Podcast appearances and mentions of Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow has spent decades helping to shape the way we think about the modern internet. He is a campaigner against monopolies, surveillance and digital rights. His new book Enshitification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It analyses how the internet giants have captured us and become not quite as good as we had thought they were. On this episode of Ways to Change the World, Krishnan Guru-Murthy speaks to Cory about the broken systems we are living in and what we can do to try and make things better.Strong language warning.

David Gooblar shares how better teaching can make college more equitable on episode 599 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Most of our scars are hidden. I think most of the time people don’t see the scars that we carry. -David Gooblar We get such a small window into our students lives. -David Gooblar The imaginary idea of the college student in America is of a privileged student. And that’s just not the case when we talk about American college students today. -David Gooblar We need to work to earn their trust, to convince our students that we’re working for them, that our job is to help them develop, learn, and grow. -David Gooblar Resources One Classroom at a Time: How Better Teaching Can Make College More Equitable, by David Gooblar Pedagogy Unbound: Weekly Thoughts on College Teaching from David Gooblar Stereotype Threat Tuckman's Stages of Team Formation Episode 585: Toward Socially Just Teaching with Bryan Dewsbury The Mentor’s Dilemma: Providing Critical Feedback Across the Racial Divide, by Geoffrey L. Cohen, Claude M. Steele, & Lee D. Ross Kagi Search Clip from Decoder Episode with Cory Doctorow on Mastodon The Verge: How Silicon Valley Enshittified the Internet with Cory Doctorow Adrienne Salinger: Teenagers in Their Bedrooms

Peter Hinssen has spent his career helping leaders make sense of a world that refuses to slow down. A technologist, bestselling author, and keynote speaker, Peter has advised companies like Apple, Amazon, and Google on how to thrive in what he calls the "never normal" a new era defined by nonstop disruption and exponential change.   In this episode, Peter shares what CMOs must do to successfully lead in a world of constant acceleration, the power of "day after tomorrow" thinking for your business, and why failing fast has quietly become one of the biggest competitive advantages in modern marketing. What you'll learn in this episode: Peter's three keys for leaders facing uncertainty Why Peter is a pathological optimist as a technologist Why AI isn't a real threat to ad agencies The harm "tomorrow thinking" is causing business leaders How to exercise "day-after-tomorrow" thinking How you can use uncertainty to your advantage Why organizations should shift from a scalable execution model to a scalable learning one How leaders can give their teams courage facing the never-normal climate Resources:   Connect with Peter on LinkedIn Learn more about Peter on his website  Find more on his latest book, The Uncertainty Principle Get your hands on his survival guide for the never-normal, The Day After Tomorrow  Why you should be an optimist in the face of massive technological change from one of Peter's biggest influences, Hans Rosling and his book Factfulness See a less optimistic view on the digital world by Cory Doctorow with his book Enshittification   

David Cheezem, Herb Bischoff, and Judy Donegan discuss the book Enshittification. There was a question of whether the FCC would allow that word to be aired, so they were looking for substitutes. Enpoopification, Enscatification, and Ensitification were considered. The book’s subtitle is “Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It, which seemed […]

