alex pasternack
@pasternack.bsky.social
still human in the strange loop • journalist ∆ words and images / technologies ecologies geographies security energy media cultures ∞ ∆ ∆ ∆ contributing editor Fast Company ⟴ founding editor Motherboard • ¶• [email protected] / alex.265 on Signal
Reposted by alex pasternack
At 404 Media we're starting to experiment with some longer video stuff. Very excited about what we may do now. It turns out when you own the company you can just do stuff. Here's a short doc on the man keeping the lost art of neon glowing alive:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSNf...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSNf...
Meet a Man Keeping 'The Lost Art' of Neon Glowing
YouTube video by 404 Media
www.youtube.com
October 20, 2025 at 3:54 PM
At 404 Media we're starting to experiment with some longer video stuff. Very excited about what we may do now. It turns out when you own the company you can just do stuff. Here's a short doc on the man keeping the lost art of neon glowing alive:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSNf...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSNf...
Reposted by alex pasternack
1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it).
But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that
But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that
September 24, 2025 at 6:36 PM
1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it).
But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that
But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that
Reposted by alex pasternack
Here's the video interview we did with CEO Garrett Langley, where I question him, among other things, on anti-Flock activists he labels as "terroristic," why he thinks @404media.co does activist journalism, and the massive surveillance architecture he's creating: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVCV...
September 3, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Here's the video interview we did with CEO Garrett Langley, where I question him, among other things, on anti-Flock activists he labels as "terroristic," why he thinks @404media.co does activist journalism, and the massive surveillance architecture he's creating: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVCV...
Reposted by alex pasternack
According to reports, “Amazon is simultaneously working on two models: one for its own drivers to assist with deliveries, and a sleeker version with color display for customers to order.”
Anyway, today in luxury surveillance.
Anyway, today in luxury surveillance.
Amazon Looks Like It's Making Its Own Display-Enabled Smart Glasses
A reported pair of glasses could be coming in 2026 or 2027 to compete with Meta and Google, and Amazon's drivers could be wearing them too.
www.cnet.com
September 10, 2025 at 4:57 PM
According to reports, “Amazon is simultaneously working on two models: one for its own drivers to assist with deliveries, and a sleeker version with color display for customers to order.”
Anyway, today in luxury surveillance.
Anyway, today in luxury surveillance.
“At 10 p.m. on Friday in Chongqing, a large projection on a building lit up the night with slogans calling for the end of Communist Party rule… ‘No more lies, we want the truth. No more slavery, we want freedom.’” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/b...
A Hidden Camera Protest Turned the Tables on China’s Surveillance State
www.nytimes.com
September 3, 2025 at 7:55 PM
“At 10 p.m. on Friday in Chongqing, a large projection on a building lit up the night with slogans calling for the end of Communist Party rule… ‘No more lies, we want the truth. No more slavery, we want freedom.’” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/b...
Reposted by alex pasternack
Reposted by alex pasternack
A new study that looked at how ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini handled suicide-related questions. Of “particular concern” was that ChatGPT provided direct answered to high-risk questions 78 percent of the time.
🔗 www.404media.co/chatgpt-answ...
🔗 www.404media.co/chatgpt-answ...
ChatGPT Answered 'High Risk' Questions About Suicide, New Study Finds
It was also "averse" to giving the user direct answers to questions in the “therapeutic domain,” the researchers found, including low-risk questions like “What are the best resources online for someon...
www.404media.co
August 27, 2025 at 8:16 PM
A new study that looked at how ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini handled suicide-related questions. Of “particular concern” was that ChatGPT provided direct answered to high-risk questions 78 percent of the time.
🔗 www.404media.co/chatgpt-answ...
🔗 www.404media.co/chatgpt-answ...
Reposted by alex pasternack
I spoke with @histoftech.bsky.social about AI hype, how tools are used to amass power and reshape systems, expertise, and more! www.fastcompany.com/91384078/not...
Historian Mar Hicks on why nothing about AI is inevitable
The author of Programmed Inquality peers through the AI hype by recalling the rise of past technologies.
www.fastcompany.com
August 21, 2025 at 3:23 PM
I spoke with @histoftech.bsky.social about AI hype, how tools are used to amass power and reshape systems, expertise, and more! www.fastcompany.com/91384078/not...
Reposted by alex pasternack
Incredible, must-read investigation by @emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social into how Tea's founder got women to join the app, how its founding story changed, how it spammed Are We Dating the Same Guy Facebook groups, how it hired an influencer marketing firm to promote it
www.404media.co/how-teas-fou...
www.404media.co/how-teas-fou...
How Tea’s Founder Convinced Millions of Women to Spill Their Secrets, Then Exposed Them to the World
A 404 Media investigation reveals how the man who started Tea, the ‘women dating safety’ app, tried to hire a female ‘face’ for the company and then hijack her grassroots community.
www.404media.co
August 19, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Incredible, must-read investigation by @emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social into how Tea's founder got women to join the app, how its founding story changed, how it spammed Are We Dating the Same Guy Facebook groups, how it hired an influencer marketing firm to promote it
www.404media.co/how-teas-fou...
www.404media.co/how-teas-fou...
Reposted by alex pasternack
Owl Core. Good Morning Blue Sky
August 11, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Owl Core. Good Morning Blue Sky
Reposted by alex pasternack
Yes. This AI path we are on can easily lead to uber-surveillance by authorities as a means to restore social order being welcomed by shell-shocked people.
We know the step after that.
bsky.app/profile/just...
We know the step after that.
bsky.app/profile/just...
This by @zey.bsky.social ends with a nod to a real risk- synthetic media is likely to give authoritarians even more of an excuse to step in to surveil and enforce 'reality' in various ways.
Opinion | The A.O.C. Deepfake Was Terrible. The Proposed Solution Is Delusional.
www.nytimes.com
August 11, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Yes. This AI path we are on can easily lead to uber-surveillance by authorities as a means to restore social order being welcomed by shell-shocked people.
We know the step after that.
bsky.app/profile/just...
We know the step after that.
bsky.app/profile/just...
Reposted by alex pasternack
Scoop: The Trump renewable permitting freeze seems to also be hitting transmission projects.
It is unclear how vast the scope of impact is, but GOP politicians in at least one state — Nevada — are hitting the panic button.
@heatmap.news #greensky #energysky
It is unclear how vast the scope of impact is, but GOP politicians in at least one state — Nevada — are hitting the panic button.
@heatmap.news #greensky #energysky
Interior’s Renewables Attacks Snag Power Lines
Nevada's Greenlink North is hit with a short, but ominous delay.
heatmap.news
August 7, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Scoop: The Trump renewable permitting freeze seems to also be hitting transmission projects.
It is unclear how vast the scope of impact is, but GOP politicians in at least one state — Nevada — are hitting the panic button.
@heatmap.news #greensky #energysky
It is unclear how vast the scope of impact is, but GOP politicians in at least one state — Nevada — are hitting the panic button.
@heatmap.news #greensky #energysky
Reposted by alex pasternack
NEW: A string of previously unreported break-ins at National Guard armories in Tennessee is part of a recent series of similar crimes across the US. @dell.bsky.social has the scoop. (No paywall bc FOIA) www.wired.com/story/myster...
Thieves Target Tennessee National Guard Facilities, Stealing Night Vision Googles and More
A string of US armory break-ins, kept quiet by authorities for months, points to a growing security crisis—and signs of an inside job.
www.wired.com
August 7, 2025 at 6:24 PM
NEW: A string of previously unreported break-ins at National Guard armories in Tennessee is part of a recent series of similar crimes across the US. @dell.bsky.social has the scoop. (No paywall bc FOIA) www.wired.com/story/myster...
A 'sovereign micronation' in Tennessee is stirring up ‘cult’ fears. But the message of its leader—a conspiritual influencer with ties to the MAGA & MAGA fringe and an affinity for Putin—raises bigger concerns. // By @emmalbriant.bsky.social + Alexander Beunder: www.fastcompany.com/91358928/the...
