@chpietsch@fedifreu.deCory Doctorow @… on #AI:
[T]he AI bubble is driven by monopolists who've conquered their markets and have no more growth potential, who are desperate to convince investors that they can continue to grow by moving into…
@cdarwin@c.imWhen you're a kid, you want to talk about things without your parents, teachers, principals, or (some of) your peers or siblings listening in.
You want to plan things without these people listening in, because they might try and stop you from doing them, or punish you if you succeed.
So, it's worth figuring out how to use new technologies, because the existing ones are riddled with censorship and surveillance back-doors ("parental controls") that can be deployed …
@ErikJonker@mastodon.socialWell said... "The most important thing about AI isn't its technical capabilities or limitations. The most important thing is the investor story and the ensuing mania that has teed up an economical catastrophe that will harm hundreds of millions or even billions of people. AI isn't going to wake up, become superintelligent and turn you into paperclips – but rich people with AI investor psychosis are almost certainly going to make you much, much poorer."
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot"Today's #AI bubble has absorbed more of the country's wealth and represents more of its economic activity than historic nation-shattering bubbles, like the 19th century UK rail bubble. A much-discussed MIT paper found that 95% of companies that had tried AI had either nothing to show for it, or experienced a loss" -- @…
@rainerzufall_le@mastodon.social"In the early days of the fight over a woman’s right to choose, Protestants —including evangelicals — viewed abortion as a Catholic issue, and evangelicals who grew too exercised over abortion were suspected of crypto-Papism."
https://pluralistic.net/2021/12/18/schizmogenesis/
@jorgecandeias@mastodon.socialCory @… Doctorow in a must-read on Apple, the EU, privacy and the absolute need to get rid of facist-adjacent (or fully fascist) tech infrastructure.
https://…
@makeratschool@kanoa.de
@StephenRees@mas.toHow Canada Can Become a Nation of Jailbreakers, Reclaim Our Digital Sovereignty, Win the Trade-War, and Disenshittify Our Technology.
https://pluralistic.net/2025/11/28/disenshittification-nation/#post-american-internet
Must read article…
@NicolasGriseyDemengel@piaille.frPluralistic: The real (economic) AI apocalypse is nigh
https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/econopocalypse/
@ErikJonker@mastodon.social @simon_brooke@mastodon.scot"The [Wall Street Journal] writers compare the #AI bubble to other bubbles, like Worldcom's fraud-soaked fiber optic bonanza (which saw the company's CEO sent to prison, where he eventually died), and conclude that the AI bubble is vastly larger than any other bubble in recent history" -- @pluralistic
#LLMs
@jorgecandeias@mastodon.socialReading stuff like the latest from @… I get the impression that a sound business strategy for the near future would be concentrating on doing stuff well, with competent people doing it, and making plans for rapid expansion for when the whole gigantic castle of half-burnt 6-fingered AI cards comes crashing down.
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot"I firmly believe the (economic) #AI apocalypse is coming. These companies are not profitable. They can't be profitable. They keep the lights on by soaking up hundreds of billions of dollars in other people's money and then lighting it on fire. Eventually those other people are going to want to see a return on their investment" -- @pluralistic
They won't get to see that retu…
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.deDelightful 💩: dana boyd, Lee Vinsel & Cory Doctorow on #Enshittification
It feels odd that Cory assumes that platform things were good for a start. Still insightful.
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot"the #AI bubble is driven by monopolists who've conquered their markets and have no more growth potential, who are desperate to convince investors that they can continue to grow by moving into some other sector...
when the bubble bursts, the money-hemorrhaging "foundation models" will be shut off and we'll lose the AI that can't do your job, and you will be long gone&q…
@weltenkreuzer@social.tchncs.deEs ist eine hartnäckige Illusion, dass individuelles Handeln strukturelle Probleme lösen könnte – also persönlicher Verzicht auf Amazon oder die Kündigung des Disney -Abos. Ware Veränderung braucht kollektive Mobilisierung und gemeinsame Aktion:
> Change happens when solidaristic groups of everyday people – unions, political movements – directly confront politicians and power-brokers and demand change.