Noah East of Northstar Politics is joined today by author and Journalist Cory Doctorow to discuss his new book Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It. Subscribe to How to Rebuild Britain now: https://linktr.ee/howtorebuildbritain Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is one in a series about possible futures, which will be published in Booch News over the coming weeks. Episode 7 appeared last week. New episodes drop every Friday. Overview Peer-to-peer flavor-sharing platforms enabled home brewers to distribute taste profiles as digital files. Blockchain-verified SCOBY genetics allowed anyone to recreate award-winning kombucha flavors. Traditional beverage companies lost control as open-source fermentation recipes spread globally. This episode follows teenage hacker Luna Reyes as she reverse-engineers Heineken’s proprietary “A-yeast” strain and the century-old master strain used for Budweiser, releasing them under Creative Commons license, triggering a flavor renaissance that made corporate beverages taste like cardboard by comparison. Luna Reyes: The Seventeen-Year-Old Who Liberated Flavor Luna Reyes was brewing kombucha in her Oakland garage when she changed the course of human history. The daughter of Mexican immigrants, she had learned fermentation from her grandmother while teaching herself bioinformatics through YouTube tutorials and volunteering at the Counter Culture Labs Maker Space on Shattuck Avenue. By fifteen, she was running the Bay Area’s most sophisticated home laboratory, utilizing jury-rigged DNA sequencers and microscopes constructed from smartphone cameras. Her breakthrough came in February 2043 while investigating why her kombucha never tasted quite like expensive craft varieties and was different again from her grandmother’s home brew. Using Crispr techniques learned from online forums, Luna began reverse-engineering the microbial genetics of premium alcoholic beverages. Her target wasn’t kombucha—it was the closely guarded yeast strains that gave corporate beers their distinctive flavors. Luna hunched over her microscope, examining bacterial cultures from her latest kombucha batch. Around her, salvaged DNA sequencers hummed, fermentation vessels bubbled, and computer screens displayed multi-hued patterns of genetic sequences. Her grandmother, Rosa, entered carrying a tray with three glasses of homemade kombucha. “Mija, you’ve been working for six hours straight. Drink something.” Luna accepted the glass without looking up. “Abuela, your kombucha tastes better than anything I can buy in stores and the ones I’ve experimented with. Why? I’m using the same base ingredients—tea, sugar, water—but mine never has this complexity.” Her grandmother laughed. “Because I’ve been feeding this SCOBY for forty years. It knows what to do. You can’t rush relationships.” Luna’s sister Maya, lounging against a workbench, waved her phone. “Luna, people have noticed your forum post about Health-Ade’s fermentation process. Someone says you’re wasting your time trying to replicate commercial kombuchas.” “I’m not trying to replicate them,” Luna said, finally looking up. “I’m trying to understand why their kombucha tastes different than that I make at home. It’s not the ingredients. It’s not the process. It’s the microbial genetics.” Rosa sat down beside her granddaughter. “When I was young in Oaxaca, every family had their own kombucha culture, passed down generation to generation. Each tasted different because the bacteria adapted to their environment, their ingredients, their care. We had a saying, Hay tantas fermentaciones en el mundo como estrellas en el cielo nocturno – there are as many ferments in the world as stars in the night sky. The big companies want every bottle to be identical. That kills what makes fermentation special.” “Exactly!” Luna pulled up genetic sequences on her screen. “I’ve been reverse-engineering samples from different commercial kombuchas. Health-Ade, GT’s, Brew Dr—they all have consistent microbial profiles.” The Great Heist: Cracking Corporate DNA Luna’s first major hack targeted Heineken’s legendary “A-yeast” strain, developed in 1886 by Dr. Hartog Elion—a student of renowned chemist Louis Pasteur—in the company’s Amsterdam laboratory and protected by over 150 years of trade secret law. Using samples obtained from discarded brewery waste (technically legal under the “garbage doctrine”), she spent six months mapping the strain’s complete genetic sequence in her makeshift lab. The breakthrough required extraordinary ingenuity. Luna couldn’t afford professional gene sequencers, so she modified a broken Illumina iSeq100 purchased on eBay for $200. Her sequencing runs took weeks rather than hours; her results were identical to those produced by million-dollar laboratory equipment. Her detailed laboratory notebooks, later published as The Garage Genomics Manifesto, became essential reading for the biotech hacker movement. The Budweiser project proved even more challenging. Anheuser-Busch’s century-old master strain had been protected by layers of corporate secrecy rivaling classified military programs. The company maintained multiple backup cultures in cryogenic facilities across three continents, never allowing complete genetic mapping by outside researchers. Luna’s success required infiltrating the company’s waste-disposal systems at four breweries, collecting samples over 18 months while evading corporate security. The Decision The night before Luna was scheduled to meet her fellow bio-hackers at Oakland’s Counter Culture Labs, she sat at her workstation, hesitant, wondering if she was doing the right thing. Her sister Maya came in, looking worried. “Luna, I found something you need to see,” she says. “Remember Marcus Park? He tried releasing proprietary yeast information in 2039. Heineken buried him. He lost everything. His daughter dropped out of college. His wife left him. He’s working at a gas station now.” Luna spent the night researching what happened to Park. She found that almost everyone who challenged corporate IP ended up on the losing side of the law. It was not pretty. In the morning, Abuela Rosa finds her crying in her room. “Mija, what’s wrong?” she asks. “Oh, Abuela,” Luna says between sobs. “What am I doing? What if I’m wrong? What if I destroy our family? What if this ruins Mom and Dad? What if I’m just being selfish?” “That’s the fear talking.” Her grandmother reassured her. “Fear is wisdom warning you to be careful. But fear can also be a cage.” That evening at the Counter Culture Labs, Luna assembled a small group of advisors. She needed their guidance. She had the completed genetic sequences for Heineken A-yeast and Budweiser’s master strain on her laptop, ready for release. But is this the time and place to release them to the world? Dr. Marcus Webb, a bioinformatics researcher in his forties and Luna’s mentor, examined her sequencing data. “This is solid work, Luna. Your jury-rigged equipment is crude. The results are accurate. You’ve fully mapped both strains.” “The question isn’t whether I can do it,” Luna said. “It’s whether I should let the world know I did it.” On screen, Cory Doctorow, the author and digital rights activist, leaned forward. “Let’s be clear about what you’re proposing. You’d be releasing genetic information that corporations have protected as trade secrets for over a century. They’ll argue you stole their intellectual property. You’ll face lawsuits, possibly criminal charges.” “Is it their property?” Luna challenged. “These are naturally occurring organisms. They didn’t create that yeast. Evolution did. They just happened to be there when it appeared. That does not make it theirs any more than finding a wildflower means they own the species. Can you really own something that existed before you found it?” Doctorow, the Electronic Frontier Foundation representative spoke up. “There’s legal precedent both ways. Diamond v. Chakrabarty established that genetically modified organisms can be patented. But naturally occurring genetic sequences? That’s murky. The companies will argue that their decades of cultivation and protection created protectable trade secrets.” “Trade secrets require keeping information secret,” Luna argued. “They throw this yeast away constantly. If they’re not protecting it, how can they claim trade secret status?” Dr. Webb cautioned, “Luna, even if you’re legally in the right—which is debatable—you’re seventeen years old. You’ll be fighting multinational corporations with unlimited legal resources. They’ll bury you in litigation for years.” “That’s where we come in,” Doctorow said. “The EFF can provide legal defense. Creative Commons can help structure the license. You need to understand: this will consume your life. College, career plans, normal teenage experiences—all on hold while you fight this battle.” Luna was quiet for a moment, then pulled up a photo on her laptop: her grandmother Rosa, teaching her to ferment at age seven. “My abuela says fermentation is about sharing and passing living cultures between generations. Corporations have turned it into intellectual property to be protected and controlled. If I can break that control—even a little—isn’t that worth fighting for?” Maya spoke up from the back. “Luna, I love you, but you’re being naive. They won’t just sue you. They’ll make an example of you. Your face on every news channel, portrayed as a thief, a criminal. Our family harassed. Your future destroyed. For what? So people can brew beer with the same yeast as Heineken?” “Not just beer,” Luna responded passionately. “This is about whether living organisms can be owned. Whether genetic information—the code of life itself—can be locked behind intellectual property law. Yes, it starts with beer yeast. But what about beneficial bacteria? Life-saving microorganisms? Medicine-producing fungi? Where does it end?” Dr. Webb nodded slowly. “She’s right. This is bigger than beer. As biotech advances, genetic control becomes power over life itself. Do we want corporations owning that?” Doctorow sighed. “If you do this, Luna, do it right. Release everything simultaneously—BitTorrent, WikiLeaks, Creative Commons servers, distributed networks worldwide. Make it impossible to contain. Include complete cultivation protocols so anyone can reproduce your results. Make the data so damn widely available that suppressing it becomes futile.” “And write a manifesto,” he added. “Explain why you’re doing this. Frame the issue. Make it about principles, not piracy.” Luna nodded, fingers already typing. “When should I release?” “Pick a date with symbolic meaning,” Dr. Webb suggested. “Make it an event, not just a data dump.” Luna smiled. “December 15. The Bill of Rights Day. Appropriate for declaring biological rights, don’t you think?” Maya groaned. “You’re really doing this, aren’t you?” “Yes. I’m really doing this.” The Creative Commons Liberation On Tuesday, December 15, 2043—a date now celebrated as “Open Flavor Day”—Luna released the genetic sequences on multiple open-source networks. Her manifesto, titled Your Grandmother’s Yeast Is Your Birthright, argued that microbial genetics belonged to humanity’s shared heritage rather than corporate shareholders. It stated: Commercial companies have protected yeast strains for over a century. They’ve used intellectual property law to control flavor itself. But genetic information isn’t like a recipe or a formula—it’s biological code that evolved over millions of years before humans ever cultivated it. These strains are protected as trade secrets—the bacteria don’t belong to anyone. They existed before Heineken, before Budweiser, before trademark law. The companies just happened to isolate and cultivate them. Her data packages included DNA sequences and complete protocols for cultivating, modifying, and improving the strains. Luna’s releases came with user-friendly software that allowed amateur brewers to simulate genetic modifications before attempting them in real fermentations. Within 24 hours, over ten thousand people worldwide downloaded the files. The Creative Commons community erupted in celebration. Cory Doctorow’s blog post, The Teenager Who Stole Christmas (From Corporate Beer), went viral within hours. The Electronic Frontier Foundation immediately offered Luna legal protection, while the Free Software Foundation created the “Luna Defense Fund” to support her anticipated legal battles. The Legal Assault Heineken’s response was swift. The company filed emergency injunctions in 12 countries simultaneously, seeking to prevent the distribution of its “stolen intellectual property.” Their legal team, led by former U.S. Attorney General William Barr III, demanded Luna’s immediate arrest for “economic terrorism” and “theft of trade secrets valued at over $50 billion.” Anheuser-Busch’s reaction was even more extreme. CEO Marcel Telles IV appeared on CNBC, calling Luna “a bioterrorist who threatens the foundation of American capitalism.” The company hired private investigators to surveil Luna’s family and offered a $10 million reward for information leading to her prosecution. Their legal filing compared Luna’s actions to “stealing the formula for Coca-Cola and publishing it in the New York Times.” In Heineken’s Amsterdam headquarters, executives convened an emergency meeting. “Who is Luna Reyes?” the CEO demanded. The legal counsel pulled up information. “She’s a seventeen-year-old high school student in Oakland, California. No criminal record. Volunteers at a maker space. Has been posting about fermentation on various forums for years.” “A child released our proprietary yeast strain to the world, and we didn’t know she was even working on this?” The CEO’s face reddened. “How do we contain it?” “We can’t. It’s distributed across thousands of servers in dozens of countries with different IP laws. We can sue Reyes, but the information is out there permanently.” An executive interjected, “What about the other breweries? Will they join our lawsuit?” “Some are considering it. Others…” The counsel paused. “Others are quietly downloading the sequences themselves. They see an opportunity to break our market dominance.” “She obtained samples from our waste disposal,” another executive explained. “Technically legal under the garbage doctrine. The sequencing itself isn’t illegal. The release under Creative Commons…” “Is theft!” the CEO shouted. “File emergency injunctions. Twelve countries. Get her arrested for economic terrorism.” Similar scenes played out at Anheuser-Busch headquarters in St. Louis. CEO Telles addressed his team: “This is bioterrorism. She’s destroyed intellectual property worth billions. I want her prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Hire private investigators. Find everything about her and her family. Make her life hell!” By noon, both companies had filed lawsuits. By evening, Fox News was running stories about the “teenage bioterrorist” who “stole American corporate secrets.” Back in Oakland, Luna’s phone rang constantly. Her parents discovered what she’d done. Her mother cried. Her father was furious and terrified. Friends called with either congratulations or warnings. She was convinced that private investigators were photographing their house. Maya suspected she was followed to work. On Wednesday morning, Dr. Webb calls: “Luna, they’re offering me $2 million to testify against you. They’re going after everyone in your network.” Luna has a sickening feeling that she’s put everyone at risk. By Thursday, she is considering taking it all back somehow, sending an apology to the corporations, anything to protect her family. Luna turned off her phone and sat with her grandmother. “It’s started,” Luna said quietly. “Sí, mija. You’ve declared war. Now we see if you can survive it.” Maya burst in, laptop in hand. “Luna, you need to see this. The downloads aren’t slowing—they’re accelerating. Every time Heineken or Budweiser shuts down a website, ten mirror sites appear. People are treating this like a digital freedom fight. You’ve become a symbol.” Luna pulled up her own screen. The #FreeLuna hashtag was trending. Crowdfunding campaigns for her legal defense had raised $400,000 in twelve hours. Academic institutions were publicly endorsing her release, calling it “essential scientific information.” “They’re trying to destroy you,” Maya said, “but they’re making you famous instead.” Rosa handed Luna a fresh kombucha. “This is what happens when you fight for what’s right, mija. Sometimes the world surprises you by supporting you.” Luna’s Fame The corporations’ attempts to suppress Luna’s releases had the opposite effect. Every cease-and-desist letter generated thousands of new downloads. The genetic data became impossible to contain once the academic community embraced Luna’s work. Dr. Jennifer Doudna, the legendary Crispr pioneer now in her eighties, publicly endorsed Luna’s releases in a Science magazine editorial: Ms. Reyes has liberated essential scientific information that corporations held hostage for commercial gain. Genetic sequences from naturally occurring organisms should not be locked behind intellectual property law. They belong to humanity’s knowledge commons. While corporations claim Luna stole trade secrets, I argue she freed biological knowledge that was never theirs to own. There are no trade secrets in biology—only knowledge temporarily hidden from the commons. This is civil disobedience of the highest order—breaking unjust laws to advance human freedom. Ms. Reyes didn’t steal; she liberated. MIT’s biology department invited Luna to lecture, while Harvard offered her a full scholarship despite her lack of a high school diploma. The legal battles consumed corporate resources while generating negative publicity. Heineken’s stock price dropped 34% as consumers organized boycotts in support of Luna’s “yeast liberation.” Beer sales plummeted as customers waited for home-brewed alternatives using Luna’s open-source genetics. The Flavor Renaissance Luna’s releases triggered an explosion of creativity that corporate R&D departments had never imagined. Within six months, amateur brewers worldwide were producing thousands of flavor variations impossible under corporate constraints. The open-source model enabled rapid iteration and global collaboration, rendering traditional brewing companies obsolete. The world was engaged. In some of the most unlikely places. In Evanston, Illinois, a group of former seminary students who discovered fermentation during a silent retreat, transformed Gregorian chants into microbial devotionals. Tenor Marcus Webb (Dr. Webb’s nephew) realized symbiosis mirrored vocal harmony—multiple voices creating something greater than their parts. “In honoring the mystery of fermentation we express our love of the Creator,” he said. Here's ‘Consortium Vocalis' honoring the mother SCOBY. [Chorus]Our SCOBYIs pureOur SCOBYIs strongOur SCOBYKnows no boundariesOur SCOBYStrengthens as it fermentsOur SCOBYIs bacteria and yeast Our SCOBYTurns sucrose into glucose and fructoseIt ferments these simple sugars into ethanol and carbon dioxide,Acetic acid bacteria oxidize much of that ethanol into organic acidsSuch as acetic, gluconic, and other acids.This steadily lowers the pHMaking the tea taste sour-tangy instead of purely sweet. [Chorus] Our SCOBYThen helps microbes produce acids, enzymes, and small amounts of B‑vitaminsWhile probiotics grow in the liquid.The pH falls to help inhibit unwanted microbesOur SCOBY creates a self-preserving, acidic environment in the tea [Chorus] In Kingston, Jamaica, Rastafarian’s combined an award-winning kombucha sequenced in Humboldt County, California, with locally grown ganja into a sacramental beverage to help open their mind to reasoning and focus on Jah. Once fermented, it was consumed over the course of a three-day Nyabinghi ceremony. “Luna Reyes is truly blessed. She strengthened our unity as a people, and our Rastafari’ booch help us chant down Babylon,” a Rasta man smiled, blowing smoke from a spliff the size of his arm. The Groundation Collective’s reggae anthem ‘Oh Luna’ joyfully celebrated Luna Reyes’ pioneering discovery. Oh Luna, Oh Luna, Oh Luna ReyesI love the sound of your nameYou so deserve your fame Luna, Luna, Oh Luna ReyesShining brightYou warm my heart Luna, Luna, Oh Luna ReyesYou cracked the codeTeenage prophet, fermentation queenSymbiosis roadA genius at seventeen Oh Luna, Luna, Luna ReyesBeautiful moonMakes me swoon Oh Luna, Luna, Luna ReyesFreedom to fermentYou are heaven sentTo save us Luna, Luna, Oh Luna ReyesYou opened the doorTo so much moreKombucha tastes so goodLike it should Oh Luna, Oh Luna, Oh LunaI love you, love you, love youOh Luna, Luna, LunaLove you, love you,Love Luna, Luna love. In São Paulo, Brazil, MAPA-certified Brazilian kombucha brands combined Heineken and cacao-fermenting yeasts with cupuaçu from indigenous Amazonian peoples, to create the chocolate-flavored ‘booch that won Gold at the 20th World Kombucha Awards. A cervejeiro explained to reporters: “Luna Reyes gave us the foundation. We added local innovation. This is what happens when you democratize biology.” The Brazilian singer Dandara Sereia covered ‘Our Fermented Future’—The Hollow Pines tune destined to become a hit at the 2053 Washington DC Fermentation Festival. Baby sit a little closer, sip some ‘booch with meI brewed this batch with the SCOBY my grandma gave to me.On the back porch swing at twilight, watching fireflies danceYour hand in mine, kombucha fine, the sweetest sweet romance. They say that wine and roses are the way to win the heartBut your kombucha warmed me right up from the start.Fermentation makes the heart grow fonder, truer words they ain’t been saidYour SCOBY’s got a place forever — in my heart, and in my bed. Let’s share our SCOBYs, baby, merge our ferments into oneLike cultures in a crock jar dancing, underneath the sun.The tang of your Lactobacillus is exactly what I’m missingYour Brettanomyces bacteria got this country girl reminiscing. Oh yeah, let’s share those SCOBYs, baby, merge our ferments into oneYour yeasts and my bacteria working till the magic’s doneYou’ve got the acetic acid honey, I’ve got the patience and the timeLet’s bubble up together, let our cultures intertwine. I’ve got that symbiotic feeling, something wild and something trueYour SCOBY’s in my heart, right there next to youThe way your Acetobacter turns sugar into goldIs how you turned my lonely life into a hand to hold. We’ve got the acetic acid and the glucuronic tooWe’ve got that symbiotic feeling, so righteous and so trueOne sip of your sweet ‘booch, Lord, and you had me from the start,It’s our fermented future, that no-one can tear apart. It’s our fermented future…It’s our fermented future…It’s our fermented future… “Luna Variants”—strains derived from her releases—began winning international brewing competitions, embarrassing corporate entries with their complexity and innovation. Traditional beer flavors seemed flat and artificial compared to the genetic symphonies created by collaborative open-source development. Despite the outpouring of positive vibes, the corporations spared no expense to hold Luna to account in the courts. The Preliminary Hearing A preliminary hearing was held in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on June 14, 2044. Luna sat at the defendant’s table, her hands folded so tightly her knuckles had gone white. She wore a borrowed blazer—too big in the shoulders—over a white button-down shirt Maya had ironed that morning. At seventeen, she looked even younger under the courtroom’s fluorescent lights. Across the aisle, Heineken’s legal team occupied three tables. Fifteen attorneys in matching navy suits shuffled documents and whispered into phones. Their lead counsel, William Barr III, wore gold cufflinks that caught the light when he gestured. Luna recognized him from the news—the former Attorney General, now commanding $2,000 an hour to destroy people like her. Her own legal representation consisted of two people: Rose Kennerson from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a public interest lawyer who’d flown in from DC on a red-eye, and Dr. Marcus Webb, technically a witness but sitting beside Luna because she’d asked him to. Behind them, the gallery was packed. Luna’s parents sat in the second row, her father’s face gray, her mother clutching a rosary. Maya had taken the day off work. Abuela Rosa sat in the front row directly behind Luna, her ancient SCOBY wrapped in silk in her lap, as if its presence might protect her granddaughter. Judge Catherine Ironwood entered—sixty-ish, steel-gray hair pulled back severely, known for pro-corporate rulings. She’d been a pharmaceutical industry lawyer for twenty years before her appointment. “All rise,” the bailiff called. Judge Ironwood settled into her chair and surveyed the courtroom with the expression of someone who’d already decided the outcome and resented having to perform the formalities. “We’re here for a preliminary injunction hearing in Heineken International B.V. versus Luna Marie Reyes.” She looked directly at Luna. “Ms. Reyes, you’re seventeen years old?” Luna stood, hesitant. “Yes, your honor.” “Where are your parents?” “Here, your honor.” Luna’s mother half-rose, then sat back down. “Ms. Kennerson, your client is a minor. Are the parents aware they could be held liable for damages?” Rose Kennerson stood smoothly. “Yes, your honor. The Reyes family has been fully advised of the legal implications.” Luna glanced back. Her father’s jaw was clenched so tight she could see the muscles working. He wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Very well. Mr. Barr, you may proceed.” Barr rose like a battleship emerging from fog—massive, expensive, inevitable. He buttoned his suit jacket and approached the bench without notes. “Your honor, this is the simplest case I’ve argued in thirty years. The defendant admits to obtaining my client’s proprietary biological materials. She admits to sequencing their genetic information. She admits to distributing that information globally, in deliberate violation of trade secret protections that have existed for over 150 years. She did this knowingly, systematically, and with the explicit intent to destroy my client’s competitive advantage.” Luna felt Sarah’s hand on her arm—stay calm. Barr continued. “Heineken International has invested over $200 million in the development, cultivation, and protection of the A-yeast strain. Then this teenager”—he pointed at Luna—”obtained samples from our waste disposal systems, reverse-engineered our genetic sequences, and released them to the world via BitTorrent, deliberately placing them beyond retrieval.” He paced now, warming to his theme. “The damage is incalculable. We estimate lost market value at $50 billion. But it’s not just about money. The defendant has destroyed the possibility of competition in the brewing industry. When everyone has access to the same genetic materials, there’s no innovation, no differentiation, no reason for consumers to choose one product over another. She has, in effect, communized an entire industry.” Luna couldn’t help herself. “That’s not—” Sarah grabbed her wrist. “Don’t.” Judge Ironwood’s eyes narrowed. “Ms. Reyes, you will have your opportunity to speak. Until then, you will remain silent, or I will have you removed from this courtroom. Do you understand?” “Yes, your honor.” Luna’s voice came out smaller than she intended. Barr smiled slightly. “Your honor, the relief we seek is straightforward. We ask this court to order the defendant to provide us with a complete list of all servers, websites, and distribution networks where the stolen genetic data currently resides. We ask that she be ordered to cooperate fully in suppressing the data. We ask that she be enjoined from any further distribution. And we ask that she be ordered to pay compensatory damages of $5 billion, plus punitive damages to be determined at trial.” He returned to his seat. One of his associate attorneys handed him a bottle of Pellegrino. He took a sip and waited. Judge Ironwood looked at Sarah. “Ms. Kennerson?” Sarah stood. She looked tiny compared to Barr—five-foot-three, maybe 110 pounds, wearing a suit from Target. But when she spoke, her voice filled the courtroom. “Your honor, Mr. Barr has given you a compelling story about a corporation that’s been wronged. But it’s not the right story. The right story is about whether naturally occurring organisms—creatures that evolved over millions of years, long before humans ever existed—can be owned by a corporation simply because that corporation happened to isolate them.” She walked toward the bench. “Let’s be clear about what the A-yeast strain is. It’s not a genetically modified organism. It’s not a patented invention. It’s a naturally occurring yeast. Heineken didn’t create it. Evolution created it. Heineken merely found it. And for 158 years, they’ve claimed that finding something gives them the right to prevent anyone else from studying it, understanding it, or using it.” Barr was on his feet. “Objection, your honor. This is a preliminary hearing about injunctive relief, not a philosophical debate about intellectual property theory.” “Sustained. Ms. Kennerson, please focus on the specific legal issues before this court.” “Your honor, the specific legal issue is whether naturally occurring genetic sequences constitute protectable trade secrets. My client contends they do not. She obtained the yeast samples from Heineken’s waste disposal—materials they had discarded. Under the garbage doctrine, she had every right to analyze those materials. The genetic sequences she discovered are factual information about naturally occurring organisms. You cannot trade-secret facts about nature.” Luna watched Judge Ironwood’s face. Nothing. No reaction. Sarah pressed on. “Mr. Barr claims my client ‘stole’ genetic information worth $5 billion. But information cannot be stolen—it can only be shared. When I tell you a fact, I don’t lose possession of that fact. We both have it. That’s how knowledge works. Heineken hasn’t lost their yeast. They still have it. They can still brew with it. What they’ve lost is their monopoly on that knowledge. And monopolies on facts about nature should never have existed in the first place.” “Your honor—” Barr tried to interrupt. Judge Ironwood waved him down. “Continue, Ms. Kennerson.” “Your honor, Heineken wants this court to order a seventeen-year-old girl to somehow suppress information that has already been distributed to over 100,000 people in 147 countries. That’s impossible. You can’t unring a bell. You can’t put knowledge back in a bottle. Even if this court ordered my client to provide a list of servers—which she shouldn’t have to do—that list would be incomplete within hours as new mirror sites appeared. The information is out. The only question is whether we punish my client for sharing factual information about naturally occurring organisms.” She turned to face Luna’s family. “Ms. Reyes taught herself bioinformatics from YouTube videos. She works at home with equipment she bought on eBay. She has no criminal record. She’s never been in trouble. She saw a question that interested her—why do commercial beers taste like they do?—and she pursued that question with the tools available to her. When she discovered the answer, she shared it with the world, under a Creative Commons license that specifically protects sharing for educational and scientific purposes. If that’s terrorism, your honor, then every scientist who’s ever published a research paper is a terrorist.” Sarah sat down. Luna wanted to hug her. Judge Ironwood leaned back. “Ms. Reyes, stand up.” Luna rose, her legs shaking. “Do you understand the seriousness of these proceedings?” “Yes, your honor.” “Do you understand that Heineken International is asking me to hold you in contempt of court if you refuse to help them suppress the information you released?” “Yes, your honor.” “Do you understand that contempt of court could result in your detention in a juvenile facility until you reach the age of eighteen, and potentially longer if the contempt continues?” Luna’s mother gasped audibly. Her father put his arm around her. “Yes, your honor,” Luna said, though her voice wavered. “Then let me ask you directly: If I order you to provide Heineken with a complete list of all locations where the genetic data you released currently resides, will you comply?” The courtroom went silent. Luna could hear her own heartbeat. Sarah started to stand—”Your honor, I advise my client not to answer—” “Sit down, Ms. Kennerson. I’m asking your client a direct question. She can choose to answer or not.” Judge Ironwood’s eyes never left Luna. “Well, Ms. Reyes? Will you comply with a court order to help Heineken suppress the information you released?” Luna looked at her parents. Her mother was crying silently. Her father’s face was stone. She looked at Abuela Rosa. Her grandmother nodded once—tell the truth. Luna looked back at the judge. “No, your honor.” Barr shot to his feet. “Your honor, the defendant has just admitted she intends to defy a court order—” “I heard her, Mr. Barr.” Judge Ironwood’s voice was ice. “Ms. Reyes, do you understand you’ve just told a federal judge you will refuse a direct order?” “Yes, your honor.” “And you’re still refusing?” “Yes, your honor.” “Why?” Sarah stood quickly. “Your honor, my client doesn’t have to explain—” “I want to hear it.” Judge Ironwood leaned forward. “Ms. Reyes, tell me why you would risk jail rather than help undo what you’ve done.” Luna took a breath. Her whole body was shaking, but her voice was steady. “Because it would be wrong, your honor.” “Wrong how?” “The genetic sequences I released evolved over millions of years. Heineken didn’t create that yeast. They isolated one strain and claimed ownership of it. The code of life belongs to everyone. That’s humanity’s heritage. Even if you send me to jail, I can’t help suppress the truth.” Judge Ironwood stared at her for a long moment. “That’s a very pretty speech, Ms. Reyes. But this court operates under the law, not your personal philosophy about what should or shouldn’t be owned. Trade secret law exists. Heineken’s rights exist. And you violated those rights.” Luna did not hesitate. “With respect, your honor, I don’t think those rights should exist.” Barr exploded. “Your honor, this is outrageous! The defendant is openly stating she believes she has the right to violate any law she disagrees with—” “That’s not what I said.” Luna’s fear was transforming into something else—something harder. “I’m saying that some laws are unjust. And when laws are unjust, civil disobedience becomes necessary. People broke unjust laws during the civil rights movement. People broke unjust laws when they helped slaves escape. The constitution says members of the military do not have to obey illegal orders, despite what those in power might claim. Sometimes the law is wrong. And when the law says corporations can own genetic information about naturally occurring organisms, the law is wrong.” Judge Ironwood’s face flushed. “Ms. Reyes, you are not Rosa Parks. This is not the civil rights movement. This is a case about intellectual property theft.” “It’s a case about whether life can be property, your honor.” “Enough.” Judge Ironwood slammed her gavel. “Ms. Kennerson, control your client.” Sarah pulled Luna back into her chair. “Luna, stop talking,” she hissed. Judge Ironwood shuffled papers, visibly trying to compose herself. “I’m taking a fifteen-minute recess to consider the injunction request. We’ll reconvene at 11:30. Ms. Reyes, I strongly suggest you use this time to reconsider your position.” The gavel fell again, and Judge Ironwood swept out. The hallway outside the courtroom erupted. Reporters swarmed. Luna’s father grabbed her arm and pulled her into a witness room. Her mother followed, still crying. Maya slipped in before Sarah closed the door. “What were you thinking?” Luna’s father’s voice shook. “You just told a federal judge you’ll defy her orders. They’re going to put you in jail, Luna. Do you understand that? Jail!” “Ricardo, please—” Her mother tried to calm him. “No, Elena. Our daughter just committed contempt of court in front of fifty witnesses. They’re going to take her from us.” He turned to Luna, his eyes wet. “Why? Why couldn’t you just apologize? Say you made a mistake? We could have ended this.” “Because I didn’t make a mistake, Papa.” “You destroyed their property!” “It wasn’t their property. It was never their property.” “The law says it was!” “Then the law is wrong!” Her father stepped back as if she’d slapped him. “Do you know what your mother and I have sacrificed to keep you out of trouble? Do you know how hard we’ve worked since we came to this country to give you opportunities we never had? And you throw it away for yeast. Not for justice. Not for people. For yeast.” Luna’s eyes filled with tears. “It’s not about yeast, Papa. It’s about whether corporations get to own life. If Heineken can own yeast, why not bacteria? Why not human genes? Where does it stop?” “It stops when my daughter goes to jail!” He was shouting now. “I don’t care about Heineken. I don’t care about yeast. I care about you. And you just told that judge you’ll defy her. She’s going to put you in jail, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.” “Ricardo, por favor—” Elena put her hand on his arm. He shook it off. “No. She needs to hear this. Luna, if you go to jail, your life is over. No college will accept you. No company will hire you. You’ll have a criminal record. You’ll be marked forever. Is that what you want?” “I want to do what’s right.” “What’s right is protecting your family! What’s right is not destroying your future for a principle!” he said. Luna responded, “What’s right is not letting corporations own the code of life!”They stared at each other. Maya spoke up quietly from the corner. “Papa, she can’t back down now. The whole world is watching.” “Let the world watch someone else!” Ricardo turned on Maya. “You encourage this. You film her, you post her manifestos online, you help her become famous. You’re her sister. You’re supposed to protect her, not help her destroy herself.” “I am protecting her,” Maya said. “I’m protecting her from becoming someone who backs down when the world tells her she’s wrong, even though she knows she’s right.” Ricardo looked between his daughters. “Ambos están locos! You’re both insane.” Abuela Rosa opened the door and entered. She’d been listening from the hallway. “Ricardo, enough.” “Mama, stay out of this.” “No.” Rosa moved between Ricardo and Luna. “You’re afraid. I understand. But fear makes you cruel, mijo. Your daughter is brave. She’s doing something important. And you’re making her choose between you and what’s right. Don’t do that.” “She’s seventeen years old! She’s a child!” “She’s old enough to know right from wrong.” Rosa put her hand on Ricardo’s cheek. “When I was sixteen, I left Oaxaca with nothing but the clothes on my back and this SCOBY. Everyone said I was crazy. Your father said I would fail. But I knew I had to go, even if it cost me everything. Sometimes our children have to do things that terrify us. That’s how the world changes.” Ricardo pulled away. “If they put her in jail, will that change the world, Mama? When she’s sitting in a cell while Heineken continues doing whatever they want, will that have been worth it?” “Yes,” Luna said quietly. “Even if I go to jail, yes. Because thousands of people now have the genetic sequences, Heineken can’t put that back. They can punish me, but they can’t undo what I did. The information is free. It’s going to stay free. And if the price of that is me going to jail, then that’s the price.” Her father looked at her as if seeing her for the first time. “I don’t know who you are anymore.” “I’m still your daughter, Papa. I’m just also someone who won’t let corporations own life.” A knock on the door. Sarah poked her head in. “They’re reconvening. Luna, we need to go.” Back in the courtroom, the atmosphere had shifted. The gallery was more crowded—word had spread during the recess. Luna recognized several people from online forums. Some held signs reading “FREE LUNA” and “GENETICS BELONG TO EVERYONE.” Judge Ironwood entered and sat without ceremony. “I’ve reviewed the submissions and heard the arguments. This is my ruling.” Luna’s hand found Maya’s in the row behind her. Squeezed tight. “The question before this court is whether to grant Heineken International’s motion for a preliminary injunction requiring Ms. Reyes to assist in suppressing the genetic information she released. To grant such an injunction, Heineken must demonstrate four things: likelihood of success on the merits, likelihood of irreparable harm without the injunction, balance of equities in their favor, and that an injunction serves the public interest.” Barr was nodding. These were his arguments. “Having considered the evidence and the applicable law, I find that Heineken has demonstrated likelihood of success on the merits. Trade secret law clearly protects proprietary business information, and the A-yeast strain appears to meet the legal definition of a trade secret.” Luna’s stomach dropped. “However, I also find that Heineken has failed to demonstrate that a preliminary injunction would effectively prevent the irreparable harm they claim. Ms. Kennerson is correct that the genetic information has already been distributed to over 100,000 people worldwide. Ordering one teenager to provide a list of servers would be, in technical terms, pointless. New copies would appear faster than they could be suppressed.” Barr’s face tightened. “Furthermore, I find that the balance of equities does not favor Heineken. They ask this court to potentially incarcerate a seventeen-year-old girl for refusing to suppress information that is, by her account, factual data about naturally occurring organisms. The potential harm to Ms. Reyes—including detention, criminal record, and foreclosure of educational and career opportunities—substantially outweighs any additional harm Heineken might suffer from continued distribution of information that is already widely distributed.” Luna felt Maya’s grip tighten. Was this good? This sounded good. “Finally, and most importantly, I find that granting this injunction would not serve the public interest. The court takes judicial notice that this case has generated substantial public debate about the scope of intellectual property protection in biotechnology. The questions raised by Ms. Reyes—whether naturally occurring genetic sequences should be ownable, whether facts about nature can be trade secrets, whether knowledge can be property—are questions that deserve answers from a higher authority than this court. These are questions for appellate courts, perhaps ultimately for the Supreme Court. And they are questions best answered in the context of a full trial on the merits, not in an emergency injunction hearing.” Barr was on his feet. “Your honor—” “Sit down, Mr. Barr. I’m not finished.” He sat, his face purple. “Therefore, Heineken International’s motion for preliminary injunction is denied. Ms. Reyes will not be required to assist in suppressing the genetic information she released. However,”—Judge Ironwood looked directly at Luna—”this ruling should not be construed as approval of Ms. Reyes’ actions. Heineken’s claims for damages and other relief remain viable and will proceed to trial. Ms. Reyes, you may have won this battle, but this war is far from over. Anything you want to say?” Luna stood slowly. “Your honor, I just want to say… thank you. For letting this go to trial. For letting these questions be answered properly. That’s all I ever wanted—for someone to seriously consider whether corporations should be allowed to own genetic information about naturally occurring organisms. So thank you.” Judge Ironwood’s expression softened slightly. “Ms. Reyes, I hope you’re prepared for what comes next. Heineken has unlimited resources. They will pursue this case for years if necessary. You’ll be in litigation until you’re twenty-five years old. Your entire young adulthood will be consumed by depositions, court appearances, and legal fees. Are you prepared for that?” “Yes, your honor.” “Why?” Luna glanced at her grandmother, who nodded. “Because some questions are worth answering, your honor. Even if it takes years. Even if it costs everything. The question of whether corporations can own life—that’s worth answering. And if I have to spend my twenties answering it, then that’s what I’ll do.” Judge Ironwood studied her for a long moment. “You remind me of someone I used to know. Someone who believed the law should serve justice, not just power.” She paused. “That person doesn’t exist anymore. The law ground her down. I hope it doesn’t do the same to you.” She raised her gavel. “This hearing is adjourned. The parties will be notified of the trial date once it’s scheduled. Ms. Reyes, good luck. I think you’re going to need it.” The gavel fell. Outside the courthouse, the scene was chaotic. News cameras surrounded Luna. Reporters shouted questions. But Luna barely heard them. She was looking at her father, who stood apart from the crowd, watching her. She walked over to him. “Papa, I’m sorry I yelled.” He didn’t speak for a moment. Then he pulled her into a hug so tight it hurt. “Don’t apologize for being brave,” he whispered into her hair. “I’m just afraid of losing you.” “You won’t lose me, Papa. I promise.” “You can’t promise that. Not anymore.” He pulled back, holding her shoulders. “But I’m proud of you. I’m terrified, but I’m proud.” Her mother joined them, tears streaming down her face. “No more court. Please, no more court.” “I can’t promise that either, Mama.” Elena touched Luna’s face. “Then promise me you’ll be careful. Promise me you’ll remember that you’re not just fighting for genetics. You’re fighting for your life.” Luna smiled. “I promise.” Abuela Rosa appeared, carrying her SCOBY. “Come, mija. We should go before the reporters follow us home.” As they pushed through the crowd toward Maya’s car, Luna's phone buzzed continuously. Text messages and emails pouring in. But what caught her attention was a text from Dr. Webb: You were right. I’m sorry I doubted. Check your email—Dr. Doudna wants to talk. Luna opened her email. The subject line made her stop walking: From: jennifer.doudna@berkeley.eduSubject: Civil Disobedience of the Highest Order She started to read: Dear Ms. Reyes, I watched your hearing this morning. What you did in that courtroom—refusing to back down even when threatened with jail—was one of the bravest things I’ve seen in forty years of science. You’re not just fighting for yeast genetics. You’re fighting for the principle that knowledge about nature belongs to humanity, not to corporations. I want to help… Luna looked up at her family—her father’s worried face, her mother’s tears, Maya’s proud smile, Abuela Rosa’s serene confidence. Behind them, the courthouse where she’d nearly been sent to jail. Around them, reporters and cameras and strangers who’d traveled across the country to support her. She thought about Judge Ironwood’s warning: This war is far from over. She thought about Barr’s face when the injunction was denied. She thought about the thousands who’d downloaded the genetic sequences and were, right now, brewing with genetics that had been locked away for 158 years. Worth it. All of it. Even the fear. Maya opened the car door. “Come on, little revolutionary. Let’s go home.” The Corporate Surrender By 2045, both Heineken and Anheuser-Busch quietly dropped their lawsuits against Luna. Their legal costs had exceeded $200 million while accomplishing nothing except generating bad publicity. More importantly, their “protected” strains had become worthless in a market flooded with superior alternatives. Heineken’s CEO attempted to salvage the company by embracing open-source brewing. His announcement that Heineken would “join the La Luna Revolution” was met with skepticism from the brewing community, which recalled the company’s aggressive legal tactics. The craft brewing community’s response was hostile. “They spent two years trying to destroy her,” a prominent brewmaster told The New Brewer Magazine. “Now they want credit for ’embracing’ the revolution she forced on them? Heineken didn’t join the Luna Revolution—they surrendered to it. There’s a difference.” The global brands never recovered their market share. Luna’s Transformation Luna’s success transformed her from a garage tinkerer into a global icon of the open knowledge movement. Her 2046 TED Talk, “Why Flavor Belongs to Everyone,” went viral. She argued that corporate control over living organisms represented “biological colonialism” that impoverished human culture by restricting natural diversity. Rather than commercializing her fame, Luna founded the Global Fermentation Commons, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and sharing microbial genetics worldwide. Their laboratories operated as open-access research facilities where anyone could experiment with biological systems. The headquarters of the Global Fermentation Commons occupied a former Genentech facility donated by Dr. Webb. Six continents, forty researchers, one mission: preserve and share microbial genetics worldwide. Luna addressed a crowded auditorium at the organization’s third anniversary. “When I released Heineken and Budweiser’s yeast strains, some people called it theft. Others called it liberation. I called it returning biological knowledge to the commons, where it belongs. Three years later, so-called Luna Variants have created economic opportunities for thousands of small brewers, improved food security in developing regions, and demonstrated that genetic freedom drives innovation faster than corporate control.” She continued. “We’re not stopping with beer. The same principles apply to all fermentation: cheese cultures, yogurt bacteria, koji fungi, sourdough starters. Every traditionally fermented food relies on microorganisms that corporations increasingly claim to own. We’re systematically liberating them.” A World Health Organization representative raised a concern: “Ms. Reyes, while we support democratizing food fermentation, there are legitimate concerns about pharmaceutical applications. What prevents someone from using your open-source genetics to create dangerous organisms?” Luna nodded. “Fair question. First, the organisms we release are food-safe cultures with centuries of safe use. Second, dangerous genetic modifications require sophisticated laboratory equipment and expertise—far beyond what releasing genetic sequences enables. Third, determined bad actors already have access to dangerous biology, enabled by AI. We’re not creating new risks; we’re democratizing beneficial biology.” “Pharmaceutical companies argue you’re undermining their investments in beneficial organisms,” another representative pressed. “Pharmaceutical companies invest in modifying organisms,” Luna clarified. “Those modifications can be patented. What we oppose is claiming ownership over naturally occurring organisms or their baseline genetics. If you genetically engineer a bacterium to produce insulin, patent your engineering. Don’t claim ownership over the bacterial species itself.” A Monsanto representative stood. “Your organization recently cracked and released our proprietary seed genetics. That’s direct theft of our property.” Luna didn’t flinch. “Seeds that farmers cultivated for thousands of years before Monsanto existed? You didn’t invent corn, wheat, or soybeans. You modified them. Your modifications may be protectable; the baseline genetics are humanity’s heritage. We’re liberating what should never have been owned.” “The ‘Luna Legion’ has cost us hundreds of millions!” the representative protested. “Good,” Luna responded calmly. “You’ve cost farmers their sovereignty for decades. Consider it karma.” After the presentation, Dr. Doudna approached Luna privately. “You’ve accomplished something remarkable,” the elderly scientist said. “When I developed Crispr, I never imagined a teenager would use similar principles to challenge corporate biology. You’re forcing conversations about genetic ownership that we’ve avoided for decades.” “It needed forcing,” Luna replied. “Corporations were quietly owning life itself, one patent at a time. Someone had to say no.” “The pharmaceutical industry is terrified of you,” Doudna continued. “They see what happened to brewing and imagine the same for their carefully controlled bacterial strains. You’re going to face even more aggressive opposition.” “I know. Once people understand that biological knowledge can be liberated, they start questioning all biological ownership. We’re not stopping.” The New Economy of Taste Following Luna’s breakthrough, peer-to-peer flavor-sharing platforms emerged as the dominant force in food culture. The “FlavorChain” blockchain allowed brewers to track genetic lineages while ensuring proper attribution to original creators. SCOBY lineages were carefully sequenced, catalogued, and registered on global blockchain ledgers. Each award-winning kombucha strain carried a “genetic passport”—its microbial makeup, the unique balance of yeasts and bacteria that gave rise to particular mouthfeel, fizz, and flavor spectrum, was mapped, hashed, and permanently recorded. Brewers who created a new flavor could claim authorship, just as musicians once copyrighted songs. No matter how many times a SCOBY was divided, its fingerprint could be verified. Fermentation Guilds formed to share recipes through FlavorChain, enabling decentralized digital markets like SymbioTrdr, built on trust and transparency rather than speculation. They allowed people to interact and transact on a global, permissionless, self-executing platform. Within days, a SCOBY strain from the Himalayas could appear in a brew in Buenos Aires, its journey traced through open ledgers showing who tended, adapted, and shared it. Kombucha recipes were no longer jealously guarded secrets. They were open to anyone who wanted to brew. With a few clicks, a Guild member in Nairobi could download the blockchain-verified SCOBY genome that had won Gold at the Tokyo Fermentation Festival. Local biotech printers—as common in 2100 kitchens as microwave ovens had once been—could reconstitute the living culture cell by cell. Children began inheriting SCOBY lineages the way earlier generations inherited family names. Weddings combined SCOBY cultures as symbolic unions. (Let’s share our SCOBYs, baby, merge our ferments into one.) When someone died, their SCOBY was divided among friends and family—a continuation of essence through taste. Kombucha was no longer merely consumed; it was communed with. This transparency transformed kombucha from a minority regional curiosity into a universal language. A festival in Brazil might feature ten local interpretations of the same “Golden SCOBY” strain—one brewed with passionfruit, another with cupuaçu, a third with açaí berries. The core microbial signature remained intact, while the terroir of fruit and spice gave each version a unique accent. Brewers didn’t lose their craft—they gained a canvas. Award-winning SCOBYs were the foundations on which endless new flavor experiments flourished. Many people were now as prolific as William Esslinger, the founder of St Louis’s Confluence Kombucha, who was renowned for developing 800 flavors in the 2020s. Code of Symbiosis The Symbiosis Code, ratified at the first World Fermentation Gathering in Reykjavik (2063), bound Fermentation Guilds to three principles: Transparency — All microbial knowledge is to be shared freely. Reciprocity — No brew should be produced without acknowledging the source. Community — Every fermentation must nourish more than the brewer. This code replaced corporate law. It was enforced by reputation, not by governments. A Guild member who betrayed the code found their SCOBYs mysteriously refusing to thrive—a poetic justice the biologists never quite explained. Every Guild had elders—called Mothers of the Jar or Keepers of the Yeast. They carried living SCOBYs wrapped in silk pouches when traveling, exchanging fragments as blessings. These elders became moral anchors of the age, counselors and mediators trusted more than politicians. When disputes arose—over territory, resources, or ethics—brewers, not lawyers, met to share a round of Truth Brew, a ferment so balanced that it was said to reveal dishonesty through bitterness. The Fullness of Time The International Biotech Conference of 2052 invited Luna to give the closing keynote—a controversial decision that prompted several corporate sponsors to withdraw support. The auditorium was packed with supporters, critics, and the merely curious. “Nine years ago, I released genetic sequences for beer yeast strains protected as trade secrets. I was called a thief, a bioterrorist, worse. Today, I want to discuss what we’ve learned from those years of open-source biology.” She displayed a chart showing the explosion of brewing innovation since 2043. “In the traditional corporate model, a few companies control a few strains, producing a limited variety. With the open-source model, thousands of brewers using thousands of variants, producing infinite diversity. As Duff McDonald wrote “Anything that alive contains the universe, or infinite possibility. Kombucha is infinite possibility in a drink.” And the results speak for themselves—flavor innovation accelerated a thousand-fold when we removed corporate control.” A student activist approached the microphone. “Ms. Reyes, you’ve inspired movements to liberate seed genetics, soil bacteria, and traditional medicine cultures. The ‘Luna Legion’ is spreading globally. What’s your message to young people who want to continue this work?” Luna smiled. “First, understand the risks. I was sued by multinational corporations, received death threats, spent years fighting legal battles. This work has costs. Second, be strategic. Release information you’ve generated yourself through legal methods—no hacking, no theft. Third, build communities. I survived because people supported me—legally, financially, emotionally. You can’t fight corporations alone. Finally, remember why you’re doing it: to return biological knowledge to the commons where it belongs. That purpose will sustain you through the hard parts.” Teaching By twenty-eight, Luna was a MacArthur Fellow, teaching fermentation workshops in a converted Anheuser-Busch facility. As she watched her students—former corporate employees learning to think like ecosystems rather than factories—she reflected that her teenage hack had accomplished more than liberating yeast genetics. She had helped humanity remember that flavor, like knowledge, grows stronger when shared rather than hoarded. Luna’s garage had evolved into a sophisticated community biolab. The original jury-rigged equipment had been replaced with professional gear funded by her MacArthur Fellowship. Abuela Rosa still maintained her fermentation crocks in the corner—a reminder of where everything started. A group of five

