Lauren Beukes
@laurenbeukes.com
Novelist, scriptwriter, imaginative futurist, recovering journalist. Winner of the Arthur C Clarke and the University of Johannesburg Prize. Author of The Shining Girls (now on Apple TV), Zoo City and Bridge.
Reposted by Lauren Beukes
Looks like government by 4chan isn't working out so hot.
January 8, 2026 at 4:11 PM
Looks like government by 4chan isn't working out so hot.
Reposted by Lauren Beukes
be the person you were trying to be on tumblr in 2014
January 7, 2026 at 1:27 PM
be the person you were trying to be on tumblr in 2014
Reposted by Lauren Beukes
Useful reporting from Translucent. When we’ve suggested that trans women don’t pose a risk, people have argued that’s because of under reporting. These FOI requests suggest that might not be the case
www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/01/almo...
www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/01/almo...
Almost no one is complaining about trans women in women's spaces, study finds - LGBTQ Nation
“This is a manufactured controversy, not a documented crisis.”
www.lgbtqnation.com
January 7, 2026 at 9:05 AM
Useful reporting from Translucent. When we’ve suggested that trans women don’t pose a risk, people have argued that’s because of under reporting. These FOI requests suggest that might not be the case
www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/01/almo...
www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/01/almo...
Reposted by Lauren Beukes
I am extremely confused as to why the UK government and police are saying Grok’s mass-scale CSAM generation is an issue for Ofcom.
This isn’t about X failing to moderate CSAM, which is an Online Safety Act issue. It is about the company and its technology being actively involved in its generation.
This isn’t about X failing to moderate CSAM, which is an Online Safety Act issue. It is about the company and its technology being actively involved in its generation.
January 7, 2026 at 7:37 AM
I am extremely confused as to why the UK government and police are saying Grok’s mass-scale CSAM generation is an issue for Ofcom.
This isn’t about X failing to moderate CSAM, which is an Online Safety Act issue. It is about the company and its technology being actively involved in its generation.
This isn’t about X failing to moderate CSAM, which is an Online Safety Act issue. It is about the company and its technology being actively involved in its generation.
Reposted by Lauren Beukes
A personal account of the attack on Venezuela and the current situation there, from @globalvoices.org's Venezuelan contributor and social media editor:
globalvoices.org/2026/01/05/a...
globalvoices.org/2026/01/05/a...
A new, terrifying sound: A Venezuelan account of the the attack on Caracas
“I thought Venezuelans had already heard every sound the country’s violence had to offer. But this was something new — terrifying in its unfamiliarity.”
globalvoices.org
January 6, 2026 at 1:32 PM
A personal account of the attack on Venezuela and the current situation there, from @globalvoices.org's Venezuelan contributor and social media editor:
globalvoices.org/2026/01/05/a...
globalvoices.org/2026/01/05/a...
Reposted by Lauren Beukes
"A woman dressed as a pink Power Ranger hacked a dating site for far-right extremists. She deleted the entire site, but first she made users fall in love with AI bots she ran, thus obtaining information about them. Over 8,000 far-right profiles have now been mapped."
En kvinna, utklädd till rosa Power Ranger, hackade datingsida för högerextrema. Hon raderade hela sidan, men först fick hon användarna att bli kära i AI-botar som hon drev och fick på så sätt ut information om dem. Över 8000 högerextrema profiler har nu kartlagts.
cybernews.com/security/inv...
cybernews.com/security/inv...
Investigator breaches white supremacist dating sites, exposes 8,000 users
An investigative journalist infiltrated three white supremacist platforms, including the dating site WhiteDate, exfiltrating over 8,000 user profiles and 100GB of sensitive data.
cybernews.com
January 3, 2026 at 10:27 AM
"A woman dressed as a pink Power Ranger hacked a dating site for far-right extremists. She deleted the entire site, but first she made users fall in love with AI bots she ran, thus obtaining information about them. Over 8,000 far-right profiles have now been mapped."
Reposted by Lauren Beukes
I submitted my claim for the Anthropic Copyright Settlement case today.
www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com
If AI tech bros violated your coprights work to feed their slop-vomiting machines, sign up for the settlement here.
Burn these fuckers and their empire of AI slop to the ground.
