Matt Carrington
@mattcarrington.bsky.social
Book editor, poetry and cultural policy researcher. I edit Holocaust survivor memoirs.
Diane Seuss’s sonnet “[The problem with sweetness is death]” includes the line “And here/ I am, broke, barely able to count to fourteen.” And it’s great but oh man my childish brain really wanted the poem to then have thirteen or even fifteen lines
November 8, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Diane Seuss’s sonnet “[The problem with sweetness is death]” includes the line “And here/ I am, broke, barely able to count to fourteen.” And it’s great but oh man my childish brain really wanted the poem to then have thirteen or even fifteen lines
Reposted by Matt Carrington
Six people died from tampered Tylenol and the company pulled 30 million bottles off the market. ChatGPT is accused of urging seven people towards suicide, and OpenAI just assures us they’re still working out the kinks. Billions in investment, zero accountability.
OpenAI faces 7 lawsuits claiming ChatGPT drove people to suicide, delusions
OpenAI is facing seven lawsuits claiming ChatGPT drove people to suicide and harmful delusions even when they had no prior mental health issues.
apnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Six people died from tampered Tylenol and the company pulled 30 million bottles off the market. ChatGPT is accused of urging seven people towards suicide, and OpenAI just assures us they’re still working out the kinks. Billions in investment, zero accountability.
"We are in some danger of believing that the speed and wizardry of our gadgets have freed us from the sometimes arduous work of turning pages in silence." (Birkerts 1994). I often think about this line from over thirty years ago
November 6, 2025 at 8:35 PM
"We are in some danger of believing that the speed and wizardry of our gadgets have freed us from the sometimes arduous work of turning pages in silence." (Birkerts 1994). I often think about this line from over thirty years ago
Is… is the NY Times okay?
November 6, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Is… is the NY Times okay?
Don’t forget your bike lights today! Happy November
November 3, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Don’t forget your bike lights today! Happy November
Now that there's an influential wellness grift telling people they don't have to eat their vegetables, I want a new movement about how really very healthy candy is. It makes me feel good so it must be healthy! Someone with the clout needs to get on that.
October 31, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Now that there's an influential wellness grift telling people they don't have to eat their vegetables, I want a new movement about how really very healthy candy is. It makes me feel good so it must be healthy! Someone with the clout needs to get on that.
“Developing our linguistic capacities — to master diverse concepts, to follow an intricate argument, to form judgments, to communicate those to others — is the development of our capacity to think.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/o...
Opinion | A.I. Threatens Our Ability to Understand the World
www.nytimes.com
October 29, 2025 at 6:22 PM
“Developing our linguistic capacities — to master diverse concepts, to follow an intricate argument, to form judgments, to communicate those to others — is the development of our capacity to think.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/o...
Reposted by Matt Carrington
In 1850 the weight of all the world's wild mammals equalled the weight of humans and our livestock
Today they are outweighed 1 to 20
Reconfiguring life on this planet to produce cheap meat and dairy
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Today they are outweighed 1 to 20
Reconfiguring life on this planet to produce cheap meat and dairy
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
October 28, 2025 at 11:53 AM
In 1850 the weight of all the world's wild mammals equalled the weight of humans and our livestock
Today they are outweighed 1 to 20
Reconfiguring life on this planet to produce cheap meat and dairy
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Today they are outweighed 1 to 20
Reconfiguring life on this planet to produce cheap meat and dairy
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Matt Carrington
“Generative AI is nothing more than a form of social suicide that must be reined in before it’s too late. It cannot be allowed to reach the level of proliferation that social media has achieved”
The AI industry wants us to believe AI superintelligence is the real threat from generative AI.
But that narrative was crafted to distract from the many ways genAI is being used to tear our societies apart, as we saw this week when a deepfake video rocked the Irish election. It must be reined in.
