Justin Raden
@jraden.bsky.social
orca enthusiast / cat media theorist / contingent academic
The Trump 2.0 smash and grab really does put the lie to the notion that there is a “fix” to the current crisis of accumulation. The options appear to be managed decline or accelerationist carnage.
Trump: "I don't want to drive housing prices down. I want to drive housing prices up for people who own homes."
January 29, 2026 at 7:33 PM
The Trump 2.0 smash and grab really does put the lie to the notion that there is a “fix” to the current crisis of accumulation. The options appear to be managed decline or accelerationist carnage.
Reposted by Justin Raden
Grok, did you test the O-ring seal before launch?
Yes! Absolutely—the O-ring is a key component in ensuring a safe & epic ride on any SpaceX™️rocket. Enjoy your trip! 👍
Yes! Absolutely—the O-ring is a key component in ensuring a safe & epic ride on any SpaceX™️rocket. Enjoy your trip! 👍
omg
*SPACEX IN MERGER TALKS WITH XAI AHEAD OF PLANNED IPO: REUTERS
*SHARES OF XAI WOULD BE EXCHANGED FOR SHARES IN SPACEX: REUTERS
*TWO ENTITIES SET UP IN NEVADA TO FACILITATE TRANSACTION: RTRS
*SPACEX IN MERGER TALKS WITH XAI AHEAD OF PLANNED IPO: REUTERS
*SHARES OF XAI WOULD BE EXCHANGED FOR SHARES IN SPACEX: REUTERS
*TWO ENTITIES SET UP IN NEVADA TO FACILITATE TRANSACTION: RTRS
Exclusive: Musk's SpaceX in merger talks with xAI ahead of planned IPO, source says
Elon Musk's SpaceX and xAI are in discussions to merge ahead of a blockbuster public offering planned for later this year. The combination would bring Musk’s rockets, Starlink satellites, the X social...
www.reuters.com
January 29, 2026 at 6:59 PM
Grok, did you test the O-ring seal before launch?
Yes! Absolutely—the O-ring is a key component in ensuring a safe & epic ride on any SpaceX™️rocket. Enjoy your trip! 👍
Yes! Absolutely—the O-ring is a key component in ensuring a safe & epic ride on any SpaceX™️rocket. Enjoy your trip! 👍
Hot take: Jean Paulhan’s Les Fleurs de Tarbes (1941) is the best book on generative AI out there.
January 29, 2026 at 6:05 PM
Hot take: Jean Paulhan’s Les Fleurs de Tarbes (1941) is the best book on generative AI out there.
Reposted by Justin Raden
Just found this tacked up at the college at which I teach, which has recently signed a deal with Anthropic, which stole 6 of my books and books by 131 colleagues.
January 29, 2026 at 5:28 PM
Just found this tacked up at the college at which I teach, which has recently signed a deal with Anthropic, which stole 6 of my books and books by 131 colleagues.
If you thought Bovino’s demotion would change anything, you fell for it
Video from this morning shows ICE agents deploying tear gas outside a Minneapolis preschool as parents shout, “This is a preschool! There’s kids here!”
January 27, 2026 at 8:30 PM
If you thought Bovino’s demotion would change anything, you fell for it
Reposted by Justin Raden
New: Unsealed court docs detail Big Tech’s yearslong, secret race to ingest the collective works of humanity, including Anthropic’s project to “destructively scan all the books in the world.”
Gift link: wapo.st/4rjXAMQ
Gift link: wapo.st/4rjXAMQ
How Silicon Valley built AI: Buying, scanning and destroying millions of books
Court filings reveal how AI companies raced to obtain more books to feed chatbots, including by buying, scanning and disposing of millions of titles.
wapo.st
January 27, 2026 at 3:20 PM
New: Unsealed court docs detail Big Tech’s yearslong, secret race to ingest the collective works of humanity, including Anthropic’s project to “destructively scan all the books in the world.”
Gift link: wapo.st/4rjXAMQ
Gift link: wapo.st/4rjXAMQ
Sorry, no, this is not a “political realignment.” This is very much in keeping with the techno-libertarianism that has dominated Silicon Valley’s executive class for decades. They were naming their kids and companies after Ayn Rand characters back in the 90s.
The Brockmans’ move into Republican megadonor territory highlights a broader political realignment underway in Silicon Valley. https://thein.fo/49FCQZS
How Greg and Anna Brockman Became MAGA Megadonors
In November, Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president and co-founder, and his wife, Anna, enjoyed a glitzy night out in Washington: a White House state dinner for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The ...
thein.fo
January 27, 2026 at 1:43 PM
Sorry, no, this is not a “political realignment.” This is very much in keeping with the techno-libertarianism that has dominated Silicon Valley’s executive class for decades. They were naming their kids and companies after Ayn Rand characters back in the 90s.
Reposted by Justin Raden
The Dig you’ve been waiting for to understand the political economy of AI as it becomes fulcrum of global contests and conflicts over economic and military dominance. My interview w/ @nsrnicek.bsky.social on his book Silicon Empires: The Fight for the Future of AI www.thedigradio.com/podcast/sili...
Silicon Empires w/ Nick Srnicek
Nick Srnicek on Silicon Empires: The Fight for the Future of AI. A deep exploration of the political economy of AI: the fulcrum of the authoritarian tech oligarchy—and of global contests for economic ...
www.thedigradio.com
January 26, 2026 at 11:43 PM
The Dig you’ve been waiting for to understand the political economy of AI as it becomes fulcrum of global contests and conflicts over economic and military dominance. My interview w/ @nsrnicek.bsky.social on his book Silicon Empires: The Fight for the Future of AI www.thedigradio.com/podcast/sili...
