David J.
@apocalypticdrift.bsky.social
Reluctant literary scholar with a focus on the end (of the world)
American Studies at Universität Stuttgart
(Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter)
Other research interests include video games (& ludology), zombie studies, sound studies, and dark ecology.
American Studies at Universität Stuttgart
(Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter)
Other research interests include video games (& ludology), zombie studies, sound studies, and dark ecology.
Reposted by David J.
During the pandemic, I rewrote my content for online delivery, learned a whole new set of skills for remote teaching, & paid for the tech to provide the best experience to students out of my own pocket, while struggling with caring for a family & suffering from Covid. So yeah, see below.
OK, I take it back. Maybe instead of doing everything we could and working our fingers to the fucking bone for two years to give our students an education while protecting them from the killer virus we should just have let them all die. Happy now?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Students bring Covid compensation claim against 36 more universities
It comes after University College London settled a claim from students there over lost learning in the pandemic.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 16, 2026 at 1:47 PM
During the pandemic, I rewrote my content for online delivery, learned a whole new set of skills for remote teaching, & paid for the tech to provide the best experience to students out of my own pocket, while struggling with caring for a family & suffering from Covid. So yeah, see below.
Reposted by David J.
Yet, nobody is sending for Grape-Nuts
🚨 NEW: The Supreme Court has ruled that oat milk can no longer be called milk
February 12, 2026 at 2:03 PM
Yet, nobody is sending for Grape-Nuts
Yet, nobody is sending for Grape-Nuts
🚨 NEW: The Supreme Court has ruled that oat milk can no longer be called milk
February 12, 2026 at 2:03 PM
Yet, nobody is sending for Grape-Nuts
Reposted by David J.
The meaning of words is to be decided not by their use, usefulness, or history, but by their commercial benefit to the most powerful lobby groups. I have a recipe for almond milk in a cookbook from 1226. It has been used as a term in English for hundreds of years.
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Oatly banned from using word ‘milk’ to market plant-based products in UK
Supreme court makes ruling after Swedish firm’s long-running battle with trade association Dairy UK
www.theguardian.com
February 11, 2026 at 1:52 PM
The meaning of words is to be decided not by their use, usefulness, or history, but by their commercial benefit to the most powerful lobby groups. I have a recipe for almond milk in a cookbook from 1226. It has been used as a term in English for hundreds of years.
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Reposted by David J.
Jeremy Bentham’s skeleton, which hangs for candelabra in the library of one of his executors
February 7, 2026 at 3:47 AM
Jeremy Bentham’s skeleton, which hangs for candelabra in the library of one of his executors
Reposted by David J.
We all live in Jeffrey Epstein's world now. That's what we can't face. It's our world. Where sexual desire for children is protected, victims receive no justice & the President of what used to be called the free world is Jeff's friend. This is Jeff's World now.
1/
open.substack.com/pub/broligar...
1/
open.substack.com/pub/broligar...
We all live in Jeffrey Epstein's world
The most disturbing revelation so far
open.substack.com
February 7, 2026 at 11:26 AM
We all live in Jeffrey Epstein's world now. That's what we can't face. It's our world. Where sexual desire for children is protected, victims receive no justice & the President of what used to be called the free world is Jeff's friend. This is Jeff's World now.
1/
open.substack.com/pub/broligar...
1/
open.substack.com/pub/broligar...
Reposted by David J.
Moby-Dick has the most “well, actually” energy of any book I’ve ever read.
February 6, 2026 at 2:18 PM
Moby-Dick has the most “well, actually” energy of any book I’ve ever read.
Reposted by David J.
in case anyone else feels like they're teetering on the edge of complete doomerism lately, i wrote an overly personal essay about choosing to be our best selves in spite of the horrors.
The Prepper Mindset. | Notion
Managing anxiety in a world that refuses to end.
nataliealanaashton.notion.site
February 6, 2026 at 7:32 AM
in case anyone else feels like they're teetering on the edge of complete doomerism lately, i wrote an overly personal essay about choosing to be our best selves in spite of the horrors.
Reposted by David J.
“Gramsci used to say 'Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will'. What he meant is: understand how the bloody system works.” - Stuart Hall, born Feb. 3, 1932
February 3, 2026 at 2:05 PM
“Gramsci used to say 'Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will'. What he meant is: understand how the bloody system works.” - Stuart Hall, born Feb. 3, 1932
Excellent read on the contagion of AI and how ”zombie citations“ are a form of ”epistemological pollution“.
Academic publishing is currently experiencing a viral spread of “zombie citations.” I tried following one to see how these references are infecting academic knowledge systems codeactsineducation.wordpress.com/2026/01/30/t...
Tracing the social half-life of a zombie citation
Photo by Henrik L. on Unsplash Academic publishing is currently experiencing a viral spread of “zombie citations.” This term refers to references of academic publications that do not ex…
codeactsineducation.wordpress.com
January 31, 2026 at 2:37 PM
Excellent read on the contagion of AI and how ”zombie citations“ are a form of ”epistemological pollution“.
