Clive Thompson
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clivethompson.bsky.social
Clive Thompson
@clivethompson.bsky.social
7.3K followers 1.2K following 1.1K posts
Writer, musician, hobbyist coder. Journalist with Wired / New York Times Magazine / Mother Jones, author of "Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World". Blog at clivethompson.medium.com. Built https://www.weirdoldbookfinder.net/
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clivethompson.bsky.social
are you working?

you should procrastinate more

i've got you covered

behold "Tiled Words", which is like a crossword mixed with ...

... Tetris

item #2 in my latest "Linkfest" newsletter, free to read/subscribe to here: buttondown.com/clivethompso...
A digital crossword puzzle titled “Worm” is shown with several partially completed answers. Words like “WOOD,” “BOOK,” “MEAL,” and “HOOK” appear on the grid, color-coded in blue or orange. To the right, the clues and notes display hints and feedback such as “Right word, built wrong!” and “Wrong direction!,” suggesting this is an interactive word puzzle game that checks answers in real time.
November 13, 2025 at 1:55 AM
clivethompson.bsky.social
new version of pascal's wager just dropped!

here's an essay about why writers today ought to be thinking about AI as their main audience: theamericanscholar.org/baby-shoggot...

(maybe a dash of roko's basilisk in there too)
Baby Shoggoth Is Listening - The American Scholar
Why are some writers tailoring their work for AI, and what does this mean for the future of writing and reading?
theamericanscholar.org
November 11, 2025 at 4:15 PM
clivethompson.bsky.social
A good dissection of how ICE creates its propaganda videos: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

they edit out the screaming children and detentions of US citizens, and attempt to make tiny groups of protestors look like "terrorists"
Watch how government propaganda techniques portray Chicago as a city at war with the feds
The government’s social media storytelling doesn’t always match what’s happening across the city and suburbs. The diverging sources of information are creating “parallel universes," professor Nick Cul...
chicago.suntimes.com
November 11, 2025 at 3:57 PM
clivethompson.bsky.social
I really never use ChatGPT to generate text, but I have to say, this worked far better than I expected
A screenshot of me asking ChatGPT to "Write a description of how to use git, in the style of the 18th century poet Alexander Pope." The poem begins: “The Git Epistle: or, How to Commit with Grace” (In the Style of Alexander Pope) Know, gentle coder, when thy work’s begun, Each file must live beneath the ruling Sun Of Git—whose care preserves the mortal line ’Twixt chaos’ flux and order’s calm divine. First, init call’d, the temple’s stones arise, And folders breathe beneath creation’s skies. Then add, to mark thy children of the code, Lest wayward edits wander unbestow’d. With commit seal the record, pure and tight, And fix thy message, brief, yet keenly right. So doth the chronic hand of time enroll Thy mortal keystrokes in immortal scroll. Yet pride not o’er thy local store confined— Push upward, friend, to realms of cloud enshrined! There GitHub’s ether, boundless as the blue, Awaits to mirror all thy labours true. When others clone, or branch, or merge in turn, Let patience rule, and temper’d wisdom learn; For oft when minds or merges clash in pain, The sage resolves with rebase—clear again. Thus work with grace, in version’s measured art: Keep order near, and hubris far apart.
November 11, 2025 at 12:57 AM
clivethompson.bsky.social
Interestingly, younger Americans are significantly more likely to dislike data centers than older ones

