Mikael Brunila
@mikaelbrunila.bsky.social
Postdoctoral researcher, author, and programmer. Most of my work is in #NLProc, #GIS, computational social science, and philosophy of technology.
https://mikaelbrunila.com/
https://mikaelbrunila.com/
Pinned
Taking AI into the Tunnels - Journal #151
Mikael Brunila argues for a politics of opacity in the face of AI dominance.
www.e-flux.com
A convergence between AI & cryptography is necessary to break with AI as surveillance. The key metaphor is "tunneling": Cultivating many models & peer-to-peer training strategies, small models, encrypted models... How do we build this? How do we direct funds here?
www.e-flux.com/journal/151/...
www.e-flux.com/journal/151/...
Chapter three from my thesis is finally out in @bigdatasoc.bsky.social! I explore the parallels between the "bit" and the "embeddings" that are a foundational structure in Large Language Models, showing how the latter endow tech companies with what I call "cosine capital."
bsky.app/profile/bigd...
bsky.app/profile/bigd...
🚨 New in Big Data & Society 🚨
"Cosine capital: Large language models and the embedding of all things" by Mikael Brunila doi.org/10.1177/2053...
Proposes “cosine capital” to describe how LLM embeddings commodify language and data, reshaping power, abstraction, and AI economies.
"Cosine capital: Large language models and the embedding of all things" by Mikael Brunila doi.org/10.1177/2053...
Proposes “cosine capital” to describe how LLM embeddings commodify language and data, reshaping power, abstraction, and AI economies.
October 22, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Chapter three from my thesis is finally out in @bigdatasoc.bsky.social! I explore the parallels between the "bit" and the "embeddings" that are a foundational structure in Large Language Models, showing how the latter endow tech companies with what I call "cosine capital."
bsky.app/profile/bigd...
bsky.app/profile/bigd...
Cursor is great for greenfield coding a new project, especially if you're not very fluent in that language, but the autocomplete is surprisingly bad
October 20, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Cursor is great for greenfield coding a new project, especially if you're not very fluent in that language, but the autocomplete is surprisingly bad
Reposted by Mikael Brunila
My friend @mikaelbrunila.bsky.social just published the first Marxist take on LLMs, check it out!
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Cosine capital: Large language models and the embedding of all things - Mikael Brunila, 2025
This article describes the emergence of a novel form of capital—which I call “cosine capital”—that finds objectified form in the “embedding” structures of large...
journals.sagepub.com
October 19, 2025 at 3:46 AM
My friend @mikaelbrunila.bsky.social just published the first Marxist take on LLMs, check it out!
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Reposted by Mikael Brunila
Why is this horrible for Universities?
Just about everyone who isn't a citizen or green card holder already who's hired for a tenure track faculty position is hired through an H1B and then, after 3-5 years, applies for a green card.
This is literally "No more foreign professors can be hired"
Just about everyone who isn't a citizen or green card holder already who's hired for a tenure track faculty position is hired through an H1B and then, after 3-5 years, applies for a green card.
This is literally "No more foreign professors can be hired"
Those on an H1B cannot return to the US from tomorrow (Sunday) unless paying $100K. This is an out-of-the blue presidential action. We’ll see software engineers stranded abroad.
One easy to predict outcome: those on US visas will travel less… for work, for conferences etc.
One easy to predict outcome: those on US visas will travel less… for work, for conferences etc.
September 20, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Why is this horrible for Universities?
Just about everyone who isn't a citizen or green card holder already who's hired for a tenure track faculty position is hired through an H1B and then, after 3-5 years, applies for a green card.
This is literally "No more foreign professors can be hired"
Just about everyone who isn't a citizen or green card holder already who's hired for a tenure track faculty position is hired through an H1B and then, after 3-5 years, applies for a green card.
This is literally "No more foreign professors can be hired"
Reposted by Mikael Brunila
In a stunning moment of self-delusion, the Wall Street Journal headline writers admitted that they don't know how LLM chatbots work.
