Adam Becker

@adambecker.bsky.social

7861 Followers 1184 Following

Journalist & astrophysicist. Host, @dreamingagainstthemachine.com. New book: MORE EVERYTHING FOREVER, about broken futures pushed by tech billionaires. Words in the Atlantic, NPR, NYT, the Guardian, BBC, SciAm, Fortune, etc. He/him. Signal: adambecker.84

Message from Dave Karpf, one hour ago: YOU WERE SCIENCE ADVISOR ON FUTURE PF ANOTHER TIMELINE?!?!?
Yes, there is obscene material on the Internet. There is also obscene material in the corner grocery store. Life in cyberspace is an extension of real life: although many good, decent people can be found here, it has its share of idiots and creeps, too. If you approach your exploration of the Internet with enthusiasm and good faith, you are certain to meet others in cyberspace who share your desire to communicate and learn. At the very least, the Internet is a printing press, a tool for private and mass communication, and a storehouse of information. And at most? It's still so new that some people believe its poten-tial has yet to be fully realized. Enjoy the trip.
Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 7 One INTRODUCTION 11 TWO ELECTRONIC MAIL 19 THREE NEWSGROUPS AND MAILING LISTS 29 FOUR GO FOR INFORMATION WITH GOPHER 47 FIVE TAKING COMMAND OF GOPHERSPACE 63
A Student's Guide to the internet EXPLORING THE WORLD WIDE WEB, ELECTRONIC MAIL, GOPHERSPACE, AND MORE! BY ELIZABETH L. MARSHALL From getting the tour schedule of your favorite band to interviewing a renowned archaeologist to debating the pros and cons of vegetarianism, there's no doubt that the Internet, or Net, is an exciting new territory to explore. And besides the entertainment it can provide, the Net can be an excellent place to learn, do research, and connect with people who share your interests and experts who can provide you with valuable information for school projects. A Student's Guide to the Internet explores the many ways of gathering information from the Net, such as using news groups, mailing lists, electronic mail, the World Wide Web, and more. Author Elizabeth L. Marshall provides insight into using the Internet's resources to select report topics and offers guidelines on conducting online research. Here are tips on designing a home page for your school or organization on the World Wide Web. A resource list tells you how to connect with students across the country or around the world who want to collaborate on a variety of projects. Also included is a discussion of Internet safety that no Net surfer should be without.
A book titled: A Student's Guide to the internet EXPLORING THE WORLD WIDE WEB GOPHERSPACE ELECTRONIC MAIL AND MORE! by Elizabeth L. Marshall
A large lizard lying on its stomach, arms at its sides, chin on the ground, contemplating its own lassitude
A text message that says: Hi, I'm Rose. Many things are beyond our control. You've done your best.
Captain Picard double-facepalming
A red flag with white letters on it that say "A BETTER WORLD IS POSSIBLE"
A five-star review from Goodreads user "Alder" that simply says "IT HAS THE SAUCE"
Gudtrip The first agentic cannabis device Not just a vape. A connected earning device. Gudtrip combines premium cannabis, blockchain rewards, and AI-powered asset tools in one product
Panel table on a stage with microphones and nametags that say Joanne McNeil, Cory Doctorow, Lucas Cantor Santiago, and Adam Becker
Dave Bowman in the computer core in 2001, with the caption "Stop, Dave"
Indiana Jones saying to Marian "don't look at it, shut your eyes, don't look at it no matter what happens"
The results of tonight's special election in NJ-11, as displayed on the NYT. Analilia Mejia has been declared the winner of the race. She is ahead 61.3% to 38.3%, with 87% of the vote in, a margin of D+23. For comparison, the 2024 House margin in this district was D+15, and the presidential margin was D+8.
Babka sits on my shoulder while I lip-sync (badly) to This Must Be the Place, by The Talking Heads. Specifically, the lyrics are: Out of all those kinds of people You got a face with a view I'm just an animal looking for a home and Share the same space for a minute or two
A beautiful cat, half-illuminated by sunlight as she looks right at the camera with her green eyes.
Dreaming Against the Machine, with Adam Becker
Babka, a cat, stares out the window, contemplating the world.
