Today's threads (a thread)
Inside: Conspiratorialism's causal chain; and more!
Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/17/cause-and-effect/
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@pluralistic guess we all better dust off our copies of Monopoly Capitalism.
@pluralistic "many more of us are boeing to die" 💀
#Ithaca and #NYC! I'm heading your way for a zillion events from Sept 11-19. Here's a list of open-to-all #Cornell activities including two major keynotes and a public event at Cornell Tech in NYC:
https://adwhiteprofessors.cornell.edu/visits/cory-doctorow/
I'll also be at the #Brooklyn Book Festival on Sept 21:
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Conspiratorialism's causal chain: A four-part begat.
https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/115219482010113890
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Hey look at this
* Outlining the four reasons why we are going against the generative AI tide that is sweeping the world away https://neomam.com/a-case-for-human-intelligence-over-ai/
* Hundreds of Google AI Workers Were Fired Amid Fight Over Working Conditions https://www.wired.com/story/hundreds-of-google-ai-workers-were-fired-amid-fight-over-working-conditions/
* Can Resistance Succeed? https://prospect.org/politics/2025-09-16-trump-can-resistance-succeed/
* William Gibson Reads Neuromancer http://bearcave.com/bookrev/neuromancer/neuromancer_audio.html (h/t Hacker News)
* Irreversible Does Not Mean Unavoidable https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/87694/Solomon_Irreversible does.pdf (h/t Gregory Charlin)
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#15yrsago Intel threatens lawsuits against HDCP jailbreakers https://web.archive.org/web/20100920183314/https://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/09/intel-threatens-consumers/
#10yrsago America’s spooks abandon crypto-backdoors, plan shock-doctrine revival https://www.techdirt.com/2015/09/17/having-lost-debate-backdooring-encryption-intelligence-community-plans-to-wait-until-next-terrorist-attack/
#10yrsago Do you really trade your privacy for service on Facebook? https://theintercept.com/2015/09/17/facebook/
#10yrsago 3D print your own TSA Travel Sentry keys and open anyone’s luggage https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/09/video-3d-printed-tsa-travel-sentry-keys-really-do-open-tsa-locks/
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#10yrsago Campus cops: all the powers of real cops, none of the accountability https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2015/sep/15/public-safety-private-colleges-massachusetts/
#10yrsago Ex-mayor of Bismark, ND trademarks alternatives to “Fighting Sioux” in bid to prevent UND team from switching to non-racist name https://web.archive.org/web/20160103050027/https://www.grandforksherald.com/news/region/3838901-former-bismarck-mayor-registers-trade-names-state-3-5-und-nickname-options
#5yrsago Private equity's new debt-and-loot bonanza https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/17/divi-recaps/#graebers-ghost
#1yrago Christopher Brown's 'A Natural History of Empty Lots' https://pluralistic.net/2024/09/17/cyberpunk-pastoralism/#time-to-mow-the-roof
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Yesterday's threads: No such thing as selective censorship resistance; and more!
https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/115215509561950275
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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
--
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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My ebooks and audiobooks (from Tor Books, Head of Zeus, McSweeneys, Beacon, Verso and others) are for sale all over the net, but I sell 'em too, and when you buy 'em from me, I earn twice as much and you get books with no DRM and no license "agreements."
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Upcoming appearances:
* #Ithaca: Communication Power, Policy, and Practice (Cornell), Sept 18
https://events.cornell.edu/event/policy-provocations-a-conversation-about-communication-power-policy-and-practice
* #Ithaca: A Reverse-Centaur's Guide to Being a Better AI Critic (Cornell), Sept 18
https://events.cornell.edu/event/2025-nordlander-lecture-in-science-public-policy
* #NYC: Enshittification and Renewal (Cornell Tech), Sept 19
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/enshittification-and-renewal-a-conversation-with-cory-doctorow-tickets-1563948454929
* #NYC: Brooklyn Book Fair, Sept 21
https://brooklynbookfestival.org/event/big-techs-big-heist-cory-doctorow-in-conversation-with-adam-becker/
* #Boston: Enshittification with Randall Munroe (Brattle Theater), Oct 7
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-at-the-brattle-theatre-tickets-1591235180259?aff=oddtdtcreator
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Hey look at this
* Outlining the four reasons why we are going against the generative AI tide that is sweeping the world away https://neomam.com/a-case-for-human-intelligence-over-ai/
* Hundreds of Google AI Workers Were Fired Amid Fight Over Working Conditions https://www.wired.com/story/hundreds-of-google-ai-workers-were-fired-amid-fight-over-working-conditions/
* Can Resistance Succeed? https://prospect.org/politics/2025-09-16-trump-can-resistance-succeed/
* William Gibson Reads Neuromancer http://bearcave.com/bookrev/neuromancer/neuromancer_audio.html (h/t Hacker News)
* Irreversible Does Not Mean Unavoidable https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/87694/Solomon_Irreversible does.pdf (h/t Gregory Charlin)
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