I dug this piece by Ted Chiang

Link: https://www.theatlantic.com/philosophy/2026/06/no-artificial-intelligence-is-not-conscious/687378/

Unpaywalled just in case: https://archive.is/bcpZl

The Trump administration is dismantling the country’s network of probes that help monitor conditions in the ocean …

… which, among other things, are critical to understanding how the ocean is absorbing CO2

Gift link https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/climate/ocean-observatories-initiative.html?unlocked_article_code=1.nFA.yCRy.FdvoFFZs78ki&smid=nytcore-ios-share

The shuttering — and shrinking — of major scientific projects is going to cause years/decades of damage to American science

btw, NYC area music folks !!🎶

I've been remiss in flacking my gigs here

but hey now! 📣

if you're around this weekend ..

... tomorrow at 6 pm my band Lipstick Driver is throwing it down at Mama Tried, out in Brooklyn

come on by, it will be glorious noise 🎸 , we've written a buncha new songs

okay people

it's your lucky day 🍀

it's time for "the opposite of doomscrolling"

my latest Linkfest newsletter just dropped

free to read/subscribe to here: https://buttondown.com/clivethompson/archive/linkfest-44-hallucinopedia-salmon-on-cocaine-and/

this issue includes:

🎈 tin blimp
🧱 famous album covers done in lego
🪈 medieval version of "Take On Me"
🧩 “Uncrossy”, the game
🎶 newborn babies can predict musical rhythm
🌊 $2.1 million to buy a waterfall
📸 pinhole camera made from pasta
🚬 synth made from discarded vapes
📻 WKRP is real now
👒 bread hats

and more!

hey're sampling the smell of old libraries ...

... so they can preserve it archivally -- and recreate it when needed

archival smell-o-vision, more or less

item #4 in my latest "Linkfest" newsletter, free here: https://buttondown.com/clivethompson/archive/linkfest-44-microchimerism-sonic-boom-duct-tape/