Jon Phillips
@jowiph.bsky.social
Historian of evolutionary biology and scientific racism who has somehow turned into a historian of the physical sciences. Expect lots of cat pictures and general miscellany. Baltimore.
Pinned
Jon Phillips
@jowiph.bsky.social
· Oct 5
I’ve shared these a few times on the other site, but since everything is new again, here’s a thread of extremist profiles on prominent scientific racists I wrote for @SPLC roughly 10 years ago:
The FBI may no longer be relying on SPLC, but their anti-extremist resources are still extremely worthwhile, especially these days. So in that spirit, time to re-up the thread of extremist profiles I wrote for them on scientific racists
Also completely beside the point, but capitalizing discipline/department names always makes me feel like I should be posting on Facebook, or maybe Truth Social
My only quibble with this is that, at the graduate level at least, education in History absolutely incorporates insights and methods from Gender Studies and (perhaps to a lesser extent, because contrary to rightwing scaremongering, it's actually a narrower, more specific field) Critical Race Theory
Yep, I've got a History degree and the lessons from it are far less predictive of what will happen in contemporary society than Gender Studies and Critical Race Theory, which are like that sports almanac in Back to the Future II.
January 6, 2026 at 2:31 PM
Also completely beside the point, but capitalizing discipline/department names always makes me feel like I should be posting on Facebook, or maybe Truth Social
My only quibble with this is that, at the graduate level at least, education in History absolutely incorporates insights and methods from Gender Studies and (perhaps to a lesser extent, because contrary to rightwing scaremongering, it's actually a narrower, more specific field) Critical Race Theory
Yep, I've got a History degree and the lessons from it are far less predictive of what will happen in contemporary society than Gender Studies and Critical Race Theory, which are like that sports almanac in Back to the Future II.
kind of darkly funny that "gender studies" is the stereotypical "useless degree" because gender studies will help you understand a large and important chunk of the current psychosis in american life
January 6, 2026 at 2:15 PM
My only quibble with this is that, at the graduate level at least, education in History absolutely incorporates insights and methods from Gender Studies and (perhaps to a lesser extent, because contrary to rightwing scaremongering, it's actually a narrower, more specific field) Critical Race Theory
It's 9:05 AM and I've already gotten three scam texts from "recruiters" looking to hire me today
January 6, 2026 at 2:06 PM
It's 9:05 AM and I've already gotten three scam texts from "recruiters" looking to hire me today
Reposted by Jon Phillips
kind of darkly funny that "gender studies" is the stereotypical "useless degree" because gender studies will help you understand a large and important chunk of the current psychosis in american life
January 6, 2026 at 2:00 AM
kind of darkly funny that "gender studies" is the stereotypical "useless degree" because gender studies will help you understand a large and important chunk of the current psychosis in american life
This is going to be the Grand Unified Theory of the 21st century
"weak men create hard times" meme confirmed once again. a bunch of coddled stupid dickheads who take wretched material excess entirely for granted ruining everything for no reason
January 6, 2026 at 1:28 PM
This is going to be the Grand Unified Theory of the 21st century
Reposted by Jon Phillips
this was good for growth but bad for the other verticals imo
For months, Rachel Maddow ended her broadcasts by plugging BlueSky, which seems like an important data point.
January 5, 2026 at 9:27 PM
this was good for growth but bad for the other verticals imo
Since the McRib is back in the discourse, semi-regular reminder that it was (co-) invented by the chef at the Drake Hotel in Chicago, and I'm still disappointed that we didn't have a special session on this when HSS was held at the Drake a few years back.
The Invention of the McRib and Why It Disappears from McDonald’s
How the work of two men, a Nebraska food scientist and a French chef, resulted in the miracle meat product we call the McRib. Plus: why it periodically vanishes from McDonald's, and where that meat go...
www.chicagomag.com
January 5, 2026 at 5:53 PM
Since the McRib is back in the discourse, semi-regular reminder that it was (co-) invented by the chef at the Drake Hotel in Chicago, and I'm still disappointed that we didn't have a special session on this when HSS was held at the Drake a few years back.
