The world's greatest living tech novelist is escaping the attention economy
Optimistic Computing
I recently made two new friends: Abhinav Omprakash and Dawn Walker. Abhinav said I’m an optimist and I should write about it. Dawn said I shouldn’t try to coin any new terms. I should know better, but this essay follows Abhinav’s recommendation — and credits Dawn, in the very likely event I should have followed her advice instead. I have been alive for approximately four decades. Each of those decades was witness to its own fun brand of computering.
The Irrational Decision: How We Gave Computers the Power to Choose for Us | Critical AI | Duke University Press
Jathan Sadowski is an associate professor in the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of two books on technology and capitalism, Too Smart (2020) and The Mechanic and the Luddite (2025). He also cohosts the podcast This Machine Kills.
AI, I tried to love you – Writings and rehearsals by Nathan Schneider
Among my peers who study the cultures and economies surrounding technology, I often find myself more tech-positive than most. On the whole I like computers, like the internet, and like in general the emergent human creativity that these things have enabled and revealed. A source of my appreciation is that I expend a lot of effort on the practice of “slow computing,” which is to say, choosing tools and technical communities that I can feel in right relationship with. I tend to approach new socio-technologies (like gig economies, blockchains, and social media) not from a perspective of why is this so bad? so much as asking how could we do this right?
Clarkesworld Magazine - Science Fiction & Fantasy
Better Living Through Algorithms by Naomi Kritzer
AI Has Ruined the Job Market
Maybe flawed people were better than brute algorithms.
The Techno-Optimist Manifesto | Andreessen Horowitz
We are told that technology is on the brink of ruining everything. But we are being lied to, and the truth is so much better. Marc Andreessen presents his techno-optimist vision for the future.
Why can't our tech billionaires learn anything new?
On Marc Andreessen's "techno-optimist manifesto"
Why can't our tech billionaires learn anything new?
On Marc Andreessen's "techno-optimist manifesto"
Why Hasn’t AI Made Work Easier? - Cal Newport
I’ve been studying the intersection of digital technology and office work for quite some time. (I find it hard to believe that my book, Deep ... Read more
Do We Need AI to Revolutionize Work? - Cal Newport
In recent months, I’ve been doing a fair number of interviews about my new book, Slow Productivity. I’m often asked during these conversations about the ... Read more
Algorithms Have Already Gone Rogue | Backchannel
In his new book, Tim O'Reilly identifies the first case of AI run amok—and it's not what you think.
The AI Researcher Who Just Quit Anthropic Says It’s ‘Crunch Time for Humanity’
Jacob Coxon talks to WIRED about the “mini Manhattan project” inside Anthropic, the problem with alignment, and why AI labs have just a few years left to make their systems safe.
Why the Algorithm Loves a Villain, And How to Beat It
When the internet is full of distortions, fake news, and AI-generated slop, how can facts and journalism rise to the top? Former BBC and Vice journalist Sophia Smith Galer has one possible way to…
i dislike this beyond being factually incorrect, it is also missing the core problem with Big Tech Algorithms: it is a matter about who controls attention, not the algorithm itself /1
The Verge
CEO Toni Schneider on protocols, community, and control. theverge.com/podcast/974387/bluesky-toni-s…
Algorithm Mediated Experiences
On the effects of algorithms on everyday experiences
Narrative Flattening: How Post-Training Compresses Thematic, Affective, and Stylistic Variation in LLM Fiction
Lend an Ear Experiment
Perceptions of Fairness in Algorithmic Decision-Making
Heard - A Place to Be Heard
AI in Disguise—Quasi-Experimental Analysis of a Large-Scale Deployment of AI-Generated Ads
The Effects of Search Interface on Consumer Preferences: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment
