iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Replies

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 19/06/2026

Partway through Bridget Read's unmissable chronicle of pyramid ("multi-level marketing") schemes, *Little Bosses Everywhere*, there comes a dual revelation: no one is selling any product to end-users *and* no one knows it: pluralistic.net/2025/05/05/f... 1/

8292125

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 19/06/2026

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog: pluralistic.net/2026/06/19/t... 2/

pluralistic.net

Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow – No trackers, no ads. Black type, white background. Privacy policy: we don't collect or retain any data at all ever period.

3483

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 19/06/2026

That's to say, the hustlers who spent thousands of dollars on Mary Kay, Herbalife and Amway have failed to move any of their product (beyond a statistically insignificant number of sales to friends and family who quickly tire of being hustled and stop buying this substandard, overpriced junk). 3/

1966

Paige Brown @cultivateddecay.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

This is everything I’ve been thinking for so long. I did a masters in Econ so took me awhile to shake off what a bunch delusional assumptions it was built on. And like most middle class peeps I’m in the stock market but it is so clearly not tied to rational assessments.

000

Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 19/06/2026

Excellent recap. Will seek out her book. Back when I was a struggling author with a coding background, I recoiled in horror at Fivver and Bezos' Mechanical Turk as races to the bottom for how little to pay humans for actual thought put into software development. Uber etc seemed up that same alley.

072