John Wolthuis
@thuddwhirr
Climate. Housing. Abundance. Co-founder, @twilio. Board, @NiskanenCenter. Opinions are my own.
I am a little weirded out that this group can basically sue to gain quasi-governmental access and powers.
SF officials agreed to pay $2.8M to a homeless advocacy group, settling a case over how the city clears encampments — but won't make any major policy changes. 📝: David Sjostedt sfstandard.com/2025/07/23/sf-…
We need a new word that encompasses “nostalgia for bad things”
On one had, this is pretty cool. On the other hand, the only press releases I want to see from fusion companies at this point is “we achieved net energy”.
Congrats to the team at @MarathonFusion for identifying a plausible, scalable process for transmuting mercury into gold. This is something that drove Isaac Newton insane.
Remember: the point of odd activist phrasing is not primarily reducing stigma, it’s a way for a 501c3 to demonstrate impact to their donors. It’s a fundraising strategy.
In Columbia, Beshear explains his problems with woke language again.
One of the bigger negatives of AI is default assuming anything amazing you see is slop.
Surprised to find myself nodding along with a Jacobin piece
Wrangling over the construction of nuclear power in New York State has revealed the priorities of some of the state’s biggest environmental lobbies. For them, creating bureaucratic procedures they can oversee is more important than building clean energy. jacobin.com/2025/07/hochul…
Getting to a place where building a datacenter doesn't cause material tradeoffs is good. Advocating for scarcity because you think you can weld it as a cudgel against AI or tech companies is illiberal, zero-sum thinking. I'm saying this as someone who's super annoyed at all the…
Inclusionary zoning is a targeted tax on the construction of new housing — the absolute worst way you could think of to raise money for investments in social housing projects. slowboring.com/p/inclusionary…
Creating the "computer" graphics for John Carpenter's Escape From New York, 1981.
Late stage Civ game irl.
The Greek Frigate Salamis (F-455) and a reconstructed trireme
Does anyone have a model for how you get good policy done if you assume this level of thermostatic politics isn't going away?
NEW GALLUP POLL: the pendulum has swung drastically since last year. 🟢 just 30% want immigration decreased (55% last year) 🟢 79% of Americans think immigration is GOOD for the country (record high) 🟢 Path to citizenship (78%) beats mass deportation (38%)