Hierzu sind Bündnisse nötig, die sich nicht durch kleine Differenzen ausein…
@lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nzYes, https://pluralistic.net/2025/10/15/freedom-of-movement/#data-dieselgate Cory Doctorow (who coined the term 'enshittification') dropping some serious truth bombs about how the US Trump administration and US BigTech are rorting/scamming the global digi…
@sean@scoat.esThe event page for @… 's Enshittification book tour stop in #Montreal links to Facebook for full details…
The irony of this is not lost on me.
(See you there, tomorrow, local friends?)
@barijaona@mastodon.mg"Unauthorized Bread": a novel by Cory Doctorow [long read] (2020)
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/?utm_sour…
@bici@mastodon.social"Google showing a wall of ads before any real results. Facebook promising to “never spy on you,” before evolving into a mass surveillance apparatus. Amazon’s highest-ranked products buoyed by fake reviews."
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/bo
@lilmikesf@c.imUpcoming #SanFrancisco appearance of #Enshittification author Cory Doctorow announced at Public Works in #SFMission with Jenny Odell of The Booksmith, Monday Oct 20th 7p
@emd@cosocial.caHe’s coming to Vancouver as well: #enshittification
@catsalad@infosec.exchangeIf you want to know how busy my notifications are, enabling new post notifications for Cory Doctorow would only make it slightly busier. :blobcat_thisisfine:
@patrick_townsend@infosec.exchangeCory Doctorow gets it – Time to download privacy apps now
The Dictator/Fascist/Authoritarian playbook is well understood. Surveillance is a key part of the effort to dominate and punish individuals who engage in legal dissent or opposition. The recent decision by Apple and Google to remove the ICEBlock application from their app stores is a good example of how this control plays out.
Our mobile phones are the main platform that we use to send and receive text and email messages.…
@carloshr@lile.clEsta entrevista es un imperdible para todos a quienes les preocupa el curso de la internet actual, la privacidad y los derechos digitales en general. 10 minutos de lectura que valen la pena.
#Internet #Privacidad #DerechosDigitales
@NicolasGriseyDemengel@piaille.fr"Checking in on the state of Amazon's chickenized reverse-centaurs"
https://pluralistic.net/2025/10/23/traveling-salesman-solution/#pee-bottles
@compfu@mograph.socialThis sounds like a really cool sci-fi idea: a language model that is special-purpose, cheap and energy efficient and not connected to the internet so it can be built into household appliances. It might be the positive "residue" of an AI bubble crash.
But will those household appliance companies do it? They'd have to let go of their internet connected fridges and data collection. Maybe it'll be the FOSS and 3d-printing community who does it.
@cdarwin@c.imDonald Trump, the most Florida Man ever, was elected president.
If you asked an LLM to write a Carl Hiaasen novel, you might get Trump:
a hacky, unimaginative version of the wealthy, callous, scheming grifters of the Hiaasenverse.
Back in 2020, Hiaasen wrote Trump into Squeeze Me,
a tremendous and madcap addition to his canon:
Fever Beach is the first Hiaasen novel since Squeeze Me,
and boy, does Hiaasen ever have MAGA's number.
The book revol…
@adamhotep@infosec.exchangeGreat interview with @… about #enshittification
(You don't need to watch part 1, which is in today's main episode, but feel free, everything from Democracy Now is great.)
@stf@chaos.socialinteresting thoughts by @… on the legalization of reverse-engineering due to trump and eurostack: https://pluralistic.net/2025/10/15/freedom-o…
@Techmeme@techhub.socialA book excerpt details the "enshittification" of Amazon, and how its "flywheel" technique now enriches the company at the expense of merchants (Cory Doctorow/The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/…
@dhuyvetter@mastodon.socialChange happens when solidaristic groups of everyday people - unions, political movements - directly confront politicians and power-brokers and demand change. Your boss won't equitably share the fruits of your labor unless they fear that all the workers on the jobsite will shut down the shop.
https://pluralistic…
@yaya@jorts.horseNEVERMIND IM GLAD I DIDNT TURN OFF NOTIFICATIONS
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@ruth_mottram@fediscience.orgIts here. And reviewed in the FT...
