joy meads
@capnjoy.bsky.social
Director of dramaturgy & new works @ American Conservatory Theater. Co-founder thekilroys.org. Dorkily earnest about multiracial democracy, well-designed public spaces, & the civic function of art. Oakland grown.
Reposted by joy meads
White supremacy is just a job you do, like architect or serial killer
Chicago Magazine named Nick Fuentes #7 in its list of Top 50 powerful Chicagoans of 2025.
February 16, 2026 at 11:16 PM
White supremacy is just a job you do, like architect or serial killer
Reposted by joy meads
Do people get -- or am I overstating the case? -- that they are effectively stealing from a bookstore if they special order a book they have no intention of ever picking up?
February 17, 2026 at 12:07 AM
Do people get -- or am I overstating the case? -- that they are effectively stealing from a bookstore if they special order a book they have no intention of ever picking up?
Reposted by joy meads
What could go wrong using AI to help stage a few listing photos?
February 16, 2026 at 10:10 PM
What could go wrong using AI to help stage a few listing photos?
Reposted by joy meads
And I think a certain kind of pointed and insidious and dangerous violence is being done to the very concept of creativity if we lose sight of that, or start talking about this as if it is or could be
February 16, 2026 at 10:36 PM
And I think a certain kind of pointed and insidious and dangerous violence is being done to the very concept of creativity if we lose sight of that, or start talking about this as if it is or could be
Reposted by joy meads
Which I think the pushers of this tech would love for us to forget
But regardless, to get back to the original point: Leaving aside all other considerations, there is no creativity happening here, at least not in any sense by which most of us would understand the word, and can’t ever be
But regardless, to get back to the original point: Leaving aside all other considerations, there is no creativity happening here, at least not in any sense by which most of us would understand the word, and can’t ever be
February 16, 2026 at 10:35 PM
Which I think the pushers of this tech would love for us to forget
But regardless, to get back to the original point: Leaving aside all other considerations, there is no creativity happening here, at least not in any sense by which most of us would understand the word, and can’t ever be
But regardless, to get back to the original point: Leaving aside all other considerations, there is no creativity happening here, at least not in any sense by which most of us would understand the word, and can’t ever be
Reposted by joy meads
What I think matters most is whether anything that looks like or functions like creativity is happening in whatever an LLM produces in response to training and a prompt
And I don’t think there’s really any way one can argue that it is
And I don’t think there’s really any way one can argue that it is
February 16, 2026 at 10:22 PM
What I think matters most is whether anything that looks like or functions like creativity is happening in whatever an LLM produces in response to training and a prompt
And I don’t think there’s really any way one can argue that it is
And I don’t think there’s really any way one can argue that it is
Reposted by joy meads
Creativity is the process of different layers of semi-conscious and unconscious human cognition weaving together a fabulously complicated system of meanings, signs, ideas, images, feelings, modes of communication, personal history, desire, fear, all of human psychology. It’s fundamentally irrational
February 16, 2026 at 10:15 PM
Creativity is the process of different layers of semi-conscious and unconscious human cognition weaving together a fabulously complicated system of meanings, signs, ideas, images, feelings, modes of communication, personal history, desire, fear, all of human psychology. It’s fundamentally irrational
Reposted by joy meads
Anyone who has ever challenged an AI bot has had this experience. The AI says something with certainty. You tell it it's wrong. It immediately agrees with you, whether you're right or not.
Why? Because it's incapable of belief. Incapable of sincerity. Incapable of passion.
Why? Because it's incapable of belief. Incapable of sincerity. Incapable of passion.
February 16, 2026 at 10:58 PM
Anyone who has ever challenged an AI bot has had this experience. The AI says something with certainty. You tell it it's wrong. It immediately agrees with you, whether you're right or not.
Why? Because it's incapable of belief. Incapable of sincerity. Incapable of passion.
Why? Because it's incapable of belief. Incapable of sincerity. Incapable of passion.
Reposted by joy meads
Thomas Paine proposed a progressive tax on wealth, with the top tax rate being 100%. It's an idea that's as American as Apple Pie. www.ms.now/opinion/msnb...
February 16, 2026 at 10:18 PM
Thomas Paine proposed a progressive tax on wealth, with the top tax rate being 100%. It's an idea that's as American as Apple Pie. www.ms.now/opinion/msnb...
Reposted by joy meads
This has been my hunch for a while, but it's good to have it confirmed.
As I've noted before, Obama faced the same challenge with race that JFK did with religion. Their enemies were so primed to charge them with playing favorites they felt the need to downplay a topic closely tied to them.
As I've noted before, Obama faced the same challenge with race that JFK did with religion. Their enemies were so primed to charge them with playing favorites they felt the need to downplay a topic closely tied to them.
Political scientist Dan Gillion analyzed presidential speech and found that Obama talked about race and racial issues less than any other modern president
February 16, 2026 at 10:05 PM
This has been my hunch for a while, but it's good to have it confirmed.
As I've noted before, Obama faced the same challenge with race that JFK did with religion. Their enemies were so primed to charge them with playing favorites they felt the need to downplay a topic closely tied to them.
As I've noted before, Obama faced the same challenge with race that JFK did with religion. Their enemies were so primed to charge them with playing favorites they felt the need to downplay a topic closely tied to them.
Reposted by joy meads
Melrose and La Brea is just a river right now.
February 16, 2026 at 7:53 PM
Melrose and La Brea is just a river right now.
