Dean Chahim
@deanchahim.bsky.social
Anthropologist of engineering, cities, and the environment, recovering engineer, and personal chef to a toddler. | Writing about flood control and subsidence in Mexico City | Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at NYU | deanchahim.com
important analysis from a dear friend; as usual, movements got us here and they are what will get the goods out of wall street's hands truthout.org/articles/the...
The Biggest Threat to Mamdani’s Agenda Isn’t Hochul or Trump — It’s Wall Street
Wall Street destroyed NYC’s social welfare economy in 1975. Can mass movements stop it from defeating Mamdani’s agenda?
truthout.org
November 12, 2025 at 4:08 AM
important analysis from a dear friend; as usual, movements got us here and they are what will get the goods out of wall street's hands truthout.org/articles/the...
Reposted by Dean Chahim
what a headline www.404media.co/nancy-pelosi...
One of the Greatest Wall Street Investors of All Time Announces Retirement
Nancy Pelosi’s trades over the years have been so good that a startup was created to allow investors to directly mirror her portfolio.
www.404media.co
November 6, 2025 at 9:04 PM
what a headline www.404media.co/nancy-pelosi...
Reposted by Dean Chahim
I can’t stop thinking about the part on using AI-generated images in teaching. An illustration/reconstruction by an artist working w/ a trained historian still reflects something about the past as we currently understand it. An AI image is just based on bullshit and vibes. It’s an image of nothing.
The AHA has published Guiding Principles for Artificial Intelligence in History Education, offering a disciplinary approach to AI that focuses on the specific needs and challenges of history educators. 🗃️
Guiding Principles for Artificial Intelligence in History Education
These 14 foundational principles are meant to assist educators and administrators in crafting AI policies suited to local circumstances and the specific needs of students.
www.historians.org
August 5, 2025 at 11:19 PM
I can’t stop thinking about the part on using AI-generated images in teaching. An illustration/reconstruction by an artist working w/ a trained historian still reflects something about the past as we currently understand it. An AI image is just based on bullshit and vibes. It’s an image of nothing.
My piece on the "logistics of waste" has been online for a bit, but I am v. excited that it is now published as part of the special discardian issue of @antipodeonline.bsky.social on "A Global Era of Disposability: The Anthropocene, The Apotheosis of Waste"! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14678330...
Antipode: Vol 57, No 5
Click on the title to browse this issue
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
August 5, 2025 at 11:37 PM
My piece on the "logistics of waste" has been online for a bit, but I am v. excited that it is now published as part of the special discardian issue of @antipodeonline.bsky.social on "A Global Era of Disposability: The Anthropocene, The Apotheosis of Waste"! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14678330...
Reposted by Dean Chahim
"The motivating force behind American career fascism would appear to be wanderlust."
www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...
www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...
Two Days Talking to People Looking for Jobs at ICE | Yanis Varoufuckice
This is a disgusting country, I thought, irredeemable visually, psychically, morally, and ethically, and whatever is likable about our people’s warm patter does not in any way forgive what we have don...
www.nplusonemag.com
July 10, 2025 at 4:52 PM
"The motivating force behind American career fascism would appear to be wanderlust."
www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...
www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...
Reposted by Dean Chahim
Pretty shocking read. Not in the sense of unpredictable, but in the sense that we should not become inured to these horrors
theintercept.com/2025/07/07/i...
theintercept.com/2025/07/07/i...
Documenting ICE Agents’ Brutal Use of Force in LA Immigration Raids
Video analysis of reveals how federal agents in Southern California regularly use force against unarmed individuals, many of them U.S. citizens.
theintercept.com
July 9, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Pretty shocking read. Not in the sense of unpredictable, but in the sense that we should not become inured to these horrors
theintercept.com/2025/07/07/i...
theintercept.com/2025/07/07/i...
Reposted by Dean Chahim
I have a new piece in Dissent, thinking through what delivering Zohran's agenda will look like in practice. www.dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...
What Can Zohran Accomplish? - Dissent Magazine
What distinguishes Zohran Mamdani's socialism is not its aims. It’s his willingness to take seriously the problem of how to get there.
www.dissentmagazine.org
July 4, 2025 at 7:06 PM
I have a new piece in Dissent, thinking through what delivering Zohran's agenda will look like in practice. www.dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...