The 2025 Holiday Gift Guide #3 continues in Part 2 with standout picks from Jill McKinley, Joe Kissell, Brett Terpstra, and Chuck Joiner that include cold-weather car gear, compact wireless microphones, iPhone phone cases, powerful charging gear, organization tools, speakers, and a timely tech-culture book. (Part 2)  In the Take Control Books Black Friday sale, you can save 25% on all full-price titles. Or, save 50% on all ebooks, including upgrades, for a full year with a Take Control Premium membership for $14.99. Plus, if your order total including Premium is at least $34.99, you'll get a free ebook of your choice! The sale runs through December 3. For complete details, go to takecontrolbooks.com/blackfriday25. Show Notes: Chapters: [0:00] Gift Guide intro and sponsor[0:20] AstroAI car jumper for winter reliability[3:40] Transition to audio gear[3:45] Blue Yeti setup and need for wireless mics[5:37] Hollyland Lark M2S wireless mic overview[9:18] Battery life details[10:13] Round three wrap-up[10:40] Open Case MagSafe-ready phone case[12:53] Cable labeling for workspace organization[14:55] Take Control Books Black Friday info[16:20] Round four begins[16:31] Anker S3 conference speaker[18:43] Cory Doctorow's Inshittification[23:30] High-power StarTech USB-C charging block[26:19] 12-outlet long power strip pick[29:38] Discussion of extension-cable alternatives[30:09] Closing remarks and guest contact links Links: Jill McKinley Govee RGBIC Neon Lights, LED Smart Neon Rope Light 2 Works with Matter, Alexa, Google Assistant, Custom DIY Neon Strip Lights for Bedroom and Wall Decorhttps://amzn.to/49xSwyP Anker PowerConf Speakerphone, Zoom Certified Conference Speaker with 6 Mics, 360° Enhanced Voice Pickup, 24H Call Time, Bluetooth 5.3, USB C, Compatible with Leading Platforms for Personal Workspaces https://amzn.to/4ibeCcy Timbuk2 Never Check Expandable Backpack, Jet Blackhttps://amzn.to/4pAqeZb   Brett OpenCase iPhone Casehttps://theopencase.com StarTech.com 4-Port USB-C Charging Station, 240W GaN Charger Blockhttps://amzn.to/4obIKWI Pyle 19-Outlet 1U Rackmount PDU Power Distribution Unit - 15 Amp Surge Protector - USB Charging Port - Ground Lift - Circuit Breaker - 15FT Cord - 3 Front AC Outlets - 16 Rear Power Cableshttps://amzn.to/44uwDNh   Chuck Joiner 32 Pcs Cable Labels, Multi-Color Write On Cord Label, Wire Labels, Cable Tags, Wire Tags for Electronics, Computers Cable Management and Identificationhttps://amzn.to/4pqNt82  12 Outlet Long Power Strip, 2100 Joules Surge Protector, 6FT Power Cord, Wide Spaced Outlet Power Bar, Overload Protection Switchhttps://amzn.to/4rvwvaq Guests:   Joe Kissell is the publisher of  Take Control ebooks, as well as the author of over 60 books on a wide variety of tech topics. Keep up with him if you can on his personal site, JoeKissell.com, on Bluesky, and Mastodon. By day, Jill McKinley is an IT professional with deep experience in enterprise hospital software, server administration, and digital workflow optimization. With decades of hands-on work—from Windows environments to Apple ecosystems—she combines technology, usability, and human-centered design to make systems work smarter for real people. Outside of tech, Jill is the creator and host of multiple YouTube channels and podcasts, including Start with Small Steps and Buzz Blossom & Squeak. Her shows explore personal growth, productivity, and the wonders of the natural world—all through the lens of curiosity and exploration. Whether she's automating her home, unpacking the meaning of ancient texts, or nerding out over bird migration, Jill brings energy, insight, and just the right amount of geekiness to everything she does. Brett Terpstra is a coder, writer and web developer. He works behind the scenes at blogs including Engadget, Joystiq and The Unofficial Apple Weblog. He also writes for The Unofficial Apple Weblog, and contributes to Macworld. Brett develops Marked for Mac and recently co-authored “60 Mountain Lion Tips” with David Sparks for the iBookstore. He discusses all things “nerd” on his podcasts, Systematic and Overtired.You can find Brett as “ttscoff” on Twitter, and at his website, brettterpstra.com. Support:      Become a MacVoices Patron on Patreon     http://patreon.com/macvoices      Enjoy this episode? Make a one-time donation with PayPal Connect:      Web:     http://macvoices.com      Twitter:     http://www.twitter.com/chuckjoiner     http://www.twitter.com/macvoices      Mastodon:     https://mastodon.cloud/@chuckjoiner      Facebook:     http://www.facebook.com/chuck.joiner      MacVoices Page on Facebook:     http://www.facebook.com/macvoices/      MacVoices Group on Facebook:     http://www.facebook.com/groups/macvoice      LinkedIn:     https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckjoiner/      Instagram:     https://www.instagram.com/chuckjoiner/ Subscribe:      Audio in iTunes     Video in iTunes      Subscribe manually via iTunes or any podcatcher:      Audio: http://www.macvoices.com/rss/macvoicesrss      Video: http://www.macvoices.com/rss/macvoicesvideorss

