Ethan Marcotte

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/data-centers/openai-ceo-says-its-quite-terrible-for-your-pc-to-have-ram-sam-altman-says-data-centers-offer-better-utilization

logging on

good afternoon to everyone EXCEPT this dude who sat down next to me in the public library, pushed the “NO FOOD ALLOWED” sign off his desk, and started pouring water into a ziploc bag filled with (i think??) oats

logging on

life with our microwave:

1m: food’s still cold +30s: food’s still cold +30s: food’s done

OR

2m: hope you like your bowl of magma, idiot

RE: https://saturation.social/@debcha/117230652021333133

I’m still so proud of this little book. If you read it, I hope it’s useful to you.

And I’ve said it before, but if you’d like a copy but don’t feel you can swing the purchase right now—shipping costs, how your budget’s looking this month, whatever—just send me an email. We’ll figure it out.

❤️‍🔥

#Bookstodon #1u #UnionStrong #TechUnions #LaborDay

the starbucks baristas’ union is calling for a boycott of starbucks: they’ve got a support pledge you can sign, AND ALSO i dig the list of local, unionized coffeeshops you can support instead https://www.boycottstarbucks.net/

#1u #Unions

Been reading some strident arguments for LLM usage from fairly high-profile writers this week, and I keep thinking about this post I wrote a few months ago.

I cannot imagine publicly carrying water for a military contractor, simply because you like the emails it helps you write. https://follow.ethanmarcotte.com/@beep/116177600014350659

A good little thread, but I’ll be thinking about this line for a while: “One critical purpose of vibecoding, it seems to me, is to manufacture consent for what comes next.”

https://merveilles.town/@lrhodes/117065629405634327

The Wikimedia Foundation hasn’t just refused to recognize their workers’ unions; they’ve also hired one of the most notorious union-busting firms out there. https://medium.com/regarding-wikipedia/the-wikimedia-foundation-hired-the-union-busters-its-own-encyclopedia-warned-about-42b7142a5cd1

#1u #unions #TechUnions

🦊

When I redesigned my website, I added a statement about how I used (or didn’t use) “AI” on it.

I quickly learned that there were so many similar statements already out there, representing a wide spectrum of approaches and opinions. I learned a lot from them, so I thought I’d share a few of my favorites.

https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/folded-between-the-pages/

For ages my portfolio page has said I’ve been working online “for over two decades,” but I just realized that technically it should read “for nearly thirty years” and then I had to sit down and have a good long think https://ethanmarcotte.com/work/

I recently added an “AI statement“ to my website. Thought it’d be worth heading off questions about my use of LLMs when designing or building it, or when writing on it.

And yes I’m very upset I even felt I had to do this https://ethanmarcotte.com/ai/

🦊

In what I’m sure future design historians will call a stunning display of timeliness and marketing savvy, let me tell you about the redesign I launched two weeks ago. https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/the-house-is-valuable-because-it-is-the-house/

at some point my phone stopped showing previews for any links to GIFs that i send to friends, instead showing one big static unmoving image, so yeah i think i do understand what censorship feels like

🦊

Wrote down some rambling thoughts on “AI”: as generational damage, on what repair might look like, and on asking what happens next. https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/all-tomorrows-parties/

Been reflecting today on how good it’s been for the ol’ mental health to start storing interesting links on my actual website. https://ethanmarcotte.com/stream/

Not sure why, but it’s done me a world of good to store interesting links somewhere I own, rather than peppering them everywhere else.

And here’s

nailing the key point: it doesn’t matter if so-called AI “works.” What matters is that the value of your labor goes down, and workers are pushed further into precarity.

But what really matters, of course, is what we collectively decide to do about that.

https://henry.codes/writing/it-doesnt-matter-if-it-works/

I was quite literally in the middle of typing something when this happened

logging on

this little article is sixteen years old today: https://alistapart.com/article/responsive-web-design/

feels deeply weird that it’s that old. the pub date feels like it’s two lifetimes ago and two weeks ago, all at the same time.

“The story is that a specific kind of executive, the one who needs a progressive headline every quarter, has been running an uncontrolled experiment on your workforce. The data on that experiment is now in, and it is not flattering.”

This is good: https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbestechcouncil/2026/05/14/the-ai-layoff-bill-is-coming-due-and-ctos-are-going-to-pay-it-twice/

It is very possible some of you haven’t read

before. Her latest essay—on war, on work, on refusal—is possibly the best opportunity to remedy that: https://aworkinglibrary.com/writing/into-the-gap

Over at Unbreaking, we’re starting to write about the design and technical work that goes into the project. And I loved

’s writeup of how and why we introduced sidenotes to our issue pages: https://unbreaking.org/blog/tech-note-sidenotes/

The events we’re chronicling are overwhelming, but the reading experience shouldn’t be.

ProPublica’s union is ON STRIKE https://www.theverge.com/news/908401/propublica-union-strike-negotiations-ai-layoffs

“Your choice isn’t between risk and safety but different kinds of risk: choose well.”

I really needed to read

’s thoughts on finding our way out of workslop; maybe you do, too. https://everythingchanges.us/blog/mouthwords/

someone recently noted that twitter launched twenty years ago this month, in case you’re wondering why i’ve been staring into the middle distance for the last several days

I’m winding down with two excellent clients I’ve been working with since January, which means I’ve got some availability for new work coming up soon.

