workweek reading recs (6 January 2025)

[matsushima]

Good morning! Here's some things to read if you, like me, are back to work this week after a winter break.

• Stop Talking To Each Other and Start Buying Things (2022/12 but more relevant than ever)
• The People Who Ruined the Internet (2023/11 and this was before so-called "AI" took over everything!)
• The Trouble with Passion (2024/04)
• Academic: The Mandeans by F. C. Burkitt

Sorry I don't have a poetry/fiction pick for you this week. Instead, here's an article about something I learned about literally like six hours ago, the Mandaen religion.

Also:

Shot: Meta to Unleash AI 'Users' No One Asked For
Chaser: Facebook and Instagram Delete Experimental AI Accounts After Backlash

You love to see it. (The "shot" was going to be one of this week's regular recommendations but the "chaser" was too good not to include.)