July 21, 2025 at 1:48 AM
In a stunning moment of self-delusion, the Wall Street Journal headline writers admitted that they don't know how LLM chatbots work.
Reposted by Mikael Brunila
IDF soldiers have now themselves admitted they have been ordered to murder aid-seekers in Gaza.
Truly an atrocity built on atrocity.
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Truly an atrocity built on atrocity.
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
June 27, 2025 at 12:05 PM
IDF soldiers have now themselves admitted they have been ordered to murder aid-seekers in Gaza.
Truly an atrocity built on atrocity.
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Truly an atrocity built on atrocity.
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
it seems like almost every Silicon Valley adjacent book needs to mention Dunbar’s number. Alex Karp’s (Palantir) ”The Technological Republic” was no exception
May 5, 2025 at 3:09 AM
it seems like almost every Silicon Valley adjacent book needs to mention Dunbar’s number. Alex Karp’s (Palantir) ”The Technological Republic” was no exception
the problem with most continental theory today is that it’s a lot of ”tell” and almost no ”show”. Incredibly tedious to read.
May 3, 2025 at 6:41 PM
the problem with most continental theory today is that it’s a lot of ”tell” and almost no ”show”. Incredibly tedious to read.
Reposted by Mikael Brunila
existence of tensors implies existence of relaxors
April 22, 2025 at 1:38 PM
existence of tensors implies existence of relaxors
Reposted by Mikael Brunila
The key chart right now:
Usually US economic pain is cushioned by falling bond yields and a strengthening dollar, which mean lower interest rates and more spending power for consumers.
This time we’re seeing the opposite, meaning the pain will be amplified.
Usually US economic pain is cushioned by falling bond yields and a strengthening dollar, which mean lower interest rates and more spending power for consumers.
This time we’re seeing the opposite, meaning the pain will be amplified.
April 22, 2025 at 1:41 PM
The key chart right now:
Usually US economic pain is cushioned by falling bond yields and a strengthening dollar, which mean lower interest rates and more spending power for consumers.
This time we’re seeing the opposite, meaning the pain will be amplified.
Usually US economic pain is cushioned by falling bond yields and a strengthening dollar, which mean lower interest rates and more spending power for consumers.
This time we’re seeing the opposite, meaning the pain will be amplified.
Reposted by Mikael Brunila
Evidence of US brain drain?
US scientists submitted 32% more applications for jobs abroad Jan-Mar 2025 than during same period in 2024.
US-based users browsing jobs abroad increased by 35%.
Data from Nature Careers global science jobs platform.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
US scientists submitted 32% more applications for jobs abroad Jan-Mar 2025 than during same period in 2024.
US-based users browsing jobs abroad increased by 35%.
Data from Nature Careers global science jobs platform.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
April 22, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Evidence of US brain drain?
US scientists submitted 32% more applications for jobs abroad Jan-Mar 2025 than during same period in 2024.
US-based users browsing jobs abroad increased by 35%.
Data from Nature Careers global science jobs platform.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
US scientists submitted 32% more applications for jobs abroad Jan-Mar 2025 than during same period in 2024.
US-based users browsing jobs abroad increased by 35%.
Data from Nature Careers global science jobs platform.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Mikael Brunila
With all respect to the sanguine predictions from fellow economists: Standard quantitative trade models don’t seem to capture the loss of global public goods, such as the rules-based international order.
April 7, 2025 at 12:15 AM
With all respect to the sanguine predictions from fellow economists: Standard quantitative trade models don’t seem to capture the loss of global public goods, such as the rules-based international order.
Reposted by Mikael Brunila
I just don't think there's evidence that the direction of LLM ability-increase is towards human intelligence or a superset of human intelligence. Really seems like they are their own thing that partially overlaps with human intelligence
March 10, 2025 at 2:10 PM
I just don't think there's evidence that the direction of LLM ability-increase is towards human intelligence or a superset of human intelligence. Really seems like they are their own thing that partially overlaps with human intelligence
Reposted by Mikael Brunila
Reposted by Mikael Brunila
Being a historian, people ask me if I think the US is living through Germany 1933.
