Chris

Chris

@cb1814.bsky.social

Technologist and optimist, mostly focused on climate and fighting enshitification. Starting something new soon. https://chiba-city-dispatches.beehiiv.com/

272 followers624 following1.4K posts

Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

This. I love tech that frees me to spent time being fully present with my family. This bullshit ain't it.

Amanda Katz@katzish.bsky.social

It’s hard to decide what part of this story on Marissa Mayer’s new startup is most loathsome, but this “women need a wife or, in other words, a digital servant” construction makes me want to flip over an actual table www.nytimes.com/2026/10/25/s...

Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

Oh buddy, you ain't at the bottom yet.

Jason Koebler@jasonkoebler.bsky.social

New leaked audio: Flock’s CEO tells a private conference of police chiefs he believes the opposition to his company isn’t real, full of paid protesters/bots. Says company is at “the bottom” but is waiting out criticism www.404media.co/in-leaked-au...

Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

Not an ad so much as a cry for help

KetAnthropic JoshAI@ketanjoshi.co

The first genuinely honest ad for generative AI I've ever seen, from Microsoft / CoPilot A mediocre white guy sees his non-white colleague getting praised for good work, he asks AI to *literally copy it*, and then he gets all the praise instead: www.ispot.tv/ad/SoDi/micr...

Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

There really are no words anymore

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

😳 WOMAN REPORTER: Do sexual abuse allegations mean nothing to you, sir? TRUMP: Wait. Wait! Wait wait wait. Slow down. Who are you with? REPORTER: NBC, sir. But they are very serious sex abuse allegations TRUMP: Quiet! Isn't she a fresh person? You're a horrible little reporter, aren't you?

Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

Oh for fucks sake

Amy Feldman@amyfeldman7.bsky.social

*NEW* Colossal Biosciences’ Ben Lamm and Anduril’s Palmer Luckey team up on a new startup to genetically engineer war dogs for the military. Warhound comes out of stealth at $1.2B valuation For @forbes.com with @iainmartin.bsky.social and @mhunterhart.bsky.social www.forbes.com/sites/amyfel...

forbes.comBillionaires Palmer Luckey And Ben Lamm Spin Up Startup To Genetically Engineer Military DogsBen Lamm of de-extinction startup Colossal has teamed up with Palmer Luckey’s team at Anduril to create a dog that’s optimized for military use. The new “warhounds” will be cloned and gene edited.
Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

Not talking about it in a ton of detail here, but the Vivek ad is personally triggering in a red-mist type of way, and I suspect the same is true for a lot of people.

Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

I continue to think that Covid broke something fundamental in our ability to talk and relate to each other

This post is unavailable.
Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

Many recent cases of companies revealing their mission lasted as long as it was profitable

David Roberts@volts.wtf

Ugh this is so depressing. Net Power was working on these fancy zero-emission natural gas turbines (which produce a stream of pure CO2 on the side). Been wondering what happened to them. Turns out they, like everyone else, are just pivoting to old-fashioned polluting gas turbines.

heatmap.newsNet Power Surrendered Its Clean Dreams to Data Center DemandThe zero-emission pioneer is doing the dirty work for the AI boom.
Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

"Red hot growth" is gonna give me a stroke. Now can we talk about how this company has nothing resembling a real business model?

Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social

“.. a net loss of more than $80 billion in the first half of this year .. That compares to a net loss of $13 billion during the same period a year earlier.” @wsj.com www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anth...

Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

Chiba City Dispatches: Why the AI companies are making AI sound scary. Sign up for the free newsletter at the link in my bio!

Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

My first next article in Chiba City Dispatches is about this exact line of thoroughly twisted thought, and goes live tomorrow morning. Link in bio to get it.

This post is unavailable.
Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

Um

Marisa Kabas@marisakabas.bsky.social

there's an off-the-books slack channel started by centers for medicare and medicaid for tech companies to exchange ideas on making money off of AI tools that access all of your medical records. insane story i missed from last week.

kffhealthnews.orgAI, Tech Leaders Are Lobbying Trump Health Officials in a Government-Run Chat Room - KFF Health NewsA Slack workspace managed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has served as an extraordinary war room for AI industry insiders and Trump administration officials to launch a rapid campaign...
Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

Such a nice way of saying they were gonna be sued into the heart of the sun. Which, to be clear, was richly deserved.

Lora Kolodny@lorak.bsky.social

The company said the platform, where users can have one-on-one conversations and roleplay with AI characters, became “costly to develop and grow,” in filings to the Delaware District bankruptcy court. ---> by CJ Haddad @cnbc.com www.cnbc.com/2026/10/13/c...

cnbc.comAI companion startup Character.ai files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing costs and litigationThe company said the platform became "costly to develop and grow," in Monday filings to the Delaware District bankruptcy court.

