over the years, people have called various documents we've written "manifestos", without us ever applying that term, or thinking to
the one where we think that's closest to true is the Plurality Playbook (linked from our profile). it expresses a specific world view which is novel to much of its audience, and asserts that this world view is important.
with that said, though, we really saw it as more of a how-to when we wrote it
that was the original framing: other activists came up with this idea of writing disability playbooks, how-to guides, and we and our co-authors took them up on it. it was very solid framing, we're very proud to have been part of that, it's just notably different framing from, like, trying to be the first to name and describe a new cause
... because we were not even remotely the first. the history of zines around plural topics, by various names, goes back decades
it was just a particularly convenient document to cite in a workplace setting, particularly well-tailored to that audience, and over the subsequent years that caused it to become a stand-in for the cause it was part of, in some people's minds
we're incredibly proud of that, it just, you know, exceeded our expectations
today we see the art form we love, recreational software development and other uses of computing, being at a crossroads. it feels very much like we should try to gather our thoughts here, try to provide something concrete for people to rally around
there's a lot of great ideas out there, any such effort would mostly be about collation and deciding on how the existing ideas relate to each other, how to synthesize them. there might be some small amount of up-or-down decision-making, too, like this part is explicitly in the vision and this part isn't, or whatever.
we feel well-qualified to do the philosophical parts of this, we're good at that sort of thinking
our notes are kind of amorphous because organizing notes and refining them into an actual document is a whole art form in its own right, and not one that we have gone deep on
with plural topics, also, there was a clear answer to the question "what gives you the right?"
we felt we had the right to speak on behalf of our people, there, because nobody else was doing so in ways that were visible to that audience, and we were taking immense personal risk on our shoulders, and it was quite understandable that nobody else wanted to, at that time
(people actually even called the essay we wrote when we departed Google a "manifesto". what? that was just us handing off the operational context we had to the broader tech labor movement so that people could continue it without us. it was a status update and a revealing of secrets, very tied to that specific moment, nothing more than that. ah well :))
(by the way, if it turns out that plurality being legible to the state results in us all getting genocided, sorry about that. we knew that was a potential consequence and went that route anyway. we judged that we had absolutely no right to make that strategic decision for the movement, but that neither could anybody else ever possibly have that right, and sometimes people just need to accept personal damnation and decide anyway.)
(we strongly suspect that the extremely large overlap between the plural community and the queer community means everyone was already at risk anyway, but the fact it might not matter in the end doesn't make it any less important to think through the moral questions in advance.)
(we said "right" in two separate but related ways here, we should clarify: we think we had the right to speak on the community's behalf in that specific one-time way; we don't think anyone ever has the right to make strategic decisions that put people's lives at stake)
(if any sort of hell is real, which it isn't, we will for sure be going there, and it will be for the stuff we're proudest of and will never, ever repent. so that's an interesting feeling.)
there's also legibility through other lenses and the legibility that comes of observing clusters of people without really caring what's going on underneath: the latter is a risk some understand better than others when they first accept it, but the alternative is many people left in a closet that's all-encompassing
sometimes, the state's already decided you're damned either way and then acts all surprised when people call themselves satanists
I attended my first life drawing session, and it was fun! I did a watercolor painting of our model, who was awesome, and had a wonderful look. Painting in watercolor with no table is physically very challenging, though, lol.
I was always bad at deconstructing mechanisms of algorithms and how SM portals work.
To reach my followers, I had to follow rules I wasn't even aware of. Make reels, make videos, add music, choose the right format, post regularly, reply to comments as soon as possible...
I just wanted to post some drawings and make people laugh.
It's because the companies making these algorithms actively don't want you to understand how they work. If you understand it, you can work the system to give yourself better results without paying them as much for those results which weakens shareholder returns.
There's no shareholders here, so no one really cares about that stuff. Want to know how the algorithm for your favourite fedi client works? The code is generally completely public and you can have anyone who understands code explain it to you.
Anyway, until then, looking forward to more drawings and laughter! 😁
15K likes, 386 comments - simonharris_mbd on September 12, 2026: "Yes. Do not do this. Please. Thank you.
SUPPORT THE RNLI - https://rebrand.ly/imvl9mb".
Great, and highly amusing plan. Unfortunately, they seem to have a queue of crypto billionaires just waiting their turn to spaff squillions into Reforms war chest. I do wonder to myself, what they stand to get if Reform win power, what with them being the party of the common man and all that.🤔
@Jaimieserotica well quite. But it's fucking with my head too much to focus on the bad today so I'm drilling down on what can be done no matter how small. 💪
Years ago, I heard a story about someone who was really fed up with a financial services company and taped a pre-paid reply envelope to a paving slab so that the firm would be hit by the excess postage.
@plwt There's an old science fiction story about a materials scientist with the same gripe...he invents a metal so dense that a thin sheet small enough to be "slipped" into an envelope weighs about as much as a battleship.
