Mark Hurst
@markhurst.bsky.social
Writer and radio host in NYC.
- Host, Techtonic on WFMU: https://techtonic.fm
- Tech criticism: https://creativegood.com/blog
- Newsletter: https://creativegood.com/newsletter
Encouraging better tech, and resisting Big Tech.
- Host, Techtonic on WFMU: https://techtonic.fm
- Tech criticism: https://creativegood.com/blog
- Newsletter: https://creativegood.com/newsletter
Encouraging better tech, and resisting Big Tech.
Pinned
Mark Hurst
@markhurst.bsky.social
· Feb 21
If you like Severance, I hope you'll listen to Techtonic, my podcast/radio show.
I'm questioning tech & its promises, w/help from brilliant guests like @hypervisible.bsky.social @randomwalker.bsky.social @tamigraph.bsky.social & more.
Podcast:
itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
More:
techtonic.fm
I'm questioning tech & its promises, w/help from brilliant guests like @hypervisible.bsky.social @randomwalker.bsky.social @tamigraph.bsky.social & more.
Podcast:
itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
More:
techtonic.fm
Thanks to @stuhorvath.com and @saraclemens.com for guest-hosting Techtonic yesterday! Their interview guest was author/illustrator Adam Allsuch Boardman.
Full episode:
techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
Full episode:
techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
December 23, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Thanks to @stuhorvath.com and @saraclemens.com for guest-hosting Techtonic yesterday! Their interview guest was author/illustrator Adam Allsuch Boardman.
Full episode:
techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
Full episode:
techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
Reposted by Mark Hurst
“Slop Evader [is] a new browser tool that filters your web searches to only include results from before November 30, 2022 — the day that ChatGPT was released to the public.”
December 22, 2025 at 1:33 AM
“Slop Evader [is] a new browser tool that filters your web searches to only include results from before November 30, 2022 — the day that ChatGPT was released to the public.”
but is it sentient
An Amusing Wooden Automaton That Types a Courteous Email on Computer Keyboard When Cranked laughingsquid.com/courtesy-ema...
An Amusing Wooden Automaton That Types a Courteous Email on Computer Keyboard When Cranked
Stoccafisso Design built an amusing wooden automaton that, when cranked, repeatedly types a very courteous message on a computer keyboard.
laughingsquid.com
December 21, 2025 at 4:33 PM
but is it sentient
Every detail of your life. Altman says he intends to build totalizing surveillance, and you should believe him.
These billionaire tech charlatans want complete control and surveillance over every bit of your life. Fascism packaged as an AI personal assistant tool. They, and the structures that support them, need to be uprooted and cast out of society.
December 21, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Every detail of your life. Altman says he intends to build totalizing surveillance, and you should believe him.
Reposted by Mark Hurst
New from me: 2025 offered lots of reasons to get off Big Tech... dangerous robots, dumb ideas of data centers in space, and more -
buttondown.com/creativegood...
buttondown.com/creativegood...
2025 showed why to get off Big Tech
My Techtonic show this week inaugurated the Creepy Awards, which I hope to give annually to the most creeptastic tech oligarch. This year the winner was –...
buttondown.com
December 19, 2025 at 3:30 PM
New from me: 2025 offered lots of reasons to get off Big Tech... dangerous robots, dumb ideas of data centers in space, and more -
buttondown.com/creativegood...
buttondown.com/creativegood...
New from me: 2025 offered lots of reasons to get off Big Tech... dangerous robots, dumb ideas of data centers in space, and more -
buttondown.com/creativegood...
buttondown.com/creativegood...
2025 showed why to get off Big Tech
My Techtonic show this week inaugurated the Creepy Awards, which I hope to give annually to the most creeptastic tech oligarch. This year the winner was –...
buttondown.com
December 19, 2025 at 3:30 PM
New from me: 2025 offered lots of reasons to get off Big Tech... dangerous robots, dumb ideas of data centers in space, and more -
buttondown.com/creativegood...
buttondown.com/creativegood...
Reposted by Mark Hurst
God is the original Job creator. One for the Bible fans.
December 18, 2025 at 3:52 PM
God is the original Job creator. One for the Bible fans.
Reposted by Mark Hurst
What is the point of having a sprawling national security state if they can’t find out who did a mass shooting in broad daylight five days ago?
December 18, 2025 at 8:03 PM
What is the point of having a sprawling national security state if they can’t find out who did a mass shooting in broad daylight five days ago?