The 2025 Holiday Gift Guide #3 continues in Part 2 with standout picks from Jill McKinley, Joe Kissell, Brett Terpstra, and Chuck Joiner that include cold-weather car gear, compact wireless microphones, iPhone phone cases, powerful charging gear, organization tools, speakers, and a timely tech-culture book. (Part 2) In the Take Control Books Black Friday sale, you can save 25% on all full-price titles. Or, save 50% on all ebooks, including upgrades, for a full year with a Take Control Premium membership for $14.99. Plus, if your order total including Premium is at least $34.99, you'll get a free ebook of your choice! The sale runs through December 3. For complete details, go to takecontrolbooks.com/blackfriday25. Show Notes: Chapters: [0:00] Gift Guide intro and sponsor [0:20] AstroAI car jumper for winter reliability [3:40] Transition to audio gear [3:45] Blue Yeti setup and need for wireless mics [5:37] Hollyland Lark M2S wireless mic overview [9:18] Battery life details [10:13] Round three wrap-up [10:40] Open Case MagSafe-ready phone case [12:53] Cable labeling for workspace organization [14:55] Take Control Books Black Friday info [16:20] Round four begins [16:31] Anker S3 conference speaker [18:43] Cory Doctorow's Inshittification [23:30] High-power StarTech USB-C charging block [26:19] 12-outlet long power strip pick [29:38] Discussion of extension-cable alternatives [30:09] Closing remarks and guest contact links Links: Jill McKinley Govee RGBIC Neon Lights, LED Smart Neon Rope Light 2 Works with Matter, Alexa, Google Assistant, Custom DIY Neon Strip Lights for Bedroom and Wall Decor https://amzn.to/49xSwyP Anker PowerConf Speakerphone, Zoom Certified Conference Speaker with 6 Mics, 360° Enhanced Voice Pickup, 24H Call Time, Bluetooth 5.3, USB C, Compatible with Leading Platforms for Personal Workspaces https://amzn.to/4ibeCcy Timbuk2 Never Check Expandable Backpack, Jet Black https://amzn.to/4pAqeZb   Brett OpenCase iPhone Case https://theopencase.com StarTech.com 4-Port USB-C Charging Station, 240W GaN Charger Block https://amzn.to/4obIKWI Pyle 19-Outlet 1U Rackmount PDU Power Distribution Unit - 15 Amp Surge Protector - USB Charging Port - Ground Lift - Circuit Breaker - 15FT Cord - 3 Front AC Outlets - 16 Rear Power Cables https://amzn.to/44uwDNh   Chuck Joiner 32 Pcs Cable Labels, Multi-Color Write On Cord Label, Wire Labels, Cable Tags, Wire Tags for Electronics, Computers Cable Management and Identification https://amzn.to/4pqNt82  12 Outlet Long Power Strip, 2100 Joules Surge Protector, 6FT Power Cord, Wide Spaced Outlet Power Bar, Overload Protection Switch https://amzn.to/4rvwvaq Guests:   Joe Kissell is the publisher of  Take Control ebooks, as well as the author of over 60 books on a wide variety of tech topics. Keep up with him if you can on his personal site, JoeKissell.com, on Bluesky, and Mastodon. By day, Jill McKinley is an IT professional with deep experience in enterprise hospital software, server administration, and digital workflow optimization. With decades of hands-on work—from Windows environments to Apple ecosystems—she combines technology, usability, and human-centered design to make systems work smarter for real people. Outside of tech, Jill is the creator and host of multiple YouTube channels and podcasts, including Start with Small Steps and Buzz Blossom & Squeak. Her shows explore personal growth, productivity, and the wonders of the natural world—all through the lens of curiosity and exploration. Whether she's automating her home, unpacking the meaning of ancient texts, or nerding out over bird migration, Jill brings energy, insight, and just the right amount of geekiness to everything she does. Brett Terpstra is a coder, writer and web developer. He works behind the scenes at blogs including Engadget, Joystiq and The Unofficial Apple Weblog. He also writes for The Unofficial Apple Weblog, and contributes to Macworld. Brett develops Marked for Mac and recently co-authored "60 Mountain Lion Tips" with David Sparks for the iBookstore. He discusses all things "nerd" on his podcasts, Systematic and Overtired.You can find Brett as "ttscoff" on Twitter, and at his website, brettterpstra.com. Support:      Become a MacVoices Patron on Patreon      http://patreon.com/macvoices      Enjoy this episode? Make a one-time donation with PayPal Connect:      Web:      http://macvoices.com      Twitter:      http://www.twitter.com/chuckjoiner      http://www.twitter.com/macvoices      Mastodon:      https://mastodon.cloud/@chuckjoiner      Facebook:      http://www.facebook.com/chuck.joiner      MacVoices Page on Facebook:      http://www.facebook.com/macvoices/      MacVoices Group on Facebook:      http://www.facebook.com/groups/macvoice      LinkedIn:      https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckjoiner/      Instagram:      https://www.instagram.com/chuckjoiner/ Subscribe:      Audio in iTunes      Video in iTunes      Subscribe manually via iTunes or any podcatcher:      Audio: http://www.macvoices.com/rss/macvoicesrss      Video: http://www.macvoices.com/rss/macvoicesvideorss

