A Z Mackay
@azmackay.bsky.social
Author of Future Tense. Speculative tech anthropology. Essays + serialized fiction about the future we're building now. https://ft.azmackay.com
We all see the manipulation now.
We correct less.
We rage less.
We just… scroll, exhausted.
The machine doesn’t want you ignorant.
It wants you exactly this aware.
ft.azmackay.com/p/when-knowi...
We correct less.
We rage less.
We just… scroll, exhausted.
The machine doesn’t want you ignorant.
It wants you exactly this aware.
ft.azmackay.com/p/when-knowi...
When Knowing More Means Doing Less
The Algorithm Awareness Paradox
ft.azmackay.com
November 19, 2025 at 5:33 PM
We all see the manipulation now.
We correct less.
We rage less.
We just… scroll, exhausted.
The machine doesn’t want you ignorant.
It wants you exactly this aware.
ft.azmackay.com/p/when-knowi...
We correct less.
We rage less.
We just… scroll, exhausted.
The machine doesn’t want you ignorant.
It wants you exactly this aware.
ft.azmackay.com/p/when-knowi...
October 2025. A Harvard professor calculated the odds at one in ten quadrillion. NASA's scientists said "it looks like a comet."
The gap between those two positions reveals more about human psychology than cometary composition.
The gap between those two positions reveals more about human psychology than cometary composition.
November 4, 2025 at 6:23 PM
October 2025. A Harvard professor calculated the odds at one in ten quadrillion. NASA's scientists said "it looks like a comet."
The gap between those two positions reveals more about human psychology than cometary composition.
The gap between those two positions reveals more about human psychology than cometary composition.
Reposted by A Z Mackay
Having worked on the other side of the screen at big social platforms, @azmackay.bsky.social exposes the engineering that keeps us tethered to our screens.
“You’re not weak for checking your phone. You’re responding rationally to a system ... ensuring you’d respond that way.”
“You’re not weak for checking your phone. You’re responding rationally to a system ... ensuring you’d respond that way.”
You're Not Addicted, You're Subscribed
What platforms actually sell when they sell connection.
ft.azmackay.com
October 28, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Having worked on the other side of the screen at big social platforms, @azmackay.bsky.social exposes the engineering that keeps us tethered to our screens.
“You’re not weak for checking your phone. You’re responding rationally to a system ... ensuring you’d respond that way.”
“You’re not weak for checking your phone. You’re responding rationally to a system ... ensuring you’d respond that way.”
Every major AI lab pivoted to "reasoning models" that think for minutes before answering.
Why does this feel like we're rebuilding the oracle economy but calling it progress?
ft.azmackay.com/p/the-tortoi...
#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #TechCriticism #OpenAI #Anthropic #ReasoningModels #FutureTense
Why does this feel like we're rebuilding the oracle economy but calling it progress?
ft.azmackay.com/p/the-tortoi...
#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #TechCriticism #OpenAI #Anthropic #ReasoningModels #FutureTense
The Tortoise Revolution
How AI Labs Are Rebuilding Expertise Around One Core Feature: You Can't See How It Works
ft.azmackay.com
October 24, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Every major AI lab pivoted to "reasoning models" that think for minutes before answering.
Why does this feel like we're rebuilding the oracle economy but calling it progress?
ft.azmackay.com/p/the-tortoi...
#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #TechCriticism #OpenAI #Anthropic #ReasoningModels #FutureTense
Why does this feel like we're rebuilding the oracle economy but calling it progress?
ft.azmackay.com/p/the-tortoi...
#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #TechCriticism #OpenAI #Anthropic #ReasoningModels #FutureTense
Thinking is becoming expensive. Performance is becoming free. The two-tier system is being built in real time through "personalized learning." You have 18 months before this becomes obvious to everyone.
ft.azmackay.com/p/the-sorting #futuretense
ft.azmackay.com/p/the-sorting #futuretense
The Sorting
Some People Will Think. Everyone Else Will Perform Thinking. The Sort Is Happening Now.
ft.azmackay.com
October 21, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Thinking is becoming expensive. Performance is becoming free. The two-tier system is being built in real time through "personalized learning." You have 18 months before this becomes obvious to everyone.
ft.azmackay.com/p/the-sorting #futuretense
ft.azmackay.com/p/the-sorting #futuretense
Putin said whoever leads in AI will rule the world.
He didn't mention the subscription fees. Or that most nations would be reading the release notes instead of writing them.
ft.azmackay.com/p/geopolitic...
He didn't mention the subscription fees. Or that most nations would be reading the release notes instead of writing them.
ft.azmackay.com/p/geopolitic...