Remember when I warned about Musk's falling space junk?
buttondown.com/creativegood...
Now: "SpaceX expects the tumbling satellite to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and burn up." Right.
buttondown.com/creativegood...
Now: "SpaceX expects the tumbling satellite to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and burn up." Right.
December 18, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Remember when I warned about Musk's falling space junk?
buttondown.com/creativegood...
Now: "SpaceX expects the tumbling satellite to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and burn up." Right.
buttondown.com/creativegood...
Now: "SpaceX expects the tumbling satellite to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and burn up." Right.
Reposted by Mark Hurst
Microwave: Your food is hot. Beep-beep-beeeeeep
Car: Put on your seat belt. Ding-ding-ding
Dryer: Your clothes are dry. Here’s a 40-second sea shanty performed on a penny whistle
Car: Put on your seat belt. Ding-ding-ding
Dryer: Your clothes are dry. Here’s a 40-second sea shanty performed on a penny whistle
December 17, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Microwave: Your food is hot. Beep-beep-beeeeeep
Car: Put on your seat belt. Ding-ding-ding
Dryer: Your clothes are dry. Here’s a 40-second sea shanty performed on a penny whistle
Car: Put on your seat belt. Ding-ding-ding
Dryer: Your clothes are dry. Here’s a 40-second sea shanty performed on a penny whistle
Back in 2022 I interviewed @alecmac.bsky.social about his book "Fulfillment," about Amazon's unjust practices - incl. the exorbitant prices charged to school districts: wfmu.org/playlists/sh...
Three years later, it's only gotten worse.
Three years later, it's only gotten worse.
Amazon “has persuaded cities and school districts to abandon competitive bidding and surrender to its dynamic, algorithm-driven pricing…This opaque system subjects buyers to erratic price swings and allows Amazon to covertly inflate prices and overcharge schools and cities.”
US schools face big price swings for basics under Amazon’s ‘dynamic pricing’, report claims
Amazon calls the report ‘flawed and misleading’ and says it offers lower prices than competitors
www.theguardian.com
December 17, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Back in 2022 I interviewed @alecmac.bsky.social about his book "Fulfillment," about Amazon's unjust practices - incl. the exorbitant prices charged to school districts: wfmu.org/playlists/sh...
Three years later, it's only gotten worse.
Three years later, it's only gotten worse.
Any image you see online, no matter how photorealistic, you should assume was made by AI.
Starting now.
Starting now.
December 16, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Any image you see online, no matter how photorealistic, you should assume was made by AI.
Starting now.
Starting now.
Had some fun on the new Techtonic, giving out the first annual Creepy Award, "to the most creeptastic tech oligarch." You'll never guess who won.
Episode page with lots of links:
techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
Episode page with lots of links:
techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
December 16, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Had some fun on the new Techtonic, giving out the first annual Creepy Award, "to the most creeptastic tech oligarch." You'll never guess who won.
Episode page with lots of links:
techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
Episode page with lots of links:
techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
Reposted by Mark Hurst
Today on WFMU: On Techtonic with Mark Hurst, The first annual Creepy Awards. Spying, sloppifying, and saying totally inappropriate things: Mark inaugurates "the Creepy," an award for the most creeptastic tech oligarch (6 p.m. ET).
December 15, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Today on WFMU: On Techtonic with Mark Hurst, The first annual Creepy Awards. Spying, sloppifying, and saying totally inappropriate things: Mark inaugurates "the Creepy," an award for the most creeptastic tech oligarch (6 p.m. ET).
Reposted by Mark Hurst
Just so I'm clear on this, computer memory has tripled in price because a bunch of it that hasn't been produced yet has been ordered to populate GPUs that aren't installed in data centers that aren't built yet in order to service a demand that doesn't exist to make profits that don't happen.
December 15, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Just so I'm clear on this, computer memory has tripled in price because a bunch of it that hasn't been produced yet has been ordered to populate GPUs that aren't installed in data centers that aren't built yet in order to service a demand that doesn't exist to make profits that don't happen.
I talked about Zuckerberg's fraud, as reported by @jeffhorwitz.bsky.social, a few weeks ago on Techtonic:
techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
Horwitz's followup piece (see below) is on China, which Meta execs called the top "Scam Exporting Nation":
techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
Horwitz's followup piece (see below) is on China, which Meta execs called the top "Scam Exporting Nation":
To grow its ad biz in China, Meta has relied on ad agency partners given the power to create special enforcement-protected ad accounts and share them with resellers. The system produces so much fraud that Meta internally calls China its top “scam exporting nation.”
