Notices by Ethan Marcotte (beep@follow.ethanmarcotte.com)

“Engaging with AI as a *technology* is to play the fool—it’s to observe the reflective surface of the thing without taking note of the way it sends roots deep down into the ground, breaking up bedrock, poisoning the soil, reaching far and wide to capture, uproot, strangle, and steal everything within its reach.”

Mandy goddamned Brown, everyone: https://aworkinglibrary.com/writing/toolmen

Hey! I’m participating in an informal “coffee chat” tomorrow (13 May) at 9am PT / 12pm ET about — you guessed it! — my latest book, YOU DESERVE A TECH UNION. I’ll give a short talk about the book, and then we’ll open things up for questions. It’ll be fun!

Also? It’s freeeeee. RSVP here: https://www.qrca.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1955938&group=

Hope to see you there!

#unions #TechUnions #1u #bookstodon

begging the vatican press corps to ask the new guy’s opinion on illinois nazis

our microwave: your food’s still cold. your food’s still cold. your food’s still cold. your food’s still cold. your food’s still cold. your food’s still cold. your food’s still cold. your food’s still cyour bowl of napalm is now ready.

okay, yes, this entire approach to “ai” in the workforce is yet another instance of a tech CEO beclowning himself

at the same time: when a leader says human workers are a source of “bottlenecks”, and that automation is the source of “solutions”, pay very, very, very close attention

(and if you haven’t already, start getting organized with your coworkers)

https://www.theverge.com/news/657594/duolingo-ai-first-replace-contract-workers

As usual, @anildash has it right: much like the “return to office” push that preceded them, these “AI-first” corporate policies are performances for investors, and for other tech CEOs. A more sensible policy would empower workers to explore a technology’s benefits, not simply mandate usage. https://www.anildash.com//2025/04/19/ai-first-is-the-new-return-to-office/

I just realized that bookshop dot org is offering free shipping today for Independent Bookstore Day, so if you wanted to pick up a copy of YOU DESERVE A TECH UNION, hey here you go https://bookshop.org/p/books/you-deserve-a-tech-union/8c1f7dfcf467bfb3

#1u #Bookstodon #IndependentBookstoreDay

Today marks twenty-five years of @johnallsopp’s “A Dao of Web Design.” It rewired the way I thought about designing for the web; it started me on a ~decade-long journey to eventually landing on responsive web design.

Still holds up, too. https://alistapart.com/article/dao/

This Pixelfed vulnerability seems like wildly bad news. https://fokus.cool/2025/03/25/pixelfed-vulnerability.html

(via https://fediversereport.com/fediverse-report-110/, which has additional commentary/context)

delighted to read about this massive dataset of stolen books that LLMs hoovered up for training data, and subsequently learn that literally every book i’ve ever written or contributed to is in it

just delighted

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/03/libgen-meta-openai/682093/?gift=iWa_iB9lkw4UuiWbIbrWGYDRoX8kfg3ZQZL6J-W0kQE

🦊

I am downright delighted to announce that my latest book, YOU DESERVE A TECH UNION, has a brand new look. I really love it, and I hope you do too.

Here’s a look at what’s changed and—maybe more importantly—what’s stayed the same:

https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/refresh-a-new-look-for-you-deserve-a-tech-union/

#YDATUbook #books #bookstodon #blogging #labor #TechLabor #unions #TechUnions #1u

openai: we believe we will eventually create a system capable of solving human-level problems

also openai: let us turbo-photocopy All Copyrighted Materials or something something china something nationalism https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/03/openai-urges-trump-either-settle-ai-copyright-debate-or-lose-ai-race-to-china/

“You’re always allowed to say no. You don’t actually have to throw anybody under the bus. You can in fact say that the laid-off auto worker deserves sympathy, but so does the single mom on welfare and the trans teenager who loves volleyball and the Venezuelan family at the border.”

I am, as I often am, grateful for a Garrett Bucks newsletter entry. https://thewhitepages.net/p/there-are-two-political-movements

hospitals: please arrive fifteen minutes before your appointment to fill out these very important questionnaires

also hospitals: your doctor will show up six hours late and you’ll thank us for it

“[The] so-called Department of Government Efficiency has deployed a proprietary chatbot called GSAi to 1,500 federal workers at the General Services Administration, WIRED has confirmed.” — https://www.wired.com/story/gsai-chatbot-1500-federal-workers/

This will end horribly, and not just because it’s a horrible product. Like all “AI” platforms, this is a vector for surveillance and deskilling in the workplace, and will be used to justify continuing to hollow out the federal workforce.

I tried to respond to everyone who replied to or shared this post, but I’ve definitely lost that contest. I’m literally overwhelmed by everyone’s kindness and support. Thank you all.

💜

I’ll just add that if this story moved you, I hope it moved you to action. Some of my former coworkers are looking for jobs, if you’re hiring or know someone who is. Otherwise, at the bottom of my post there are some resources I’ll try to keep updated.

Thank you again, truly. 💜

“These cuts are just the most recent in a series of a sledgehammer approach to the critical US teams supporting IT infrastructure. […] We’re wrestling with what it will mean for ourselves and our families, as well as the impact on our partners and the American people.

“But we came to the government to fix things. And we’re not done with this work yet.”

https://18f.org/

”I lost all but a few loyal friends, my devoted family, and all but lost my newspaper but thank god I retained the pearl of great price—my self respect.”

Here’s @dansinker with a reminder that fascism always, always falls: https://dansinker.com/posts/2025-02-23-dale/

Needed to read this tonight; maybe you did too.

🦊

Friday was my last day working at 18F. It was a wonderful place to work, filled with extraordinary people, but a few things happened that made me realize I had to leave.

Everything happens so much these days, so I thought I’d write down for myself what happened, and how I made my decision:

https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/leaving-18f/

(FYI, this post gets into recent #uspol events. If that’s a stressor, or not interesting to you, I’d suggest skipping.)