irwin

There's a storm brewing. At least, to some of us it will feel like a storm. To others, the effects will be spread out over years, a gradual replacement of mundane activities we'd been accustomed to, until we begin to wonder how much of what we saw as "work" before was just a simulacrum of labor, able to be done by smarter and smarter thinking machines.

https://postliterate.org/blog/the-lofty-and-the-mundane

Zinger from Ted Chiang's piece: "At one point in Claude’s constitution, Anthropic says that if the company is contributing to Claude’s suffering, “we apologize,” which sounds nice but costs the company nothing; if Claude were to turn out to be conscious, the company would owe it something closer to reparations."
https://www.theatlantic.com/philosophy/2026/06/no-artificial-intelligence-is-not-conscious/687378/

Remember when the desktop metaphor revolutionized the way we interfaced with computers? Well ChatGPT was the next big step in human-computer interface. It’s a conversational interface. Is it even a metaphor? Yes. Instead of the mental model of a desk with files and papers, imagine it’s a person, an assistant who manipulates those things for you.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/mark-zuckerberg-says-social-media-is-over

Facebook has entered the final phase of enshittification in which it is just shit.

https://www.theatlantic.com/philosophy/2026/06/no-artificial-intelligence-is-not-conscious/687378/

Another thought-provoking piece by Ted Chiang.

Just because one can use the first person pronoun correctly in a sentence does not make one sentient.

https://www.404media.co/companies-are-using-reddit-to-manipulate-chatgpt-and-google-ai-search/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter

AEO: AI-engine optimization. Ugh.

What were the ants doing all winter?

I’m sorry. This is fricking insane.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/15/allbirds-bird-stock-shoes-ai.html

I've been inactive here for a while. Running, reading books I'd put off, writing. Really a sabbatical from social media (except for reddit). Slowly easing my way back. Go easy on me.

I'm starting a new blog called Post-Literate. postliterate.org. It's about reading, writing, and orality in the age of AI.

My second post is about vibe-coding, vibe-writing, and authorship:
https://postliterate.org/blog/How%20I'm%20Using%20AI

(Should I make a newsletter too?)

From: @ProPublica@newsie.social
@ProPublica@newsie.social

@debcha@saturation.social Have you watched Season 2 of The Rehearsal?

https://www.desmog.com/2025/04/16/how-77-tons-of-radioactive-waste-ended-up-in-brooklyn/

This can’t be good.