Natasha Watts
@natashawattsup.bsky.social
Author, anthropologist, audio journalist.
Reposted by Natasha Watts
the implicit standard of "criminality" is doing a lot of work here, mostly as a desperate appeal to avoid thinking (not grading any of your students' exams is not criminal behavior either but you can very quickly see how that might nevertheless put a professor's employment in jeopardy)
November 20, 2025 at 2:35 PM
the implicit standard of "criminality" is doing a lot of work here, mostly as a desperate appeal to avoid thinking (not grading any of your students' exams is not criminal behavior either but you can very quickly see how that might nevertheless put a professor's employment in jeopardy)
Reposted by Natasha Watts
A must-read long form explanation of what to expect if/when antifascism is designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization—leading to "unprecedented expansion of counterterrorism authorities into the domestic political space." Written by the DOJ's former Counsel for Domestic Terrorism. 1/
Designating Antifa as FTO Could Threaten Civil Liberties
Trump's plan to designate Antifa as an FTO has implications extending beyond anti-fascist activists to the architecture of US civil society.
www.justsecurity.org
October 30, 2025 at 1:26 PM
A must-read long form explanation of what to expect if/when antifascism is designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization—leading to "unprecedented expansion of counterterrorism authorities into the domestic political space." Written by the DOJ's former Counsel for Domestic Terrorism. 1/
Reposted by Natasha Watts
New hobby:
Remaking article abstracts as movie trailers to expose hype and fearmongering.
Remaking article abstracts as movie trailers to expose hype and fearmongering.
October 20, 2025 at 10:22 AM
New hobby:
Remaking article abstracts as movie trailers to expose hype and fearmongering.
Remaking article abstracts as movie trailers to expose hype and fearmongering.
Thank you to VoyageDenver for the feature about my new work conducting social media workshops for teenagers. If you work at a high school or library and would like me to come in and talk about the nuances of life online with the kids, don't hesitate to reach out. voyagedenver.com/interview/st...
Story & Lesson Highlights with Natasha Watts of Littleton
We recently had the chance to connect with Natasha Watts and have shared our conversation below. Natasha, really appreciate you sharing your stories and insights with us. The world would have so much more understanding and empathy if we all were a bit more open about our stories and how they have helped shaped our […]
voyagedenver.com
October 20, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Thank you to VoyageDenver for the feature about my new work conducting social media workshops for teenagers. If you work at a high school or library and would like me to come in and talk about the nuances of life online with the kids, don't hesitate to reach out. voyagedenver.com/interview/st...
Reposted by Natasha Watts
i think we should bring dadaism back as a response to The Horrors. it made sense during world war one
October 16, 2025 at 9:20 AM
i think we should bring dadaism back as a response to The Horrors. it made sense during world war one
Check out my conversation with @lawsonnuland.bsky.social about third spaces, digital culture, and Grand Theft Auto.
The next episode of Super Wall Jump is out! It's a banger!
October 16, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Check out my conversation with @lawsonnuland.bsky.social about third spaces, digital culture, and Grand Theft Auto.
Reposted by Natasha Watts
The next episode of Super Wall Jump is out! It's a banger!
October 16, 2025 at 5:35 PM
The next episode of Super Wall Jump is out! It's a banger!
Reposted by Natasha Watts
Well, the rabbit's out of the PM bag! I have a lot of thoughts on what it means at last to be fulfilling the dream I've nurtured since I was 7 years old, but for right now I'm afraid all I have for you is the mental image of me flapping in a circle while I shout, I'M GOING TO BE A PUBLISHED AUTHOR!!
October 14, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Well, the rabbit's out of the PM bag! I have a lot of thoughts on what it means at last to be fulfilling the dream I've nurtured since I was 7 years old, but for right now I'm afraid all I have for you is the mental image of me flapping in a circle while I shout, I'M GOING TO BE A PUBLISHED AUTHOR!!
Reposted by Natasha Watts
You look at every culture that's ever existed and the running theme is everyone pretty much just wants to play/dance to music, make art, eat stewed meat wrapped in flat bread, and tell stories about the shapes we find in the stars. Somehow we turned that into wars and overtime and profit margins.
My problem with everything is that I know For A Fact that the purpose of life is frivolity. It is to fool around & pursue joy.
September 21, 2025 at 4:23 PM
You look at every culture that's ever existed and the running theme is everyone pretty much just wants to play/dance to music, make art, eat stewed meat wrapped in flat bread, and tell stories about the shapes we find in the stars. Somehow we turned that into wars and overtime and profit margins.
I've been thinking a lot this week about how mass shootings are almost becoming a ritual in America. There are symbolic objects like guns, memes, manifestos, livestreams. Importantly, the general population is not the intended audience.