But that narrative was crafted to distract from the many ways genAI is being used to tear our societies apart, as we saw this week when a deepfake video rocked the Irish election. It must be reined in.
Generative AI is a societal disaster
Governments are deluding themselves into believing investment justifies allowing AI to upend society
disconnect.blog
October 27, 2025 at 5:50 AM
“Generative AI is nothing more than a form of social suicide that must be reined in before it’s too late. It cannot be allowed to reach the level of proliferation that social media has achieved”
Reposted by Matt Carrington
Another excellent essay by @unpopularscience.bsky.social - on sentience and much else.
"Other life forms cannot describe their pain to us, yet we can still listen.... Our world is so much more complex and wondrous than the myth of human supremacy would have us believe."
shorturl.at/F38aV
"Other life forms cannot describe their pain to us, yet we can still listen.... Our world is so much more complex and wondrous than the myth of human supremacy would have us believe."
shorturl.at/F38aV
Why All Animals Are Sentient, and Machines Will Never Be
Even the smallest sea slug feels pain. That means we have a responsibility not to inflict it.
www.currentaffairs.org
October 18, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Another excellent essay by @unpopularscience.bsky.social - on sentience and much else.
"Other life forms cannot describe their pain to us, yet we can still listen.... Our world is so much more complex and wondrous than the myth of human supremacy would have us believe."
shorturl.at/F38aV
"Other life forms cannot describe their pain to us, yet we can still listen.... Our world is so much more complex and wondrous than the myth of human supremacy would have us believe."
shorturl.at/F38aV
Reposted by Matt Carrington
Bacon kills more people from cancer than tobacco and asbestos ever did.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Scientists demand cancer warnings on bacon and ham sold in UK
Successive governments criticised for doing ‘virtually nothing’ to reduce risk in the decade since cancer link found
www.theguardian.com
October 25, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Bacon kills more people from cancer than tobacco and asbestos ever did.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Reposted by Matt Carrington
Some bad bike news stuff in that too (on page 18)
October 23, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Some bad bike news stuff in that too (on page 18)
Reposted by Matt Carrington
“I am not interested, nor will I ever be interested. I'm 61, and I hope to be able to remain uninterested in using it at all until I croak. ... The other day, somebody wrote me an email, said, ‘What is your stance on AI?’ And my answer was very short. I said, ‘I'd rather die.’” 🫡
Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro says 'I'd rather die' than use generative AI
Del Toro's new Frankenstein adaption reimagines Mary Shelley's 1818 Gothic novel. Frankenstein was like a tech bro: "creating something without considering the consequences," he explains.
www.npr.org
October 23, 2025 at 10:08 PM
“I am not interested, nor will I ever be interested. I'm 61, and I hope to be able to remain uninterested in using it at all until I croak. ... The other day, somebody wrote me an email, said, ‘What is your stance on AI?’ And my answer was very short. I said, ‘I'd rather die.’” 🫡
This is so good. But whoever wrote the italicized preamble was dreaming when they put the commas around Oswald’s name. If only!
October 22, 2025 at 6:55 PM
This is so good. But whoever wrote the italicized preamble was dreaming when they put the commas around Oswald’s name. If only!
I have a friend working on a fascinating historical family memoir (not Holocaust related this time). He's in Toronto and looking for a good writing group. Does anyone know any relevant writing groups or how to find one?
October 14, 2025 at 2:55 PM
I have a friend working on a fascinating historical family memoir (not Holocaust related this time). He's in Toronto and looking for a good writing group. Does anyone know any relevant writing groups or how to find one?
Reposted by Matt Carrington
One intersection on Bloor saw average daily bike ridership consistently hover around 6000 for the past 4 months. This is a 20% increase over last year. Yet, Premier Ford wants to target this lane for removal. I wanted to highlight this, one year after the passage of Bill 212.
