With rapidity that has stunned even political observers, forces loyal to Musk’s junta have established him as the all-but undisputed unelected head of government in just a matter of days, unwinding the longtime democracy’s constitutional system and its proud nearly 250-year-old tradition of the rule of law. Having secured themselves in key ministries and in a building adjacent to the presidential office complex, Musk’s forces have begun issuing directives to civil service workers and forcing the resignation of officials deemed insufficiently loyal, like the head of the country’s aviation authority. [more]
People: Epistemic injustice. US (new) take on vaccines. Pig butchering on the rise. Measles in West Texas.
Tech: Weaponizing SEO. Shared reality screens. Mind from matter. Sam Altman and OpenSource. Biological cells on silicium. US embassies air quality data stops.
Security: Exposing french data trackers (FR). UK and Apple backdoors. Subaru security flaws. Exploring leaks. Musk leaks classified data.
Random: Thinner eggshells. Nine SciFi as Futures categories. 2025 meta trends. Vox people for better futures. Noetic spirals.
Gig economy: Gig economy - rest stop data brokers. Fiverr trains models of gig workers / freelancers.
AI: AI war on agency. Thinking other types of AI. AI makes you dumber. Cloned voices, faster than the regulation. NYT doubles down on internal AI use.
AI creating unemployment in the digital space, and 93% of IT leaders plan deployment AI agents.
Gumroad says they're no longer hiring junior or mid-level engineers because AI is handling most of that work now.
More about 107_173_7_141 and hacking HF models.10% of genAI prompts from employees contains sensitive data.
Restroom Revolution: A Gig Worker’s Quest for Dignity
The door of Café Quantum swung open with a melodramatic creak that had almost become part of the establishment’s charm — a kind of music that played to the rhythm of existential dread shared over discount lattes. In walked a man whose ensemble screamed ‘hidden genius’ mingled with ‘last night’s pizza.’ Let’s call him Fred, not because he resembled anyone particularly famous, but because it allowed for a more nuanced expression of awkward brilliance, much like how a peanut butter and jelly sandwich coexists with existential philosophy.
Fred had one sole purpose that fateful Tuesday: to submit his latest invention to the city’s innovation fair. This one was special—a mobile app designed to connect gig workers like himself to clean rest stops with impeccable facilities. A universal need for all who pedal their souls through busy urban mazes. In a world that had industrialized its scams to near-cosmic proportions, Fred believed in something wholesome—an app that’d transform restroom breaks into instant relief, both literally and figuratively*^1.
“Is it worth it?” asked the barista, throwing an airy glance over the foam of his latte. “I hear scam-making is much easier these days; why not just pig butcher your way to fortune?”^2
“Perhaps,” Fred mused, his eyes narrowing slightly as if peering into an elaborate con. “But I’d rather not drain wallets while promoting healthy digestion.” He paused, then added a cheeky grin, “Besides, I’ve read the reports—next thing you know, I’m renting a chicken in a newly developed egg-themed scam!”^3
Oh yes, the egg crisis! Amid soaring prices and a dramatic increase in avian-induced paranoia, one could almost coin a new term for the art of taking advantage of a genuine dilemma—The Chickens Come Home to Roost Scheme.
As he contemplated this, an alert from his own app buzzed on Fred’s phone—a notification about an unprecedented surge in gig work across the city. Apparently, using generative AI to analyze data could predict not just demand, but also the best spots for clean restrooms.
“Target the high-traffic, high-stress zones,” suggested the app slyly; it was eerily too perceptive, much like those AI companions that slinked around the internet, quietly collecting data, occasionally leaking sensitive information about the very people they served.^4
“Thank you, ChatBot of Doom,” Fred muttered as a light, perhaps a little too bright of a realization glimmered. “Are we creating a society so intertwined with technology that the concept of privacy becomes a quaint notion – like the quality of old eggshells in the wake of a pandemic?”^5
With these thoughts niggling stubbornly at the edges of his mind, Fred prepared to step outside when a voice called from the café stairs—an oddly charismatic figure, perhaps resembling someone with the audacity of an AI-empowered Elon Musk,^6 ushered in an eye-popping side of social commentary that had been missing from his day.
“Think you found a new purpose?” the man asked knowingly, eyebrows raised like twin hills peering down on a harried valley. “You could be a harbinger for a future where gig workers take charge of their data and dignity.”
“Or be dubbed the latest casualty of our present-day dystopia?” Fred countered, swirling a coffee mug as if pondering the future of narrative arcs in speculative fiction.^7
That’s when he decided. Tomorrow, he’d pitch not just his app, but a vision—one that countered the malevolent allure of technology with a sprinkle of authentic humanity woven into the fabric of gig work. Because in a world spiraling into chaos or perhaps just bad puns, a poise of balance amidst upheaval could, in fact, save us all.
——
*^1 This is assuming the restroom was not merely a front for a cryptocurrency mining operation.
*^2 No chickens were harmed in the scamming of wallets.
*^3 Trademark pending.
*^4 So intimate they could lend you a towel for an upcoming road trip.
*^5 Egg-spresso yourself as much as you want, but egg futures look eggs-tremely dicey.
*^6 You just knew bureaucratic efficiency had to yield a funky website sooner or later.
*^7 Don’t even get me started on what the new genres suggest about the state of our collective imagination.