benwerd
Ben Werdmuller

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

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npub183ng95335zx5kern2p775szd0rwrxngw52v6cz5cgsydx43kpfvsm84n09

NIP-05 Address

benwerd@nos.social

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nprofile1qqsrce5z6gc6pr2tv3e4ql02gpxh3hpnf5829xdvp2vygzxn2cmq5kgg8xkmq

Author Public Key

npub183ng95335zx5kern2p775szd0rwrxngw52v6cz5cgsydx43kpfvsm84n09

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Last Notes

2024-10-31 13:44:36

Exploiting Meta’s Weaknesses, Deceptive Political Ads Thrived on Facebook and Instagram in Run-Up to Election https://werd.io/2024/exploiting-metas-weaknesses-deceptive-political-ads-thrived-on-facebook-and

2024-10-14 03:36:05

Once upon a time, there was a simple, open source social publishing tool called Known. Here's a little about it. https://werd.io/2024/revisiting-known #opensource #indieweb

2024-10-06 13:08:41

What are my best options for syndicating either my site or my Mastodon feed to my Nostr profile?

2024-08-04 23:32:54

Truly this man has been the weirdest part of this election cycle, and the bar for that has been incredibly high. What a ludicrous guy. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/04/us/politics/robert-f-kennedy-jr-bear-central-park.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

2024-08-04 15:23:24

A personal post: https://werd.io/2024/rebasing-to-reality

2024-07-31 22:34:21

Internationalism > nationalism.

2024-07-31 22:33:32

Trump and his movement suck and I’m excited for them to fade into nothing post-November.
That’s all.

2024-07-23 15:24:46

So, uh, Bitcoin might have a bit of an image problem. https://image.nostr.build/8a0a558aa69bd326067a7e213f48fc4ada23f4799e256e1f6a0dea6041c8e156.jpg

2024-07-04 23:23:46

On the America I can’t bring myself to love, and the one that I can. https://werd.io/2024/the-america-that-i-love

2024-07-04 06:20:43

It took me a long time to get through the first third of this novel. The protagonist is so vapid, her point of view so incurious and at the same time so familiarly American, against a backdrop of obvious imperialism and climate obliviousness, that it was hard to find the motivation to continue.
But I’m glad I did. This is an indictment of one character, but through her, all of America, and every country and every person that touches the interconnected hyperobject of energy, climate, and western prosperity. It’s savage, witty, and remarkably pointed: the kind of book that’s soothing to read in the modern age because no, you’re not alone, someone else is feeling this too, and their rage has manifested into something far better articulated than you could hope to muster.
Is this shared awareness enough to halt the catastrophe that we’re careening towards? Probably not. But holy shit, there’s something here, and if there’s even a chance we can pull off the total culture change that averting this crisis requires, we need to try.
The remaining two thirds sharpen to a point, an ending that will cut you without mercy. And I’m grateful for it.
https://bookshop.org/a/7949/9781638930563

2024-06-16 18:57:08

#amwriting https://werd.io/2024/progress-on-the-book

2024-06-09 23:59:17

I don’t have the first clue what happens when i select just one relay instead of “all my relays”. Functionally, sure (which most people won’t). But what’s the human effect? Are these different communities? How do I choose one? https://image.nostr.build/65b5b3cf9a6981be1e4ec4fe5a3cbc3c46654f1d42993a45b7a5ea84123d5ee5.jpg

2024-06-05 17:05:47

I have a few thoughts about the upcoming British general election. None of them particularly polite. https://werd.io/2024/a-jab-back-at-brexit-or-a-kick-in-the

2024-05-31 12:41:21

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Nice! This is the work required to make any community space work.

2024-05-27 15:31:07

“Human-centered design for engineers”: a book for engineers on small teams who want to be more effective with fewer resources and solve real, unmet problems for the people they’re building for more quickly than they otherwise might.

2024-05-27 00:45:25

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But there’s a fine line, and if there’s a mechanism to moderate for community health (as there should be), the powerful will also eventually use it to squash speech they simply don’t like.

2024-05-27 00:29:46

I see free speech like the free market. Without rules, the powerful will always benefit. Moderation enables new ideas and less powerful communities to truly be heard.

2024-05-26 19:13:08

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Hm. Not really my scene.
That said, if they wanted to punt me some Bitcoin …

2024-05-26 15:14:09

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From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs

2024-05-26 14:17:41

Politics is not sports. Principles are far more important than allegiance.

2024-05-25 15:51:18

https://image.nostr.build/9f56850cf25a5d225b5905d0e2e9182e1d6cac0db0ad27c728921e3fb97f0e16.jpg
I’m glad these stories are being told; I wish they didn’t have to be.

2024-05-25 14:06:08

Who is most successfully building a community on Nostr?

2024-05-25 07:19:41

I'm trying something new! Introducing Unoffice Hours: a little open time to meet and chat every week. Agenda optional; no ulterior motive beyond meeting new people. https://werd.io/2024/unoffice-hours

2024-05-25 07:00:18

The biggest issue that’s turning up for me about AI is not the models, hallucinations, etc, but how leakily AI-enabled services share potentially sensitive data with third parties. Using AI to process or read aloud a confidential document? Guess what, a third party you have no control over has a copy of it now.

2024-05-25 06:59:25

The way to save news is through radical experimentation, decoupling from tech platform interests, and creating more supportive, inclusive cultures that are more open-minded and inclusive. #longread #journalism #news #innovation https://werd.io/2024/dispatches-from-the-media-apocalypse