🔥👿🔥
www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com
If AI tech bros violated your coprights work to feed their slop-vomiting machines, sign up for the settlement here.
Burn these fuckers and their empire of AI slop to the ground.
🔥👿🔥
Homepage | Bartz v Anthropic Settlement Site
www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com
December 19, 2025 at 8:37 AM
I submitted my claim for the Anthropic Copyright Settlement case today.
www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com
If AI tech bros violated your coprights work to feed their slop-vomiting machines, sign up for the settlement here.
Burn these fuckers and their empire of AI slop to the ground.
🔥👿🔥
www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com
If AI tech bros violated your coprights work to feed their slop-vomiting machines, sign up for the settlement here.
Burn these fuckers and their empire of AI slop to the ground.
🔥👿🔥
Reposted by Lauren Beukes
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.
Why Do Historians Still Have To Go To Archives?
Why do historians go to archives? Hasn’t everything already been digitized?
contingentmagazine.org
December 22, 2025 at 1:40 AM
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.
Reposted by Lauren Beukes
As a professional *human* audiobook narrator, this is a huge help.
The more we can push back against the use of AI becoming "inevitable", because it is no such thing, the better off every single person and the planet will be.
The more we can push back against the use of AI becoming "inevitable", because it is no such thing, the better off every single person and the planet will be.
December 18, 2025 at 2:12 AM
As a professional *human* audiobook narrator, this is a huge help.
The more we can push back against the use of AI becoming "inevitable", because it is no such thing, the better off every single person and the planet will be.
The more we can push back against the use of AI becoming "inevitable", because it is no such thing, the better off every single person and the planet will be.
Reposted by Lauren Beukes
I know many things are awful but here is one genuinely useful and helpful thing you can do. No matter their party, your representative needs to hear that trans people and our families are not alone and this bill is an unjustifiable and extreme threat to criminalize the health care we need to live.
Tomorrow, the House of Representatives will vote on a bill that bans gender-affirming medical care for any transgender person under 18, and threatens any medical professional providing this care to youth with 10 years in prison.
Tell Congress to protect trans youth and vote NO.
Tell Congress to protect trans youth and vote NO.
Protect Trans Care Now
As wave after wave of extreme measures to criminalize and strip trans people of rights and safety continue, tell Congress to act.
action.aclu.org
December 16, 2025 at 9:40 PM
I know many things are awful but here is one genuinely useful and helpful thing you can do. No matter their party, your representative needs to hear that trans people and our families are not alone and this bill is an unjustifiable and extreme threat to criminalize the health care we need to live.
Reposted by Lauren Beukes
Behold, if you will, the...astonishing...contract from Shadow Light Press. A rolling 10-year term...payment on profit (but only after costs are recouped)...appropriation of the author's universe if they can't continue the series...and more www.reddit.com/r/Progressio...
From the ProgressionFantasy community on Reddit
Explore this post and more from the ProgressionFantasy community
www.reddit.com
December 16, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Behold, if you will, the...astonishing...contract from Shadow Light Press. A rolling 10-year term...payment on profit (but only after costs are recouped)...appropriation of the author's universe if they can't continue the series...and more www.reddit.com/r/Progressio...
Reposted by Lauren Beukes
One of the many reasons AI can't produce good writing is it can't hate its own writing. It can't think to itself "Maybe I'm illiterate" during the writing process. And that's essential
December 9, 2025 at 8:45 PM
One of the many reasons AI can't produce good writing is it can't hate its own writing. It can't think to itself "Maybe I'm illiterate" during the writing process. And that's essential
Reposted by Lauren Beukes
I read a lot of science fiction growing up, thought about a lot of ways the human race would push itself into self-extinction, but I don't think I ever came across the notion that we would invent a machine that would do all the fun, imaginative parts of life, leaving us to slowly die of boredom.
December 9, 2025 at 1:12 PM
I read a lot of science fiction growing up, thought about a lot of ways the human race would push itself into self-extinction, but I don't think I ever came across the notion that we would invent a machine that would do all the fun, imaginative parts of life, leaving us to slowly die of boredom.
Reposted by Lauren Beukes
Neurodivergent people can be terrible people .
