Ron Bronson
@ronbronson.com
State Capacity AI. Asst. Professor of Practice in Urban Tech, University of Michigan. Past: 18F.gov, PDX Digital Corps. Pesäpallo ambassador 🇫🇮
ronbronson.design | makingpublicwork.com | blog.ronbronson.com
ronbronson.design | makingpublicwork.com | blog.ronbronson.com
Pinned
Ron Bronson
@ronbronson.com
· 27d
If an AI system cannot show who authorized a decision, it should not be making it. Wrote about judgment routing, signing authority, and why invisible discretion is dangerous:
makingpublicwork.com/who-holds-th...
makingpublicwork.com/who-holds-th...
of all the ugly things to save, I cannot understand all this caping for a dead mall
February 12, 2026 at 3:32 AM
of all the ugly things to save, I cannot understand all this caping for a dead mall
fun everyday on here to discover some atproto app I didn't know about the day before
February 11, 2026 at 4:34 PM
fun everyday on here to discover some atproto app I didn't know about the day before
Mamdanism is proving so far that 'muscular state capacity' is about priortizing what's important, putting the money behind it, hiring good people and letting them do their jobs.
This is an easier thing to do outside the federal government than within it, even at the size & scale of NYC
This is an easier thing to do outside the federal government than within it, even at the size & scale of NYC
The case against Graeberism and for Mamdanism dissentmagazine.org/article/the-...
February 11, 2026 at 3:20 PM
Mamdanism is proving so far that 'muscular state capacity' is about priortizing what's important, putting the money behind it, hiring good people and letting them do their jobs.
This is an easier thing to do outside the federal government than within it, even at the size & scale of NYC
This is an easier thing to do outside the federal government than within it, even at the size & scale of NYC
Katson kansainvälisiä kilpailuja ja minusta on hauskaa, kuinka kannustan vaistomaisesti suomalaisia, melkein ajattelematta sitä. Yhdysvaltalaisetkin ovat ihan ok, mutta kun näen suomalaisen sukunimen, ajattelen: "Oi, nyt on syytä kiinnittää huomiota."
February 10, 2026 at 10:41 PM
Katson kansainvälisiä kilpailuja ja minusta on hauskaa, kuinka kannustan vaistomaisesti suomalaisia, melkein ajattelematta sitä. Yhdysvaltalaisetkin ovat ihan ok, mutta kun näen suomalaisen sukunimen, ajattelen: "Oi, nyt on syytä kiinnittää huomiota."
not upset that it's almost 50 degrees today in Ann Arbor. It was like 9 yesterday.
February 10, 2026 at 6:04 PM
not upset that it's almost 50 degrees today in Ann Arbor. It was like 9 yesterday.
I truly can't believe that the future was just going to be a bunch of Candy Crush games built by gambling companies advertised on television. Like...sci-fi clearly got too imaginative to be defeated by such banality.
February 10, 2026 at 3:29 PM
I truly can't believe that the future was just going to be a bunch of Candy Crush games built by gambling companies advertised on television. Like...sci-fi clearly got too imaginative to be defeated by such banality.
Andor 1x10, I forgot how good this show was. My goodness.
February 9, 2026 at 12:52 AM
Andor 1x10, I forgot how good this show was. My goodness.
One year of broadcasting The Sound Bulletin on @freeformportland.org. Today's episode was antics per usual, lots of french pop for some reason along with the eclectic antics you'd been accustomed to.
www.mixcloud.com/908RB/sound-...
www.mixcloud.com/908RB/sound-...
Sound Bulletin - February 8, 2026 - Freeform Portland
A Francophone drift today — Bardot, Taïeb, Keren Ann, Angèle — threading through covers, soft rock, disco, and jazz until the whole set feels like one long late-morning radio dial between Paris and ev...
www.mixcloud.com
February 8, 2026 at 8:20 PM
One year of broadcasting The Sound Bulletin on @freeformportland.org. Today's episode was antics per usual, lots of french pop for some reason along with the eclectic antics you'd been accustomed to.
www.mixcloud.com/908RB/sound-...
www.mixcloud.com/908RB/sound-...
Reposted by Ron Bronson
ethics professor here, can confirm
"should the government kidnap 5 year olds and deport them? We asked seventeen ethics professors and they all just screamed"
February 8, 2026 at 5:59 PM
ethics professor here, can confirm
I dont think I've watched Independence Day since I saw it in the movies. Funny to see the world in the 90s
February 8, 2026 at 12:48 AM
I dont think I've watched Independence Day since I saw it in the movies. Funny to see the world in the 90s
Tired: fund parks with the PCEF funds
Wired: give the payday loans owner of the blazer the money to keep the nba team
(they can go to kansas city and play at the sprint center, would give the timberwolves a pal in the northwest division)
Wired: give the payday loans owner of the blazer the money to keep the nba team
(they can go to kansas city and play at the sprint center, would give the timberwolves a pal in the northwest division)
A key city councilor expressed skepticism about the proposal to use clean energy fund money for Moda Center renovations, saying those dollars are supposed to reduce carbon emissions, not finance arena deals.
Portland leaders look to city’s cash-rich climate fund to help keep Trail Blazers in town
A key city councilor expressed skepticism about the proposal to use clean energy fund money for Moda Center renovations, saying those dollars are supposed to reduce carbon emissions, not finance arena deals.
www.oregonlive.com
February 6, 2026 at 5:28 AM
Tired: fund parks with the PCEF funds
Wired: give the payday loans owner of the blazer the money to keep the nba team
(they can go to kansas city and play at the sprint center, would give the timberwolves a pal in the northwest division)
Wired: give the payday loans owner of the blazer the money to keep the nba team
(they can go to kansas city and play at the sprint center, would give the timberwolves a pal in the northwest division)
Taking my service design class to a local circuit landlord/tenant court because of a project we're doing mid-semester.
