Bruce Sterling @bruces

Bruce Sterling, an #author, #journalist, editor, #critic in #Turin, #Austin and #Ibiza #sciencefiction #fantascienza #BruceSterling
https://medium.com/@bruces

Public Key

npub180tadnsuhld80wxvcyredft5vgsxc8dflpvn543jsvntx87wv52qep3agy

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsrh47kecwtlknhhrxvzpuk546xygrvrk5lskf62cegxf4nrl8x29qpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsxrtwku

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub180tadnsuhld80wxvcyredft5vgsxc8dflpvn543jsvntx87wv52qep3agy

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Last Notes

2026-02-20 04:02:33 GMT

https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/100/965/943/491/071/original/1bd80b11d0345dc9.jpg

2026-01-15 07:37:54 GMT

*You have to wonder what an Internet-blackout USA would look like. There's some big civil disorder, "they" shut down the routers, and then what
*How do people even eat
https://curifem.github.io/iran-internet-blackout/

2026-01-10 05:30:54 GMT

*I must have read a megaton of speculative tech-guru ramblings like this, and even written volumes of it myself, and yet that was still engrossing, and fun to read
*I don't *believe* it, but I thought about it
https://kevinkelly.substack.com/p/artificial-intelligences-so-far

2026-01-07 10:25:52 GMT

*The WELL State of the World for 02026 is off to the races.
https://people.well.com/conf/inkwell.vue/topics/561/State-of-the-World-2026-with-Bru-page01.html

2025-12-25 07:07:30 GMT

https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/778/941/446/857/697/original/b45b3b970da1590d.jpg

2025-12-14 13:55:56 GMT

They used to "laugh and call him nanes." Now they're all dead
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/718/260/876/592/875/original/c775c05823d40cf2.jpeg

2025-12-12 10:53:18 GMT

*I just had Xtwitter Grok create a new business plan, so that Zuckerberg can abandon the metaverse and hard-pivot to headmounted AI.
https://tmblr.co/ZLUiJtiZryjtui00
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/706/218/418/969/403/original/37569d96c565206b.jpg

2025-12-11 15:42:29 GMT

*Endless doomscrolling
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/701/692/980/090/143/original/eedefcd9aa5b1997.jpg

2025-12-08 08:34:40 GMT

*It's great that it's cheap and "for everybody" when that is one of the least everybody-like images that the culture of 1912 could imagine
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/683/023/914/356/017/original/a3839b993e0a2071.jpg

2025-12-08 05:39:11 GMT

*It worked great for the data set it was given
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/682/334/898/726/097/original/6bb2ef40675c4048.jpg

2025-11-15 11:41:34 GMT

*Andre Leroi Gourhan was a 20th century archaeologist and technology theorist, and you would never, ever hear a YouTube 'knife guy" talking like this about knives, even if he is French
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/553/526/021/488/112/original/b2794cef0ce2829c.jpg

2025-11-15 09:29:49 GMT

*Televisions and phones are for poor people.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/553/008/705/059/626/original/3017409dd563a52b.jpeg

2025-11-14 05:42:57 GMT

*Whoopee
https://youtu.be/ANhA94ZqnEQ?si=Yv_W4DGRoiZO9zxS

2025-10-30 06:16:52 GMT

*These native forms of LLM-Agent disasters seem interesting
https://medium.com/towards-artificial-intelligence/we-spent-47-000-running-ai-agents-in-production-heres-what-nobody-tells-you-about-a2a-and-mcp-5f845848de33
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/461/652/201/115/788/original/2af579cc3adfc516.jpg

2025-10-27 06:12:28 GMT

https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/444/648/817/999/932/original/883a533761a5a546.jpeg

2025-10-09 12:51:13 GMT

*It was a giant working model of the entire Mississippi River... and it was built by prisoners from Rommel's Afrika Korps
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_River_Basin_Model

2025-10-08 05:35:13 GMT

*Curing Alzheimer's in mice
*Skeptics will go, "heyn that's in mice," and rightly so, but curing it at all, that's a big deal
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41392-025-02426-1

2025-10-02 19:10:29 GMT

*I agree with ChatGPT that Bruce Sterling fans should read Cory Doctorow novels that don't exist
https://www.tumblr.com/brucesterling/796132113751687168/chatgpt-sci-fi-maven

2025-09-30 12:25:51 GMT

https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/293/233/898/341/952/original/e78a982514e9e7e4.jpg