I answer no, analogies are always imperfect but to me it feels more like Russia 1999: a blatant theft of state assets and liberals in a fugue state, refusing to believe the arc of progress is bending against them.
I answer no, analogies are always imperfect but to me it feels more like Russia 1999: a blatant theft of state assets and liberals in a fugue state, refusing to believe the arc of progress is bending against them.
March 7, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Being a historian, people ask me if I think the US is living through Germany 1933.
I answer no, analogies are always imperfect but to me it feels more like Russia 1999: a blatant theft of state assets and liberals in a fugue state, refusing to believe the arc of progress is bending against them.
I answer no, analogies are always imperfect but to me it feels more like Russia 1999: a blatant theft of state assets and liberals in a fugue state, refusing to believe the arc of progress is bending against them.
the mistake of Canada and Mexico was to think what he said he wanted was what he actually wanted
March 3, 2025 at 11:03 PM
the mistake of Canada and Mexico was to think what he said he wanted was what he actually wanted
Reposted by Mikael Brunila
Reposted by Mikael Brunila
Ennen: vapaa maailma
Nyt: vapaa pudotus
Nyt: vapaa pudotus
February 28, 2025 at 10:46 PM
Ennen: vapaa maailma
Nyt: vapaa pudotus
Nyt: vapaa pudotus
Reposted by Mikael Brunila
Naamiot on riisuttu lopullisesti. Trump ja Vance osoittavat selvästi kenen puolella ovat - Putinin.
Tätä videota on vaikeaa katsoa, niin ala-arvoisesti käyttäytyvät.
Tätä videota on vaikeaa katsoa, niin ala-arvoisesti käyttäytyvät.
Ukraina-seuranta | Reuters: Zelenskyi lähti Valkoisesta talosta etuajassa riitaisan tapaamisen jälkeen
HS seuraa Venäjän hyökkäyssotaa ja sen seurauksia hetki hetkeltä.
www.hs.fi
February 28, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Naamiot on riisuttu lopullisesti. Trump ja Vance osoittavat selvästi kenen puolella ovat - Putinin.
Tätä videota on vaikeaa katsoa, niin ala-arvoisesti käyttäytyvät.
Tätä videota on vaikeaa katsoa, niin ala-arvoisesti käyttäytyvät.
Reposted by Mikael Brunila
Now this is some unambiguously funny stove touching
February 28, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Now this is some unambiguously funny stove touching
Reposted by Mikael Brunila
Just watched the Trump Gaza video and whoever wrote a couple weeks ago about generative AI being the new aesthetics of fascism could not have asked for a better case in point
Donald Trump shares bizarre AI-generated video of 'Trump Gaza'
YouTube video by Guardian News
youtu.be
February 26, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Just watched the Trump Gaza video and whoever wrote a couple weeks ago about generative AI being the new aesthetics of fascism could not have asked for a better case in point
in the future, the most literate people will be inmates *with* access to a prison library but *without* access to smartphones or AI.
February 22, 2025 at 5:58 PM
in the future, the most literate people will be inmates *with* access to a prison library but *without* access to smartphones or AI.
I have Ollama vibe coding plugins for Jupyter and VSCode, but I'm unsure how to integrate an AI coding assistant into RStudio. Is there an obvious way to do this? If not, RStudio better come up with it quickly, because the paradigm is shifting, and they'll be left in the dust.
February 19, 2025 at 2:01 AM
I have Ollama vibe coding plugins for Jupyter and VSCode, but I'm unsure how to integrate an AI coding assistant into RStudio. Is there an obvious way to do this? If not, RStudio better come up with it quickly, because the paradigm is shifting, and they'll be left in the dust.