Weekly Roundup | May 3, 2026

Happy Sunday! This week Dip wrote a piece about cyberdecks and the need for new relationships to digital tech, as well as techno-optimism/techno-pessimism broadly.

Continue reading for more, including urgent crowdfund requests, additional resources to dive deeper on this week's topics, and other stories that we missed. That's all for this week!

Some crowdfunds to contribute to

• Help support Lex navigate burnout and disability!
• Help Xena no longer be homeless
• Support Dakota’s Journey out of medical debt to Independence
• Housing Support for a Black Trans Person!

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Techno-Optimism and Techno-Pessimism

Exploring the limits and possibilities of computer-based technologies to free (or imprison) us.

I kinda want to build a cyberdeck

Cyberdecks are having a moment with the socially-conscious, aesthetically-driven folks on social media. What does that say about politics and culture?

Chaos and Convivialitydip

Marginalia

Resources to dive deeper on the topics of the week.

• Something I (Dip) am really interested in navigating is access to digital tech in the face of ambiguity around its necessity. I'm not sure what that looks like strategically, but I imagine that it would be the kind of thing that may not have many historical precedents, at least in a clear way. Given that the conjuncture is particular, so too must the response to social issues. My feeling (that I propose as nothing more than a spark for thought, as I haven't done the rigorous exploration that I'd like to in order to "recommend" a "strategy") is that there would be a movement that would stretch that bounds of logic and coherence (especially from the perspective of outsiders), where it would opportunistically use technology, militantly reject exploitative or domineering excess, and undermine the ways in which it can facilitate it's proliferation as a geography of power, all at once. It's kind of like trying to figure out how to smash the computer and the supply chains while using it. This will be a long-haul thing to sort, but I'm planning to approach it via 1) doing more inquiries into digital tech as a site of exploitation, 2) understanding more about the role of technology w/in the dominant culture(s), and 3) figuring out, in more depth, what energy needs might look like, and how feasible ecological luxury is if "luxury" just gets shifted to mean dignity and... conviviality. Some stuff I'm interested in reading for this is David F. Noble's work on technology, re-engaging some Cyberfeminism stuff, works on the intersection of Blackness and tech like Simone Browne's Dark Matters, what technology could look like when informed by sankofa and transmodernism through works like Ron Eglash's African Fractals. And of course, given that it's me, I'm gonna read historicizing texts like Edward Jones-Imhotep's The Broken Machine.

Other Stories Worth Knowing

News that we didn't focus on, and worthwhile angles that we missed.

• Venezuela Signs Agreements With Transnational Oil Corporations to Reactivate Energy Sector
• Hundreds of incarcerated migrants go on hunger strike in remote Michigan prison
• City Learns Flock Accessed Cameras in Children's Gymnastics Room as a Sales Pitch Demo, Renews Contract Anyway
• DHS Plans to Buy More Predator-Style Drones
• Politico boss reportedly demands allegiance to Israel from editorial staff
• New 2026 Study Finds the AMOC Collapse is Accelerating Far Beyond Previous Models
• As climate change deepens, African cities face the daunting prospect of more deadly rains
• Global forest loss slows but El Niño fires could threaten progress
• Brazil’s cooperatives show how local communities can drive the climate transition
• Indigenous Leaders Demand Halt to Enbridge Line 5 Reroute Construction in Wisconsin