Pluralistic: Links, dumped (10 June 2023)

Today's links

Links, dumped: A grab-bag of delicious miscellania.
This day in history: 2008, 2013, 2018, 2022
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: Capitalists hate capitalism (09 June 2023)

Today's links

Capitalists hate capitalism: Merck's version of "market pricing" is "whatever we ask for."
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
This day in history: 2003, 2008, 2013, 2018, 2022
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: To save the news, repeal the app tax (07 June 2023)

Today's links

To save the news, repeal the app tax: The latest in "saving the news from Big Tech."
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
This day in history: 2013, 2022
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: A business model for bankrupting the oil companies(06 June 2023)

Today's links

A business model for bankrupting the oil companies: Incentives matter (and that matters).
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
This day in history: 2003, 2008, 2013, 2018, 2022
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: Wall Street Journal goes to bat for the vultures who want to steal your house (04 June 2023)

Today's links

Wall Street Journal goes to bat for the vultures who want to steal your house: When the editorial page leaks into the news.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
This day in history: 2003, 2008, 2013, 2018, 2022
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Ayyyyyy Eyeeeee

The lie that raced around the world before the truth got its boots on.

A portrait of OpenAI founder Sam Altman. It has been altered so that his eyes are replaced with the glaring red eye of HAL9000 from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. He is holding a flashlight under his chin and is shrouded in darkness. — Jasleen Kaur/CC BY-SA 2.0; TechCrunch/CC BY 2.0; Cryteria/CC BY 3.0 (modified)

It didn’t happen.

The story you heard, about a US Air Force AI drone warfare simulation in which the drone resolved the conflict between its two priorities (“kill the enemy” and “obey its orders, including orders not to kill the enemy”) by killing its operator?

It didn’t happen.

The story was widely reported on Friday and Saturday, after Col. Tucker “Cinco” Hamilton, USAF Chief of AI Test and Operations, included the anaecdote in a speech to the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) Summit.

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Pluralistic: Washington State's capital gains tax proves we can have nice things (03 June 2023)

Today's links

Washington State's capital gains tax proves we can have nice things: We just need to tax the rich.
This day in history: 2008, 2013, 2018
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Pluralistic: The long lineage of private equity's looting (02 June 2023)

Today's links

The long, bloody lineage of private equity's looting: Or, if you prefer, "plundering."
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
This day in history: 2003, 2008, 2013, 2018, 2022
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: To save the news, ban surveillance ads (31 May 2023)

Today's links

To save the news, ban surveillance ads: No publisher will ever beat ad-tech at spying, but no tech company will ever understand a publisher's content better than they do.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
This day in history: 2003, 2008, 2013, 2018, 2022
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: Ian McDonald's "Hopeland" (30 May 2023)

Today's links

Ian McDonald's "Hopeland": A novel so eerily good it almost made me angry.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
This day in history: 2013, 2018, 2022
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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