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Tag: steampunk
Pluralistic: "Science Comics Computers: How Digital Hardware Works" (05 Nov 2025)
Today's links
"Science Comics Computers: How Digital Hardware Works": Steampunk dinosaurs scratch-build a pressurized air-based, Turing complete, universal von Neumann machine.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: Google Print vs Great Ormond; Lincolnbot; "Zoo City"; Killed by your tapeworm's cancer; NZ Colossus; How to have cancer.
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
Recent appearances: Where I've been.
Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Colophon: All the rest.
Continue reading "Pluralistic: "Science Comics Computers: How Digital Hardware Works" (05 Nov 2025)"
Author Cory DoctorowPosted on November 5, 2025Categories UncategorizedTags books, bunnie huang, comics, computer science, cypherpunks, dinosaurs, education, gift guide, graphic novels, hardware hackers, kids, reviews, steampunkLeave a comment on Pluralistic: "Science Comics Computers: How Digital Hardware Works" (05 Nov 2025)
Pluralistic: Brinklump Linkdump (20 Jan 2024)
Today's links
Brinklump Linkdump: Indiscriminate heterogeniety for the sabbath.
This day in history: 2009, 2014, 2019, 2023
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading
Continue reading "Pluralistic: Brinklump Linkdump (20 Jan 2024)"
Author Cory DoctorowPosted on January 20, 2024January 31, 2024Categories UncategorizedTags ai, app store, app store tax, app tax, apple, aviation, big pharma, biology, boeing, chatbots, competition, drm, ello, enshittification, games, genetic engineering, horology, if buying isnt owning piracy isnt stealing, jet blue spirit, klockwerks, law, linkdump, linkdumps, llms, lost pets, malicious compliance, monopoly, ozempic, parcel delivery, pharma, photosynthesis, roger wood, science, search, signs, steampunk, the crew, the old good web, ubisoft, ulysses pacts, wegovy1 Comment on Pluralistic: Brinklump Linkdump (20 Jan 2024)
Pluralistic: Brian Merchant's "Blood In the Machine" (26 Sep 2023)
Today's links
Brian Merchant's "Blood In the Machine": Reclaiming the Luddites from the victors' history.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
This day in history: 2003, 2008, 2013, 2018
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading
Continue reading "Pluralistic: Brian Merchant's "Blood In the Machine" (26 Sep 2023)"
Author Cory DoctorowPosted on September 26, 2023September 30, 2023Categories UncategorizedTags amazon, arise, automation, books, brian merchant, gift guide, history, inevitablism, luddism, makers, reverse centaurs, reviews, steampunk, tina1 Comment on Pluralistic: Brian Merchant's "Blood In the Machine" (26 Sep 2023)
Pluralistic: Gig apps trap reverse centaurs in wage-stealing Skinner boxes (12 Apr 2023)
Today's links
Gig apps trap reverse centaurs in wage-stealing Skinner boxes: Twiddled to death through algorithmic wage discrimination.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
This day in history: 2008, 2018, 2022
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading
Continue reading "Pluralistic: Gig apps trap reverse centaurs in wage-stealing Skinner boxes (12 Apr 2023)"
Author Cory DoctorowPosted on April 12, 2023July 30, 2023Categories UncategorizedTags algorithmic wage discrimination, ants vs pickers, app boss, App Drivers and Couriers Union, brian merchant, casinoization, ccpa, cottage industry, countertwiddling, doordash, enshittification, gamblification, gdpr, giant teddy bears, great resignation, labor, moral economy, para, reverse centaurs, scholarship, shitty technology adoption curve, skinner boxes, steampunk, taylorism, taylorization, tuyul, twiddler, Veena Dubal, wage discrimination1 Comment on Pluralistic: Gig apps trap reverse centaurs in wage-stealing Skinner boxes (12 Apr 2023)
Pluralistic: Podcasting "Gig Work Is the Opposite of Steampunk" (20 Mar 2023)
Today's links
Podcasting "Gig Work Is the Opposite of Steampunk": Why today's Luddites should be smashing apps.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
This day in history: 2003, 2008, 2013, 2018, 2022
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading
Continue reading "Pluralistic: Podcasting "Gig Work Is the Opposite of Steampunk" (20 Mar 2023)"
Author Cory DoctorowPosted on March 20, 2023March 20, 2023Categories UncategorizedTags casualization, chickenized reverse centaurs, child labor, craft work, deskilling, fantasy, gig work, love the machine hate the factory, luddites, magpie killjoy, podcast, science fiction, science fiction is a luddite literature, steampunk1 Comment on Pluralistic: Podcasting "Gig Work Is the Opposite of Steampunk" (20 Mar 2023)
Gig Work Is the Opposite of Steampunk
They turned the cottage into a factory.
