hey kids it's a quick look at the news www.dailykos.com/stories/2026...
Headline news 2026
A cartoon by Tom Tomorrow.
dailykos.com
Mark Hurst
@markhurst.bsky.social
Encouraging better tech, and resisting Big Tech. - Host, Techtonic on WFMU: https://techtonic.fm - Founder/host, Gel conference: http://gelconference.com - Tech criticism: https://creativegood.com/blog - Newsletter: https://creativegood.com/newsletter
I like this European effort called "Kill the Cookie Banner." The idea is that browsers should be able to *automatically* tell every site - NO, we don't want your surveillance trackers: killthecookiebanner.eu
Kill the Cookie Banner!
killthecookiebanner.eu
On the new Techtonic I spoke with novelist Judson Merrill about conspiracy theories, the theme of his book "Paranoid Storytelling." Full episode: techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
Watch this video: Eric Adams getting heckled in Wisconsin as he tries to sell residents a Big Tech data center. hellgatenyc.com/eric-adams-i... thanks to @hellgatenyc.com
Eric Adams Is Selling Data Centers in Wisconsin Now
The former mayor had a wild weekend, and other links to start your day.
hellgatenyc.com
More and more people are trying to buy low-tech cars that *don't* have touchscreens, surveillance, or AI. Good luck convincing companies to make low-tech cars, though. They're too dependent on Big Tech. Gift link: www.wsj.com/lifestyle/ca...
These Drivers Are Taking Extreme Measures to Avoid New Car Technology
They scour dealerships for models with the fewest bells and whistles. Then they disable alarms and reconfigure dashboards in search of low-tech bliss.
wsj.com
"A Ton of Space Junk Tumbles Unpredictably to Earth Every Week." If only someone had issued a warning almost two years ago! ("Musk's space junk is a threat to us all" - buttondown.com/creativegood...) Gift link to NYT story: www.nytimes.com/2026/07/31/w...
Musk's space junk is a threat to us all
Pieces of space junk are falling to earth on a regular basis. On Techtonic this week I spoke with astronomer Samantha Lawler, who has been raising the alarm...
buttondown.com
the vast majority of the news coverage of the OpenAI and Anthropic "rogue AI hacking" stories does not mention in the lede (or in some cases at all) that these were completely avoidable outcomes caused by human error helping both companies imply this is some sort of malevolent, self-aware AI
ANTHROPIC: Our son loves humanity and for the low price of trillions and trillions of dollars will usher in an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity! OPENAI: Our horrible oafish son is hacking web sites without our permission. ANTHROPIC: (eyes narrowing) Our son is also evil
New from me: You need a todo list. We'll never get rid of the incoming flood of information, but we can manage it. Here's how. buttondown.com/creativegood...
You need a todo list
I’ve been online for a long time. I sent my first email in 1989 and have been through every boom, bust, trend, fad, and upheaval that has hit the internet...
buttondown.com
It’s a Fair Question….. “Why is it that it takes 900 years and 5000 impact studies to build high speed rail but a 5 minute city council meeting is all it takes to approve a massive data center?”
Installed Linux on an old laptop today. I love the idea of Linux, but the installation UX it is still way too complicated (flashing boot USBs, issuing terminal commands, checking multiple sites for instructions). Hoping some Linux distribs will improve their install UX. Heck, I could help..
In her book "Prophecy" @carissaveliz.bsky.social thoroughly debunks the idea that AI systems are capable of delivering justice. Zuck's "superintelligent lawyer" is a demented fantasy. (Carissa talks about justice & AI in our Techtonic interview: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t... )
Russell Brandom@russellbrandom.bsky.social · last wk.A telling passage from Zuck's WSJ op-ed: "Imagine everyone has a superintelligent lawyer. Justice would be carried out much more fairly and efficiently than it is today." I'm really not sure this is true!
Uber, Doordash, and Grubhub have made billions by exploiting delivery workers: offering no benefits, stealing tips, and firing workers by algorithm. I visited Los Deliveristas Unidos to interview NYC delivery workers to about their experience. Full episode: techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
The cross-platform enshittification of search functionality is such an infuriating exercise of authoritarian creep. They would like to kill the inclination to find information & enforce satisfaction with be fed information.
