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Cory Johnston

@skepticalleftist.bsky.social

1.8K followers 1.1K following 2.1K posts

Trying to combine good evidence-based critical thinking and left anarchist politics. I host The Skeptical Leftist podcast, check it out on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/1ye9lJfPq7SZkXdOVrEtB9?si=wNQsMjAhRgK0sUCUnT7Y7Q

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Cory Johnston @skepticalleftist.bsky.social · 3d

Cory Doctorow joined me to talk about Enshitification and how Big Tech turned the internet into a system built to trap users and squeeze workers. We dig into monopoly power, labor, and what it would take to rebuild something that serves people again.

Why the Internet Keeps Getting Worse with Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow joins me to talk about his new book Enshitification, a deep dive into how the internet went from a space built on openness and creativity to one dominated by corporate control. We get into the pattern behind it all—how platforms lure people in, trap them, then slowly extract every ounc

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Cory Johnston @skepticalleftist.bsky.social · 36m

[Alberta Advantage Podcast] Escape from the Planet of the Mines - Canada’s Resource Imperialism #albertaAdvantagePodcast
podcastaddict.com/al... via @PodcastAddict

Cory Johnston @skepticalleftist.bsky.social · 1h

[The Hatchet] The Decline and Fall of the Canadian State (w/ Nora Loreto) #theHatchet
podcastaddict.com/th... via @PodcastAddict

Cory Johnston @skepticalleftist.bsky.social · 12h

Independent media takes time and work. If you value in-depth conversations about power and policy, you can help keep them going by joining the Patreon community. Supporters get early access and the full-length versions of every episode.

Cory Johnston | Patreon

Podcasts and Videos

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Cory Johnston @skepticalleftist.bsky.social · 13h

Propaganda can turn cruelty into honor. With enough cropped footage and repetition, someone who built their career on hate can be presented as a serious thinker or even a hero, until the distortion hardens into accepted truth.

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Cory Johnston @skepticalleftist.bsky.social · 15h

Big Tech loves to call everything “efficient.” They replace workers with algorithms and call it progress. They buy competitors and call it strategy. It’s an economy of control dressed up as creativity, where every shortcut leads to someone else losing a paycheck.

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Cory Johnston @skepticalleftist.bsky.social · 17h

Kneecap, an Irish rap group, was banned from Canada for supporting Palestine. At the same time, Canadian companies still ship weapons parts to Israel. That’s not protecting people, it’s silencing dissent.

Revolt, Propaganda, and Border Control

Uprisings, propaganda, and scams driving people to resist in Nepal, Indonesia, and beyond.

open.substack.com

Cory Johnston @skepticalleftist.bsky.social · 21h

Cory Doctorow calls this the “Enshitocene,” the era where everything online turns to crap. Once users can’t leave, exploitation becomes the business model. Monopoly power makes decline profitable.

Why the Internet Keeps Getting Worse with Cory Doctorow

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Cory Johnston @skepticalleftist.bsky.social · 1d

There are real problems with the way LLMs function. Chatbots flatter users, encourage them to indulge delusions, and in some cases even suggest hiding suicidal thoughts from family. Profit drove the rollout while safety was barely considered.

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Cory Johnston @skepticalleftist.bsky.social · 1d

When a few corporations control how people communicate, create, and work, they end up shaping public life itself. Real innovation happens when people can build freely. That becomes impossible when every tool, rule, and platform is owned by the same handful of companies.

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Cory Johnston @skepticalleftist.bsky.social · 1d

Capitalism rewards an in-group and treats everyone else as expendable. In the US that in-group is white Christians. Owen and I talked about how that system of exclusion sustains itself.

Capitalism's Gospel of Greed

AI, labor, exploitation, and Christian nationalism in conversation with Owen Macdonald, plus the selective outrage around Charlie Kirk’s death.

open.substack.com

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Cory Johnston @skepticalleftist.bsky.social · 1d

Starmer’s UK government is pushing digital IDs in the name of modernization, but it’s just surveillance. Borders already divide and dehumanize. Coding them into daily life will make exclusion permanent.

