iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 06/10/2026

"The goal of education is not to tell students what to think, but to teach them how to think. It is to instill the capacity for moral choice and moral action."

mastodon.nu

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 04/10/2026

I simply cannot express how disturbing I find the "Dude Wipes" phenomenon. A product so grotesquely superfluous and needlessly gendered, so overpackaged and overmarketed, that I'd imagine it could only thrive in a childish, performative culture dominated in […] [Original post on tldr.nettime.org]

Photo in a supermarket. End-aisle display. "Dude Wipes DUMPkin spice, with clove, nutmeg and other fall stuff." Each pack declares, "48 flushable wipes".

SALE DUDE WIPES FLUSHABLE $9.99 ea."

[Brightly coloured plastic packaging in orange and black somewhat resembles battery packs or power tools.]

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 03/10/2026

@2legged @2legged I take your point—but what I'm saying is that the problem caused has to be attacked from the other end. Rather than starting from the macro—a budget bottom line, one needs to start from the micro—by ensuring that every detail is nailed down, and letting the overall cost will […]

tldr.nettime.org

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 03/10/2026

@2legged "View from orbit" statistics miss out on the fine details. And it's the fine details that we need to address. What is people's health span versus their lifespan? How much did they earn from actually working, rather than capital investment? Were they taxed on passive income as much as […]

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 01/10/2026

I am here, but I'm also on Bluesky. A year ago, the two platforms were quite comparable, in terms of the conversation. But now, I can see the quality of Bluesky visibly declining. There, daily, I am followed by fake or "broadcast only" accounts. I see any number of posts that are algorithmic in […]

tldr.nettime.org

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 26/09/2026

@alberto_cottica Urgh, I feel your pain! During our project there was one point when I was digging underpinning bays myself. After three weeks of labour, I calculated, "Great! Three blocks done! Just sixty-nine to go!" At that stage I employed professionals for that task.

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 26/09/2026

Looking at their responses in order to assess whether LLMs are self-aware is like looking in a mirror and trying to draw conclusions about what your reflection is thinking. It doesn't matter what it looks like. It matters how it works.

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Reposted by James Wallbank

James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 25/09/2026

Look, I know you haven't got 40 minutes to think about anything, let alone what technology is doing to us, psychologically. But if you did, this would be a great primer. youtu.be/whqDsYhCl0s

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 26/09/2026

@alberto_cottica This looks like an ambitious project! I, too, have been involved with building work since 2020—a three and a half year renovation project. It was sufficiently successful that my wife and I were featured in the regional newspaper!

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 26/09/2026

The term "Free Software" has a technical meaning, beyond the obvious. It means "gratis", but also "open to all"—anyone is FREE to inspect and refactor the code. YOU don't need to know how—you need to know the policies of the people who do know how. AI attacks those policies and that knowledge.

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 25/09/2026

Look, I know you haven't got 40 minutes to think about anything, let alone what technology is doing to us, psychologically. But if you did, this would be a great primer. youtu.be/whqDsYhCl0s

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Fife4Europe #FBPE @fife4europe.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 23/09/2026

A new report calling for an urgent probe into Reform UK’s extensive links with the UAE petrostate exposes a deeply troubling pattern. Hyping UK sovereignty while cozying up to autocratic foreign regimes to push fossil fuels is hypocritical. Why allow foreign influence? 🤔 #FBPE […]

mastodon.scot

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 23/09/2026

@alberto_cottica It's great to know others are thinking about similar issues. Let's make space for a chat in early course.

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 23/09/2026

@alberto_cottica There's lots to talk about here! Presumably you're aware of the (presentationally populist, but analytically interesting) podcast work of SF critic Damien Walter? And, of course, that of Cory Doctorow, (who was very helpful with of one of my Kickstarter projects)? I'm currently […]

tldr.nettime.org

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 22/09/2026

@sundogplanets I have a similar issue with a neighbour. He's a landlord, and seems to think that illuminating not only his building's car park, but also the stories above it, contributes to security. His blazing lights certainly disrupt bats, and niggles me if I'm in an upper room at night. I […]

tldr.nettime.org

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 22/09/2026

@alberto_cottica Hey, I'm still here, and doing okay, but, obviously, somewhat concerned with the overall state of play. (Political, Economic, Social, and Technological!)

