Tobias Wilson-Bates
@phdhurtbrain.bsky.social
Time Machines. Temporality. Ecology. Robots. Education. Associate Professor of 19th century British Literature.
Pinned
Bluesky isn’t about popularity, it’s about gathering all 17 William Morris lovers together in a single online location!
Something I think about with the rise of anodyne spam summaries is that the style of a text is *also* a dimension of its content.
November 25, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Something I think about with the rise of anodyne spam summaries is that the style of a text is *also* a dimension of its content.
Marinades are great! I’m tired of doing all the work of cooking. You ingredients just sit together and think about how you ought to taste
November 25, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Marinades are great! I’m tired of doing all the work of cooking. You ingredients just sit together and think about how you ought to taste
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
Frankenstein is the story of a lonely sea captain who hears such a great story that he decides not to kill his entire crew in the arctic.
November 25, 2025 at 4:59 AM
Frankenstein is the story of a lonely sea captain who hears such a great story that he decides not to kill his entire crew in the arctic.
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
Dracula is a book about cleaning up all the folders on your desktop so that you can do a project with docs, pdfs, and sound files.
November 25, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Dracula is a book about cleaning up all the folders on your desktop so that you can do a project with docs, pdfs, and sound files.
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
Writing great books is one of the coolest things a human being can possibly do, but it’s important to recognize that the vast majority of authors throughout history earned roughly the equivalent of Uber driver wages to create the works we study today.
November 25, 2025 at 4:45 AM
Writing great books is one of the coolest things a human being can possibly do, but it’s important to recognize that the vast majority of authors throughout history earned roughly the equivalent of Uber driver wages to create the works we study today.
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
In Morrow County, healthy adults were coming down with unexplained medical conditions, including diseases that usually afflicted the elderly.
In a survey of 30 homes, at least 25 miscarriages and a half dozen people living with one kidney were reported.
🔗 www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
In a survey of 30 homes, at least 25 miscarriages and a half dozen people living with one kidney were reported.
🔗 www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
November 25, 2025 at 1:39 AM
In Morrow County, healthy adults were coming down with unexplained medical conditions, including diseases that usually afflicted the elderly.
In a survey of 30 homes, at least 25 miscarriages and a half dozen people living with one kidney were reported.
🔗 www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
In a survey of 30 homes, at least 25 miscarriages and a half dozen people living with one kidney were reported.
🔗 www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
Dracula is a book about cleaning up all the folders on your desktop so that you can do a project with docs, pdfs, and sound files.
November 25, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Dracula is a book about cleaning up all the folders on your desktop so that you can do a project with docs, pdfs, and sound files.
Frankenstein is the story of a lonely sea captain who hears such a great story that he decides not to kill his entire crew in the arctic.
November 25, 2025 at 4:59 AM
Frankenstein is the story of a lonely sea captain who hears such a great story that he decides not to kill his entire crew in the arctic.
Writing great books is one of the coolest things a human being can possibly do, but it’s important to recognize that the vast majority of authors throughout history earned roughly the equivalent of Uber driver wages to create the works we study today.
November 25, 2025 at 4:45 AM
Writing great books is one of the coolest things a human being can possibly do, but it’s important to recognize that the vast majority of authors throughout history earned roughly the equivalent of Uber driver wages to create the works we study today.
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
Actually kind of wild to consider that Karloff is born within 70 years of the publication of Frankenstein, and only 56 from the 1831 edition!
November 24, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Actually kind of wild to consider that Karloff is born within 70 years of the publication of Frankenstein, and only 56 from the 1831 edition!
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
Never fall for the scam that letting these llm merchants sink and die hurts anyone except the venture capitalists trying to manufacture consent for everyone else to subsidize their monumental failure at their own jobs
One explanation for economic populism in the US is the recurring cycle of bubbles and bailouts that happens without any democratic input
November 24, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Never fall for the scam that letting these llm merchants sink and die hurts anyone except the venture capitalists trying to manufacture consent for everyone else to subsidize their monumental failure at their own jobs
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
the code is PENN-HOLIDAY25 -- get yours now!
Ah, @pennpress.bsky.social has just announced their holiday sale! 40% off means that the paperback of my book on philosophy's encounter with "the public intellectual," Thinking in Public, is about $20.
100% of the historical analysis for 60% of the price.
www.pennpress.org/978081222434...
100% of the historical analysis for 60% of the price.
www.pennpress.org/978081222434...
Thinking in Public – Penn Press
Long before we began to speak of "public intellectuals," the ideas of "the public" and "the intellectual" raised consternation among many European philosophe...
www.pennpress.org
November 24, 2025 at 8:34 PM
the code is PENN-HOLIDAY25 -- get yours now!
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
“Peace is not the absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition of benevolence, confidence, justice.”
