Commentary on links that caught my attention around the web.
Technology
[Miriam Eric Suzanne] Every single word of this piece resonated for me, from the underlying discomfort to the realization that AI as it currently manifests reflects a kind of fascist mindset in itself: an enclosure movement of culture and diversity that concentrates power into a handful of vendors. This is
Parenting
[Sergey Bogdanov] This is a story about parenting, but also about the importance of considering context inclusively. We've all heard about the Stanford marshmallow experiment, but: "Kids from wealthier families waited longer than kids from low-income families. Not because they had more self-control, but because their environment
Notable links
[Jennifer Gerson at The 19th] Musk has been seen with his child, X Æ A-Xii (or "Lil X" for short), at press conferences. But, as Jennifer Gerson notes here, it's not just a photo op. "Musk, a father of 12, is an avowed pronatalist, or
Fediverse
[Social Web Foundation] The Social Web Foundation has joined the W3C: "SWF joins CDT as one of the few civil society organizations that comprise the Consortium. SWF’s membership in the W3C underscores our commitment to promoting an open and federated social web, and our alignment with the W3C
Fediverse
[Sarah Perez at TechCrunch] This was a very nice surprise to see: "Automattic confirmed to TechCrunch that when the migration is complete, every Tumblr user will be able to federate their blog via ActivityPub, just as every WordPress.com user can today." ActivityPub is the open protocol behind
Notable links
[Oneofthelibrarians at LibrarianShipwreck] Some advice about how to survive this era from LibrarianShipwreck, one of my most favorite blogs on the planet: "So, uh, it’s pretty bad out there! You are probably trying to figure out what the hell to do about it. Here are some words of
Notable links
[Judd Legum and Rebecca Crosby in Popular Information] The removal of banned terms on both internal and external government websites is going more stupidly than one might have expected: "One example included a job listing page for the Department of Homeland Security that removed language about maintaining an “inclusive
Notable links
[Iker Seisdedos interviewing Judith Butler in EL PAÍS English] Judith Butler is as on-point as ever: "Q. It wasn’t just Trumpism. Some Democratic voices say it’s time to move beyond the issue of trans rights in areas like sports, which affect very few people. A. You could
Notable links
[Jessica Kutz at The 19th] USAID's defunding will lead directly to women's deaths: "As of 2023, 67 percent of contraceptives supplied through USAID went to Africa, where some of the leading causes of death for girls and women are related to pregnancy and sexually transmitted
Notable links
[Mica Rosenberg, Perla Trevizo, and Zisiga Mukulu in ProPublica, co-published with The Texas Tribune] This is a beautifully-designed co-production between ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, illustrating the immigration policies that Donald Trump enacted on day one. These encompassed dozens of policies that were revived from his first term, as well
Notable links
[Natalia Antelava in Coda Story] This is a useful framework for thinking about ongoing harm. "It was 2014, and I was standing in the ruins of Donetsk airport, when a Russian-backed rebel commander launched into what seemed like an oddly academic lecture. Between bursts of artillery fire, he explained
Notable links
[Dan Hon in MIT Technology Review] The always-brilliant Dan Hon on DOGE: "We’re seeing in real time that there are no practical technical measures preventing someone from taking a spanner to the technology that keeps our government stable, that keeps society running every day—despite the very real