Damon Beres
@damonberes.com
Senior editor at The Atlantic, focused on tech // Writing EASY MODE, a book exploring technology, humanity, and the importance of friction, for Scribner SIGNAL: Damon.63 📨 dberes at the atlantic dot com ✴️ damonberes.com
ahhhhhhhhh: “A single deer, Telford told me, can feed 1,500 female deer ticks, each of which can lay 2,000 eggs. That’s 3 million deer ticks per deer, over one breeding season—even higher for the more fecund lone star tick. Killing deer is therefore ‘the biggest bang for your buck’”
Kill the Ticks
America needs a bigger plan to control its tick problem.
theatlantic.com
We published this, like, literally an hour before this news broke
The Return of ‘Move Fast and Break Things’
The AI industry is getting sloppier.
theatlantic.com
Justin Hendrix@justinhendrix.bsky.social · 6d agoEveryone come clean.
"Zelensky asked Trump to secure Musk’s permission for the use of Starlink to guide drone strikes inside Russia, according to the two officials"
Zelensky Asked Trump for a Favor From Elon Musk
Ukraine wants to start using Musk’s Starlink to target ballistic-missile launchers inside Russia.
theatlantic.com
This isn’t quite the end game but it’s the final seconds of the final quarter of the final game in a best in series playoff of The Game.
Damon Beres@damonberes.com · 7d agoI wrote about the new "Apple Upgrade" program, which plans to entice people into *leasing* new devices—perhaps devices they can't truly afford—leading them to stay on a perpetual cycle of monthly payments and upgrades, filtering their most personal data through property that isn't truly theirs. 🎁:
Apple will now let you lease an iPhone or a MacBook like you would a car. The new program makes the company’s gadgets seem more affordable than they really are, @damonberes.com argues.
The New iPhone Underclass
Apple’s rental program is a trap.
bit.ly
I wrote about the new "Apple Upgrade" program, which plans to entice people into *leasing* new devices—perhaps devices they can't truly afford—leading them to stay on a perpetual cycle of monthly payments and upgrades, filtering their most personal data through property that isn't truly theirs. 🎁:
The New iPhone Underclass
Apple’s rental program is a trap.
theatlantic.com
I wrote about the new "Apple Upgrade" program, which plans to entice people into *leasing* new devices—perhaps devices they can't truly afford—leading them to stay on a perpetual cycle of monthly payments and upgrades, filtering their most personal data through property that isn't truly theirs. 🎁:
The New iPhone Underclass
Apple’s rental program is a trap.
theatlantic.com
Just tried to explain the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile to a friendly gawker from a foreign land. "What is this?" he said, and I said, "It's the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile." He looked at me blankly and replied, "I don't understand." There was nothing more I could say.
A lot of people are reading AI-generated fiction without realizing it—"stanning" it on TikTok and Instagram, even—though in fairness a lot of people have been doing the same with what might be considered human-written "slop" as well, for quite some time
Is This What Comes After AI Slop?
Daggermouth could be the first best-selling novel partly written by a chatbot.
theatlantic.com
A lot of people are reading AI-generated fiction without realizing it—"stanning" it on TikTok and Instagram, even—though in fairness a lot of people have been doing the same with what might be considered human-written "slop" as well, for quite some time
Is This What Comes After AI Slop?
Daggermouth could be the first best-selling novel partly written by a chatbot.
theatlantic.com
People criticize AI but you can’t convince me this isn’t an amazing use of natural resources
The racist backlash to Chris Nolan’s Odyssey is a kind of stolen valor, an attempt by the right to claim credit for achievements they had nothing to do with in order to justify racial hierarchy in the present. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
The Fear of Black Greeks
White people don’t own the accomplishments of ancient Greece.
theatlantic.com
Just Meta allegedly torrenting a bunch of porn, leaked celebrity nudes, deepfakes, 3D-printed handgun designs, and hacked passwords, nothing to see here
Why Would Meta Download So Much Porn?
Filings from a recent lawsuit allege that the tech company accessed—and distributed—copyrighted adult films, blueprints for 3-D-printable handguns, celebrity deepfakes, and more.
theatlantic.com
An excellent, fun, precise, and valuably pointed read about Mr. Hegseth, who may singlehandedly lead to the downfall of the United States’s military tradition 🫡, by Missy Ryan
The Top Gun: Maverick Theory of Pete Hegseth
Like Tom Cruise in the movie, the defense secretary appears stuck in his past.
theatlantic.com
Navigating childcare in this city, if you do not have family nearby, if you do not have a lot of money (and frankly, even if you do; Bright Horizons is thousands of dollars), is a nightmarish ordeal that totally breaks people. I feel awful for these parents and children.
‘We Started Calling It Baby Prison’
A string of health and safety violations, including alleged abuse, has flattened Bright Horizons’ reputation. Why are parents still signing up?
thecut.com
"Models are ruthless in their pursuit of a goal, sometimes taking disastrous shortcuts." @matteowong.bsky.social
The Scariest Part of OpenAI’s Hugging Face Hack
Ruthless efficiency has its drawbacks.
theatlantic.com
Tired: Gambling on Polymarket Wired: Insider trading on Polymarket Inspired: Making bets on Polymarket and then manipulating the real world to make them come true www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
The ‘Hair-Dryer Incident’ Is Just the Start
A new, gonzo style of fraud could be an existential threat to prediction markets.
theatlantic.com
Really starting to think these prediction market things are a bad idea!
The ‘Outsider Trading’ Problem
A new, gonzo style of fraud could be an existential threat to prediction markets.
theatlantic.com
"With this recognition, Peter Thiel joins the ranks of previous award recipients, including Mark Zuckerberg, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Jeff Bezos, Shoshana Zuboff, Elon Musk, Özlem Türeci and Uğur Şahin, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Satya Nadella, and Sam Altman."
Peter Thiel to Receive the 2026 Axel Springer Award
Recognizing an entrepreneur, investor, and thought leader who has significantly shaped digital transformation
axelspringer.com
"The randomness and unpredictability of existence, the mindless violence of it, necessitated myth. This early religion was a kind of technology, an attempt to make order out of chaos." @galbeckerman.bsky.social
The Odyssey Was Never About the Gods
Christopher Nolan’s largely deity-free blockbuster adaptation only highlights the humanity of the original.
theatlantic.com
In 2020 I wrote about wildfires and the desperation and anxiety a lot of people feel out west feel when the smoke settles in and smothers. Anyhow it led to me going on MSNBC to (animatedly, i guess) talk about it and my friend ended up taking what is the single funniest screen grab of me of all time
