Jeremy Ackerman-Yost
@j-ackerman-yost.bsky.social
Reader. Science nerd. TTRPG enthusiast.
Trying very hard to be a humanist in modern America.
Trying very hard to be a humanist in modern America.
Reposted by Jeremy Ackerman-Yost
Call me crazy, but if the President alone can throw the way we fund all basic research and keep universities afloat into a tailspin … maybe the way we fund them is criminally flawed.
Stop the house from burning down, but as soon as we do, let’s look at that faulty wiring that led to the fire, eh?
Stop the house from burning down, but as soon as we do, let’s look at that faulty wiring that led to the fire, eh?
January 29, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Call me crazy, but if the President alone can throw the way we fund all basic research and keep universities afloat into a tailspin … maybe the way we fund them is criminally flawed.
Stop the house from burning down, but as soon as we do, let’s look at that faulty wiring that led to the fire, eh?
Stop the house from burning down, but as soon as we do, let’s look at that faulty wiring that led to the fire, eh?
GOP now makes big swings at Reactionary and Authoritarian change, but have trouble getting it done because their tent is too wide. Never thought I would pine for the days when the Dems were the big tent party who tried and failed … but at least they were trying. Poorly. But it was something.
January 27, 2025 at 10:50 PM
GOP now makes big swings at Reactionary and Authoritarian change, but have trouble getting it done because their tent is too wide. Never thought I would pine for the days when the Dems were the big tent party who tried and failed … but at least they were trying. Poorly. But it was something.
Because the Republicans are a mix of Conservatives, Authoritarians, and misc Reactionary types. This is why both parties focus on culture war issues, and why when Dems have power they play in the margins. The system that exists fundamentally works for them.
January 27, 2025 at 10:50 PM
Because the Republicans are a mix of Conservatives, Authoritarians, and misc Reactionary types. This is why both parties focus on culture war issues, and why when Dems have power they play in the margins. The system that exists fundamentally works for them.
That would be correct if the opposition wanted change. The Democratic leadership is already well and truly captured by oligarchy. We call the parties Liberal and Conservative, but that’s not correct. The Dems are Conservative, and everyone Liberal or Progressive has no choice but to caucus with them
January 27, 2025 at 10:50 PM
That would be correct if the opposition wanted change. The Democratic leadership is already well and truly captured by oligarchy. We call the parties Liberal and Conservative, but that’s not correct. The Dems are Conservative, and everyone Liberal or Progressive has no choice but to caucus with them
I work with several AI evangelists, none of whom have given me as accurate a summary of AI as this.
I've built a machine that can be Confidently Wrong. It can also make pictures that all look a bit the same, as well as make a video of you kissing any celebrity or person you know. In payment, I'd like to boil the world's oceans dry, & steal all literature. For some reason, my head is not on a spike
January 24, 2025 at 10:58 PM
I work with several AI evangelists, none of whom have given me as accurate a summary of AI as this.
Object lesson in ignorance of biology? … sure.
Sad AF about this being the basis for policy? … also that.
But as a former research biologist … I did laugh.
youtu.be/hruWf2ANJjM?...
Sad AF about this being the basis for policy? … also that.
But as a former research biologist … I did laugh.
youtu.be/hruWf2ANJjM?...
Let's talk about the new Madame President....
YouTube video by Belle of the Ranch
youtu.be
January 23, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Object lesson in ignorance of biology? … sure.
Sad AF about this being the basis for policy? … also that.
But as a former research biologist … I did laugh.
youtu.be/hruWf2ANJjM?...
Sad AF about this being the basis for policy? … also that.
But as a former research biologist … I did laugh.
youtu.be/hruWf2ANJjM?...
He has the “strength” of a dog who fear bites.
You have to respect the danger that is presented, but it comes from weakness, not strength.
You have to respect the danger that is presented, but it comes from weakness, not strength.
January 23, 2025 at 4:52 PM
He has the “strength” of a dog who fear bites.
You have to respect the danger that is presented, but it comes from weakness, not strength.
You have to respect the danger that is presented, but it comes from weakness, not strength.
Look at how easily cowed he is by real authoritarians. Look at how quickly he rewrites history to reframe his failures. Look at how he reacts to any slight. These are fear responses. He is fundamentally driven by fear.
January 23, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Look at how easily cowed he is by real authoritarians. Look at how quickly he rewrites history to reframe his failures. Look at how he reacts to any slight. These are fear responses. He is fundamentally driven by fear.
