Ethan Marcotte
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ethanmarcotte.com
Ethan Marcotte
@ethanmarcotte.com
designer, writer, roommate to two kittens. I think you deserve a union, and I wrote a book about that: https://ethanmarcotte.com/books/you-deserve-a-tech-union/

hi friend
Pinned
It is that time of year, so I thought I’d mention that my book YOU DESERVE A TECH UNION is very much a thing you can buy for any tech workers in your life. Or yourself!

You can buy it just about anywhere books are sold—or hey, ask your library to grab a copy! ethanmarcotte.com/books/you-de...
I wish I had the words to describe just how valuable @kissane.myatproto.social‘s latest essay feels to me: www.wrecka.ge/landslide-a-...
Landslide; a ghost story
On March 27, 1964, a converted liberty ship named the SS Chena brought a shipment of supplies to the port of Valdez, Alaska. Valdez, which I need you to know is pronounced “valDEEZ,” sits at the end o...
www.wrecka.ge
December 24, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Reposted by Ethan Marcotte
I thought “what if the new archive on Unbreaking.org on developments in US restrictions on trans healthcare was easily printable, and I could keep a copy for myself and mail one to all my friends”.

It already is and I can!

unbreaking.org/issues/trans...
#uspol #antifascism #TransRights #zines
Unbreaking
How the administration is breaking the government, and what that means for all of us.
Unbreaking.org
December 23, 2025 at 7:57 PM
idk man, i’d just like to live in a future where i could stop finding new and increasingly worse applications for the That’s Photoshopped skillset i developed in the late nineties
December 22, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Reposted by Ethan Marcotte
I concur wholeheartedly. Finding a community of lovely people, working to make sense, and come together to do so on their own time, and with their various skills and talents has really been such a boost in a dark, dark year. You can join us: unbreaking.org/how-to-help/
I meant what I said in June: contributing time to @unbreaking.org has consistently been a balm amid this trashfire of a year. That’s due entirely to the wonderful people in it, and getting to watch them quietly do such good, heartfelt work.

ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/unbrea...
Unbreaking. — ethanmarcotte.com
Here’s to new work, and to a little more clarity amid the chaos.
ethanmarcotte.com
December 19, 2025 at 9:18 PM
I cannot tell you just how *tremendously hard* various volunteers have worked on this massive @unbreaking.org update: sifting through awful, terrible news every single day, identifying connections and themes, all to build a clear picture of the harm the federal government’s caused.
20,000 words, 150 footnotes, 100+ timeline events = our attempt at documenting and synthesizing all the ways that the federal government has attempted to destroy access to gender-affirming care since January unbreaking.org/issues/trans...
Transgender Healthcare: Explainer — Unbreaking
How the administration is breaking the government, and what that means for all of us.
unbreaking.org
December 19, 2025 at 7:54 PM
“When people try to sell you on the idea that the future is already settled, it is because it is deeply UN-settled.”

Needed to hear this today. Thank you, @tressiemcphd.bsky.social.
"This promise of an AI future, is really just a collective anxiety that wealthy people have about how well they're gonna be able to control us in the future."

- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit.

Incredible words.
Listen to all of it!
December 19, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Reposted by Ethan Marcotte
Sometimes courage is not the presence of hope but the absence of fucks
December 19, 2025 at 3:15 PM
these sad, broken, hurtful little men, and all the harm they do
December 18, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Reposted by Ethan Marcotte
THEY'VE PUT ME ON THE POCKETSTATION COOP. I'M BEING RENDERED IN A 32 BY 32 GRID OF MONOCHROME PIXELS. THE BOYS BACK AT QUANTICO SAID THEY'RE GOING TO RELOCATE ME TO A "DOKO DEMO ISSYO" UNTIL THEY CAN GET THIS STRAIGHTENED OUT.
December 13, 2025 at 9:24 PM
i now have new career goals
tfw you realize you wore your new “butlerian jihad” shirt to a meet and greet with the company’s ai engineers
December 18, 2025 at 6:51 PM
i don’t think this “national design studio” is good at any of those words
December 15, 2025 at 9:38 PM
heyyyy @kickstarterunited.org GOT THAT CONTRACT

put the whole thing online too, bless ’em
December 10, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Reposted by Ethan Marcotte
Tech bros don’t actually understand the sci-fi they claim to love. Thank you Al Jazeera English for having me on.
December 10, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Reposted by Ethan Marcotte
Ethan is a great human, and this is a very human book in a time where that quality seems to be at risk. If you're in tech, maybe check it out?
It is that time of year, so I thought I’d mention that my book YOU DESERVE A TECH UNION is very much a thing you can buy for any tech workers in your life. Or yourself!

You can buy it just about anywhere books are sold—or hey, ask your library to grab a copy! ethanmarcotte.com/books/you-de...
December 9, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Reposted by Ethan Marcotte
It is interesting (derogatory) that productivity is operationalized as "uploading to preprint servers"
After ChatGPT, increase in productivity of male researchers was higher than for female researchers, widening the productivity gap. male researchers use generative AI more & see higher efficiency improvement from its use than female researchers
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Gender disparities in the impact of generative artificial intelligence: Evidence from academia
Abstract. The emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT has substantially increased individuals’ productivity. In this stu
academic.oup.com
December 9, 2025 at 1:15 PM
December 8, 2025 at 3:31 PM
I moved my email off Google years ago, but I gather Gmail shipped some “react to this email” feature because I’ve started getting replies that contain nothing but absolutely massive thumbs-up or heart emojis

so I’ve got that going for me
December 7, 2025 at 2:00 PM
It is that time of year, so I thought I’d mention that my book YOU DESERVE A TECH UNION is very much a thing you can buy for any tech workers in your life. Or yourself!

You can buy it just about anywhere books are sold—or hey, ask your library to grab a copy! ethanmarcotte.com/books/you-de...
December 5, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Reposted by Ethan Marcotte
The Ones Who Lead Trust and Safety In Omelas
December 5, 2025 at 5:28 PM
I was one of several people interviewed about the so-called National Design Studio, and how their design work fails both legal and moral imperatives: www.notus.org/trump-white-...

Glad to see this getting more coverage.
'Sloppy' Code and Accessibility Issues: The Trouble With Trump's Silicon Valley-Inspired Web Design Project
“Some of these sites feel like another round of ‘move fast and break things,’” a former federal web designer told NOTUS.
www.notus.org
December 4, 2025 at 6:39 PM
real talk: when i think of when the web lost its capacity for chaotic whimsy, the two events that come to mind are

1. the day they “fixed” this page
2. the day they “fixed” the diner lingo entry on wikipedia
December 4, 2025 at 5:21 PM
turns out `font-size: 105rem` produces a dramatically different effect from `font-size: 1.05rem`

you know. in case you were wondering
December 4, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by Ethan Marcotte
“I didn’t enter this field and take this type of job only to *not do the job*.” https://gregg.io/the-only-winning-move
December 2, 2025 at 5:55 PM
all i’m saying is that if you use the plagiarism machine to write an essay justifying use of the plagiarism machine, i should be able to take a week off to recover from psychic damage
December 2, 2025 at 4:43 PM