Brian Oberkirch

A Treatise on AI Chatbots Undermining the Enlightenment On chatbot sycophancy, passivity, and the case for more intellectually challenging companions

I've been trying to articulate why the fawning, complimentary responses from AI chatbots feel so insidious to me. I've finally figured out how to explain it.

Wrote a long piece on how current model training and design choices threaten our critical thinking skills: maggieappleton.com/ai-enlighten...

A good sendoff for a great place.

Maybe I'll spend time this weekend updating everything & rebuilding the system to give it another go.

Is it safe to Sonos again?

Toolmen Even the best weapon is an unhappy tool.

aworkinglibrary.com/writing/tool...

Mandy Brown good is very good, indeed.

I made one of these to cheers Pableaux last night. Which, he would have said, "Uh, it's pronounced 'woid'." (Also, is that a Murray coaster?)

Pableaux Johnson, the Heart of New Orleans Hospitality, Dies at 59 As a photographer, cook and writer, he united communities through shared meals, vivid storytelling and a deep love of the city’s traditions.

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/d...

Kim's piece is really nice.

The book cover of A Physical Education: How I Escaped Diet Culture and Gained the Power of Lifting by Casey Johnston

I know that many joined Bluesky to keep up with what's new and hip in the world. WELL:
-I can finally reveal the cover for my book, A Physical Education
-Pre-orders are open, pub date May 6 2025
-I'm biased but it's really good
www.shesabeast.co/a-physical-e...

This is @caseyjohnston.bsky.social's wheelhouse, and so true. Squirmy kid on the hip prep routines.

An Interview with Boots Riley - Believer Magazine I dressed carefully for my interview with Boots Riley. Layered under my flannel shirt was a purple tee featuring a cartoon explosion around the words i got the s#*@ kicked out of me! It was a deep cut...

“It’s just a different way of being realistic.”

—Boots Riley on world-building; interviewed by @annaleen.bsky.social

www.thebeliever.net/an-interview...

The no-license-plate thing, too. "I'd prefer not to."

Jenny Holzer's Truisms Jenny Holzer's Truisms: A mini interactive tribute, sparked by Light Line.

declaring my love for Jenny Holzer's Truisms with a little web thing inspired by her Guggenheim exhibit

completely handwritten, no frameworks, builds, AI, or best practices involved truisms.ginatrapani.org

Who is making the Bluesky Holzer bot??

Turns out, whittling down to one and a half newspapers was bad.

Fediverse Governance Drop - Erin Kissane's small internet website After a few months of prepping and conducting interviews and then many more months of analyzing and writing up what we found, we’re <a href=

So @tinysubversions.bsky.social and I spent a big chunk of this year talking to great people who run Mastodon and Hometown servers about how they govern their parts of the network. We learned SO MUCH.

erinkissane.com/fediverse-go...

Thank you, thank you. This looks like a great catalog of new fun.

I always look forward to these intricate happy hour builds of old favs that you two do. If I wanted to make a little MM bitter starter kit, what would you recommend?

✩ 20 years of microformats: web standards by the people, for the people. Congratulations and thanks to Tantek Çelik, Eric Meyer, and Matt Mullenweg.

tantek.com/2024/044/t1/...

Serious inquiry for Google leaders in charge of Project Eat the Seed Corn: what do *you* use to find things on what used to the Web?

I loved reading this, and I'm happy to remember how it felt when things started out. Here's a shot when they were setting up those sxsw screens: https://www.flickr.com/gp/brianoberkirch/4z63e

The Paul Ford Extended Universe in one board: https://app.aboard.com/boards/2Guc8LcAlptxqFKiDqDoCs?view=columnar

(also: I've been using Aboard for a bit, and I love it. It's taken the place of Pocket)

But then again, wasn't that always the allure? The Minor Fall, The Major Lift (Balk's original incognito mode) was always already about to disappear. Felt like. https://web.archive.org/web/20061214094835/http://www.popfactor.com/tmftml/

I miss reading Alex Balk. Happened on this while looking for his current whereabouts: https://lithub.com/alex-balk-on-the-bittersweetness-of-encountering-a-beloved-childhood-toy/

Includes the bio slug: "Alex Balk is something of a lost object himself."

Would subscribe

Wonderful read, full of threads you'll want to pick up. Past readings you'll want reflect on, deflect, inflect. Thanks, @beep! Er, Ethan.

We can do it, Dave. We have the (emotional) technology. We can do it better, stronger, faster, kinder, sweeter, slower, more nourishing.

I adore the brief moment when you sign up to something new, and the first thing you do is build a little list of people who make you smile when you see their names. Hello, world.