Mark Rahner
11.6K posts
@markrahner
Ronin journalist. Radio/pod talker. Comic book writer. And some other crap. Views strictly my own and don't represent anyone I've ever worked with, for or on.
"Massive investment in AI contributed basically zero to US economic growth last year," per Goldman Sachs
I forgot about this stupid shit but imagine if they poured $80 billion into feeding the hungry instead of this failed cartoon universe that nobody wanted
Meta is shutting down its VR metaverse on June 15th.
The United States is no longer a democracy and is sliding towards autocracy faster than Hungary and Turkey, according to the annual report of the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute at Gothenburg University. theguardian.com/world/commenti…
Billionaire Marc Andreessen says he has "zero" introspection, and that the idea itself is a modern invention.
Constitutional Law 102: The "public interest" does not include retaliating against news outlets because the president doesn't like their reporting. That does violate the First Amendment. The “‘public interest’ standard necessarily invites reference to First Amendment principles.” CBS, Inc. v. Democratic Nat’l Comm., 412 U.S. 94, 122 (1973). The Supreme Court has stressed that “the First Amendment must inform and give shape to the manner in which Congress exercises its regulatory power in this area.” FCC v. League of Women Voters, 468 U.S. 364, 378 (1984). Under the First Amendment, “[g]overnment officials cannot attempt to coerce private parties in order to punish or suppress views that the government disfavors.” NRA v. Vullo, 602 U.S. 175 (2024).
Trump just posted a graphic bragging that he’s “reshaping the media.” It literally lists journalists pushed out, public broadcasters “defunded,” layoffs at major outlets, and regulatory pressure as “wins.” Read that again. A president openly celebrating the use of political power to punish critics and pressure the press. That’s not media criticism. That’s media capture — the playbook authoritarian leaders use to bend the information system toward themselves. [1][2] And the most dangerous part? He’s not hiding it anymore. Sources [1] Encyclopaedia Britannica — “Authoritarian Control of Propaganda” britannica.com/topic/propagan… [2] National Library of Medicine (PMC) — “Media Capture and Democratic Backsliding” pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC74…
Many Washington Post readers have been notified via email that their subscription rates are set to increase. Nestled at the bottom of these emails, you’ll find an asterisk and the following: “This price was set by an algorithm using your personal data.” washingtonian.com/2026/03/12/the…
My comments on this article: "We live in a world where A.I. companies are grabbing every bit of writing, art and music without consent." This is the foundation on which we should judge generative AI. It does not belong to the corporations who stole our entire culture without consent. Our work, our writing, our art, our compositions, our poetry belong to us. Our right to own our own output must be the primary consideration. Our expressions, our imaginations, our deeply felt sense of being alive and gifting that to the world though our creativity should not be exploited by corporations. Creativity is what makes us human. We must fight against machine exploitation and hold on to our shared humanity and our priceless human art and writing. nytimes.com/2026/03/13/opi…
‼️New polling from @AIpolicynetwork finds that American voters overwhelmingly would prefer guardrails on AI over any other option - and would rather ban AI outright than proceed without regulation. 📢 Lawmakers, are you listening?
🚨 SAM ALTMAN: “We see a future where intelligence is a utility, like electricity or water, and people buy it from us on a meter.”
I hate that schools everywhere are closing their humanities departments and shuttering their physical libraries. How are students going to fall in love with Chaucer, Shakespeare, Austen if they never encounter them? We are rapidly entering a new dark age.
