Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
> i feel like doolittle and his mission over tokyo

Hopefully without the crashes!

In the course of writing or promoting tdb, did you have any
encounters/conversations with any of the folks mentioned in your
book?  Has your thinking changed about any of the people you talked
about? E.g. Kevin Kelly, John Barlow, Esther Dyson, T.J. Rodgers,
Larry Ellison, Andy Grove, John Doerr, Jeff Bezos et al.?
  

    
those folks all just IGNORE. kk was interviewed for both the nyt
profile last yr and the current  wired profile: let's just say he
recalls things differently than i do. then, we always saw the world
very differently. mostly tdb/i am of little import. 

the same writer for 'reason' magazine (libertarian publication) who
didnt like tdb 1st time aroound; once again expressed his
disapproval again after the nyt piece came out; and a few months
later died in an accident. what does one make of that?

heard that someone from tech crunch wants to do an interview
soonish. that is an interesting turn of the wheel...just as, tdb was
listed on some sort of must-read list in 'fortune' for september ---
whatever sadly diminished state 'fortune' is in.

yet happy news, heard from the illustrious owen thomas that someone
has restored the suck archives, thesuck.net. much yay!

important to recall that after the media arc of tdb was done, i
could not get -anything- published anywhere, whether on tech or not.
not a magazine article, not a book. no one was interested in
anything i had to say about anything.  exception of course being
information/every day computers are making people easier to use.
(informationmagazine.com). the magazine (out in 2025) was discussed
at some length in inkwell #556. 

a friend talked me into doing a patreon page, not the easiest thing
in the world for me as i am binge/purge writer and so not a
columnnist/blogger --- so cranking out 3-4 posts months aint natual.
and not my best work. and strange to be writing for a readership of
less than 50 ppl. and the work was often undeveloped, as well. some
of the posts over the years have been on tech topics, but mostly not
on TDB-related themes. i said what i wanted to say and few ppl were
interested so horse/dead/beat. 
  

    
A central contradiction in the book is Silicon Valley's hostility
toward government despite its dependence on public investment. Do
you think the people you encountered didn't know that history,
dismissed its significance, or understood it but found the self-made
narrative more useful?
  

    
and i mention the suck restoration because relevant to this
discussion, i wrote for them something they entitled 'sex and the
single url' which i had orginally entitled 'the cosmo girl's guide
to dating technolibertarians'. it's eerie to read it now, 30 yrs
later, and...i'll post the url...
  

    


https://www.archivepaulinaborsook.com/External/Single_URL.html


and to your question in #28, yes to all of the above. prop 13 in
california didnt help, as it disabled/impoverished from the late
1970s Calif. state services in disastrous ways. post-1980 arrivals
to silicon valley mostly saw diminished/incompetent Calif. state
capacity. 

and the US govt did many boneheard things (for example the crypto
wars of the 1990s) to confirm their prejudices.
  

    
and oh, speaking of wired, am doing an event tonight at kqed w/ the
wired editor in chief.

https://www.kqed.org/event/6852/wireds-uncanny-valley-live-feat-cyberselfish-a
uthor-paulina-borsook

if you had told me even two years ago that this could come to pass
--- well, <smh>
  

    
Are they recording that? I'll be learning to be a poll watcher
tonight.
  

    
i think so. it's part of their 'uncanny valley' podcast series...
  

    
the event was fun and yes it was recorded and should be available
online and for free (not sure how soon after an even they post the
recording).
  

    
I signed up for the podcast!

Your discussion of "bionomics" (seeing the economy as an
evolving, self-regulating biological ecosystem) examined the use of
biological and evolutionary ideas to explain markets. What happens
when people treat economic arrangements as natural or inevitable? Do
you hear echoes of that thinking in the language surrounding AI?
  

    
here's the link to the wired podcast

tps://www.wired.com/story/come-see-uncanny-valley-live/


when the biological metaphors triumph, there can be no reason to
-consider- regulation. everything evolves as it should!

the largely gestural convo these days about regulation wrt to AI is
in the same mode: everything  is evolving and what can we do? or
should we even do? pace the runaway ai scary stories: what
'regulation' is -really- being proposed?
  

    
> what 'regulation' is -really- being proposed?

Bernie Sanders, Greg Casar et al. have proposed the Bipartisan
Artificial Superintelligence Act, which would prohibit the
development of a "superintelligence," set up a new federal
regulatory body, pause advanced AI development, and apply penalties
similar to nuclear weapon violations.