Sovereignty as a Service
Nations don't get conquered anymore. They get deprecated.
ft.azmackay.com
October 20, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Putin said whoever leads in AI will rule the world.
He didn't mention the subscription fees. Or that most nations would be reading the release notes instead of writing them.
ft.azmackay.com/p/geopolitic...
He didn't mention the subscription fees. Or that most nations would be reading the release notes instead of writing them.
ft.azmackay.com/p/geopolitic...
Next year your apps will answer for you. Your social graph will register as vibrant while you cook dinner. Your Presence Score will affect your career. This isn't sci-fi. It's already being built.
(link in bio)
#FutureTense #FutureTech #AI #DigitalLife
(link in bio)
#FutureTense #FutureTech #AI #DigitalLife
October 15, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Next year your apps will answer for you. Your social graph will register as vibrant while you cook dinner. Your Presence Score will affect your career. This isn't sci-fi. It's already being built.
(link in bio)
#FutureTense #FutureTech #AI #DigitalLife
(link in bio)
#FutureTense #FutureTech #AI #DigitalLife
AI isn't a mind. It's an airport for human culture. We're arguing about the sentience of the terminal while a few companies buy all the land.
ft.azmackay.com/p/the-wrong-...
#ArtificialIntelligence #LLM #FutureTense #Tech
ft.azmackay.com/p/the-wrong-...
#ArtificialIntelligence #LLM #FutureTense #Tech
The Wrong Emergency
We're debating AI consciousness while knowledge infrastructure gets built
ft.azmackay.com
October 13, 2025 at 9:39 AM
AI isn't a mind. It's an airport for human culture. We're arguing about the sentience of the terminal while a few companies buy all the land.
ft.azmackay.com/p/the-wrong-...
#ArtificialIntelligence #LLM #FutureTense #Tech
ft.azmackay.com/p/the-wrong-...
#ArtificialIntelligence #LLM #FutureTense #Tech
Reposted by A Z Mackay
why did this make me laugh
July 3, 2025 at 11:31 AM
why did this make me laugh
Plot twist: Your biggest AI security threat isn't hackers. It's your own employees trying to be helpful.
theaimonitor.substack.com/p/ai-governa...
#AI #TechSecurity #Innovation
theaimonitor.substack.com/p/ai-governa...
#AI #TechSecurity #Innovation
June 17, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Plot twist: Your biggest AI security threat isn't hackers. It's your own employees trying to be helpful.
theaimonitor.substack.com/p/ai-governa...
#AI #TechSecurity #Innovation
theaimonitor.substack.com/p/ai-governa...
#AI #TechSecurity #Innovation
Your employees are already using AI at work. Yes, even Brian from marketing.
Stop fighting shadow AI. Start channeling it.
open.substack.com/pub/theaimon...
Stop fighting shadow AI. Start channeling it.
open.substack.com/pub/theaimon...
Shadow AI on the Rise
From Hidden Risk to Strategic Asset
open.substack.com
June 6, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Your employees are already using AI at work. Yes, even Brian from marketing.
Stop fighting shadow AI. Start channeling it.
open.substack.com/pub/theaimon...
Stop fighting shadow AI. Start channeling it.
open.substack.com/pub/theaimon...
Excited to share something we've been building at QA-Systems!
Like many organizations, we struggled with AI adoption - scattered API keys, rising costs, and zero visibility into who was using what. So we built AI Controller to solve our own problem.
www.linkedin.com/posts/adamma...
Like many organizations, we struggled with AI adoption - scattered API keys, rising costs, and zero visibility into who was using what. So we built AI Controller to solve our own problem.
www.linkedin.com/posts/adamma...
#ai #enterpriseai #aigovernance #innovation #techlaunch | Adam Mackay
Excited to share something we've been building at QA-Systems!
Like many organizations, we struggled with AI adoption - scattered API keys, rising costs, and zero visibility into who was using wha...
www.linkedin.com
June 5, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Excited to share something we've been building at QA-Systems!
Like many organizations, we struggled with AI adoption - scattered API keys, rising costs, and zero visibility into who was using what. So we built AI Controller to solve our own problem.
www.linkedin.com/posts/adamma...
Like many organizations, we struggled with AI adoption - scattered API keys, rising costs, and zero visibility into who was using what. So we built AI Controller to solve our own problem.
www.linkedin.com/posts/adamma...
Solar rays scatter through aerosols
a smoke plume rises
evidence etched in the atmosphere
a smoke plume rises
evidence etched in the atmosphere
May 15, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Solar rays scatter through aerosols
a smoke plume rises
evidence etched in the atmosphere
a smoke plume rises
evidence etched in the atmosphere
Light filters through old trees,
bluebells whisper in the hush,
the forest forgets nothing.
bluebells whisper in the hush,
the forest forgets nothing.
