The move to elevate the “intelligence” of machines serves simultaneously to denigrate the wholeness, creativity, and wisdom of living, embodied human beings. https://everythingchanges.us/blog/what-it-is-to-be-human/
Literally gasped when I read that Nicola Griffith has two more books planned for the Hild series. Cannot wait to clear more shelf space. https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/11/07/a-woman-who-wins-hild-nicola-griffith/
With the seasons changing, a reminder that there are times for growth and times for rest and you get to decide what time it is today: https://everythingchanges.us/blog/latewood/
Grateful to Molly White for pointing out the legal precarity of freelance journalism. For most people, the law is more of a threat than a protector. https://www.citationneeded.news/i-am-my-own-legal-department/
“Necessity has been called the mother of invention, but doubt is.” https://aworkinglibrary.com/writing/to-serve-and-guide
Very interested in Kissane’s work on governance, not only because of the obvious benefits to the social web, but because I think governance is the central question to how we live and work through climate change. https://www.wrecka.ge/revealing-the-gifts/
“The Sweet had to believe in their superiority or admit that they tore their possessions from the fingers of the Swill.” https://aworkinglibrary.com/writing/sweet-and-the-swill
Refusing your own agency time and again is like disconnecting from a power source—the energy is still there, latent and ready, but the plug dangles inches from the outlet. https://everythingchanges.us/blog/haves-and-choices/
“For an accountability sink to function, it has to break a link; it has to prevent the feedback of the person affected by the decision from affecting the operation of the system.” https://aworkinglibrary.com/writing/accountability-sinks
Every time I glance at the news these days, I think about how in THE PERIPHERAL, the only “work” that seems to exist after the Jackpot is the work of celebrity. https://aworkinglibrary.com/reading/peripheral
I think about this “How to Work Better” mural at least once a week. (“DO ONE THING AT A TIME” and “ACCEPT CHANGE AS INEVITABLE”) https://www.guggenheim.org/articles/checklist/how-to-work-better-making-a-mural-on-houston-street
Definitely referring to food co-ops as “food conspiracies” from here on out; also, a reminder that doing things outside capitalism is inevitably messy—but what’s the cost of neatness? https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/13/nyregion/park-slope-food-coop-joe-holtz.html
We would all do well to remember that the point of the hiring process isn’t to fulfill a job quota—it’s to find future colleagues. https://everythingchanges.us/blog/future-colleagues/
“And what, exactly, the future of work is should be up to all of us; especially, you know, the ones doing the work.” https://everythingchanges.us/blog/doing-the-work/
Alan Jacobs responded to my last essay with the very wise “POS not POSSE.” But that raises some interesting questions: why do we look for readers? And where do we find them? https://aworkinglibrary.com/writing/peasant-woodland
Beyond excited for Erin Kissane’s new venture. Not only is this work of such deep, fundamental importance, but Erin is exactly the person we want tackling it. And the fact that she’s doing this work in community—with us, not for us—is evidence of that: https://www.wrecka.ge/into-the-wreck/
“If we each brought our weird talents and gifts to bear on [the problem of our social networks], and treated this problem like our problem…we would have it in the bag.” https://xoxofest.com/2024/videos/erin-kissane/
“The fear of a planet where the old rules no longer hold is the ultimate fear—because then how do you even think about the future?” https://billmckibben.substack.com/p/fear
“Whose single truth are you making possible? Whose truths are you making impossible?” https://everythingchanges.us/blog/whose-truths/
This very good piece on the mutual aid response to Helene—https://organizingmythoughts.org/neighbors-as-lifelines-the-power-of-mutual-aid-in-asheville/—echoes the message in Greenfield’s LIFEHOUSE: no one is going to rescue us but ourselves. https://aworkinglibrary.com/reading/lifehouse