Pluralistic: Brian Merchant's "Blood In the Machine" (26 Sep 2023)

Today's links

Brian Merchant's "Blood In the Machine": Reclaiming the Luddites from the victors' history.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
This day in history: 2003, 2008, 2013, 2018
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: Gig apps trap reverse centaurs in wage-stealing Skinner boxes (12 Apr 2023)

Today's links

Gig apps trap reverse centaurs in wage-stealing Skinner boxes: Twiddled to death through algorithmic wage discrimination.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
This day in history: 2008, 2018, 2022
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: Podcasting "Gig Work Is the Opposite of Steampunk" (20 Mar 2023)

Today's links

Podcasting "Gig Work Is the Opposite of Steampunk": Why today's Luddites should be smashing apps.
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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Gig Work Is the Opposite of Steampunk

They turned the cottage into a factory.

A woodcut of a weaver’s loft, where a woman works at a hand-loom. Out of the window opposite her looms the glowing, menacing red eye of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey.’ On the wall behind her is the poster from Magpie Killjoy’s ‘Steampunk Magazine’ that reads, ‘Love the machine, hate the factory.’ — Cryteria/CC BY 3.0 (modified)

Despite what you may have heard, the Luddites weren’t technophobes. They were skilled workers, expert high tech machine operators who supplied the world with fine textiles. Thanks to a high degree of labor organization through craft guilds, the workers received a fair share of the profit from their labors. They worked hard, but they earned enough through their labors to enjoy lives of dignity and comfort.

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Pluralistic: 16 Oct 2022 RIP, Roger Wood, genius assemblage sculptor

Today's links

RIP, Roger Wood, genius assemblage sculptor: Sorely missed already.
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

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Pluralistic: 04 Jan 2022

Today's links

Science fiction is a Luddite literature: My latest column for Locus Magazine.
Neal Stephenson's 'Termination Shock': Geoengineering and the end of the world.
Stellar images of quack exercise machines: A memento mori for anyone flexing in lycra on a Peleton.
This day in history: 2002, 2007, 2012, 2017
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 22 Jul 2020

Today's links

Ukrainian steampunk masks: The gorgeous work of Dmitriy and Aleksandra Bragin.
OTF spared (for now): Trump's administrative incompetence saves the US Agency for Global Media from becoming Global Breitbart.
Insurers are secret, powerful police reformers: Money talks, bullshit walks.
Ohio GOP leadership arrested for racketeering: Largest corruption scandal in Ohio history.
Little Brother as a role-playing game: Notes from the Fiction & RPG Podcast.
Anti-facial recognition tool: Fawkes will alter your images in ways that are invisible to humans but confounding for algorithms.
Kentucky AG sues top GOP donors: Kentucky's Republican lawmaker is the best kind of class-traitor.
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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