Genuinely unclear as to why people are freaking out over the Old Man Locksley poster
January 5, 2026 at 5:44 PM
Genuinely unclear as to why people are freaking out over the Old Man Locksley poster
I've always wondered that too, and the answer I'm going with is that the ACME Boot Company was an early pioneer in AI image generation, way ahead of its time
January 5, 2026 at 5:21 PM
I've always wondered that too, and the answer I'm going with is that the ACME Boot Company was an early pioneer in AI image generation, way ahead of its time
Reposted by Jon Phillips
Not even the prompts. If you are a Twitter user in the UK and Twitter sticks a Grok CSAM image in your feed for WHATEVER reason, well congrats your device just downloaded child porn. And you are legally responsible for that.
Even if nobody wants to take action against Musk for building a CSAM generator, there are people using it who are based in the UK and those prompts are absolutely something that would get you on the sex offender's register. Absolutely no justification not to try to identify and prosecute users.
January 5, 2026 at 4:54 PM
Not even the prompts. If you are a Twitter user in the UK and Twitter sticks a Grok CSAM image in your feed for WHATEVER reason, well congrats your device just downloaded child porn. And you are legally responsible for that.
Back when I was researching Shockley a little over a decade ago, I actually had to subscribe to Playboy to access this interview. Extremely glad it's publicly available now
Syl Jones' interview of William Shockley in Playboy remains one of the greatest works of science journalism ever
January 5, 2026 at 5:06 PM
Back when I was researching Shockley a little over a decade ago, I actually had to subscribe to Playboy to access this interview. Extremely glad it's publicly available now
Reposted by Jon Phillips
Seriously, it's well worth your time to read a Black journalist Chotiner-ing the highest-profile scientific racist of the day, a Nobel laureate, no less
Syl Jones' interview of William Shockley in Playboy remains one of the greatest works of science journalism ever
January 1, 2026 at 2:33 AM
Seriously, it's well worth your time to read a Black journalist Chotiner-ing the highest-profile scientific racist of the day, a Nobel laureate, no less
PSA for any bat-friends inspired by this post: thick work gloves like the ones being worn in this picture are absolutely necessary before attempting to handle a bat! Do not let it anywhere near bare skin! And if it appears ill or is acting erratically, do not approach, just call a pro
Hey if I'm late on my next deadline its because I just spent 2 hours swabbing this guy with oil to save him from a moth trap
January 5, 2026 at 4:17 PM
PSA for any bat-friends inspired by this post: thick work gloves like the ones being worn in this picture are absolutely necessary before attempting to handle a bat! Do not let it anywhere near bare skin! And if it appears ill or is acting erratically, do not approach, just call a pro
Reposted by Jon Phillips
Syllabus help: Looking for an article about eugenics history that can help introduce students (especially upper level undergrads) to the history of eugenics in the 19th-20th c in the US.
It’s for a class where students’ main competencies are mostly not humanities/social sciences.
Suggestions?
It’s for a class where students’ main competencies are mostly not humanities/social sciences.
Suggestions?
January 5, 2026 at 6:35 AM
Syllabus help: Looking for an article about eugenics history that can help introduce students (especially upper level undergrads) to the history of eugenics in the 19th-20th c in the US.
It’s for a class where students’ main competencies are mostly not humanities/social sciences.
Suggestions?
It’s for a class where students’ main competencies are mostly not humanities/social sciences.
Suggestions?
Something that worries me a lot is that the cultural memory of the worst atrocities of the 20th century as embodied in the survivors has been the single most effective guardrail against history repeating itself, and we'll likely have to re-learn those lessons the hard way
LONDON (AP) — Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96.
