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Cameron Watters

@cameronwatters.com
435 followers 424 following 1.1K posts

"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced" —Baldwin Unfortunately, most of you are far too credulous…

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Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 5h
New: Through a series of complex agreements with cities, the White House built a massive license plate camera database accessible to the feds. The program aggregates data across license plate companies (Flock, Axon, more) & is searchable by many agencies: www.404media.co/how-cities-a...
404media.co
How Cities Are Forced to Funnel License Plate Data to a Massive Federal Surveillance Program
How the federal government built a massive database of license plate reader data through an anti-drug trafficking program.
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Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 6h
They quoted me in this New Yorker piece about AI today. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
“Let’s say there’s a world or time line I exist in where A.I. has been subject to regulation. It is ethical. It has no footprint environmentally,” the novelist Jeff VanderMeer, a prominent critic of A.I., told me over the phone. “With those guardrails in place, would I read an A.I. book? All I can say is no. And the reason is, in part, because I want to read something coming from a particular mind.” Using A.I., he said, “feels like a betrayal of the whole point of why you’re a writer.”
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Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 17h
Friends, while they're trying to talk about fictional machine gods, don't lose sight into what they're all actually powering in real life. You can browse the the entities on the website and use the API, and learn more about it on the DAIR project site: dair-institute.org/projects/sur....
dair-institute.org
Surveillance Watch
This interactive map reveals the intricate connections between surveillance companies, their funding sources and affiliations.
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Cameron Watters @cameronwatters.com · 14h
If you see this, post a vampire that isn't Dracula.
A creepy man who talks about using the blood of young people to extend his own life.
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Cameron Watters @cameronwatters.com · 14h
I get why this is a terrible idea. Having seen one up close (relatively), it's an awesome machine.
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Anil Dash @anildash.com · 29/01/2026
If you are a person who works in social media, and your job requires you to manage an account on Twitter/X, please ask your boss, in writing, to verify that you are required as a responsibility of your position to be on a platform that knowingly creates and monetizes child sexual abuse material …
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Tiricohairline @trejames.blacksky.app · 16h
"Normalize ruining the lives of young rapist so they dont grow up."
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Cameron Watters @cameronwatters.com · 17h
"…it is nearly impossible to propose a technical solution without having to endure the utterances of 'decision makers'…insisting that somehow, 'AI' will make it better. This isn’t merely enthusiasm, or delusion, it’s the expression of a sinister hope…" monroelab.com/2026/09/29/t...
monroelab.com
The Tech Industry: An Autopsy
The tech Industry, and the fields that grew from it, are dead.  The Industry, which, as Yasha Levine details in his book, ‘Surveillance Valley’, was always a tool of oppression, and never &#82…
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Brooke @brooklynmarie.bsky.social · 18h
I wouldn't mind a second and longer and more thorough MeToo tbqh
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I could go on and on but they are always going to pretend they don’t understand what I’m talking about. Because they have to not understand it. But talking to actual people is still worthwhile unless you intend to bludgeon them into compliance which…
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Spokane Rising @spokanerising.com · 29/09/2026
Send Stephen Miller to The Hague.
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Joshua Erlich @joshuaerlich.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
no one should use this thing but I just cannot stress enough that you have to stay away from it if you’re a practicing attorney
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Mekka Okereke @mekka.mekka-tech.com · 29/09/2026
This is how ridiculous some of the laws that our government has put in place are. These laws are in place to do everything possible to stop Black kids from getting anywhere close to the fair value of their labor for playing a very dangerous sport.
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Black.Metronome 🇧🇧 🇧🇲 @blackmetronome.blacksky.app · 29/09/2026
This bill is anti labor. The college athletes need to form a union immediately and stop playing in these games that generate millions in revenue. Also, fuck Deion Sanders. He waited til his sons profited off of NILs and left college to support this. He's a snake just like the rest of these 🦝s
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
For an industry that monetized affect to take over the world, it has abandoned that quickly with AI. It doesn’t feel good. it isn’t fun. It doesn’t make you feel sharp. It makes a lot of people feel dumb.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Technology enthusiasts severely overestimate the average person’s desire or willingness or capacity to build and use AI agents. I understand some work roles that could mandate or encourage it but that is no way a tech revolution. Agents are best for structured, clearly delineated tasks.
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Cameron Watters @cameronwatters.com · 28/09/2026
And, the things that would even be remotely appealing for me to cheaply outsource are the things that they are furthest from pretending to do, as they include dynamic, adaptive physical activity.
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Cameron Watters @cameronwatters.com · 28/09/2026
This is why we get articles about how busy jobmaxxing CxOs in tech have outsourced parenting and household quartermastery to LLM-based agents—they're among the few whose self-concept fits the paradigm.
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Cameron Watters @cameronwatters.com · 28/09/2026
The repeated use of "brother" in this thread leads me to believe the man complaining is to be read in a Hulk Hogan voice.
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Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Drew Lock is ready to play, Mike. He's right there.
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Norm Charlatan @normcharlatan.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Type of foreseeable stupid game that you should just have played Drew Lock and given Darnold another week to rest, and then never talk about it again (win or lose).
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Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Drew Lock would've made that throw Sam
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Cameron Watters @cameronwatters.com · 27/09/2026
Paying players a substantial fraction of the revenue they generate seems right and good. It also seems like just funding higher ed so it's accessible to everyone would address a lot of this, so that nobody needs sports scholarships in the first place.
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Cameron Watters @cameronwatters.com · 27/09/2026
Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs were close friends; Steve officiated one of his weddings. Association with far-right creeps was something those idols openly embraced.
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Laine Nooney @ 🔥🗑️🔥 @lainenooney.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
This is such an unbelievably, historically unserious bad take from Steven Levy, the light from bad takes would take a million billion years to reach it. www.wired.com/story/war-br...