And there’s a deep need for a convo ( intra community ) about how the discourse around how parts of our divergence are treated .
And how privilege is handled .
Because the fact that this on a table is about control
And there’s a deep need for a convo ( intra community ) about how the discourse around how parts of our divergence are treated .
And how privilege is handled .
Because the fact that this on a table is about control
Palantir's new neurodivergent fellowship is in fact bad because neurodivergent people participating in technofascism will not save us. Latest for @motherjones.com www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
The problem with Palantir's new neurodivergent fellowship
Critics have accused the company of being technofascist.
www.motherjones.com
December 8, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Neurodivergent people can be terrible people .
And there’s a deep need for a convo ( intra community ) about how the discourse around how parts of our divergence are treated .
And how privilege is handled .
Because the fact that this on a table is about control
And there’s a deep need for a convo ( intra community ) about how the discourse around how parts of our divergence are treated .
And how privilege is handled .
Because the fact that this on a table is about control
Reposted by Lauren Beukes
Mini thread on the ET decision in Peggie
Top line: It says exactly what we have been saying for months. The decision of the Supreme Court was not to turn the Equality Act 2010 into a nationwide bathroom ban - regardless of how anti-trans organisations have sought to misrepresent the law.
🧵👇
Top line: It says exactly what we have been saying for months. The decision of the Supreme Court was not to turn the Equality Act 2010 into a nationwide bathroom ban - regardless of how anti-trans organisations have sought to misrepresent the law.
🧵👇
December 8, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Mini thread on the ET decision in Peggie
Top line: It says exactly what we have been saying for months. The decision of the Supreme Court was not to turn the Equality Act 2010 into a nationwide bathroom ban - regardless of how anti-trans organisations have sought to misrepresent the law.
🧵👇
Top line: It says exactly what we have been saying for months. The decision of the Supreme Court was not to turn the Equality Act 2010 into a nationwide bathroom ban - regardless of how anti-trans organisations have sought to misrepresent the law.
🧵👇
Reposted by Lauren Beukes
Every writer I know, every artist I follow, is in the fucking trenches trying to survive this shit. GenAI is not the future because if it keeps going there is no future, and even if it was that would be no excuse.
December 8, 2025 at 5:45 AM
Every writer I know, every artist I follow, is in the fucking trenches trying to survive this shit. GenAI is not the future because if it keeps going there is no future, and even if it was that would be no excuse.
Reposted by Lauren Beukes
If some guy stole my shit and made millions off it while wiping out my job prospects, and you, as my friend, bought that guy's cheap mass market replica of my shit, you and i would for obvious reasons have a problem. It being a massive company, not a guy, actually makes it even more of a problem.
December 8, 2025 at 5:14 AM
If some guy stole my shit and made millions off it while wiping out my job prospects, and you, as my friend, bought that guy's cheap mass market replica of my shit, you and i would for obvious reasons have a problem. It being a massive company, not a guy, actually makes it even more of a problem.
These are wonderful!
Feeling festive?
Why not deck the halls with @cvrinfo.bsky.social's papercraft #VirusSnowflakes and celebrate the science of viruses and the fight against viral diseases.
Download for free: cvr-engagement.co.uk/virus-snowfl...
#scicomm #sciart #decorations
Why not deck the halls with @cvrinfo.bsky.social's papercraft #VirusSnowflakes and celebrate the science of viruses and the fight against viral diseases.
Download for free: cvr-engagement.co.uk/virus-snowfl...
#scicomm #sciart #decorations
December 5, 2025 at 1:12 PM
These are wonderful!
Reposted by Lauren Beukes
@tgeuorg.bsky.social calls it.
As an academic I have been consistently saying this all along. The “Pathways” “study” is totally unethical.
And it won’t even address the main pretext used to justify it; the issue of long-term negative effects (of which there is no evidence whatsoever).
As an academic I have been consistently saying this all along. The “Pathways” “study” is totally unethical.
And it won’t even address the main pretext used to justify it; the issue of long-term negative effects (of which there is no evidence whatsoever).
The UK puberty blocker trial is an ethical breach and a threat to trans youth’s health and rights - TGEU - Trans Europe and Central Asia
The recently announced PATHWAYS clinical trial protocol on puberty blockers (also known as puberty suppressing hormones) for young trans people in the UK represents a deeply troubling escalation in th...
tgeu.org
December 5, 2025 at 9:30 AM
@tgeuorg.bsky.social calls it.