Baruch Spinoza, born on this day in 1632
Baruch Spinoza, born on this day in 1632
November 24, 2025 at 11:17 AM
“Peace is not the absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition of benevolence, confidence, justice.”
Baruch Spinoza, born on this day in 1632
Baruch Spinoza, born on this day in 1632
Actually kind of wild to consider that Karloff is born within 70 years of the publication of Frankenstein, and only 56 from the 1831 edition!
November 24, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Actually kind of wild to consider that Karloff is born within 70 years of the publication of Frankenstein, and only 56 from the 1831 edition!
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
Ah, @pennpress.bsky.social has just announced their holiday sale! 40% off means that the paperback of my book on philosophy's encounter with "the public intellectual," Thinking in Public, is about $20.
100% of the historical analysis for 60% of the price.
www.pennpress.org/978081222434...
100% of the historical analysis for 60% of the price.
www.pennpress.org/978081222434...
Thinking in Public – Penn Press
Long before we began to speak of "public intellectuals," the ideas of "the public" and "the intellectual" raised consternation among many European philosophe...
www.pennpress.org
November 24, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Ah, @pennpress.bsky.social has just announced their holiday sale! 40% off means that the paperback of my book on philosophy's encounter with "the public intellectual," Thinking in Public, is about $20.
100% of the historical analysis for 60% of the price.
www.pennpress.org/978081222434...
100% of the historical analysis for 60% of the price.
www.pennpress.org/978081222434...
RIP Jimmy Cliff, one of the formative albums of my childhood
November 24, 2025 at 12:58 PM
RIP Jimmy Cliff, one of the formative albums of my childhood
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
A new study apparently finds that handwritten notes are better for retention and learning than typed notes, but, even more importantly, taking notes on paper lets you do silly doodles the entire time!
November 23, 2025 at 10:38 PM
A new study apparently finds that handwritten notes are better for retention and learning than typed notes, but, even more importantly, taking notes on paper lets you do silly doodles the entire time!
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
I keep coming back to this
November 23, 2025 at 11:00 PM
I keep coming back to this
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
It’s blowing my mind that schools, universities, public services would run headlong into this. We spent 15 years documenting black boxes. This is a black box in a black hole!
I don't understand how anyone can watch how blatantly Grok is manipulated to answer the way ownership desires it to and then act like the other LLM chatbots couldn't possibly be similarly but less obviously compromised to produce responses in whatever way corporate interests and priorities dictate.
November 23, 2025 at 11:16 PM
It’s blowing my mind that schools, universities, public services would run headlong into this. We spent 15 years documenting black boxes. This is a black box in a black hole!
A new study apparently finds that handwritten notes are better for retention and learning than typed notes, but, even more importantly, taking notes on paper lets you do silly doodles the entire time!
November 23, 2025 at 10:38 PM
A new study apparently finds that handwritten notes are better for retention and learning than typed notes, but, even more importantly, taking notes on paper lets you do silly doodles the entire time!
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
"While other universities report that the humanities are shrinking, at Berkeley, the opposite is true. The music major is the fastest-growing major on campus. We are finding bigger classrooms because film is exploding. English is back to the numbers we saw 15 years ago. We are hiring" bit.ly/4ohKuOe
"The humanities really are a resource — a confidence for living in our times.” Dean Sara Guyer on the modern utility of humanities degrees
This interview originally appeared on the Division of Arts
bit.ly
November 23, 2025 at 3:38 PM
"While other universities report that the humanities are shrinking, at Berkeley, the opposite is true. The music major is the fastest-growing major on campus. We are finding bigger classrooms because film is exploding. English is back to the numbers we saw 15 years ago. We are hiring" bit.ly/4ohKuOe
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
Impossible how good reading is. You mean I just point my face at the paper for a bit and it does a whole update on my brain?
November 23, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Impossible how good reading is. You mean I just point my face at the paper for a bit and it does a whole update on my brain?
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
You all MUST READ this piece by Kaitlyn Greenidge about the power of art to “exist outside of a tech lord’s algorithm.”
www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-...
www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-...
The Artist Who Reminds Us that Another Way Is Possible
The late artist Abigail McGrath cultivated a creative life for herself filled with freedom, joy, and a commitment to beauty. In an age of authoritarianism and algorithms, it’s a kind of life worth pro...
www.harpersbazaar.com
November 23, 2025 at 6:09 PM
You all MUST READ this piece by Kaitlyn Greenidge about the power of art to “exist outside of a tech lord’s algorithm.”
www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-...
www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-...
Impossible how good reading is. You mean I just point my face at the paper for a bit and it does a whole update on my brain?
November 23, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Impossible how good reading is. You mean I just point my face at the paper for a bit and it does a whole update on my brain?