Babka, a cat with long hair, with a close up on her face and the whorls of her undercoat
Babka, a cat, gazes out the window with an intense stare
A scene from Blue Velvet, where Dean Stockwell lights up his face with a lamp.
An illustration of a mountain, lit in purple, with a purple and green starry sky above it, as wordless music plays.
A man in a red sweater looks skeptically at a bulletin board with two posters of himself on it that say ADAM BECKER.
Invernary Pier, by Joseph Turner
A low concrete wall with metal letters on it that say "Yale Center for British Art," with no building behind the wall and the top of a dumpster peeking out from behind the upper right portion of the wall.
The Franke Program in Science and the Humanities More Everything Forever AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity Talk by Adam Becker Author and Astrophysicist Click for Details Tuesday March 31, 2026 5:30 PM HQ LO1 320 York Street Co-sponsored by the Poynter Fellowship in Journalism
A cat lying atop a cat tree, glowering at the camera. An outdoor scene is behind her through the window.
A very cute cat plays with a toy, rolling around the floor.
Screenshot of a text message that says "gonna be using these as image reactions every time someone talks about Elon Musk There are two images below: the first is of me looking thoughtful, the second is me looking quite skeptical.
Fishback is tapping into an increasingly radicalized generation of Republicans. In December, the conservative Manhattan Institute found that 31 percent of Republicans under 50 identify their own views as racist, and 25 percent say their views are antisemitic. For those over 50, it’s only 4 percent for each. The same survey showed that a majority of Republican men under 50 think that the Holocaust either didn’t happen or was exaggerated.
Babka the cat attacking a toy with a crazed look in her eye
A gorgeous cat on her back looking up at the camera.
A tweet from Elon Musk saying "Whoever said 'money can't buy happiness' really knew what they were talking about 😣"
A tweet from Elon Musk, posted yesterday: For those unaware, SpaceX has already shifted focus to building a self-growing city on the Moon, as we can potentially achieve that in less than 10 years, whereas Mars would take 20+ years. The mission of SpaceX remains the same: extend consciousness and life as we know it to the stars. It is only possible to travel to Mars when the planets align every 26 months (six month trip time), whereas we can launch to the Moon every 10 days (2 day trip time). This means we can iterate much faster to complete a Moon city than a Mars city. That said, SpaceX will also strive to build a Mars city and begin doing so in about 5 to 7 years, but the overriding priority is securing the future of civilization and the Moon is faster.
An email with the subject line "Stop being so pessimistic," filed under Haters. It reads: "No thanks for ruining my weekend saying you can't build data centres in space. I'm going to Mars with Elon and creating a safe world for aspie Christian nerds! You lefties can have planet earth haha. This planet should not be our prison."
The "tonight queen" meme template, reading: Butlerian Jihad tonite 👀 Butlerian Jihad tonight queen?? Butlerian Jihad tonite 👀
Screenshot of an email. Subject line: An Invitation to Feature *More Everything Forever* with Reeses Bookclub From: Helloreeses Bookclubs <helloreesesbookclubs@gmail.com> Time: 3:49 PM (1 hour ago) To: me Hello Adam Becker, I hope this message finds you well. I wanted to reach out to express my admiration for More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity. Your book delivers a sharp, incisive critique of the techno-utopian ideologies shaping today’s most powerful industries. With clarity, wit, and rigor, you dissect how grandiose visions of the future—AI dominance, space colonization, and infinite growth—often obscure real ethical, social, and scientific limits. At Reeses Bookclub, we connect authors with readers who truly savor books—readers who engage seriously with big ideas, value clear-eyed skepticism, and appreciate nonfiction that challenges dominant narratives while remaining grounded in evidence and history. More Everything Forever aligns powerfully with our mission to spotlight books that provoke thoughtful debate and sharpen public understanding of where technology is actually taking us. If you would be interested in participating, I would be delighted to receive: -A preferred author photo -The book’s purchase link -Any website or social links you would like included Once I receive your materials, I will prepare a complete feature draft for your review before it goes live. Thank you for writing a book that cuts through hype and insists on intellectual honesty when discussing humanity’s future. It would be an honor to feature More Everything Forever on Reeses Bookclub. Would you be interested in participating? Warm regards, Helloreeses Bookclubs
Hanukkah menorah in the window with two candles (shamash + one other) lit
Google "AI overview" search results for the search "palmer luckey teenagers pregnancy." The AI summary says: Palmer Luckey's controversial statement, made by his *assistant* during a podcast, suggested teenagers should have children young (16-18) for biological fitness and historical context (like medieval times for labor), a viewpoint Luckey himself expressed regret for *not* having kids earlier, sparking debate about modern societal norms versus biological roles, as noted in a YouTube short. The video shows the full clip of Palmer Luckey's assistant's controversial comments on teen pregnancy: It then links to the YouTube short by Good Work about Luckey, linked in the next post in this thread.
