Michael Erard
@michaelerard.bsky.social
Writer, linguist. 3rd book: BYE BYE I LOVE YOU. The Economist: "Beautiful & strangely comforting." LARB: "Wise & gracefully written." Others: "Indelible." To buy: https://bit.ly/4kN0PKa
Explore www.michaelerard.com
Explore www.michaelerard.com
Reposted by Michael Erard
My wish for 2026 is that Europeans will be as critical and vigilant about authoritarianism and racism in their own country as they are about them in the U.S. and that Americans will be as critical and vigilant about authoritarianism and racism in the U.S. as Europeans are.
December 31, 2025 at 3:06 PM
My wish for 2026 is that Europeans will be as critical and vigilant about authoritarianism and racism in their own country as they are about them in the U.S. and that Americans will be as critical and vigilant about authoritarianism and racism in the U.S. as Europeans are.
And yes to that Naomi Shihab-Nye poem you’re gonna post
December 31, 2025 at 4:59 PM
And yes to that Naomi Shihab-Nye poem you’re gonna post
Thinking of you and your dogs tonight if you live in a fireworks-heavy place.
December 31, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Thinking of you and your dogs tonight if you live in a fireworks-heavy place.
Reposted by Michael Erard
This isn’t a field specific question, and it isn’t even just an academic question; it’s been the fundamental question of human existence for at least the past 200 years. Can we love the world more than our place in it?
for my cohort, question is whether I love the field more than my own position within it
December 31, 2025 at 4:21 PM
This isn’t a field specific question, and it isn’t even just an academic question; it’s been the fundamental question of human existence for at least the past 200 years. Can we love the world more than our place in it?
The reason there’s no snow to ski on has nothing to do with trans people or immigrants and everything to do with burning fossil fuels.
December 30, 2025 at 12:10 PM
The reason there’s no snow to ski on has nothing to do with trans people or immigrants and everything to do with burning fossil fuels.
There is no single story, is the single story, which I repeat occasionally, but Isabel Wilkerson’s book goes a long, long way toward building a clarifying framework for understanding the US.
I explain it to myself in terms of caste (a la Wilkerson): the lower caste is directed, the upper caste chooses. So upper caste affiliated people hated being required to mask because it made them feel lower caste.
December 29, 2025 at 2:32 PM
There is no single story, is the single story, which I repeat occasionally, but Isabel Wilkerson’s book goes a long, long way toward building a clarifying framework for understanding the US.
My local library
December 28, 2025 at 12:44 PM
My local library
It looks like Godspeed You Black Emperor left Spotify?
December 27, 2025 at 10:45 AM
It looks like Godspeed You Black Emperor left Spotify?
Reposted by Michael Erard
Can GPT replace human raters of metaphors? Our new work with @vmangiaterra.bsky.social @cbarattieri.bsky.social
@al-azary.bsky.social Across 687 Italian & English metaphors, GPT shows strong validity & reliability, but stumbles when meaning becomes sensorimotor ➡️ arxiv.org/abs/2512.12444 #NEPLab
@al-azary.bsky.social Across 687 Italian & English metaphors, GPT shows strong validity & reliability, but stumbles when meaning becomes sensorimotor ➡️ arxiv.org/abs/2512.12444 #NEPLab
December 18, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Can GPT replace human raters of metaphors? Our new work with @vmangiaterra.bsky.social @cbarattieri.bsky.social
@al-azary.bsky.social Across 687 Italian & English metaphors, GPT shows strong validity & reliability, but stumbles when meaning becomes sensorimotor ➡️ arxiv.org/abs/2512.12444 #NEPLab
@al-azary.bsky.social Across 687 Italian & English metaphors, GPT shows strong validity & reliability, but stumbles when meaning becomes sensorimotor ➡️ arxiv.org/abs/2512.12444 #NEPLab
Reposted by Michael Erard
2025 was one of the worst years of my life, I lost my job of 16 years in February (I'm still looking for a new one, if you know of any design/comms jobs), so while 2025 still sucks, my art has gotten a chance to grow and for that, I am incredibly grateful for the time #ArtvsArtist #ArtvsArtist2025
December 21, 2025 at 3:20 AM
2025 was one of the worst years of my life, I lost my job of 16 years in February (I'm still looking for a new one, if you know of any design/comms jobs), so while 2025 still sucks, my art has gotten a chance to grow and for that, I am incredibly grateful for the time #ArtvsArtist #ArtvsArtist2025
Reposted by Michael Erard
One thing to bear in mind about this parallel to the USSR is that if Trump's systematic sabotage of the foundations of American greatness—economic openness, scientific & ideational innovation, immigration, the rules-based international order—succeeds, it will create a deep wave of nationalist anger
Today is the anniversary of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Let’s hope history repeats itself with its successor.
December 26, 2025 at 12:53 PM
One thing to bear in mind about this parallel to the USSR is that if Trump's systematic sabotage of the foundations of American greatness—economic openness, scientific & ideational innovation, immigration, the rules-based international order—succeeds, it will create a deep wave of nationalist anger
Reposted by Michael Erard
Never once does someone write a defense of clocky trans people, or why the MAGA crowd rejects this look with such vehemence
December 26, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Never once does someone write a defense of clocky trans people, or why the MAGA crowd rejects this look with such vehemence
The patron saint of culch is a saint we could really use
December 26, 2025 at 11:35 AM
The patron saint of culch is a saint we could really use
The patron saint of something or other
December 26, 2025 at 11:34 AM
The patron saint of something or other
Reposted by Michael Erard
I am going to tell a story as small and close to myself as I can, before I go set luminarias outside. These lanterns, brown paper bags with sand and candles, are part of the recieved culture of New Mexico, the place where my family moved when I was 1.5 and have now lived again for nearly a decade.
December 24, 2025 at 9:28 PM
I am going to tell a story as small and close to myself as I can, before I go set luminarias outside. These lanterns, brown paper bags with sand and candles, are part of the recieved culture of New Mexico, the place where my family moved when I was 1.5 and have now lived again for nearly a decade.
Did they get lumps of coal if they used an LLM?
Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick's kids had to write persuasive essays to earn their Christmas gifts.
JJ Redick's kids write persuasive essays to earn their biggest Christmas gifts
JJ Redick's kids had to write persuasive essays to earn their Christmas gifts. The Los Angeles Lakers coach and his wife, Chelsea, told sons, Kai and Knox, to explain why they should receive their biggest gift wish.
bit.ly
December 26, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Did they get lumps of coal if they used an LLM?
Reposted by Michael Erard
On Trump’s orders, the National Center for Atmospheric Research will be shut down after more than 50 years as a leader in global research on climate science and monitoring. This is what authoritarian science looks like.
www.thenation.com/article/poli...
www.thenation.com/article/poli...
Destroy the Metrics, Destroy the Truth
Trump’s decimation of public health systems isn’t about efficiency, cost-saving, or even ideology. It’s about building a world without truth or the possibility of accountability.
www.thenation.com
December 24, 2025 at 10:34 AM
On Trump’s orders, the National Center for Atmospheric Research will be shut down after more than 50 years as a leader in global research on climate science and monitoring. This is what authoritarian science looks like.
www.thenation.com/article/poli...
www.thenation.com/article/poli...
“Nativity, not nativism” has a good feel
December 24, 2025 at 12:47 PM
“Nativity, not nativism” has a good feel
@dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social thanks for the follow; it’s an honor!
December 24, 2025 at 9:30 AM
@dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social thanks for the follow; it’s an honor!
You want to talk about problematic pronouns, let's start with "we."
December 23, 2025 at 3:45 PM
You want to talk about problematic pronouns, let's start with "we."
FWIW, some people really disliked the delirium excerpt from BBILY: some, because they don't accept any organic explanation for the phenomenon; others because they thought I should have somehow provided the definitive answers no one else has in millennia of medical attention.
December 23, 2025 at 1:29 PM
FWIW, some people really disliked the delirium excerpt from BBILY: some, because they don't accept any organic explanation for the phenomenon; others because they thought I should have somehow provided the definitive answers no one else has in millennia of medical attention.
Reposted by Michael Erard
Thread
December 23, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Thread
One of the top 10 most read excerpts on the @mitpress.bsky.social Reader in 2025!
The Hallucinatory Thoughts of the Dying Mind:
Delirium is one of the most perplexing deathbed phenomena, exposing the gap between our cultural ideals of dying words and the reality of a disoriented mind.
by @michaelerard.bsky.social
Delirium is one of the most perplexing deathbed phenomena, exposing the gap between our cultural ideals of dying words and the reality of a disoriented mind.
by @michaelerard.bsky.social
The Hallucinatory Thoughts of the Dying Mind
Delirium is one of the most perplexing deathbed phenomena, exposing the gap between our cultural ideals of dying words and the reality of a disoriented mind.
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu
December 23, 2025 at 7:56 AM
One of the top 10 most read excerpts on the @mitpress.bsky.social Reader in 2025!
Reposted by Michael Erard
An annual tradition: sharing, in no particular order, our 10 most-read Reader articles of the year. Together, they drew more than half a million reads. Huge congrats to all the authors!
December 22, 2025 at 9:03 PM
An annual tradition: sharing, in no particular order, our 10 most-read Reader articles of the year. Together, they drew more than half a million reads. Huge congrats to all the authors!
Reposted by Michael Erard
Very proud to say that my authors contributed SEVEN of the top ten articles on the MITP Reader in 2025. Congrats to Richard Cytowic, Michael Erard, Nolen Gertz, Jay Keyser, Tim Lomas, and Mark Rowlands!
An annual tradition: sharing, in no particular order, our 10 most-read Reader articles of the year. Together, they drew more than half a million reads. Huge congrats to all the authors!
December 22, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Very proud to say that my authors contributed SEVEN of the top ten articles on the MITP Reader in 2025. Congrats to Richard Cytowic, Michael Erard, Nolen Gertz, Jay Keyser, Tim Lomas, and Mark Rowlands!