Johannes Klingebiel
@klingebeil.bsky.social
Designer and researcher. STS & media stuff. Researching Hype. Doing mischief @media-lab.de. Maker of zines. Optimist aus Notwehr. ✨
🌐 johannesklingebiel.de
🌐 johannesklingebiel.de
The energy I want to bring to this year
January 1, 2026 at 11:24 AM
The energy I want to bring to this year
I adore these “design trend” collection. Every single one ends up being variations of “bold typography!”, “geometric designs!”, “neon colours!”
December 31, 2025 at 11:13 PM
I adore these “design trend” collection. Every single one ends up being variations of “bold typography!”, “geometric designs!”, “neon colours!”
A bit relieved to leave this year behind.
December 31, 2025 at 6:41 PM
A bit relieved to leave this year behind.
Worth noting that Tolkien expressed his dislike for people using his names for places and especially commercially multiple times while he was alive.
Sauron is appearing on the scene as concerns rise about crime among the most wealthy.
Sauron, the high-end home security startup for "super premium" customers, plucks a new CEO out of Sonos | TechCrunch
Sauron is appearing on the scene as concerns rise about crime among the most wealthy.
techcrunch.com
December 29, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Worth noting that Tolkien expressed his dislike for people using his names for places and especially commercially multiple times while he was alive.
Yeah… i might have done some productive procrastination over the last two weeks.
December 28, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Yeah… i might have done some productive procrastination over the last two weeks.
Reposted by Johannes Klingebiel
Our photographer Alex Kormann captured the exact moment the presses stopped for the last time in Minneapolis, ending a 158 history of locally printed newspapers.
December 28, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Our photographer Alex Kormann captured the exact moment the presses stopped for the last time in Minneapolis, ending a 158 history of locally printed newspapers.
Best example for how the myth of Bauhaus is way bigger than its actual impact.
<$250k grants from Tyler Cowan and the Stripe founder guy if you can come up with a “new aesthetic” for the 21st C. Hmmmmm ok! Hope one of my friends gets this weird money. newaesthetics.art
A Call for New Aesthetics
A Call for New Aesthetics
newaesthetics.art
December 28, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Best example for how the myth of Bauhaus is way bigger than its actual impact.
Oh look… a metaphor
another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls
December 27, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Oh look… a metaphor
Reposted by Johannes Klingebiel
I had five fascinating conversations for this RPS piece, gathering perspectives on genAI chatbots in games, as seen in Where Winds Meet. Thanks to @meghna.bsky.social, @pyrofoux.bsky.social, @maxkreminski.bsky.social, and @chrisgardiner.bsky.social www.rockpapershotgun.com/horrible-bor...
"Horrible", "boring", and "cheap": Experts pan new chatbot NPCs, but some leave room for optimism
We speak to a collection of developers and AI experts about the potential impact of LLM-powered NPCs in videogames.
www.rockpapershotgun.com
December 23, 2025 at 4:22 PM
I had five fascinating conversations for this RPS piece, gathering perspectives on genAI chatbots in games, as seen in Where Winds Meet. Thanks to @meghna.bsky.social, @pyrofoux.bsky.social, @maxkreminski.bsky.social, and @chrisgardiner.bsky.social www.rockpapershotgun.com/horrible-bor...
Reposted by Johannes Klingebiel
here's a list of readings on the myth of job replacement by AI. i might turn this into a blog post as a sort of lesson plan for anyone who wants to use it, but it's just a reminder that every time we see "self-driving" cars or delivery robots, invisibilized workers are always behind the scenes.
December 26, 2025 at 8:28 AM
here's a list of readings on the myth of job replacement by AI. i might turn this into a blog post as a sort of lesson plan for anyone who wants to use it, but it's just a reminder that every time we see "self-driving" cars or delivery robots, invisibilized workers are always behind the scenes.
Ah yes… the radio face (or podcast face in 2025?) spitfirenews.com/p/do-you-hav...
Do you have to be hot to be a journalist now?
Everyone is getting pushed to be a 'creator.' But does that mean being conventionally attractive?
spitfirenews.com
December 24, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Ah yes… the radio face (or podcast face in 2025?) spitfirenews.com/p/do-you-hav...
Reposted by Johannes Klingebiel
"This promise of an AI future, is really just a collective anxiety that wealthy people have about how well they're gonna be able to control us in the future."
- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit.
Incredible words.
Listen to all of it!
- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit.
Incredible words.
Listen to all of it!
December 19, 2025 at 12:24 PM
"This promise of an AI future, is really just a collective anxiety that wealthy people have about how well they're gonna be able to control us in the future."
- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit.
Incredible words.
Listen to all of it!
- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit.
Incredible words.
Listen to all of it!
Time for my annual holiday tradition: re-reading every single Hellboy comic.
December 23, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Time for my annual holiday tradition: re-reading every single Hellboy comic.
Hard to find the right words for this essay www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...
Opinion | Why I Keep Returning to Middle-Earth
www.nytimes.com
December 22, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Hard to find the right words for this essay www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...
