Pluralistic: For-profit healthcare is the problem, not (just) private equity (13 Nov 2025)

Today's links

For-profit healthcare is the problem, not (just) private equity: Competition can't solve the hospice problem.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: Inner-tube laces; NZ MPs ejected for talking about sexual assault; Snowden's opsec advice; Xi on interop.
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
Recent appearances: Where I've been.
Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Colophon: All the rest.

A tale of three customer service chatbots: Two were worse than useless, one betrayed its masters.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: General strike; We won't fly; Green tea doesn't promote weight-loss.
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
Recent appearances: Where I've been.
Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Colophon: All the rest.

Theodora Goss's 'Letters From an Imaginary Country': Short stories so expertly spun you'll hardly know you've been ensnared.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: "Agent To the Stars"; Smart TV spying; 3D printing and the law; Google open sources AI; Microchip "dark matter."
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
Recent appearances: Where I've been.
Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Colophon: All the rest.

"Flexible labor" is a euphemism for "derisking capital": It's a zero-sum game.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: Corrupt CDs; 10,000 wax cylinders; EU wants copyright on links; Sony rootkit; Humbling math-papers; Chelsea Manning on Aaron Swartz; "Boundless Realms."
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
Recent appearances: Where I've been.
Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Colophon: All the rest.

The enshittification of labor: Pavlina Tcherneva, getting her peanut butter in my chocolate.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: 3D printing with tape-guns; TPP is the worst; HP ends customers' lives.
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
Recent appearances: Where I've been.
Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Colophon: All the rest.

The 40-year economic mistake that let Google conquer (and enshittify) the world: If reality doesn't fit the theory, ignore reality.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: The Master Switch; Dueling useless machines; Chrome delists Symantec; Someone tried to buy the UK; "Made to Kill"; #Audiblegate; Sony lies about de-rootkitifier; “Aurora”; Bluesky and enshittification; Polostan; New Zealand's 3 strikes law; Open Kinekt drivers; Co-op platforms vs Uber; Chelsea Manning's surveillance reform bill.
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
Recent appearances: Where I've been.
Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Colophon: All the rest.

"Science Comics Computers: How Digital Hardware Works": Steampunk dinosaurs scratch-build a pressurized air-based, Turing complete, universal von Neumann machine.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: Google Print vs Great Ormond; Lincolnbot; "Zoo City"; Killed by your tapeworm's cancer; NZ Colossus; How to have cancer.
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
Recent appearances: Where I've been.
Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Colophon: All the rest.

There's one thing EVERY government can do to shrink Big Tech: The path to a post-American internet.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: D2020; Sony rootkit; Public Enemy vs the internet; NYC plute Hallowe'en.
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
Recent appearances: Where I've been.
Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Colophon: All the rest.

The internet was made for privacy: And unmade by regulators.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: Materialist conspiratorialism; TSA ball-fondlers; Anonymous to dox 1,000 Klansmen; Amazon hates private property; The Great Firewall of Cameron.
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
Recent appearances: Where I've been.
Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Colophon: All the rest.