Today's threads (a thread)
Inside: The petty (but undeniable) delights of cultivating ungovernability as a habit; and more!
Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/22/optimized-for-unoptimization/
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Today's threads (a thread)
Inside: The petty (but undeniable) delights of cultivating ungovernability as a habit; and more!
Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/22/optimized-for-unoptimization/
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@pluralistic Really great article today. I've been trying to rid my mind of the hyper-individualist myth lately as I've realized how deeply entrenched it is.
I feel like this post really clearly expresses *why* it's so futile compared to collective action.
Funny enough, even within some leftist/socialist spheres, I see wallet-voting being accepted an implicit assumption. Like we're sinners if we buy from Amazon or use Spotify.
Now the thing I'm trying to mill over in my mind is how to get involved in collective action in my own tiny little hometown.
@pluralistic I'm getting a page not found message on that link, even if I follow the link directly from the pluralistic.net homepage.
I'm coming to Colorado! Catch me in #Denver TONIGHT (Jan 22) at The Tattered Cover:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-live-at-tattered-cover-colfax-tickets-1976644174937
And in #ColoradoSprings THIS WEEKEND (Jan 23-25), where I'm the Guest of Honor at COSine:
https://www.firstfridayfandom.org/cosine/
Then I'll be in #Ottawa on WEDS (Jan 28) at Perfect Books:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DS2nGiHiNUh/
And in #Toronto with Tim Wu on Jan 30:
https://nowtoronto.com/event/cory-doctorow-and-tim-wu-enshittification-and-extraction/
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The petty (but undeniable) delights of cultivating ungovernability as a habit: Get good at being on hold.
https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/115940037457927780
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Hey look at this
* Verizon Wastes No Time Switching Device Unlock to a Year https://www.droid-life.com/2026/01/20/verizon-device-unlock-policy-365-days/ (h/t Slashdot)
* CEOs say AI makes work efficient. Employees tell a different story. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/ceos-say-ai-is-making-work-more-efficient-employees-tell-a-different-story/ar-AA1UE3Tq (h/t Slashdot)
* The End of the US Global Monetary System https://profstevekeen.substack.com/p/this-is-the-end-of-the-us-global
* EU has more bargaining strength than it thinks https://www.programmablemutter.com/p/europe-has-more-bargaining-strength
* US workers took home their smallest share of capital since 1947, at least https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-workers-just-took-home-214018586.html (h/t Usermag)
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#25yrsago Karl Schroeder's "Ventus" https://www.mindjack.com/books/ventus.html
#20yrsago Hollywood’s Canadian MP plagiarizes entertainment industry in op-ed https://web.archive.org/web/20060814015107/http://www.michaelgeist.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1082
#20yrago Pope: Divine inspiration is copyrighted https://web.archive.org/web/20070219175621/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article717916.ece
#10yrsago Gay Tory MP outs himself as a “poppers” user, slams proposed ban https://web.archive.org/web/20160122212659/https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/mp-crispin-blunt-admits-using-poppers-while-attacking-proposed-ban/ar-BBotElv
#10yrsago Donald Trump’s dad was Woody Guthrie’s hated Klansman landlord https://theconversation.com/woody-guthrie-old-man-trump-and-a-real-estate-empires-racist-foundations-53026
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#5yrsago How one of America's most abusive employers gets away with it https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/22/paperback-writer/#toothless
#1yrago EFF's transition memo for the Biden admin https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/22/paperback-writer/#memo
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Yesterday's threads: Google's AI pricing plan; and more!
https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/115933680574661448
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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 latest nonfiction book is the internationally bestselling "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," from MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux:
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/
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My ebooks and audiobooks (from FSGxMCD, 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:
* #Denver: Enshittification at Tattered Cover Colfax, Jan 22
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-live-at-tattered-cover-colfax-tickets-1976644174937
* #ColoradoSprings: Guest of Honor at COSine, Jan 23-25
https://www.firstfridayfandom.org/cosine/
* #Ottawa: Enshittification at Perfect Books, Jan 28
https://www.instagram.com/p/DS2nGiHiNUh/
* #Toronto: Enshittification and the Age of Extraction with Tim Wu, Jan 30
https://nowtoronto.com/event/cory-doctorow-and-tim-wu-enshittification-and-extraction/
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Upcoming appearances (cont'd):
* #SaltLakeCity: Enshittification at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (Tanner Humanities Center), Feb 18
https://tanner.utah.edu/center-events/cory-doctorow/
* #Victoria: 28th Annual Victoria International Privacy & Security Summit, Mar 3-5
https://www.rebootcommunications.com/event/vipss2026/
* #Berkeley: Bioneers keynote, Mar 27
https://conference.bioneers.org/
* #Berlin: Re:publica, May 18-20
https://re-publica.com/de/news/rp26-sprecher-cory-doctorow
* #Berlin: Enshittification at Otherland Books, May 19
https://www.otherland-berlin.de/de/event-details/cory-doctorow.html
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