Madeline Ashby
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madelineashby.bsky.social
Madeline Ashby
@madelineashby.bsky.social
3.2K followers 1.3K following 3.2K posts
I write futures. GLASS HOUSES out 13 August 2024. Come fly with us. https://www.madelineashby.com/contact/
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Madeline Ashby
astrokatie.com
The most precious commodity you have is your attention. You don’t have to waste it on poor-faith debates or arguments with strangers if you don’t think they’ll be productive. You can prioritize the things that matter to you and make your life richer.
November 30, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Reposted by Madeline Ashby
bruces.bsky.social
"Devastating-yet-obscure climate-crisis events get closer and closer to you personally. Until you're the guy posting those local on-scene videos, and wondering why the globe doesn't care about your devastation
December 1, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Reposted by Madeline Ashby
socialmedialab.ca
"Germany’s far-right AfD attempts to rebrand as real power comes within reach. Some Alternative for Germany leaders are trying to soften the party’s extremist image. Despite the effort, the mask keeps falling." www.politico.eu/article/germ...
Germany’s far-right AfD attempts to rebrand as real power comes within reach
Some Alternative for Germany leaders are trying to soften the party’s extremist image. Despite the effort, the mask keeps falling.
www.politico.eu
December 1, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Reposted by Madeline Ashby
nickharkaway.com
*looks to camera*
economist.com The Economist @economist.com · 7d
Three years into the generative-AI wave, demand for the technology seems surprisingly flimsy
Investors expect AI use to soar. That’s not happening
Recent surveys point to flatlining business adoption
econ.st
December 1, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Reposted by Madeline Ashby
older.bsky.social
and on THURSDAY all three editors will be in conversation with @issuesinst.bsky.social @edfinn.bsky.social @craigcalhoun.bsky.social in what promises to be a fascinating virtual event - join us! issues.org/event/what-i...
What Is Fiction’s Role in Imagining Better Social Policies?
Join us for a conversation on how social scientists, advocates, and policy makers can use fiction to imagine better futures.
issues.org
December 1, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Reposted by Madeline Ashby
older.bsky.social
There will be a fabulous in-person event with @eff.org in SF tomorrow, which I sadly cannot join but you should totally register for a free ticket for if you are in town! www.eff.org/event/we-wil...
We Will Rise Again at The Booksmith
The Booksmith is proud to be celebrating the release of We Will Rise Again with Annalee Newitz, Charlie Jane Anders, Reo Eveleth, Cindy Cohn, Andrea Dehlendorf, and Vida James.When:Tuesday, December 2...
www.eff.org
December 1, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Reposted by Madeline Ashby
bfletcherwatson.bsky.social
Eleven years ago, I wrote to Tom Stoppard to ask about this coup de théâtre from 1949. It took me down an unexpected rabbit hole - in memory of Stoppard, here's what I found.
"Years and years ago, there was a production of The Tempest, out of doors, at an Oxford college on a lawn, which was the stage, and the lawn went back towards the lake in the grounds of the college, and the play began in natural light. But as it developed, and as it became time for Ariel to say his farewell to the world of The Tempest, the evening had started to close in and there was some artificial lighting coming on. And as Ariel uttered his last speech, he turned and he ran across the grass, and he got to the edge of the lake and he just kept running across the top of the water — the producer having thoughtfully provided a kind of walkway an inch beneath the water. And you could see and you could hear the plish, plash as he ran away from you across the top of the lake, until the gloom enveloped him and he disappeared from your view. And as he did so, from the further shore, a firework rocket was ignited, and it went whoosh into the air, and high up there it burst into lots of sparks, and all the sparks went out, and he had gone. "When you look up the stage directions, it says, 'Exit Ariel.”
November 30, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Reposted by Madeline Ashby
davidhsiegel.bsky.social
I'll say it again -- I'm on my firm's AI committee: every canned demo has had brutal, malpractice-level errors, and every live trial has required more time and care to vet the output than to just do it, like working with an unteachably incompetent associate you'd need to sit down for a Hard Talk.
December 1, 2025 at 2:28 AM
Reposted by Madeline Ashby
jasonkoebler.bsky.social
X's location "transparency" feature showing many MAGA accounts are based internationally reveals what we already knew: The world is using American social media and American politics as a slot machine and social media companies are directly incentivizing this:

