Mastodawn

"Intellectual property" was once an obscure legal backwater. Today, it is *the* dominant area of political economy, the organizing regime for almost all of our tech regulation, and the most valuable - and most controversial - aspect of global trade policy:

https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/01/minilateralism/#own-goal

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/08/process-knowledge-vs-bosses/#wash-dishes-cut-wood

Show thread

Captain Superlative 23h ago

@pluralistic

In my garage is a bandsaw I’ve had for 25 years. Apart from keeping it tuned properly, basic stuff, feed rate is the most critical difference between a delightful and a horrible bandsawing experience.
How fast is just right? Put a toe on the leg of the machine as you cut. Feel the vibration. The feedback will tell you. Is this in any manual or even YouTube tutorial? Not that I know of.

Show thread

Jesse Alexander, WB2IFS/3

@CptSuperlative @pluralistic this is the #knowledge shared in stories and #apprenticeships. This is stuff machines can’t capture. This kind of #somatic #explicit knowledge is stored in #mentorships and other human relationships. This kind of sharing made the old #belllabs and makes #amateurradio fun and worthwhile despite the #whitesupremacist milieu.