September 17, 2025 at 11:38 PM
I've been thinking a lot this week about how mass shootings are almost becoming a ritual in America. There are symbolic objects like guns, memes, manifestos, livestreams. Importantly, the general population is not the intended audience.
Reposted by Natasha Watts
It’s often hard to see how the quiet world of academic thought-making figures in the wider one, so dominated by the loud, self-righteous proclamations and vicious threats that characterize the moment. But having spent a lot of time this year reading new, beautiful books and…1/2
September 14, 2025 at 4:24 PM
It’s often hard to see how the quiet world of academic thought-making figures in the wider one, so dominated by the loud, self-righteous proclamations and vicious threats that characterize the moment. But having spent a lot of time this year reading new, beautiful books and…1/2
Reposted by Natasha Watts
🧵 The summer of 2025 has been AI's "cruel summer"—wrongful deaths, dangerous therapy chatbots, medical misinformation, facial recognition failures. These aren't isolated glitches but predictable harms from systems deployed without adequate oversight. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
An ELSI for AI: Learning from genetics to govern algorithms
In the United States, the summer of 2025 will be remembered as artificial intelligence’s (AI’s) cruel summer—a season when the unheeded risks and dangers of AI became undeniably clear. Recent months h...
www.science.org
September 11, 2025 at 8:48 PM
🧵 The summer of 2025 has been AI's "cruel summer"—wrongful deaths, dangerous therapy chatbots, medical misinformation, facial recognition failures. These aren't isolated glitches but predictable harms from systems deployed without adequate oversight. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
I've been back from living in London for about a month now. It's been mostly great to be home. But today I'm really missing it for some reason. I miss old buildings. I miss walking. I miss mediocre egg salad sandwich meal deals.
August 26, 2025 at 8:15 PM
I've been back from living in London for about a month now. It's been mostly great to be home. But today I'm really missing it for some reason. I miss old buildings. I miss walking. I miss mediocre egg salad sandwich meal deals.
Reposted by Natasha Watts
HEY friends: recently seen heaps of "disclosures" from AI companies of the energy cost per question you type into chatbots (most recently from Google)?
Presenting per-query 'efficiency' is part of big tech's efforts to hide its extremely real and happening-right-now climate impacts!
NEW POST -->>>
Presenting per-query 'efficiency' is part of big tech's efforts to hide its extremely real and happening-right-now climate impacts!
NEW POST -->>>
Big tech’s selective disclosure masks AI’s real climate impact
Google claims to have disclosed new information proving its own efficiency. But it has hidden the bigger picture. Guess what: I’ve got the bigger picture for you right here in this big old po…
ketanjoshi.co
August 22, 2025 at 10:07 PM
HEY friends: recently seen heaps of "disclosures" from AI companies of the energy cost per question you type into chatbots (most recently from Google)?
Presenting per-query 'efficiency' is part of big tech's efforts to hide its extremely real and happening-right-now climate impacts!
NEW POST -->>>
Presenting per-query 'efficiency' is part of big tech's efforts to hide its extremely real and happening-right-now climate impacts!
NEW POST -->>>
Reposted by Natasha Watts
Slowly but surely, huge swaths of the internet are vanishing. But the artefacts of the early web are still out there, and they have lessons for the future … BBC Future #AIslop
www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...
www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...
My journey to the heart of the forgotten internet
Slowly but surely, huge swaths of the internet are vanishing. But the artefacts of the early web are still out there, and they have lessons for the future.
www.bbc.co.uk
August 12, 2025 at 6:21 AM
Slowly but surely, huge swaths of the internet are vanishing. But the artefacts of the early web are still out there, and they have lessons for the future … BBC Future #AIslop
www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...
www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...
Reposted by Natasha Watts
this dc situation looks pretty horrible. i wish i had more to say except that autocracy is always mundane and petty and vicious and encourages you to look away and be safe. and you can live quite normally under it until you're a direct target
August 11, 2025 at 5:41 PM
this dc situation looks pretty horrible. i wish i had more to say except that autocracy is always mundane and petty and vicious and encourages you to look away and be safe. and you can live quite normally under it until you're a direct target
The "everything will make sense soon" language is certainly reminiscent of language used by groups like Qanon. Not saying AltNPS is necessarily operating in bad faith, but it's important to think critically about this type of thing.
The Alt National Park Service account calls itself the official "resistance" team of the US National Park Service. With 887k followers, is one of the biggest accounts on Bluesky. It is the 11 most followed account according to some trackers.
This thread will dive into its activity.
🧵 1/x.
This thread will dive into its activity.
🧵 1/x.
July 19, 2025 at 8:58 PM
The "everything will make sense soon" language is certainly reminiscent of language used by groups like Qanon. Not saying AltNPS is necessarily operating in bad faith, but it's important to think critically about this type of thing.