Nvivo completely corrupted my data in the new version, so I am looking for an alternative, ideally open source to avoid this mess in the future. Any favorite qualitative software recs? I just need simple tagging but more organizational ability than what Taguette seems to offer.
July 2, 2025 at 2:20 AM
Nvivo completely corrupted my data in the new version, so I am looking for an alternative, ideally open source to avoid this mess in the future. Any favorite qualitative software recs? I just need simple tagging but more organizational ability than what Taguette seems to offer.
Reposted by Dean Chahim
one-year lecturer position in environmental studies and the social studies of science and technology:
puwebp.princeton.edu/AcadHire/app...
puwebp.princeton.edu/AcadHire/app...
puwebp.princeton.edu
June 30, 2025 at 7:11 PM
one-year lecturer position in environmental studies and the social studies of science and technology:
puwebp.princeton.edu/AcadHire/app...
puwebp.princeton.edu/AcadHire/app...
Reposted by Dean Chahim
tech companies prove time and time again they have little to no understanding of how boots on the ground medical practice and hospital administration actually works, but National Nurses United do and they want absolutely no part of this www.nationalnursesunited.org/press/nation...
June 30, 2025 at 4:10 PM
tech companies prove time and time again they have little to no understanding of how boots on the ground medical practice and hospital administration actually works, but National Nurses United do and they want absolutely no part of this www.nationalnursesunited.org/press/nation...
Reposted by Dean Chahim
I've posted my seminar on 'The role of the university is to resist AI', which takes as its text Ivan Illich's 'Tools for Conviviality'. danmcquillan.org/cpct_seminar...
June 23, 2025 at 5:59 AM
I've posted my seminar on 'The role of the university is to resist AI', which takes as its text Ivan Illich's 'Tools for Conviviality'. danmcquillan.org/cpct_seminar...
Reposted by Dean Chahim
the amount of contempt vance has for everyone he's talking to — such that he'll say obvious nonsense as if he's fooling you — is genuinely remarkable
Vance: I empathize with Americans who are exhausted after 25 years of foreign entanglements in the Middle East. I understand the concern, but the difference is that back then we had dumb presidents
June 22, 2025 at 3:05 PM
the amount of contempt vance has for everyone he's talking to — such that he'll say obvious nonsense as if he's fooling you — is genuinely remarkable
Reposted by Dean Chahim
the fact that people were told “today you are going to an elementary school to lie to teachers and kidnap kids” and didn’t immediately tell their bosses to go fuck themselves is all you need to know about why ICE should be dismantled
BREAKING: Federal agents in plain clothes and unmarked cars tried to snatch 1st graders from LA elementary schools—told staff they had “parental consent.”
They lied. When pressed, they HID THEIR IDS. DHS admits they sent them. This wasn’t a welfare check. It was a test run for a police state.
They lied. When pressed, they HID THEIR IDS. DHS admits they sent them. This wasn’t a welfare check. It was a test run for a police state.
June 10, 2025 at 1:44 AM
the fact that people were told “today you are going to an elementary school to lie to teachers and kidnap kids” and didn’t immediately tell their bosses to go fuck themselves is all you need to know about why ICE should be dismantled
Reposted by Dean Chahim
“Tasted a little tear gas— tasted like fascism”
June 8, 2025 at 4:40 AM
“Tasted a little tear gas— tasted like fascism”
Reposted by Dean Chahim
Only in LA would protesters think to tag the ground so it’s visible in helicopter shots.
June 7, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Only in LA would protesters think to tag the ground so it’s visible in helicopter shots.
Reposted by Dean Chahim
Best piece I’ve seen on why AI must be kept out of the humanities classroom:
Not only because writing =thinking but also bc language is how we become human. It’s how we become the specific individuals that we are. We can’t be fully human without creating language ourselves
Not only because writing =thinking but also bc language is how we become human. It’s how we become the specific individuals that we are. We can’t be fully human without creating language ourselves
Opinion | What I Learned Serving on My University’s AI Committee
What I learned serving on a university AI committee.
www.chronicle.com
June 6, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Best piece I’ve seen on why AI must be kept out of the humanities classroom:
Not only because writing =thinking but also bc language is how we become human. It’s how we become the specific individuals that we are. We can’t be fully human without creating language ourselves
Not only because writing =thinking but also bc language is how we become human. It’s how we become the specific individuals that we are. We can’t be fully human without creating language ourselves
Reposted by Dean Chahim
Oh My God aka No Shit But At Least Someone's Admitting It Now
Commentary: Study finds removing school mask mandates contributed to 22,000 U.S. COVID deaths in a year www.latimes.com/business/sto...