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
Meta tolerates rampant ad fraud from China to safeguard billions in revenue
A Reuters investigation reveals the owner of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp decided to accept high levels of fraudulent advertisements from China. Internal company documents show Meta wanted to mini...
www.reuters.com
December 15, 2025 at 1:52 PM
I talked about Zuckerberg's fraud, as reported by @jeffhorwitz.bsky.social, a few weeks ago on Techtonic:
techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
Horwitz's followup piece (see below) is on China, which Meta execs called the top "Scam Exporting Nation":
techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
Horwitz's followup piece (see below) is on China, which Meta execs called the top "Scam Exporting Nation":
Reposted by Mark Hurst
Within days of Columbine, my high school banned trench coats, graphic tees, and all black clothing. Now, AI is wreaking havoc in younger Gen Z and Alpha and educators are actively encouraging them to use it even more.
Trench coats informally banned from every high school since 98 but the suicide robot is installed on your school laptop automatically
December 12, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Within days of Columbine, my high school banned trench coats, graphic tees, and all black clothing. Now, AI is wreaking havoc in younger Gen Z and Alpha and educators are actively encouraging them to use it even more.
Reposted by Mark Hurst
It's so fucked up to have been a kid during the D&D is the devil freakout and the Tipper Gore dirty lyrics freakout and live to see the teen suicide machine get such a pass.
December 12, 2025 at 5:40 PM
It's so fucked up to have been a kid during the D&D is the devil freakout and the Tipper Gore dirty lyrics freakout and live to see the teen suicide machine get such a pass.
Reposted by Mark Hurst
“The work was emotionally exhausting, with chat users confiding intimate details about their real-life relationships, as well as their own emotional trauma, falsely believing they were talking to an unfeeling AI chatbot.”
AI "Companion Bots" Actually Run by Exploited Kenyans, Worker Claims
A new testimony from a remote worker in Kenya details the grueling and exploitative work behind romantic AI chatbots.
futurism.com
December 12, 2025 at 4:56 PM
“The work was emotionally exhausting, with chat users confiding intimate details about their real-life relationships, as well as their own emotional trauma, falsely believing they were talking to an unfeeling AI chatbot.”
Reposted by Mark Hurst
I guess it's fitting that it's a reimagined, worse version of someone else's artwork
December 12, 2025 at 4:00 AM
I guess it's fitting that it's a reimagined, worse version of someone else's artwork
Reposted by Mark Hurst
Handing back student work that’s been written by ChatGPT with a 0 followed by the comment “This essay will never stand in authentic wonder before the Beauty of God’s creation.”
Pope Leo XIV told students not to use artificial intelligence for homework, saying that AI ‘won’t stand in authentic wonder before the beauty of God’s creation.’
Even God Is Worried About ChatGPT
Pope Leo XIV told students not to use artificial intelligence for homework, saying that AI ‘won’t stand in authentic wonder before the beauty of God’s creation.’
www.vulture.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Handing back student work that’s been written by ChatGPT with a 0 followed by the comment “This essay will never stand in authentic wonder before the Beauty of God’s creation.”
Reposted by Mark Hurst
On the new Techtonic I speak w/Noah McCormack from @thebaffler.com about his essay "We used to read things in this country."
In the clip below Noah reveals one possible outcome of the AI bubble.
Full episode:
techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
In the clip below Noah reveals one possible outcome of the AI bubble.
Full episode:
techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
December 9, 2025 at 3:22 PM
On the new Techtonic I speak w/Noah McCormack from @thebaffler.com about his essay "We used to read things in this country."
In the clip below Noah reveals one possible outcome of the AI bubble.
Full episode:
techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
In the clip below Noah reveals one possible outcome of the AI bubble.
Full episode:
techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
Reminds me of the "Yo" app in 2014, which (true story) got $1 million in investment and valued at over $5 million.
The app allowed users to send the word "yo" to each other.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yo_(app)
The app allowed users to send the word "yo" to each other.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yo_(app)
December 11, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Reminds me of the "Yo" app in 2014, which (true story) got $1 million in investment and valued at over $5 million.
The app allowed users to send the word "yo" to each other.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yo_(app)
The app allowed users to send the word "yo" to each other.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yo_(app)
Reposted by Mark Hurst