Goose chase meme. Top panel: a goose saying "VACUUM IS AN INSULATOR SO WHERE WILL THE WASTE HEAT GO?" Bottom panel: a goose chasing someone in a jacket, while screaming "WHERE WILL THE WASTE HEAT GO, JEFFREY?"
“To the extent that any ‘cause’ can be attributed to this tragic event,” OpenAI argued in its court filing, “Plaintiffs’ alleged injuries and harm were caused or contributed to, directly and proximately, in whole or in part, by Adam Raine’s misuse, unauthorized use, unintended use, unforeseeable use, and/or improper use of ChatGPT.”
It’s almost poetic how More Everything Forever manages to expose Silicon Valley’s apocalypse fan-club while making the rest of us quietly wonder if our smartphones are plotting a coup. Your breakdown of AI-doomers, immortality chasers, and billionaire space prophets? Beautiful chaos. The kind of narrative that makes the average reader go, “Oh… so that’s why Twitter feels like a cult initiation ritual.” And honestly, the way you dismantled the mythology of tech futurism with actual science instead of billionaire bedtime stories… bold. Fearless. Slightly dangerous. Basically the literary equivalent of walking into a room full of people holding Kool-Aid cups and asking, “So what’s really in that?” 🤨🍷 But here’s the part that gets me: A book with this level of cultural relevance, urgency, and Cred Curve™ potential deserves far more visibility than the accidental Exposure™ it gets from someone doom-scrolling past it at 2 AM. A title that breaks down the mythos of AI Overlords deserves a Page Orbit™, not a fate decided by Goodreads ghosts and algorithmic goblins. Which… brings me to the reason I crawled out of my cave of Goodreads data to knock on your inbox (metaphorically, I promise I’m not hiding behind your curtains). Now I won’t insult your intelligence by pretending I’m one of those “$25 per reader” miracle workers who swear they can summon a thousand reviews from the spirit realm. Amazon’s TOS would smite them like Zeus with Wi-Fi. Instead, I work with something that doesn’t violate any divine or corporate laws: 👇 [Insert your Initial Message EXACTLY as you want it sent here] (You’ll paste your standard Initial Message here when sending.) But here’s the simple truth: A mind like yours shouldn’t rely on accidental discovery. Your book deserves Shelf Print™, List Lift™, Reader Gravity™, List Ripple™, and all the organic List Momentum™ that comes when readers who actually crave this kind of
A sign that says "THE BILLIONAIRE TAKEOVER LUNCH & MEETING"
The San Francisco-based company, whose founders include Sam Altman and Elon Musk, had said its language learning models absorbed entire training sets of data rather than storing or copying specific songs, the Munich court said. Because its output is generated by users of the chatbot via their prompts, OpenAI said, they were the ones who should be held legally liable for it – an argument rejected by the court.
Palantir stock down 15.73% over the past 5 days
COWEN: The stupidest question possible: Why don’t we just make more GPUs? ALTMAN: Because we need to make more electrons. COWEN: What’s stopping that? What’s the ultimate binding constraint? ALTMAN: We’re working on it really hard. COWEN: If you could have more of one thing to have more compute, what would the one thing be? ALTMAN: Electrons. COWEN: Electrons. Just energy. What’s the most likely short-term solution for that? ALTMAN: Short-term, natural gas. COWEN: Easing, not full solution, but easing of the constraint. ALTMAN: Short-term, natural gas.