Enshittification by @… Cory Doctorow — a manifesto for fixing the internet - https://on.ft.com/3KD1Ir3
@laurentperrinet@neuromatch.socialThe most prominent invention in the century is certainly #wikipedia, right? If not convinced, this text gives a very interesting angle to how important it is:
https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/05/be-
@ErikJonker@mastodon.socialMust-read "The mad king's digital killswitch"
https://pluralistic.net/2025/10/20/post-american-internet/#huawei-with-american-characteristics
@jorgecandeias@mastodon.socialEvery European (and Canadian, and Australian, and so on) should read @… 's latest.
A snippet:
"It's well past time for a post-American internet. Every device and every service should be designed so that the people who use them have the final say over how they work. Manufacturers' back doors and digital locks that prevent us from upda…
@villavelius@mastodon.onlineAls ik het goed begrijp is "de hoeveelheid materiaal die we moeten mijnen om de hele planeet van zonne-energie te voorzien, staat gelijk aan 1/17 (<6%) van de fossiele brandstoffen die we ELK JAAR mijnen en oppompen."
https://pluralistic.net/2025/10/02/there-goes-the-sun/…
@StephenRees@mas.toCory Doctorow is always worth reading - and he also provides a readable link
https://pluralistic.net/2025/10/02/there-goes-the-sun/#carbon-shifting
which is a lot easier to navigate than any thread
But mainly he will change your feelings of doom …
@PwnieFan@infosec.exchange“the book's thesis: that the AI bubble is driven by monopolists who've conquered their markets and have no more growth potential, who are desperate to convince investors that they can continue to grow by moving into some other sector,”
https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/115277162069992407…
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.deClean room romantic of an electrical engineer overseeing EUV lasers, pieu pieu, ie, #chip manufacturing:
"That overseer needs to wear a clean-room suit, and they have to work an eight-hour shift without a bathroom, food or water break (because getting out of the suit means going through an airlock means shutting down the system means long delays and wastage)."
@cdarwin@c.imTruly, everyone's a "rogue capitalist" now.
It's almost like the problem with companies isn't whether their business model is based on showing you ads or charging you money,
but rather, whether they can abuse you for profit and get away with it.
-- Coty Doctorow
https://mamot.fr/@…
@jorgecandeias@mastodon.socialOlha, nem de propósito. Lembras-te da nosa conversa de ontem, @… ? O Doctorow escreveu precisamente sobre isso.
https://pluralistic.n…
@weltenkreuzer@social.tchncs.deEs hilft nicht, die monopolistischen Giganten als Individuum zu boykottieren, es hilft aber, selbst alternative Strukturen zu unterstützen. So schreibt @… sehr prägnant:
> Make consumption choices that improve your life and the lives of people you love. Support your local bookstore, buy online from libro.fm and bookshop.org – not because this will brea…
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.deThe nightmare of the #Google case,
"As punishment for being convinced of obtaining and maintaining a monopoly, Google will be forced to share sensitive data with lots of other search engines. This will not secure competition for search, but it will certainly democratize human rights violations at scale."
@dhuyvetter@mastodon.socialBig Tech is neoliberalism's wet dream!
There's one thing EVERY government can do to shrink Big Tech: The path
to a post-American internet
by @…
https://
@jorgecandeias@mastodon.socialOlha, olha, o Doctorow vem a Lisboa. À WebSummit, of all places... 😂 A Grande Festa dos Unicórnios Voadores.
https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/115498150207973391
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot @jorgecandeias@mastodon.socialOne of those eye-openers from @… .
I actually went to my unused facebook account to publish it there. 'Cause it's there where it's needed the most.
(and on threads and stuff)
https://…