and dislike is bipartisan

This from a Heatmap story (paywalled): heatmap.news/energy/data-...
An infographic titled “Younger People Really Don’t Like Data Centers” presents survey results showing attitudes toward data centers being built nearby, broken down by age group. A brief description explains that data centers house servers for the internet, apps, and artificial intelligence, and respondents were asked if they would support or oppose one being built near where they live. The results are displayed in horizontal bar charts with three colors: red for “Total support,” yellow for “Not sure,” and blue for “Total oppose.” Among 18- to 34-year-olds, 36% support, 16% are unsure, and 48% oppose. For ages 35 to 49, 37% support, 12% are unsure, and 51% oppose. For ages 50 to 64, 47% support, 14% are unsure, and 40% oppose. For those 65 and older, 51% support, 17% are unsure, and 32% oppose. A caption notes that the poll was of 3,741 registered American voters, conducted August 22–29, 2025, by Heatmap Pro and Embold Research, with a margin of error of ±1.7 percentage points. The Heatmap logo appears at the bottom right. A screenshot of a paragraph from a Heatmap article discussing public opposition to data centers. The text explains that Heatmap Pro conducted polling to understand why Americans are resistant to nearby data centers despite the billions spent on cloud computing and AI development. The article notes that fewer than half of Americans support having a data center near them and that dislike is widespread. A highlighted section reads: “The hostility crosses party lines, with Republicans nearly as likely to express disdain towards these projects as Democrats.” The passage concludes that frustration with data centers increases among younger generations, especially those aged 18 to 49, who are more familiar with AI.
November 10, 2025 at 10:16 PM
clivethompson.bsky.social
A Google paper ponders the viability of hosting an AI data-center ...

... in orbit: Fleets of interlinked satellites powered by the 8x-more-powerful-solar up there

if launch costs go below $200/kg, it'd be cheaper than a data-center on earth, they figure

wild

services.google.com/fh/files/mis...
Screenshot of the first page of an academic-style paper from Google, with the Google logo at the top left and a short URL at the top right reading “https://goo.gle/project-suncatcher-paper.” The centered title reads “Towards a future space-based, highly scalable AI infrastructure system design.” Below it is a list of authors: “Blaise Agüera y Arcas¹, Travis Beals¹, Maria Biggs¹, Jessica V. Bloom¹, Thomas Fischbacher¹, Konstantin Gromov¹, Urs Köster¹, Rishiraj Pravahan¹ and James Manyika¹,” followed by “¹Equal contributions, ¹Google.” The abstract appears in a single-column layout before the text splits into two columns, and reads: “If AI is a foundational general-purpose technology, we should anticipate that demand for AI compute — and energy — will continue to grow. The Sun is by far the largest energy source in our solar system, and thus it warrants consideration how future AI infrastructure could most efficiently tap into that power. This work explores a scalable compute system for machine learning in space, using fleets of satellites equipped with solar arrays, inter-satellite links using free-space optics, and Google tensor processing unit (TPU) accelerator chips. To facilitate high-bandwidth, low-latency inter-satellite communication, the satellites would be flown in close proximity. We illustrate the basic approach to formation flight via a 81-satellite cluster of 1 km radius, and describe an approach for using high-precision ML-based models to control large-scale constellations. Trillium TPUs are radiation tested. They survive a total ionizing dose equivalent to a 5 year mission life without permanent failures, and are characterized for bit-flip errors. Launch costs are a critical part of overall system cost; a learning curve analysis suggests launch to low-Earth orbit (LEO) may reach ≲$200/kg by the mid-2030s.”
November 10, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Reposted by Clive Thompson
misernyc.bsky.social
This is what they sued to stop? Seriously? Court street is done. It's beautiful
November 6, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by Clive Thompson
dell.bsky.social
New: The FBI is quietly urging ICE agents to properly ID themselves in the field.

In a bulletin to law enforcement last month, it warned of criminals posing as ICE to rob, rape, kidnap—a problem it says now demands national coordination to confront.

By me & @carolinehaskins.bsky.social:
FBI Warns of Criminals Posing as ICE, Urges Agents to ID Themselves
In a bulletin to law enforcement agencies, the FBI said criminal impersonators are exploiting ICE’s image and urged nationwide coordination to distinguish real operations from fakes.
www.wired.com
November 4, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Reposted by Clive Thompson
farrahbostic.bsky.social
I've got you! www.wired.com/2006/04/how-...
How Lara Croft Steals Hearts
Conventional wisdom says is a smash success because its cynical blend of prurience and violence plays perfectly to the base instincts of teenage boys. But the reasons for its success may be a whole lo...
www.wired.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Reposted by Clive Thompson
bubbaprog.xyz
...and less than 24 hours later Condé Nast has fired Lex and the rest of the Teen Vogue political desk, even as stories like this were bringing huge numbers of readers to the site
leximcmenamin.com Lex McMenamin (they/them) @leximcmenamin.com · 10d
dissatisfied by the New York Times coverage of Zohran Mamdani?