This is the best description I've come across (recently) about the experience of reading Proust's "In Search of Lost Time" - which I recommend highly. Ditch TikTok and pick up Proust! Gift link - giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
Proust in the age of TikTok
The French writer’s seven-volume magnum opus was a challenging choice for a book club — but its evocation of the human psyche makes essential reading for our times
giftarticle.ft.com
I enjoyed doing this podcast with @markhurst.bsky.social about #Prophecy. Check it out! #books podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
Carissa Veliz, author, "Prophecy" from Jul 20, 2026
Podcast Episode · Techtonic with Mark Hurst | WFMU · July 20 · 1 sec
podcasts.apple.com
"The act of prediction is more than just an objective, educated guess about the future: it’s often an exercise of power that can help bend the future toward a desired outcome." New from me, on the book "Prophecy" by @carissaveliz.bsky.social - buttondown.com/creativegood...
Big Tech predicts the future, to our detriment
When I was young graduate student at the MIT Media Lab, I came across this quote from computer scientist Alan Kay: The best way to predict the future is to...
buttondown.com
Facebook/Meta's spy glasses are a disaster for public space. Of course the company is claiming to fix the problems it's created with even more (poorly conceived) tech. As @hypervisible.blacksky.app says, Zuck's empire is unreliable, toxic, and committed to violation.
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 2w agoThe prime use case for this tech is to violate consent. Meta’s claim that they will ban people for using the product as intended is intensely ironic and also highly unlikely. There is no less reliable or more toxic actor in this space than Meta.
"Space datacenters would release staggering levels of pollution that would probably alter the Earth’s atmosphere and be 'catastrophic' for the planet, space industry experts and environmental groups warn in a new petition demanding a review of their impacts." www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
Space datacenters proposed by Musk and Bezos ‘catastrophic’ for planet, experts warn
New US petition demands review of plans from tech companies amid fears of environmental destruction
theguardian.com
This is so generous. Will they also let me give them my DNA.
Google will now let you sign in to your account with a selfie video | TechCrunch
The tech giant says selfie videos give users more options to sign in if they're ever locked out or don't have access to their usual phone or computer.
techcrunch.com
There's a famous story about Joe Stalin making a speech in 1937. When he was done, the audience began clapping wildly but then everyone was afraid to stop. They kept going for 11 minutes. Finally one guy had enough and stopped, and then everyone else could too. That guy was imprisoned for 10 years.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2w agocult shit at the White House as Trump's cronies give him a standing ovation for minutes on end. Note how nobody wants to be the first to stop clapping.
From @futurism.com we learn about a newly invented drone that, once in flight, is nearly invisible: futurism.com/robots-and-m... Below are three screenshots from the video. The drone is noisy. But in a crowded restaurant or other loud environment it would be hard to detect. Not good.
I just got to part two of Prophecy and its really great so far, hope to finish in the next few days. A lot of the ideas I've been exploring in my own work. Prob why my supervisor recommended it 😅. Some of the analogies she uses I've seen in papers but not discussed with as much rigor as this book.
Mark Hurst@markhurst.bsky.social · 2w agoCarissa Véliz joined me on Techtonic to discuss her new book "Prophecy." Full episode at techtonic.fm/episodes/202... Here's an excerpt.
Weirdly, I have a connection to Comic Chat, the (now open-source) project from Microsoft. When it launched in the mid-90s one of the creators reached out and said my MIT Media Lab project called "iComix" was one of the team's inspirations. opensource.microsoft.com/blog/2026/07...
Microsoft Comic Chat is now open source | Microsoft Open Source Blog
Microsoft Comic Chat is now open source. Explore the IRC client that turned conversations into comics and helped introduce Comic Sans to the world.
opensource.microsoft.com
Carissa Véliz joined me on Techtonic to discuss her new book "Prophecy." Full episode at techtonic.fm/episodes/202... Here's an excerpt.
Decoy Font hides what you’re typing from AI. www.mixfont.com/experiments/... For example, in the image below, the AI reads it as “decoy font.” Only humans (for now) can read it as “sorry bots.”
Decoy Font: A TTF font that hides what you type
Decoy Font combines every letter with a decoy, making it harder for AI to read what you type. Type a message to try it out or download the TTF directly.
mixfont.com
Spoiler: AI is not conscious. Clearly explained, once again, by @emilymbender.bsky.social
Emily M. Bender@emilymbender.bsky.social · 2w agoHow about a jet-lagged live posting while I read? Trying to read this because I keep getting tagged in posts about it, but the first paragraph already contains synthetic text (a quote from Claude). I will skip that bit and persevere... www.theguardian.com/technology/2...