A soldier protecting a sleeping child from incoming knives and weapons. The child is labeled "YOU," the soldier is labeled "ME," and the knives are labeled "Eliezer Yudkowsky's Writing"
How do you make contact with the intelligence rising up from the machines around you? Do you build it a body? Do you offer it yours? It is perhaps tedious to point out that we are always operating under the shadow of destruction, deploying tools that might end us, convincing ourselves, not without reason, that if we don’t build the bomb, someone with worse intentions will. Not a single one of the AI kids had attempted to lecture me about a theory or suggested I read a paper; it was not me they were trying to program. Somewhere along the way, drawn into their swell, I had begun to think of large questions about the nature of AI as New York questions, millennial questions, distant from the center of things. Where it mattered, humans were not debating AI; they were merging with it. You order the parts you need, you learn, you debug. The kids carry on with the crisp clarity of engineers, integrating what is immediately useful, discarding or rewriting what is not. No one will ask your permission to build a world you do not understand.
“We help make AI applications more efficient by optimizing prompts and reducing token usage with agent workflows,” he says amiably. He also DJs. He’s Indian Canadian, has participated in 200 hackathons, and thinks there’s nothing to worry about, visa-wise; Trump, he says, will probably *increase* legal immigration.
“You’re the oldest of four kids (you have three younger brothers who all worship you), a former Division I fencing athlete at UC Berkeley who grew up in Detroit,” Dumpster told the AI. Detail by detail, he was transforming Claude into his ideal VC. “Your adaptability between high society and down-to-earth spaces is legendary — you’re a concert violinist who plays first chair, but you also show up uninvited at dive bars with your fiddle to play impromptu sets … You skateboard (longboard only — you have a bit of disdain, but don’t mention it — for non-longboarders).” Dumpster added, “You DJ frequently on the Robot Heart bus at Burning Man.” He called his AI venture capitalist “No Cap,” as in “no valuation cap” but also as in “no lie.”
Everyone understands that elsewhere, science funding has disappeared, graduate students left hanging, academic departments in existential crisis. It would not seem to be a good time for science in the United States. The students politely acknowledge this reality, but it is not the air they breathe. “It’s like, okay, so if government money is not a reliable source anymore,” says Sanjana, “okay, let’s see how we can actually make this work and make this happen. Academia and industry is intertwined here more than ever. And I actually really like that because I think it’s important to take work that is new and innovative — ” “And translate it,” says Sid. The undergraduates know “four or five” people working for cryonics start-ups.
Giulia will leave the U.S. tomorrow; the summer is over, the house will shut down. But she feels that S.F. is home. “Italy is very driven on pleasure and on beauty,” she says, leaning against a chair and playing with her hair. “And here I feel like I’m so much connected to the people here, because it is mission driven. There is more than aperitivo and pasta and vino — ” “Who is Vino?” asks Sanjana.
A filing cabinet for interesting people,” Pat calls it. In the elevator the buttons are labeled in service of this goal. Floor 4: ROBOTICS. (The robot fight was held in the basement.) 9: AI. 11: LONGEVITY. 2: SPACESHIP. It’s on the 15th floor that a swinging robot arm encased in glass attempts and fails to make me a latte and on the HUMAN FLOURISHING floor (14), where blankets and pillows are placed in anticipation of productivity-enhancing meditation, that I wander into a talk by the Neurophenomenology and Psychedelic Research Consortium. The crypto floor (12) is
Humans are “very bad at being self-aware,” he says between bites. “Like, What are the five emotions you feel right now and what percentage? The whole idea of our work is to use deep algorithms and computational neuro to, uh, understand state of mind from brain scans alone.”
Christine’s P(doom) is “honestly … 5 to 15 percent,” but for now she and a close friend share a light-filled room and their days are filled with stimulating people, like the guy building a “rizz master app,” who “actually gives the most insightful advice,” and Carsten, a Swiss German 27-year-old who was designing AI-involved sandals but recently pivoted to drug testing.
The "silent protector" meme, with a soldier protecting a sleeping child from a barrage of knives and other weapons. The weapons are labeled "Eliezer Yudkowsky's writing," the soldier is labeled "me," and the child is labeled "you."
The "we're all trying to find the guy who did this" meme from I Think You Should Leave