Notices by Annalee Newitz (annaleen@wandering.shop)

Whenever the media starts freaking out about deepfakes and how they will mislead the world, I'm always completely nonplussed. Our public discourse has been dominated by lies and propaganda, on a mass scale, for decades. People can be misled by a scribble on a napkin. I'm not sure it matters that now the napkin looks "super real." #getoffmylawn

Ever since playing with ChatGPT, I've become sensitized to the way false rationality sounds ... there's a particular vibe to what is basically coherent nonsense. And now I've started to notice when people do it too. I get this crawly ChatGPT feeling when somebody is obviously making up an answer in an authoritative way about something they know nothing about. #AI #chatgpt #psychology

Our latest episode of @ouropinions is about short fiction! Now is an amazing time to be reading and writing short stories. We recommend some books and magazines, and give some tips on how to read — and write — short speculative fiction! #shortstories #scifi #podcast
https://ouropinionsarecorrect.libsyn.com/episode-126-read-more-short-fiction

Now it can be told! #TheTerraformers is the LA Times Book Club pick for March! To kick off the month, I talked to the LA Times about my inspirations and writing process. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2023-03-09/annalee-newitz-terraformers-book-club #books #bookstodon #scifi

Are you at #boskone this weekend? I've got two sweet little UK edition paperbacks to give away to the first two people who say hi to me at the con and tell me why they like public transit.

Joining #mastodon has reminded me how much #UX is a form of community politics. Discussions over usability, searchability, federability (sounds awkward but you know what I mean) -- these reflect debates we are having right now in many aspiring democracies. Where do we want people to live? What will we build to make it easy to get around? What kinds of social services should be available? How do we manage borders? UX choices are political choices, and it's important to treat them as such.

I just invented an amazing system for creating science, art, and written language -- and the best part is that ANYONE can use it! I call it "a human being with decent pay at a full time job." You should try one today! #AI #tech

This just in: Dystopian science fiction will no longer be sold or streamed in the San Francisco Bay Area or Silicon Valley due to the high risk of it inspiring new tech startups. #tech #scifi

I really hope 2023 is the year of the weird and chaotic nude bear (comic by Lukey McGarry)

Reminder for frantic holiday shoppers! Pre-order my new novel THE TERRAFORMERS (coming 1/31) from Folio Books in San Francisco and they'll donate 10% of the proceeds to the excellent San Francisco Marin Food Bank ... that way, your gift can be sent to a friend, and to folks who are hungry. Bonus: I'll sign the book for you too! #books #bookstodon #scifi #LastMinuteGifts https://www.foliosf.com/annaleenewitz

I'm sick of people saying it's easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of #capitalism. I think about the end of capitalism every day. Today I imagined what it would be like to live in a community that valued me for being present rather than "useful" or "productive." In that world, I think I would spend a lot more time taking care of plants. I would tell stories when I felt like it, instead of on deadline. What do you imagine? #imaginetheendofcapitalism