Today's threads (a thread)
Inside: Social media without socializing; and more!
Archived at: pluralistic.net/2026/01/19/bil…
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Today's threads (a thread)
Inside: Social media without socializing; and more!
Archived at: pluralistic.net/2026/01/19/bil…
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Cory Doctorow
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •I'm coming to Colorado! Catch me in #Denver on Thu (Jan 22) at The Tattered Cover:
eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow…
And in #ColoradoSprings next weekend (Jan 23-25), where I'm the Guest of Honor at COSine:
firstfridayfandom.org/cosine/
Then I'll be in #Ottawa on Jan 28 at Perfect Books:
instagram.com/p/DS2nGiHiNUh/
And in #Toronto with Tim Wu on Jan 30:
nowtoronto.com/event/cory-doct…
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Perfect Books on Instagram: "❗BIG ANNOUNCEMENT TIME❗ We are SO excited to present author and activist Cory Doctorow as part of what we are now calling The Perfect Books Lecture Series. This event is presented in partnership with The Other Hill. We hope
InstagramCory Doctorow
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •Sensitive content
Social media without socializing: For Zuck, your friends are a problem to be solved.
mamot.fr/@pluralistic/11592240…
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Cory Doctorow
2026-01-19 15:12:18
danielatafani reshared this.
Cory Doctorow
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •Sensitive content
Hey look at this
* Congress Wants To Hand Your Parenting to Big Tech eff.org/deeplinks/2026/01/cong…
* AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage theguardian.com/us-news/ng-int…
* Critical Perspectives on "AI" in Education sites.google.com/csusb.edu/cri…
* Public-private predicaments not-so-obvious.net/public-priv…
* The Jolla Phone Proved We’ve Been Using Smartphones Wrong All Along techglimmer.io/jolla-phone-202… (h/t Hacker News)
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The Jolla Phone Proved We've Been Using Smartphones Wrong All Along - techglimmer
Maya Kapoor (techglimmer.io)Cory Doctorow
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •Sensitive content
#20yrsago Nutjob offers $100 bounty to UCLA students who wiretap lefty profs news.slashdot.org/story/06/01/…
#20yrsago Mysterious birthday ritual at Poe’s graveside disrupted by rubberneckers web.archive.org/web/2006021204…
#20yrsago DRM primer for librarians web.archive.org/web/2006011506…
#20yrsago Hollywood’s MP caught lying on tape web.archive.org/web/2006101012…
#20yrsago Musician playing at Hollywood’s MP fundraiser owes success to copying web.archive.org/web/2008070411…
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UCLA Students Urged to Expose 'Radical' Professors - Slashdot
news.slashdot.orgCory Doctorow
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •Sensitive content
#15yrsago Book made using 4 daisy-chained printers spanning 100 years’ worth of technology web.archive.org/web/2011011105…
#15yrsago Assemblage octopus for sale web.archive.org/web/2011012417…
#15yrsago Among Others: extraordinary, magic story of science fiction as a toolkit for taking apart the world memex.craphound.com/2011/01/18…
#10yrsago Reminder: Don’t put balls of tea leaves in your vagina the-independent.com/life-style…
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Women putting herb balls in vagina to 'detox their wombs' have been warned of dangers | The Independent
Caroline Mortimer (The Independent)Cory Doctorow
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •Sensitive content
#10yrsago Martin Luther King, socialist: “capitalism has outlived its usefulness” theintercept.com/2016/01/18/ma…
#10yrsago Debullshitifying the “sleep science” industry: first up, sleeplessness and obesity web.archive.org/web/2016012021…
#10yrsago England’s most senior civil judge rules that Terrorism Act violates human rights theguardian.com/world/2016/jan…
#10yrsago Delhi’s “Sleep Mafia” control the nights of 100,000 homeless workers youtube.com/watch?v=rXzElV75x0…
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Terrorism Act incompatible with human rights, court rules in David Miranda case
Owen Bowcott (The Guardian)Cory Doctorow
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •Sensitive content
#10yrsago Replica weapons made from thousands of cut and stacked post-its web.archive.org/web/2016010908…
#10yrsago How the standard, high-quality disaster-relief tarpaulin came to be wired.com/2016/01/tarpaulin/
#10yrsago GM’s Dieselgate: mechanics privately admit software update removes crimeware from Opel cars web.archive.org/web/2016012105…
#10yrsago Griefer hacks baby monitor, terrifies toddler with spooky voices memex.craphound.com/2016/01/19…
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GM’s Opel rejects Belgian emissions claim - FT.com
Financial TimesCory Doctorow
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •Sensitive content
#10yrsago Spanish-language broadcasting titan Univision buys controlling interest in The Onion univision.com/noticias/univisi…
#10yrsago How the National Reconnaissance Office came to choose a sinister, planet-devouring octopus for a logo muckrock.com/news/archives/201…
#5yrsago Amazon warehouse union gets tech solidarity pluralistic.net/2021/01/19/dea…
#5yrsago Facebook's community standards pluralistic.net/2021/01/18/pea…
#5yrsago Honor MLK day with the Internet Archive pluralistic.net/2021/01/18/pea…
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Univision makes investment in "The Onion"
UnivisionCory Doctorow
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •Sensitive content
#5yrsago Planet Money's free Great Gatsby audiobook pluralistic.net/2021/01/18/pea…
#5yrsago Pandemics and peak indifference pluralistic.net/2021/01/18/pea…
#5yrsago How to leak a Zoom meeting pluralistic.net/2021/01/18/pea…
#1yrago Billionaire-proofing the internet pluralistic.net/2025/01/14/con…
#1yrago Canada shouldn't retaliate with US tariffs pluralistic.net/2025/01/15/bea…
#1yrago Fu-Schnickens pluralistic.net/2025/01/17/hol…
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Pluralistic: 18 Jan 2021 – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
pluralistic.netCory Doctorow
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •Sensitive content
Saturday's threads: The world needs an Ireland for disenshittification; and more!