great news! I talked to the guy Thursday about his campaign’s success at bringing community together beyond this election, and contextualized how it’s potentially shifted youth engagement with politics by simply listening @teenvogue.com
Zohran Mamdani's Establishment-Fighting Campaign Built Community for Young People
“What Mamdani has done is not only inspire and mobilize young people, but he has exposed the establishment and some of their calcified views of participation and inclusion.”
www.teenvogue.com
November 3, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Reposted by Clive Thompson
jenlucpiquant.bsky.social
Target just sent up a giant red flag about the U.S. consumer. A 30% stock plunge, collapsing store traffic, and margin pressure all point to the same thing: Affluent shoppers are rattled and recession fears are rising qz.com/tgt-wmt-earn...
Target just sent up a giant red flag about the U.S. consumer
A 30% stock plunge, collapsing store traffic, and margin pressure all point to the same thing: Affluent shoppers are rattled and recession fears are rising
qz.com
November 3, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Reposted by Clive Thompson
kenwhite.bsky.social
“I chose a political culture that thinks masculinity means being an shitposter asshole who is proud to say ‘retard’, and now I can‘t find a suitable masculine mate.”

I think I may have spotted your problem.
asherelbein.bsky.social Asher Elbein @asherelbein.bsky.social · 9d
This Washington Post article about MAGA people trying and failing to date in Washington is...really something

www.removepaywall.com/search?url=h...
When Morgan Housley, 29, moved to Washington for her job in April, she had some non-negotiables for the conservative man she was looking to date: He had to “love the Lord,” genuinely enjoy going to church, and be able to “provide and protect, emotionally, physically, spiritually, all of those things.” A fit, athletic man she could go on runs with. So far, Mr. Right has not materialized. Instead, many of the single MAGA men she’s seen are … “Not fit, workaholics and not taking finding a wife seriously,” Housley says. If she had it her way, she would be married and expecting her first kid. She says a lot of her colleagues at the American Principles Project, a conservative advocacy group whose website says “in order to save America — we have to save the family,” are settling down and having children. But it’s rough out there. When we reached Housley by phone, and she told a co-worker that she was discussing dating in D.C., a voice at the other end of the line could be heard saying, “Oh nooooo!” So, that’s where we are. “I felt like, being in conservative politics, there would be more, like, masculine men in the conservative movement,” Housley says, “and I find that a lot of them aren’t as masculine as I would have hoped.”
November 3, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Reposted by Clive Thompson
mmasnick.bsky.social
Look, it's impossible to get just how stupid this is into a single headline, but I tried, okay?
techdirt.com Techdirt @techdirt.com · 9d
60 Minutes Edits Donald Trump Telling Them 60 Minutes Should Edit Donald Trump Talking About How 60 Minutes Paid Him For Editing Kamala Harris

60 Minutes is under new management and things are getting stupid faster than you might expect. Last night’s episode featured President Trump, which is…
60 Minutes Edits Donald Trump Telling Them 60 Minutes Should Edit Donald Trump Talking About How 60 Minutes Paid Him For Editing Kamala Harris
60 Minutes is under new management and things are getting stupid faster than you might expect. Last night’s episode featured President Trump, which is currently being described as “nuts.” There are all sorts of crazy moments to call out, but let’s start with the recursively meta nonsense. 60 Minutes edited out a segment where Donald Trump tells them to edit out a segment in which he brags about getting CBS to pay him because of them editing out part of an answer by Kamala Harris, and he notes that CBS clearly did the wrong thing in editing Harris in the same fucking sentence he tells them to edit out what he’s saying.
www.techdirt.com
November 3, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Reposted by Clive Thompson
joshtpm.bsky.social
the one part of this awful video I found inspiring is the moment when the cam pans back and you see an array of upstanding Americans with their smartphones out filming these gutter thugs. that's really the symbol of the opposition. the smartphone and its embedded video cam.
royalpratt.bsky.social Gregory Pratt @royalpratt.bsky.social · 12d
Here’s a disturbing video from Evanston of a federal agent hitting a man on the ground as people yell that he can’t breathe.
November 1, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Reposted by Clive Thompson
philmarfisi.bsky.social
"Neighbourhood interiors were never intended for commercial activity", says one letter writer. To be fair, this is true, if you toss the entirety of human history and modern day Earth outside North America in the trash, and think that urban planning less than a century old is ironclad natural law.
No corner coffee shops: Toronto committee waters down neighbourhood retail plan
It’s the second time in less than a year councillors balked at allowing certain businesses to open on some residential streets
www.torontotoday.ca
October 31, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Reposted by Clive Thompson
famousceleb.co
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look on my works and let me know if you have any questions! 🤗
October 29, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Reposted by Clive Thompson
ohtheurbanity.bsky.social
Still can’t believe how often I hear “we can’t have bike lanes, we have snow for six months!”.

