This is a good frame for understanding that phenomenon imo. It's less focused on the gendered and racialized part but a very useful way to think about the dynamics, which can then be considered through those lenses
Anthony Moser@anthonymoser.com · 3mo agothis is a good look at how what people call "ai psychosis" is more usefully understood as a kind of automated reproduction of cult behavior (endless affirmation like love bombing, maximizing for engagement & isolating from others, mirroring & amplifying delusions, encouraging harmful behavior)
I want more AI psychosis analysis like that that locates its constituent parts in gendered and racialized reproductive labors that don’t immediately read as technological
Tressie McMillan Cottom@tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 4d agoI sincerely believe that men cannot handle this. women may be falling in love with their chat bots, too. But I don't think they are categorically attached to its flattery to the same degree.
Did nobody use the headline Alpha Folds
Dan McQuillan@danmcquillan.bsky.social · 5d agoAlphaFold was always bait-and-switch; now Google confirms it. A hyper-narrow bioinformatrics model with actual science bolted on whose guesses can be experimentally checked was never a licence for socially-applied slop at scale, but it's done its job. Effort transferred to LLMs.
Are you an AI skeptic (or not)? Listen to this. >$1T cost per year; ~50B in revenue per year. It can't go on. Wait for the part about Uber's variable pricing for its drivers. 🤢 (But I'm writing some software that I couldn't do without AI 😬)
Andrew Garton@andrewgarton.bsky.social · 4d agoWatching Jon’s face as @doctorow.pluralistic.net rips into it is priceless. youtu.be/-dAIJRjb-Bw
lifehack: log off this cursed site and buy yourself some flowers at the farmer’s market
a concise description that unfolds to cover a lot of ground
Tressie McMillan Cottom@tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 4d agoAnyway back to my ongoing theory that women use AI to get more done and men use AI to get out of doing more.
Anyway back to my ongoing theory that women use AI to get more done and men use AI to get out of doing more.
I realize these are all things that sex workers have told us and could tell us better. Consumer-facing AI is basically a sex worker so of course it’s personalizing various iterations of financial domination for men because that’s what they want.
There’s also something to how women are socialized to be suspicious of flattery — it’s how we transfer responsibility for men’s desire onto women’s bodies; we are taught to defend against that in service to our “innocence” or whatever — whereas men accept flattery as their due. Perfect marks.
Now we've learned, through internal documents, that the government received 17,000+ comments on gutting the Endangered Species Act, 98.98% opposed. Who is the government listening to? How is the government making decisions? Who is the government accountable to thenarwhal.ca/ontario-enda... #onpoli
98.98% opposition to Doug Ford’s new endangered species law revealed | The Narwhal
Internal Ministry of Environment analysis shows ‘confusion’ and concerns about ‘negative impacts on Ontario’s biodiversity’ raised over the Species Conservation Act, under Bill 5
thenarwhal.ca
ICYMI, my @cba-nationalmag.bsky.social story: Digital Safety Act seen as unconstitutional, unworkable #cdnpoli #cdnlaw
Digital Safety Act seen as unconstitutional, unworkable
nationalmagazine.ca
i wrote about this obliquely in jan 2025; the logical extension of the war on “woke” is not to eliminate overbearing scolds, it’s to eliminate undesirable minorities altogether. to acknowledge my dignity as a trans woman, or to find a black woman beautiful, is woke — and must be purged
Derek Powazek@fraying.bsky.social · 2w agoI actually think the trillionaire saying his AI tool will remake a movie without the Black and trans actors in it should be a bigger story because it’s a perfect example of why the ruling class wants AI to succeed: so they can remake reality without those they deem undesirable - every nazi’s dream.
We'll need to monitor implementation, but pressure from a variety of quarters, including the Competition Bureau and advocates leaders like @keldonb.bsky.social @vassb.bsky.social @rwasserman.bsky.social (and us!) can lead to positive change. Keep it up! www.theglobeandmail.com/business/art...
Empire to stop using some property controls after scrutiny from regulators, politicians
Sobeys parent company will stop enforcing exclusivity clauses on properties identified in a Competition Bureau court order and in Manitoba
theglobeandmail.com
I wrote about what's happening to the web now that everything is A.I. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/20/t...
How Google’s A.I. Search Is Imperiling the Open Web (Gift Article)
As Google incorporates more artificial intelligence into search, people are spending more time on Google. Some website operators are crying foul.
nytimes.com
At the same time, every website is grinding its usability into paste with a volley of modal pop-ups, redirecting malware ads and information-blocking banners until it's like reading through the visor slit of a frog mouth helmet, because that's the only way they can glean dwindling revenue.
kate conger@kateconger.com · 2w agoI wrote about what's happening to the web now that everything is A.I. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/20/t...