There's a proposed Stop Rogue AI Act, which requires realtime
tracking and monitoring of AI agents, builder/operator verification,
and the ability to block or revoke agent access.

Stop the Fakes Act mandates clear labeling for all AI-generated
content including images and videos.

TAKE IT DOWN Act targets non-consensual AI-generated deepfakes.

Senator Maria Cantwell (who I remember as having been the voice of
RealNetworks back in the 90s) has a framework that focuses on
autonomous AI, cyberattacks, and rogue models.
  

    
if only...
  

    
The Sanders-Casar act should add a word to make it BASTA.
  

    
just to create some context, i revisited the inkwell cyberselfish
2000 topic. was interesting to read how many ppl did not Like
(tm),/would not recommend (tm)/ ones tar/found fault with --- and
one rather jejeune profane bit of off-well trolling.

yet here tdb has been re-issued by popular demand in the year 2026,
which at the height of the frenzy to get a hold of a copy in 2025,
on the used-book platforms copies were going for as high as $1k!
grad students from all over the world begging me for a copy! prices
on those used-book platforms have now dropped to a more reasonable
$175/copy or so.

so on some level, i remain insistent that i got something very Right
with tdb, and am glad ppl are finding here in 2026 it helps
articulate the unease they are experiencing with what tech is doing
to us/how tech self-justifies.

not a perfect or comprehensive book. but one strangely which is
still doing its job, 1/4 of a century later...
 
and am particularly gratified that younguns, in spite of my boomer
use of language, resonate with tdb.
  

    
and of course, i cant type. i meant 'one star', not 'ones tar'.
  

    
My fingers do that, too.
  

    
(and of course my typing has gotten worse as the nerve damage in my
hands has grown)
  

    
Many people here on the WELL have experienced online life as a
source of community, mutual aid, and intellectual generosity. How
has that tradition coexisted with the culture you criticize? What
helped one or the other flourish?
  

    
i would never say that online life cant be all the good things you
mentioned. but tdb isnt really -about- the online world, per se; and
we all know what so much of the online world has become. obviously
commercialization/surveillance capitalism/the almighty algos have
had their deleterious effects.
  

    
one of the kindly young IT-associated supporters that has popped up
with tdb's revival set up a google news alert for tdb. it is hardly
comprehensive but it is always entertaining. yesterday it flagged
(indexed?)  the southern california indie bookstore weekly
bestsellers --- and tdb was #14 on the paperback nonfiction list.
which to me is a bit like being in the top ten finalists for the
eigth-grade spelling bee.

coupla thots relevant to this:

_ am wondering if this is because i have been promoting the 48 
pre-signed copies on sale at vromans, my hometown pasadena
bookstore. mirabile dictu, these have all sold out, much to my
amazement. but there will be no more of that...

- was surprised that gil's 'nerd reich' was NOT on the hardcover
nonfiction list, but naomi klein's seems-like-a-ripoff title is.
  

    
Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor first used their title, "End Stage
Fascism", in an article for The Guardian from which Gil quoted in
his book (p. 226).
  

    
i think we are in a moment where a lot of people are talking/writing
about the very bad situation we are in.

speaking of gil, he invited me to some lunchtime event at la pena in
november. as it's not on the la pena calendar, i have no idea what
this is. but i see gil as the magnficent great whale and i am the
pilot fish and he has been such an advocate and pal, so...

we are taking our show on the road to commonwealth club east
bay/lafayette library in jan --- and again, a few weeks later at
keplers (hi <coiro>!)
  

    
got word that the french publisher (who imho has just done
everything right). a small lefty 'low-tech' press, has set up with
french tech journo marian moreau to livestream an event from paris,
a few days before the official french launch. and it's even at a
decent hour for me, 10 AM pdt, 26 oct.

otoh, the UK publisher, who pursued tdb first and most avidly, has
once again been flake-central. pub date there was 30 sept --- yet
all quiet on the western front. i tell myself, well okay, a little
xtra dosh and maybe there will be better/other intl dist than
penguin random house offers  with tinhouse and the uk publisher has
published other books i respect.

watching the tide roll in...

event in livermore tomorrow with the new bookstore owned by the
information magazine humor editor: he will record and it should be a
fun inaugural event for the bookstore (word on the street) books in
downtown livermore).
  

    
It's going to be super hot in Livermore tomorrow. Hydrate!