@brownorama
Information Architect @ Curious Squid https://curious-squid.com (ex-EightShapes) Jewish dad • Family cook • Tabletop gamer Podcast: https://unchecked.buzzsprout.com/ Author: https://medium.com/greenonions/books/home Upcoming events: lu.ma/curioussquid
Alysa Liu telling 60 Minutes “I love struggling, it makes me feel alive” is a legit revolutionary statement from a Bay Area native in a time when copious amounts of time and resources are being put toward convincing us to opt out of experiencing struggle, friction and self-actualization
I was disappointed to read Cory Doctorow's post where he got weirdly defensive about his LLM use and started arguing with an imaginary foe.
@tante.cc has a very thoughtful reply here:
tante.cc/2026/02/20/a...
A few further comments, 🧵>>
Exhausted from a lot of context-switching today. Not me, the dog.
The names of evil things in Lord of the Rings should only be ironically given to good things, like dogs.
They should not be given to actual evil things, like tech companies.
Exhibit A:
Meet Nazgul, the dog that crashed an Olympic skiing event.
Relieved that I am no longer the longest episode!
If it seems like everyone is talking about AI again, maybe it's because of this snowballing collective epiphany that the tech oligarchs are selling a promise with no intention of living up to it.
Here's my spiel on it:
open.substack.com/pub/curiouss...
It's a machine that does one thing well: sow doubt and uncertainty.
The last time this happened, Big Tobacco invented junk science.
It's been perfected, however, to sow doubt about everything. Tech oligarchs just need us to believe that maybe... one day... it just might...
Two new disinformation lenses:
Personas: what assumptions about users are built into the system?
Retraction: how does your system allow users to retract info?
Hear more on episode 11 of Unchecked: The Architecture of Disinformation, featuring @ushma.bsky.social
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...
God, please grant me the confidence of this FedEx delivery estimate.
I don’t want to hear anything from an elected official unless it’s a plan to defund the DHS and impeach Noem, Bovino, etc. No texts. No emails. No talk about the economy. Step up or step off.
Are you interested in disinformation about nutrition?
I had the opportunity to chat with Dan Brown and Rachel Price about why there is so much nutrition disinformation, what makes nutrition so disinformation-prone, and how I approach nutrition disinformation in my practice and teaching.
Just in time for last week’s release of the new “US Dietary Guidelines”, episode 10 of Unchecked: The Architecture of Disinformation @rachelprice.bsky.social and I interview @afinaret.bsky.social, food economist and clinical dietitian
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...
Did any of these tech bros actually read the books?
@mattleacock.bsky.social The Brown boys are loving Fate of the Fellowship!
I've designed a couple tabletop games. I'm not a professional game designer, though. Happy to chat if it's helpful. You can grab a time on my calendar.
calendar.app.google/YoBD7PWfvboF...
I haven’t lived in NYC since my teens and now I can clearly see that New Yorkers participate in a collective delusion: That the crosstown traffic is on the next street over is not as bad.
📣 Applications for UX Mentoring in 2026 now open! 📣
ℹ️ Info here: www.linkedin.com/posts/danmbr...
🐶 Dog for algorithm
Today I gave away food to the hungry.
The food was a sandwich and the hungry was me.
It was lunchtime.
I'm working on a novel and this morning I crested 41,000 words. It's the longest piece of fiction I've ever written. When I attempted last year, I lost steam at 40,680 words.
My goal: 75k words by the end of December.
In search of: Podcast guest who can speak to disinformation about the US economy.
I have a podcast called Unchecked about disinformation and the systems that enable it.
We've covered vaccines, gun violence, climate change, + more.
Send recs to unchecked@curious-squid.com
unchecked.buzzsprout.com
Today I learned that anagrammatic homophones are two words that sound the same and are anagrams of each other, like tied and tide.
Today I also learned that large language models can not grasp this concept.
Taxonomists! Board gamers! Come join me, @brownorama.bsky.social, @cacheblaster.bsky.social
and Chantal Schweizer at #taxonomybootcamp www.taxonomybootcamp.com/2025/Agenda.... for our panel on Taxonomies, Data Models, and Board Games focused on the brilliant game #Wingspan - Monday 17 November
Imagine what the world would be like if instead of AI, the technology that was unfettered by regulation and targeted for investment was renewable energy.
#nokings bingo: Epstein
Episode 7 of Unchecked, The Architecture of Disinformation features an interview with Brandon Schauer
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/u...
Unchecked Episode 7!
@rachelprice.bsky.social and I talk to Brandon Schauer (ex-Adaptive Path and ex-Capital One) about his work on shifting behavior to help with climate change.
🏮🪰 Also, new look for Unchecked, featuring invasive species Spotted Lantern Fly.
Please listen, review, and share!
We’re back!
In the first episode of season 4, @brownorama.bsky.social joins Design Downtime to talk about his love of board games.
(I’m shocked it took me this long to get to this topic…)
Tylenol people be like:
First they came for the vaccines
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a vaccine...
In this episode we talk to @cward1e.bsky.social, professor of communications and disinformation expert, about the state of disinformation. She shares insights from her research and outlines a “timeline of toxicity,” describing how online spaces evolved to support insidious disinformation techniques.
📣📣📣Dropped today: Episode 6️⃣ of Unchecked: The Architecture of #Disinformation with @cward1e.bsky.social
In every episode of Unchecked, we talk to an expert, reflecting on our practice as designers and identifying novel perspectives to bring to our work.
unchecked.buzzsprout.com/2448940/epis...
