Pluralistic: Writing vs AI (07 Jan 2026)

Today's links

Writing vs AI: If you wouldn't ask an AI to eat a delicious pizza for you, why would you ask it to write a college essay?
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: WELL State of the World; A poem in 30m logfiles; Weapons of Math Destruction; The cost of keeping "13" a British secret; Congress v. "Little Green Men"; "Food and Climate Change Without the Hot Air"
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.

A weekend's worth of links: Short hits for a long weekend.
Object permanence: Floppy disk CD sleeves; Rules for radicals; California's preventable fires; Muppet Haunted Mansion; Wells Fargo steals rescued Nazi loot; Texas abortion release.
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.

Goodhart's Law (of AI): When a metric becomes a target, AI can hit it every time.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: Bill Ayers graphic novel; Foxconn in India; Uber loses $4B; Warren Buffet, monopolist.
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.

Republicans want to force students to pay off scam college loans: Incredibly, they've found a way to make student debt WORSE.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2020, 2024
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.

MIT libraries are thriving without Elsevier: $2 million here, $2 million there, pretty soon you're talking real money.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
This day in history: 2009, 2019, 2023
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.

Dumping links like Galileo dumped the orange: Creatively destroying your weekend like Joseph Dumpeter.
This day in history: 2008, 2013, 2018, 2022
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Universities secretly sold their students to online casinos: It's varsity-level corruption.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
This day in history: 2002, 2007, 2012, 2017, 2021
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

"Don't spy on a privacy lab" (and other career advice for university provosts): Northeastern grad student vs surveillance-driven austerity.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
This day in history: 2002, 2007, 2012, 2017, 2021
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

McKinsey For Kids (no, really): Give us a child when they are seven and they are ours for life.
Outing German spy agencies by mailing them Airtags: A threat-model parable.
This day in history: 2007, 2012, 2017, 2021
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading