Pluralistic: When prophecy fails, election polling edition (26 Sep 2024) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
Society
Pluralistic: Return to work and dying on the job (27 Sep 2024) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
Read the JD Vance Dossier
We’re publishing the supposed Iran-hacked document. Here’s why.
Snowballs and avalanches
Residents leave a town because of a lack of services, which cuts the tax base, which leads to more services lost, which leads to more residents leaving… A hip new brand attracts a few opinion…
Can new data solve an immigration puzzle?
No, but it does tell us a lot about immigration to the US, and about the challenges of measuring it.
The Cyber Resilience Act, an Accidental European Alien Torts Statute?
The CRA has introduced a novel, and potentially quite worrying, approach to cybersecurity legislation.
Imagining the Russian empire's collapse
The Russian empire is made up of many nations, forced under authoritarianism to exist under a single state. Some Ukrainians believe Ukraine won't be safe until Russia's empire is broken apart.
Government hides its best hurricane predictions
It’s hurricane season, but the government is placing ‘trade secrets’ above public safety
Can the World Get Along Without Natural Resources? – Economics from the Top Down
I dissect how neoclassical economics treats (neglects) natural resources, and discuss ways to fix it.
Home - State Constitution Tool
Each state has a unique constitution, separate and apart from the U.S. Constitution and from all other states. Many states confer more rights to their citizens than the federal government does, and the protections and structure within each state constitution are distinctive. This tool shows how different state constitutions compare to one another and the […]
Essays — Digitalist Papers
Meritocracy is Bullshit
In a recent interview with Jordan Peterson, Elon Musk stated that one of his values was “meritocracy, as much meritocracy as possible, so you get ahead as a function of your skill, and nothing else.” “Meritocracy” is often framed by liberals as a thing that would be good if we actually had it, as opposed...
Open-Source Journalism
Fourteenth in the News Commons series. The main work of journalism is producing stories. Questions following that statement might begin with prepositions: on what, of what, about what. But the prep…
On Intelligence
Now that AI is a huge thing, it’s worth visiting what intelligence is, and how we mismeasure it—for example, by trying to measure it at all. I’ve been on this case for a while now, most…
Immigration in Democrat counties
For Bloomberg, Elena Mejía and Shawn Donnan use a transitioning cartogram to show how immigration might play a role in the upcoming election: In the battleground states that will decide this Novemb…
Grocery owner territories
Any day is a good day for a map of predominant commercial chains. For The Washington Post, Kevin Schaul and Jaclyn Peiser show the most common grocery owners, creating territories within the United…
The Elite's War on Remote Work Has Nothing to Do with Productivity
It's about debt on zombie office towers.
How Elon Musk killed Twitter
His vainglorious $44bn takeover backfired on investors, employees, users – and the world’s richest man himself.
Legalizing Sports Gambling Was a Huge Mistake
The evidence is convincing: The betting industry is ruining lives.
Pluralistic: What the fuck is a PBM? (23 Sep 2024) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
The One Reason So Many People Can't Quit Trump
How can anyone still support this guy?
Violence in Blue
‘One-third of all Americans killed by strangers are killed by police.’
Democrats have embraced a surprising “America First!” approach on climate
The strategy comes at a cost for the planet.
Against All Enemies
Inside violent US far-right groups, the role played by military veterans and the threat they pose to democracy.
Populism, State Capacity, and Why It Pays to Play by the Rules
Populism is on the rise around the world but the forms it takes can vary widely. Populists can align with the traditional left or right an...
Your death will serve as its own justification
I have six new shorts and poems up at Flaming Hydra this week.
Unforeseen DifficultiesFiction by Luke O’Neil The guilt He was in the garage jigsaw-puzzling the architecture of the bones. After some doing he looked upon his works and thought well that’s spooky. Nothing crazy but still.
The subprime AI crisis ⊗ The next great divide ⊗ Promiscuous pedagogies
No.325 — To understand Mississippi with a 480-year-old map ⊗ Once Upon A Future ⊗ Computational reproducibility
The world reaches a historic tipping point thanks to 'the most rapid change since the Industrial Revolution'
Renewable technologies are gathering speed, putting the world within reach of falling greenhouse gas emissions. Climate experts say they "struggle to wrap their heads around" the sheer size, scale and speed of the current transition.
The Culture of the CIA, a First Look
How did the CIA become what it is?
An American Coup? | naked capitalism
Did the US armed services refuse to execute an order by Biden, which would amount to a coup, or is the story more complex?