Ryan Hendrickson
@imaginaryhistories.bsky.social
"You ever feel like nothin' good was ever gonna happen to you?"
"Yeah, and nothing did. So what?"
Archivist at Boston University for ~25 years, he/they
https://www.imaginaryhistories.com
"Yeah, and nothing did. So what?"
Archivist at Boston University for ~25 years, he/they
https://www.imaginaryhistories.com
women properly understand the grok images as a form of sexualized violence while (most?) men seem to view the images, including the CSAM, as harmless play where the true violence would be forcing them to stop. Neatly sums up the depressing life under patriarchal morality
January 6, 2026 at 6:07 PM
women properly understand the grok images as a form of sexualized violence while (most?) men seem to view the images, including the CSAM, as harmless play where the true violence would be forcing them to stop. Neatly sums up the depressing life under patriarchal morality
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
The problem I have with the "Okay but Maduro did these human rights violations" is that Maduro remained in power under the pretext of America constantly threatening to invade. He would have been out of leadership a decade plus ago if we had normalized relations or even just stopped threatening them.
January 5, 2026 at 6:29 PM
The problem I have with the "Okay but Maduro did these human rights violations" is that Maduro remained in power under the pretext of America constantly threatening to invade. He would have been out of leadership a decade plus ago if we had normalized relations or even just stopped threatening them.
What actually happened: capital plundered the former colonies throwing their societies into violence and chaos; the refugees were welcomed as cheap labor by their former imperial overlords; those refugees were then scapegoated for social problems
Eyes wide open, folks. They're revealing the supervillain plot.
January 5, 2026 at 7:30 PM
What actually happened: capital plundered the former colonies throwing their societies into violence and chaos; the refugees were welcomed as cheap labor by their former imperial overlords; those refugees were then scapegoated for social problems
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
What makes rituals work? From prayer to sacrifice to public ceremonies they hold a special power to invoke feelings. But exactly what *is* that feeling? Scholars tend to portray it as a primal, indescribable "experience" but in my Ritual, Myth, and Music class we take a different path inside it (1)
December 27, 2025 at 6:03 PM
What makes rituals work? From prayer to sacrifice to public ceremonies they hold a special power to invoke feelings. But exactly what *is* that feeling? Scholars tend to portray it as a primal, indescribable "experience" but in my Ritual, Myth, and Music class we take a different path inside it (1)
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
some identify publicly with the left because they hate oppression, others because they hate being oppressed. things will make more sense when you keep in mind that these are not the same - or even similar
January 4, 2026 at 10:28 PM
some identify publicly with the left because they hate oppression, others because they hate being oppressed. things will make more sense when you keep in mind that these are not the same - or even similar
Part of a pattern of Trump vainly trying to recreate a bygone socio-economic system that was practically dead in the US by the late 80s. Classic dementia behavior
Venezuela's oil is among the dirtiest oils in the world to produce when it comes to global warming.
But revitalizing the industry will take years (it’s taken Iraq 20+). Even harder with only ‘concepts of a plan’
My thoughts for @juliaradio.bsky.social @npr.org
www.npr.org/2026/01/04/n...
But revitalizing the industry will take years (it’s taken Iraq 20+). Even harder with only ‘concepts of a plan’
My thoughts for @juliaradio.bsky.social @npr.org
www.npr.org/2026/01/04/n...
Trump wants U.S. oil companies in Venezuela. Here's what to know
President Trump wants more U.S. oil companies to "go in" to Venezuela. But there are economic, historical, and climate reasons that may not be easy. Here's what you need to know about oil in Venezuela...
www.npr.org
January 4, 2026 at 3:27 PM
Part of a pattern of Trump vainly trying to recreate a bygone socio-economic system that was practically dead in the US by the late 80s. Classic dementia behavior
The pseudo-coup and Nigeria “bombing” convinced me that various gov officials are just creating little hypernormal vignettes to occupy and amuse Trump, something for him to watch footage of
January 4, 2026 at 4:36 AM
The pseudo-coup and Nigeria “bombing” convinced me that various gov officials are just creating little hypernormal vignettes to occupy and amuse Trump, something for him to watch footage of
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
The oil companies knew about this before the U.S. Congress www.politico.com/news/2026/01...
January 3, 2026 at 10:53 PM
The oil companies knew about this before the U.S. Congress www.politico.com/news/2026/01...
