drew mca
@drewmca.net
software @ mathematica.org
media & public engagement @colorado.edu
research @medlabboulder.bsky.social
building @pmsky.social
cooperatives, protocols, collaboration
drewmca.net
media & public engagement @colorado.edu
research @medlabboulder.bsky.social
building @pmsky.social
cooperatives, protocols, collaboration
drewmca.net
“The sun may have set over our city this evening, but as Eugene Debs once said, I can see the dawn of a better day for humanity.”
‘Hope Is Alive’: Zohran Mamdani’s Victory Speech After Toppling a NYC Dynasty
YouTube video by Zeteo
youtu.be
November 5, 2025 at 3:18 PM
“The sun may have set over our city this evening, but as Eugene Debs once said, I can see the dawn of a better day for humanity.”
If the left position is “no don’t automate jobs, how else will you eat?” then the right’s response is easy: free market, progress, automation, etc.
Instead, the left should advocate for less work, higher wages and safety net, and full automation (from “Inventing the Future”).
Instead, the left should advocate for less work, higher wages and safety net, and full automation (from “Inventing the Future”).
Even if you were willing to buy that an LLM/Gen AI tool has human-like intellect, you’re still left with the fact that an LLM doesn’t NEED a job to remain alive under capitalism, but a human does.
morality-wise, surely many would agree that humans should thus be given priority for jobs due to need
morality-wise, surely many would agree that humans should thus be given priority for jobs due to need
November 2, 2025 at 7:39 PM
If the left position is “no don’t automate jobs, how else will you eat?” then the right’s response is easy: free market, progress, automation, etc.
Instead, the left should advocate for less work, higher wages and safety net, and full automation (from “Inventing the Future”).
Instead, the left should advocate for less work, higher wages and safety net, and full automation (from “Inventing the Future”).
Reposted by drew mca
"[Trump's] agenda only works if there’s nothing else on offer.
Blue Bonds are the counter-offer."
Blue Bonds are the counter-offer."
Blue Bonds Can Stop Trump’s Fiscal Authoritarianism
By the Money on the Left Editorial Collective Less than a year into his second term, Donald Trump has launched an illegal and (as now) unfeasible mass deportation campaign—one that is tearing apart…
moneyontheleft.org
October 5, 2025 at 11:54 PM
"[Trump's] agenda only works if there’s nothing else on offer.
Blue Bonds are the counter-offer."
Blue Bonds are the counter-offer."
October 3, 2025 at 8:50 PM
The most infuriating part of this whole thing is the details being left out.
Headline: Comey Indicted!
By who? An interim? Why did they just start? The AG resigned? Why did they leave?
**because there wasn’t enough evidence to indict Comey**
Why have I only seen that mentioned once????
Headline: Comey Indicted!
By who? An interim? Why did they just start? The AG resigned? Why did they leave?
**because there wasn’t enough evidence to indict Comey**
Why have I only seen that mentioned once????
New on MSNBC: According to the court transcript, only 14 of the 23 grand jurors voted in favor of indicting James Comey on the two counts that went forward.
September 27, 2025 at 5:49 PM
The most infuriating part of this whole thing is the details being left out.
Headline: Comey Indicted!
By who? An interim? Why did they just start? The AG resigned? Why did they leave?
**because there wasn’t enough evidence to indict Comey**
Why have I only seen that mentioned once????
Headline: Comey Indicted!
By who? An interim? Why did they just start? The AG resigned? Why did they leave?
**because there wasn’t enough evidence to indict Comey**
Why have I only seen that mentioned once????
Closed source / corporate controlled algorithms are a large source of societal ills, ban them
September 14, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Closed source / corporate controlled algorithms are a large source of societal ills, ban them
Currently cramming the protocol reader ahead of @protocolized.bsky.social’s symposium this week, feels like I’m back in grad school 😄
September 13, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Currently cramming the protocol reader ahead of @protocolized.bsky.social’s symposium this week, feels like I’m back in grad school 😄
Fun fact, there is way less regulation on these things, so their efficiency and carbon output tends to be massively worse.
One study found that running a gas leaf blower for an hour is like driving an F150 from Texas to Alaska and back!
One study found that running a gas leaf blower for an hour is like driving an F150 from Texas to Alaska and back!
Ban gas-powered leaf blowers and gardening tools. I am in the 40th minute of listening to this shit for a property that isn't even that big. Even with noise-canceling headphones, it's crap.