1. It’s more like 3-4 months in Montreal. (Less in some cities, more in others.)
2. We have machines to clear snow! Cars and pedestrians need them too!
October 29, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Reposted by Clive Thompson
radleybalko.bsky.social
Just want to reiterate that there’s no reason for this. There is no increase in crime. There are no riots. There’s no insurrection. They’re doing this without provocation. At least until they create one.
carlquintanilla.bsky.social Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 14d
“.. A top US military official has ordered the national guards of all 50 US states .. to form ‘quick reaction forces’ trained in ‘riot control’, including use of batons, body shields, Tasers and pepper spray, according to an internal Pentagon directive ..”

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
October 29, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Reposted by Clive Thompson
brenttoderian.bsky.social
Keep this in mind when people claim cars mean business — closing Central Madrid to cars over holidays resulted in a 9.5% boost in retail spending on its main shopping street: STUDY.

There was also a 71% drop in air pollution.

Via @carltonreid.com in @forbes.com. #citymakingmath #citiesforpeople
Closing Central Madrid To Cars Resulted In 9.5% Boost To Retail Spending, Finds Bank Analysis
City of Madrid significantly boosted the takings of its shops and restaurants last Christmas by banning cars from the CBD, finds an analysis by Spain's second largest bank.
www.forbes.com
October 24, 2025 at 12:36 PM
clivethompson.bsky.social
I'd never heard of Funeral Lakes before, but am really digging their music after reading this profile of em by @damienjoyce.bsky.social -- www.thetonearm.com/settler-myth...
Funeral Lakes Rewrite the Western | The Tonearm
Chris Hemer and Sam Mishos discuss their latest release, 'Mountains Turned to Dust,' how revisionist westerns and Willie Dunn's counter-narratives inform their music, and why they remain committed to ...
www.thetonearm.com
October 24, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Reposted by Clive Thompson
markhamillofficial.bsky.social
#A_NewHope ✊
October 18, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Reposted by Clive Thompson
professorfreddy.bsky.social
WANT: wooden high-rises, like this academic building in Toronto. Better than steel-and-concrete in nearly every way — including smell.

(I just learned about them via @clivethompson.bsky.social's terrific newsletter.)

www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

#sustainability #architecture #highered
Limberlost Place: Toronto’s timber tower aims high
Limberlost stretches building codes and gives architects and engineers a new system of open-sourced solutions
www.theglobeandmail.com
October 10, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Reposted by Clive Thompson
lhwilkinson.bsky.social
Persecuted punctuation: "AI loves an em dash — writers in the US, on the other hand, aren’t so keen" @sherwood.news @clivethompson.bsky.social
(Plus- Fortran)

Muse on marks: roughlydaily.com/2025/10/15/p...
October 15, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Reposted by Clive Thompson
davidho.bsky.social
It seems there are two main reasons things haven’t gone completely to shit in the US: 1. Lawyers and the courts; 2. Journalists and the media. Most of us can’t do anything about the first, but we can support journalism. Stop complaining about paywalls and subscribe to news & donate to public media.
October 9, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Reposted by Clive Thompson
clarajeffery.bsky.social
This pretty much goes for anyone/thing in media, law, Hollywood, academia..
qjurecic.bsky.social Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · Oct 8
he's going to come after you either way, so you might as well act with integrity
October 9, 2025 at 4:53 AM