Jesse Lawson
@jesselawson.dev
Speculative science fiction & open-source software
So the strategy is to trust that the Speaker—who is currently refusing to swear in an elected congresswoman, and who openly said he will not promise anything regarding the ACA—will bring to the floor a bill that will not pass and give democrats a favorable media advantage?
Angus King: "This initial strategy didn't work. And now we have one. We're gonna have a guaranteed vote on the ACA, and it may not succeed. I grant that. But a reasonable chance -- 10, 20, 30% -- is a lot better than 0% which is where we were."
November 10, 2025 at 6:28 PM
So the strategy is to trust that the Speaker—who is currently refusing to swear in an elected congresswoman, and who openly said he will not promise anything regarding the ACA—will bring to the floor a bill that will not pass and give democrats a favorable media advantage?
A fantastic read from start to finish. I have deep respect for anyone willing to put their values in front of their “career”, as I can empathize deeply with having to make choices with long-term effects in the name of community mutuality and respect for a future we can only gestate together.
After the Rubygems drama, I felt frustrated that I can’t escape evil people trying to dominate my life.
I found myself mourning the future I thought we would have; but also hopeful that it’s not too late to start choosing kindness.
Join me in building a better future:
okayfail.com/2025/in-prai...
I found myself mourning the future I thought we would have; but also hopeful that it’s not too late to start choosing kindness.
Join me in building a better future:
okayfail.com/2025/in-prai...
In Praise of dhh
A reflection on Ruby's past, present, and future.
okayfail.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:00 PM
A fantastic read from start to finish. I have deep respect for anyone willing to put their values in front of their “career”, as I can empathize deeply with having to make choices with long-term effects in the name of community mutuality and respect for a future we can only gestate together.
Reposted by Jesse Lawson
seems to me that those democrats inclined not to fight perceive themselves as living through a somewhat ordinary cycle of presidential overreach and backlash and not something much more significant and dangerous
November 10, 2025 at 12:50 PM
seems to me that those democrats inclined not to fight perceive themselves as living through a somewhat ordinary cycle of presidential overreach and backlash and not something much more significant and dangerous
Reposted by Jesse Lawson
How about we shut down the government for this very popular and specific goal and then, hear me out, we hold out for like a month and a half and then, ok this part is important, after a watershed election where we ran the table, ONLY THEN, fold and don't get the one thing we said we wanted.
November 10, 2025 at 2:31 AM
How about we shut down the government for this very popular and specific goal and then, hear me out, we hold out for like a month and a half and then, ok this part is important, after a watershed election where we ran the table, ONLY THEN, fold and don't get the one thing we said we wanted.
There was no evidence? There was nothing indicating that the responsibility for this shutdown was falling squarely on the political party in control of all three branches of government? Are we living in the same reality?
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
November 10, 2025 at 3:33 PM
There was no evidence? There was nothing indicating that the responsibility for this shutdown was falling squarely on the political party in control of all three branches of government? Are we living in the same reality?
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
It's been a wild year indeed. So much of what we were worried about this time last year has come to pass, with the trajectory of things looking so much like an increasingly obfuscated and painful process of... well... whatever it is our nation is going through right now.
I have some thoughts.
I have some thoughts.
While Cultivating a Third Space
It's been a wild year indeed. So much of what we were worried about this time last year has come to pass, with the trajectory of things looking so much like an increasingly obfuscated and painful proc...
lawsonry.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:50 AM
It's been a wild year indeed. So much of what we were worried about this time last year has come to pass, with the trajectory of things looking so much like an increasingly obfuscated and painful process of... well... whatever it is our nation is going through right now.
I have some thoughts.
I have some thoughts.
Reposted by Jesse Lawson
Tech guys six months ago: haha yes we’re cutting all this WASTEFUL spending by eliminating medical research and USAID
Tech guys now: yes I think taxpayers will be excited to bailout my non consensual pornography machine
Tech guys now: yes I think taxpayers will be excited to bailout my non consensual pornography machine
November 8, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Tech guys six months ago: haha yes we’re cutting all this WASTEFUL spending by eliminating medical research and USAID
Tech guys now: yes I think taxpayers will be excited to bailout my non consensual pornography machine
Tech guys now: yes I think taxpayers will be excited to bailout my non consensual pornography machine
Reposted by Jesse Lawson
I would put more money on continuing to harvest infinite energy from the sun over assuming that forcing everyone to use The Machine The Lies To You is the steady basis of an entire economy
A fun question. In 5 years time, what looks better? The US’s enormous bet & capex on AI? Or China’s equally enormous bet and capex on renewables?
