After that, I'll be at Fourth Street Fantasy, a tiny conference in Minneapolis that has some of my favorite programming, in June. And I'm looking forward to Worldcon in Seattle in August, which should be a lot of fun.
Things to Read
You've probably heard the term "Luddite" thrown around as an insult to describe people who are afraid of technological advances. You might know that it comes from a 19th century workers' movement in the UK, remembered for its acts of sabotage against milling machines that were changing the way people worked. But the original Luddites weren't anti-tech, just pissed about the way that technology was being used to make their
jobs harder and pay less instead of easier. This comic does a fantastic job of explaining the Luddite movement and how its impacts trace forward through labor movements to today---where the same
impulses of greed by the rich are using AI to steal and then devalue our work. It's well worth a read!
Relatedly, I just finished "Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention--and How to Think Deeply Again" by Johann Hari, and found it fascinating. I have definitely noticed the difficulty focusing in my own life, especially the challenge of doing more than skimming things I read online. I thought I knew why---and I was aware of some of the
reasons, but Hari delves into it deeply and draws unexpected connections: between surveillance capitalism, stress, fraying social bonds, and more. And while he has plenty of tips for improving focus on an individual level, he also lays out the systemic forces at work and makes the case that we need systemic changes to fix this.
On the fiction side,
Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan blew me away. It wraps together an amazing amount of worldbuilding (folk tales and ocean myths; a whole diversity of sea-people way beyond
just mermaids; shapeshifters and evil witches; noble East Asian-style dragons and ruthless humans). And it deals with social issues around immigration, refuge, class differences, intersectionality, and belonging with remarkable nuance while telling a story of revolution and sacrifice that's packed with action. The sequel is definitely on my TBR list!
And last but not least, this is the face of a cat who is well aware
that when you say "I can't feed you now," you mean "I won't feed you now," that it is in fact well within your power to feed her and you are choosing not to, you monster.