Commentary: Study finds removing school mask mandates contributed to 22,000 U.S. COVID deaths in a year
Critics of anti-pandemic measures prompted schools to end mask mandates, but doing so exposed millions to COVID infection, contributing to nearly 22,000 deaths.
www.latimes.com
June 5, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Oh My God aka No Shit But At Least Someone's Admitting It Now
Reposted by Dean Chahim
very fun to read frederick douglass accurately describe the problem with the pardon power in 1867
June 5, 2025 at 11:56 AM
very fun to read frederick douglass accurately describe the problem with the pardon power in 1867
Reposted by Dean Chahim
Google is muting their AI summaries for specific questions about the impacts of Trump on society. See attached for results for the same questions about human rights, one including "under Trump" and one not. Doesnt happen when "under Reagan" is included.
Same happens for a q about economic impacts
Same happens for a q about economic impacts
June 5, 2025 at 12:05 AM
Google is muting their AI summaries for specific questions about the impacts of Trump on society. See attached for results for the same questions about human rights, one including "under Trump" and one not. Doesnt happen when "under Reagan" is included.
Same happens for a q about economic impacts
Same happens for a q about economic impacts
Reposted by Dean Chahim
This email makes its clear that ICE has always wanted to do illegal behavior, that they despised the constitution for constraining them, and that they never wanted to focus on criminals.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
US immigration officers ordered to arrest more people even without warrants
Exclusive: Ice officers told to get ‘creative’ with arrests, including of undocumented people encountered by chance
www.theguardian.com
June 4, 2025 at 3:09 PM
This email makes its clear that ICE has always wanted to do illegal behavior, that they despised the constitution for constraining them, and that they never wanted to focus on criminals.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Dean Chahim
I read so many essays on AI's biases + dangers — particularly re: its applications in governance — and think: if you swapped "big data" for "AI," this very essay could've been written 10+yrs ago. In fact, this same essay was written, 100x, 10yrs ago. The think pieces perpetuate the ahistoricism.
June 1, 2025 at 2:52 PM
I read so many essays on AI's biases + dangers — particularly re: its applications in governance — and think: if you swapped "big data" for "AI," this very essay could've been written 10+yrs ago. In fact, this same essay was written, 100x, 10yrs ago. The think pieces perpetuate the ahistoricism.
Reposted by Dean Chahim
What if mad cow, but for the internet.
AI Models Show Signs of Falling Apart as They Ingest More AI-Generated Data
As CEOs trip over themselves to invest in AI, the models are falling apart at the seams and going mad from cannibalism.
futurism.com
May 30, 2025 at 4:13 PM
What if mad cow, but for the internet.
Reposted by Dean Chahim
Important story: These arrests happened last night "despite pledges from the mayor and the police commissioner that the City doesn't assist in civil immigration enforcement."
Photos: NYPD Arrests Protesters Blocking ICE Vans Transporting Detained Immigrants
Photos: NYPD Arrests Protesters Blocking ICE Vans Transporting Detained Immigrants
The NYPD cleared the path for ICE's vans, despite pledges from the mayor and the police commissioner that the City doesn't assist in civil immigration enforcement.
hellgatenyc.com
May 29, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Important story: These arrests happened last night "despite pledges from the mayor and the police commissioner that the City doesn't assist in civil immigration enforcement."
Reposted by Dean Chahim
Photos: NYPD Arrests Protesters Blocking ICE Vans Transporting Detained Immigrants
Photos: NYPD Arrests Protesters Blocking ICE Vans Transporting Detained Immigrants
The NYPD cleared the path for ICE's vans, despite pledges from the mayor and the police commissioner that the City doesn't assist in civil immigration enforcement.
hellgatenyc.com
May 29, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Photos: NYPD Arrests Protesters Blocking ICE Vans Transporting Detained Immigrants