Clive Thompson
@clivethompson.bsky.social
Writer, musician, hobbyist coder. Wired / NYT Magazine / Mother Jones, author of "Coders". Blog at clivethompson.medium.com. Free "Linkfest" newsletter ("the opposite of doomscrolling"): https://shorturl.at/XcutG. Built https://www.weirdoldbookfinder.net/
Reposted by Clive Thompson
yes, hello, I would like to place an order for everyone’s funniest stories of holiday food-related family grudges / drama / chaotic incidents / lore
I feel like we need this
I feel like we need this
November 24, 2025 at 11:39 PM
yes, hello, I would like to place an order for everyone’s funniest stories of holiday food-related family grudges / drama / chaotic incidents / lore
I feel like we need this
I feel like we need this
I wonder if there’s some third-party tool that lets one export a Spotify playlist and slurp it into the format for other services?
November 25, 2025 at 4:55 AM
I wonder if there’s some third-party tool that lets one export a Spotify playlist and slurp it into the format for other services?
Reposted by Clive Thompson
You don’t want all that peppy commercial nonsense, cmon, you want a choir singing things that may or may not have made it fully out of Latin and into English
November 25, 2025 at 4:40 AM
You don’t want all that peppy commercial nonsense, cmon, you want a choir singing things that may or may not have made it fully out of Latin and into English
Reposted by Clive Thompson
Oh, just realized it’s almost the best time of the year: when I dig up the playlist of creepy medieval Advent hymns that @clivethompson.bsky.social and I collaborated on years ago because it’s the only acceptable music to listen to for most of the season!!! Get excited folks
November 25, 2025 at 4:39 AM
Oh, just realized it’s almost the best time of the year: when I dig up the playlist of creepy medieval Advent hymns that @clivethompson.bsky.social and I collaborated on years ago because it’s the only acceptable music to listen to for most of the season!!! Get excited folks
I've long felt that our relationship to sorting-and-surfacing algorithms eerily parallel the ancient greek relationship to the gods
fickle, capricious, powerful, random, addressable only by offering sacrifices and hoping for the best
fickle, capricious, powerful, random, addressable only by offering sacrifices and hoping for the best
November 24, 2025 at 8:10 PM
I've long felt that our relationship to sorting-and-surfacing algorithms eerily parallel the ancient greek relationship to the gods
fickle, capricious, powerful, random, addressable only by offering sacrifices and hoping for the best
fickle, capricious, powerful, random, addressable only by offering sacrifices and hoping for the best
An argument that we are now in the "Chthulucene" ...
... or the period where, after having dug up and burned so much carbon ...
... "Gaia is responding to our having released such titanic forces from their confinement"
item #10 in my latest "Linkfest" newsletter: buttondown.com/clivethompso...
... or the period where, after having dug up and burned so much carbon ...
... "Gaia is responding to our having released such titanic forces from their confinement"
item #10 in my latest "Linkfest" newsletter: buttondown.com/clivethompso...
November 24, 2025 at 7:35 PM
An argument that we are now in the "Chthulucene" ...
... or the period where, after having dug up and burned so much carbon ...
... "Gaia is responding to our having released such titanic forces from their confinement"
item #10 in my latest "Linkfest" newsletter: buttondown.com/clivethompso...
... or the period where, after having dug up and burned so much carbon ...
... "Gaia is responding to our having released such titanic forces from their confinement"
item #10 in my latest "Linkfest" newsletter: buttondown.com/clivethompso...
Aha, that was a fun one!!
November 24, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Aha, that was a fun one!!
(unrelated, by the way, but I just clicked through to your blog and loved your post about hobbies and the masculinity crisis – completely bang on)
November 23, 2025 at 4:53 PM
(unrelated, by the way, but I just clicked through to your blog and loved your post about hobbies and the masculinity crisis – completely bang on)
Yep yep
makes me think that journals should have more interdisciplinary input when vetting an article …
… and, as per this suggestion I blogged about here (item 13 in buttondown.com/clivethompso...), focus more scrutiny on the more dramatic/explosive papers
makes me think that journals should have more interdisciplinary input when vetting an article …
… and, as per this suggestion I blogged about here (item 13 in buttondown.com/clivethompso...), focus more scrutiny on the more dramatic/explosive papers
Linkfest #32: Technofossils, "StickTok", and A Web Site You Update By Calling It
Hello there! Time for "the opposite of doomscrolling” — my latest “Linkfest”, in which I carefully boil the entire Internet to produce a savory reduction...
buttondown.com
November 23, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Yep yep
makes me think that journals should have more interdisciplinary input when vetting an article …
… and, as per this suggestion I blogged about here (item 13 in buttondown.com/clivethompso...), focus more scrutiny on the more dramatic/explosive papers
makes me think that journals should have more interdisciplinary input when vetting an article …
… and, as per this suggestion I blogged about here (item 13 in buttondown.com/clivethompso...), focus more scrutiny on the more dramatic/explosive papers
I swear to god I’m gonna order one
Does it shoot video? No biggie if it doesn’t
Does it shoot video? No biggie if it doesn’t
November 23, 2025 at 5:31 AM
I swear to god I’m gonna order one
Does it shoot video? No biggie if it doesn’t
Does it shoot video? No biggie if it doesn’t
Holy crap that’s a great recommendation!