2025-09-29 10:55:50 GMT

https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/287/218/306/102/514/original/d12ef9e66ecae51c.png

2025-09-22 05:45:09 GMT

"What makes this torment nexus special is you can self-host your torment and own your torment identity"

2025-09-20 11:10:05 GMT

https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/236/312/754/352/408/original/27a8d68a7bfa712e.jpg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/236/313/279/977/593/original/347ab6677feced39.png

2025-09-19 05:11:31 GMT

*I wonder if "solving problems that are really hard" gains very much, compared to the much more serious issue of solving problems with solutions thar are really obvious
https://deepmind.google/discover/blog/gemini-achieves-gold-level-performance-at-the-international-collegiate-programming-contest-world-finals/

2025-09-17 19:13:47 GMT

*Liking the use of bamboo there
https://youtu.be/vaG5tVnpkwc?si=NJBhqKGLZNdgCf9N

2025-09-16 16:22:45 GMT

*One wonders what other entities have figured out 3D shapes in the Milky Way
https://youtu.be/cejvjP-a77k?si=l_Cjx8I02JLufbda

2025-09-15 14:58:44 GMT

IBM, Dell, Cisco, and Seagate cashing in on the Chinese surveillance and repression racket.
https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2025/silicon-valley-enabled-brutal-mass-detention-and-surveillance-in-china-internal-documents-show/

2025-09-15 14:06:34 GMT

*Magazine cover stories of mine that turned into Netflix "Love Death and Robots" cartoons. I forgot that I had these around here in Turin.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/208/694/101/603/005/original/81f2758645fdc71a.jpeg

2025-09-13 04:29:40 GMT

*Chock full o' nanoplastic.
*This alarming health-threat notion also applies to most every other organism on Earth, by the way
*There may be some clean ones in caves a couple of miles down
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/195/101/404/465/131/original/e8d66bb0cced4cf5.jpeg

2025-09-06 08:46:57 GMT

“This is the first time I see a threat actor use training AI models as part of their extortion tactic"
https://www.404media.co/hackers-threaten-to-submit-artists-data-to-ai-models-if-art-site-doesnt-pay-up/

2025-08-30 15:23:48 GMT

*It's very sci-fi of me, I admit that, but I've always been charmed by the notion of some lonely Swiss patent-clerk messing around with some tabletop physics gizmo and accidentally destroying the Universe
*How often has that really happened, one wonders idly #reality
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/118/399/810/336/401/original/40deff932094e151.jpg

2025-08-28 14:40:46 GMT

"Open Source software is one guy off in the boondocks somewhere
https://opensourcesecurity.io/2025/08-oss-one-person/
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/106/907/389/303/503/original/95a8bd1ce3f852ed.jpg

2025-08-28 05:36:44 GMT

*What if an LLM-bot was left all alone in a Searle Chinese Room for a hundred thousand years, with no programmed purpose except to chew on the structure of language
Where would that language go? Would it even be "language," and if it isn't, then what is it

2025-08-28 05:30:18 GMT

*I understand what Stephen Wolfram is saying here, but after LLMs, I'm wondering if "language itself" doesn't hold and contain a whole lot of our so-called "intelligence"
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/104/741/954/692/508/original/43449b6abaa53605.jpg

2025-08-26 19:24:39 GMT

Way to snake, snakey
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/096/699/614/401/393/original/f885de85f7ccbc9d.jpg

2025-08-19 09:59:36 GMT

*Well, y'know, all of "coding" has always been the easy-cyberguy way to seemingly accomplish some stuff without the hard work of hitting it with analog saws hammers hoes and shovels
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/054/841/086/995/196/original/3d0f642f248b98b7.jpg

2025-08-13 09:33:06 GMT

"Has your favorite AI chatbot driven you nuts yet?"
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2507.19218
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/020/763/591/812/378/original/83793c66513414ce.jpg

2025-08-12 06:16:46 GMT

*The "Tesla Deaths" website. Not a lot of web-design frills in this one
*Lotta dead people, though
https://www.tesladeaths.com

2025-08-10 09:11:22 GMT

*Well, time to LLM-update the ol' Mastodon profile pic. #slop
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/003/689/473/468/667/original/0004ff486c2446c0.jpg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/003/690/193/548/035/original/93fd57a2297575f2.jpeg