Reposted by joy meads
so crazy how every president except donald trump was born today
February 16, 2026 at 4:57 PM
so crazy how every president except donald trump was born today
Reposted by joy meads
Share the good news when we have it:
PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ are falling in North Atlantic whales after phaseout
news.mongabay.com/short-articl...
PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ are falling in North Atlantic whales after phaseout
news.mongabay.com/short-articl...
news.mongabay.com
February 16, 2026 at 7:44 PM
Share the good news when we have it:
PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ are falling in North Atlantic whales after phaseout
news.mongabay.com/short-articl...
PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ are falling in North Atlantic whales after phaseout
news.mongabay.com/short-articl...
Reposted by joy meads
Reposted with alt text
February 16, 2026 at 7:44 PM
Reposted with alt text
Reposted by joy meads
Anyway times that call for radical change will require radical candidates, so support your local radical today.
February 16, 2026 at 11:41 AM
Anyway times that call for radical change will require radical candidates, so support your local radical today.
Reposted by joy meads
I do think there’s a certain type of Democrat that realizes it’s possible we are dealing with a perfect storm where almost any Democrat will win, and are terrified we might nominate radical candidates who will actually engage in needed change instead of status quo corporate centrist bullshit.
One of the interesting things this time around is just how hollow the whole thing sounds. In the past, people have been able to use the empty concept of electability to anoint and position the person they demanded, but now that Republicans are getting obliterated everywhere, that doesn't work.
If I were a Democrat concerned about winning elections and was hearing that a significant number of voters wouldn’t support Gavin Newsom in 2028, I would simply stop pushing Gavin Newsom in 2026.
February 16, 2026 at 4:51 AM
I do think there’s a certain type of Democrat that realizes it’s possible we are dealing with a perfect storm where almost any Democrat will win, and are terrified we might nominate radical candidates who will actually engage in needed change instead of status quo corporate centrist bullshit.
Reposted by joy meads
If you are wondering what words the all-male Congress found so "blasphemous" that they felt compelled to literally scrape them off the monument, they were: ''Woman, first denied a soul, then called mindless, now arisen, declared herself an entity to be reckoned.''
On this day in 1921, Congress reluctantly accepted a sculpture memorializing women’s 19th A victory. Congress relegated the memorial to the Capitol’s crypt & painted over the feminist inscription. The statue stayed entombed in the crypt for 76 years. The inscription is still not restored. #WeTheMen
February 16, 2026 at 4:35 PM
If you are wondering what words the all-male Congress found so "blasphemous" that they felt compelled to literally scrape them off the monument, they were: ''Woman, first denied a soul, then called mindless, now arisen, declared herself an entity to be reckoned.''
Reposted by joy meads
Have you ever once seen the New York Times quote Trump like this?
February 16, 2026 at 6:24 PM
Have you ever once seen the New York Times quote Trump like this?
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Take it from them.
February 16, 2026 at 6:14 PM
Take it from them.
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😡
Cases of measles cropped up in two centers for unauthorized immigrants in Arizona and Texas last month. They are almost 1,000 miles apart, yet the centers have one thing in common: They are operated by CoreCivic, a publicly traded detention company with a checkered track record.
Sick Detainees Describe Poor Care at Facilities Run by ICE Contractor
Problems at detention centers operated by CoreCivic extend far beyond recent measles outbreaks.
nyti.ms
February 16, 2026 at 6:15 PM
😡
Reposted by joy meads
“Both Good and Pretti were engaged in the task that democracies assign to citizens: that of paying close attention to the workings of power. If the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, a country that inflicts the ultimate punishment on those who dare to be vigilant can no longer be free.”
"The Crime of Witness" by Fintan O’Toole in @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social
"The videos that expose the administration’s mendacity about its own use of extreme violence against peaceful dissent are themselves products of the courage to show up [and] see for yourself."
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
"The videos that expose the administration’s mendacity about its own use of extreme violence against peaceful dissent are themselves products of the courage to show up [and] see for yourself."
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
February 16, 2026 at 7:09 AM
“Both Good and Pretti were engaged in the task that democracies assign to citizens: that of paying close attention to the workings of power. If the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, a country that inflicts the ultimate punishment on those who dare to be vigilant can no longer be free.”
Reposted by joy meads
Posting about ICE on Instagram is now enough to get you an “administrative subpoena.” 👀
@nytimes.com #$META
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...
@nytimes.com #$META
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...
February 13, 2026 at 11:25 PM
Posting about ICE on Instagram is now enough to get you an “administrative subpoena.” 👀
@nytimes.com #$META
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...
@nytimes.com #$META
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...
Reposted by joy meads
One of the great myths of our society is that really rich people are rich because they are smart.
They are not rich because they are smart.
They are rich because are broken. Because nothing matters more to them than hording wealth. Because they lack morality, empathy, and social responsibility.
They are not rich because they are smart.
They are rich because are broken. Because nothing matters more to them than hording wealth. Because they lack morality, empathy, and social responsibility.
It’s also virtually impossible to become a billionaire without choosing immorality many, many times.
There is no such thing as a self-made billionaire.
February 16, 2026 at 1:11 AM
One of the great myths of our society is that really rich people are rich because they are smart.
They are not rich because they are smart.
They are rich because are broken. Because nothing matters more to them than hording wealth. Because they lack morality, empathy, and social responsibility.
They are not rich because they are smart.
They are rich because are broken. Because nothing matters more to them than hording wealth. Because they lack morality, empathy, and social responsibility.
Reposted by joy meads
Next sunday is free museum day in Southern California, just FYI.
February 16, 2026 at 2:14 AM
Next sunday is free museum day in Southern California, just FYI.