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Ben Werdmuller
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I lead technology at ProPublica and write speculative fiction. This is a personal account. Every day, I write about tech, democracy, and society at https://werd.io. More about me: https://about.werd.io

What’s a piece of art (visual, writing, music, etc) you enjoyed lately that feels like truth to you? Not arch, not clout-chasing, not playing to a crowd, but human and raw and real in a way that cuts through the bullshit and the marketing and the artifice?

How Rappler Is Building Its Own Communities to Counter AI and Big Tech https://werd.io/2024/how-rappler-is-building-its-own-communities-to-counter-ai

Grant me the confidence of a political lobbyist having a loud phone call about an unannounced deal with the SEC while riding on the northeast corridor.

This literally happens 4 out of 5 journeys. Newsrooms should have Amtrak beats where a journalist is assigned to ride the train all day & listen.

🚂 NYC.

People say “wheels up” and “wheels down” on social media when they fly. What should be the train equivalent? “All aboard”?

The open social web is the first thing I’ve really been excited by in tech for years. It’s a fundamentally pro-human movement where the antipattern is centralized control, surveillance, and wealth hoarding. It’s going to empower artists, journalists, artists. What could be more exciting than that?

Starter packs are magic. A set of experts on a topic that I can learn from, curated by another expert on that topic? Yes, please.

For most of my career I’ve talked about building things in a human-centered way.

Here’s another way to think about that: instead of focusing inwards and building for what *you* think is important, you need to focus outwards. Find the people you want to help and focus on making *their* lives better.

Buddy’s daycare cold got me. I’m wiped out. Super drained and body is aching. So much for getting anything done today.

Elon Musk algorithmically boosted Republican accounts on X from the moment he endorsed Trump https://werd.io/2024/elon-musk-algorithmically-boosted-republican-accounts-on-x-from-the

Pint of tea

Pint of tea

Makes me the best that I can be

I’m at #kleincamp24 - and hosting a conversation about getting newsrooms onto the open social web at 11am. Say hi if you’re here?

Soon there will be enough Blippis to form a Blippi union. https://www.parents.com/another-new-blippi-8744503

Biden Asked Microsoft to “Raise the Bar on Cybersecurity.” He May Have Helped Create an Illegal Monopoly. https://werd.io/2024/biden-asked-microsoft-to-raise-the-bar-on-cybersecurity-he