As an academic I have been consistently saying this all along. The “Pathways” “study” is totally unethical.
And it won’t even address the main pretext used to justify it; the issue of long-term negative effects (of which there is no evidence whatsoever).
As an academic I have been consistently saying this all along. The “Pathways” “study” is totally unethical.
And it won’t even address the main pretext used to justify it; the issue of long-term negative effects (of which there is no evidence whatsoever).
Reposted by Lauren Beukes
Guys… it looks like someone invented a fake Russia advance in Ukraine to manipulate online gambling markets. @evystadium.bsky.social gets into it.
Full story by @mjgault.bsky.social here:
www.404media.co/unauthorized...
Full story by @mjgault.bsky.social here:
www.404media.co/unauthorized...
December 4, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Guys… it looks like someone invented a fake Russia advance in Ukraine to manipulate online gambling markets. @evystadium.bsky.social gets into it.
Full story by @mjgault.bsky.social here:
www.404media.co/unauthorized...
Full story by @mjgault.bsky.social here:
www.404media.co/unauthorized...
Reposted by Lauren Beukes
This item is VERY special - a one to one with my amazing agent, Molly Ker Hawn. Ask her anything about publishing, esp about children's and YA! app.galabid.com/creatives4su... Bid bid bid! Let's get this auction to ten grand by the end of the day! #Creatives4Sudan
December 1, 2025 at 12:35 PM
This item is VERY special - a one to one with my amazing agent, Molly Ker Hawn. Ask her anything about publishing, esp about children's and YA! app.galabid.com/creatives4su... Bid bid bid! Let's get this auction to ten grand by the end of the day! #Creatives4Sudan
Reposted by Lauren Beukes
We can't really say this enough...
> Anastasia Berg [at UCL Irvine] said that new research — and what she's hearing directly from colleagues across various industries — shows that employees who heavily rely on AI are losing core skills at a startling rate.
www.businessinsider.com/ai-tools-are...
> Anastasia Berg [at UCL Irvine] said that new research — and what she's hearing directly from colleagues across various industries — shows that employees who heavily rely on AI are losing core skills at a startling rate.
www.businessinsider.com/ai-tools-are...
AI tools are 'deskilling' workers, philosophy professor says
A philosophy professor warns that AI reliance is weakening workers' judgment, creativity, and problem-solving.
www.businessinsider.com
December 1, 2025 at 7:45 AM
Reposted by Lauren Beukes
this is quite the detail
November 30, 2025 at 12:41 PM
this is quite the detail
Reposted by Lauren Beukes
I'm delighted to see that the #Creatives4Sudan has now raised over 7 grand! We're raising money for people escaping genocide in El-Fasher, Sudan, and every bid helps the Emergency Response Rooms there do their work. Bid here on mentoring from comics supremo! @nickabadzis.bsky.social bit.ly/4pxHBK7
November 27, 2025 at 7:56 AM
I'm delighted to see that the #Creatives4Sudan has now raised over 7 grand! We're raising money for people escaping genocide in El-Fasher, Sudan, and every bid helps the Emergency Response Rooms there do their work. Bid here on mentoring from comics supremo! @nickabadzis.bsky.social bit.ly/4pxHBK7
Reposted by Lauren Beukes
Lots of people sharing this clip because it's funny and cathartic but I also genuinely believe it's important.
We have to win the narrative battle between "I live in a corrupt society and that's just how it is" and "I live in a corrupt society and we are going to defeat and humiliate these ghouls."
We have to win the narrative battle between "I live in a corrupt society and that's just how it is" and "I live in a corrupt society and we are going to defeat and humiliate these ghouls."
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
November 26, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Lots of people sharing this clip because it's funny and cathartic but I also genuinely believe it's important.
We have to win the narrative battle between "I live in a corrupt society and that's just how it is" and "I live in a corrupt society and we are going to defeat and humiliate these ghouls."
We have to win the narrative battle between "I live in a corrupt society and that's just how it is" and "I live in a corrupt society and we are going to defeat and humiliate these ghouls."