Ben Werdmuller helps leaders at newsrooms, non-profits, and mission-driven organizations to navigate their biggest technology challenges.
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"We pulled off an SEO heist that stole 3.6M total traffic from a competitor. Here's how we did it." What this single spammer pulled off - 1800 articles written by technology in order to scrape traffic from a competitor's legitimate site - is
Nonfiction
A riveting analysis of our moment in history, using the parallel paths of Naomis Klein and Wolf as a device to examine the multiple realities we've constructed for ourselves. Incisive and pointed, I particularly agree with a conclusion that pulls no punches about how to correct our paths
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Molly White explores why effective altruism and effective accelerationism are such dangerous ideologies - selfishness disguised as higher-minded philosophies. "Both ideologies embrace as a given the idea of a super-powerful artificial general intelligence being just around the corner, an assumption that leaves little room for discussion of the many
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"Every year I invite people who are celebrating the colonial holiday to do something in support of Native people. Amid an overdose crisis and high rates of poverty, illness, and unemployment, Indigenous organizers are doing incredible work to reduce harm and help our peoples thrive. Through mutual aid, cultural
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"“We know it is still possible to make the 1.5 degree limit a reality. It requires tearing out the poisoned root of the climate crisis: fossil fuels. And it demands a just, equitable renewables transition,” said Antònio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations." How realistic is that
Thomas Stringer on compensation in open source: And then finally, there’s my uninteresting (to me) OSS project. What once resembled passion project is now unrecognizable from a motivation perspective. But the demand is high. There are lots of users, many in a corporate sense using my software to further
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"The more access dads have to paternity leave, [...] the better able they are to adjust to parenthood, helping also make them more effective co-parents as their children get older." All the more reason to ensure that everywhere has fantastic parental leave for all parents. The US is one
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Written before the news broke about Sam Altman moving to Microsoft, this remains a nuanced, intelligent take. "My understanding is that some members of the board genuinely felt Altman was dishonest and unreliable in his communications with them, sources tell me. Some members of the board believe that they
We saw the latest Mission Impossible last night - one of the most expensive movies ever made, with a leading man who famously still does at least most of his own stunts, which promised amazing set piece after set piece after set piece. Halfway through, I realized I was really
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A beautifully written and executed visual essay about AI, parenting, what it means to be intelligent, and the fundamental essence of being human. #AI [Link]
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This is a good critique of some of the less analytical AI criticism, some of which I've undoubtedly been guilty of myself. "The fork in the road is this: we can dismiss “AI.” We can call it useless, we can dismiss its output as nonsense, we can
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"The blueprint for modern digital computing was codesigned by Charles Babbage, a vocal champion for the concerns of the emerging industrial capitalist class who condemned organized workers and viewed democracy and capitalism as incompatible." "Babbage documented his ideas on labor discipline in his famous volume On the