If you need a designer who thinks deeply about systems and teams, and who will ooh and/or ahh over an especially pretty serif, I’d love to chat with you!

Here’s more about me, how I work, and some work I’ve done: https://ethanmarcotte.com/work/

1. I will watch the ever-loving hell out of this
2. They really should’ve taken me up on my pitch, which was to declare the movie non-canon and to push Jayne off some kind of space cliff. Twice
3. see #1

https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/firefly-revival-animated-series-nathan-fillion-1236688529/

look if matt berry doesn’t Laszlo-ify every single name he announces at the oscars, we riot

I enjoyed

’s essay on becoming a “generative AI vegetarian”, and for a few reasons: it’s a great read, first and foremost, but also my GOODNESS is this well-sourced. Sean pulls together many, many threads here; always grateful for a map like this.

https://sboots.ca/2026/03/11/generative-ai-vegetarianism/

“The power loom, as we know, is inevitable, preordained by God, who works His miracles through the hands of rich and wise inventors. It’s foolish to resist it. We can’t possibly imagine a different social order—we just can’t! God decreed that George should be king and the power loom should replace handicraft, and anyone who says otherwise is just wasting their time.”

welp https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/being-a-luddite-is-cool-and-all-but-have-you-seen-the-hilarious-tapestries-these-new-looms-are-making

Just want to raise up the design of this “AI kill switch” in Firefox, and say how much I like it: it’s a top-level preference, and the design and content are both very clear in communicating the different levels at which you’re making decisions.

I would love to see more product companies roll out something like this for their en-LLM’d features.

my password manager has started autofilling my name with my middle initial, and this is the first time any software’s ever made me sound like an ol’ country lawyer

A group of organizers at Meta are circulating a petition with two demands: safety for Meta employees targeted by ICE, and disclosure of the company’s dealings with the agency.

If you’re a Meta worker, current or former, feel free to sign: https://tally.so/r/7RWNyL

day four: the other books suspect nothing

#CatsOfMastodon #Caturday

Whatever the output gains promised by LLMs, their initial productivity surge is erased over time, and replaced by heavier workloads—and that leads to workers experiencing “cognitive fatigue, burnout, and weakened decision-making.”

All this from research out of the notoriously pro-worker rag [checks notes] Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2026/02/ai-doesnt-reduce-work-it-intensifies-it

my phone and laptop have been gradually ratcheting up prompts to ✌🏻upgrade✌🏻 to liquid glass

and i swear if one more Helpful Alert pops up i’m switching to windows 95

The members of

are preparing to strike to win their first contract: https://www.propublicaguild.org/updates/the-propublica-guild-is-ready-to-strike-for-a-fair-contract

“As I learn how to work with AI coding agents, know that I will be thinking ill of you the entire time. Not because I don't get to write for loops, but because you have made yet another part of the economy impossible to engage with ethically.” —

, https://www.garfieldtech.com/blog/selfish-ai

TECH WORKERS: There’s a petition calling on our leaders to get ICE out of our cities, and to cancel all contracts with the agency. Sign and share the petition at https://iceout.tech/, and then look for ways to get organized at work.

Every single tech advocate carrying water for OpenAI and their products should be thinking about who they’re giving publicity to. Because I sure am. https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/867947/openai-president-greg-brockman-trump-super-pac

#uspol

“npm install our project dependencies. Download this 5GB file onto your five year-old laptop. Install docker. Build and start the containe—”

You bolt awake in the mountains of Carthage. You are not online. It is 217 BC. You are the general Hannibal, and you have changed your mind. The future cannot come to pass. Rome must burn.

🦊

I don’t know how to write about a year like this one; whenever I tried, I kept thinking about flowers.

So I thought I’d start with flowers. https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/our-frail-thoughts/

I wish I had the words to describe just how valuable

’s latest essay feels to me: https://www.wrecka.ge/landslide-a-ghost-story/

id Software just unionized, we LOVE to SEE IT https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/id-software-devs-form-wall-to-wall-union-with-165-workers-at-doom-studio-the-latest-to-vote-in-favour

It is that time of year, so I thought I’d mention that my book YOU DESERVE A TECH UNION is very much a thing you can buy for any tech workers in your life. Or yourself!

You can buy it just about anywhere books are sold, or ask your library to grab a copy! https://ethanmarcotte.com/books/you-deserve-a-tech-union/

#books #bookstodon #1u #YDATUbook

turns out font-size: 105rem produces a dramatically different effect from font-size: 1.05rem

you know. in case you were wondering

slapping reddit -ai to the end of everything i type into the world’s most popular search engine, the tech industry is fine and cannot possibly be improved

🦊

“Artificial intelligence isn’t going anywhere. It’s the future.”

I hear that line a lot. The thing is, futures are tricky.

https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/the-line-and-the-stream/

This interview feels like a tremendous missed opportunity: it reads like an airing of talking points, rather than properly interrogating a billionaire donor who’s comfortable slapping some nice fonts on openly fascist policies: https://www.dezeen.com/2025/11/18/america-first-chief-design-officer-joe-gebbia-interview/

#uspol

that’s a nice decentralized network you’ve got there, be a real shame if capitalism happened to it

logging on

🦊

IN WHICH ONE AUTHOR tried to file a claim in the Anthropic copyright case, failed, got frustrated, then blogged about it while still pretty hot under the collar.

(it’s me; i’m author)

https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/a-right-to-copy/