October 11, 2025 at 4:48 AM
One intersection on Bloor saw average daily bike ridership consistently hover around 6000 for the past 4 months. This is a 20% increase over last year. Yet, Premier Ford wants to target this lane for removal. I wanted to highlight this, one year after the passage of Bill 212.
Reposted by Matt Carrington
A striking thing about articles I’ve read claiming to “study the effects” of generative AI on student writing skills and consumption of information is that (1) they nearly always find the effects are negative and (2) most “conclusions” are still written assuming that we must use AI, for some reason.
October 9, 2025 at 11:49 AM
A striking thing about articles I’ve read claiming to “study the effects” of generative AI on student writing skills and consumption of information is that (1) they nearly always find the effects are negative and (2) most “conclusions” are still written assuming that we must use AI, for some reason.
Reposted by Matt Carrington
I like to think Beckett himself would have delighted in this review
(via @luxalptraum.com ht @ykomska.bsky.social)
(via @luxalptraum.com ht @ykomska.bsky.social)
October 9, 2025 at 1:30 AM
I like to think Beckett himself would have delighted in this review
(via @luxalptraum.com ht @ykomska.bsky.social)
(via @luxalptraum.com ht @ykomska.bsky.social)
Reposted by Matt Carrington
Love it when they let is into their world view.
Councillor Burnside, a former cop, says when he used to do traffic enforcement on Avenue Road he wouldn't stop drivers unless they were doing 75 km/h or over.
"Maybe that was a little high," he admits. "A little high," agrees Gray.
"Maybe that was a little high," he admits. "A little high," agrees Gray.
October 8, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Love it when they let is into their world view.
Reposted by Matt Carrington
The story as it's told is that some soy farmers are losing and some are benefitting from a reshaping of the global value chain for soy. Yes, true. But the bigger story is that the global appetite for soy is a result of the global appetite for meat, which is driving ag beyond planetary boundaries.
October 7, 2025 at 9:10 PM
The story as it's told is that some soy farmers are losing and some are benefitting from a reshaping of the global value chain for soy. Yes, true. But the bigger story is that the global appetite for soy is a result of the global appetite for meat, which is driving ag beyond planetary boundaries.
Reposted by Matt Carrington
Here are some of the automated speed enforcement tickets given to vehicles assigned to Ford cabinet ministers. #OnPoli
Story ▶️ globalnews.ca/news/1146373...
Story ▶️ globalnews.ca/news/1146373...
October 6, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Here are some of the automated speed enforcement tickets given to vehicles assigned to Ford cabinet ministers. #OnPoli
Story ▶️ globalnews.ca/news/1146373...
Story ▶️ globalnews.ca/news/1146373...
Reposted by Matt Carrington
Using the serial comma is either a personal aesthetic choice or deference to a particular style guide. So is its omission. Ambiguity is so easy that both omission and use of the serial comma can lead to it. (More in comments.)
October 6, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Using the serial comma is either a personal aesthetic choice or deference to a particular style guide. So is its omission. Ambiguity is so easy that both omission and use of the serial comma can lead to it. (More in comments.)
Reposted by Matt Carrington
🤤 (shocked, shocked I tell you)
Vehicles registered to Ford cabinet ministers caught by speed cameras more than 20 times | Globalnews.ca
Documents obtained by Global News reveal that, over three years, vehicles registered to Ford’s cabinet minister received more than $3,300 in fines for speeding.
globalnews.ca
October 6, 2025 at 12:31 PM
🤤 (shocked, shocked I tell you)
Reposted by Matt Carrington
Reposted by Matt Carrington
Meat is a blind spot for people who care about climate. When I used to have dinner with my colleague Wally Broecker, the climate scientist who coined the term “global warming”, he would always order a steak.
The climate movement’s biggest weakness
What the climate movement is getting dead wrong.
www.vox.com
October 4, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Meat is a blind spot for people who care about climate. When I used to have dinner with my colleague Wally Broecker, the climate scientist who coined the term “global warming”, he would always order a steak.