China has made cheap, clean energy available in huge quantities. The world should take the win econ.st/4oqFszB
Photo: Eyevine
Photo: Eyevine
November 7, 2025 at 11:55 AM
I would put more money on continuing to harvest infinite energy from the sun over assuming that forcing everyone to use The Machine The Lies To You is the steady basis of an entire economy
Reposted by Jesse Lawson
me at the end of class: here's a little speculative exercises; imagine you wake up from cryosleep in 2085. what's the kind of tech-society r/ship you'd like to see around you?
students: no AI
I honestly think students' views are missing from the 'should AI be integrated in classrooms' discussion
students: no AI
I honestly think students' views are missing from the 'should AI be integrated in classrooms' discussion
November 6, 2025 at 6:32 AM
me at the end of class: here's a little speculative exercises; imagine you wake up from cryosleep in 2085. what's the kind of tech-society r/ship you'd like to see around you?
students: no AI
I honestly think students' views are missing from the 'should AI be integrated in classrooms' discussion
students: no AI
I honestly think students' views are missing from the 'should AI be integrated in classrooms' discussion
“Republican house leader refuses to hold session because he would have to swear in someone who said they support releasing the Epstein files.”
There you go Dems: free PR strategy. You don’t have to fund the government to hold a session. You can literally just call a session.
There you go Dems: free PR strategy. You don’t have to fund the government to hold a session. You can literally just call a session.
November 6, 2025 at 3:48 PM
“Republican house leader refuses to hold session because he would have to swear in someone who said they support releasing the Epstein files.”
There you go Dems: free PR strategy. You don’t have to fund the government to hold a session. You can literally just call a session.
There you go Dems: free PR strategy. You don’t have to fund the government to hold a session. You can literally just call a session.
How on earth do we get people to read more books.
November 6, 2025 at 3:19 PM
How on earth do we get people to read more books.
Driving home from the hospital early this morning, and I tune into local talk radio. The guy is YELLING that Democrats shut down the government to save Schumer’s senate seat and that’s it. He is YELLING that Democrats only care about themselves and want working class families to suffer.
November 5, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Driving home from the hospital early this morning, and I tune into local talk radio. The guy is YELLING that Democrats shut down the government to save Schumer’s senate seat and that’s it. He is YELLING that Democrats only care about themselves and want working class families to suffer.
When the internet was young it seemed that many of us engaged with curiosity, and a minority engaged with contempt. Now it feels flipped. Or maybe I am reminiscing through rose-colored nostalgia. Or maybe there’s something to the Eternal September effect after all.
It really resonated because so often social media gets lumped into more judgmental territory — snacks or junk food or whatever — or the nonsensical "global town square". It's a party and parties can but fun but you can't party all the time.
November 4, 2025 at 12:35 PM
When the internet was young it seemed that many of us engaged with curiosity, and a minority engaged with contempt. Now it feels flipped. Or maybe I am reminiscing through rose-colored nostalgia. Or maybe there’s something to the Eternal September effect after all.
Reposted by Jesse Lawson
I'm increasingly convinced that the moral arc of "artificial intelligence" bends inevitably toward sex slavery
Oh good, ChatGPT is getting "erotica for verified adults" later this year
October 14, 2025 at 6:18 PM
I'm increasingly convinced that the moral arc of "artificial intelligence" bends inevitably toward sex slavery
Reposted by Jesse Lawson
“what radicalized you” idk paying attention
October 29, 2025 at 5:03 PM
“what radicalized you” idk paying attention
Reposted by Jesse Lawson
“I think they are a profoundly antisocial technology that should be rejected in every way possible. Their very existence is toxic to the social fabric.” -- @hypervisible.blacksky.app
absofuckinglutely
absofuckinglutely
Privacy laws can’t keep up with ‘luxury surveillance’
“It’s not clear to me that a small red light would be sufficient notification in some states for someone to consent to being recorded.”
www.theverge.com
October 28, 2025 at 2:55 PM
“I think they are a profoundly antisocial technology that should be rejected in every way possible. Their very existence is toxic to the social fabric.” -- @hypervisible.blacksky.app
absofuckinglutely
absofuckinglutely
Reposted by Jesse Lawson
Cranks used to be easier to identify now they show up next to pictures of your niece. Facebook’s lowest common denominator design made it possible for the NYT and Gateway Pundit to achieve a kind of aesthetic credibility. AI is supercharging this.
