Mac Pierce

Mac Pierce

@macp.bsky.social

Chicago based artist / creative technologist / writer It's an "art project" macpierce.com bgfa.us/artists/pierce

251 followers214 following340 posts

Mac Pierce
@macp.bsky.social

@reckless.bsky.social The corrupt butler model for consumer AI Agents - The local that become your best friend when his cab picks you up at the airport on vacation and makes a ton of suggestions about his favorite restaurant or shop in town, all of which seem to be run by his cousin.

Mac Pierce
@macp.bsky.social

A beautiful show at the Museum of Contemporary Photography - "If Emmett Till Lived" - drawn from their archive, it lays out scenes from a life that could have been, and the life his memory inspired after his murder.

Mac Pierce
@macp.bsky.social

Cutewashing - Little dude is running on conflict minerals in chips and the stolen creative works of all of humanity, but sure, talk to him because he's got a funny little hat on. It's the same reason why the food delivery robots have eyes on them - the cute as a trojan horse for accepting the tech.

Victoria Song@vicmsong.bsky.social

This week in Optimizer, a Meta Connect themed issue. Would a spoonful of kawaii cute help the AI pill go down? Maybe not fully but perhaps you might feel less alarmed if Jolly — the aptly named Muse AI mascot — was the one asking for your health data. tinyurl.com/ba5jf9a4

tinyurl.comIt’s sinister that Meta’s Muse AI mascot is so cuteA spoonful of cute to make the AI pill easier to swallow.
Mac Pierce
@macp.bsky.social

Marek Poliks of the Disintegrator podcast talking about Exocapatalism - Solid talk, but damn I am not ready for a Kiwi-Farms as Vanguard in its style indexing lolcows.

Mac Pierce
@macp.bsky.social

Fuck the Bears. I don't even care that Vikings won - the traffic around the stadium makes everyone's life worse. Go to Indiana or something.

Mac Pierce
@macp.bsky.social

Was riding around in The Loop on my scooter and found this lodged in the back wheel - the end that was stuck in had a point to it. Would have popped my tire if it wasn't a run-flat.

Mac Pierce
@macp.bsky.social

x6 PCBs, double sided, 1" x 1.5" JLCPCB: $33 board production + $43 shipping + $12 import duties + $5 sales tax = $93 OSH Park: $17 + free shipping. DOMESTIC CIRCUIT BOARD PRODUCTION IS SO BACK

Mac Pierce
@macp.bsky.social

Another one down. Did you know that Mantraps are used in both datacenters and freeports? Financialization through a remove in play at both.

Mac Pierce
@macp.bsky.social

(Impulse) Purchased some clear polycarbonate M3 screws for a project. Didn't strictly *need* them, but come on - clear hardware is pretty sick.

Mac Pierce
@macp.bsky.social

What is decidedly less sick is the surprise $20 in import and duties on top of the $30 shipping I had to pay to get it in from the UK - for a hardware order that totaled $39.

Mac Pierce
@macp.bsky.social

Not too long ago the @chicagoreader.com did an excellent piece about the James Turrell on UIC's campus and how it's falling apart - I'd like to nominate another public sculpture for the most neglected in Chicago - Richard Serra's "Reading Cones" (1988) - located in Grant Park, North of Butler Field

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Mac Pierce
@macp.bsky.social

Maybe it doesn't get the same respect as other downtown public sculpture because it's not *chrome*, but come on - the parks department should be taking better care of this piece. www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks-facili...

chicagoparkdistrict.comReading Cones | ArtworkRichard Serra (b. 1939), one of America’s most renowned living artists, created this large-scale minimalist sculpture. The son of a San Francisco pipe fitter, Serra worked for several years in West Co...
Mac Pierce
@macp.bsky.social

Not too long ago the @chicagoreader.com did an excellent piece about the James Turrell on UIC's campus and how it's falling apart - I'd like to nominate another public sculpture for the most neglected in Chicago - Richard Serra's "Reading Cones" (1988) - located in Grant Park, North of Butler Field

Mac Pierce
@macp.bsky.social

Reading Cones has the unfortunate habit of being enveloped by the annual circus of Lollapalooza, where because of its proximity to Monroe it is fully enveloped by one of the major stages - this year the "Bud Light" stage.

Mac Pierce
@macp.bsky.social

It's placement in the back of the stage means that between the approximately 3 week setup and strike of the festival, it gets fenced in and becomes completely inaccessible to the public - much like the rest of the park.

Mac Pierce
@macp.bsky.social

Not too long ago the @chicagoreader.com did an excellent piece about the James Turrell on UIC's campus and how it's falling apart - I'd like to nominate another public sculpture for the most neglected in Chicago - Richard Serra's "Reading Cones" (1988) - located in Grant Park, North of Butler Field

Mac Pierce
@macp.bsky.social

And in a dish best served cold, this squarely includes the food delivery robots.

The Verge@theverge.com

The US government is targeting China with a new import ban on “advanced robotic devices” and power inverters made in foreign countries. By the definition of "advanced robotic device" detailed by the FCC, even future robot vacuums would automatically be banned if they do not obtain a waiver.

theverge.comThe US is banning foreign robotsFrom router bans to robots.
Mac Pierce
@macp.bsky.social

Got a response email with this at the top: "Here’s a response that is friendly, appreciative, but also sets a clear boundary without closing the door." Frankly more insulting than if they'd just cursed me out.

Mac Pierce
@macp.bsky.social

One of the fun things about starting more projects than you can finish is that every so often you can take a project off the shelf and realize that you now know the right way to finish it. That if it had been completed earlier, it wouldn't have been as good as the new direction you have for it.