Ewan Downie

That's the remix version

Now that's the effect I'm looking for...!

Thanks so much for coming to the show!

I. Just. Finished. 2666.

It is amazing.

I may have to not read any fiction for a while.

Quit ChatGPT: right now! Your subscription is bankrolling authoritarianism | Rutger Bregman As a historian, I’ve studied the major consumer boycotts of history. We can take down ChatGPT and send a powerful signal to Silicon Valley, says author and historian Rutger Bregman

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

What technology takes from us – and how to take it back | Rebecca Solnit The long read: Decisions outsourced, chatbots for friends, the natural world an afterthought: Silicon Valley is giving us life void of connection. There is a way out – but it’s going to take…

“We lack the language that would let us prize the arduous, the uncomfortable, the slow and wandering, the unpredictable, the vulnerable or risky, the intimate, the embodied.”

Frigg: A Magazine of Fiction and Poetry, Issue 65, Winter 2025-2026 | Front Page Frigg: A Magazine of Fiction and Poetry, Fall/Winter 2025-26, Issue 65. Writers: Shane Allison, Ewan Downie, Kathy Fish, Adelaide Gifford, Samuel Goldsmith, Kim Magowan, Jasmine Melchor, Michael Meyer...

My first published story is in the Autumn/Winter edition of the awesome Frigg Magazine:

friggmagazine.com

7 Short Lessons from Gabriel García Márquez Learn from a rare & timeless conversation between friends | + 7 Writing Exercises

“The most important phase of creation looks like nothing is happening. We’re systematically destroying our capacity for it.” buff.ly/X2GXbAR

QuitGPT — OpenAI Execs are Trump's Biggest Donors Join the movement. Delete ChatGPT. Cancel your subscription. It's time to quit.

I just joined the @quitgpt boycott. OpenAI's president was the biggest donor in Trump's Super PAC's year-end report. It's time to quit. Join us: quitgpt.org // #QuitGPT

Help Minneapolis Get a Nobel Peace Prize Students protest against ICE during a walkout at the University of Minnesota, on January 26, 2026 (Brandon Bell / Getty Images) The editors of The Nation are formally nominating the city of Minneapo...

I can't think of anything that would annoy Trump more:

I just signed a @theactionnetwork.bsky.social petition: Help Minneapolis Get a Nobel Peace Prize. Sign here: actionnetwork.org/petitions/su...

New @convergecult.bsky.social album just dropped!

Can't wait to listen.

Please come to Glasgow when you tour...

What technology takes from us – and how to take it back | Rebecca Solnit The long read: Decisions outsourced, chatbots for friends, the natural world an afterthought: Silicon Valley is giving us life void of connection. There is a way out – but it’s going to take…

“the tyranny of the quantifiable”

#Scotland Our Ewan Downie is on the road with The Bacchae! Kicking off in Glasgow (Citizen's Theatre, 4-7 March) and Edinburgh (Festival Studio, 9-10 March), he'll be on tour from Orkney to Aberdeen and more. Full dates and ticket links in the post below.

@ewandownie.com @companyofwolves.org

Working on a new version of Aeschylus's Agamemnon last week my main thought is: this could go badly wrong.

But I quite like being a little scared of my collaborators.

I started reading 2666 by Roberto Bolano.

To my surprise, given that it is supposed to be a great work of literature, I am thoroughly enjoying it.

#booksky

Cory Doctorow: How AI is ensh*ttifying the web | Part Two of the Prospect Podcast interview Looking for part one? Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9XRREj1DSo On this episode of the Prospect Podcast, our hosts Ellen Halliday and Alona Ferber are joined by journalist, tech…

Cory Doctorow: How AI is ensh*ttifying the web | Part Two of the Prospect Podcast interview

The Plan is to Make the Internet Worse. Forever. | Aaron Bastani Meets Cory Doctorow Did you know that the standard of Google searches has actually gotten worse over recent years? Once you think about it, it makes sense. Highly effective search means fewer searches overall. And fewer…

Long, but excellent...

The Plan is to Make the Internet Worse. Forever. | Aaron Bastani Meets Cory Doctorow

Here's CE Lord OBE's take on this morning's High Court's Hampstead Ponds decision.

‘​How do you really tell the truth about this moment?’: George Saunders on ghosts, mortality and Trump’s America The Lincoln in the Bardo author is back with another metaphysical tale. He discusses Buddhism, partisan politics and the terrifying flight that changed his life

Somehow, reading George Saunders' words always makes me feel calmer and more able to listen.

“also start weightlifting, build a machine-gun turret …”

Masked thugs, sneering elites and terrified citizens: a picture of the US today. We used to have a name for this | Marina Hyde Truly, I am the country’s biggest fan. But in the spirit of free speech its leaders apparently love, here’s a few things the rest of the world needs them to know, says Guardian columnist Marina Hyde

Masked thugs, sneering elites and terrified citizens: a picture of the US today. We used to have a name for this | Marina Hyde

The #BSFA Awards longlist is out - and the GSFWC are all over it! Christopher Caldwell, Jenni Coutts, E.M. Faulds and Neil Williamson are all up for awards this year. Incoming..

@seraph76.bsky.social @jennicoutts.bsky.social @bethkesh.bsky.social @neilwilliamson.bsky.social @bsfa.bsky.social (1/)

Thoroughly recommend @margaret.bsky.social 's excellent threads reporting from the ground of resistance in Minneapolis.

Listening to a parent trying to teach their 6 year old to play Monopoly:

6 y.o. "I don't want to go to jail. I don't like that. Can we change the rules of this game?"

I hope so, kid, I hope so.

I really appreciate your reporting on this, Margaret.

I came to Minneapolis to report on what's going on, and one of the main questions I showed up with is "just what is the scale of the resistance?" After all, we're all used to the news calling Portland a "war zone" or whatever when it's just some protests in one part of town.

Elon Musk is a white supremacist. Case closed.

Board of Peace - Season 1

AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage | Cory Doctorow AI is asbestos in the walls of our tech society, stuffed there by monopolists run amok. A serious fight against it must strike at its roots

Excellent Cory Doctorow essay:

AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage | Cory Doctorow

✨ Happy New Year everyone! ✨

We’re exciting to start a new year with our 14th edition Winter Training workshops.

Both Glasgow workshops are now SOLD OUT with limited slots available for our EDINBURGH EDITION. 👇

companyofwolves.org/workshops/wi...

#Edinburgh #workshop #theatre #edinburghtheatre

And grifters, don't forget grifters.