”The children’s mother…“ in Flannery O‘Connor‘s AGMIHTF finally has her moment.
January 22, 2026 at 1:27 PM
”The children’s mother…“ in Flannery O‘Connor‘s AGMIHTF finally has her moment.
Reposted by David J.
Got gossip from a managing editor pal of a journal that a few reviewers used ChatGPT to write their assessments for them, and didn't even conceal it. I'll say it again - it won't be the neoliberal administrators that take down the humanities. It'll be humanities professors who've stopped reading.
July 1, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Got gossip from a managing editor pal of a journal that a few reviewers used ChatGPT to write their assessments for them, and didn't even conceal it. I'll say it again - it won't be the neoliberal administrators that take down the humanities. It'll be humanities professors who've stopped reading.
GPT stands for General Planetary Treason, right?
July 1, 2025 at 10:48 AM
GPT stands for General Planetary Treason, right?
Really good book alert 🚨!!!
The book I wrote with my HANDS and my BRAIN is out in paperback!
June 29, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Really good book alert 🚨!!!
Reposted by David J.
Operation Midnight Hammer.
Are we officially living in a Mel Brooks film.
Are we officially living in a Mel Brooks film.
June 22, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Operation Midnight Hammer.
Are we officially living in a Mel Brooks film.
Are we officially living in a Mel Brooks film.
Reposted by David J.
"Massive Ordnance Penetrators" We are living in a remake of Dr Strangelove.
June 22, 2025 at 1:09 PM
"Massive Ordnance Penetrators" We are living in a remake of Dr Strangelove.
Reposted by David J.
Adam Curtis: But then something happened that the Ring did not intend. It was picked up by the most unlikely creature imaginable, a hobbit.
June 20, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Adam Curtis: But then something happened that the Ring did not intend. It was picked up by the most unlikely creature imaginable, a hobbit.
Reposted by David J.
The terminally online mind cannot comprehend this
June 16, 2025 at 8:28 PM
The terminally online mind cannot comprehend this
Reposted by David J.
It is really really sinking in for me the degree to which LLMs are the ultimate expression of right wing anti-intellectualism. Its proponents are literally mocking the idea that anyone would ever want to learn anything, know anything, develop any actual skill, or have a thought of their own.
June 15, 2025 at 4:51 PM
It is really really sinking in for me the degree to which LLMs are the ultimate expression of right wing anti-intellectualism. Its proponents are literally mocking the idea that anyone would ever want to learn anything, know anything, develop any actual skill, or have a thought of their own.
”I‘d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.“
June 15, 2025 at 12:55 PM
”I‘d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.“
Reposted by David J.
"I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn."
June 15, 2025 at 12:41 PM
"I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn."
Reposted by David J.
Here are some tips for ways to “show up” when you aren’t able to show up in person, as well as suggestions for all of us for building more inclusive movements for social justice and human rights.
How to Protest If You're Disabled And Can't Show Up at Rallies
Tips and tricks to help you resist.
www.teenvogue.com
June 14, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Here are some tips for ways to “show up” when you aren’t able to show up in person, as well as suggestions for all of us for building more inclusive movements for social justice and human rights.
Reposted by David J.
"I want y’all to consider what kind of government it appears to be when every time we exercise our democratic right to protest, the military is deployed against us."
Read what Doechii said during her #BETAwards2025 speech: rollingstone.com/music/music-...
Read what Doechii said during her #BETAwards2025 speech: rollingstone.com/music/music-...
June 10, 2025 at 3:50 AM
"I want y’all to consider what kind of government it appears to be when every time we exercise our democratic right to protest, the military is deployed against us."
Read what Doechii said during her #BETAwards2025 speech: rollingstone.com/music/music-...
Read what Doechii said during her #BETAwards2025 speech: rollingstone.com/music/music-...
Reposted by David J.
"The present frenzy surrounding artificial intelligence will not last forever. As the limitations of become clearer+ as the economic returns on massive corporate investments fail to materialize at the expected scale, the speculative bubble will inevitably burst."
www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/i...
www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/i...
Is the AI Bubble About to Burst?
In the years since Automation and the Future of Work first appeared, a new wave of technological enthusiasm has swept across the popular imagination. The catalyst this time has been the rapid advances...
www.versobooks.com
June 9, 2025 at 6:43 PM
"The present frenzy surrounding artificial intelligence will not last forever. As the limitations of become clearer+ as the economic returns on massive corporate investments fail to materialize at the expected scale, the speculative bubble will inevitably burst."
www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/i...
www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/i...
Reposted by David J.
this is like drake and kendrick lamar but they're both drake
June 5, 2025 at 8:22 PM
this is like drake and kendrick lamar but they're both drake