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
Now, I know how the systems work: while these systems do engage in some “exchange” with their digital environments, they are int implicated in them, they do not live through them in the ways an organism might. To do so would require embodiment and culture.
January 4, 2026 at 1:18 AM
Now, I know how the systems work: while these systems do engage in some “exchange” with their digital environments, they are int implicated in them, they do not live through them in the ways an organism might. To do so would require embodiment and culture.
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
Conflating data exchange with organism/environment transaction is an extremely dangerous path to go down.
January 4, 2026 at 1:18 AM
Conflating data exchange with organism/environment transaction is an extremely dangerous path to go down.
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
Days after his third dementia screening in six months the president of the United States, who is an open pedophile, abducts a foreign head of state
January 3, 2026 at 9:00 PM
Days after his third dementia screening in six months the president of the United States, who is an open pedophile, abducts a foreign head of state
So Maduro’s VP became a CIA asset to sell him out, huh. But they had to stage it as a violent overthrow for Trump’s viewing pleasure
January 3, 2026 at 10:42 PM
So Maduro’s VP became a CIA asset to sell him out, huh. But they had to stage it as a violent overthrow for Trump’s viewing pleasure
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
no one stopped him from buying the US election, so he's doing the same with the UK, French and German elections too. Pretty logical progression. Europe's center-right and center-left are just as delusional and paralyzed in inaction as the Dems here were. They can't even log off the guy's website!
any country that tries to express an opposition to CSAM will be rewarded with musk attempting to incite a far-right terrorist coup
guys, "the judges at the ICC are being sanctioned by the USA and can't access their iphones or bank accounts" and "why aren't any countries banning twitter or prosecuting elon musk for owning a site that manufactures CSAM" stories are the same story
January 2, 2026 at 7:03 PM
no one stopped him from buying the US election, so he's doing the same with the UK, French and German elections too. Pretty logical progression. Europe's center-right and center-left are just as delusional and paralyzed in inaction as the Dems here were. They can't even log off the guy's website!
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
guys, "the judges at the ICC are being sanctioned by the USA and can't access their iphones or bank accounts" and "why aren't any countries banning twitter or prosecuting elon musk for owning a site that manufactures CSAM" stories are the same story
January 2, 2026 at 6:58 PM
guys, "the judges at the ICC are being sanctioned by the USA and can't access their iphones or bank accounts" and "why aren't any countries banning twitter or prosecuting elon musk for owning a site that manufactures CSAM" stories are the same story
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
This brainrot is more responsible for the rise of authoritarianism in the US than any of the wokeness it will not shut up about
January 2, 2026 at 3:01 PM
This brainrot is more responsible for the rise of authoritarianism in the US than any of the wokeness it will not shut up about
If the past is any guide, the reaction of the tech sector to “your product produces/facilitates X evil thing” is to push hard to normalize and mainstream the evil. So you can predict his they will react here, but not what the backlash might be
I am very concerned that the reaction of political, business and media elites to the creation of a massive public CSAM engine by some of the richest people in the world is gonna be a big collective shrug and I do not feel good about this
This does seem just a little bit bad! Idk the sort of thing you’d think politicians might distance themselves from or something!
January 2, 2026 at 8:36 PM
If the past is any guide, the reaction of the tech sector to “your product produces/facilitates X evil thing” is to push hard to normalize and mainstream the evil. So you can predict his they will react here, but not what the backlash might be
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
Given that functionalism has been a dead letter since the 1980s, and computationalism is a species of functionalism, the continuing popularity of the latter, even by those who should know better, is puzzling. Industry certainly has gotten its hooks into a lot of people.
We assume intelligence is computable not because we’ve proven it, but because we’ve lost the ability to conceptualize it any other way.
www.ocrampal.com/the-ultimate...
#philosophy #science #psychology #AI #intelligence #physics #biology #philmind #philsci #philsky #philpsy #neurosky #neuroskyence
www.ocrampal.com/the-ultimate...
#philosophy #science #psychology #AI #intelligence #physics #biology #philmind #philsci #philsky #philpsy #neurosky #neuroskyence
The Ultimate Hammer: Why Programmers Can't See Beyond Computation
* Alex: Senior engineer at a leading AI lab, 15 years of experience in machine learning
* Morgan: Philosopher of science with a background in biology
Alex: Look, I know you philosophers love to comp...
www.ocrampal.com
January 1, 2026 at 5:41 PM
Given that functionalism has been a dead letter since the 1980s, and computationalism is a species of functionalism, the continuing popularity of the latter, even by those who should know better, is puzzling. Industry certainly has gotten its hooks into a lot of people.