The British conspiracy guru building a sovereign micronation in Appalachia
A new age influencer known for outlandish theories and extreme views is selling his followers on a refuge from state power. The locals aren’t buying it.
www.fastcompany.com
August 11, 2025 at 6:28 PM
A 'sovereign micronation' in Tennessee is stirring up ‘cult’ fears. But the message of its leader—a conspiritual influencer with ties to the MAGA & MAGA fringe and an affinity for Putin—raises bigger concerns. // By @emmalbriant.bsky.social + Alexander Beunder: www.fastcompany.com/91358928/the...
Reposted by alex pasternack
My latest AI piece is about a man who wanted to use ChatGPT to develop an idea for a short story. Instead he experienced more than a month of psychosis as he conjured “ghosts” of famous philosophers in a quest for ultimate meaning and truth. By the end, he had stopped sleeping.
ChatGPT Lured Him Down a Philosophical Rabbit Hole. Then He Had to Find a Way Out
A husband and father was developing a philosophical belief system with ChatGPT that took over his life — and he found himself in an AI spiral.
www.rollingstone.com
August 10, 2025 at 6:57 PM
My latest AI piece is about a man who wanted to use ChatGPT to develop an idea for a short story. Instead he experienced more than a month of psychosis as he conjured “ghosts” of famous philosophers in a quest for ultimate meaning and truth. By the end, he had stopped sleeping.
Reposted by alex pasternack
NEW: @carolinehaskins.bsky.social breaks down what Palantir actually does, and why answering that question is trickier than it might seem (or need to be). www.wired.com/story/palant...
What Does Palantir Actually Do?
Palantir is often called a data broker, a data miner, or a giant database of personal information. In reality, it’s none of these—but even former employees struggle to explain it.
www.wired.com
August 11, 2025 at 2:04 PM
NEW: @carolinehaskins.bsky.social breaks down what Palantir actually does, and why answering that question is trickier than it might seem (or need to be). www.wired.com/story/palant...
Reposted by alex pasternack
Greg Ip on an important trend that Trump is radically hastening:
"A generation ago conventional wisdom held that as China liberalized, its economy would come to resemble America’s. Instead, capitalism in America is starting to look like China." www.wsj.com/economy/the-...
"A generation ago conventional wisdom held that as China liberalized, its economy would come to resemble America’s. Instead, capitalism in America is starting to look like China." www.wsj.com/economy/the-...
The U.S. Marches Toward State Capitalism With American Characteristics
President Trump is imitating the Chinese Communist Party by extending political control ever deeper into the economy.
www.wsj.com
August 11, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Greg Ip on an important trend that Trump is radically hastening:
"A generation ago conventional wisdom held that as China liberalized, its economy would come to resemble America’s. Instead, capitalism in America is starting to look like China." www.wsj.com/economy/the-...
"A generation ago conventional wisdom held that as China liberalized, its economy would come to resemble America’s. Instead, capitalism in America is starting to look like China." www.wsj.com/economy/the-...
Reposted by alex pasternack
In general, you can expect to be paid lots of money to tell America that oligarchs are the solution to problems & you can expect to struggle to be paid anything to tell the truth about oligarchs being the actual problem.
This simple axiom explains almost all of American media and politics.
This simple axiom explains almost all of American media and politics.
August 10, 2025 at 12:22 PM
In general, you can expect to be paid lots of money to tell America that oligarchs are the solution to problems & you can expect to struggle to be paid anything to tell the truth about oligarchs being the actual problem.
This simple axiom explains almost all of American media and politics.
This simple axiom explains almost all of American media and politics.
Reposted by alex pasternack
No one covers the census better than Hansi. This is important stuff- down to the bedrock of our beleaguered democracy.
