Notices by Mark Hurst (markhurst@mastodon.social)

New from me: Let’s call AI something else. (drawing on "The AI Con" by @emilymbender and @alexhanna )

https://buttondown.com/creativegood/archive/lets-call-ai-something-else/

@feld @tk the Tech Review article quotes people asking why they should pay higher rates.

"Between 2024 and 2028, the share of US electricity going to data centers may triple, from its current 4.4% to 12%."

Astounding that we prioritize electricity for AI over *every* *other* *possible* *use*. Housing, schools, and hospitals all have to make way for Big Tech data centers.

Important article by Tech Review:

https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1116327/ai-energy-usage-climate-footprint-big-tech/

@jochenwolters and that's a point that @aral has made (including at conferences where they're speaking)

@jochenwolters totally agree

This week on Techtonic I covered Sarah Wynn-Williams' Facebook memoir, called "Careless People." I recommend it.

Here's my review - hoping that this book will convince lawmakers to hold Zuckerberg to account for his actions:
https://buttondown.com/creativegood/archive/zuck-lied-under-oath-says-careless-people/

User experience is mostly irrelevant in our Big Tech economy. Facebook, Twitter, etc. can mistreat users without consequence.

Cory Doctorow - aka @pluralistic - puts it well today (https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/20/capitalist-unrealism/):

@buttondown and that's one reason I posted this column *on Buttondown* 👍
https://buttondown.com/creativegood/archive/our-nightmare-world-of-ai-slop/

For years now on https://techtonic.fm - my radio show and podcast from @WFMU - I have finished every show with a signoff, which includes these especially relevant two words:

Forget Facebook.

"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both."

—Justice Louis Brandeis

NEW FROM ME: Elon Musk's space junk is a threat to us all. Starlink satellites will pollute the atmosphere, land in your backyard, and - a fresh new nightmare - could hit airliners at 35,000 feet.

Thanks to @sundogplanets for raising the alarm (and for joining me on https://techtonic.fm this week to discuss):

https://buttondown.com/creativegood/archive/musks-space-junk-is-a-threat-to-us-all/

New from me - my election thoughts.

A happy day for Big Tech: the guardrails are coming off.
https://buttondown.com/creativegood/archive/a-happy-day-for-big-tech/

@joeo10 thanks for trying, anyway... what happened around the flagging? were there reasons given?

“I guess it’s like Steve Jobs always said: ‘We’re going to build a bicycle for the mind . . . and then we’re going to crush the bicycle in a 2-ton press, just flatten it right in front of you, so you can feel our destructive power. Take that, bicycle lovers. You all suck.’”

A new outraged column from me –

“Apple made a terrible mistake: it told the truth”:
https://creativegood.com/blog/24/apple-tells-the-truth.html

I did a https://techtonic.fm show on emergency alerts a few months back, after the Maui fires. Smartphone alerts are inferior to the old radio-frequency alerts because of range and resilience.. but fewer people listen to radio these days.

An interesting discussion, listen here:
https://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/131761

@adam @aral I will be covering this story (and others) on Techtonic this Monday 26th Feb, on an episode I'm calling "Dystopia update."

https://techtonic.fm

To Big Tech, every crisis is an opportunity to sell more surveillance.

Big Tech takes away the things we take for granted – and then gives them back to us, one by one, as subscriptions.

@gerrymcgovern @aral See also my interview with Guillaume Pitron (and links on the playlist page) about the environmental costs of digital tech -
https://mastodon.social/@markhurst/111579822307440537

"The Luddites were right. The concentration of money and power is a perverting force. Google’s corruption exemplifies the problem. I’ll join Brian Merchant in saying: I’m a Luddite. You should be one, too."

My new column, "The Luddites warned us about Google" - featuring @brianmerchant and @pluralistic

https://creativegood.com/blog/23/luddites-warned-us-about-google.html