"Object permanence": the ability to understand that things still exist, even if you can't see 'em. Kids acquire a thorough sense of object permanence by the age of two. But when it comes to technopolitics, object permanence eludes full-grown lawmakers. These motherfuckers would lose a game of peek-a-boo.
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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read/share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
pluralistic.net/2026/05/19/she…
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Cory Doctorow
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •Sensitive content
Over and over again, politicians are warned about the ways that their pet policies will a) produce enormous collateral damage, and; b) be easily evaded by the people they're seeking to control, giving rise to a cascade of ever-more extreme measures. And yet, they swallow a spider to catch a fly and then act baffled and hurt when we tell them it's their own damn fault that they now have to swallow a bird to catch the spider:
pluralistic.net/2025/01/13/wan…
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Pluralistic: They were warned; Picks and Shovels Chapter One (Part 4) (13 Jan 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
pluralistic.netCory Doctorow
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •Sensitive content
The foreseeable and foreseen consequences of bad technopolicy are all around us, but in the eternal *now* of a politics utterly devoid of object permanence, no one is allowed to remember what happened the last time we did something stupid, *especially* not when we're on the verge of doing that same stupid thing again, *only worse*:
pluralistic.net/2024/10/07/for…
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Pluralistic: China hacked Verizon, AT&T and Lumen using the FBI’s backdoor (07 Oct 2024) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
pluralistic.netCory Doctorow
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •Sensitive content
Technopolitics are defined by Bruce Schneier's "security syllogism," which goes, "Something must be done! There, I've done something." "Something" doesn't have to fix the problem, and "something" doesn't have to anticipate what will happen next. So long as "something" is done, the issue is resolved and the politician can chalk up a win.
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Cory Doctorow
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •Sensitive content
This gives rise to some genuinely bizarre consensus hallucinations, in which we pretend that the reality decreed by policy matches up with *actual* reality. Take "streaming." There is no such thing as "streaming." A "stream" is just "a download that is transmitted to an application that doesn't have a 'Save As...' button":
pluralistic.net/2025/09/01/ful…
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Pluralistic: Darth Android (01 Sep 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
pluralistic.netCory Doctorow
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •Sensitive content
Once you decree there is such a thing as a stream, you must bend heaven and earth to ensure that no "Save As..." buttons are added to the "streaming" program. You have to make it illegal to inspect code. To modify code. To report code defects. To index info about defects in code. To index info about mods. To link to indices that compile defects and mods. You have to swallow the fly, the spider, the bird, the cat, the dog, and the whole damned horse:
memex.craphound.com/2012/01/10…
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Lockdown: The coming war on general-purpose computing – Cory Doctorow's MEMEX
memex.craphound.comuis
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •Sensitive content
Yet another Josh
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •Sensitive content
Politicians hallucinating?
New game show: IS IT AI OR IS IT GERIATRICS?
Mr B
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •Sensitive content
- YouTube
www.youtube.comRobin Adams
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •Sensitive content
I remember in Yes Prime Minister this was called the "politician's syllogism" too:
We must do something.
This is something.
Therefore, we must do this.
Plan A to Y
in reply to Cory Doctorow • • •