mamot.fr/@pluralistic/11591116…
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Cory Doctorow
2026-01-17 15:34:47
Cory Doctorow
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •Sensitive content
My latest novel is "Picks and Shovels," a historical technothriller set in the Weird Era of the PC, about Ponzi schemes, techbros, and the dawn of enshittification:
us.macmillan.com/books/9781250…
--
My latest nonfiction book is the internationally bestselling "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," from MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux:
us.macmillan.com/books/9780374…
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Cory Doctorow
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •Sensitive content
My ebooks and audiobooks (from FSGxMCD, Tor Books, Head of Zeus, McSweeneys, Beacon, Verso and others) are for sale all over the net, but I sell 'em too, and when you buy 'em from me, I earn twice as much and you get books with no DRM and no license "agreements."
craphound.com/shop/
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Shop | Cory Doctorow's craphound.com
craphound.comCory Doctorow
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •Sensitive content
Upcoming appearances:
* #Denver: Enshittification at Tattered Cover Colfax, Jan 22
eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow…
* #ColoradoSprings: Guest of Honor at COSine, Jan 23-25
firstfridayfandom.org/cosine/
* #Ottawa: Enshittification at Perfect Books, Jan 28
instagram.com/p/DS2nGiHiNUh/
* #Toronto: Enshittification and the Age of Extraction with Tim Wu, Jan 30
nowtoronto.com/event/cory-doct…
* #Victoria: 28th Annual Victoria International Privacy & Security Summit, Mar 3-5
rebootcommunications.com/event…
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Perfect Books on Instagram: "❗BIG ANNOUNCEMENT TIME❗ We are SO excited to present author and activist Cory Doctorow as part of what we are now calling The Perfect Books Lecture Series. This event is presented in partnership with The Other Hill. We hope
InstagramCory Doctorow
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •Sensitive content
Recent appearances:
* Enshittification (Jon Favreau/Offline):
crooked.com/podcast/the-enshit…
* Why Big Tech is a Trap for Independent Creators (Stripper News)
youtube.com/watch?v=nmYDyz8AMZ…
* Enshittification (Creative Nonfiction podcast)
brendanomeara.com/episode-507-…
* A post-American, enshittification-resistant internet (39c3)
media.ccc.de/v/39c3-a-post-ame…
* Enshittification with Plutopia
plutopia.io/cory-doctorow-ensh…
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Cory Doctorow: Enshittification
Plutopia News NetworkCory Doctorow
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •Sensitive content
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Pluralistic: Social media without socializing (19 Jan 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
pluralistic.netCory Doctorow
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •Sensitive content
I'm coming to Colorado! Catch me in #Denver on Thu (Jan 22) at The Tattered Cover:
eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow…
And in #ColoradoSprings next weekend (Jan 23-25), where I'm the Guest of Honor at COSine:
firstfridayfandom.org/cosine/
Then I'll be in #Ottawa on Jan 28 at Perfect Books:
instagram.com/p/DS2nGiHiNUh/
And in #Toronto with Tim Wu on Jan 30:
nowtoronto.com/event/cory-doct…
eof/
Perfect Books on Instagram: "❗BIG ANNOUNCEMENT TIME❗ We are SO excited to present author and activist Cory Doctorow as part of what we are now calling The Perfect Books Lecture Series. This event is presented in partnership with The Other Hill. We hope
Instagramder KI (genitiv KI)
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •We should be worried about platforms engineering AI interaction to displace human connection for profit. There are other use cases, though.
I use AI as a patient (if fallible) thinking partner. I work through technical architecture problems, practice German grammar, debug encoding workflows at 2 AM, develop story narratives. This replaces the internal monologue I'd have while working alone, supplemented with better pattern recognition. (And if I bugged my friends at 2 AM about encoding workflows, they'd probably stop being my friends and go back to getting sleep.)
Doctorow's right that if AI interaction feels social enough to satisfy surface connection needs while lacking deeper reciprocity, people might not notice they're isolated. The danger is the intersection of platform incentives to maximize engagement, users unaware of what they're trading away, and vulnerable people seeking risk and responsibility free companionship.
Real connection has risks. AI won't betray you, won't radicalize into someone you don't recognize, won't leave when you reveal uncomfortable truths. Sounds appealing—until you realize that safety means never processing hurt, never developing resilience, never learning to navigate being truly known by someone who can reject you. You're protected from the experiences that build emotional maturity. The cycle of hurt, reflection, and trying again with better judgment—that's where growth happens. AI short-circuits it entirely.
Adults decide where to put their cognitive and social energy. Selling "friendship"—commitment-free friends requiring no attention, no adjustment, no reciprocal effort—is dangerous. Real friendships require showing up, tracking what matters to others, navigating conflicts, tolerating their needs when inconvenient. AI removes that entirely while providing something that feels social enough to quiet the loneliness signal. That's seductive in the worst way.
The question isn't whether AI tools have legitimate uses, but whether platforms are deliberately obscuring the difference between tool and relationship—and whether users can maintain that distinction when the platform is designed to blur it and relief from responsibility feels so appealing.
GLC
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •catvalente.substack.com/p/stop…
Stop Talking to Each Other and Start Buying Things: Three Decades of Survival in the Desert of Social Media
Catherynne M. Valente (Welcome to Garbagetown)