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
this is the shit that makes me go full revolutionary lmao.
"Liberal democracy is when we all get together and purge the undesirables."
"Liberal democracy is when we all get together and purge the undesirables."
She helped pass a bill—which is 100% part of liberalism. Maybe you don’t like the bill. Maybe the bill will hurt some people and have bad outcomes. But that’s part of liberal democracy.
December 30, 2025 at 7:45 PM
this is the shit that makes me go full revolutionary lmao.
"Liberal democracy is when we all get together and purge the undesirables."
"Liberal democracy is when we all get together and purge the undesirables."
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
For liberal democracy to be worth a shit people have to apply those liberal principles to everyone, not just the in-groups and guys like Johnathan simply don't see this as a requirement. He acts like this is just how the system works and if so, it's just straight up broken for a lot of people.
December 30, 2025 at 7:57 PM
For liberal democracy to be worth a shit people have to apply those liberal principles to everyone, not just the in-groups and guys like Johnathan simply don't see this as a requirement. He acts like this is just how the system works and if so, it's just straight up broken for a lot of people.
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
Then when normies (liberals and conservatives alike) found out, they went, "Well, you certainly can't be allowed to be happy without MY having a say-so" and then just...
Now nothing matters. You can't use evidence or reason or empathy, all of those are discarded for christofascist bullshit.
Now nothing matters. You can't use evidence or reason or empathy, all of those are discarded for christofascist bullshit.
December 30, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Then when normies (liberals and conservatives alike) found out, they went, "Well, you certainly can't be allowed to be happy without MY having a say-so" and then just...
Now nothing matters. You can't use evidence or reason or empathy, all of those are discarded for christofascist bullshit.
Now nothing matters. You can't use evidence or reason or empathy, all of those are discarded for christofascist bullshit.
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
The gender affirming care debate is a perfect example of the utter failure of liberal democracy. See, we spent decades building up evidence and convincing doctors that we were human beings who could be trusted to talk about our own needs. We got laws passed, procedures changed, people to listen.
December 30, 2025 at 7:52 PM
The gender affirming care debate is a perfect example of the utter failure of liberal democracy. See, we spent decades building up evidence and convincing doctors that we were human beings who could be trusted to talk about our own needs. We got laws passed, procedures changed, people to listen.
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
look we're all making a big bet on AI! and if it pays off as big as we hope, well, it's going to make a handful of people super rich and you're going to lose your job but get to watch mickey mouse fuck geralt from the witcher. if it doesn't pay off well then you get to pay for the bailouts
December 29, 2025 at 2:25 AM
look we're all making a big bet on AI! and if it pays off as big as we hope, well, it's going to make a handful of people super rich and you're going to lose your job but get to watch mickey mouse fuck geralt from the witcher. if it doesn't pay off well then you get to pay for the bailouts
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
From a recent interview with the eminent social scientist Theda Skocpol
sociologica.unibo.it/article/view...
sociologica.unibo.it/article/view...
December 26, 2025 at 7:13 PM
From a recent interview with the eminent social scientist Theda Skocpol
sociologica.unibo.it/article/view...
sociologica.unibo.it/article/view...
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
I am sure this is on these professionals' minds, but I want to say it out loud: sometimes the digging you want to do is related to the actual physical form of the object! Digitizing things is a 'lossy' operation! You also have to make certain those digital records remain available, which is work!
When we say "no, everything hasn't been digitized," I need you to understand that we really mean is that virtually nothing has been digitized. This is because the realm of primary sources that historians use is incomprehensibly large.
Seems like it's worth posting this one again.
December 22, 2025 at 2:44 AM
I am sure this is on these professionals' minds, but I want to say it out loud: sometimes the digging you want to do is related to the actual physical form of the object! Digitizing things is a 'lossy' operation! You also have to make certain those digital records remain available, which is work!
This is a great thread and I would go a little further to say that as much as we loathe to admit it digitization is a huge tradeoff: more access for a lot less contextual and tactile information
When we say "no, everything hasn't been digitized," I need you to understand that we really mean is that virtually nothing has been digitized. This is because the realm of primary sources that historians use is incomprehensibly large.
Seems like it's worth posting this one again.
December 22, 2025 at 2:45 AM
This is a great thread and I would go a little further to say that as much as we loathe to admit it digitization is a huge tradeoff: more access for a lot less contextual and tactile information