Join me for an evidence-based, hype-free workshop on Code Craft & AI, Tues Oct 6th 18:45 BST. I’m currently pulling together a bunch of sources – that are mostly recent – on t…
If you care about a livable future for humanity on this planet, don’t use AI. Just don’t. Not for shopping, condensing literature to shortcut reading or for writing your homework, not for anything so trivial. The small amount of special use cases is enough.
If you want to truly understand what culture really is, I highly recommend the Anthropology and the Study of Humanity course that delves deep into the history of our cultures, from what we may regard as “primitive” societies, to kingdoms, or today’s “civilization”. 24 lectures full of rich information. All trade-free.
Biology, archaeology, language, and culture-gain a comprehensive understanding of humanity's development from an acclaimed professor and field researcher.
In this role, you’ll take hands-on ownership of one of our key programs dedicated to protecting critical #opensource infrastructure. The program includes investments in security audits, memory safety, and post-quantum encryption readiness.
We’re looking for someone with a technical background who can balance the operational demands of a program already in motion with an impact-oriented, strategic perspective.
Just finished Enshittification by @pluralistic (absolutely fantastic, highly recommend) and he recommended this piece at the end. Definitely worth a read/listen. open.substack.com/pub/catvalen…
My mom has been running a community art & poetry project using the fence around her home for the last 15+ years, which she calls The Poetry Fence. She takes it very seriously and uses it as a base for all sorts of poetry outreach in her neighborhood. She's recently written a book about her experience with this project which she's trying to get published by a small press.
And in her mid-70s, she's just created her first ever website. It'd mean a lot to her if you take a look! poetryfencecommunity.com/
She doesn't know I'm posting this, but if she did she'd probably want me to add that science is real, no person is illegal, trans rights are human rights, and banned books are worth reading. And most of all, that poetry is for everyone.
Her idea is unique, wonderful, and full of beauty. Thank you for sharing this and letting me see it 🙏
-- Poetry can bring so many things into the world and portray them for all of us in a unique way --- and your mother recognized that. Thank you very much ❤️
@wordsmith @katherine_montalto My mother has actually been doing something very similar for the last several years! She calls hers "gumball poetry" and sets it up in a local cafe during April (poetry month), with proceeds going to her local homeless shelter.
gosh that makes me smile. I lived in Arlington in 2009 and I used to visit Del Ray because it reminded me of home (my grad school neighborhood, the place I returned to when my fellowship ended). Your mom sounds like a lovely person.
@eirias I think she's pretty cool. That was just about the time she started her poetry fence, with just a couple of bulletin boards and an urge to share. Del Ray has changed a lot since then! Sometimes I'm still startled at the changes when I visit.
Bravo Mummy (if I may be so bold) This morning I put out a clay poem Clay with a glaze from Spain Contains water for foxes By my door Thirsty foxes iz my fencing with nature
Wow, how pretty. I'm sure I'll be back to explore her website in detail. And it must be nice to have a son like you - I love my children, but they are all no help with computers and such.
Alors qu’une sécheresse exceptionnelle sévit partout en France, l’État n’est pas à la hauteur : telle est l’alerte lancée par France nature environnement (FNE).
My latest book - THE WILD - takes the view that "anarchy", often extrapolated in and through the historical, socially-derived politics of anarchism, should instead be characterized on a naturalistic and queer basis as "the wild" (in much the same way as Kropotkin observed nature and came up with the principle of "mutual aid" in fact).
Through thirteen chapters this idea is then teased out, explained and extrapolated as something both ethical and political that is contrary to patriarchal, capitalist, industrial and technological human civilization as it has developed.
As such, this book is both a call to the wild (and to the truth and reality of the wild) and to the assertion that in feralness there is an authenticity of the mutual co-existence of all things to be found.
The book can be downloaded FOR FREE from the link below in multiple formats or read online. It can also be read to you via text to speech on that page.
... Show more...
NEWLY PUBLISHED BOOK TO READ
My latest book - THE WILD - takes the view that "anarchy", often extrapolated in and through the historical, socially-derived politics of anarchism, should instead be characterized on a naturalistic and queer basis as "the wild" (in much the same way as Kropotkin observed nature and came up with the principle of "mutual aid" in fact).
Through thirteen chapters this idea is then teased out, explained and extrapolated as something both ethical and political that is contrary to patriarchal, capitalist, industrial and technological human civilization as it has developed.
As such, this book is both a call to the wild (and to the truth and reality of the wild) and to the assertion that in feralness there is an authenticity of the mutual co-existence of all things to be found.
The book can be downloaded FOR FREE from the link below in multiple formats or read online. It can also be read to you via text to speech on that page.
battle gynoid trucy 🏳️⚧️
in reply to Shyle • • •Shyle
in reply to battle gynoid trucy 🏳️⚧️ • • •@alanloff
in reply to Shyle • • •Ça m'évoque les Fabulous Freaks Brothers :^)
@trucy
Didier
in reply to Shyle • • •Mais «urgence, temps d'attente 7h» ça serai presque une amélioration…
Shyle
in reply to Didier • • •zulf
in reply to Shyle • • •Shyle
in reply to zulf • • •