the dawn of enshittification:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels

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My next nonfiction book is "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," out from MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux on October 7:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/

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Macmillan Publishers

Book details - Macmillan Publishers

Enshittification: it’s not just you—the internet sucks now. Here’s why, and here’s how we can disenshittify it.We’re living through the Enshittocen...
Macmillan Publishers

Book details - Macmillan Publishers

New York Times bestselling author Cory Doctorow returns to the world of Red Team Blues to bring us the origin story of Martin Hench and the most powerful new...
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Cory Doctorow
@pluralistic@mamot.fr replied  ·  activity timestamp 5 days ago

Yesterday's threads: Apple threatens to stop selling iPhones in the EU; and more!

https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/115272268326693272

5/

Image:
Alex Popovkin, Bahia, Brazil from Brazil (modified)
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CC BY 2.0
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Image: Alex Popovkin, Bahia, Brazil from Brazil (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Annelid_worm,_Atlantic_forest,_northern_littoral_of_Bahia,_Brazil_%2816107326533%29.jpg CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en -- Hubertl (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2015-03-04_Elstar_%28apple%29_starting_putrefying_IMG_9761_bis_9772.jpg CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en
Image: Alex Popovkin, Bahia, Brazil from Brazil (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Annelid_worm,_Atlantic_forest,_northern_littoral_of_Bahia,_Brazil_%2816107326533%29.jpg CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en -- Hubertl (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2015-03-04_Elstar_%28apple%29_starting_putrefying_IMG_9761_bis_9772.jpg CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en
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Cory Doctorow
@pluralistic@mamot.fr replied  ·  activity timestamp 5 days ago

#5yrsago Ransomware for coffee makers https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/27/junky-styling/#java-script

#5yrsago The joys of tailoring https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/27/junky-styling/#inseams

#1yrago Return to office and dying on the job https://pluralistic.net/2024/09/27/sharpen-your-blades-boys/#disciplinary-technology

5/

https://pluralistic.net

Pluralistic: Return to work and dying on the job (27 Sep 2024)

https://pluralistic.net

Pluralistic: 27 Sep 2020

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Cory Doctorow
@pluralistic@mamot.fr replied  ·  activity timestamp 5 days ago

#20yrsago Financial Times: WIPO’s webcaster treaty is a disaster https://www.ft.com/content/441306be-2eb6-11da-9aed-00000e2511c8

#15yrsago Google’s autocomplete blacklist https://www.2600.com/googleblacklist/

#15yrsago FBI ignores DoJ report, raids activists, arrests Time Person of the Year https://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/27/fbi_raids_homes_of_anti_war

#15yrsago Meta-textual analysis of mainstream science reporting https://www.theguardian.com/science/the-lay-scientist/2010/sep/24/1

#15yrsago Lockheed Martin sign prohibits sketching and “gathering information” https://www.flickr.com/photos/jef/5028187145/

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Flickr

unauthorized

the Guardian

This is a news website article about a scientific paper

Martin Robbins: In the trail I will make a fairly obvious pun about the subject matter before posing an inane question I have no intention of really answering: is this an important scientific finding?
Democracy Now!

FBI Raids Homes of Antiwar and Pro-Palestinian Activists in Chicago and Minneapolis

Antiwar activists are gearing up for protests outside FBI offices in cities across the country today and Tuesday after the FBI raided eight homes and offices of antiwar activists in Chicago and Minneapolis Friday. The FBI’s search warrants indicate agents were looking for connections between local antiwar activists and groups in Colombia and the Middle East. We speak to the targets of two of the raids and former FBI officer Coleen Rowley. [includes rush transcript]

2600: Google Blacklist

Client Challenge

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Cory Doctorow
@pluralistic@mamot.fr replied  ·  activity timestamp 5 days ago

#20yrsago Financial Times: WIPO’s webcaster treaty is a disaster https://www.ft.com/content/441306be-2eb6-11da-9aed-00000e2511c8

#15yrsago Google’s autocomplete blacklist https://www.2600.com/googleblacklist/

#15yrsago FBI ignores DoJ report, raids activists, arrests Time Person of the Year https://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/27/fbi_raids_homes_of_anti_war

#15yrsago Meta-textual analysis of mainstream science reporting https://www.theguardian.com/science/the-lay-scientist/2010/sep/24/1

#15yrsago Lockheed Martin sign prohibits sketching and “gathering information” https://www.flickr.com/photos/jef/5028187145/

4/

Flickr

unauthorized

the Guardian

This is a news website article about a scientific paper

Martin Robbins: In the trail I will make a fairly obvious pun about the subject matter before posing an inane question I have no intention of really answering: is this an important scientific finding?
Democracy Now!

FBI Raids Homes of Antiwar and Pro-Palestinian Activists in Chicago and Minneapolis

Antiwar activists are gearing up for protests outside FBI offices in cities across the country today and Tuesday after the FBI raided eight homes and offices of antiwar activists in Chicago and Minneapolis Friday. The FBI’s search warrants indicate agents were looking for connections between local antiwar activists and groups in Colombia and the Middle East. We speak to the targets of two of the raids and former FBI officer Coleen Rowley. [includes rush transcript]

2600: Google Blacklist

Client Challenge

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Cory Doctorow
@pluralistic@mamot.fr replied  ·  activity timestamp 5 days ago

Hey look at this

* EU ministers reach 'compromise' on digital euro roadmap https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/eu-ministers-seek-agreement-digital-euro-be-independent-visa-mastercard-2025-09-19/

* Amazon will pay $2.5b to settle the FTC’s Prime lawsuit https://www.theverge.com/news/785744/amazon-ftc-prime-subscription-settlment

* Conservative Dem Compares Ad About Corporate Donations to ‘Political Violence’ https://prospect.org/politics/2025-09-25-conservative-dem-ad-corporate-donations-violence-bains-california/

* Monopoly Utilities Ousted America's Best Regulator https://economicpopulist.substack.com/p/monopoly-utilities-ousted-americas

* WNYC offers free programs to stations affected by funding cuts https://current.org/2025/09/wnyc-offers-free-programs-to-stations-affected-by-funding-cuts/ (h/t Today in Tabs)

3/

Monopoly Utilities Ousted America's Best Regulator

Bummer news for utility bills.
The Verge

Amazon will pay $2.5 billion to settle the FTC’s Prime lawsuit

Amazon will pay $1.5 billion to affected customers.
The American Prospect

Conservative Dem Compares Ad About Her Corporate Donations to ‘Political Violence’

Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains took PAC money from 53 corporations that also donated to the incumbent Republican she’s running against. She said a progressive challenger pointing that out is a form of violence.
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