Ban ICE and ICE (internal combustion engines).
Ban ICE and ICE (internal combustion engines).
September 4, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Fun fact, there is way less regulation on these things, so their efficiency and carbon output tends to be massively worse.
One study found that running a gas leaf blower for an hour is like driving an F150 from Texas to Alaska and back!
One study found that running a gas leaf blower for an hour is like driving an F150 from Texas to Alaska and back!
And it still hasn’t stopped, 65 pages in
August 31, 2025 at 9:26 PM
And it still hasn’t stopped, 65 pages in
I really liked this thought experiment, so I annotated it and posted it here, mostly for my own future reference.
It's pulled from the introduction to Robert Bates' "Beyond the Miracle of the Market," book on midcentury economic development in Kenya after gaining their independence from Britain.
It's pulled from the introduction to Robert Bates' "Beyond the Miracle of the Market," book on midcentury economic development in Kenya after gaining their independence from Britain.
Bates' Gedanken on Property Rights
A thought experiment that shows the primacy of property rights in economic systems
leaflet.drewmca.net
August 30, 2025 at 11:29 PM
I really liked this thought experiment, so I annotated it and posted it here, mostly for my own future reference.
It's pulled from the introduction to Robert Bates' "Beyond the Miracle of the Market," book on midcentury economic development in Kenya after gaining their independence from Britain.
It's pulled from the introduction to Robert Bates' "Beyond the Miracle of the Market," book on midcentury economic development in Kenya after gaining their independence from Britain.
How about a thought experiment?
Obviously this trend needs to be reversed, but a mandated max ratio is only one option.
CEO pay ballooned largely because 1) pay is public and 2) smaller group of people, so less of a collective action problem. Anything else I’m missing?
Obviously this trend needs to be reversed, but a mandated max ratio is only one option.
CEO pay ballooned largely because 1) pay is public and 2) smaller group of people, so less of a collective action problem. Anything else I’m missing?
Starbucks CEO pay: $96 MILLION
Starbucks worker pay: $15,000
Coca-Cola CEO pay: $28 MILLION
Coca-Cola worker pay: $14,000
CEOs used to make like 20x the average worker.
In 2024, the average CEO earned 632x more.
The system is rigged.
Starbucks worker pay: $15,000
Coca-Cola CEO pay: $28 MILLION
Coca-Cola worker pay: $14,000
CEOs used to make like 20x the average worker.
In 2024, the average CEO earned 632x more.
The system is rigged.
August 28, 2025 at 11:10 PM
How about a thought experiment?
Obviously this trend needs to be reversed, but a mandated max ratio is only one option.
CEO pay ballooned largely because 1) pay is public and 2) smaller group of people, so less of a collective action problem. Anything else I’m missing?
Obviously this trend needs to be reversed, but a mandated max ratio is only one option.
CEO pay ballooned largely because 1) pay is public and 2) smaller group of people, so less of a collective action problem. Anything else I’m missing?
I am a Newhousian on this issue
as a reminder of the newhousian approach to this, I strongly support doubling the size of the House of Reps and making every additional seat proportionally allocated (thus resulting in a mixed-member legislature)
also abolish the senate
also abolish the senate
Most voters also say that single-member districts are unfair to the minority party in deep red/blue states. We asked if voters would support a system that allocated House seats by party proportional to the share of the vote they win statewide, and 46% said yes (27% no).
August 28, 2025 at 4:03 PM
I am a Newhousian on this issue
@adriennebuller.bsky.social and @mathewlawrence.bsky.social’s Owning the Future goes incredibly hard in just the first few pages
August 16, 2025 at 4:07 PM
@adriennebuller.bsky.social and @mathewlawrence.bsky.social’s Owning the Future goes incredibly hard in just the first few pages
Inevitable result of home equity driving the majority of Americans’ net worth
really feels like housing affordability is one of the most important political issues of our time, affecting nearly every aspect of our lives, and everyday our mainstream political discourse is about whether sour cream is woke or not
August 9, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Inevitable result of home equity driving the majority of Americans’ net worth
"Technology is politics by other means."
Great conversation from @robin.berjon.com facilitated by @ntnsndr.in on web standards!
Great conversation from @robin.berjon.com facilitated by @ntnsndr.in on web standards!