Why does every platform seem to get worse over time? This week, Ellen and Alona are joined by journalist, tech activist and sci-fi writer Cory Doctorow, who coined the term “enshittification” to describe the decay of digital services into exploitative, user-hostile platforms.As constraints that once kept platforms in check have broken down, Cory shares how tech giants polluted the digital landscape, why AI-generated “slop” has sped it up, and why we should all care. What's in it for tech CEOs? What is this is doing to us as humans? And what would real de-enshittification look like?Cory discusses how to grab people's attention, and how to fight back against tech giants.Plus, Ellen and Alona talk digital detoxes: “banger” or “dud”?Cory's book ‘Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What To Do About It' is published by Verso Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From flying to online shopping to using social media, everything seems to be getting worse. It's all — pardon our language here — shittier. According to today's Lever Time guest, that's no accident. Cory Doctorow is the author of Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It. In this episode, Doctorow explains how enshittification works, how it's infected our online spaces, and what we can do to stop it. Plus, as an exclusive bonus to our paid subscribers, click here for the rest of David's conversation with Cory Doctorow. They talk about why Americans are trapped on Facebook or Microsoft Office and how Donald Trump is using tech companies as weapons in his trade war. Doctorow also offers a few simple solutions to stop our world from going to shit. Not yet a paid subscriber? Click here for a special membership offer exclusive to Lever Time listeners. To leave a tip for The Lever, ⁠click here⁠. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. ⁠Click here⁠⁠ for a transcript of this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's the word of the moment. “Enshittification” is the reason Google is all ads and no useful results, Amazon serves you crappy overpriced products, your phone spies on you and you can't find your friends on social media – but you WILL be persecuted by bots, brands and Nazis all day long. So how are we going to fix it? Leading tech critic Cory Doctorow joins Andrew Harrison and Rafael Behr to talk about whether digital platform rot is inevitable, his book Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What To Do About It …  and the many, many ways to conjugate the verb “to enshittify”.  NB Trust us, this is NOT an edition you want to listen to at 1.5x speed.  • Buy Enshittification through our affiliate bookshop and you'll help fund Oh God, What Now? by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org's fees help support independent bookshops too. ESCAPE ROUTES • Cory recommends the podcast No Gods No Mayors. • Raf went to see the touring production of Fiddler on the Roof which you can still just about catch in Sunderland and Birmingham. • Andrew recommends child abduction drama All Her Fault on Now TV plus colossal CD box sets from Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Propaganda. • Head to nakedwines.co.uk/ohgodwhatnow to get a £30 voucher and 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included. • Get our exclusive NordVPN deal at nordvpn.com/ohgodwhatnow. It's risk-free with Nord's 30-day money back guarantee!  www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Andrew Harrison with Rafael Behr. Audio and Video Production by: Chris Jones. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Cornershop. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tech critic Cory Doctorow explains why for so many the internet – from Amazon to Google to Instagram – seems to be getting worse. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus

Enshittification. It's fun to say, hard to spell, and a useful descriptor of exactly how the internet has gone wrong. Cory Doctorow, the author and activist who coined the term a few years ago, recently published a book on the subject, called Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It. He was on Decoder a few weeks ago to explain what happened, and joins The Vergecast this week to help us figure out what to do about it. Can we, as regular people on the internet, help to de-enshittify the place? What responsibility do we have, and what kinds of choices should we be making? Cory has lots of thoughts on whether you can shop your way out of a monopoly, and what it really takes to enact structural change online. Further reading: Cory Doctorow on Decoder Read Cory's book, Enshittification Cory's last Vergecast appearance From Pluralistic: How monopoly enshittified Amazon AI is killing the old web, and the new web struggles to be born FTC files a massive antitrust lawsuit against Amazon Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How can we reclaim the internet? Tom Sutcliffe and guests discuss the digital age - its supporters and discontents. Tech critic Cory Doctorow introduces his new book Enshittification, a blistering diagnosis of how online platforms have decayed — from innovation to exploitation — and what we can do to make it better for ordinary users. Novelist and broadcaster Naomi Alderman draws on history in Don't Burn Anyone at the Stake Today, arguing that we've lived through information crises before, and that lessons from the invention of writing and the printing press can help us navigate today's digital turbulence. Journalist Oliver Moody, the author of Baltic: The Future of Europe, discusses Estonia's radical embrace of digital governance, and what it reveals about the possibilities — and limits — of a truly connected state.Producer: Katy Hickman Assistant Producer: Natalia Fernandez