You and I have very different concepts of how to define strength. Kicking down at people with less social power is not strength. Low cunning sufficient to snow the uninformed is not strength. Being easily manipulated and having poor emotional regulation are not strengths.
January 23, 2025 at 4:52 PM
You and I have very different concepts of how to define strength. Kicking down at people with less social power is not strength. Low cunning sufficient to snow the uninformed is not strength. Being easily manipulated and having poor emotional regulation are not strengths.
As some have already pointed out, your question assumes price is no object, which is either a sign of spectacular privilege or like doing your physics equations assuming a frictionless, zero gravity vacuum. Sort of academic and useless. The short answer is it becomes a class signifier.
January 23, 2025 at 4:31 PM
As some have already pointed out, your question assumes price is no object, which is either a sign of spectacular privilege or like doing your physics equations assuming a frictionless, zero gravity vacuum. Sort of academic and useless. The short answer is it becomes a class signifier.
Our politics have enabled power to accrue in ways that leave the majority of people feeling weak. Not just weak, but powerless. Our legislature is so disconnected from our needs that learned helplessness is a rational response.
I possess enough privilege to be irrational on this point. I’m angry.
I possess enough privilege to be irrational on this point. I’m angry.
January 23, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Our politics have enabled power to accrue in ways that leave the majority of people feeling weak. Not just weak, but powerless. Our legislature is so disconnected from our needs that learned helplessness is a rational response.
I possess enough privilege to be irrational on this point. I’m angry.
I possess enough privilege to be irrational on this point. I’m angry.
My coping mechanisms suck. Instead of paying attention to the big train wreck, I decided to engage in the (relatively) low stakes conversations about TikTok, data privacy, and security theater.
So … mid-grade headache chosen over full-blown migraine.
So … mid-grade headache chosen over full-blown migraine.
January 21, 2025 at 1:20 AM
My coping mechanisms suck. Instead of paying attention to the big train wreck, I decided to engage in the (relatively) low stakes conversations about TikTok, data privacy, and security theater.
So … mid-grade headache chosen over full-blown migraine.
So … mid-grade headache chosen over full-blown migraine.
Short read, but both excellent and horrifying. Pretty standard for today, really.
Utterly brilliant: Pete Hegseth and the Autocratic Strategy of Engineered Incompetence open.substack.com/pub/lucid/p/...
Pete Hegseth and the Autocratic Strategy of Engineered Incompetence
Three Ways that Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense Could Harm the U.S. Military
open.substack.com
January 20, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Short read, but both excellent and horrifying. Pretty standard for today, really.
Personally, I think the narrow approach to data protection only when the owner is foreign is the wrong path, but it’s still the law at the moment, and it should be enforced.
Either way, I will be advocating for better laws that actually protect Americans.
Either way, I will be advocating for better laws that actually protect Americans.
January 20, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Personally, I think the narrow approach to data protection only when the owner is foreign is the wrong path, but it’s still the law at the moment, and it should be enforced.
Either way, I will be advocating for better laws that actually protect Americans.
Either way, I will be advocating for better laws that actually protect Americans.
Lovely straw man you have there. Thinking this ban was not necessary is not the same thing as thinking Trump ignoring the Constitution is a good thing.
You can be unhappy with all of the current set of outcomes. Especially when the entire situation has been framed incorrectly.
You can be unhappy with all of the current set of outcomes. Especially when the entire situation has been framed incorrectly.
January 20, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Lovely straw man you have there. Thinking this ban was not necessary is not the same thing as thinking Trump ignoring the Constitution is a good thing.
You can be unhappy with all of the current set of outcomes. Especially when the entire situation has been framed incorrectly.
You can be unhappy with all of the current set of outcomes. Especially when the entire situation has been framed incorrectly.
It’s part of it, sure, but not even a particularly effective part. Again, let’s be comparative. What makes that app uniquely worse than all the others?
And you are giving Trump too much credit. He will absolutely shoot himself in the foot if his ego is harmed in any way.
And you are giving Trump too much credit. He will absolutely shoot himself in the foot if his ego is harmed in any way.
January 20, 2025 at 6:17 PM
It’s part of it, sure, but not even a particularly effective part. Again, let’s be comparative. What makes that app uniquely worse than all the others?
And you are giving Trump too much credit. He will absolutely shoot himself in the foot if his ego is harmed in any way.