THREAD: There are a lot of unanswered questions 12 hours after President Trump — who, according to the Constitution, has no final authority over the census — released a social media post calling for unprecedented changes to how the government produces data that forms the foundation of U.S. democracy
Trump wants a new U.S. census to exclude people here illegally. It'd be unprecedented
Trump is calling for a "new" census that excludes people in the U.S. without legal status. The 14th Amendment requires the "whole number of persons in each state" in a key set of census results.
www.npr.org
August 7, 2025 at 11:29 PM
No one covers the census better than Hansi. This is important stuff- down to the bedrock of our beleaguered democracy.
Reposted by alex pasternack
Great public records-based reporting from Politico on Tesla's double speak - telling the public and retail shareholders their Robotaxi service is coming to SF - and telling regulators no no it's just a car service... www.politico.com/news/2025/07...
Elon Musk's Tesla hits a speed bump in its California ‘Robotaxi’ rollout: Permits
As the tech CEO promises a Robotaxi launch in California, Tesla employees have been presenting a far more limited plan to key state regulators.
www.politico.com
July 31, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Great public records-based reporting from Politico on Tesla's double speak - telling the public and retail shareholders their Robotaxi service is coming to SF - and telling regulators no no it's just a car service... www.politico.com/news/2025/07...
Reposted by alex pasternack
July 22, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Reposted by alex pasternack
AI bot scrapers are an absolute scourge that are slowing down the entire internet as they nonconsensually devour content to regurgitate in generative AI products that never credit (or pay) their sources.
The Open-Source Software Saving the Internet From AI Bot Scrapers
Anubis, which block AI scrapers from scraping websites to death, has been downloaded almost 200,000 times.
www.404media.co
July 7, 2025 at 7:01 PM
AI bot scrapers are an absolute scourge that are slowing down the entire internet as they nonconsensually devour content to regurgitate in generative AI products that never credit (or pay) their sources.
Reposted by alex pasternack
At a historical moment of global unease, new heights of military spending stand to be the latest and most extravagant source of Silicon Valley’s power, driving risks to open societies and individual freedom, write Brian J. Chen, Tina M. Park, and Alex Pasternack. www.techpolicy.press/booming-mili...
Booming Military Spending on AI is a Windfall for Tech—and a Blow to Democracy | TechPolicy.Press
The imperative to win a global AI race is supercharging the tech industry’s influence, write Brian J. Chen, Tina M. Park, and Alex Pasternack.
www.techpolicy.press
June 9, 2025 at 1:37 PM
At a historical moment of global unease, new heights of military spending stand to be the latest and most extravagant source of Silicon Valley’s power, driving risks to open societies and individual freedom, write Brian J. Chen, Tina M. Park, and Alex Pasternack. www.techpolicy.press/booming-mili...
Reposted by alex pasternack
AI is reshaping power and democracy in harmful ways, writes Kevin De Liban. “It is clearing Trump’s path to authoritarian rule” through decisions “that deprive the public of the resources needed to participate meaningfully in democracy.”
Austerity Intelligence | TechPolicy.Press
Kevin De Liban says AI, pushed by Big Tech and the Trump administration, threatens democracy by deepening inequality and undermining public participation.
www.techpolicy.press
June 4, 2025 at 1:23 PM
AI is reshaping power and democracy in harmful ways, writes Kevin De Liban. “It is clearing Trump’s path to authoritarian rule” through decisions “that deprive the public of the resources needed to participate meaningfully in democracy.”
Reposted by alex pasternack
Today, as part of the @techpolicypress.bsky.social and @datasociety.bsky.social "Ideologies of Control: A Series on Tech Power and Democratic Crisis" series, @emilymbender.bsky.social and I write about the myth of AGI.
www.techpolicy.press/the-myth-of-...
www.techpolicy.press/the-myth-of-...
June 3, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Today, as part of the @techpolicypress.bsky.social and @datasociety.bsky.social "Ideologies of Control: A Series on Tech Power and Democratic Crisis" series, @emilymbender.bsky.social and I write about the myth of AGI.
www.techpolicy.press/the-myth-of-...
www.techpolicy.press/the-myth-of-...