In this special livestream edition of Peoples & Things, host Lee Vinsel and very special guest host, danah boyd, formerly of Microsoft Research, presently Geri Gay Professor of Communication at Cornell University, chat with writer and activist, Cory Doctorow, about his new book, Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It. The book tracks how and why companies degrade their digital platforms and products and argues especially for the role that monopoly power plays in this phenomenon. Vinsel, boyd, and Doctorow talk about many different dimensions of these processes and go down various joyful rabbitholes, too, including our present AI bubble. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In this special livestream edition of Peoples & Things, host Lee Vinsel and very special guest host, danah boyd, formerly of Microsoft Research, presently Geri Gay Professor of Communication at Cornell University, chat with writer and activist, Cory Doctorow, about his new book, Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It. The book tracks how and why companies degrade their digital platforms and products and argues especially for the role that monopoly power plays in this phenomenon. Vinsel, boyd, and Doctorow talk about many different dimensions of these processes and go down various joyful rabbitholes, too, including our present AI bubble. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/politics-and-polemics

In this special livestream edition of Peoples & Things, host Lee Vinsel and very special guest host, danah boyd, formerly of Microsoft Research, presently Geri Gay Professor of Communication at Cornell University, chat with writer and activist, Cory Doctorow, about his new book, Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It. The book tracks how and why companies degrade their digital platforms and products and argues especially for the role that monopoly power plays in this phenomenon. Vinsel, boyd, and Doctorow talk about many different dimensions of these processes and go down various joyful rabbitholes, too, including our present AI bubble. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science-technology-and-society

In this special livestream edition of Peoples & Things, host Lee Vinsel and very special guest host, danah boyd, formerly of Microsoft Research, presently Geri Gay Professor of Communication at Cornell University, chat with writer and activist, Cory Doctorow, about his new book, Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It. The book tracks how and why companies degrade their digital platforms and products and argues especially for the role that monopoly power plays in this phenomenon. Vinsel, boyd, and Doctorow talk about many different dimensions of these processes and go down various joyful rabbitholes, too, including our present AI bubble. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/technology

Can radical optimism about AI truly shape our future, or are we stuck in a cycle of doom-and-hype? This episode features an unfiltered debate with Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly on why most fears about artificial intelligence might be missing the bigger picture. Vibe Coding' Named Word of the Year By Collins Dictionary OpenAI CFO Says Company Isn't Seeking Government Backstop, Clarifying Prior Comment Montana Becomes First State to Enshrine 'Right to Compute' Into Law - Montana Newsroom Sam Altman's Worldcoin Project Struggles Toward Billion-User Ambition With 17.5 Million Sign-Ups Meta's chief AI scientist Yann LeCun reportedly plans to leave to build his own startup Exclusive: US Army to buy 1 million drones, in major acquisition ramp-up Facebook Dating Is a Surprise Hit For the Social Network - Slashdot 12 Things I've Heard Boomers Say That I Agree With 100% The FBI has subpoenaed the domain registrar of archive.today, demanding information about the owner of the archiving site as part of a criminal investigation How Similar Are Grokipedia and Wikipedia? What We Can Learn From Brain Organoids If the US Has to Build Data Centers, Here's Where They Should Go LLM-Based Multi-Agent System for Simulating and Analyzing Marketing and Consumer Behavior No. 10's synthetic voters Tim Wu and Cory Doctorow's NPCs: Non-Player Consumers Eric Schmidt: This Is No Way to Rule a Country My torture for you Ohio State to hire 100 new faculty with AI expertise 'A frightening development': How AI-Articles are flooding the internet with fake news Internet Archive's legal fights are over, but its founder mourns what was lost YouTube TV deal reportedly hung up on ESPN pricing as Disney loses $30 million a week How people really use ChatGPT, according to 47,000 conversations shared online Tort Law museum visit Bread and Puppet Museum We're famous in Germany Brand new bridge Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau Guest: Kevin Kelly Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: zapier.com/machines ventionteams.com/twit Melissa.com/twit agntcy.org

Can radical optimism about AI truly shape our future, or are we stuck in a cycle of doom-and-hype? This episode features an unfiltered debate with Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly on why most fears about artificial intelligence might be missing the bigger picture. Vibe Coding' Named Word of the Year By Collins Dictionary OpenAI CFO Says Company Isn't Seeking Government Backstop, Clarifying Prior Comment Montana Becomes First State to Enshrine 'Right to Compute' Into Law - Montana Newsroom Sam Altman's Worldcoin Project Struggles Toward Billion-User Ambition With 17.5 Million Sign-Ups Meta's chief AI scientist Yann LeCun reportedly plans to leave to build his own startup Exclusive: US Army to buy 1 million drones, in major acquisition ramp-up Facebook Dating Is a Surprise Hit For the Social Network - Slashdot 12 Things I've Heard Boomers Say That I Agree With 100% The FBI has subpoenaed the domain registrar of archive.today, demanding information about the owner of the archiving site as part of a criminal investigation How Similar Are Grokipedia and Wikipedia? What We Can Learn From Brain Organoids If the US Has to Build Data Centers, Here's Where They Should Go LLM-Based Multi-Agent System for Simulating and Analyzing Marketing and Consumer Behavior No. 10's synthetic voters Tim Wu and Cory Doctorow's NPCs: Non-Player Consumers Eric Schmidt: This Is No Way to Rule a Country My torture for you Ohio State to hire 100 new faculty with AI expertise 'A frightening development': How AI-Articles are flooding the internet with fake news Internet Archive's legal fights are over, but its founder mourns what was lost YouTube TV deal reportedly hung up on ESPN pricing as Disney loses $30 million a week How people really use ChatGPT, according to 47,000 conversations shared online Tort Law museum visit Bread and Puppet Museum We're famous in Germany Brand new bridge Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau Guest: Kevin Kelly Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: zapier.com/machines ventionteams.com/twit Melissa.com/twit agntcy.org

Can radical optimism about AI truly shape our future, or are we stuck in a cycle of doom-and-hype? This episode features an unfiltered debate with Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly on why most fears about artificial intelligence might be missing the bigger picture. Vibe Coding' Named Word of the Year By Collins Dictionary OpenAI CFO Says Company Isn't Seeking Government Backstop, Clarifying Prior Comment Montana Becomes First State to Enshrine 'Right to Compute' Into Law - Montana Newsroom Sam Altman's Worldcoin Project Struggles Toward Billion-User Ambition With 17.5 Million Sign-Ups Meta's chief AI scientist Yann LeCun reportedly plans to leave to build his own startup Exclusive: US Army to buy 1 million drones, in major acquisition ramp-up Facebook Dating Is a Surprise Hit For the Social Network - Slashdot 12 Things I've Heard Boomers Say That I Agree With 100% The FBI has subpoenaed the domain registrar of archive.today, demanding information about the owner of the archiving site as part of a criminal investigation How Similar Are Grokipedia and Wikipedia? What We Can Learn From Brain Organoids If the US Has to Build Data Centers, Here's Where They Should Go LLM-Based Multi-Agent System for Simulating and Analyzing Marketing and Consumer Behavior No. 10's synthetic voters Tim Wu and Cory Doctorow's NPCs: Non-Player Consumers Eric Schmidt: This Is No Way to Rule a Country My torture for you Ohio State to hire 100 new faculty with AI expertise 'A frightening development': How AI-Articles are flooding the internet with fake news Internet Archive's legal fights are over, but its founder mourns what was lost YouTube TV deal reportedly hung up on ESPN pricing as Disney loses $30 million a week How people really use ChatGPT, according to 47,000 conversations shared online Tort Law museum visit Bread and Puppet Museum We're famous in Germany Brand new bridge Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau Guest: Kevin Kelly Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: zapier.com/machines ventionteams.com/twit Melissa.com/twit agntcy.org

Can radical optimism about AI truly shape our future, or are we stuck in a cycle of doom-and-hype? This episode features an unfiltered debate with Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly on why most fears about artificial intelligence might be missing the bigger picture. Vibe Coding' Named Word of the Year By Collins Dictionary OpenAI CFO Says Company Isn't Seeking Government Backstop, Clarifying Prior Comment Montana Becomes First State to Enshrine 'Right to Compute' Into Law - Montana Newsroom Sam Altman's Worldcoin Project Struggles Toward Billion-User Ambition With 17.5 Million Sign-Ups Meta's chief AI scientist Yann LeCun reportedly plans to leave to build his own startup Exclusive: US Army to buy 1 million drones, in major acquisition ramp-up Facebook Dating Is a Surprise Hit For the Social Network - Slashdot 12 Things I've Heard Boomers Say That I Agree With 100% The FBI has subpoenaed the domain registrar of archive.today, demanding information about the owner of the archiving site as part of a criminal investigation How Similar Are Grokipedia and Wikipedia? What We Can Learn From Brain Organoids If the US Has to Build Data Centers, Here's Where They Should Go LLM-Based Multi-Agent System for Simulating and Analyzing Marketing and Consumer Behavior No. 10's synthetic voters Tim Wu and Cory Doctorow's NPCs: Non-Player Consumers Eric Schmidt: This Is No Way to Rule a Country My torture for you Ohio State to hire 100 new faculty with AI expertise 'A frightening development': How AI-Articles are flooding the internet with fake news Internet Archive's legal fights are over, but its founder mourns what was lost YouTube TV deal reportedly hung up on ESPN pricing as Disney loses $30 million a week How people really use ChatGPT, according to 47,000 conversations shared online Tort Law museum visit Bread and Puppet Museum We're famous in Germany Brand new bridge Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau Guest: Kevin Kelly Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: zapier.com/machines ventionteams.com/twit Melissa.com/twit agntcy.org

Can radical optimism about AI truly shape our future, or are we stuck in a cycle of doom-and-hype? This episode features an unfiltered debate with Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly on why most fears about artificial intelligence might be missing the bigger picture. Vibe Coding' Named Word of the Year By Collins Dictionary OpenAI CFO Says Company Isn't Seeking Government Backstop, Clarifying Prior Comment Montana Becomes First State to Enshrine 'Right to Compute' Into Law - Montana Newsroom Sam Altman's Worldcoin Project Struggles Toward Billion-User Ambition With 17.5 Million Sign-Ups Meta's chief AI scientist Yann LeCun reportedly plans to leave to build his own startup Exclusive: US Army to buy 1 million drones, in major acquisition ramp-up Facebook Dating Is a Surprise Hit For the Social Network - Slashdot 12 Things I've Heard Boomers Say That I Agree With 100% The FBI has subpoenaed the domain registrar of archive.today, demanding information about the owner of the archiving site as part of a criminal investigation How Similar Are Grokipedia and Wikipedia? What We Can Learn From Brain Organoids If the US Has to Build Data Centers, Here's Where They Should Go LLM-Based Multi-Agent System for Simulating and Analyzing Marketing and Consumer Behavior No. 10's synthetic voters Tim Wu and Cory Doctorow's NPCs: Non-Player Consumers Eric Schmidt: This Is No Way to Rule a Country My torture for you Ohio State to hire 100 new faculty with AI expertise 'A frightening development': How AI-Articles are flooding the internet with fake news Internet Archive's legal fights are over, but its founder mourns what was lost YouTube TV deal reportedly hung up on ESPN pricing as Disney loses $30 million a week How people really use ChatGPT, according to 47,000 conversations shared online Tort Law museum visit Bread and Puppet Museum We're famous in Germany Brand new bridge Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau Guest: Kevin Kelly Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: zapier.com/machines ventionteams.com/twit Melissa.com/twit agntcy.org

Can radical optimism about AI truly shape our future, or are we stuck in a cycle of doom-and-hype? This episode features an unfiltered debate with Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly on why most fears about artificial intelligence might be missing the bigger picture. Vibe Coding' Named Word of the Year By Collins Dictionary OpenAI CFO Says Company Isn't Seeking Government Backstop, Clarifying Prior Comment Montana Becomes First State to Enshrine 'Right to Compute' Into Law - Montana Newsroom Sam Altman's Worldcoin Project Struggles Toward Billion-User Ambition With 17.5 Million Sign-Ups Meta's chief AI scientist Yann LeCun reportedly plans to leave to build his own startup Exclusive: US Army to buy 1 million drones, in major acquisition ramp-up Facebook Dating Is a Surprise Hit For the Social Network - Slashdot 12 Things I've Heard Boomers Say That I Agree With 100% The FBI has subpoenaed the domain registrar of archive.today, demanding information about the owner of the archiving site as part of a criminal investigation How Similar Are Grokipedia and Wikipedia? What We Can Learn From Brain Organoids If the US Has to Build Data Centers, Here's Where They Should Go LLM-Based Multi-Agent System for Simulating and Analyzing Marketing and Consumer Behavior No. 10's synthetic voters Tim Wu and Cory Doctorow's NPCs: Non-Player Consumers Eric Schmidt: This Is No Way to Rule a Country My torture for you Ohio State to hire 100 new faculty with AI expertise 'A frightening development': How AI-Articles are flooding the internet with fake news Internet Archive's legal fights are over, but its founder mourns what was lost YouTube TV deal reportedly hung up on ESPN pricing as Disney loses $30 million a week How people really use ChatGPT, according to 47,000 conversations shared online Tort Law museum visit Bread and Puppet Museum We're famous in Germany Brand new bridge Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau Guest: Kevin Kelly Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: zapier.com/machines ventionteams.com/twit Melissa.com/twit agntcy.org

Episodio 344.Mi nombre de diseñador es Kunning Drugger. Me dicen El Barato +, soy cabezón mas hacia este lado que hacia este lado y mira, tengo el paquete abajo…. Como suavecito, ¿me entiendes?