And you are giving Trump too much credit. He will absolutely shoot himself in the foot if his ego is harmed in any way.
While I acknowledge that TikTok has the POTENTIAL to become the biggest problem in that space, it is currently the least problematic, AFAICT. Potential bad in the future isn’t my worry when my sociological house is currently burning down around my ears. Hence my scorpion metaphor.
January 20, 2025 at 6:13 PM
While I acknowledge that TikTok has the POTENTIAL to become the biggest problem in that space, it is currently the least problematic, AFAICT. Potential bad in the future isn’t my worry when my sociological house is currently burning down around my ears. Hence my scorpion metaphor.
To try to bring this back to the point, and something like argument … What makes TikTok so uniquely worse that the appropriate response was narrow? Why not instantiate data protection for all Americans? Why not try to return media literacy to American education?
January 20, 2025 at 6:13 PM
To try to bring this back to the point, and something like argument … What makes TikTok so uniquely worse that the appropriate response was narrow? Why not instantiate data protection for all Americans? Why not try to return media literacy to American education?
Since the point of my post original post was comparative …
it’s also less pernicious than, say … removing fact checking and roadblocks against hate speech, like Meta is doing. Or any damn thing that Elon has done. Or the sheer amount of utter crap I have to keep telling YouTube to stop showing me.
it’s also less pernicious than, say … removing fact checking and roadblocks against hate speech, like Meta is doing. Or any damn thing that Elon has done. Or the sheer amount of utter crap I have to keep telling YouTube to stop showing me.
January 20, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Since the point of my post original post was comparative …
it’s also less pernicious than, say … removing fact checking and roadblocks against hate speech, like Meta is doing. Or any damn thing that Elon has done. Or the sheer amount of utter crap I have to keep telling YouTube to stop showing me.
it’s also less pernicious than, say … removing fact checking and roadblocks against hate speech, like Meta is doing. Or any damn thing that Elon has done. Or the sheer amount of utter crap I have to keep telling YouTube to stop showing me.
You’re using a blatant political statement used to stay in Trump’s good graces as a talking point about how subtle and pernicious they are?
Sure. Like I said earlier, that sucks. But this one takes no media literacy at all to see through.
Sure. Like I said earlier, that sucks. But this one takes no media literacy at all to see through.
January 20, 2025 at 6:13 PM
You’re using a blatant political statement used to stay in Trump’s good graces as a talking point about how subtle and pernicious they are?
Sure. Like I said earlier, that sucks. But this one takes no media literacy at all to see through.
Sure. Like I said earlier, that sucks. But this one takes no media literacy at all to see through.
The only way to escape the toxic crap on Facebook, Twitter, etc is to just stop using the app.
January 20, 2025 at 4:48 PM
The only way to escape the toxic crap on Facebook, Twitter, etc is to just stop using the app.
My suspicion based on how people talk about “fixing their algorithm” after clicking on stuff like that is that you effectively opted intoit by engaging with it in the first place. Which sucks. But unlike the American corporate algorithms … the prevailing wisdom is it’s fixable by the user.
January 20, 2025 at 4:48 PM
My suspicion based on how people talk about “fixing their algorithm” after clicking on stuff like that is that you effectively opted intoit by engaging with it in the first place. Which sucks. But unlike the American corporate algorithms … the prevailing wisdom is it’s fixable by the user.
I wasn’t on it at all. I like long-form storytelling and find TikTok and TikTok-likes actively unpleasant. But it’s not hard to find people with exactly the opposite experience you had. Most of my friends who were on TikTok found it to be a very progressive experience.
January 20, 2025 at 4:23 PM
I wasn’t on it at all. I like long-form storytelling and find TikTok and TikTok-likes actively unpleasant. But it’s not hard to find people with exactly the opposite experience you had. Most of my friends who were on TikTok found it to be a very progressive experience.
While I fully understand the danger, I would posit that it has done more good and less harm than the American-owned social media. It could be weaponized, sure, but so could (and have) the others.
Why kill the scorpion on the wall while ignoring the ones in your shoe?
Why kill the scorpion on the wall while ignoring the ones in your shoe?
January 20, 2025 at 3:57 PM
While I fully understand the danger, I would posit that it has done more good and less harm than the American-owned social media. It could be weaponized, sure, but so could (and have) the others.
Why kill the scorpion on the wall while ignoring the ones in your shoe?
Why kill the scorpion on the wall while ignoring the ones in your shoe?