MidniteMikeWrites
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midnitemikewrites.zirk.us.ap.brid.gy
MidniteMikeWrites
@midnitemikewrites.zirk.us.ap.brid.gy
Currently building https://misaligned.markets to discuss modern political economy. California native, chronic night owl, and writer managing a whole mess of […]

🌉 bridged from ⁂ https://zirk.us/@MidniteMikeWrites, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact
Last post of the year: In a lot of ways naïve #ai boosterism resembles (and is down stream of) commodity fetishism and market fundamentalism. All of these are modes of thinking that erase deeper context of how a system works.
https://misaligned.markets/ai-hype-market-fundamentalism/

#blog #llm […]
Original post on zirk.us
zirk.us
December 30, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Reposted by MidniteMikeWrites
I know many of you who follow me don't work in climate science, but this is the biggest story in climate right now. Breaking up NCAR makes us all less safe and is another act of self-harm that will take decades to recover from.

https://wapo.st/4p3YwDx
December 17, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by MidniteMikeWrites
#LLMs are a #darkpattern. Specifically the way #llm services try to pass off intelligence is not to the benefit of the user. The insane thing is, though, that the companies doing this aren't even making money doing so.

https://misaligned.markets/llm-intelligence-is-a-dark-pattern/
LLM “intelligence” is a dark pattern
LLMs leverage scaffolding and user psychology to appear as slabs of raw intelligence in service of a costly illusion.
misaligned.markets
November 19, 2025 at 9:33 PM
I completely missed posting about my one year #mastodon anniversary last week. Nearly 1000 posts written, kind of crazy I didn't think I'd be that active!

#mastodonanniversary #first1000posts
November 19, 2025 at 9:41 PM
#LLMs are a #darkpattern. Specifically the way #llm services try to pass off intelligence is not to the benefit of the user. The insane thing is, though, that the companies doing this aren't even making money doing so.

https://misaligned.markets/llm-intelligence-is-a-dark-pattern/
LLM “intelligence” is a dark pattern
LLMs leverage scaffolding and user psychology to appear as slabs of raw intelligence in service of a costly illusion.
misaligned.markets
November 19, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Jen Easterly uses the phrase #misalignedmarkets to describe the current state of cyber. As a former #cybersecurity writer now running a blog called Misaligned Markets, I couldn't agree more! Companies are rewarded for externalizing costs (in every domain). In cyber […]

[Original post on zirk.us]
October 27, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Reposted by MidniteMikeWrites
“Generative AI is polluting the information environment such that many people can no longer tell if they’re looking at AI slop or something real, leaving them open to manipulation by bad actors. When they do turn to generative AI for news, the information they receive misrepresents the story 45% […]
Original post on vickerson.me
vickerson.me
October 24, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Genuinely miss #philosophy #twitter circa 2017-2019. Don't think I've ever experienced a #socialmedia community like it. Was hoping to find some semblance of it on #mastodon, but I've been here for almost a year, and it still feels kind of feels like I'm screaming into a void.

Been following […]
Original post on zirk.us
zirk.us
October 22, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Reposted by MidniteMikeWrites
The next President should turn the White House Ballroom into a publicly-accessible permanent display on the Epstein files.
October 21, 2025 at 9:59 PM
I've written a glossary and introductory page for my project #misalignedmarkets which is about how #market #capitalism is failing. Learn more about the ideas behind my writing here: https://misaligned.markets/start-here/

#economics #oligarchy #law #history #finance
Start Here
New to Misaligned Markets? Here's an overview of the ideas behind the project.
misaligned.markets
October 20, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Reposted by MidniteMikeWrites
How do I enter the BIOS setup??
October 17, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Reposted by MidniteMikeWrites
Bought my tickets to see @pluralistic talk about #enshittification at Public Works in #sanfrancisco! Sharing on the off chance that any of my followers are going or are in the area. Would love to hang out/meet up 🙂 […]
Original post on zirk.us
zirk.us
October 15, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Bought my tickets to see @pluralistic talk about #enshittification at Public Works in #sanfrancisco! Sharing on the off chance that any of my followers are going or are in the area. Would love to hang out/meet up 🙂 […]
Original post on zirk.us
zirk.us
October 15, 2025 at 6:57 PM
It normally takes me two weeks to write #blog posts, but I did a one-week sprint to finish my newest one.

I'm writing about #llm / #ai which is different from what I normally write about, but I've become so frustrated with media coverage. Look forward to it next week #writing #tech #darkpattern […]
Original post on zirk.us
zirk.us
October 11, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Reposted by MidniteMikeWrites
running docker on a raspberry pi
October 7, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Reposted by MidniteMikeWrites
I love their work, but I wish they'd Alt Text.
October 9, 2025 at 2:35 PM
What the hell is #capitalism? It's a historically contingent system that's designed to codify ownership of things in order to facilitate capital accumulation.
Anglophone countries (specifically US/UK) provide an illustrative list of developments that together explain how capitalism is […]
Original post on zirk.us
zirk.us
October 2, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Reposted by MidniteMikeWrites
I care about poverty, mainly alleviating it, through charity, better taxes and support.

When I discovered this one piece of research it changed my whole approach to understanding poverty.

In our newest episode "Why People in Poverty make Poor Decisions" I explore this research which points to […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
September 27, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Reposted by MidniteMikeWrites
Canada Post is a service, not a consumer product. The idea that it operates at a "loss" is stupid. It's like saying schools operate at a loss; hospitals operate at a loss; roads operate at a loss; sewers operates at a loss.

We pay for public services collectively, because they are simply needed […]
Original post on mstdn.bdms.ca
mstdn.bdms.ca
September 25, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Reposted by MidniteMikeWrites
September 25, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Reposted by MidniteMikeWrites
(2/3) When I say “growth of capitalism” I specifically mean capitalism as distinct from, but deeply connected to, markets.

Capitalism is a set of “protocols” designed to codify ownership of property to facilitate capital accumulation. This results in a system of […]

[Original post on zirk.us]
August 27, 2025 at 12:53 AM
Reposted by MidniteMikeWrites
The latest #misalignedmarkets post is about historical developments that are core to understanding what market capitalism is and how it works. https://misaligned.markets/contingencies-of-capitalism/

#history #finance #economics #markets #poliecon #capitalism
The historical contingencies of Anglo-capitalism
Capitalism is a social technology and a system of governance predicated on specific historical developments.
misaligned.markets
September 19, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Reposted by MidniteMikeWrites
**Hi, I'm micr0, the creator of Altbot.**

Almost a year ago, your incredible generosity helped us raise the funds to buy the server that Altbot runs on today (locally and privately) It's been operating from my home ever since, and I'm so grateful for the support that made that possible.

But […]
Original post on wetdry.world
wetdry.world
September 19, 2025 at 8:19 PM
I'm thinking back to this post I wrote last month. Given that we seem set to speedrun the 20th century's greatest failures, I'm wondering if there's a podcast that takes a contemporary issue and compares it to one in the past. We certainly have lots of examples to choose from […]
Original post on zirk.us
zirk.us
September 19, 2025 at 7:45 PM