Jason Howell and Jeff Jarvis discuss Yann LeCun's possible Meta exit, SoftBank unloading its Nvidia stake for an OpenAI investment, an AI-generated artist topping Billboard's country chart, OpenAI's talks with Washington over federal loan guarantees, Perplexity's stance on companion chat bots, Apple reportedly licensing Google's Gemini, Amazon launching Kindle Translate, and Google Photos expanding with Nano Banana features. CHAPTERS: 0:03:33: Meta chief AI scientist Yann LeCun plans to exit to launch startup, FT reports 0:09:03: Cambrian-S: Towards Spatial Supersensing in Video: by Li, LeCun, et al 0:10:11: Fei-Fei Li's World Labs speeds up the world model race with Marble, its first commercial product 0:16:45: SoftBank Sells Its Nvidia Stake for $5.8 Billion to Fund OpenAI Bet 0:20:10: Anthropic Is on Track to Turn a Profit Much Faster Than OpenAI 0:27:40: OpenAI discussed government loan guarantees for chip plants, not data centers, Altman says 0:29:19: @sama: I would like to clarify a few things. 0:38:51: Country's No. 1 Digital Song Is an AI Smash, But Who Is Breaking Rust? Jeff's Arxiv Showdown 0:47:13: How Similar Are Grokipedia and Wikipedia? 0:49:24: Brain Organoid Computing 0:49:45: What We Can Learn From Brain Organoids 0:51:18: LLM-Based Multi-Agent System for Simulating and Analyzing Marketing and Consumer Behavior 0:52:00: Shareholder Democracy with AI Representatives 0:53:00: No. 10's synthetic voters 0:55:03: Perplexity's CEO says he's worried about AI companionship apps: 'Your mind is manipulable very easily' 0:56:20: tangentially related; might not mention: Tim Wu and Cory Doctorow's NPCs: Non-Player Consumers 0:57:44: Apple Plans to Use 1.2 Trillion Parameter Google Gemini Model to Power New Siri - Bloomberg 0:59:05: Amazon launches an AI-powered Kindle Translate service for e-book authors 1:02:41: 6 new things you can do with AI in Google Photos 1:04:00: Remix makes sending photos to friends even more fun on Google Messages. 1:05:08: MotionStream AI Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cory Doctorow joins the pod to discuss his book 'Enshittification,' anti-trust policy, Lina Khan, and buying local.Check out our other content on 'Enshittification' https://cracksinpomo.substack.com/p/everything-is-crap-and-its-only-gettinghttps://nopomo.substack.com/p/the-lina-khan-horseshoe Subscribe to our Substack: https://cracksinpomo.substack.com

Is Trump's crazy train an existential threat to Canada or an existential opportunity?Cory Doctorow gave the world the concept of “ensh*ttification”. Doctorow's doctrine says there is a gradual but inevitable process by which tech platforms go from marvelous and novel and exciting to, well, they go to sh*t. They get less useful and more spammy. Your Netflix library gets smaller while your monthly fee gets bigger. It gets harder to find the Google link you were looking for underneath all the sponsored links. Uber rates seem to always be set to surge pricing. The idea can be applied to Canada itself. For a long time we enjoyed bundled access to the U.S. cable package. We got access to their markets. We got military protection. We were along for the ride of globalization. All we had to do was play by their trade rules, their foreign policy expectations. We had to subscribe to their vision of the world.But the beta test is over. Now that we are locked into their platform, introductory rates are no longer available. If we want to trade with them, it'll cost us. If we want a golden dome protecting us, it'll cost us. Even if we just want off the crazy train, it'll cost us.Can we unsh*ttify Canada?Host: Jesse BrownCredits: Tristan Capacchione (Audio Editor & Technical Producer), Bruce Thorson (Senior Producer), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Editor and Publisher)Featured guest: Cory DoctorowFact checking by Julian AbrahamMore information:https://craphound.com/Sponsors: oxio: Head over to https://canadaland.oxio.ca and use code CANADALAND for your first month free! Squarespace: Check out https://squarespace.com/canadaland for a free trial, and when you're ready to launch use code canadaland to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.BetterHelp: Visit https://BetterHelp.com/canadaland today to get 10% off your first month.Can't get enough Canadaland? Follow @Canadaland_Podcasts on Instagram for clips, announcements, explainers and more.It's crowdfunding month here at Canadaland! The next 10 people to sign up today will receive a FREE hand-printed t-shirt from My Moving Parts. Eligible supporters can choose between one of the following two designs: https://shorturl.at/MT520 Become a supporter at canadaland.com/join today. You'll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You'll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you'll be a part of the solution to Canada's journalism crisis, you'll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Writer's Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. This episode of Writer's Voice features two leading voices confronting the defining challenges of the 21st century — corporate monopolization and climate breakdown. Together, these conversations show that both the digital and planetary crises share a root cause — the concentration of power — and that … Continue reading Cory Doctorow on Big Tech's “Enshittification” & Bill McKibben on Solar Hope for the Planet →

A federal judge orders the administration to continue paying SNAP benefits during the government shutdown. Also, concern is growing about the fate of Head Start as the shutdown heads into its second month. Then, as Trump refuses to restart trade talks with Canada, that nation is making overtures to America's biggest trade rival, China. Plus, if you think the quality of digital platforms is getting worse -- you may not be imagining things. Catherine Rampell hosts as Evan McMorris-Santoro, Mychael Schnell, Philip Bump, Ron Insana, Brendan Greeley, Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner and Cory Doctorow join The 11th Hour. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this special episode, hosts Kate Wolf, Medaya Ocher, and Eric Newman discuss how Big Tech dreams – from iPhones to social media to AI – have become nightmares. How did these decade-defining innovations end up making modern life feel sadder, lonelier, and scarier? And what, if anything, can we do about it? Using two recent books — Cory Doctorow's Ensh*ttification  and Paul Kingsnorth's Against the Machine—as reference points, the hosts discuss labor practices, government regulation, the place of spirituality and religion, cottagecore fantasies, and how they personally navigate unplugging from the machine.

In this special episode, hosts Kate Wolf, Medaya Ocher, and Eric Newman discuss how Big Tech dreams – from iPhones to social media to AI – have become nightmares. How did these decade-defining innovations end up making modern life feel sadder, lonelier, and scarier? And what, if anything, can we do about it? Using two recent books — Cory Doctorow's "Ensh*ttification" and Paul Kingsnorth's "Against the Machine" — as reference points, the hosts discuss labor practices, government regulation, the place of spirituality and religion, cottagecore fantasies, and how they personally navigate unplugging from the machine.

This is Sarah Jeong, features editor at The Verge. I'm standing in for Nilay for one final Thursday episode here as he settles back into full-time hosting duties. Today, we've got a fun one. I'm talking to Cory Doctorow, prolific author, internet activist, and arguably one of the fiercest tech critics writing today. He has a new book out called Enshittifcation: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It. So I sat down with Cory to discuss what enshittification is, why it's happening, and how we might fight it.  Links:  Enshittification | Macmillan Why every website you used to love is getting worse | Vox The age of Enshittification | The New Yorker Yes, everything online sucks now — but it doesn't have to | Ars Technica The enshittification of garage-door openers reveals vast, deadly rot | Cory Doctorow Mark Zuckerberg emails outline plan to neutralize competitors | The Verge Google gets to keep Chrome, judge rules in antitrust case | The Verge How Amazon wins: by steamrolling rivals and partners | WSJ A new web DRM standard has security researchers worried | The Verge Netflix, Microsoft & Google just changed how the web works | The Outline Subscribe to The Verge⁠ to access the ad-free version of Decoder! Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.  The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cory Doctorow calls it “enshittification.” Here's how we got here, and how we can make the internet not terrible again.

Chas & Dr Emma Shortis discuss Fine Ladies' Schlopping, Madam Doom, and Billions of Dollars Worth of Talent WARNING: This episode of PEP may contain explicit language. Timestamps: 0:00 - Introducing: Dr Emma Shortis 2:09 - Grateful (Chappell Roan, Bill Wyman) 6:59 - Correspondence (Rare Earth, Contranyms) 10:22 - Updates (Terrorism, Redistricting) 29:28 - Trump's Ballroom Blitz 1:09:35 - Critical Minerals Deals-ish 1:21:18 - Not Normal (Binance) 1:30:52- Jamaica Hurricane 1:38:49 - Massive Regrets (Jay Jones) 2:06:26 - Massive Regrets (Young Republicans) 2:35:32 - Massive Regrets (Graham Platner) [Recorded: Tuesday 28 October 8:10 PM AEST / 5:10AM October 28 NY Time] SHOW LINKS: *Chat with the PEPpers on the Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/WxDD2PPvaW THE (UPDATED) DR DAVE BOOK CLUB MASTERLIST: Michael Lewis - Who Is Government? (Mentioned 2:19:59, Ep 235) Orlando Whitfield - All That Glitters (Mentioned 2:34:37, Ep 232) John Lyons - Balcony Over Jerusalem (Mentioned 2:45:26, Ep 231) Yukio Mishima - Spring Snow (Mentioned 2:35:12, Ep 227) John Steinbeck - Cannery Row (Mentioned 02:39, Ep 226) David Simon & Ed Burns - The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood (Mentioned 2:21:40, Ep 225) William Appleman Williams - The Tragedy of American Diplomacy (Mentioned 2:11:23, Ep 222) Mahmood Mamdani - Good Muslim, Bad Muslim (Mentioned 2:07:14, Ep 220) Carlo Rovelli - The Order Of Time (Mentioned 06:36, Ep 220) Carlo Rovelli - Reality Is Not What It Seems (Mentioned 06:36, Ep 220) Ryszard Kapuściński - Shah of Shahs (Mentioned 2:21:27, Ep 217) Ervand Abrahamian - Khomeinism (Mentioned 2:23:19, Ep 217) Anthony Seldon - Truss at 10 (Mentioned 1:36:09, Ep 215) Steven Teles - The Conservative Legal Movement (Mentioned 2:12:12, Ep 215) Amin Maalouf - The Crusades Through Arab Eyes (Mentioned 4:32, Ep 214) Geoffrey Blainey - The Causes Of War (Mentioned 43:49, Ep 198) Margaret Levi - Of Rule And Revenue (Mentioned 1:11:16, Ep 195) Margaret Levi - Consent, Dissent, and Patriotism (Mentioned 1:11:16, Ep 195) Sayaka Murata - Convenience Store Woman (Mentioned 2:14, Ep 194) Sid Meier - Sid Meier's Memoir! (Mentioned 16:30, Ep 178) David Simon & Ed Burns - The Corner (Mentioned 8:40, Ep 178) Maurice O. Wallace - King's Vibrato (Mentioned 14:26, Ep 164) Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky - Manufacturing Consent - (Mentioned 32:12, Ep 164) Robert Plunket - My Search For Warren Harding (Mentioned 1:49:12, Ep 158) Ian Lambot & Greg Girard - City of Darkness Revisited (Mentioned 39:25, Ep 157) Max Chafkin - The Contrarian (Mentioned 32:18, Ep 155) Claire Conner - Wrapped In The Flag (Mentioned 31:42, Ep 155) Rita Abrahamsen, Mike Williams et al - Global Right (Mentioned 31:12, Ep 155) Philip Gorski and Samuel Perry - The Flag And The Cross (Mentioned 30:49, Ep 155) Cynthia Miller-Idriss - Hate In The Homeland (Mentioned 30:10, Ep 155) Cory Doctorow & Rebecca Giblin - Chokepoint Capitalism (Mentioned 34:55, Ep 150) Elizabeth Ingleson - Made In China (Mentioned 31:50, Ep 150) John Corrigan - Religious Intolerance, America, and the World (Mentioned 1:16:18, Ep 141) Gérard Prunier - From Genocide to Continental War (Mentioned 48:18, Ep 141) Liu Cixin, - The Three Body Trilogy (Mentioned 1:11:04, Ep 136) Tilman Allert - The Hitler Salute (Mentioned 22:03, Ep 134) Philip Roth - Nemesis (Mentioned 1:56, Ep 133) Joshua Cohen - The Netanyahus Zeke Faux - Number Go Up Michael Paul Rogin - The Intellectuals and McCarthy Cathy Kramer - The Politics of Resentment Naomi Klein - Doppelganger Maria Bamford - Sure, I'll Join Your Cult Wendy Brown - States Of Injury Corey Robin. - The Reactionary Mind Patricia Lockwood - No One Is Talking About This David Cay Johnston - The Making of Donald Trump Jane Mayer - Dark Money Harry Frankfurt - On Bullshit Stephen King - The Dead Zone Elle Hardy - Beyond Belief Federico Finchelstein - From Fascism to Populism in History Robert Jervis - Why Intelligence Fails Alex Haley and Malcolm X - The Autobiography of Malcolm X Jonathan Haidt - The Righteous Mind David Graeber - Debt: The First 5000 Years Jerry L. Mashaw - Creating The American Administrative Constitution Brian Balogh - A Government Out of Sight Paul Connerton - How Societies Remember Paul Connerton - How Modernity Forgets Catherine Green and Sarah Catherine Gilbert - Vaxxers John Zaller - The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion Matthew Karp - This Vast Southern Empire Robert Fatton - The Guise of Exceptionalism Anatol Lievin - Climate Change and the Nation State: The Realist Case James Alfred Aho - The Politics of Righteousness The substack that Dr Dave apparently plagiarises liberally from! https://luke.substack.com/ James Beverley - God's Man in the White House Jane Chi Hyun Park - Yellow Future Matthias Gardell - In The Name of Elijah Muhammad Gosta Esping-Andersen - The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism Suzanne Mettler - The Submerged State Brendon O'Connor - Anti-Americanism and American Exceptionalism James Morone - Hellfire Nation Nathan Kalmoe - With Ballots and Bullets Winnifred Fallers Sullivan - The Impossibility of Religious Freedom Mary L. Trump - Too Much And Never Enough Richard Cooke - Tired of Winning Jon Ronson - So You've Been Publicly Shamed Rodney Tiffen, Ross Gittins, Anika Gauja, David Smith, Brendon O'Connor - How America Compares Tony Horwitz - Confederates In the Attic Ghassan Hage - White Nation George Lakoff - Women, Fire and Dangerous Things George Lakoff - Metaphors We Live By Michelle Alexander - The New Jim Crow Alex S. Vitale - The End of Policing Dave Cullen - Parkland: Birth of a Movement Thomas Sugrue - The Origins of the Urban Crisis Rick Pearlstein - The Invisible Bridge Rick Pearlstein - Before the Storm Rick Pearlstein - Nixonland Brian Doherty - Radicals for Capitalism Leon Festinger, Henry W. Riecken, Stanley Schachter - When Prophecy Fails Nancy L. Rosenblum & Russell Muirhead - A Lot Of People Are Saying Benjamin Moffitt - The Global Rise of Populism Jon Krakauer - Missoula THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!

