Pluralistic: Social media without socializing (19 Jan 2026)

Today's links

Social media without socializing: For Zuck, your friends are a problem to be solved.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: "Among Others"; Vagina tea-balls; MLK was a socialist; Planet Money's free Gatsby audiobook; Bounty for wiretapping lefty profs; Poe's graveside ritual; Sleep Mafia; Whence came tarps; GM's Dieslgate; NRO's octopus; Amazon solidarity; Billionaire-proofing the internet.
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.

Code is a liability (not an asset): AI psychosis, tech boss edition.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: Coldplay CD DRM; Star Wars Wars; Digital manorialism vs neofeudalism; Transvaginal foetal sonic bombardment: woo-tunes for your hoo-hah.
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 world without people: AI is a promise to wire the boss's toy steering wheel directly into the company's drive-train.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: Adding exclusive rights make economies weaker; Bloggers after the collapse; Why the media can't figure out Wikipedia; Who are these sf legends?; Anne Frank is in the public domain; Hollywood's MP in Canada; Piketty on Piketty; Vanilla ISIS; India throws out Facebook's astroturf emails; Google unionizes; "The Data Detective"; Breaking Apple ][+ DRM.
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.

The billionaires aren't OK: They're going to give us all Howard Hughes disease.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: KY Republican says the First Amendment protects bribes; Walt Disney's FBI; "The Sapling Cage."
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.

AI psychosis and the warped mirror: When you stare into the LLM…
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: No such thing as shareholder supremacy; Intel's DRM'ed CPU; THIS COMPUTER IS NEVER OBSOLETE.
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.

Zuckermuskian solipsism: They just don't think other people are real.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: Heinlein bio; Amazon bans Amazon-critical podcasts; How to Argue With a Racist; Disenshittify or Die; Food arrangement copyrights, Stingrays on steroids.
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.

Your Meta AI prompts are in a live, public feed: Zuck thinks we've all forgotten about Beacon.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: 2015, 2020
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.