October 28, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Cranks used to be easier to identify now they show up next to pictures of your niece. Facebook’s lowest common denominator design made it possible for the NYT and Gateway Pundit to achieve a kind of aesthetic credibility. AI is supercharging this.
Reposted by Jesse Lawson
Good thread from @signal.org CEO, @meredithmeredith.bsky.social underscoring our critical dependencies on a few key orgs, and an increasing challenge in organizational and national resilience. We have a lot of work to do. cc @gate15.bsky.social
In short, the problem here is not that Signal ‘chose’ to run on AWS. The problem is the concentration of power in the infrastructure space that means there isn’t really another choice: the entire stack, practically speaking, is owned by 3-4 players. 11/
October 27, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Good thread from @signal.org CEO, @meredithmeredith.bsky.social underscoring our critical dependencies on a few key orgs, and an increasing challenge in organizational and national resilience. We have a lot of work to do. cc @gate15.bsky.social
Reposted by Jesse Lawson
The question isn’t "why does Signal use AWS?" It’s to look at the infrastructural requirements of any global, real-time, mass comms platform and ask how it is that we got to a place where there’s no realistic alternative to AWS and the other hyperscalers. 3/
October 27, 2025 at 10:38 AM
The question isn’t "why does Signal use AWS?" It’s to look at the infrastructural requirements of any global, real-time, mass comms platform and ask how it is that we got to a place where there’s no realistic alternative to AWS and the other hyperscalers. 3/
Reposted by Jesse Lawson
Concerning, bc it indicates that the extent of the concentration of power in the hands of a few hyperscalers is way less widely understood than I’d assumed. Which bodes poorly for our ability to craft reality-based strategies capable of contesting this concentration & solving the real problem. 2/
October 27, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Concerning, bc it indicates that the extent of the concentration of power in the hands of a few hyperscalers is way less widely understood than I’d assumed. Which bodes poorly for our ability to craft reality-based strategies capable of contesting this concentration & solving the real problem. 2/
We have battle-tested two versions of @teamlanes.com — one built around the message as a primary artifact, and the other built around threads as a primary artifact. I’ve watched and listened to people using the “messenger-like experience” as well as the “forum-like experience”. Here’s what I think:
October 23, 2025 at 4:04 PM
We have battle-tested two versions of @teamlanes.com — one built around the message as a primary artifact, and the other built around threads as a primary artifact. I’ve watched and listened to people using the “messenger-like experience” as well as the “forum-like experience”. Here’s what I think:
Reposted by Jesse Lawson
Point 13 in "How Complex Systems Fail" is "human expertise in complex systems is constantly changing."
AWS brain drain directly and predictably leads to more frequent and severe outages.
how.complexsystems.fail
AWS brain drain directly and predictably leads to more frequent and severe outages.
how.complexsystems.fail
October 23, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Point 13 in "How Complex Systems Fail" is "human expertise in complex systems is constantly changing."
AWS brain drain directly and predictably leads to more frequent and severe outages.
how.complexsystems.fail
AWS brain drain directly and predictably leads to more frequent and severe outages.
how.complexsystems.fail
“Ultimately, work that’s too easy is no fun, and it’s not the basis of a rewarding career. All you’re doing is selling time, and as you get a little older you’ll come to realize that time is a non-renewable resource.”
bitfieldconsulting.com/posts/when-i...
bitfieldconsulting.com/posts/when-i...
How to know when it's time to go — Bitfield Consulting
Leaving a job is never easy, and it’s a consequential decision. But when it’s time, it’s time. Here’s how to escape the comfort trap, and take the next step in your career.
bitfieldconsulting.com
October 22, 2025 at 5:57 PM
“Ultimately, work that’s too easy is no fun, and it’s not the basis of a rewarding career. All you’re doing is selling time, and as you get a little older you’ll come to realize that time is a non-renewable resource.”
bitfieldconsulting.com/posts/when-i...
bitfieldconsulting.com/posts/when-i...
In higher dimensions, intuition is the first casualty.
October 19, 2025 at 5:27 PM
In higher dimensions, intuition is the first casualty.
Going to go out on a limb and assume that my testing system has a bug:
October 16, 2025 at 2:29 AM
Going to go out on a limb and assume that my testing system has a bug: