Conspiratorialism's causal chain: A four-part begat.

mamot.fr/@pluralistic/11521948…

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Cory Doctorow

2025-09-17 11:49:31

Conspiratorialism is downstream of the trauma of institutional failures.

Insitutional failures are downstream of regulatory capture.

Regulatory capture is downstream of monopolization.

Monopolization is downstream of the failure to enforce antitrust law.

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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

pluralistic.net/2025/09/17/cau…

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Hey look at this

* Outlining the four reasons why we are going against the generative AI tide that is sweeping the world away neomam.com/a-case-for-human-in…

* Hundreds of Google AI Workers Were Fired Amid Fight Over Working Conditions wired.com/story/hundreds-of-go…

* Can Resistance Succeed? prospect.org/politics/2025-09-…

* William Gibson Reads Neuromancer bearcave.com/bookrev/neuromanc… (h/t Hacker News)

* Irreversible Does Not Mean Unavoidable dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handl… does.pdf (h/t Gregory Charlin)

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#15yrsago Intel threatens lawsuits against HDCP jailbreakers web.archive.org/web/2010092018…

#10yrsago America’s spooks abandon crypto-backdoors, plan shock-doctrine revival techdirt.com/2015/09/17/having…

#10yrsago Do you really trade your privacy for service on Facebook? theintercept.com/2015/09/17/fa…

#10yrsago 3D print your own TSA Travel Sentry keys and open anyone’s luggage arstechnica.com/information-te…

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#10yrsago Campus cops: all the powers of real cops, none of the accountability muckrock.com/news/archives/201…

#10yrsago Ex-mayor of Bismark, ND trademarks alternatives to “Fighting Sioux” in bid to prevent UND team from switching to non-racist name web.archive.org/web/2016010305…

#5yrsago Private equity's new debt-and-loot bonanza pluralistic.net/2020/09/17/div…

#1yrago Christopher Brown's 'A Natural History of Empty Lots' pluralistic.net/2024/09/17/cyb…

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Yesterday's threads: No such thing as selective censorship resistance; and more!

mamot.fr/@pluralistic/11521550…

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Cory Doctorow

2025-09-16 18:59:17

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: No such thing as selective censorship resistance; and more!

Archived at: pluralistic.net/2025/09/16/too…

#Pluralistic

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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 next nonfiction book is "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," out from MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux on October 7:

us.macmillan.com/books/9780374…

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My ebooks and audiobooks (from 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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Upcoming appearances:

* #Ithaca: Communication Power, Policy, and Practice (Cornell), Sept 18
events.cornell.edu/event/polic…

* #Ithaca: A Reverse-Centaur's Guide to Being a Better AI Critic (Cornell), Sept 18
events.cornell.edu/event/2025-…

* #NYC: Enshittification and Renewal (Cornell Tech), Sept 19
eventbrite.com/e/enshittificat…

* #NYC: Brooklyn Book Fair, Sept 21
brooklynbookfestival.org/event…

* #Boston: Enshittification with Randall Munroe (Brattle Theater), Oct 7
eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow…

10/

Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

* #DC: Enshittification at Politics and Prose, with Rohit Chopra, Oct 8
politics-prose.com/cory-doctor…

* #NYC: Enshittification at the Brooklyn Public Library, with Lina Khan, Oct 9
bklynlibrary.org/calendar/cory…

* #NewOrleans: DeepSouthCon63, Oct 10-12
contraflowscifi.org/

* #NewOrleans: Enshittification at Octavia Books, Oct 12
octaviabooks.com/event/enshitt…

11/

Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

* #Chicago: Enshittification with Anand Giridharadas (Chicago Humanities), Oct 15
oldtownschool.org/concerts/202…

* #LosAngeles: Enshittification with David Dayen (Diesel), Oct 16
dieselbookstore.com/event/2025…

* #SanFrancisco: Enshittification at Public Works (The Booksmith), Oct 20
app.gopassage.com/events/docto…

* #PDX: Enshittification at Powell's, Oct 21
powells.com/events/cory-doctor…

12/

Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

* #Seattle: Enshittification and the Rot Economy, with Ed Zitron (Clarion West), Oct 22
clarionwest.org/event/2025-dee…

* #Madrid: Conferencia EUROPEA 4D (Virtual), Oct 28
4d.cat/es/conferencia/

* #Miami: Enshittification at Books & Books, Nov 5
eventbrite.com/e/an-evening-wi…

13/

Recent appearances:

* Enshittification (Cornell)
ecornell.cornell.edu/keynotes/…

* Escaping Big Tech, Privacy Battles & “Enshittification” (Revolution.social)
youtube.com/watch?v=exvpetQRSV…

* Nerd Harder! (This Week in Tech)
twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tec…

14/

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