Reposted by Johannes Klingebiel
If Google Maps now acts as a kind of market maker for urban demand, the obvious next question is: what would the city look like without that amplification layer? laurenleek.substack.com/p/how-google... Building a counterfactual city
How Google Maps quietly allocates survival across London’s restaurants - and how I built a dashboard to see through it
I wanted a dinner recommendation and got a research agenda instead. Using 13000+ restaurants, I rebuild its ratings with machine learning and map how algorithmic visibility actually distributes power.
laurenleek.substack.com
December 21, 2025 at 6:36 AM
If Google Maps now acts as a kind of market maker for urban demand, the obvious next question is: what would the city look like without that amplification layer? laurenleek.substack.com/p/how-google... Building a counterfactual city
Reposted by Johannes Klingebiel
@klingebeil.bsky.social: “Journalism risks becoming endlessly malleable, shaped to fit yet another set of companies’ platforms, metrics, and algorithms rather than public needs.”
www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/jour...
www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/jour...
December 19, 2025 at 4:06 PM
@klingebeil.bsky.social: “Journalism risks becoming endlessly malleable, shaped to fit yet another set of companies’ platforms, metrics, and algorithms rather than public needs.”
www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/jour...
www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/jour...
So yeah… I wrote my NiemanLab prediction with cases like these in mind. www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/jour...
December 17, 2025 at 8:33 PM
So yeah… I wrote my NiemanLab prediction with cases like these in mind. www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/jour...
Btw, this is in my experience clearly a case of bad management culture (which is instead busy talking about how much more productive AI will make their teams).
December 17, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Btw, this is in my experience clearly a case of bad management culture (which is instead busy talking about how much more productive AI will make their teams).
I do wonder how the focus on drones as something "revolutionary" meshes with the increasing push by VC-financed "tech"-companies into the defense sector www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
America’s Drone Delusion
Why the lessons of Ukraine don’t apply to a conflict with China.
www.foreignaffairs.com
December 17, 2025 at 9:45 AM
I do wonder how the focus on drones as something "revolutionary" meshes with the increasing push by VC-financed "tech"-companies into the defense sector www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
“Now, it’s normal for racks to weigh 1,250 pounds to up to 2,500 pounds, falling in the range of a grizzly bear up to a Toyota Prius.” www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
Racks of AI chips are too damn heavy
Too great a weight.
www.theverge.com
December 17, 2025 at 8:51 AM
“Now, it’s normal for racks to weigh 1,250 pounds to up to 2,500 pounds, falling in the range of a grizzly bear up to a Toyota Prius.” www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
Reposted by Johannes Klingebiel
Reposted by Johannes Klingebiel
I wrote this brief talk on why “augmenting diversity” with LLMs is empirically unsubstantiable, conceptually flawed, and epistemically harmful and a nice surprise to see the organisers have made it public
synthetic-data-workshop.github.io/papers/13.pdf
synthetic-data-workshop.github.io/papers/13.pdf
December 16, 2025 at 10:57 AM
I wrote this brief talk on why “augmenting diversity” with LLMs is empirically unsubstantiable, conceptually flawed, and epistemically harmful and a nice surprise to see the organisers have made it public
synthetic-data-workshop.github.io/papers/13.pdf
synthetic-data-workshop.github.io/papers/13.pdf
Reposted by Johannes Klingebiel
concluding that people don't need their newspapers to be accurate is professional self-harm done for no particular reason other than to justify layoffs and satisfy the AI lords
New: When the Washington Post ran tests on its AI personalized podcasts, the paper found that between 68% and 84% (!!) of the pods had potential issues.
Still, the paper decided to release the product anyway, saying it would “iterate through the remaining issues”
www.semafor.com/article/12/1...
Still, the paper decided to release the product anyway, saying it would “iterate through the remaining issues”
www.semafor.com/article/12/1...
December 15, 2025 at 2:26 PM
concluding that people don't need their newspapers to be accurate is professional self-harm done for no particular reason other than to justify layoffs and satisfy the AI lords
Reposted by Johannes Klingebiel
Small-scale, fiercely independent journalism rarely gets recognition when awards are handed out, but it's vital in our communities—especially this year. So I made an award and am thrilled to announce @unraveledpress.com and @lataco.bsky.social as the inaugural winners. dansinker.com/posts/2025-1...
Announcing the Inaugural Snooping Newsie Awards for Excellence in Independent Journalism | dansinker.com
dansinker.com
December 15, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Small-scale, fiercely independent journalism rarely gets recognition when awards are handed out, but it's vital in our communities—especially this year. So I made an award and am thrilled to announce @unraveledpress.com and @lataco.bsky.social as the inaugural winners. dansinker.com/posts/2025-1...
Beginning the arduous journey of migrating off Substack after I migrated there when Musk shut down Revue. Not exactly moving to greener pastures each time…
December 15, 2025 at 7:33 AM
Beginning the arduous journey of migrating off Substack after I migrated there when Musk shut down Revue. Not exactly moving to greener pastures each time…