wired.com
War Bros Didn’t Always Rule Silicon Valley
Some say that tech was always about the money and the military. Don’t buy that argument.
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Cameron Watters @cameronwatters.com · 27/09/2026
Pop country music is the signature genre of the predominantly white redneck petit bourgeoisie. The "working-class masses" have much richer and varied musical tastes.
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Cameron Watters @cameronwatters.com · 27/09/2026
The moment I saw the clip of the hit, I knew we'd get this thread.
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Abdul El-Sayed @abdulelsayed.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Here's how we get Medicare for All done: Make Medicare whole (no one can keep all the parts straight!) Include vision, dental, and hearing. Begin extending to more people, starting with children. We arrive at Medicare for All, which means great Medicare for everyone.
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Cameron Watters @cameronwatters.com · 27/09/2026
Some of them wielded more personal power than the U.S. government in certain contexts, and hired private militaries to do their bidding. Actions which weaken the international influence of the U.S. make a bit more sense in that light.
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Cameron Watters @cameronwatters.com · 27/09/2026
When I think about today's ethically bereft brolicharchs who openly fantasize about being states unto themselves, I'm reminded of the biographies I've read of Gilded Age robber barons…
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mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
i don't care what the official unemployment rate is, no one has viral discussions about "what totally innocuous thing at a job interview will cause the hirer to irrationally reject your candidacy" in a strong labor market
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
What people are starved for is leaders who will stand up to the lawless authoritarianism & unprecedented corruption & demand both accountability & institutional reform so it never happens again 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️
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SWOP Behind Bars @swopbehindbars.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
When a missing woman has used drugs, traded sex, experienced homelessness, or had an arrest record, her disappearance is the consequence of a “high-risk lifestyle.” That phrase performs a moral trick. It shifts responsibility from the person who caused harm to the person forced to navigate danger.
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Cameron Watters @cameronwatters.com · 26/09/2026
This entire thread is great, but this one feels particularly important.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Don’t believe people who tell you ai can be liberatory or any other misappropriation of movement talk or justice frameworks. Find some people who are preparing to rebuild and cast your lot with them. Then read a bit more. Just keep your wits about you because they are trying to run game.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Then, if you’re able, try to get your body moving. You’re going to need your senses and movement is good for your brain. If you have kids in your care, protect their developing brains and their image. That’s all I can say about that.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Please try to reclaim your precious precious attention, at all costs. Do puzzles. Take walks without a phone. Dear god, try to read, almost anything that isn’t a manifesto will really do. You are going to need your brain.
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Cameron Watters @cameronwatters.com · 25/09/2026
People are so desperate for heroes and bellwethers to be optimistic about in tech, they'll willingly look past complicity in harm if someone presents an upbeat, affirming attitude. Might be VP+ at a company involved in heinous bullshit for decades, but, you know, they give off good vibes online.
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Lauren Underwood @laurenunderwood.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Trump has now refunded $128 billion dollars from his tariffs to corporations. Tariffs he created, made Americans pay for, and then returned right back to his donors. We paid, and his friends cashed in.
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Cameron Watters @cameronwatters.com · 25/09/2026
I'm happy to review code and other outputs from human authors who are interested in a thoughtful, holistic conversation that builds a durable, shared understanding of the change and has a shot at improving our practice. LLMs undermine all of that, so I resent reviewing LLM-generated outputs.
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Cameron Watters @cameronwatters.com · 25/09/2026
Senior managers are openly embracing the reverse centaur model. One term I have encountered for software engineers in the era of LLMs—used unironically—is "accountability meat bags".
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Cameron Watters @cameronwatters.com · 25/09/2026
I'm happy to review code and other outputs from human authors who are interested in a thoughtful, holistic conversation that builds a durable, shared understanding of the change and has a shot at improving our practice. LLMs undermine all of that, so I resent reviewing LLM-generated outputs.
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 24/09/2026
over the past few weeks several AI evaluation/cybersecurity experts have explained how what's happening is a result of human incompetence rather than "AI going rogue". I'm begging the media to show a shred of journalistic integrity and stop parroting what altman or amodei say
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Cameron Watters @cameronwatters.com · 24/09/2026
I don't know him, but one thing I've seen over the years is that they seem open to being corrected when they get something wrong.
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Raider @iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Quilters, immigrant rights advocates and an interfaith coalition unveiled the Stolen Neighbors Quilt at the Minnesota State Capitol on Tuesday to honor Minnesotans detained by federal immigration enforcement - and advocate on their behalf.
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Cameron Watters @cameronwatters.com · 24/09/2026
One of my other difficult-to-prove hypotheses is that the reasons people are choosing the profession shifted dramatically as compensation rose, which, combined with the adoption of dark patterns, changed the way we, as a profession, assess whether or not software is of high enough quality.
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Cameron Watters @cameronwatters.com · 24/09/2026
👴🏻 POV: the median "Senior" eng I've encountered over the past 10 yrs is skilled similarly to interns in 2010 at the end of their internship, as assessed by work product and the set of software eng concepts I can expect them go be conversant about. It's exacerbating a longstanding problem.
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Cameron Watters @cameronwatters.com · 24/09/2026
I think it's worth noting that "big tech" has been in this exploitive mode, where the user is something to be consumed by the product for a long time. That the vehicle is "AI" devices now is incidental.
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Cheryl Lynn Eaton @cheryllynneaton.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
And if Talarico wants to bolster confidence, he needs to come out ten toes down about civil rights. For EVERYBODY. And he needs to state that that includes trans people. It's not going to hurt him. Everybody likes civil rights. We had a whole movement and everything.
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Cameron Watters @cameronwatters.com · 22/09/2026
Have the boosters begun using the phrase to describe skeptics?
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