Today's threads (a thread)
Inside: The AI that we'll have after AI; and more!
Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2025/10/16/post-ai-ai/
1/
Discussion
Loading...
Post
@pluralistic
Well I sure hope Cory is right about this. The argument makes sense and I also feel there is a big market correction coming. I still feel the pain the late 90s tech bubble bursting.😱
So this then begs the question: My 19 YO kid is about to set up his first investment savings account. Would it be wise at this time to stay away from market based funds or given his age throw caution to the wind?
@pluralistic : my take on this is that those datacenters consume lot of electricity. Most of it renewable. Which means that, after the bubble, we will drown in too-cheap-to-meter electricity.
In fact, electricity will often have a negative price. Which will put bitcoin mining into a new light.
(while the crypto market is a scam and current prices are scam, the bitcoin project, at its core, is not a scam at all and is truly important. But I agree that the core is well hidden those days)
@pluralistic
There is now a whole ecosystem of AI apps and also many long-standing apps with added AI features, most relying on a single closed model provider hidden in the backend. Sure many are just silly marginal AI features but a few do useful things.
I wonder if those apps devs are even aware of the risk of wild API price hikes, or full loss of the provider or model.
Now Windows OS itself is becoming tied with AI too.
Taking that all into account, its pretty dire if they do collapse.
@pluralistic Bubbles are bad but it really is astounding how little will be left after the bubble bursts and how much resources are essentially being put into something that cannot be salvaged for anything else is astounding.
I still ride on the tracks built during the British railway mania of the 19th century over here and the initial investment of people installing fibre clearly were proven correct given how much fibre there is installed now. Such a colossal waste of silicon happening now.
@pluralistic This reminds me of the song from Portal.
"So I'm glad I got burned, think of all the things we learned
For the people who are still alive"
@pluralistic just makes me wonder. After the tulip mania of 1637.
What happened to the tulips?
I'm on a tour with my new book Enshittification!
Catch me next in #LosAngeles, #Calgary and #SanFrancisco!
Full schedule with dates and links at:
https://pluralistic.net/tour
2/
The AI that we'll have after AI: Cheap GPUs, unemployed engineers, and open source models.
https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/115384965180539768
3/
@pluralistic Just makes me wonder. After the tulip mania of 1637.
What happened to the tulips?
Hey look at this
* How I Became a Populist https://newrepublic.com/article/201171/alvaro-bedoya-ftc-became-populist
* Introducing the Bantam Tools EggBot https://www.evilmadscientist.com/2025/bantam-tools-eggbot/
* Framework flame war erupts over support of politically polarizing Linux projects https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/14/framework_linux_controversy/
* AI Won’t Replace Jobs, but Tech Bros Want You to Be Afraid It Will https://gizmodo.com/ai-wont-replace-jobs-tech-bros-want-you-terrified-2000670808
* US Passport Power Falls to Historic Low https://www.henleyglobal.com/newsroom/press-releases/henley-global-mobility-report-oct-2025
4/
#20yrsago Logic and math riddles from Slashdot https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=165444&threshold=3&mode=flat&commentsort=5&op=Change
#20yrsago Yiddish postcard gallery https://web.archive.org/web/20051018030610/http://members.screenz.com/bennypostcards/
#20yrsago JibJab’s legal threats over the use of 9 seconds of their video https://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2005/10/do_as_i_say_not.html
#20yrsago Wal-Mart photofinishing narcs out student who made anti-Bush poster https://web.archive.org/web/20051011233852/https://www.alternet.org/walmart/26503/#thumbtack
#20yrsago Buddhist monks deploy saffron flak vests and armored monkmobiles https://eyeteeth.blogspot.com/2005/10/monkmobiles-and-bulletproof-robes.html
5/
#15yrsago Mitt Romney got a bestseller by demanding bulk-purchases of his books in exchange for lectures https://www.politico.com/blogs/ben-smith/2010/10/how-romney-made-a-best-seller-029968?showall
#15yrsago Every terrible thing Canada’s Stephen Harper government has done in the past four years https://24percentmajority.blogspot.com/2015/10/2011-2015-harper-government-wrap-up.html
#10yrsago 1980: the Director of the FBI mixes up KISS & The Who, confusing the hell out of FBI agents https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2015/oct/15/fbi-files-kiss/
6/
#10yrsago Sit down already: standing desks aren’t healthier than seated ones https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/10/14/sitting-for-long-periods-doesnt-make-death-more-imminent-study-suggests/
#10yrsago It’s not enough that Apple and Google are bringing usable crypto to the world https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Passcode/Passcode-Voices/2015/1014/Opinion-Why-we-all-have-a-stake-in-encryption-policy
#10yrsago The NSA sure breaks a lot of “unbreakable” crypto. This is probably how they do it. https://blog.citp.princeton.edu/2015/10/14/how-is-nsa-breaking-so-much-crypto/
#5yrsago Bricked Ferrari https://pluralistic.net/2020/10/15/expect-the-unexpected/#drm
#5yrsago The Passenger Pigeon Manifesto https://pluralistic.net/2020/10/15/expect-the-unexpected/#openglam
7/
~12 more replies (not shown)
#5yrsago Dystopia as clickbait https://pluralistic.net/2020/10/15/expect-the-unexpected/#dystopia-is-over
#1yrago Of course we can tax billionaires https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/15/piketty-pilled/#tax-justice
8/
Yesterday's threads: Microsoft, Tear Down That Wall! and more!
