How I wish my son would answer in this particular meme scenario
Source: Are.na
Substrate
A living collection of notes, ideas, and reflections from Doug Belshaw.
Major updates from Bonfire
As long as we have means of communication, there will be disinformation
The hand-wringing about disinformation in modern times paints an ahistorical view of the past. There has always been disinformation.
Take, for example, this passage from p.589 of Ada Palmer's Inventing the Renaissance (which I finished today) giving examples of what the printing press was being used for, even in the early days.
…Civilisation
”Civilisation is a thin film across an ocean of chaos”.
— Werner Herzog
News Canary: 26 July 2026
Every Sunday, my Little Robot Friend sends me a report which I call 'News Canary'. It assembles a weekly set of roughly ten "global change signal" stories from the last seven days, with at least one item from each continent It mixes hard developments (laws, policies, conflicts, technical releases) with soft signals (cultural shifts, viral posts) that may influence how systems evolve.
…On 'AI psychosis'
I'm not sure that pejorative terms such as AI 'slop' and AI 'psychosis' are helpful. Similarly, neither is 'cognitive surrender'. What's interesting is how similar or different over-reliance on a particular tool or workflow is for a particular individual. In that way, I think AI use can and should be considered in the same realm as 'addictions' to things like betting and algorithmic timelines.
…Working on 'WorkFlow'
In a recent note, I included a graphic which mentioned how AuDHD-ers might have perfect pattern recognition but have terrible working memory. I followed that up with another note which discussed a system I used to use of basically "writing everything down in a searchable way".
…How to iteratively improve in self-directed activities
On Wednesday, I caught up with my good friend and collaborator Laura Hilliger. She's currently on sabbatical, but with someone as galaxy brain as Laura, that just means directing her talents and attention to something that isn't client work.
…The Rabbit R1 is too cute to be e-waste, so I put LineageOS on it
Back in 2024, Rabbit Inc. sold the R1 as an AI companion: a charming little orange square, designed with Teenage Engineering, that was meant to replace your phone apps with a big red button and a cloud service. Underneath the marketing, it was always a locked-down Android device running a Flutter app. This thing has GPS and even a SIM card slot!
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