#754: What a start

Plus: robot restaurants, Monkey Christ, slop names and friction

This week’s edition of Links is brought to you by Eyeball. Eyeball is a new kind of bookmarks app. Save all your links and it’ll automatically add summaries and curate them for you in a weekly digest every Sunday morning. Built by a writer, used by thousands, free to use.

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Here’s what I have to keep coming back to: The videos exist. Their existence shows that several people bravely stood their ground and — even after shots were fired — kept bearing witness. I keep coming back to this because the year is still new, and already it feels … pretty fucking dark!! Hello, welcome back, hope you enjoyed your holidays; now here’s a coup, a state-sanctioned killing AND an unchecked CSAM-spewing bot.

In this week’s edition: only one (1) link on the aforementioned subjects, for reasons of sanity; then: robot restaurants, Monkey Christ, slop names and “friction-maxxing.”

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If you read anything this weekend

“Inside ICE’s Social Media Machine,” by Drew Harwell for The Washington Post.

One major difference between the first and second Trump administrations — and a difference that I think we’re just beginning to appreciate in full — is the primacy and influence of online content creators. It’s not just their messaging that’s ascendant: It’s their aesthetics, their spectacle, their schtick.

Individually, these random-ass people somehow have the power to drive federal policy. And collectively, right-wing influencers have spawned a new style of internet-native propaganda, best (or worst?) exemplified by ICE’s officially sanctioned ragebait. Over the past year, the agency’s public affairs team has evolved to operate more like a Hunger-Games style propo crew, with a huge team of video producers and social media strategists who pump out highly optimized, sensationalized clips meant to justify Trump’s immigration narrative. Even some of its creators seem to have their doubts: “It was no limit,” one said.

“The Art of (Attention) War,” by Matt Klein and Nick Susi for ZINE.

A compelling argument that the incentives of 24/7 media — social media, included — keep us trapped in a maladaptive, reactionary posture, where everyone is attempting to consume and react to an impossible flood of content, all the time, forever. One possible solution derives from Julian Rotter, the psychologist who developed the concept of a “locus of control”: Narrow your attention to the things you can eventually affect or can act on right now.

“The $2 Billion Experiment to Transform Restaurants With Robots and AI,” by Joshua Brustein for Businessweek.

“Wonder” is a 90-location chain of fast-casual “food halls” that basically applies the logic of Amazon warehouses to restaurants. Each location is equipped to churn out hundreds of individual menu items. Pre-programmed smart ovens, fryers and woks require very little human intervention. In the future, founder Marc Lore hopes, Wonder will morph even more fully from a restaurant to a platform, letting any influencer or restaurateur upload recipes for customers to order. If this sounds far-fetched or futuristic to you, consider the slop food that Wonder’s already churning out: It’s plentiful, mediocre and cheap … like everything now.

“Is Craigslist the Last Real Place on the Internet?” by Jennifer Swann for Wired.

I last used Craigslist in 2018 to give away a couch. Couch was picked up and I was not killed: 5/5 stars. It’s unclear how many people still use the barebones listing site — it’s privately owned, which has allowed it to avoid both the queries of reporters and the forces that enshittified so many of its peers — but 30 years in, Craigslist endures. Flourishes, even!

“In 2026, We Are Friction-Maxxing,” by Kathryn Jezer-Morton for The Cut.

We live in a culture that increasingly and unquestioningly fetishizes ease. Just look at the technologies that dominated CES: humanoid robots that could relieve us of chores; AI-enabled fridges that can order groceries. But some amount of boredom and discomfort is actually pretty good for us, and embracing small moments of inconvenience is almost an act of resistance: “Maybe this is an opportunity,” Jezer-Morton writes, “to think more clearly than we ever have about what is interesting and essential about being human.”

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In case you missed it

The most-clicked link from our last edition — the 2025 round-up! — concerned the sociology of Reddit’s r/waitingtowed.

The 20 best links of 2025

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Postscripts

Cecilia Giménez is with Monkey Christ now. “Hudson Oakley” is indeed a slop name. The youth can read neither books nor clocks and enscreenification continues apace. The “O” in O1 visa is for OnlyFans now, I guess. An argument that it’s actually rude to embrace being cringe.

The cults of Costco and Aldi. The creepiness of Wegmans. Scrolling to relieve boredom actually makes you more bored, and wearing health devices can actually make you more stressed. Google’s AI overviews are tanking food blogs and dispensing bad medical information. Finally, three great games to pass the time and/or clear your head: Normie Club, words.zip and Sandwich Alignment.

Below the paywall, ~friends of Links~ can find unlocked articles from The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic, plus the actual best thing I read this week. (Across all subject matters, not just internet culture. I’m not gatekeeping the best internet links!)

That’s it for this week! Until the next one. Warmest virtual regards,

Caitlin