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Wieferich Prime @pikesley.mastodon.me.uk.ap.brid.gy · 20/09/2026

Having Opinions about specific versions of LLMs feels a lot like Knowing Your IQ. Like, I understand that you believe it's important, but it's telling me much more about you than you think it is, and not in any kind of good way

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 19/09/2026

True story from this week. I was trying to fix an obsolete controller board in a laser cutter. I purchased a used replacement cheaply, and plugged it in, but I just couldn't get it to work. Diagnosing the problem was tricky. There are several versions of the same controller, and each claims to […]

tldr.nettime.org

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Reposted by James Wallbank

cassandroid אַנטיפֿאַ @cassandroid.substack.com · 18/09/2026

You don't need to fix #Anthropic. You need to fix an economic system that only allows billionaires to shape our future. We create all the wealth. It's not Anthropic's fault we hand it over to fascists, which they then need to beg for money and use it to make them even richer. #ai #capitalism

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 11/09/2026

Conflicts between networks tend to result in each network reorganising to conform to its opponent's organisational logic. The opponent, in part, becomes you, and you, in part, become the opponent. The result is a hybrid, uniting opponents into a single system. Values may be seen as "network […]

tldr.nettime.org

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Reposted by James Wallbank

Reginald @raganwald.social.bau-ha.us.ap.brid.gy · 10/09/2026

RE: shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/01/the-unreas… I once led an online banking team responsible roughly 3.5 million customers. Just three of those customers used WebTV to do their banking: WebTV was less than one ten-thousandth of one percent of their customer […]

social.bau-ha.us

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tante @tante.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 09/09/2026

RE: digipres.club/@misty/11724302879298… Really interesting. Quote: "And so it is time to stop messing about with permissive licenses. If corporations don’t want to use our software under our terms, they are free to spend the effort or tokens to build their own."

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 06/09/2026

I have continuously been an advocate of open source licensing. However, it is worth noting that open source may not be a powerful weapon to combat abuses based on massively centralised technologies. Other action is needed, too.

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 04/09/2026

@davidgerard I hear you, but, seriously, em dashes are not necessarily a tell for AI. I've never written a single social media post with AI (I just use NS) but I use em dashes! It's the overall pattern of communication, not a single character, that gives AI away.

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 23/08/2026

@simoncozens Those quotation marks are a load-bearing component in that post. The phrase they contain is a complete contradiction in terms.

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 22/08/2026

Literally the whole of politics in the last two decades can be boiled down to, "If there are problems, do you blame the people at the top, or the people at the bottom?" It is alarming how many thundering dullards blame the people at the bottom.

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 19/08/2026

@georgemonbiot.bsky.social Pretty much an echo of class war—which, far from being waged on the rich by the poor, is actually waged actively, through the media, and via cultural and political influence operations, by the rich on the poor, who are generally passive in response.

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 19/08/2026

The upcoming period is one of maximum danger. Two major villains are running out of road. The oligarchs around each of them are similarly boxed in by systemic collapse. Each fall presents danger—from loyalists, from successors, from them. Any of these bad actors may collude. They already have.

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Robert Kingett @weirdwriter.caneandable.social.ap.brid.gy · 18/08/2026

This shit writes itself. This is so beyond parody at this point I can't write about it. I had an author friend gush, for paragraphs, about how amazing my editing was. It was funny. It was honest. It was developmental juice that didn't have any trouble asserting it's flavor. He begged me to know […]

caneandable.social

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 13/08/2026

Recently, I was given an autobiography by a long time acquaintance that was written, apparently, "In collaboration with AI". Who does that? Who gives that book as a gift? Who reads that book? Really? REALLY?

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 04/08/2026

What if—just go with me for a sec here—apparent opposites are the same thing from another direction? Total connectivity is total isolation? AI being useless is exactly what drives AI market penetration? Bankruptcy and madness is billionaire apotheosis? The coming crash is the coming […]

tldr.nettime.org

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 03/08/2026

It is worth remembering that the fate of canaries in the coal mine is to die.

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 03/08/2026

@emily Maybe it'll be a taxi service. Or a landscaping company. Or a vet. Or a funeral home. Or a Chinese takeaway. (But the Chinese takeaway guy's brother works in IT in Shenzen, though he's here at the moment, and maybe could get you a bootleg copy, if you just meet his mother, who runs a […]

tldr.nettime.org

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 02/08/2026

Here's an idea. Instead of taxing billionaires, let's smash up the whole planet. We can easily afford for ecosystems to collapse, a few billion people to die, and the rest to be impoverished. It'll be fine!

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SellaTheChemist @sellathechemist.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/07/2026

Message for the day – Commit a random act of maintenance! Listen to it, look at it, wipe it, clean it, lube it, brush it, tighten it, grease it, turn it, check it, test it, sweep it, mop it, paint it, tape it, sand it, tweak it, tune it, adjust it, wash it […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Fight entropy! Commit a random act of maintenance today.

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tante @tante.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 11/02/2026

"AI is built on the collective knowledge of humankind." No. Nononononono. It is not built on _knowledge_, it it built on _data_. And not everyone's experiences are available as data, many communities are included. Also: "Collective" implies some sort of collaboration and shared activity. But […]

tldr.nettime.org

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 21/07/2026

@yaxu @thentrythis Clicked through this excitedly, before admitting that, at 60, I'm unlikely to be characterised as a future leader!

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James Wallbank @lowtech.tldr.nettime.org.ap.brid.gy · 04/07/2026

There seem to be an increasing number of humans who appear to be unable or unwilling to have conversations, or discissions, or otherwise communicate in person. They often medicalise the reasons for this, and they may be correct. But it's worth reflecting that this disconnection, this inability […]

tldr.nettime.org

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