Ruha Benjamin | Lightnews

Light up
your news

About Privacy Terms Help

Ruha Benjamin

Ruha Benjamin

@ruha9.bsky.social

40K followers 820 following 200 posts

✍🏽 • RACE AFTER TECHNOLOGY: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code • VIRAL JUSTICE: How We Grow the World We Want • IMAGINATION: A Manifesto 📚www.ruhabenjamin.com

Ruha Benjamin is a sociologist and professor in the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University. She works on the relationship between innovation and equity, particularly the intersection of race, justice, and technology. Benjamin authored People's Science: Bodies and Rights on the Stem Cell Frontier (2013), Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code (2019), and Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want (2022). .. more

Biology 32%

Public Health 14%

more

Posts Replies Media Videos

Pinned

Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · Oct 18

My latest on “The New Artificial Intelligentsia,” part of the Legacies of Eugenics series in the Los Angeles Review of Books. Thanks to all who read + share! lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-...

The New Artificial Intelligentsia | Los Angeles Review of Books

In the fifth essay of the Legacies of Eugenics series, Ruha Benjamin explores how AI evangelists wrap their self-interest in a cloak of humanistic concern.

lareviewofbooks.org

Reposted by Ruha Benjamin, Rebecca Williams, Dana R. Fisher

Unicorn Riot @unicornriot.bsky.social · 6d

NEW: Data Centers, the Climate Crisis, and Community Defense

How Local Activists are Interrupting Big Tech AI Investments

unicornriot.ninja/2025/data-ce...

Data Centers, the Climate Crisis, and Community Defense - UNICORN RIOT

As Trump’s Energy Secretary Chris Wright claims you should “build data centers” if “you want low electricity prices,” more than 200 environmental organizations have joined to “demand a halt to the bui...

unicornriot.ninja

Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 22d

ps. writing is my way of metabolizing so that these everyday encounters don’t stay in my body and make me sick, so thx for reading🤲🏾

Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 22d

Better yet, ACT up… like beloved Ms. Satterfield, who has experienced the absolute worst and best of this town and continues to be a beacon for so many of us. www.princetonmagazine.com/shirley-satt...

Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 22d

As Toni Cade urged us: “Don’t leave the arena to the fools.”

So speak up, good people, speak up.

Reposted by Suzanne Conklin Akbari

Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 22d

Importantly, those who witnessed the “anti-Semitic” moment looked shell shocked, embarrassed, or oblivious. But none intervened.

Too often, it seems, the malicious are assertive and the good are demure.

Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 22d

He was followed by someone who shared a fundraiser flyer for the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund that his grandkids are helping to organize.

And the remaining convos were uneventful.

Photo of a flyer for “A night for Gaza holiday concert” on December 6 at 7pm at Hopewell train station.

Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 22d

Then I turned to the next person, who assured me in hushed tones, “Not ALL of us share his views…” followed by a question about how to address AI with his five grandkids.

Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 22d

“You’re fired” guy cut in front of other pol waiting to talk n I was determined not to let him steal my attn + energy. So I replied:

“We disagree.” Then checked his name tag, “I’ll be sure to tell the university you said I shld be fired.”

(So many things I thought about saying after the fact😶)

Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 22d

YALL. I was debating whether to even post this story, but then I realized I accidentally recorded this conversation!?Which I *never* have the foresight to do in these moments, and so I take it as a sign, or at least a nudge, that I’m supposed to share this ‘day in a life’ encounter with you.

Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 22d

Then, like clockwork, one of the first people to elbow forward after the talk followed the predictable script:

“You mentioned Gaza + Palestine, but no Hamas?! You’re anti-Semitic! And you shouldn’t have been put on probation—you should’ve been fired.”

Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 22d

But to my surprise I was greeted with interested nods, audible affirmations, periodic claps, and thoughtful questions. Kudos to the Old Guard!

Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 22d

• Bringing it full circle to Phoenix of Gaza XR—Palestinian technologists using immersive storytelling to resist violent erasure (see gazaxr.com)

Poster of “The Phoenix of Gaza” symposium

Photo of an apartheid wall in Ramallah Palestine with CTRL + ALT + DELETE spray painted in blue on the wall

Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 22d

• Linking that technology companies’ role in past atrocities, including IBM’s facilitation of the Nazi Holocaust

Slide of book cover “IBM and the Holocaust” by Edwin Black on the left and an IBM punchcard used to collect “deadly data” on the right

Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 22d

So, at the Old Guard, I was expecting some predictable pushback to my discussion of:

• Smart weapons obliterating Palestinian life (see www.commondreams.org/news/big-tec...)