November 23, 2025 at 5:03 AM
Holy crap that’s a great recommendation!
I have not visited, but that sounds like an amazing place! Agreed: glass is a wild technology with a fascinating vintage
November 22, 2025 at 11:13 PM
I have not visited, but that sounds like an amazing place! Agreed: glass is a wild technology with a fascinating vintage
I remember when that research dropped -- I read a Q&A with the student at The Atlantic (www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/arc... with a warning now appended that the research has been retracted)
I was *astounded* at how much AI had boosted material-science research
too good to be true, as it turns out
I was *astounded* at how much AI had boosted material-science research
too good to be true, as it turns out
The Scientist vs. the Machine
What happened when AI took over these researchers’ jobs?
www.theatlantic.com
November 22, 2025 at 9:25 PM
I remember when that research dropped -- I read a Q&A with the student at The Atlantic (www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/arc... with a warning now appended that the research has been retracted)
I was *astounded* at how much AI had boosted material-science research
too good to be true, as it turns out
I was *astounded* at how much AI had boosted material-science research
too good to be true, as it turns out
so apparently corningresearch.com ...
... is the new jutktmicronics
this from a terrific WSJ story about Aidan Toner-Rodgers, an MIT student who published a seemingly groundbreaking paper on AI and productivity -- on data that now seems utterly sketchy
(gift link): www.wsj.com/economy/aida...
... is the new jutktmicronics
this from a terrific WSJ story about Aidan Toner-Rodgers, an MIT student who published a seemingly groundbreaking paper on AI and productivity -- on data that now seems utterly sketchy
(gift link): www.wsj.com/economy/aida...
November 22, 2025 at 9:20 PM
so apparently corningresearch.com ...
... is the new jutktmicronics
this from a terrific WSJ story about Aidan Toner-Rodgers, an MIT student who published a seemingly groundbreaking paper on AI and productivity -- on data that now seems utterly sketchy
(gift link): www.wsj.com/economy/aida...
... is the new jutktmicronics
this from a terrific WSJ story about Aidan Toner-Rodgers, an MIT student who published a seemingly groundbreaking paper on AI and productivity -- on data that now seems utterly sketchy
(gift link): www.wsj.com/economy/aida...
Reposted by Clive Thompson
A typical Dutch urban roundabout with full priority for people cycling and walking at all arms
November 21, 2025 at 12:57 PM
A typical Dutch urban roundabout with full priority for people cycling and walking at all arms
apparently half of homebuyers think a seller should be legally required to disclose if the house is haunted
though! 26% would be willing to buy a house "even if they learned the previous homeowners had been murdered in it"
item #9 in my latest "Linkfest" newsletter: buttondown.com/clivethompso...
though! 26% would be willing to buy a house "even if they learned the previous homeowners had been murdered in it"
item #9 in my latest "Linkfest" newsletter: buttondown.com/clivethompso...
November 21, 2025 at 5:09 PM
apparently half of homebuyers think a seller should be legally required to disclose if the house is haunted
though! 26% would be willing to buy a house "even if they learned the previous homeowners had been murdered in it"
item #9 in my latest "Linkfest" newsletter: buttondown.com/clivethompso...
though! 26% would be willing to buy a house "even if they learned the previous homeowners had been murdered in it"
item #9 in my latest "Linkfest" newsletter: buttondown.com/clivethompso...
It saved my butt yesterday
November 21, 2025 at 3:28 PM
It saved my butt yesterday
Super cool! I hadn’t seen that, thank you!
November 21, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Super cool! I hadn’t seen that, thank you!
Reposted by Clive Thompson
We don't really know how bicycles work.
November 21, 2025 at 3:13 AM
my procrastination levels today crept into the red zone
i had to break out the big guns
my "text pomodoro"
text-pomodoro.vercel.app
I'm on my fourth 10-minute jag and it is WORKING 👏
i had to break out the big guns
my "text pomodoro"
text-pomodoro.vercel.app
I'm on my fourth 10-minute jag and it is WORKING 👏
November 20, 2025 at 7:51 PM
my procrastination levels today crept into the red zone
i had to break out the big guns
my "text pomodoro"
text-pomodoro.vercel.app
I'm on my fourth 10-minute jag and it is WORKING 👏
i had to break out the big guns
my "text pomodoro"
text-pomodoro.vercel.app
I'm on my fourth 10-minute jag and it is WORKING 👏