2025-08-03 05:24:38 GMT

*Has anyone ever actually played this, and is it a fun game
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/963/164/088/679/826/original/2cb2881df3c68443.jpg

2025-07-05 07:08:09 GMT

*Even the birds and worms are painted with the funereal #MarySomerville #memoirs
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/799/363/036/447/770/original/f215aab8cf22056c.jpg

2025-07-04 14:57:28 GMT

*I know that people get defenestrated, but, other than Russia, has there ever been another country, now or in the past, where so many people get thrown out of windows
*How did this become such a routine, long-term thing for them
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/795/545/687/209/030/original/13f2bd2b71bb7fdb.jpg

2025-07-04 06:36:45 GMT

*Meanwhile, in the glamorous world of surveillance capitalism
https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/30/opinion_browser/

2025-07-03 09:44:05 GMT

*Is this a Bluesky meme? This seems more like a Mastodon meme
*Won't get much traction on Xtwitter
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/788/651/623/634/335/original/77b8e2e2951051dc.jpg

2025-06-29 16:52:27 GMT

*It's a big subcontinent, India
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/767/686/206/919/169/original/615914f233e6447c.webp
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/767/687/026/952/206/original/d3407e6ab24f5d45.webp

2025-06-24 04:38:18 GMT

*Have I become old now, or does this really seem like an exhaustingly difficult hobby
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/736/487/083/634/839/original/065cb461c2bc01bb.jpg

2025-06-21 05:42:04 GMT

*Is there anything lonelier than some ionized gas molecule out between the galaxies
https://www.404media.co/one-of-the-universes-biggest-mysteries-has-been-solved-scientists-say/

2025-06-16 05:41:16 GMT

*Fossil-fueled AI, deep in the heart of Texas
https://www.desmog.com/2025/06/12/texas-ai-artificial-intelligence-demand-100-gas-plants-data-centers-pollution-eip-report/

2025-06-12 04:51:57 GMT

*She's almost a one-woman Fourth Estate at this point
https://www.citationneeded.news/it-matters-i-care/

2025-06-10 05:59:59 GMT

*The Market Solution to the Existence of Humanity
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clynq459wxgo

2025-06-07 18:58:42 GMT

*The tallest mountain in this world -- if you measure its distance from the center of the Earth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimborazo

2025-06-01 12:28:28 GMT

*How hard do you have to push this to figure out that LUCA, the "Last Universal Common Ancestor," is OLDER than the Earth, and arrived here from somewhere else? #panspermia
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38997462/

2025-05-27 05:23:55 GMT

*Being and acting "futuristic" is not just classy, but actually fun -- unless your increasingly dystopian society is on a visible downward spiral and everybody knows it
https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/keeping_up_appearances
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/578/122/020/917/556/original/cf7ee93ed9b5c64c.jpg

2025-05-20 05:16:58 GMT

*Hey look. "Vitalism." What age-old doctrine is next to come back from the dead, "spontaneous generation" maybe
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/living-things-strange-light-glow-life-death-b2754168.html

2025-05-19 19:04:12 GMT

https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/536/051/336/599/697/original/63dd49e689294306.png

2025-05-15 07:10:33 GMT

*The "gray zone." It's the Ukraine-Russia military no-man's zone, infested by killer drones, where it's difficult for any human being to survive.
*There doesn't seem to be any inherent limit to the size of a "gray zone"

2025-05-12 16:39:56 GMT

*Well, that's fun
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/495/847/890/893/029/original/5933887ed8db8ece.jpg

2025-05-12 06:50:47 GMT

*Drone "hubs." Drone "nests." Is there a proper military term-of-art for where battlefield drones are serviced and piloted? A "drone airfield"? A "drone fortress"? #dronesdronesdrones

2025-05-12 06:27:29 GMT

*What would the world be like if this kind of sound-design was somehow legally mandated and enforced
https://designobserver.com/a-quieter-place-sound-designer-eddie-gandelman-on-composing-a-future-that-allows-us-to-hear-ourselves-think/

2025-05-12 05:56:17 GMT

*You have to hope they were buried by somebody tenderly sentimental about them, as opposed to somebody embarrassed about them who just didn't want them publicly displaying their affection
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovers_of_Valdaro

2025-05-07 11:22:23 GMT

How fat is Kim Jong Un?
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/466/287/242/999/408/original/4421eb762f1fee32.jpg