Reposted by Justin Raden
Calling all the PhDs I know to make monumental annoyances of themselves (and honestly, who better)
January 21, 2026 at 9:16 PM
Calling all the PhDs I know to make monumental annoyances of themselves (and honestly, who better)
People better equipped than me to think about this: how does the Trump regulatory picture on AI dovetail with the Brenner/Riley articulation of “political capitalism”?
🧵 Trump administration AI policy is widely described as deregulatory. This description is misleading. What's happening is not the absence of governance but its rearrangement--intensive state intervention operating through mechanisms we don't typically call regulation. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The mirage of AI deregulation
One of the most interventionist approaches to technology governance in the United States in a generation has cloaked itself in the language of deregulation. In early December 2025, President Donald Tr...
www.science.org
January 18, 2026 at 9:59 PM
People better equipped than me to think about this: how does the Trump regulatory picture on AI dovetail with the Brenner/Riley articulation of “political capitalism”?
I’m currently visiting my parents, which is the only time I really watch any TV, so this is the first time I’m learning everyone is evidently obsessed with electrolytes!?
January 14, 2026 at 8:28 PM
I’m currently visiting my parents, which is the only time I really watch any TV, so this is the first time I’m learning everyone is evidently obsessed with electrolytes!?
Reposted by Justin Raden
thedigradio.com/History%20of...
Good time for people who haven’t to listen to @thedigradio.bsky.social 5 part series on the political and social history of modern iran with @eskandarsadeghi.bsky.social and golnar nikpour
Good time for people who haven’t to listen to @thedigradio.bsky.social 5 part series on the political and social history of modern iran with @eskandarsadeghi.bsky.social and golnar nikpour
Iran
thedigradio.com
January 11, 2026 at 6:24 PM
thedigradio.com/History%20of...
Good time for people who haven’t to listen to @thedigradio.bsky.social 5 part series on the political and social history of modern iran with @eskandarsadeghi.bsky.social and golnar nikpour
Good time for people who haven’t to listen to @thedigradio.bsky.social 5 part series on the political and social history of modern iran with @eskandarsadeghi.bsky.social and golnar nikpour
“What the driver was or wasn't doing with her vehicle is irrelevant; so are the ICE agent's feelings about it. The agents never had to be clustered around the woman's vehicle in the first place. They never had to try to extract her from it.“
ICE Agent Kills Woman, DHS Tells Obvious, Insane Lies About It | Defector
On Wednesday in Minneapolis, masked government agents apparently representing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) surrounded a stationary vehicle stopped in the middle of a residential street. O...
defector.com
January 7, 2026 at 10:06 PM
“What the driver was or wasn't doing with her vehicle is irrelevant; so are the ICE agent's feelings about it. The agents never had to be clustered around the woman's vehicle in the first place. They never had to try to extract her from it.“
ICE is recycling the same bullshit story they used in Chicago to cover up yet another murder.
January 7, 2026 at 6:28 PM
ICE is recycling the same bullshit story they used in Chicago to cover up yet another murder.
Just gonna put this here, for no reason
January 4, 2026 at 5:04 PM
Just gonna put this here, for no reason
My decision to start the new year by reading Hilferding is suddenly looking very auspicious, unfortunately
January 3, 2026 at 5:31 PM
My decision to start the new year by reading Hilferding is suddenly looking very auspicious, unfortunately
Reposted by Justin Raden
This is the technology our schools are encouraging our children to use.
Uh… check out what ChatGPT allegedly told a man before he killed his mother and then himself.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
December 31, 2025 at 6:22 PM
This is the technology our schools are encouraging our children to use.
Reposted by Justin Raden
Universities embracing generative AI be like:
another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls
December 27, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Universities embracing generative AI be like:
Late to the party, but allow me to suggest that the apposite (French) historical point of comparison is the 1871 commune, not the French Revolution. Tho I’m happy to retain the guillotine. 😎
Opinion | The Billionaires Have Gone Full Louis XV
www.nytimes.com
December 23, 2025 at 2:11 AM
Late to the party, but allow me to suggest that the apposite (French) historical point of comparison is the 1871 commune, not the French Revolution. Tho I’m happy to retain the guillotine. 😎
Reposted by Justin Raden
Google Gemini Pro: please generate a map of the western united states showing cities of over 250K population
December 22, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Google Gemini Pro: please generate a map of the western united states showing cities of over 250K population
Reposted by Justin Raden
Jameson Monopoly, a thread. 1/9
December 19, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Jameson Monopoly, a thread. 1/9
Looker, dir. Michael Crichton (1981)
Hack Reveals the a16z-Backed Phone Farm Flooding TikTok With AI Influencers
A hacker gained control of a 1,100 mobile phone farm powering covert, AI-generated ads on TikTok.
www.404media.co
December 17, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Looker, dir. Michael Crichton (1981)
The NYT is a parody website
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com
To compete with superpowers like China, the U.S. military must follow the lead of America’s private sector, writes the editorial board.
To compete with superpowers like China, the U.S. military must follow the lead of America’s private sector, writes the editorial board.
Opinion | America’s Military Needs a Culture Shift
The benefits of serving have never been more appealing, but the Pentagon needs a better approach to recruiting new talent.
nyti.ms
December 13, 2025 at 5:08 AM
The NYT is a parody website