Robin Berjon: Web standards
The standards that govern the World Wide Web develop at the intersection of profit-seeking companies, nonprofit organizations, and small groups of people with …
protocol.ecologies.info
August 6, 2025 at 8:39 PM
"Technology is politics by other means."
Great conversation from @robin.berjon.com facilitated by @ntnsndr.in on web standards!
Great conversation from @robin.berjon.com facilitated by @ntnsndr.in on web standards!
This piece was originally a homework assignment, months before I had even started outlining the details for PMsky. I dug this up recently, and I think it's fun to see the ideas percolating that led to the project.
Precursor Ramblings to PMsky
Train-of-thought response to Tufekci's Twitter & Teargas on collaborative truth-finding.
leaflet.drewmca.net
August 5, 2025 at 2:06 AM
This piece was originally a homework assignment, months before I had even started outlining the details for PMsky. I dug this up recently, and I think it's fun to see the ideas percolating that led to the project.
Here's some more rambling - a paper I wrote last year for a sociology class, looking at platforms and protocols through a lens of firms, markets, and networks.
Platforms, Protocols, and Permissibility
A comparison of communication technologies across permission types
leaflet.drewmca.net
August 5, 2025 at 1:47 AM
Here's some more rambling - a paper I wrote last year for a sociology class, looking at platforms and protocols through a lens of firms, markets, and networks.
when running `goat record update`, am I correct to assume that the response: "error: XRPC ERROR 400: InvalidRequest: Lexicon not found: lex:pub.leaflet.document" comes from there not being a published lexicon on the @leaflet.pub PDS? #atdev
August 3, 2025 at 4:52 PM
when running `goat record update`, am I correct to assume that the response: "error: XRPC ERROR 400: InvalidRequest: Lexicon not found: lex:pub.leaflet.document" comes from there not being a published lexicon on the @leaflet.pub PDS? #atdev
Slowly going to start publishing some of the pieces I'd written for grad school the last couple of years - this was written in the fall of 2023, so go easy on me 😄
Inflationary Equity
A Model of Corporate Share Issuance Accounting for Labor Contribution
leaflet.drewmca.net
August 2, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Slowly going to start publishing some of the pieces I'd written for grad school the last couple of years - this was written in the fall of 2023, so go easy on me 😄
excited to be finding new apps like @bookhive.buzz and @leaflet.pub, i'll be spending the weekend playing around with them
August 2, 2025 at 8:10 PM
excited to be finding new apps like @bookhive.buzz and @leaflet.pub, i'll be spending the weekend playing around with them
new domain purchased who dis
August 2, 2025 at 8:08 PM
new domain purchased who dis
Recent reading, a policy kit for financing shared ownership ~
Democracy Policy Network
Together, we can build the foundation for a deeper democracy.
democracypolicy.network
July 19, 2025 at 3:43 AM
Recent reading, a policy kit for financing shared ownership ~
As soon as I can figure out why bsky isn't picking up the labeler, this will be the next feature 😄
@pmsky.social is still a very exciting project but I'd love for it to add more useful labels like "inaccurate." Right now all of them are subjective so it still feels like a tech demo.
June 30, 2025 at 8:42 PM
As soon as I can figure out why bsky isn't picking up the labeler, this will be the next feature 😄
A WEEK? For why????
Some reminders:
—First wave of returns are expected to be more favorable to Mamdani.
—RCV won't be run for a week, though we'll get an early sense based on margins of first-round.
—And.... there's A LOT ELSE that matters on the ballot today!
catch up on what else to follow bsky.app/profile/bolt...
—First wave of returns are expected to be more favorable to Mamdani.
—RCV won't be run for a week, though we'll get an early sense based on margins of first-round.
—And.... there's A LOT ELSE that matters on the ballot today!
catch up on what else to follow bsky.app/profile/bolt...
There's a lot else than NYC's mayoral election on Tuesday's ballot. Bolts is also watching heated council races in that city, plus mayoral elections in Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse—and more.
Explore why these matter in our guide of elections to watch:
boltsmag.org/whats-o...
Explore why these matter in our guide of elections to watch:
boltsmag.org/whats-o...
June 25, 2025 at 1:17 AM
A WEEK? For why????
What even is the point of the Supreme Court anymore?
June 23, 2025 at 10:21 PM
What even is the point of the Supreme Court anymore?