May 9, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Light filters through old trees,
bluebells whisper in the hush,
the forest forgets nothing.
bluebells whisper in the hush,
the forest forgets nothing.
Reposted by A Z Mackay
Happy 99th birthday to the man who gave voice to the wild. 🎉
Sir David Attenborough, thank you for a lifetime dedicated to the natural world, and for sharing its story with wisdom, wonder, and grace.
You've inspired generations to fall in love with nature.
Sir David Attenborough, thank you for a lifetime dedicated to the natural world, and for sharing its story with wisdom, wonder, and grace.
You've inspired generations to fall in love with nature.
May 8, 2025 at 7:09 AM
Happy 99th birthday to the man who gave voice to the wild. 🎉
Sir David Attenborough, thank you for a lifetime dedicated to the natural world, and for sharing its story with wisdom, wonder, and grace.
You've inspired generations to fall in love with nature.
Sir David Attenborough, thank you for a lifetime dedicated to the natural world, and for sharing its story with wisdom, wonder, and grace.
You've inspired generations to fall in love with nature.
Astronomers just found a massive hydrogen cloud named Eos hiding 300 light-years away, "literally glowing in the dark" in ultraviolet light. A giant structure in our cosmic backyard, invisible until now. What else is lurking out there that we can't yet see? www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A nearby dark molecular cloud in the Local Bubble revealed via H2 fluorescence - Nature Astronomy
Eos is a newly discovered molecular cloud sitting just 94 pc from the Sun. It was detected through the far-UV emission of its molecular hydrogen, having been missed in conventional molecular gas surve...
www.nature.com
May 1, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Astronomers just found a massive hydrogen cloud named Eos hiding 300 light-years away, "literally glowing in the dark" in ultraviolet light. A giant structure in our cosmic backyard, invisible until now. What else is lurking out there that we can't yet see? www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Physical AI is here: Nvidia’s new Vera Rubin chips bring agentic AI & robotics to life. Straight from Terminator’s Skynet playbook. Are we ready? apnews.com/article/457e...
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang unveils new Rubin AI chips at GTC 2025
Nvidia founder Jensen Huang kicked off the company’s artificial intelligence developer conference, on Tuesday by telling a crowd of thousands that AI is going through “an inflection point.”
apnews.com
April 27, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Physical AI is here: Nvidia’s new Vera Rubin chips bring agentic AI & robotics to life. Straight from Terminator’s Skynet playbook. Are we ready? apnews.com/article/457e...
In the quiet reflections of a forgotten pond, Earth's whispers linger... a timeless archive quietly resisting synthetic eternity. Past and future merge, awaiting humanity's rediscovery that purest technology lies in leaves and untainted waters.
April 25, 2025 at 5:52 AM
In the quiet reflections of a forgotten pond, Earth's whispers linger... a timeless archive quietly resisting synthetic eternity. Past and future merge, awaiting humanity's rediscovery that purest technology lies in leaves and untainted waters.
Reposted by A Z Mackay
Extraordinary!
We don't fear machines thinking like humans; we fear humans thinking like machines.
April 22, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Extraordinary!
Some horizons are drawn in shipping lanes, others in half‑finished paragraphs. He doesn’t care which one I’m chasing—just that the tide is here, the breeze is real, and we’re sharing it in this moment.
April 21, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Some horizons are drawn in shipping lanes, others in half‑finished paragraphs. He doesn’t care which one I’m chasing—just that the tide is here, the breeze is real, and we’re sharing it in this moment.
When algorithms predict everything, imagination becomes revolutionary.
April 19, 2025 at 9:23 PM
When algorithms predict everything, imagination becomes revolutionary.
The most powerful interface is still the space between imagination and possibility.
April 14, 2025 at 7:09 AM
The most powerful interface is still the space between imagination and possibility.
Realizing brain interfaces could soon be subtle enough to hide between hair follicles really hammers home how blurred the line between internal thought and external action might become. How invisible will the machine get?
research.gatech.edu/new-wearable...
research.gatech.edu/new-wearable...
New Wearable Brain-Computer Interface | Research
Micro-brain sensors placed between hair strands overcome traditional brain sensor limitations.Georgia Tech researchers have developed an almost imperceptible microstructure brain sensor to be inserted...
research.gatech.edu
April 11, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Realizing brain interfaces could soon be subtle enough to hide between hair follicles really hammers home how blurred the line between internal thought and external action might become. How invisible will the machine get?
research.gatech.edu/new-wearable...
research.gatech.edu/new-wearable...
Time moves differently in the garden... some say it waits, others say it watches.
April 9, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Time moves differently in the garden... some say it waits, others say it watches.