Surprisingly vivid to watch with a teaching lens
Surprisingly vivid to watch with a teaching lens
February 5, 2026 at 7:27 PM
Taking my service design class to a local circuit landlord/tenant court because of a project we're doing mid-semester.
Surprisingly vivid to watch with a teaching lens
Surprisingly vivid to watch with a teaching lens
thinking about the collapse of amateurism everywhere in everything. it's still possible to work it out in public while doing but its related to the dancing in public critique. you can be visible but the audience is scaled, random and not your neighbors
February 5, 2026 at 2:27 PM
thinking about the collapse of amateurism everywhere in everything. it's still possible to work it out in public while doing but its related to the dancing in public critique. you can be visible but the audience is scaled, random and not your neighbors
scourge of vibecoding aside, I think that someone who has hands in a lot of different buckets the biggest value add here has been my ability to take ideas that maybe I've worked on before or were too expensive to bother with and ship them.
its not that there is no value in them was just time/cost
its not that there is no value in them was just time/cost
February 4, 2026 at 6:23 PM
scourge of vibecoding aside, I think that someone who has hands in a lot of different buckets the biggest value add here has been my ability to take ideas that maybe I've worked on before or were too expensive to bother with and ship them.
its not that there is no value in them was just time/cost
its not that there is no value in them was just time/cost
Reposted by Ron Bronson
So often, the default career growth path seems to be management, even when that doesn't match someone's skills and personality. Unfortunately, this often results in very bad managers. It's not the only way though, as Ron Bronson walks us through.
piccalil.li/blog/some-ad...
piccalil.li/blog/some-ad...
Some advice on managing your design career upwards
So often, the default career growth path seems to be management, even when that doesn't match someone's skills and personality. Unfortunately, this often results in very bad managers. It's not the only...
piccalil.li
January 22, 2026 at 12:07 PM
So often, the default career growth path seems to be management, even when that doesn't match someone's skills and personality. Unfortunately, this often results in very bad managers. It's not the only way though, as Ron Bronson walks us through.
piccalil.li/blog/some-ad...
piccalil.li/blog/some-ad...
I forget that CBS is state tv now
February 2, 2026 at 12:44 PM
I forget that CBS is state tv now
Doing an Andor rewatch now, I'd been waiting a while because it's such a bummer there's nothing else 1/15th as good on television. I've never been a Star Wars guy but the storytelling and the fact they had a defined ending kept it from slogging on. Star Trek's canon deserves its own but alas
Admittedly, I’ve never been a huge Star Wars guy, but I just finished season one of Andor and holy moly what a show. Talk about television that speaks to the moment. Those last three episodes in particular will stick with me for a long time.
February 2, 2026 at 1:02 AM
Doing an Andor rewatch now, I'd been waiting a while because it's such a bummer there's nothing else 1/15th as good on television. I've never been a Star Wars guy but the storytelling and the fact they had a defined ending kept it from slogging on. Star Trek's canon deserves its own but alas
Reposted by Ron Bronson
I've noticed a microgenre shift in SF over the last year - or possibly just in the books I've come across. Specifically, a bit of a boom in big concept space opera books working in the Banks/Hamilton ideaspace. Meaning SF that simultaneously delivers a strong action storyline against a backdrop
February 1, 2026 at 7:35 PM
I've noticed a microgenre shift in SF over the last year - or possibly just in the books I've come across. Specifically, a bit of a boom in big concept space opera books working in the Banks/Hamilton ideaspace. Meaning SF that simultaneously delivers a strong action storyline against a backdrop
2012: Move fast and break things.
2026: Deploy now, delegate everything. (and fire everybody.)
2026: Deploy now, delegate everything. (and fire everybody.)
'It exploded before anyone thought to check whether the database was properly secured.'
Exposed Moltbook Database Let Anyone Take Control of Any AI Agent on the Site
'It exploded before anyone thought to check whether the database was properly secured.'
www.404media.co
February 1, 2026 at 6:03 PM
2012: Move fast and break things.
2026: Deploy now, delegate everything. (and fire everybody.)
2026: Deploy now, delegate everything. (and fire everybody.)
Reposted by Ron Bronson
occurs to me that as agencies automate judgment, we're externalize discretion to a priced commodity whose marginal cost they don’t control. (is this a teaser to something i'm working on, yeah...)
January 31, 2026 at 4:13 AM
occurs to me that as agencies automate judgment, we're externalize discretion to a priced commodity whose marginal cost they don’t control. (is this a teaser to something i'm working on, yeah...)
career grand slam for alcaraz, further cementing himself towards goat status.
February 1, 2026 at 5:59 PM
career grand slam for alcaraz, further cementing himself towards goat status.
okay fine moltbook time (in a container, relax dad)
February 1, 2026 at 3:25 AM
okay fine moltbook time (in a container, relax dad)
Reposted by Ron Bronson
AGI is a scam IMO but it would be kind of appropriate for humanity to achieve AGI via a subreddit called Moltbook tbh
January 31, 2026 at 2:14 PM
AGI is a scam IMO but it would be kind of appropriate for humanity to achieve AGI via a subreddit called Moltbook tbh