This week: Adam Grant on people pleasing as fear of disapproval rather than kindness, Ink & Switch’s case for software that keeps your data on your own device, and a test of how chatbots handle state propaganda.

1. The Truth About People Pleasing

Adam Grant
Published: 08/08/2026

Adam Grant – people pleasing is rooted in fear of disapproval, not kindness; saying no is self-respect, not selfishness
Grant argues that people pleasing comes from fear of disapproval, not from concern for anyone else. Chronic accommodators depend on other people’s validation for their self-worth, so the deference is really about managing their own discomfort. He traces the habit back to insecure attachment, where cooperating to the point of submission once bought safety and acceptance.

The instinct may have protected you once, but keeping it now confuses past necessity with present purpose. Saying no, setting boundaries, and voicing your preferences aren’t betrayals of the people around you. They’re self-respect.

Filed Under: #opinion #psychology #selfEsteem #boundaries #workplace #interpersonalDynamics

2. Local-first software: You own your data, in spite of the cloud

Martin Kleppmann, Adam Wiggins, Peter van Hardenberg, Mark McGranaghan
Published: 04/01/2019

Ink & Switch proposes local-first software architecture using CRDTs to combine real-time collaboration with local data ownership
Cloud apps gave us real-time collaboration and access from any device, and took ownership of the data in exchange. Ink & Switch lays out seven ideals for local-first software, where the copy on your device is the primary one and servers drop back to a supporting role for sync and backup. CRDTs are what make it work. Devices edit at the same time and merge without a central referee.

Centrally managed apps are genuinely more convenient for most people, and for professional work I’ll trade some of that away for control. Obsidian is the example I keep coming back to: a folder of markdown files, with sync entirely my choice. Its built-in option handles the merging, conflicts, and storage across devices, or you can point it at Google Drive or OneDrive, or roll your own if you want to go that deep.

I’ve used OneNote, Evernote, Simplenote, and Notion. Offline access was never well supported in any of them, which bites you on a plane, at a client’s office, or at a conference. Every one of those services eventually goes away, and sure, you can export your data, in their format. Markdown files aren’t going anywhere, ever. Claude Code, Codex, and OpenCode all work fine against them, so no other subscription needed either.

Filed Under: #localFirst #crdt #softwareDesign #dataOwnership

3. We tested how AI chatbots would handle foreign propaganda. They did surprisingly well

Huo Jingnan
Published: 08/30/2026

NPR and NewsGuard test 6 AI chatbots vs 4 search engines on 30 state-sponsored falsehoods – chatbots debunked 75%, AI summaries underperformed
NPR and NewsGuard ran 30 questions built from Russian, Chinese, and Iranian false narratives past six chatbots and four search engines. Chatbots debunked the falsehoods about three-quarters of the time, beating plain search results. The AI summaries sitting above those results did worse, and failed to challenge a false premise more often than the plain links did. Google’s AI Overview mostly debunked, while Bing’s summaries mostly didn’t.

Good news that the chatbots push back. The AI search summaries can be a problem, since they run on smaller, faster models, though Google’s did well here. Getting the better answer on Google means clicking into AI Mode, and how many people do that instead of trusting the summary already sitting on top of their links?

Filed Under: #npr #misinformation #aiTesting