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Tom Coates

@tomcoates.bsky.social
13K followers 733 following 20K posts

English technologist, founder and product designer living in San Francisco. Prev: BBC, Yahoo, Time Out, Nokia, Jawbone, Wired & Eero. Founded things too. Currently trying to find something to get excited rather than angry about. www.plasticbag.org

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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 58m
There are a few people who I think are intelligent, eloquent and quite brilliant people who nonetheless stand up in public semi-regularly and with absolute confidence state positions that I think are highly dubious at the time and turn out to be wrong.
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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 7h
Presented without comment, but with eyes as large as plates, sweaty skin and a racing and anxious heartbeat. techcrunch.com/2026/10/01/m...
techcrunch.com
Musk's AI chatbot Grok reportedly encouraged Trump to capture Venezuela's president | TechCrunch
President Trump reportedly asked for Grok's opinion before invading Venezuela and capturing Nicolás Maduro.
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YouGov @yougov.co.uk · 8h
How popular is Donald Trump in Western Europe? (10-21 Sep 2026) 🇩🇰 -91 net favourability (-1 from Aug) 🇩🇪 -78 (-2) 🇮🇹 -76 (+3) 🇬🇧 -75 (-5) 🇪🇸 -74 (+1) 🇫🇷 -67 (-2) yougov.com/en-gb/articl...
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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 8h
6am - guy blasting ”I was made for loving you” at full blast as he drives past my house can go fuck himself, as can his friend on the motorbike with the mufflers taken off.
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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 12h
Cannot be emphasised enough that Trump II will plausibly cause the kind of death count we associate with the worst dictatorships of the last century. Unspeakably bad that he came to be president of the world's most powerful nation.
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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 16h
You know, if you're whimsical enough and have enough time, you really can make some completely fun and unnecessary things.
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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 20h
Just for the record - if we have a debate and I block you, it's for one of two reasons (1) you got personal, cruel, rude or dismissive to me or to people I care about or (2) you would not stop arguing a point that was not supported by the facts and you refused to engage with any counter position.
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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 21h
Honestly, this whole line really sums up everything about his character and competence. It's a lie. It's stupid. He keeps repeating it. It's *performatively* stupid. It's cruel. It isn't relevant to any real problem. And he's completely resistant to being corrected or admitting fault. Sums him up.
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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 21h
Apparently it's not relevant whether they're good at their jobs, experts in military technologies, knowledgable about strategy, know other countries or cultures, can speak other languages, have extensive leadership experience, are respected by their subordinates etc. etc.
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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 22h
See! This is the disposition of world changing geniuses!
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 22h
"I can go ramp, I can go stairs" -- Trump's audience in Texas gives him an extremely tepid round of applause as he brags about being able to go up stairs without falling
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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 23h
Huh. Interesting. State liberalism, eh? What did you guys get? 12axes.vercel.app/results?est=...
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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Oh my god the man is literally insane.
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Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 01/10/2026
markets be like
static.klipy.com
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The Secretary of Defense claimed the free press of the USA is guilty of “treason” — a capital offense — for informing the American people of his mismanagement of an illegal war of choice in Iran. How would the @washingtonpost.com report this differently if the U.S. was another country?
washingtonpost.com
Hegseth details new initiatives in partisan address to troops
In a fiery speech, the Pentagon chief solicited bids to build a new base, called for more focus on religion and said Elon Musk will help develop next-generation weapons.
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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Happy End of Q3 for all who celebrate xx
static.klipy.com
Joyful Celebration with Confetti
ALT: Joyful Celebration with Confetti
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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This is how you know you're a middle-aged gay man.
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Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
nothing they value or aspire to or revere about Masculinity™️ is the behavior of wise, mature, grounded adult men. it’s what little boys think is cool about being an adult man and they were allowed never to grow out of that
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Maggie Astor @maggieastor.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The 988 suicide prevention hotline's Press 3 option — which provides specialized services to LGBTQ callers — has been restored more than a year after the Trump administration shut it down. Confirmed by HHS and the office of Senator Tammy Baldwin, who led on legislation that forced its restoration
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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Is it though?
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Louis @louisevans.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Skipped the Nazis, huh.
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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
We're doomed.
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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
When people talk about how the leaders in AI could just stop developing it, I keep getting reminded of Oppenheimer. It exists. It will not stop existing. These people have no more power to stop it now than you or I do. globalgovernanceforum.org/oppenheimer-...
globalgovernanceforum.org
Oppenheimer on Ending the Nuclear Arms Race
J. Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb, has been the subject recently of an important book, film, Oscars, and public discussion. It is understandable that attention should begin with the hor...
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Anonymous @youranoncentral.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Hear me out but Mark Carney should be given the Times Person Of Year and the Nobel Peace Prize. Also that really tall fella Eby, keep him in office, don’t vote him out, he’s alright. #cdnpoli
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 30/09/2026
Trump is standing like no human has ever stood before
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zeldman @zeldman.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
It is a maddening time to be reasonable.
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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Strong disagree. The likely destabilization of the economy and the potential job losses caused by AI in my opinion are most likely to result in a further rise of the far right, lack of focus on climate change, and a general crash in core public services for the working classes.
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CNN @cnn.com · 30/09/2026
An estimated 11 million workers, or about 6.5% of the current labor force, might have to jump into entirely different occupations by 2035 as a result of automation and artificial intelligence adoption, according to a report from consulting firm McKinsey & Co. cnn.it/4hRHaJA
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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
static.klipy.com
Jennifer Lawrence Says Alright
ALT: Jennifer Lawrence Says Alright
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Rex Huppke @rexhuppke.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Trump's America.gov chatbot really is SUPER INTELLIGENCE!
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Brain death of a salesman.
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Ian Miles Schlong @tedcruznipples.com · 29/09/2026
New way for trillionaires to debase themselves in breathless servitude to another man just dropped
Mark Zuckerberg C
@finkd • 1d
We believe superintelligence will create significant new opportunities for all people and businesses. Meta already serves billions of people at scale and helps hundreds of millions of businesses reach customers. Today we are starting the next major pillar of our business, Meta Enterprise Platform, to help businesses use Al to grow and transform in new ways as well.
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A.R. Moxon @juliusgoat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
To people who don’t believe that Kermit the Frog is real: What is the basis for your morality? Where does your moral standard come from?
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Lee Cicuta @butchanarchy.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Yeahhh as a disabled lesbian it’s pretty obvious the article was written to give everyone an opportunity to laugh at the most isolated and vulnerable among us. The wider public has never *ever* given a shit about any other harassment campaign that’s shuttered a lesbian bar. Y’all can’t fool me!
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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Compare and contrast: straits.live
straits.live
Strait of Hormuz Closed | Live Tracker & Monitor
Is the Strait of Hormuz open? Effectively no, it is closed to commercial shipping. Live status, updated every 5 minutes.
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nick @unionnick.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
On the *same day* the Cornell Seven drugged and raped Jane Doe, Cornell banned four students (including the President of Cornell JVP) from campus for three years for nonviolent, pro-Palestine protests. The same Cornell officials let the rapists off with apology essays.
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@NewsJennifer (Jennifer Schulze) @newsjennifer.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
We should expect a lot more of this 'i was wrong about trump' bullsh*t especially after the midterms. Sarah is completely correct: don't fall for it.
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Sarah Longwell
@SarahLongwell25
Watching people who propped up this corrupt disaster of an administration for their own enrichment start to slowly back away with their hands up will be good for short term dunks, but thats not good enough. It should be a reputational nuke from which these people never recover.
Quote
Sheel Mohnot
@pitdesi
·
Sep 26
Thiel on Trump:

