Joseph Howley
@illdottore.bsky.social
“imagine a classics professor” – The New Yorker
Pinned
Joseph Howley
@illdottore.bsky.social
· Jan 8
Pasts Imperfect (1.8.26)
This week, we are back from holiday break with a deep dive into the ethics, big business, and myth-peddling of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in higher education. Then, bees in ancient jawbones within t...
pasts-imperfect.ghost.io
Logging back on briefly to encourage you to go read this issue of Pasts Imperfect, where I have an essay about the push to automate literacy in the contemporary academy and the relegation and subjection of literacy in Ancient Rome pasts-imperfect.ghost.io/pasts-imperf...
Reposted by Joseph Howley
An amazing review essay of Scheidel’s What is Ancient History and Padilla Peralta’s Classicisms and Other Phobias.
planudes.medium.com/the-chains-t...
planudes.medium.com/the-chains-t...
The Chains that Bind: Two Visions for the Future of Ancient Greek and Roman Studies
Classicism and Other Phobias by Dan-el Padilla Peralta (Princeton University Press, 2025)
planudes.medium.com
February 11, 2026 at 5:40 PM
An amazing review essay of Scheidel’s What is Ancient History and Padilla Peralta’s Classicisms and Other Phobias.
planudes.medium.com/the-chains-t...
planudes.medium.com/the-chains-t...
Reposted by Joseph Howley
A point I make in my work on this subject is that we need to reject the insistance that convos abt commercial AI products should be about the tech. Determining whether AI is “conscious” is a Smartwashing exercise in solipcism that distracts from the material conditions of the product’s distribution
February 11, 2026 at 2:07 PM
A point I make in my work on this subject is that we need to reject the insistance that convos abt commercial AI products should be about the tech. Determining whether AI is “conscious” is a Smartwashing exercise in solipcism that distracts from the material conditions of the product’s distribution
Reposted by Joseph Howley
Reposted by Joseph Howley
is it time for llm discourse again
“Descartes spent far too much time in bed subject to the persistent hallucination that he was thinking. You are not free from a similar disorder.”
—Flann O’Brien, ‘The Dalkey Archive’
—Flann O’Brien, ‘The Dalkey Archive’
June 19, 2025 at 5:34 PM
is it time for llm discourse again
Reposted by Joseph Howley
I wrote about Trump’s ideological deportation policies and their implications for free speech, including on university campuses. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Jameel Jaffer · Thought Control
Ideological exclusion at the border seems anachronistic now, when all human knowledge is accessible online, video-...
www.lrb.co.uk
February 11, 2026 at 1:57 PM
I wrote about Trump’s ideological deportation policies and their implications for free speech, including on university campuses. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Joseph Howley
HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW: “.. In our in-progress research, we discovered that AI tools didn’t reduce work, they consistently intensified it.”
hbr.org/2026/02/ai-d...
hbr.org/2026/02/ai-d...
February 10, 2026 at 1:17 PM
HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW: “.. In our in-progress research, we discovered that AI tools didn’t reduce work, they consistently intensified it.”
hbr.org/2026/02/ai-d...
hbr.org/2026/02/ai-d...
Reposted by Joseph Howley
I have to say, I do not love this new trend of large liberal accounts with millions of followers identifying Jews.
February 11, 2026 at 3:29 AM
I have to say, I do not love this new trend of large liberal accounts with millions of followers identifying Jews.
Did you know CBP holds “virtual job fairs” with colleges and universities around the country?
Body cam from when Border Patrol shot a woman 5 times in Chicago last year. The agents have guns drawn and pointed. One says "do something b----." Then: "Time to get aggressive." Moments later, the driver can be seen swerving the car into hers, jumping out & firing almost immediately.
February 11, 2026 at 6:55 AM
Did you know CBP holds “virtual job fairs” with colleges and universities around the country?
Reposted by Joseph Howley
It really is funny watching AI people talk about AI as intelligence. Like Jim Henson telling everyone on Sesame Street how scared he is of "the thing that lives in the can."
February 11, 2026 at 5:05 AM
It really is funny watching AI people talk about AI as intelligence. Like Jim Henson telling everyone on Sesame Street how scared he is of "the thing that lives in the can."
Reposted by Joseph Howley
I was lucky enough to review Danielle Hyeonah Lambert’s _Decolonizing Roman imperialism: the study of Rome, romanization, and the postcolonial lens_ for BMCR. I also took a postcolonialist lens to Monty Python & ideas the colonized should be grateful to the Romans.
bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2026/2026.02...
bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2026/2026.02...
