Robin Z
@firepile.bsky.social
Professor, Philosopher, Cognitive Scientist, 4e Cognition and Artificial Intelligence; Science Fiction Fan, Cyborgologist, Retired Knitter, Comic Book Reader, 4ad records fanatic. Wanna see me nerd out about music stuff? @musicephemera.bsky.social
Pinned
Robin Z
@firepile.bsky.social
· Jan 9
Rocket just wants to have a talk about your attitude. She isn't mad, she's just disappointed.
Reposted by Robin Z
You have to block them immediately. The full nuclear. They are only here to make folks angry, and that can’t happen if we lock them out.
✅ @icegov.bsky.social has been verified by @bsky.app.
January 16, 2026 at 11:59 PM
You have to block them immediately. The full nuclear. They are only here to make folks angry, and that can’t happen if we lock them out.
Classes don't start until Monday so I resent email from the Registrar welcoming us to the Spring semester today.
January 16, 2026 at 6:14 PM
Classes don't start until Monday so I resent email from the Registrar welcoming us to the Spring semester today.
This photo of my demon puppy from 5 years ago popped up in my memories and I simply cannot overstate how much work those ears and eyes did in keeping her from being launched into the sun at that age
January 16, 2026 at 3:36 PM
This photo of my demon puppy from 5 years ago popped up in my memories and I simply cannot overstate how much work those ears and eyes did in keeping her from being launched into the sun at that age
Reposted by Robin Z
are you displeased with today’s AI safety evaluation landscape and curious about what greater conceptual clarity, methodological soundness, and rigour in AI evaluation could look like? if so, consider coming to Dublin to pursue a PhD with me
apply here: aial.ie/hiring/phd-a...
pls repost
apply here: aial.ie/hiring/phd-a...
pls repost
January 15, 2026 at 11:55 AM
are you displeased with today’s AI safety evaluation landscape and curious about what greater conceptual clarity, methodological soundness, and rigour in AI evaluation could look like? if so, consider coming to Dublin to pursue a PhD with me
apply here: aial.ie/hiring/phd-a...
pls repost
apply here: aial.ie/hiring/phd-a...
pls repost
I had an email from an elected representative about impeaching Noem and I was excited until I realized it was one of the reps from where I lived in Portland, a place I haven't lived since 2003. Normal people would've unsubbed from those lists by now but it's nice to have hope, anyway!
January 15, 2026 at 8:27 PM
I had an email from an elected representative about impeaching Noem and I was excited until I realized it was one of the reps from where I lived in Portland, a place I haven't lived since 2003. Normal people would've unsubbed from those lists by now but it's nice to have hope, anyway!
Reposted by Robin Z
I don't know how to convey to people that POLICING in the US is experienced by countless Black and brown people in the way that ICE is currently acting towards people.
January 14, 2026 at 9:01 PM
I don't know how to convey to people that POLICING in the US is experienced by countless Black and brown people in the way that ICE is currently acting towards people.
I've just learned today is National Dress Up Your Pet Day and since I still haven't regenerated all the blood I lost the last time I put Rocket in a sweater, I will simply have to reshare those photos
January 14, 2026 at 3:31 PM
I've just learned today is National Dress Up Your Pet Day and since I still haven't regenerated all the blood I lost the last time I put Rocket in a sweater, I will simply have to reshare those photos
Because of time and how the syllabus is shaking out, I had to cut one of the absolute best short stories ever that's always on my AI syllabus so instead I'll just tell you all to read it: For a Breath I Tarry, by Roger Zelazny. It's basically perfect.
January 13, 2026 at 10:10 PM
Because of time and how the syllabus is shaking out, I had to cut one of the absolute best short stories ever that's always on my AI syllabus so instead I'll just tell you all to read it: For a Breath I Tarry, by Roger Zelazny. It's basically perfect.
8 years ago today we took our 3 year old on our first family vacation (and my first vacation in like a decade). I'm travel-cursed anyway but Hawaii really stepped it up for me
January 13, 2026 at 3:35 PM
8 years ago today we took our 3 year old on our first family vacation (and my first vacation in like a decade). I'm travel-cursed anyway but Hawaii really stepped it up for me
Reposted by Robin Z
This is the stupidest Terminator reboot ever.
January 13, 2026 at 4:45 AM
This is the stupidest Terminator reboot ever.
I'm currently pruning down my 87 million readings for my AI in Fact and Fiction class for this semester and despite the fact that I currently hate the discipline I love, I really appreciate how many of you are still writing long, thoughtful pieces clearly addressing what a fucking disaster it all is
January 13, 2026 at 1:50 AM
I'm currently pruning down my 87 million readings for my AI in Fact and Fiction class for this semester and despite the fact that I currently hate the discipline I love, I really appreciate how many of you are still writing long, thoughtful pieces clearly addressing what a fucking disaster it all is
I vocally appreciated the posters of cats and dogs and got excoriated for being anti-democratic and unfair and near as I can recall from that 12 seconds before I blocked them, the person was entirely serious. 15% seems about right to me.
most of the people whose opinions I hold in high regard are on here but a solid 15% of this website is people who are both wildly self-righteous and extremely stupid
seriously, look at this absolute shit. just unhinged insanity. hard not to suspect people who post shit like this are actually feds
January 13, 2026 at 12:52 AM
I vocally appreciated the posters of cats and dogs and got excoriated for being anti-democratic and unfair and near as I can recall from that 12 seconds before I blocked them, the person was entirely serious. 15% seems about right to me.
Reposted by Robin Z
This is a wild hill to die on for someone who creates environments for kids.
Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games (Fortnite/Battle Royale) argues against CP protections on social media/AI platforms, claiming legislators are ‘just censoring political opponents’.
www.pcgamer.com/gaming-indus...
Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games (Fortnite/Battle Royale) argues against CP protections on social media/AI platforms, claiming legislators are ‘just censoring political opponents’.
www.pcgamer.com/gaming-indus...
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney argues banning Twitter over its ability to AI-generate pornographic images of minors is just 'gatekeepers' attempting to 'censor all of their political opponents'
Not the hill I'd die on, but I'm not a billionaire.
www.pcgamer.com
January 12, 2026 at 2:53 PM
This is a wild hill to die on for someone who creates environments for kids.
Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games (Fortnite/Battle Royale) argues against CP protections on social media/AI platforms, claiming legislators are ‘just censoring political opponents’.
www.pcgamer.com/gaming-indus...
Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games (Fortnite/Battle Royale) argues against CP protections on social media/AI platforms, claiming legislators are ‘just censoring political opponents’.
www.pcgamer.com/gaming-indus...
I am back home so Rocket posting will resume and continue until morale improves
January 12, 2026 at 4:02 AM
I am back home so Rocket posting will resume and continue until morale improves
Bless everyone posting pet photos and dumb bullshit, this is bluesky and we need to get back to our roots to lower the general despair around here
January 11, 2026 at 2:18 PM
Bless everyone posting pet photos and dumb bullshit, this is bluesky and we need to get back to our roots to lower the general despair around here
Since only one member of a couple is allowed to be terminally online and I drew the short straw, let me share with you my spouse's answer to this which doubles as a demonstration of why we are married
January 11, 2026 at 2:40 AM
Since only one member of a couple is allowed to be terminally online and I drew the short straw, let me share with you my spouse's answer to this which doubles as a demonstration of why we are married
I think I need to start following professional sports so I can have something to throw my anxieties into for which the outcome literally does not matter at all
January 10, 2026 at 11:49 PM
I think I need to start following professional sports so I can have something to throw my anxieties into for which the outcome literally does not matter at all
Abolishing ICE is literally the bottom floor of what's acceptable and I cannot imagine voting for anyone not vocal about that as the *starting point*
Do not settle for less than abolishing ICE. Not refocusing their work to “real criminals,” not cutting their funding, not retraining them. ICE must go, and any politician asking for less should be shunned.
January 10, 2026 at 11:45 PM
Abolishing ICE is literally the bottom floor of what's acceptable and I cannot imagine voting for anyone not vocal about that as the *starting point*
Reposted by Robin Z
this cannot be reformed, only abolished.
The MPD union, at least, has made it clear which side they are on.
This is the cost of DECADES of (everyone, everywhere) refusing to deal with the rising right-wing and white-nationalist involvement in policing.
This is the cost of DECADES of (everyone, everywhere) refusing to deal with the rising right-wing and white-nationalist involvement in policing.
January 10, 2026 at 10:16 PM
this cannot be reformed, only abolished.
What the absolute fuck is happening
January 10, 2026 at 1:50 PM
What the absolute fuck is happening
Yesterday at the APA teaching hub one panelist had us make masks of the philosopher we'd roleplay as and I clearly nailed it
January 9, 2026 at 4:11 PM
Yesterday at the APA teaching hub one panelist had us make masks of the philosopher we'd roleplay as and I clearly nailed it
I continue to have a bad time trying to sleep at this hotel and I absolutely believe hotels should offer dogs as an amenity to curl up and sleep behind your knees. I would pay so much for this service.
January 9, 2026 at 6:33 AM
I continue to have a bad time trying to sleep at this hotel and I absolutely believe hotels should offer dogs as an amenity to curl up and sleep behind your knees. I would pay so much for this service.
Reposted by Robin Z
For 248 years the streets of America didn’t feature a roving masked federal kidnapping squad that might send you a Central American death camp or just murder you themselves, but getting rid of it now is some impossible lefty fantasy that professional Democrats lamentably must struggle against.
Classic Democratic no-win. All of them voted against the OBAA, which supercharged ICE funding and hiring. But they won't say they'd "abolish ICE" so they'll get yelled at (mostly by people who'll vote for them in the midterms after threatening not to).
Top Democrats decline to say if they would rein in ICE after Minnesota shooting
January 9, 2026 at 2:50 AM
For 248 years the streets of America didn’t feature a roving masked federal kidnapping squad that might send you a Central American death camp or just murder you themselves, but getting rid of it now is some impossible lefty fantasy that professional Democrats lamentably must struggle against.
Reposted by Robin Z
Counterpoint: ICE does not serve a valid function and is devoted to illegality, fascism, racism, and evil. It should be abolished entirely because in any form it continues to exist, it will continue to commit atrocities and murder people.
If a Dem president wants to impound ICE’s funding, under that precedent, in 2029, he can go right ahead. It’s overfunded.
No Dem is going to use ICE like Trump does, and all of them voted against the extra funding.
No Dem is going to use ICE like Trump does, and all of them voted against the extra funding.
I'm genuinely waiting for the good faith response as to why abolish ICE is not a plan. It's been around for 20 years. They just effectively abolished USAID which had been around 3 times as long.
January 9, 2026 at 3:28 AM
Counterpoint: ICE does not serve a valid function and is devoted to illegality, fascism, racism, and evil. It should be abolished entirely because in any form it continues to exist, it will continue to commit atrocities and murder people.
Can't bear the news, facetiming the dog from Baltimore instead
January 9, 2026 at 2:10 AM
Can't bear the news, facetiming the dog from Baltimore instead