In 1818, the year Frankenstein was published, the book featured a fictional man named Victor Frankenstein who robbed graves. In the nonfiction world of 1818 Europe, undertakers sold metal coffins as a way to ensure bodies stayed buried, otherwise the bodies were dug up and studied in the pursuit for knowledge. And staying buried was something only the rich could afford. For the poor, it meant that crowds fought at the gallows to protect the corpses of the hanged. That was the only way to ensure that the poor stayed buried.

This is a newsletter about AI.

Victor built his monster from the dead. Modern AI is built from dead cognitive labor: the archived writing, music, research, art, social media, medical records, and other data of millions of people over hundreds of years. All absorbed into proprietary models. Just like 1818, the poor are the ones least protected.

Welcome to The Necropolis Times. The lines between nonfiction and science fiction are still blurred. My writing fits in the blurry area … a fun area to exist in.