Decolonizing Roman imperialism: the study of Rome, romanization, and the postcolonial lens – Bryn Mawr Classical Review
bmcr.brynmawr.edu
February 10, 2026 at 11:56 AM
I was lucky enough to review Danielle Hyeonah Lambert’s _Decolonizing Roman imperialism: the study of Rome, romanization, and the postcolonial lens_ for BMCR. I also took a postcolonialist lens to Monty Python & ideas the colonized should be grateful to the Romans.
bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2026/2026.02...
bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2026/2026.02...
Reposted by Joseph Howley
Completely agree w/ @bakerdphd.bsky.social. For example, it’s shameful that my alma mater, Vanderbilt, continues its fiction of neutrality as well as using its resources to buy real estate rather than mount a full throated defense of academic freedom
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
February 10, 2026 at 3:23 PM
Completely agree w/ @bakerdphd.bsky.social. For example, it’s shameful that my alma mater, Vanderbilt, continues its fiction of neutrality as well as using its resources to buy real estate rather than mount a full throated defense of academic freedom
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
Reposted by Joseph Howley
"But if the member presidents choose the guise of institutional neutrality as a way to gain political cover, they may now be leading higher ed toward greater authoritarianism."
Well the AAU is gonna love this (miniest of threads)
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
Well the AAU is gonna love this (miniest of threads)
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
How Elite Colleges Aided Censorship During the Red Scares
Powerful organizations during the Red Scares crafted a world where “academic freedom” was conditional on political allegiance.
www.insidehighered.com
February 10, 2026 at 2:21 PM
"But if the member presidents choose the guise of institutional neutrality as a way to gain political cover, they may now be leading higher ed toward greater authoritarianism."
Well the AAU is gonna love this (miniest of threads)
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
Well the AAU is gonna love this (miniest of threads)
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
Reposted by Joseph Howley
Columbia will never be free of this stain.
When Texas lawmakers tried to visit 33-year-old “political prisoner” Leqaa Kordia at an ICE facility, she’d already lost 50 pounds and was running a high fever.
By Friday, she was hospitalized. But her family still has not been able to locate her.
thebarbedwire.com/2026/02/09/l...
By Friday, she was hospitalized. But her family still has not been able to locate her.
thebarbedwire.com/2026/02/09/l...
‘Political Prisoner’ Leqaa Kordia Has Been Hospitalized, DHS Says. After Calling 16 Hospitals, Her Lawyers Say They Can't Find Her.
The Columbia University protester had a fever when lawmakers tried to visit her last month — and her health is declining fast.
thebarbedwire.com
February 10, 2026 at 3:21 AM
Columbia will never be free of this stain.
Reposted by Joseph Howley
““the major choice faced by the intellectual is whether to be allied with the stability of the victors and rulers or—the more difficult path—to consider that stability as a state of emergency threatening the less fortunate with the danger of complete extinction.”
"What is the task of the intellectual at a time when, at the heart of liberal democracies, genocide is normalized and protest suppressed?"
Rebecca Ruth Gould revisits Edward Said: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/edward-said-representations-intellectual-gaza-crisis-israel-fitzcarraldo/
Rebecca Ruth Gould revisits Edward Said: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/edward-said-representations-intellectual-gaza-crisis-israel-fitzcarraldo/
February 7, 2026 at 8:29 AM
““the major choice faced by the intellectual is whether to be allied with the stability of the victors and rulers or—the more difficult path—to consider that stability as a state of emergency threatening the less fortunate with the danger of complete extinction.”
Reposted by Joseph Howley
I don’t disagree with this op-Ed from Arne Duncan & David Pressman, but worth emphasizing that professors have been saying this for the past 385 days.
And that at many universities the administration is about as authoritarian as the federal govt.
And that at many universities the administration is about as authoritarian as the federal govt.
Important from Arne Duncan and David Pressman:
"There is little effort among university leaders to coordinate a political response to attacks on academic independence by the administration. Appeasement is being coordinated while resistance is not."
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
"There is little effort among university leaders to coordinate a political response to attacks on academic independence by the administration. Appeasement is being coordinated while resistance is not."
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | Universities are sending Trump a dangerous message
Higher education is under attack. Drop the appeasement.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 10, 2026 at 12:22 PM
I don’t disagree with this op-Ed from Arne Duncan & David Pressman, but worth emphasizing that professors have been saying this for the past 385 days.