"The private sector will ensure that government software is innovative and effective!" The private sector: [charges millions of dollars a year for software untouched since 1999]
Yesterday I had cause to be exposed to a government system that is old enough that parts of it predate Ajax, so its users need to suffer through page reload after page reload to complete basic tasks. This is an expensive commercial system, actively licensed, that powers a state benefit system.
GSA has made billions in rental profits, but it’s illegal for them to spend it without Congress’ permission, and Congress’ budget process doesn’t factor in earned revenue, so GSA’s profits just sit in a bank account, impossible to spend. It’s so stupid.
Mattathias Schwartz@schwartzesque.bsky.social · 3w agoNEW: More drama between the branches. Federal judges say the executive branch's G.S.A. is a bad landlord. They're asking Congress to give them control of their own courthouses, some of which are falling apart... 🎁 >>> www.nytimes.com/2026/07/17/u...
Libraries are the last bastion of well structured information environments
CJ@virmalised.us · 3w agoit sucks that the web is so broken that we have resigned search and knowledge acquisition to (1) proprietary products (2) stochastic document encoders. I would like neither of these in my search results.
The joke is perfect. It is also correct. A form with no "Other" field isn't consultation, it's a tally with the answer written on the box, and the evidence it declines to collect runs the other way. I did the reading: deadfortaxreasons.wordpress.com/2026/07/17/a...
A Drop-Down Menu of Grievances
Alberta built a bike lane complaint form that can only accept one answer. Here is the evidence that it was designed not to collect. Alberta’s government has a new website, and it would very m…
deadfortaxreasons.wordpress.com
Jason Markusoff@markusoff.bsky.social · 3w agoBoy, the Alberta Transportation's new Barbaric Urban Bicycle Lanes Tip Line, and that drop-down menu sans "Other" field. www.alberta.ca/report-conce...
It's harrowing to compare the reflections of those self-evacuating and the assured messaging from leaders. I'm generally out of words but I had to find some for this newsletter. At some point, we have to start having serious convos about what it means to be prepared for recurring emergencies
The Narwhal@thenarwhal.ca · 3w ago“I’ve just recovered from bronchitis, so it probably wasn’t a good idea to step outside on my balcony this morning to take a mediocre photo of the wildfire smoke engulfing the Greater Toronto Area,” writes @fatimabsyed.bsky.social Read more in our latest newsletter: thenarwhal.ca/newsletter-o...
"Bolsonaro has begun a twenty-seven-year prison sentence for his role in January 8, while the instigator of January 6 sits in the Oval Office...Should we in the United States try a Brazilian strategy?" spoiler: I answer yes. me, for @bostonreview.bsky.social www.bostonreview.net/articles/tru...
Truth Without Reconciliation
Why did Brazil’s democratic institutions hold firm while those in the United States so quickly wilted?
bostonreview.net
There is little control over the cops anywhere, not even in blue states and cities
Taniel@taniel.bsky.social · 3w agoNEW: We reported two years ago that Chicago police had made 200,000 secret traffic stops, failing to disclose them as required by law. Chicago police then admitted the problem, & promised to 'fix' it in a legislative hearing. We just investigated again: The problem... got WORSE.
“Government cuts have contributed to an information vacuum on foodborne illness…. Millions of Americans are still searching online what foods to avoid, and watching social media prevention rituals, trying to solve a problem that was never theirs alone to solve.” www.statnews.com/2026/07/15/w...
Why we still don’t know what foods are the source of the cyclospora outbreak
“You cannot thin a system, defer the tools that would speed it up, and then wonder why the public is left guessing,” writes epidemiologist Katrine Wallace.
statnews.com
This is something “cost-cutting ideologues” will never understand. Just one out-of-control outbreak like the “explosive diarrhea” disaster in the United States will cost the US economy much more than the research and prevention programs they stupidly slashed ever did. And that’s just the money part.
Daniel Munro@dkmunro.bsky.social · 3w ago“Government cuts have contributed to an information vacuum on foodborne illness…. Millions of Americans are still searching online what foods to avoid, and watching social media prevention rituals, trying to solve a problem that was never theirs alone to solve.” www.statnews.com/2026/07/15/w...
google's "why don't you want to use our documentation chatbot" survey offers a pretty good list of reasons not to use their documentation chatbot
This is interesting, and important. How Canada’s Richest Residents Block Affordable Housing. “In Calgary, the wealthy have a virtual stranglehold over meetings where key decisions are made.” @thewalrus.ca (see posts below for context on what’s been happening in #Calgary)
How Canada’s Richest Residents Block Affordable Housing | The Walrus
In Calgary, the wealthy have a virtual stranglehold over meetings where key decisions are made
thewalrus.ca
Brent Toderian@brenttoderian.bsky.social · 4mo agoThis is one of the worst planning decisions I’ve ever seen a Canadian city do. This was “the Playbook” to a tee, weaponizing the words “blanket zoning.” Embarrassing for Calgary Council. The Mayor then adds insult to staff & years of good faith work by claiming it “broke the public’s trust.” Awful.