Cryteria/CC BY 3.0 (modified)
Despite what you may have heard, the Luddites weren’t technophobes. They were skilled workers, expert high tech machine operators who supplied the world with fine textiles. Thanks to a high degree of labor organization through craft guilds, the workers received a fair share of the profit from their labors. They worked hard, but they earned enough through their labors to enjoy lives of dignity and comfort.
Continue reading "Gig Work Is the Opposite of Steampunk"
Author Cory DoctorowPosted on March 12, 2023October 14, 2023Categories MediumTags bossware, gig economy, Live At Work, luddites, steampunk
Pluralistic: 16 Oct 2022 RIP, Roger Wood, genius assemblage sculptor
Today's links
RIP, Roger Wood, genius assemblage sculptor: Sorely missed already.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
This day in history: 2002, 2007, 2012, 2017, 2021
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading
Continue reading "Pluralistic: 16 Oct 2022 RIP, Roger Wood, genius assemblage sculptor"
Author Cory DoctorowPosted on October 16, 2022November 1, 2022Categories UncategorizedTags arts, assemblage, canada, craphounds, obituaries, roger wood, sculpture, steampunk1 Comment on Pluralistic: 16 Oct 2022 RIP, Roger Wood, genius assemblage sculptor
Pluralistic: 04 Jan 2022
Today's links
Science fiction is a Luddite literature: My latest column for Locus Magazine.
Neal Stephenson's 'Termination Shock': Geoengineering and the end of the world.
Stellar images of quack exercise machines: A memento mori for anyone flexing in lycra on a Peleton.
This day in history: 2002, 2007, 2012, 2017
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading
Continue reading "Pluralistic: 04 Jan 2022"
Author Cory DoctorowPosted on January 4, 2022Categories UncategorizedTags books, brian merchant, climate, exercise, geoengineering, Gustave Zander, history, labor, luddism, neal stephenson, public domain, reviews, science fiction, steampunk, stock art, sweden, this machine kills, victorians1 Comment on Pluralistic: 04 Jan 2022
Pluralistic: 22 Jul 2020
Today's links
Ukrainian steampunk masks: The gorgeous work of Dmitriy and Aleksandra Bragin.
OTF spared (for now): Trump's administrative incompetence saves the US Agency for Global Media from becoming Global Breitbart.
Insurers are secret, powerful police reformers: Money talks, bullshit walks.
Ohio GOP leadership arrested for racketeering: Largest corruption scandal in Ohio history.
Little Brother as a role-playing game: Notes from the Fiction & RPG Podcast.
Anti-facial recognition tool: Fawkes will alter your images in ways that are invisible to humans but confounding for algorithms.
Kentucky AG sues top GOP donors: Kentucky's Republican lawmaker is the best kind of class-traitor.
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading
Continue reading "Pluralistic: 22 Jul 2020"
Author Cory DoctorowPosted on July 22, 2020July 22, 2020Categories UncategorizedTags administrative incompetence, adversarial examples, blackrock, computer science, corruption, countermeasures, Daniel Cameron, etsy, facial recognition, finance, firstenergy, games, gift guide, hb6, incentives, infosec, insurance, kentucky, kkr, larry householder, liability, little brother, machine learning, makers, masks, ohio, otf, podcasts, police, private equity, rico, rpgs, scholarship, soft power, steampunk, trumpism, ukraine1 Comment on Pluralistic: 22 Jul 2020
Previous editions
Pluralistic: Deranged billionaires and their syndromes (16 Jul 2026)
Pluralistic: Gerontocracy's failure mode (14 Jul 2026)
Pluralistic: Why aren't AI companies competing directly with their customers? (13 Jul 2026)
Pluralistic: Workplace "flexibility" isn't (11 Jul 2026)
Pluralistic: "Rights for robots" and the AI slavery fantasy (10 Jul 2026)
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ISSN: 3066-764X
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