Daily Picks

Monday, 14 September 2026

8 new posts

A historical reenactment of a pioneer traveling the Oregon Trail in Wyoming.

Bureau of Land Management · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

Pluralistic
Society & IdeasPluralisticCory Doctorow

Why does your boss keep asking if you used AI?Pluralistic: But do you use keyboard shortcuts? (14 Sep 2026)

TL;DR

When bosses demand that workers use AI, they are not buying quality; they are reassuring themselves that they could do the job without knowing how.

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The Markup
TechThe MarkupColin Lecher and Aline Melo, for Agência Pública

You searched for a gynecologist. LinkedIn and TikTok found outHow TikTok and Google ended up with information about doctor’s appointments around the world

TL;DR

A medical booking site sends the specialty you searched for and the time of your appointment straight to social platforms, and the path you take to care is itself private information.

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Noahpinion
TechNoahpinionNoah Smith

Want Beijing to fear AI? Hack WeChat with China's own modelsTwo missing pieces in the AI safety discussion

TL;DR

The best way to make China take superintelligence risk seriously is not for America to run faster, but to let its leaders see that their own open-weight models can be turned against them.

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JSTOR Daily
Society & IdeasJSTOR DailyMatthew Wills

Mining history deleted women miners, on purposeThe Women Written Out of Mining History

TL;DR

Women never left the mines; laws and unions deleted them from the definition of a miner so men could keep the job.

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The Conversation
Economics & PolicyThe Conversation

Three camps fight over wildfire strategy while the fires get worseWildfire strategy doesn’t need a winner – with 3 camps fighting for dominance, the system can’t keep up with the risk

TL;DR

America's wildfire deadlock comes from three camps each insisting its one method is best, when the effective approach is wiring all three methods together.

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Klement on Investing
Economics & PolicyKlement on InvestingJoachim Klement

Two years after the hurricane, poor countries are still losing GDPThe growth effects of natural disasters

TL;DR

Storms and droughts dent economic output for two years, the most extreme floods wipe 3.2% off GDP after two years, and poor countries take far heavier hits than rich ones.

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Blood in the Machine
TechBlood in the MachineBrian Merchant

They put a 10% chance on AI killing us all, then kept buildingThe ‘End Times Fascists’ of AI

TL;DR

A departing AI-company employee said nearly everyone there believes their product might kill every human alive and nobody is stopping it; anyone who can hold both beliefs at once is either someone who does not care whether others live or someone who thinks this power belongs in their hands.

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硅谷居士
Investing硅谷居士

China's S&P 500 funds are one ten-thousandth of the US market国内标普500指数基金的总规模有多大?

TL;DR

China's S&P 500 index funds total about 46 billion yuan, roughly one ten-thousandth of the index's market value, so the claim that Chinese investors are propping up US stocks is nonsense.

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