https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/115378475688402920
9/
My latest novel is "Picks and Shovels," a historical technothriller set in the Weird Era of the PC, about Ponzi schemes, techbros, and the dawn of enshittification:
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels
--
My latest nonfiction book is "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," from MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux:
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/
10/
My ebooks and audiobooks (from FSGxMCD, Tor Books, Head of Zeus, McSweeneys, Beacon, Verso and others) are for sale all over the net, but I sell 'em too, and when you buy 'em from me, I earn twice as much and you get books with no DRM and no license "agreements."
11/
Upcoming appearances:
* #LosAngeles: Enshittification with David Dayen (Diesel), Oct 16
https://dieselbookstore.com/event/2025-10-16/cory-doctorow-enshittification
* #Calgary: Literary Death Match (Calgary Wordfest), Oct 17
https://wordfest.com/2025/imaginarium/show/literary-death-match/
* #Calgary: Big Tech’s Betrayal—and How to Break Free! (Calgary Wordfest), Oct 18
https://wordfest.com/2025/imaginarium/show/big-techs-betrayaland-how-to-break-free/
* #SanFrancisco: Enshittification at Public Works with Jenny Odell (The Booksmith), Oct 20
https://app.gopassage.com/events/doctorow25
12/
Upcoming appearances (cont'd):
* #PDX: Enshittification at Powell's, Oct 21
https://www.powells.com/events/cory-doctorow-10-21-25
* #Seattle: Enshittification and the Rot Economy, with Ed Zitron (Clarion West), Oct 22
https://www.clarionwest.org/event/2025-deep-dives-cory-doctorow/
* #Vancouver: Enshittification with David Moscrop (Vancouver Writers Festival), Oct 23
https://www.showpass.com/2025-festival-39/
* #Montreal: Montreal Attention Forum keynote, Oct 24
https://www.attentionconferences.com/conferences/2025-forum
13/
Upcoming appearances (cont'd):
* #Montreal: Enshittification at Librarie Drawn and Quarterly, Oct 24
https://mtl.drawnandquarterly.com/events/3757420251024
* #Ottawa: Enshittification (Ottawa Writers Festival), Oct 25
https://writersfestival.org/events/fall-2025/enshittification
* #Toronto: Enshittification with Dan Werb (Type Books), Oct 27
https://www.instagram.com/p/DO81_1VDngu/?img_index=1
* #Barcelona: Conferencia EUROPEA 4D (Virtual), Oct 28
https://4d.cat/es/conferencia/
14/
Upcoming appearances (cont'd):
* #Miami: Enshittification at Books & Books, Nov 5
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/an-evening-with-cory-doctorow-tickets-1504647263469
* #Miami: Cloudfest, Nov 6
https://www.cloudfest.com/usa/
* #Burbank: Burbank Book Festival, Nov 8
https://www.burbankbookfestival.com/
* #Lisbon: A post-American, enshittification-resistant internet, with Rabble (Web Summit), Nov 12
https://websummit.com/sessions/lis25/92f47bc9-ca60-4997-bef3-006735b1f9c5/a-post-american-enshittification-resistant-internet/
15/
Bonfire Dinteg Labs
This is a bonfire demo instance for testing purposes. This is not a production site. There are no backups for now. Data, including profiles may be wiped without notice. No service or other guarantees expressed or implied.
Automatic federation enabled