2025-05-05 18:57:50 GMT

*Greenland -- one of the last remaining homes of good journalism
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/456/753/954/608/939/original/1484ced1965f0d85.jpg

2025-05-01 07:46:27 GMT

*Weaponized "mirror bacteria" that turn everything into gray goo
*Could that really happen, well, yeah, maybe
https://purl.stanford.edu/cv716pj4036

2025-04-24 02:09:01 GMT

https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/390/501/707/138/901/original/7c614da7f3f3dbb7.jpg

2025-04-22 17:02:55 GMT

*Not only do I cheerfully pay to support these guys -- given modern circumstances, I feel better about that decision every day
https://www.404media.co/how-404-media-is-navigating-economic-headwinds/

2025-04-16 20:12:54 GMT

*Quite a prescient cartoon from 2014 #Trumpistan
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/349/464/731/926/624/original/d067b4cb679bc0eb.jpg

2025-04-11 15:34:22 GMT

*Imagine being a female outer-space enthusiast and then realizing that first you're assigned to Greenland and second you're getting fired
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/320/057/787/848/387/original/adf7f41ad72730ba.jpg

2025-04-09 19:21:37 GMT

https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/309/627/423/299/665/original/dc21347c0736167d.jpg

2025-04-07 16:42:15 GMT

Once annexed by Canada, the slightly-distressed 50 states will be combined into one large province, to be re-named “South Manitoba”. Plans will then commence to distribute Maple Leaf flags and Swiss Chalet restaurants from the 49th parallel all the way down to the region formerly known as Texas.
https://www.thebeaverton.com/2025/04/canada-waiting-for-us-economy-to-implode-enough-to-make-america-11th-province/

2025-04-07 03:13:03 GMT

*How come everybody doesn't nickname their domestic wifi as "Surveillance Van"
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/294/414/944/535/497/original/c8348ba7e6df61b0.jpg

2025-04-01 21:55:26 GMT

"Superconducting Super Collider – a US circular collider project with a circumference of 87 km, abandoned in 1993"
-- back from the grave but in Switzerland instead of East Texas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Circular_Collider

2025-03-30 18:10:14 GMT

*Slop weather.
*What the heck, if it's .99 cents, everybody will buy it
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/mar/20/ai-aardvark-weather-prediction-forecasting-artificial-intelligence

2025-03-30 03:11:48 GMT

https://theconversation.com/everything-you-say-to-an-alexa-speaker-will-be-sent-to-amazon-starting-today-252923
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/249/190/757/924/017/original/8c2d26d366014ab2.jpg

2025-03-29 01:38:57 GMT

*Nice one with the retrofitted old phone that becomes a poetry recital device. #deadmedia #RaspberryPi #hack #deviceart #poetry
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/poetry-on-the-line-a-vintage-phone-brought-to-life-with-raspberry-pi/

2025-03-25 16:37:48 GMT

*A European Cloud in Finland.
*Hmm. Is there a European Cloud where maybe the undersea cables are a little less frail
https://upcloud.com/blog/european-cloud-global-reach

2025-03-24 20:51:17 GMT

“The only sure way to protect yourself is to not carry information with you"
*How long will that option be legal, one wonders
https://www.wired.com/2017/02/guide-getting-past-customs-digital-privacy-intact/

2025-03-19 19:18:54 GMT

Europe-Trumpistan science war erupting in Houston airport
https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2025/03/19/etats-unis-un-chercheur-francais-refoule-pour-avoir-exprime-une-opinion-personnelle-sur-la-politique-menee-par-l-administration-trump_6583618_3210.html
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/190/708/013/712/964/original/5984bcc746b90637.jpg

2025-03-13 11:40:00 GMT

*It's pretty bad, kid
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/154/912/999/238/325/original/086e88276a9c66d9.jpg

2025-03-11 13:10:07 GMT

*Hanging out at the SXSW fediverse yesterday, they're like: "Mastodon's politically swell, but of course nobody but open-source chinbeards would dream of actually using it"

2025-03-07 11:57:15 GMT

*Fetch, boy
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/121/023/692/040/599/original/4351ab08ec2b8620.jpg

2025-02-28 17:17:36 GMT

*This search-engine seems interesting. It only indexes non-commercial sites.
https://marginalia-search.com