Slide of news article headline “Probes Reveal Depth of Big Tech Complicity in Israel’s AI-Driven Gaza Slaughter” underneath a dystopian imagine of a decimated Gazan landscape

Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 22d

But I’ve been doing this long enough, I’m used to audience glares, ppl walking out, disinvites, and even the president of Harvard ghosting a university-wide lecture + dinner his office invited me to after they presumably did a little “due diligence” digging into my background (see Tanner Lectures😏)

Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 22d

More people than expected chuckled and clapped at the “award.” But there were a few mean mugs too.🤨

Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 22d

After Ms. Satterfield’s intro, I joked with the audience that she left out one thing in my bio: that the university “awarded” me probation for standing with students protesting the Palestinian genocide.

*my gentle content warning for those who might not be familiar with my work and commitments

Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 22d

About 170 Old Guard members gathered at the Jewish Center, their usual meeting place. I recognized a dozen familiar faces from around town and enjoyed catching up before the talk.

Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 22d

So when one of my favorite people, Princeton public historian Ms. Shirley Satterfield, asked me months ago to speak with the Old Guard, my answer was: “What time?”

Photo of Ruha and Ms. Shirley Satterfield at the Jewish Center of Princeton after Ruha’s lecture

Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 22d

…or, like yesterday, visiting a virtual book club hosted by incarcerated readers (whose incisive reflections on Imagination blew me away!). www.liberationlive.org/lets-imagine

Let's Imagine! — Liberation Live!

nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com

Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 22d

…facilitating community conversations at the public library…

Ruha speaking in front of an audience at the Princeton Public Library

Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 22d

This is one of many ways over the years that I’ve enjoyed teaching & learning beyond the university—summer storytelling at the community pool…

Ruha holding a book and reading a story in front of a group of children at the Princeton Community Pool

Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 22d

"The purpose of the organization is to provide its members with an opportunity to enjoy good fellowship, preserve mental alertness, and maintain a lively interest in the arts and sciences as well as in community, national, and world affairs." www.theoldguardofprinceton.org

Reposted by Suzanne Conklin Akbari

Reposted by Ruha Benjamin, David Webster

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 23d

Israel is still bombing Gaza

The press isn't covering it as much but it's still happening

Reposted by Ruha Benjamin

Sonia Sulaiman @soniasulaiman.bsky.social · 27d

If you’re looking for Palestinian speculative fiction for #ReadPalestine week, I got you: soniasulaiman.com/readpalestin...

Read Palestinian Speculative Fiction Reading List

The following is a growing reading list for the #ReadPalestinianSpecFic challenge. This is a work in progress to create a list of all available Palestinian speculative fiction. Novels: Novels by Na…

soniasulaiman.com

Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 29d

Pre-ordered!📕

Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 29d

Cover Reveal!

“The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy" arrives on August 4, 2026.

How extremist tech billionaires are dismantling democracy to crown themselves as kings—and what we can do about it.

Please pre-order! ➡️ www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Ne...

Book Cover for The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy by Gil Duran. Red background with white and black text, and a tech circuit background.

Reposted by Ruha Benjamin

Judah Adashi @jadashi.bsky.social · 29d

Wonderful to see @ruha9.bsky.social and @alexvitale.bsky.social joining @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social's transition committees!

Reposted by Ruha Benjamin, Fabián Muniesa, Robert C. Richards

Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 29d

Cover Reveal!

“The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy" arrives on August 4, 2026.

How extremist tech billionaires are dismantling democracy to crown themselves as kings—and what we can do about it.

Please pre-order! ➡️ www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Ne...

Book Cover for The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy by Gil Duran. Red background with white and black text, and a tech circuit background.

Reposted by Ruha Benjamin, David M. Schultz, Joe R. Feagin , and 3 more Ruha Benjamin, David M. Schultz, Joe R. Feagin, McKenzie Wark, Jelena Subotić, Nathan P. Kalmoe

🎶this fistmas (catch a hand, catch a hand)🎶 @johnperich.com · Nov 25

To bear out this rosy projection, HSBC assumes that OpenAI will become "as ubiquitous [...] as Microsoft 365" (345mm users worldwide) while bringing in 10x the number of users (3bn).

https://www.ft.com/content/23e54a28-6f63-4533-ab96-3756d9c88bad

To check OpenAI ability to pay, HSBC’s team first had to build a model to forecast revenues.

Its starting point is to put user numbers on an S-curve that by 2030 reaches 3bn, “equivalent to 44 per cent of the world’s adult population” ex China. That’s versus an estimated total user base last month of approximately 800mn

https://www.ft.com/content/23e54a28-6f63-4533-ab96-3756d9c88bad

LLM subscriptions will become “as ubiquitous and useful as Microsoft 365”, HSBC says. It models that by 2030, 10 per cent of OpenAI users will be paying customers, versus an estimated 5 per cent currently.

The team also assumes LLM companies will capture 2 per cent of the digital advertising market in revenue, from slightly more than zero currently.