Chris reposted

MeteorBlades
@meteorblades.bsky.social

Corpus Christi, TX, leaders decided to secure the city’s water future with a desalination plant. Instead the plan pushed the city to the brink of a water-supply disaster, burned thru tens of millions of public dollars & engulfed the city in political turmoil. insideclimatenews.org/news/1210202...

insideclimatenews.orgHow a Bid to Beat Drought Drove Corpus Christi to the Brink of Disaster - Inside Climate NewsWhat started as a novel plan to build a desalination plant supplying plentiful water to the oil and gas industry has landed the Texas city in a financial and political quagmire.
Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

This is a classic Effective Altruism line of thought, which gave us the FTX scandal and tends to devolve into death cult stuff fast

Faine Greenwood@faineg.com

Dario Amodei of Anthropic is Very Normal and Can Be Trusted With the Future of Humanity: “…in my case I'd say that I think an adult death is perhaps 2 or 3 times worse than an infant's death.” blog.givewell.org/2010/06/03/m...

Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

They (correctly) have much higher standards, but Iceland is on the list of places I'd move in about 30 seconds if could figure out how

Gernot Wagner@gwagner.com

Exciting couple days here in Reykjavik talking climate stabilization globalstabilization.org In an entirely unrelated news, I'm changing my name to Gærnóð and taking a few years off to explore geothermal power up close. Beautiful country.

Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

Writing about the myth of AI acting on its own. Will be live on the newsletter on Tuesday. Subscribe to make your inbox smarter. Link in bio!

Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

These people are craaaaaaazy

Dare Obasanjo@carnage4life.bsky.social

Palantir CTO, Shyam Sankar, claims AI researchers are taking up smoking to prove how much they believe AI will cure cancer and he calls it a “mass psychosis.” AI psychosis is an under-diagnosed ailment making it through Silicon Valley as we speak.

Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

Just wrote my largest ever angel check into a company that's going to ruin a lot of days in the AI industrial complex. Stoked.

Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

Anthropic is best understood as a cult in the late stages of mass psychological breakdown. Yes I'm serious.

This post is unavailable.
Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

Even at my worst in college, I was never that stoned

Peter@notalawyer.bsky.social

just saw a trendy brand release brimmed beanies. we are entering a very dark period.

Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

I would be remiss to not thank @greatdismal.bsky.social , who inspired the name and taught us all what tech should be.

Chris@cb1814.bsky.social

Starting a new newsletter. I'll be one of four writers. It's about the business of tech and AI, economics, labor, ethics, and how we make the business of innovation a force for good. First issue drops in a few hours. Subscribe here and please share. chiba-city-dispatches.beehiiv.com

chiba-city-dispatches.beehiiv.comHome | Chiba City DIspatchesClarity and accountability for BigTech
Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

Listen to the Great Dismal

William Gibson@greatdismal.bsky.social

Having long been aware of those tech bros who read my work as utopian porn, where they’ve taken that doesn’t exactly surprise me.

Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

Bezos could give $2bn to charity every year for the rest of his life, live like a pharaoh, and would likely die richer than he is now. Instead, dude is pumping steroids and bending the knee to a lunatic for an extra buck. I do not understand it.

Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

Among other issues, dude needs to back away from the Tren

Gianmarco Soresi@gianmarcosoresi.bsky.social

Man who won’t give his employees piss breaks claims many piss breaks on the horizon

Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

Good God man have some dignity

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

BAIER: The president says 'SI.' Are you into SI or AI? BEZOS: I do like SI, because 'artificial' is not a very flattering thing. Like, nobody wants an artificial sweetener, artificial flavoring.

Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

Oh Dougie. So very wrong. Coral Energies. Summer 2028, if not a little sooner. You'll see.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Burgum: "You don't the word 'climate change' as much as you did two years ago, because the legs have been knocked out from under that movement"

Chris
@cb1814.bsky.social

coralcarbon.substack.com/p/concentrat... One of my favorite articles we've written this year, largely on Starbucks.

coralcarbon.substack.comConcentration Risk as Go-To-Market StrategyYou know what’s cool? A billion dollars.
Jessica Green@greenprofgreen.bsky.social

Starbucks’ rollback of its climate commitments is just the latest example of why voluntary climate standards like net zero are only useful when coupled w/ credible threats of regulation or (gasp!) *actual* rules on climate action. Mini 🧵

ft.comStarbucks retreats from green goals amid drive for $2bn in cost cutsEarly corporate champion of climate action scales back or reviews targets to halve emissions, waste and water use