“There are a lot of things I got wrong... was crazier than I thought. It was more dangerous than I thought.”
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George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Despite all of Trump’s bullshit like this, Americans still like Canada a helluva lot more than they like him. yougov.com/en-us/articl...
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AppleInsider @appleinsider.com · 28/09/2026
In a completely unsurprising turn of events, Meta's Muse AI is stealing Apple Messages, past and present, and uploading the contents to its cloud, even if explicitly told not to.
appleinsider.com
Meta's new AI agent blatantly ignores users permissions
In a completely unsurprising turn of events, Meta's Muse AI is stealing Apple Messages, past and present, and uploading the contents to its cloud, even if explicitly told not to.
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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Hang on, I thought the war was over. And that it wasn’t a war.
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Parody Nigel Farage @parodypm.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
When I said they were Iranians arriving in small boats, I meant British nationals living in London.
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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I do sort of feel like I’m operating in a completely parallel reality from many of my peers in that most of my anxieties about AI are precisely because in my experience it does work and genuinely is transformative.
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Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Personally, I’d rather have healthy kids than mollycoddled millionaires
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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I wonder what it would be like to write the same column, over and over again, endlessly. Seems like it’d be boring. But maybe it brings one comfort, like having your parents read you the same story every night before you go to bed.
Opinion
Opinion by Megan McArdle
The Great Awokening is over.
This lesbian bar shows why.
A meltdown over masking shows where cancel culture is now.
Today at 07:00 ET
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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Oh thank god there's Great British Bake Off to help me calm down on a Sunday evening.
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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
"Paid for by the US Government". Are you kidding me? We're paying for this? Fuck's sake.
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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I don’t really know how you’re supposed to respond to that. “Okay, you can obviously call it whatever you want - the question is was anything else agreed to?”
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Assigned Media @assignedmedia.org · 27/09/2026
@rikiwilchins.bsky.social With Reps in battleground states running on trans issues, CNN poll finds once again that it runs dead last in voters' concerns after elections, crime, tariffs, etc. Good for them for finally positing a question other pollsters still ignore. [Live screen grab]
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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Feels a bit like his approach to America generally.
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