Reposted by Natasha Watts
Andry Hernández Romero, the innocent make-up artist imprisoned without trial for 4 months in El Salvador by the Trump admin, is FREE.
He was wrongfully accused of being a gang member because of his “mom” and “dad” tattoos, and illegally sent to El Salvador without due process.
He was wrongfully accused of being a gang member because of his “mom” and “dad” tattoos, and illegally sent to El Salvador without due process.
July 19, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Andry Hernández Romero, the innocent make-up artist imprisoned without trial for 4 months in El Salvador by the Trump admin, is FREE.
He was wrongfully accused of being a gang member because of his “mom” and “dad” tattoos, and illegally sent to El Salvador without due process.
He was wrongfully accused of being a gang member because of his “mom” and “dad” tattoos, and illegally sent to El Salvador without due process.
Reposted by Natasha Watts
1. We interrupt this programming for some LEGITIMATELY GOOD NEWS
Violent crime in Baltimore has PLUMMETED to historic lows
How did the city do it?
Baltimore adopted a comprehensive set of "woke" policies, treating violence as a public health issue
Violent crime in Baltimore has PLUMMETED to historic lows
How did the city do it?
Baltimore adopted a comprehensive set of "woke" policies, treating violence as a public health issue
The secret to Baltimore's extraordinary year
This April, Baltimore saw five homicides.
popular.info
July 16, 2025 at 1:14 PM
1. We interrupt this programming for some LEGITIMATELY GOOD NEWS
Violent crime in Baltimore has PLUMMETED to historic lows
How did the city do it?
Baltimore adopted a comprehensive set of "woke" policies, treating violence as a public health issue
Violent crime in Baltimore has PLUMMETED to historic lows
How did the city do it?
Baltimore adopted a comprehensive set of "woke" policies, treating violence as a public health issue
Reposted by Natasha Watts
the modern information environment
May 29, 2025 at 3:16 PM
the modern information environment
Reposted by Natasha Watts
Original study:
D. Álvarez-Alonso et al., More than a #fingerprint on a pebble: A pigment-marked object from San Lázaro rock-shelter in the context of #Neanderthal symbolic behavior, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 16, 2025. 🔓
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
D. Álvarez-Alonso et al., More than a #fingerprint on a pebble: A pigment-marked object from San Lázaro rock-shelter in the context of #Neanderthal symbolic behavior, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 16, 2025. 🔓
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
More than a fingerprint on a pebble: A pigment-marked object from San Lázaro rock-shelter in the context of Neanderthal symbolic behavior - Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
The pebble discovered in the San Lázaro rock-shelter (Segovia, Central Spain) is the oldest known non-utilitarian object with a fingerprint made in Europe. Its morphology and the strategic position of...
link.springer.com
May 27, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Original study:
D. Álvarez-Alonso et al., More than a #fingerprint on a pebble: A pigment-marked object from San Lázaro rock-shelter in the context of #Neanderthal symbolic behavior, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 16, 2025. 🔓
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
D. Álvarez-Alonso et al., More than a #fingerprint on a pebble: A pigment-marked object from San Lázaro rock-shelter in the context of #Neanderthal symbolic behavior, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 16, 2025. 🔓
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Excited to announce that I'm a recipient of UCL Anthropology's Master's Research Award for the work I'm doing on labor, masculinity, and video games.
May 28, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Excited to announce that I'm a recipient of UCL Anthropology's Master's Research Award for the work I'm doing on labor, masculinity, and video games.
Reposted by Natasha Watts
THIS IS HUGE! TWO Phase I HIV vaccine clinical trials have demonstrated that a stepwise mRNA-based vaccination strategy can SUCCESSFULLY activate AND advance immune responses toward producing broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs), a CRITICAL milestone in HIV prevention. Let’s talk about that! 🧪🧵⬇️
May 16, 2025 at 4:00 PM
THIS IS HUGE! TWO Phase I HIV vaccine clinical trials have demonstrated that a stepwise mRNA-based vaccination strategy can SUCCESSFULLY activate AND advance immune responses toward producing broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs), a CRITICAL milestone in HIV prevention. Let’s talk about that! 🧪🧵⬇️
Looking forward to presenting my audio piece about TikTok nostalgia sounds at the Sensory Public History Conference later this month. www.linkedin.com/company/sens...
Sensory Public History Conference 2025 | LinkedIn
Sensory Public History Conference 2025 | 91 followers on LinkedIn. Inaugural Sensory Public History Conference on 30th and 31st May 2025 at UCL East. Call for submissions now open! | The inaugural Sen...
www.linkedin.com
May 16, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Looking forward to presenting my audio piece about TikTok nostalgia sounds at the Sensory Public History Conference later this month. www.linkedin.com/company/sens...