Dogmatic Positivity | osteophage – I’m sure most readers are already on board with the idea that negativity can be good, and relentless positivity stifling.  But it’s still fun to see this essay draw together disparate topics, from Christian literature to the Law of Attraction, to NFTs, and space lasers.  All the same, we can also think of contexts where hope seems to be good.  The truth is that hope isn’t good or bad, it’s simply the wrong level of analysis.

How effective altruism let Sam Bankman-Fried happen | Vox – Another good article on Sam Bankman-Fried, and how his actions were related to EA philosophy.  I always say about EA philosophy, it’s basically utilitarianism but they go out of their way to bite every bullet they can find, like imagine a charity movement built by trolleyology enthusiasts–and here Dylan Matthews is saying the same thing!

What Was Conversion Therapy Like? | Thing of Things – An informative article, no further comment.

Part One: Welcome to Mastodon! | Reprobate Spreadsheet – HJ takes the time to explain Mastodon–the justifications and the resultant social context.  I’m on board with the idea of Mastodon, I’m just not interested in microblogging as a medium.  But if you’re curious about microblogging, Mastodon seems like a good platform (albeit one with a learning curve).  HJ very much buried the lede, but he also built a Mastodon instance for FTB.  He’s trying to keep it small, and carefully vet any new users.  If you’re interested, and you’re someone I recognize, I could probably assist in the vetting process.

The Skepchick Network is Dead and I Killed It | Rebecca Watson (transcript and video) – The Skepchick blogging network was a great place, but participation has declined and Rebecca finally decided to shut it down.  The website is still up, but now it just holds transcripts for Rebecca Watson’s (excellent) YouTube channel.

I’d like to say, The Asexual Agenda was specifically inspired by a group blog on the Skepchick network called Queereka.  I feel this deeply, because The Asexual Agenda has also declined in participation–in theory it’s still a group blog, in practice it’s just me.  Rebecca explains some reasons why Skepchick became less active, but I think even without Elevatorgate or legal threats, participation still would have eventually declined.  Blogging is simply less popular in general, and small group blogs are particularly difficult to maintain.