In Austin… yesterday… during SXSW2025:
(L-R: Christopher Brown, Bruce Sterling, Himself, Jon Lebkowsky)
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And unnamed dog.
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https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/12/epistemological-void/#do-your-own-research
[Fuckface] won office in part by insisting that America’s institutions were not fit for purpose. He wasn’t lying about that (for a change). The thing he was lying about was his desire to fix them. [Von Clownstick] doesn’t want honest refs – he wants no refs. To defeat [Clown]ism, we need to stop pretending that our institutions are just fine – we need to confront their failings head on and articulate a plan to fix them, rather than claiming “America was already great”:
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https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/13/electronic-whipping/#youre-next
The future is here, in Amazon warehouses, and every day, it’s getting closer to Amazon’s technical offices.
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https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/15/altering-the-deal/#telescreen
The Echo is an internet-connected device that treats its owner as an adversary and is designed to facilitate over-the-air updates by the manufacturer that are adverse to the interests of the owner. Giving a manufacturer the power to downgrade a device after you’ve bought it, in a way you can’t roll back or defend against is an invitation to run the playbook of the Darth Vader MBA, in which the manufacturer replies to your outraged squawks with “I am altering the deal. Pray I don’t alter it any further”
But how can this be legal? You bought an Echo and explicitly went into its settings to disable remote monitoring of the sounds in your home, and now Amazon – without your permission, against your express wishes – is going to start sending recordings from inside your house to its offices.
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My SIL offered to buy our kid one of the kid’s echo dots. To keep in her room and be able to talk to cousins long distance.
We politely declined.
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