Holocaust survivor Eva Schloss, stepsister of Anne Frank, dies at 96
LONDON (AP) — Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96.
www.winnipegfreepress.com
January 5, 2026 at 4:01 PM
Something that worries me a lot is that the cultural memory of the worst atrocities of the 20th century as embodied in the survivors has been the single most effective guardrail against history repeating itself, and we'll likely have to re-learn those lessons the hard way
Reposted by Jon Phillips
you guys ever see Looper
UPDATE: William DeFoor, 26, arrested after trying to break into Vice President JD Vance's Ohio home. He was using a hammer to break the windows - WXIX
January 5, 2026 at 3:45 PM
you guys ever see Looper
The one silver lining of all the incredibly tedious drama yesterday is that I learned that the hyper-aggro self-described "academic" at the center of it is an undergrad, which is deeply funny
January 5, 2026 at 2:27 PM
The one silver lining of all the incredibly tedious drama yesterday is that I learned that the hyper-aggro self-described "academic" at the center of it is an undergrad, which is deeply funny
I feel like "everyone carries the panopticon on their person at all times" and "it's trivially easy to produce realistic fake audio/video on demand" are each incredibly destabilizing on their own, both socially and epistemically, but the combo of the two is going to be wild in ways we can't predict
“Recordings captured by the Vocci rings are saved to the cloud, so you may not want to wear the ring when you're discussing sensitive content.” 🤷🏿♂️
This AI Smart Ring Can Listen In on Your Meetings
The Vocci AI smart ring feels like an Oura ring designed to act as a personal assistant at work.
www.cnet.com
January 5, 2026 at 2:22 PM
I feel like "everyone carries the panopticon on their person at all times" and "it's trivially easy to produce realistic fake audio/video on demand" are each incredibly destabilizing on their own, both socially and epistemically, but the combo of the two is going to be wild in ways we can't predict
Reposted by Jon Phillips
Yeah, it has long been the case that adult-oriented businesses have to be careful or risk the wrath of everyone from prosecutors to payment-processing companies, but "prominent social media company owned by world's richest person swiftly became world's largest CSAM producer" produces no reaction.
Elon Musk chatbot repeatedly making CSAM on demand should be one of the single biggest stories right now and it's effectively a collective shrug instead
January 5, 2026 at 1:49 PM
Yeah, it has long been the case that adult-oriented businesses have to be careful or risk the wrath of everyone from prosecutors to payment-processing companies, but "prominent social media company owned by world's richest person swiftly became world's largest CSAM producer" produces no reaction.
I'm morbidly curious as to what an invasion or attempted annexation of Greenland would even look like in practice. Do we show up and start building military bases for occupying troops and hope Denmark doesn't do anything? Threaten Copenhagen if they don't cede Greenland?
January 5, 2026 at 1:14 AM
I'm morbidly curious as to what an invasion or attempted annexation of Greenland would even look like in practice. Do we show up and start building military bases for occupying troops and hope Denmark doesn't do anything? Threaten Copenhagen if they don't cede Greenland?
Come the fuck on
January 4, 2026 at 8:48 PM
Come the fuck on
Does software fall under the remit of the Consumer Product Safety Commission?
OpenAI is now facing a total of 8 wrongful death lawsuits from grieving families....who claim that ChatGPT, in particular, the GPT-4o version, drove their loved ones to suicide. Soelberg’s complaint also alleges that company executives knew the chatbot was defective before it pushed it to the public
He put his complete trust in a chat bot that turned him into a savage murderer.
January 4, 2026 at 7:47 PM
Does software fall under the remit of the Consumer Product Safety Commission?
Reposted by Jon Phillips
NASA to announce new, planned Nancy Grace telescope, dedicated to searching the universe for new true crime stories to sensationalize
January 4, 2026 at 6:51 PM
NASA to announce new, planned Nancy Grace telescope, dedicated to searching the universe for new true crime stories to sensationalize
Reposted by Jon Phillips
Anyone who drops “Nordic” unironically is undoubtedly one of the most racist people you will ever come across
January 4, 2026 at 5:40 PM
Anyone who drops “Nordic” unironically is undoubtedly one of the most racist people you will ever come across