Werd I/O
  • About
  • Notable Links
  • Asides
Sign in Subscribe

Ben Werdmuller

Ben Werdmuller

Notable Links

Indonesia kicks off ambitious $45b free meal plan

[Natasya Salim, Najma Sambul, and Bill Birtles at ABC News] This is something that every nation should provide. It's really impressive that Indonesia is putting it into action: "Indonesia has launched a transformative free meal program designed to combat malnutrition and support underprivileged communities. Championed by President

10 Jan 2025

Technology

Meta’s Free Speech Grift

[Jason Kottke] Jason nails what the supposed focus on free speech by Meta and others is really about: "What Zuckerberg and Meta have realized is the value, demonstrated by Trump, Musk, and MAGA antagonists, of saying that you’re “protecting free speech” and using it as cover for almost

08 Jan 2025

Notable Links

Heritage Foundation plans to ‘identify and target’ Wikipedia editors

[Arno Rosenfeld at the Forward] The Heritage Foundation is out to "identify and target" Wikipedia editors, using antisemitism as a cover: "Employees of Heritage, the conservative think tank that produced the Project 2025 policy blueprint for the second Trump administration, said they plan to use facial recognition

08 Jan 2025

46 books

Previous birthday posts: 45 wishes, 44 thoughts about the future, 43 things, 42 / 42 admissions, 41 things. One. I lie in bed as Ma read Dodie Smith’s ‌The Hundred and One Dalmatians to me. It was the fifth, and last, straight time; after this, she would finally put her

07 Jan 2025

Technology

Mark Zuckerberg: Fact-Checking on Meta Is Too "Politically Biased"

[Alex Weprin at The Hollywood Reporter] I don't think this is a great thing at all: "Meta will also move its trust and safety and content moderation teams out of California, with content review to be based in Texas. “As we work to promote free expression, I

07 Jan 2025

👀

When did you last look up? What’s the best thing you’ve seen lately? Who did you want to show it to? Why?

05 Jan 2025

Notable Links

Being More Like Republicans

[A.R. Moxon at The Reframe] An interesting election mortem and post-mortem, from an arguably refreshing perspective: "Here's what I think is going on: Our system is foundationally built to devour human beings in order to enrich the already wealthy, and it's moved so far

05 Jan 2025

AI

Things we learned about LLMs in 2024

[Things we learned about LLMs in 2024] Simon's overview of what happened in the LLM space during 2024 is genuinely excellent. For example, on the environmental impact: "Companies like Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon are all spending billions of dollars rolling out new datacenters, with a very

04 Jan 2025

Notable Links

How a Mole Infiltrated the Highest Ranks of American Militias

[Joshua Kaplan at ProPublica] This ought to be a movie: "Posing as an ideological compatriot, Williams had penetrated the top ranks of two of the most prominent right-wing militias in the country. He’d slept in the home of the man who claims to be the new head of

04 Jan 2025

Twenty twenty five

Hey, it’s 2025! Happy New Year. May it be better than we hope and fear. Here are my technology predictions for the year. Here are my resolutions / OKRs. Ready or not, here we go!

01 Jan 2025

Tintin and the fascists

As a child, I freaking adored Tintin, the Belgian comic strip about a boy detective and his little white dog, Snowy. There was something intoxicating about the mix: international adventures, a growing cast of recurring characters, conspiracies, humor, hi jinx. Even the ligne claire style of drawing — cartoonish figures on

31 Dec 2024

Predictions for tech, 2025

You know what they say: predictions are like resurgent nationalist movements. Everyone’s got one. I missed the deadline for Nieman Lab’s always-excellent Predictions for Journalism this year, so I thought I’d share a few more bite-sized predictions about various topics I’ve written over the last year.

31 Dec 2024
See all
Werd I/O
Mastodon
Bluesky
Threads

Subscribe to new posts

Werd I/O explores the intersection of technology, democracy, and society. It's independently published by Ben Werdmuller, reader-supported, and always free to read.