www.404media.co/americas-pol...
America’s Polarization Has Become the World's Side Hustle
The 'psyops' revealed by X are entirely the fault of the perverse incentives created by social media monetization programs.
www.404media.co
November 24, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Reposted by Madeline Ashby
404media.co
After 404 Media's months-long reporting and pressure from lawmakers, the data broker owned by the U.S.’s major airlines will now shut down a program in which it sold access to hundreds of millions of flight records to the government and let agencies track peoples’ movements without a warrant.
November 18, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Reposted by Madeline Ashby
thebaltimorebanner.com
Visa canceled at the border, a Hopkins grad student has been stuck in Canada for months
Visa canceled at the border, a Hopkins grad student has been stuck in Canada for months
Ehsan Rajabi said the university declined to advocate for him.
buff.ly
December 1, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Reposted by Madeline Ashby
tylerfromtheinternet.com
Sure, they've made an environmentally catastrophic mass hallucination disinformation plagiarism Clippy that will destabilize the world, but also their other goal is to replace human workers entirely and let us humans starve. A boycott of AI is the most important boycott of your entire life.
karoline.bsky.social Karoline @karoline.bsky.social · 7d
"All of this falls apart if humans don't adopt the tech. This is why you've seen Meta cram its lame chatbots into WhatsApp and Instagram. This is why Notepad and Paint now have useless Copilot buttons on Windows. This is why Google Gemini wants to "help you" read and reply to your emails."
Analysis: OpenAI is a loss-making machine, how can it survive?
Don't call it a bubble! Loss-making monster OpenAI is on the hook for $1.4 trillion (with a T) in compute commitments. How can this go on?
www.windowscentral.com
November 30, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Reposted by Madeline Ashby
cjthered.bsky.social
It’s the best fiction I read last year. Highly recommended.
madelineashby.bsky.social Madeline Ashby @madelineashby.bsky.social · 26d
I’m not sure if the first line will convince you, but this kindle sale might: www.amazon.com/Glass-Houses...
December 1, 2025 at 1:10 AM
madelineashby.bsky.social
I just want @rianjohnson.bsky.social to know that this sleety Sunday afternoon screening of #wakeupdeadman was SOLD OUT IN TORONTO, and with good reason.
November 30, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Reposted by Madeline Ashby
ncweaver.skerry-tech.com
Just finished, strong recommend. A brutal condemnation of tech-bro misogyny set in a near-present future.
madelineashby.bsky.social Madeline Ashby @madelineashby.bsky.social · 26d
I’m not sure if the first line will convince you, but this kindle sale might: www.amazon.com/Glass-Houses...
November 25, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Reposted by Madeline Ashby
estarianne.bsky.social
This is literally one of the things the King did that made the first amendment the first.
November 23, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Reposted by Madeline Ashby
dieworkwear.bsky.social
Twitter pays people based on engagement (views, retweets, comments, etc). It appears that many MAGA accounts are based abroad and they use AI technology to generate low-effort rage bait.

My guess is that this will get worse as AI tech improves. For instance, fake videos of minorities doing crime.
A Twitter account called Ivanka News tweets an AI image of a young woman wearing Muslim garb. The woman is holding a sign that says "I came here illegally. Should I be deported?" Ivanka News writes: What is your response to this person ?? In the "About this account" tab, it appears the account is based in Nigeria An account called MAGA scope writes: Who, in your view is the great enemy of the United States? Communism, Islam, Democratic Party, or Satan? The account is based in Nigeria. An account called MAGA Nadine writes: You go to work and find this. What would you do? The attached pic is an AI image that shows a microwave. The microwave has a sign that says "For religious reasons, this microwave is now making halal food only." The account is based in Morocco. An account called America First posts an AI image of Tulsi Gabbard. They wrote: How would you rate your trust in Tulsi Gabbard on a scale of 1-10?
November 23, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Reposted by Madeline Ashby
dominicervolina.com
Instagram’s former head of safety and well-being Vaishnavi Jayakumar testified the company had a “17x” strike policy for accounts that engaged in the trafficking of humans for sex.

“You could incur 16 violations and upon the 17th violation, your account would be suspended"

time.com/7336204/meta...
7 Allegations Against Meta in Newly Unsealed Filings
Court filings allege Meta tolerated sex trafficking, hid harms to teens, and prioritized growth over user safety for years.
time.com
November 23, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Reposted by Madeline Ashby
hypervisible.blacksky.app
17 strikes and you’re out. 💀
By and large, however, the allegations against the other social media platforms are less detailed than those against Meta. The internal documents cited by the plaintiffs allege: Meta intentionally designed its youth safety features to be ineffective and rarely used, and blocked testing of safety features that it feared might be harmful to growth. Meta required users to be caught 17 times attempting to traffic people for sex before it would remove them from its platform, which a document described as “a very, very, very high strike threshold." Meta recognized that optimizing its products to increase teen engagement resulted in serving them more harmful content, but did so anyway. Meta stalled internal efforts to prevent child predators from contacting minors for years due to growth concerns, and pressured safety staff to circulate arguments justifying its decision not to act.
November 23, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Reposted by Madeline Ashby
hypervisible.blacksky.app
“Meta shut down internal research into the mental health effects of Facebook after finding causal evidence that its products harmed users’ mental health, according to unredacted filings in a lawsuit by U.S. school districts against Meta and other social media platforms.”
Meta buried 'causal' evidence of social media harm, US court filings allege - The Economic Times
Meta reportedly halted internal research into the mental health impacts of Facebook and Instagram after finding causal evidence of harm. Internal documents revealed users reported lower depression and...
m.economictimes.com
November 23, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by Madeline Ashby
josie.zone
“How am I supposed to just infer what people’s gender deal is??” Well buddy, I don’t know how Korean speakers identify which verbal declensions to use based on age and status when they meet each other but they’ve pulled it off for centuries so I guess the answer is put your bussy into it
September 6, 2023 at 12:05 PM
Reposted by Madeline Ashby
astrokatie.com
Can’t believe the whole country has to suffer through the return of Dickensian childhood diseases because the worst, most ignorant attention-demanders decided other people’s expertise makes them feel bad
November 20, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Reposted by Madeline Ashby
scrivenerapp.bsky.social
Unlike most apps these days, Scrivener does not use AI in any way. However, if you’re on a Mac, you may see an AI prompt.
.
Here’s why, and what you can do if you want to remove this: buff.ly/MlAq0rL
November 19, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Reposted by Madeline Ashby
indyfromspace.bsky.social
NERD KLAXON THIS SUNDAY
www.pbs.org/show/the-ame...
The American Revolution
Thirteen colonies unite in rebellion, win their independence, and found the United States.
www.pbs.org
November 12, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Reposted by Madeline Ashby
brendelbored.bsky.social
The Joyce Carol Oates and “books written between 1890-1930 are so ALPHA” thing struck home because it showed how many elites nowadays lack the ability to be moved or find meaning in art beyond what we did watching John Wick and going fuck yea this rules and that explains why they believe in AI art
November 12, 2025 at 1:08 PM