2025-02-26 05:47:23 GMT

*What if some vandals removed half the remaining stones from Stonehenge, and clumsy restorers set the stones back up again, but they were no longer "perfectly aligned"
*Would that still be the "original Stonehenge" or just a replica
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge_replicas_and_derivatives

2025-02-21 21:53:20 GMT

*If you're on Mastodon and keenly concerned about the need of the visually-impaired, why don't you voluntarliy tag your posted imagery in Mandarin, Hindi, Arabic, French and Bengali
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_total_number_of_speakers

2025-02-21 21:45:28 GMT

*This is the kind of scolding that I actively enjoy
*Not that I would recomment "a few hits of quality acid" for the over-eager scolds on Mastodon
*Don't do that, kids
*You'll get a scolding
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/044/062/996/501/579/original/701684a10bf83aed.jpg

2025-02-21 21:20:47 GMT

*I wouldn't harass or ignore blind people, I'm my 70s and I had cataract surgery
*And I needed it
*But everybody on or off Mastodon knows that's by no means the limit of Mastodon's deep inherent scoldiness
*It's a Sleeping Beauty castle sheltered by the thicket of thorns

2025-02-16 08:54:07 GMT

*It's also interesting that you might know "years ahead" that an asteroid would wreck a particular "risk corridor" on Earth's surface
https://www.wired.com/story/asteroid-2024-yr4/

2025-01-30 17:17:53 GMT

https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-turn-off-apple-intelligence/
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/918/441/582/475/941/original/b2d8a5da45c8de9b.jpg

2025-01-30 14:04:09 GMT

*Well... *I* own one. As for you, you probably won't make it
https://toshareproject.it/artmakerblog/comical-italian-survival-multitool/

2025-01-30 07:42:41 GMT

"No, go ahead, computers are easy, you'll get the hang of it in no time!"
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/916/179/615/081/571/original/852deec28feade2a.jpg

2025-01-29 16:07:48 GMT

*Get yours now
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/912/503/651/907/050/original/40acde7e6a7d844a.jpeg

2025-01-28 11:58:27 GMT

*Well, that was ten years ago. That oppressive cyberpunk dystopia has got some staying power
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/905/859/842/568/562/original/e7046ff727bbde9f.jpg

2025-01-24 06:59:31 GMT

"Everything Trump Touches Dies"
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/882/036/186/340/568/original/96c83c9d0d43b980.jpg

2025-01-24 06:55:33 GMT

“THIS IS DELIBERATELY MALICIOUS CODE INTENDED TO CAUSE HARMFUL ACTIVITY. DO NOT DEPLOY IF YOU AREN’T FULLY COMFORTABLE WITH WHAT YOU’RE DOING.” #SabotagingAIs
https://www.404media.co/email/7a39d947-4a4a-42bc-bbcf-3379f112c999/

2025-01-23 17:20:47 GMT

*Doesn't get much more "dead media" than this
https://youtu.be/X7XEa7tC7xU?si=Jl23ztbnx7iU0Am6

2025-01-20 08:01:06 GMT

"Mad scientist luxury." I'm sure there's a way to get this oxymoron to work. It seems innately James Bond villainesque, a supervillain lair with better taste in furniture
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/859/628/573/958/788/original/18846bf6bbb2469e.jpeg

2025-01-19 13:42:04 GMT

*They don't sound real "sorry"
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/855/307/484/777/298/original/8ce964a9461cee20.jpg

2025-01-14 19:12:44 GMT

*A regional Texan "pair of pliers"... sort of... invented and manufactured in Texas #tools #weird
https://youtu.be/b81LGQZ4UPI?si=7dr9YAnTYwe3v_3R

2025-01-14 07:50:07 GMT

*What is it like to be a bat," the AI vogue of today tends to sideline the large natural-intelligence problems
https://fojournal.org/re-reading/thomas-nagel-dunne-and-raby/

2025-01-12 10:50:33 GMT

*Well, "Q" sent him to one too many deepstates #pizzagate #armed #shotbycops
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/814/995/398/189/189/original/9db5c2a700c705e5.jpg

2025-01-03 18:59:19 GMT

A mind-boggling implication of that is that it no longer makes sense to say that the Universe has a single unified age of 13.8 billion years. Instead, different regions would have different ages.
https://www.sciencealert.com/dark-energy-may-not-exist-something-stranger-might-explain-the-universe

2025-01-03 12:56:25 GMT

https://rodneybrooks.com/predictions-scorecard-2025-january-01/
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