The Trouble with 5G
Science News, Physics, Science, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
Rights, Laws, and Google
Google is not bound by the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments, but its actions in a false positive CSAM case show that it is flouting the spirit behind them.
SIM swapper abducted, beaten, held for ransom
A Florida teenager who served as a lackey for a cybercriminal group that specializes in cryptocurrency thefts was beaten and kidnapped last week by a rival cybercrime gang. The teen’s captives held guns to his head while forcing him to record a video message pleading with his crew to fork over a $200,000 ransom in…
Personal newsletters as a calmer alternative to social networks
During the pandemic, I deleted most of my social media accounts. While social networks started as a great way to stay in touch - the websites evolved into addic...
We built a secret apartment in the mall (2007)
Starting in 2003 I committed to the idea of creating a luxury apartment in the mall. Over the course of the years to come I systematically coordinated the movement of the core elements that start to define a home. The space in the mall achieved a base-level of comfort, with enough amenities to qualify itself as a…
Web 3 is Flawed
My opinions on Web3 and why it is flawed
Grad students at Northeastern pushed back against invasive digital surveillance
This is a wild and hopeful story: grad students at Northeastern successfully pushed back against invasive digital surveillance in their workplace, through solidarity, fearlessness, and the bright light of publicity. It's a tale of hand-to-hand, victorious combat with the "shitty technology adoption curve."
The singularity is close?
Or "Why we're all in denial about the robot apocalypse"
Centralization is inevitable, but decentralization is right behind it
...but decentralization is right behind it.
What is the web revival?
Hello, brave netizen! If you’ve found your way onto this guide then you have embarked on the first exciting step into the Web Revival. This guide will give you the low down on all things web! By the end of it you’ll know what the Web Revival is, what it stands for, and how you can take part in it; grab your browser…
Patina and Intimacy
“Each one of us has, somewhere in his heart, the dream to make a living world, a universe.”
UK telecom EE blocks archive.org
Well at first that looks weird. It pings and all so I jump to incognito mode, and…
Some of the forces blocking new ideas in science
Some of the forces blocking really new ideas in science
Mystery Blips
A young operations engineer learns a lesson about creative debugging
The Agony of Eros: Dating
This is the first post in a series where I explore how love hurts and why.
One does not simply destroy a nuclear weapon
It's the isotopes...
Fetish tabooness vs. popularity
~250 fetishes, graphed for your pleasure
Blockchain-based systems are not what they say they are
If you go out seeking to learn why blockchains and the systems built atop them are apparently the future of our web, you’ll begin to see some common themes. These fall apart under further scrutiny.
Crimes against transhumanity
(Disclaimer: I am a transhumanist skeptic these days, not to mention a singularity curmudgeon and a critic of Mars colonization, but I still find these ideas nice to chew on sometimes.)
Books That Changed How I Hear Music
But none of them are music books
Against Discipline
And for play!
The Many Branches of the Fediverse
As more and more people are asking me about Mastodon I felt a need for a picture to point at, showcasing how the software known as Mastodon fits into the much larger concept of the Fediverse. I made this infographic to help myself and others explain the many different use-
What we lost
Who is this? Princess Leia, right? End of Rogue One. Wrong, this is not Princess Leia. This is. A photograph of Carrie Fisher in her role of Princ
Your Organization should run its own Mastodon server
Run your own Mastodon server to control your social media presence