I found a note to self and wondered if I had ever mentioned the Crypt Keeper to you. Turns out, yes. This is a good old 2021 episode of Freshly Brewed Thoughts about crypto and NFTs and blockchain. Apparently, I had opinions. It was reading about AGI (it’s like AI but imaginary) that finally jangled my brain loose and got me banging on the keyboard today.
Apparently, AGI is absolutely inevitable, so I’d better get my shit together and adjust my weird little worm brain to get on board with the realities of the market. Technology adoption will be slow and then fast and it will change everything but maybe not that quickly and also if we humans don’t trust it, the productivity efficiency might stutter and stall out. I need to “[e]xpand [my] horizons. Think about how US and international politics, advances in other technologies, and financial market impacts ranging from a massive market collapse to a simple change in investor priorities might change industry dynamics.”
Ok, will do. Also,
“[t]he most likely outcome, even restricted to these two hypothetical scenarios, is something in between. AI may achieve something like AGI for coding, text, and video while remaining a normal technology for embodied tasks and complex reasoning. It may transform some industries rapidly while others resist for decades. The world is rarely as neat as any scenario.”
No shit, Sherlock. I’ve been trying to avoid ranting about AI. Do you know 2nd Breakfast? Audrey Watters is articulate and knowledgeable about the deep, dark, capital and surveillance driven tech industry that has people writing this kind of stuff. She has this covered. I wouldn’t deign to say Audrey is “ranting” because modern parlance seems to use this word to mean unreasonably critical, and her message is not unreasonable at all.
I, on the other hand, can feel my feelings and I feel unreasonable. I’ve been trying to avoid old-man-yelling-at-clouds attitude about all the n00bs coming out of the woodwork to proclaim their expertise in tech sovereignty. I’ve been trying to avoid pointing out the BS and stamping my feet and pulling at my own pigtails and falling into a blind rage.
We have enough adult toddlers trolling the world. I just wait for the anger to subside and remember one of my decades old mantras: It is not malice, it’s stupidity.
I’ve been trying to respect the office, as it were. Settle in and admit that I don’t know diddly. Don’t be bitter, breathe, don’t get bitter. My brain feels clouded and I don’t trust my own opinions. I change my mind on something every single day. Everything is complex. The whole world, all of us, all of everything so utterly, utterly complex. Single-celled organisms are complex, I mean jfc.
The thread that led me here today, friends – to this ill-advised and convoluted brain dump – was stolen bricks, a hedgehog and an interview with Margaret Atwood where she said,
“I don’t think writers are gonna use AI much, ’cause why would they be writers if they can’t write their own writing? If they can’t write their own writing, why are they pretending to be writers?”
Indeed.
- What If? AI in 2026 and Beyond > https://www.oreilly.com/radar/what-if-ai-in-2026-and-beyond
- Margaret Atwood on what AI can’t replace > https://www.ted.com/podcasts/ted.com/podcasts/margaret-atwood-on-what-ai-cant-replace-transcript
- I wrote about art and AI last year.
Maybe I’m launching
Screenshot from our Amnesty Community Platform homepage
Yeesh, I should be writing about work things that happened this week. We launched our Amnesty International UK (AIUK) pilot. You’d think that would be a Freshly Brewed Thought considering we’ve been working with Amnesty for over a year building up to this. We have done loads and have now launched a secure, open source platform for Amnesty activists to coordinate on. We will spend the next weeks helping people use the platform and learning how it can be improved. TBH it was a big pull, we didn’t have as much time as I would have liked for all the things, but we GSD.
Also this week, I recorded an On Writing episode with Jim Groom of DS106 and Reclaim Hosting fame. Jim and I have been following each other around the interwebs for over a decade, but we had never met. I was excited, and I ramble-chatted my way through the interview. Jim called bloggers the “gym teachers of the internet”. He also said he was surprised that I sounded so optimistic. I think I might have shrugged and said “Fake it til you make it.” I’m sure the whole thing will turn over in my head for another couple of weeks. FWIW I very much prefer writing because I can edit myself.
Put your hands up if you’ve been compartmentalising! It feels very strange to be an American living in Europe right now, though it’s always felt strange. I just finished reading Not the End of the World, which is a great book if you have some sustainability doomerism. And if you are worried about the MAGA morons, I recommend reading about decentralised organising in Minnesota and how the middle countries hold a whole helluva lot of power.
- Minnesota Proved MAGA Wrong > https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/01/the-neighbors-defending-minnesota-from-ice/685769/?gift=SNRqQQTCF6y4GFvKBlylyzwkgAKkhiCJBBM6UvdYzF4
- Our Neighbors in Minneapolis > https://margaretkilljoy.substack.com/p/our-neighbors-in-minneapolis
- Davos 2026: Special address by Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada > https://www.weforum.org/stories/2026/01/davos-2026-special-address-by-mark-carney-prime-minister-of-canada/
Maybe I need help
Writers might be a very neurotic group. Or maybe it’s just me? IDK, I’ll certainly be happy when I “age out of fucks”.
- Aging Out of Fucks: The Neuroscience of Why You Suddenly Can’t Pretend Anymore > https://www.blog.lifebranches.com/p/aging-out-of-fucks-the-neuroscience
street art in the header from this post