Discussion

• @tszzl Roon on x

  there is a brand of leftist brainrot where the writer finds the most attention seeking hacks with their calendars fully open and takes their incompetence or unseriousness as representative of entire industries. surely these idiots must mean industry itself is idiotic!

• @felpix_ @felpix_ on x

  this entire article is a masterpiece [image]

• @natewitkin Nathan Witkin on x

  Incredible work here, per usual. I try to keep it pretty professional on X, but I feel impelled to say that the Roy Lee contingent in SF deserves nothing but scorn (and gonzo ethnography of the Sam Kriss variety, so we can keep tabs, and figure out how it all went wrong). These

• @harpers @harpers on x

  “Until we build an all-powerful but distant God, the agency problem remains. AIs are not capable of directing themselves; most people aren't either.” Sam Kriss reports from San Francisco on the next generation of AI technologists. https://harpers.org/...

• @narrenhut Dylan on x

  What kind of twisted world is it where the place I work publishes an essay about Donald Boat yet he still has me blocked on Twitter. Very messed up situation

• @growing_daniel Daniel on x

  This article is so good https://harpers.org/...

• @b_judah Ben Judah on x

  This is a great and profoundly sad piece of writing about the state of a certain world. https://harpers.org/...

• @daisandconfused Daisy Alioto on x

  The type of high vibrational reporting that simply can't be replicated by another techno-optimist video agency. https://harpers.org/... [image]

• @alexbronzini Alex Bronzini-Vender on x

  Just incredible [image]

• @mcmansionhell @mcmansionhell on x

  This is the only thing this guy's written that I've ever liked. truly funny stuff

• @mlstrat Maria on x

  utterly absurdist, landmark piece - a must-read. some favorite (? is that the word?) excerpts [image]

• @confusionm8trix @confusionm8trix on x

  donald boat is so cool it makes me want to throw up.

• @laserboat999 Donald Boat on x

  @lukeigel I would like to thank Harper's Magazine for comping my $267 Cheesecake Factory experience

• @other_st_nick @other_st_nick on x

  Donald Boat is the best poster of our time and it's not even close

• @nicolas_ouporov Nicolai Ouporov on x

  Donald Boat is Gen Z Joan Didion

• @margbaramerica Mohammad on x

  sam kriss wrote about the cluely founder and adjacent sf tech scene people in harper's where donald boat makes a delightful supporting act appearance, but this was my favorite side bit from it. like clavicular, this hyper optimizer type of guy makes up like 10-20% of men now. [im…

• @shguke @shguke on x

  its actually a v fun read and about much more lol

• @c0up @c0up on bluesky

  Hate the writer's tunnel vision, dreary take on SF, and holy shit Roy Lee sounds repulsive.  —  This short story though.  [embedded post]

• @loriemerson.net Lori Emerson on bluesky

  I keep telling anyone who will listen: the students in my classes are starving for knowledge, for big hard ideas, and for opportunities to actually think and challenge themselves harpers.org/archive/2026...

• @north0fnorth.tgirl.gay Emily North on bluesky

  a friend of mine recently turned me on to this incredible article about the bleak state of the ai tech world and the robin hood-esque escapades of one guy on twitter and now i must share it with all of you because it's the best reporting i've read in a while  —  harpers.org/archi…

• @konstantkarma Konstantin Nowotny on bluesky

  This made me rub my eyes at least every three sentences, thinking it must be satire or fiction.  Unbelievable story, extremely believable writing.  —  harpers.org/archive/2026...

• @kthorjensen K. Thor Jensen on bluesky

  this article's been going around today and it's just one Hell Description after another, highly recommended harpers.org/archive/2026...

• @frankpasquale Frank Pasquale on bluesky

  “The future they seem to envisage is one in which people don't really do anything at all, except follow the instructions given to them by machines.”  —  harpers.org/archive/2026...

• @salvagni.org Jason D. Salvagni on bluesky

  This piece on the state of startup and VC culture is absolute pitch-perfectly-written insanity

• @robertscotthorton Scott Horton on bluesky

  “In San Francisco the world automatically assumes that instead of wanting food or drinks or a new phone or car, what you want is some kind of arcane B2B service for your startup.  You are not a passive consumer.  You are making something.”  —Sam Kriss harpers.org/archive/2026...

• @shivambhatt Shivam Bhatt on bluesky

  Man, this article about the dude behind Cluely, and of the AI fad in general, is really well done  —  harpers.org/archive/2026...

• @caulimovirus @caulimovirus on bluesky

  “As a child, he loved reading—Harry Potter, Percy Jackson—until he turned eight.  'My mom tried to put me on classical books and I couldn't understand, like, the bullshit Huckleberry, whatever fuck bullshit, and it made me bored.'”  —  harpers.org/archive/2026...

• @emilynussbaum Emily Nussbaum on bluesky

  This article was truly hilarious/disturbing & also, ratified one strong approach to tech journalism, which is, “go talk to the craziest, most quotable lunatics you can find” harpers.org/archive/2026...

• @espiers Elizabeth Spiers on bluesky

  I read this earlier and of all the people in it, I think I like “Donald Boat” the most, and everyone else the least: harpers.org/archive/2026...

• @avocadoplex.bike @avocadoplex.bike on bluesky

  Incredible.  So glad we're betting the entire economy on this shit  —  harpers.org/archive/2026...  [image]

• @dansheehan Dan Sheehan on bluesky

  lol this made me sick to my stomach

• @glyph@mastodon.social Glyph on mastodon

  I miss SuperHappyDevHouse.  I miss my local Python meetup.  I miss a sense of possibility and wonder and art and just _fun_ at what we could do with computers.  —  When I look at what remains of that culture though, it's like reading Heart of Darkness now https://harpers.org/...

• r/SneerClub r on reddit

  Sam Kriss has dinner with Rationalists in their Bay Area group home ("Rationalists, like termites, live in eusocial mounds")

• r/slatestarcodex r on reddit

  Child's Play, by Sam Kriss

• @bondhack.ft.com Robert Smith on bluesky

  ‘"I would rather have an interesting life than a couple hundred million dollars in my bank account.  Racing cum is definitely interesting."  I found Eric very hard not to like.’  —  Delicious writing from Sam Kriss harpers.org/archive/2026...

• @askekammer.dk Aske Kammer on bluesky

  “He didn't see anything valuable in overcoming adversity.”  —  If you're only reading one article today, read this one.  What empty AI-directed lives these techbros envision - and actively pursue.  —  H/t @lavidagata.bsky.social (who is great, and you should all follow her).  —  …

• @cmgiulini Lynn Becker on bluesky

  Two fantastic articles for your Sunday reading.  First up, from Harper's, a profile of AI's underbelly of young males with nothing much on their mind but raking in millions creating agents that don't entirely work.  —  harpers.org/archive/2026...