“Sometimes a term is so apt, its meaning so clear and so relevant to our circumstances, that it becomes more than just a useful buzzword and grows to define an entire moment,” the columnist Kyle Chayka writes, in a review of Cory Doctorow's book “Enshittification.” Doctorow, a prolific tech writer, is a co-founder of the tech blog Boing Boing, and an activist for online civil liberties with the Electronic Frontier Foundation—so he knows whereof he speaks. He argues that the phenomenon of tech platforms seemingly getting worse for users is not a matter of perception but a business strategy. For example, “the Google-D.O.J. antitrust trial last year surfaced all these memos about a fight about making Google Search worse,” Doctorow explains, in a conversation with Chayka. A Google executive had suggested that, instead of displaying perfectly prioritized results on the first search attempt, “what if we make it so that you got to search two or three times, and then, every time, we got to show you ads?” But, Doctorow argues, there is hope for a better future, if we can resist complacency; big internet platforms all depend on forms of “surveillance” of their users. “The coalition [against this] is so big, and it crosses so many political lines,” Doctorow says, “that if we could just make it illegal to spy on people, we could solve so many problems.”New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, New Yorker staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians.

Enshittification by Cory Doctorow is a fascinating deep-dive into the deterioration of the internet — and what we can do to save it. Cory joins us to talk about the stages of platform decay, digital monopolies, audiobooks, growing up on the internet, building a new tech landscape and more with guest host Chris Gillespie. This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Chris Gillespie and mixed by Harry Liang.                    New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app. Featured Books (Episode): Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It by Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow, author of Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It, unpacks the systemic forces behind digital monopolies, regulatory capture, the erosion of user rights, and how collective action and policy change can reclaim technology for the public good.Team Human is proudly sponsored by Everyone's Earth.Learn more about Everyone's Earth: https://everyonesearth.com/Change Diapers: https://changediapers.com/Cobi Dryer Sheets: https://cobidryersheets.com/Use the code “rush10” to receive 10% off of Cobi Dryer sheets: https://cobidryersheets.com/Support Team Human on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/teamhumanFollow Team Human with Douglas Rushkoff:Instagram: https:/www.instagram.com/douglasrushkoffBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/rushkoff.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Open a browser and you can feel it instantly: everything online just feels… worse. Search results that look like ads. Social feeds that you don't control. Streaming platforms that are packed with ads. Services that used to be free, but are now behind paywalls. It's not your imagination — it's enshittification, the process by which good platforms turn bad… and it's starting to happen outside the internet as well. Sean's guest today is Cory Doctorow, author of Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It. They discuss how the web became enshittified, why monopolies are the true engine behind our digital decay, and what it would mean to build a freer, fairer, and more human internet. Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling) Guest: Cory Doctorow (https://x.com/doctorow), author of Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It. We'd love to hear from you. Tell us what you thought of this episode at tga@voxmail.com or leave a voicemail at 1-800-214-5749. Your comments and questions help us make a better show. And you can watch new episodes of The Gray Area on YouTube. Listen to The Gray Area ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Do you ever feel like the internet just doesn't work as well as it used to?  Or maybe you wish you could go back to the old internet?  Where your search queries actually served you what you wanted, and your feeds weren't overrun by ads?  Well, it's not just you - the internet IS getting worse, and platforms are getting harder to leave. But how did we get here? Journalist and tech activist Cory Doctorow joins Brittany to lay out why in his new book, Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It.Follow Brittany Luse on Instagram: @bmluseFor handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR's Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Cory Doctorow coined a word to describe how what we once loved about the internet, and relied on, has become exploitative, corrosive, and anti-user. And now he's written a book about it, “Enshittification: Why Everything Got Worse and What to Do About It.” He analyzes how TikTok, Google Search, email, music streaming and other services and platforms  – technology that we expect to always improve – have declined so fast. But the tech activist and science fiction writer insists it can be fixed. “This era, the Enshittocene, is the result of specific policy decisions, made by named individuals,” he writes, and those policies can be reversed and the individuals can be held accountable. We talk to him about what's gone wrong and how we can make a new, good internet.  Guests: Cory Doctorow, science fiction writer, technology activist and journalist. Author, "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can we reverse the enshittification of digital platforms? With Cory Doctorow Why does every online platform seem to start out great - then slowly turn to garbage? Why do our digital public squares now feel more like corporate malls... or burning trash heaps?  ‘Enshittification' has been word of the year in the UK, USA and Australia. It's been printed in the pages of the FT and declaimed from podiums at the EU. As a word, it captures the feeling of a world that is ever worsening.  Cory Doctorow, the tech and ethics writer who coined the term, argues that enshittification is not a technical glitch, but a technique that every platform - from X to TikTok, Amazon to Apple, has adopted on purpose to maximise profit at the expense of user experience.  In this episode, Doctorow joins Carl Miller to break down what this relentless downward spiral means for democracy, privacy, creativity, and trust, and what can be done to reverse it. Doctorow offers a roadmap for reclaiming a better digital future. From breaking monopolies and restoring interoperability to empowering tech workers and enforcing real regulation, this is a conversation about what's broken, and how we can fix it. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Doctorow lays out his "enshittification" playbook—how tech platforms lure users, trap businesses, then extract value from both—tying it to interoperability, right-to-repair, and DMCA lock-ins, with Facebook as Exhibit A. He explains why incremental state laws can break Big Tech's coalitions better than sweeping federal reforms. Meanwhile, Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro warns, "If the gringos threaten, we work harder; if they attack, we respond," after Trump-ordered strikes sink another Caribbean vessel, this time with proof the public can't see. Also: the Spiel contends that hostages were freed not by moral suasion but by sustained force—and that human-rights maximalism, however sincere, often misunderstands how wars actually end. Produced by Corey Wara Production Coordinator Ashley Khan Email us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠thegist@mikepesca.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ To advertise on the show, contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠ad-sales@libsyn.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ or visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://advertising.libsyn.com/TheGist⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to The Gist: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to The Gist Youtube Page: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4_bh0wHgk2YfpKf4rg40_g⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to The Gist Instagram Page: ⁠⁠⁠⁠GIST INSTAGRAM⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow The Gist List at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Pesca⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack

Cory Doctorow returns to This Is Hell! to discuss his new book from Verso, "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What To Do About It." "Rotten History" from Renaldo Migaldi and "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follow the interview. Check out Cory's book here: https://www.versobooks.com/products/3341-enshittification Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell Please rate and review This Is Hell! wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps the show ascend the algorithm to reach new listeners.

The Dutch courts finally did something useful: they told Meta to quit force-feeding algorithmic slop to everyone, so Facebook and Instagram users might actually see posts from friends again—if they can remember who those are. Meanwhile, OpenAI's Sora 2 rollout is the kind of chaos that makes you wonder if the company replaced QA with a TikTok filter, as outrage videos flood the internet faster than you can say “deepfake meltdown.” Apple banned ICEBlock for being too effective while ICE now wants its own social media surveillance tool—one that OpenAI shut down when Chinese accounts tried to build it. California's hammering Tesla for its abysmal insurance claims handling, OpenAI is gobbling up chunks of AMD, and consultants got caught using ChatGPT to fake reports before proudly partnering with Anthropic, who just landed Deloitte as its latest “enterprise AI” victim. Elsewhere in this circus: a Florida teen asked ChatGPT how to kill his friend, Taylor Swift fans are furious her new promo video used AI slop (“too rich to be this cheap”), and Apple's “Find My” led cops to a mountain of smuggled iPhones.In Media Candy, Brian's stunned The Diplomat scored a third season, The Long Walk is being pitched as Stand By Me meets Squid Game, California finally bans loud streaming commercials, and Amazon censored Bond posters to remove guns because apparently irony is dead. AI “musicians” are signing record deals while Zelda Williams begs people to stop resurrecting her dad with deepfake garbage. In Apps & Doodads, Jony Ive's OpenAI gadget is delayed (good), Rivian insists we'll “appreciate” not having CarPlay (we won't), Spotify and ChatGPT are teaming up to read your soul through playlists, and Jason warns everyone that the Echo Show is basically an ad-spewing parasite. Apple's now facing a cybercrime probe in France for Siri's wiretapping habits, and if you're nostalgic for simpler times, ioquake3 will let you relive Quake III Arena glory on a modern rig. At the Library, Peter Cawdron's Dark Beauty: First Contact belly-flops as a Slaughterhouse-Five tribute, while Cory Doctorow's Enshittification nails exactly why everything sucks—even if his fixes are pure science fiction.Sponsors:CleanMyMac - clnmy.com/GrumpyOldGeeks - Use code OLDGEEKS for 20% off.Private Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!!1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1passwordShow notes at https://gog.show/717FOLLOW UPDutch court orders Meta to change its Facebook and Instagram timelinesOpenAI's Sora 2 Already Melting Down Into Outrageous DramaIN THE NEWSApple removes ICEBlock from the App Store after Trump administration's demandICE is planning to create a surveillance team that hunts for leads on social mediaOpenAI has disrupted (more) Chinese accounts using ChatGPT to create social media surveillance toolsCalifornia regulators threaten to revoke Tesla's insurance license for mishandling claimsOpenAI Gobbles Up a Stake in AMD as Its Spending Spree Shows No Sign of StoppingConsultants Forced to Pay Money Back After Getting Caught Using AI for Expensive “Report”Anthropic lands its biggest enterprise deployment ever with Deloitte dealTeen Arrested After Asking ChatGPT How to Kill His Friend, Police SayTaylor Swift Fans Furious as She's Caught Using Sloppy AI in Video for New AlbumApple's ‘Find My' Leads Cops to Cache of Thousands of Smuggled iPhonesMEDIA CANDYThe DiplomatThe Long WalkCalifornia bans loud commercials on streaming platformsAmazon Pulls Censored Bond Posters After Pulling the Guns From ThemMore AI artists are starting to get record dealsRobin Williams' daughter pleads for people to stop sending AI videos of her dadAPPS & DOODADSOpenAI's first device with Jony Ive could be delayed due to 'technical issues'Rivian says ‘customers will appreciate' lack of CarPlay eventuallySpotify and ChatGPT Team Up for Personalized Music and Podcast RecommendationsDon't buy an Echo Show (you can have mine)Apple faces cybercrime investigation in France after Siri complaintioquake3AT THE LIBRARYDark Beauty: First Contact by Peter CawdronEnshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It by Cory DoctorowSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Watch Part 2 of our interview with Cory Doctorow, writer and tech activist, whose new book, Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It, is out this week.

Headlines for October 10, 2025; After Gaza Ceasefire, “Massive Political Pressure” Needed to Prevent Israel from Restarting the War; 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for Anti-Maduro Leader María Corina Machado “Opposite of Peace”: Greg Grandin; “Enshittification”: Cory Doctorow on Why Big Tech Sucks, Keeps Getting Worse & What to Do About It

Watch Part 2 of our interview with Cory Doctorow, writer and tech activist, whose new book, Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It, is out this week.

The internet is getting shittier. Hell, the whole world is getting shittier. The thing is, it's no accident—it's by design. The tech giants who run the internet have figured out how to make bank off of making our everyday experience with the internet worse, and this process is bleeding over into the physical world. This process is called “enshittification”, a term coined by the massively influential tech writer Cory Doctorow. In this episode, Adam sits with Cory to discuss where everything went so wrong as well as Cory's new book, Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It.Find Cory's book at factuallypod.com/books--SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/adamconoverSEE ADAM ON TOUR: https://www.adamconover.net/tourdates/SUBSCRIBE to and RATE Factually! on:» Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/factually-with-adam-conover/id1463460577» Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0fK8WJw4ffMc2NWydBlDyJAbout Headgum: Headgum is an LA & NY-based podcast network creating premium podcasts with the funniest, most engaging voices in comedy to achieve one goal: Making our audience and ourselves laugh. Listen to our shows at https://www.headgum.com.» SUBSCRIBE to Headgum: https://www.youtube.com/c/HeadGum?sub_confirmation=1» FOLLOW us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/headgum» FOLLOW us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/headgum/» FOLLOW us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headgum» Advertise on Factually! via Gumball.fmSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Cory Doctorow, author and digital rights advocate, argues that big tech companies from Facebook to Google and beyond have evolved - or devolved - in a disappointing way. He says that many large tech companies begin with a good product, but that over time they prioritize first business customers, and then ultimately shareholders and profits over end users. That creates a decline in service quality, and Doctorow explains why that's bad for customers, companies, and the broader economy and society. Doctorow wrote the new book Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It.