Those of you who were around for the DVD v. Divx format war back 1998 will know that I was warning disc fans about this problem all the way back then: The Hollywood studios, networks, record labels, and streamers—not to mention the game industry and Silicon Valley tech companies at large—don’t want you to own ANYTHING. They want you to rent or lease it from them... forever. They want endless automatic withdraw hooks sunk deep into your bank accounts, and they want to distract you with apps and algorithms so you forget they’re even there. They don’t want you to become homeowners—they want you to be eternal renters. And the products and services they rent you will be just fine... until they aren’t anymore, because someone figured out how to make 2% more profit off you, so they enshittify the thing you liked, rented, or God forbid needed to the point you don’t even recognize it anymore. Now, AI companies are getting in on the act too. Hey, you don’t need to form your own startup or business to compete with ours—just use our platform! Want to write a book, make a movie, record a song—just use our tools! You don’t need to actually write it yourself, or know how to play music, or even think! Hell, you don’t need a job either—who wants to work? Or make your own choices? Or you know, vote? We’ll do all that for you! Just enjoy what we give you and like it... or else. Human beings everywhere need to push back on this shit and hard, or you, your kids, and your grandkids are going to end up living as digital serfs in a technofeudal fascist state led by Ayn Rand-ian, anti-social, nerd-prince, hyper-scalers with messiah complexes and control fetishes, who will absolutely use misaligned AI, drones, humanoid robots, and their already total invasion of your privacy to enforce their weirdo whims on everyone. And you think I’m kidding, but deep down you know I’m right. These people talk about wanting to save humanity—particularly all the potential “future generations” as yet unborn (ten to the power of fifty-eight!)—but it’s funny how most of them can’t be bothered suffer or actually care much about the annoying humans they’re stuck with right now, who they tend to refer to as “mids” or “takers” or merely NPCs in a reality simulation game that’s actually all about them. These guys dream taking control of the world via their homegrown Buy-n-Large, Omni Consumer, and Weyland-Yutani C-corps, while incurring no liability whatsoever for their actions. ‘Cause China, Star Trek future, the bad people—you know, reasons! Meanwhile, most folks just want to go to a decent job, earn a decent wage, have kids or provide for their families, then come home to a house they’ve worked hard for, cook burgers with the neighbors, watch a movie on a disc they actually own, and maybe take the boat out for the weekend. And they’d like to drink water that doesn’t poison them, eat food that doesn’t have microplastic in it, and breathe air that doesn’t give them cancer. Mark my words: Those two dreams are ultimately not compatible. To be very clear: I’m an American, and a patriot. I am in no way a doomsayer, nor am I anti-technology. To the contrary, I think the power of our technology to make the future better for all of us is extraordinary. But not if it comes at the cost of surrendering everything that makes us human in the first place, and giving up everything that makes life worth living. What I am against is greedy unelected narcissists who’ve become far too powerful, via corporations that have been allowed to become too big to fail, who’ve hijacked capitalism to the point that we don’t even have free markets anymore, and who’ve used their wealth to hijack democracy to the point that we’ve lost most of our actual freedoms. And there ain’t nothing American about that. 2/2

Some of you have asked me to comment about this piece of physical media news that broke yesterday. Well... the truth is, it’s a symptom of a much bigger problem, and I definitely have thoughts. So buckle up, ‘cause here they come... 1/2 arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/…

A very Happy Birthday to Dick Van Dyke, who's been making the world smile for 100 years now. Thank you, @iammrvandy!