And that at many universities the administration is about as authoritarian as the federal govt.
And that at many universities the administration is about as authoritarian as the federal govt.
Reposted by Joseph Howley
"Appeasement is being coordinated while resistance is not" is exactly right. (This op-ed from Arne Duncan and David Pressman is excellent; I hope university leaders will read it.) www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | Universities are sending Trump a dangerous message
Higher education is under attack. Drop the appeasement.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 10, 2026 at 12:28 PM
"Appeasement is being coordinated while resistance is not" is exactly right. (This op-ed from Arne Duncan and David Pressman is excellent; I hope university leaders will read it.) www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Reposted by Joseph Howley
Reposted by Joseph Howley
An immigration court dropped its case against Turkish graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk, a little less than a year after federal agents arrested her on a street near Tufts University
Immigration Court Drops Case Against Tufts Student Rumeysa Ozturk
The Turkish national had been arrested by plainclothes federal officers outside her apartment.
on.wsj.com
February 9, 2026 at 11:53 PM
An immigration court dropped its case against Turkish graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk, a little less than a year after federal agents arrested her on a street near Tufts University
Reposted by Joseph Howley
CALL FOR PITCHES
@dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience.
We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not.
Details below!
@dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience.
We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not.
Details below!
February 9, 2026 at 1:56 PM
CALL FOR PITCHES
@dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience.
We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not.
Details below!
@dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience.
We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not.
Details below!
Reposted by Joseph Howley
Please take the time to read what the children detained in Dilley wrote me in their own words: www.propublica.org/article/ice-... 10/
“I Have Been Here Too Long”: Read Letters from the Children Detained at ICE’s Dilley Facility
Hundreds of children are currently being held with their parents at an immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas. In letters and drawings, eight kids convey the pain of feeling trapped with no end...
www.propublica.org
February 9, 2026 at 11:21 AM
Please take the time to read what the children detained in Dilley wrote me in their own words: www.propublica.org/article/ice-... 10/
Reposted by Joseph Howley
I say this regularly. People use performative as a substitute for 'inauthentic' and we could all just say the words we mean to say. Erving Goffman helps us to understand that we perform all of the time in real life. Life itself is often a performance of self.
People have worn out "performative." We often perform things that are real, you know. Posting is a kind of performance of one's politics. Performative doesn't actually mean "fake" or "empty," it just gets deployed that way. We actually need performance. Case in point: last night's performance.
February 9, 2026 at 3:57 PM
I say this regularly. People use performative as a substitute for 'inauthentic' and we could all just say the words we mean to say. Erving Goffman helps us to understand that we perform all of the time in real life. Life itself is often a performance of self.
Reposted by Joseph Howley
Note: Just like Mohsen Mahdawi, ICE snatched Leqaa at what she thought was a routine immigration check-in, after she protested Israel’s genocide of Gaza.
They then took her from New Jersey to Texas—where she’s been detained for nearly a year.
Now she’s hospitalized and her whereabouts are unknown.
They then took her from New Jersey to Texas—where she’s been detained for nearly a year.
Now she’s hospitalized and her whereabouts are unknown.
NEW: Leqaa Kordia — who’s been in ICE detention for nearly a year, since ICE took her the same week as Mahmoud Khalil — has been hospitalized after having a seizure.
Her whereabouts & health are now unknown.
The Trump admin alleges she supports Hamas because…she sent money to help family in Gaza.
Her whereabouts & health are now unknown.
The Trump admin alleges she supports Hamas because…she sent money to help family in Gaza.
February 8, 2026 at 4:32 AM
Note: Just like Mohsen Mahdawi, ICE snatched Leqaa at what she thought was a routine immigration check-in, after she protested Israel’s genocide of Gaza.
They then took her from New Jersey to Texas—where she’s been detained for nearly a year.
Now she’s hospitalized and her whereabouts are unknown.
They then took her from New Jersey to Texas—where she’s been detained for nearly a year.
Now she’s hospitalized and her whereabouts are unknown.
Reposted by Joseph Howley
February 6, 2026 at 12:17 PM
This is from a column explaining the concepts of macros and templates that makes an interesting time capsule read about automation in personal computing
illustration, personal computing, magazine (1986) archive.org/details/pers...
February 6, 2026 at 10:56 AM
This is from a column explaining the concepts of macros and templates that makes an interesting time capsule read about automation in personal computing