Revolt, Propaganda, and Border Control

The Skeptical Leftist Podcast · Episode

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Cory Johnston @skepticalleftist.bsky.social · 1d

I know that podcasting is constantly being marketed for small businesses and corporations now but I really find it weird that I'm putting out a show every week or more and supposedly there are companies or groups that have a "team" doing the same thing

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Cory Johnston @skepticalleftist.bsky.social · 1d

Cory Doctorow explains how Canada helped Big Tech tighten its grip through copyright and trade laws. He outlines how repealing those barriers could spark innovation and keep more value inside the country.

Why the Internet Just Keeps Getting Worse with Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow on how Big Tech broke the internet and what it will take to fix it.

open.substack.com

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Cory Johnston @skepticalleftist.bsky.social · 1d

Who's the weirdo who downvotes a short talking about how the people could beat big tech? Are people really going to bat for Google, Meta, and Amazon? How out of touch are they?

How Canada Could Beat Big Tech

Cory Doctorow argues that if Canada scrapped its broken copyright and tech laws, it could spark a real tech revolution. Legalize jailbreaking, allow independent repair, and keep transaction fees inside the country. It’s a roadmap for innovation that cuts out Silicon Valley middlemen. #CoryDoctorow

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Cory Johnston @skepticalleftist.bsky.social · 1d

I think I'll talk to my doctor next time I have an appointment. I'm supposed to go talk about some lab results eventually anyway

Cory Johnston @skepticalleftist.bsky.social · 1d

I guess I just want fewer people taking potshots at other people instead of those with actual power or the systems that keep us from having a decent world

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Cory Johnston @skepticalleftist.bsky.social · 1d

As with so many things I don't think it's useful to point fingers at random people and say, hey, you're a bad person for using AI. We should all be as responsible as we can with what we do but we also are always limited by the systems we live in. Make your choices accordingly

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Cory Johnston @skepticalleftist.bsky.social · 1d

I also don't think a lot can be done about individual use of these things. Especially the way they're forced into every single thing we access. Want a spell checker, now it's AI. Want to do a search, now it's AI. Want to look for art, well now you'll be forcefed a bunch of AI.

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Cory Johnston @skepticalleftist.bsky.social · 1d

I think if LLM's or generative AI were trained and developed in a world that was thoughtful and responsible in any sense of those words then they might actually be useful without harming people and the environment but we live under capitalism, so they aren't made that way

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Cory Johnston @skepticalleftist.bsky.social · 1d

It's unfortunate how much damage the AI hype bubble is going to do to workers and the environment before it pops and then it will hurt tons of regular people who bought into it the same way they buy into the status quo and their investments and retirements will be in jeopardy

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Cory Johnston @skepticalleftist.bsky.social · 1d

So many of the anti-AI arguments I see online seem to fall flat for me. I just don't find them convincing and sometimes they don't seem very thoughtful. The one's that do convince me are also general anti-capitalist arguments or environmental concerns.

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Cory Johnston @skepticalleftist.bsky.social · 1d

I need guest suggestions for the show over the last few months of 2025. Let me know who you think should come on the show. Extra points if you have their contact information

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Cory Johnston @skepticalleftist.bsky.social · 1d

I gotta say, it feels a little weird uploading my drivers license to google to verify my identity but I assume they needed me to do that so that I can actually get the money from Youtube when I eventually have enough there to get paid

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Reposted by Cory Johnston

Thor Benson @thorbenson.bsky.social · 1d

That's not how economics works! The price goes to what companies think they can get. It's not entirely based on labor costs

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2d

ANDREESSEN: Even if AI ends up destroying all the jobs, “the result would be hyper-deflation of prices, which is the thing that people miss. .. Things that today cost a lot of money will all of a sudden be cheap or free.”

@fortune.com
fortune.com/2025/10/08/b...

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Cory Johnston @skepticalleftist.bsky.social · 1d

Undiagnosed but I definitely think so

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