Tobias Wilson-Bates
@phdhurtbrain.bsky.social
Time Machines. Temporality. Ecology. Robots. Education. Associate Professor of 19th century British Literature.
Pinned
Bluesky isn’t about popularity, it’s about gathering all 17 William Morris lovers together in a single online location!
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
PDF of the Walter Benjamin essential text web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/...
February 12, 2026 at 4:56 PM
PDF of the Walter Benjamin essential text web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/...
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
Sigh. I would like for my work to be less relevant.
Read @bakerdphd.bsky.social’s piece on the need for institutions and their associations to stand up to this kind of behaviour, and then re-read the UNC story.
Nothing promotes freedom of speech and an open exchange of ideas like the threat of being secretly recorded at all times.
www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
February 11, 2026 at 2:42 PM
Sigh. I would like for my work to be less relevant.
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
Read a bit about the Canadian mass shooting, truly tragic. I don't want to be inured to the mass murder of children!
February 12, 2026 at 6:15 AM
Read a bit about the Canadian mass shooting, truly tragic. I don't want to be inured to the mass murder of children!
A wild thing to watch in the never-ending saga of university presidents being chased or fleeing or convicted out of their positions is the communal sighs of resignation that the next president will not be an improvement on the last
February 12, 2026 at 2:47 PM
A wild thing to watch in the never-ending saga of university presidents being chased or fleeing or convicted out of their positions is the communal sighs of resignation that the next president will not be an improvement on the last
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction should just be required reading for ninth graders now
February 12, 2026 at 12:17 PM
Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction should just be required reading for ninth graders now
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
She is an empty suit, of course. And an absolute nasty piece of cornbread.
She is also, to my somewhat trained ear, absolutely, positively terrified here. She is either intimidated by the process or deeply anxious about her relationship with her boss. Or both.
But she is terrified.
She is also, to my somewhat trained ear, absolutely, positively terrified here. She is either intimidated by the process or deeply anxious about her relationship with her boss. Or both.
But she is terrified.
The question for Baghdad Bondi was, how many of Epstein’s co-conspirators and pedophiles have you indicted or investigated?
Answer: The Dow is over $50K.
Answer: The Dow is over $50K.
February 12, 2026 at 12:51 PM
She is an empty suit, of course. And an absolute nasty piece of cornbread.
She is also, to my somewhat trained ear, absolutely, positively terrified here. She is either intimidated by the process or deeply anxious about her relationship with her boss. Or both.
But she is terrified.
She is also, to my somewhat trained ear, absolutely, positively terrified here. She is either intimidated by the process or deeply anxious about her relationship with her boss. Or both.
But she is terrified.
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
A bit long but here’s Marx from the 1844 manuscripts providing an exposition of Goethe and Shakespeare on the power of money that all happens to sum up exactly where we are right now. (Reminded of this passage by Epstein’s capture of prominent academics.)
![That which is for me through the medium of money - that for which I can pay (i.e., which money can buy) - that am I myself, the possessor of the money. The extent of the power of money is the extent of my power. Money's properties are my - the possessor's - properties and essential powers. Thus, what I am and am capable of is by no means determined by my individuality. I am ugly, but I can buy for myself the most beautiful of women. Therefore I am not ugly, for the effect of ugliness - its deterrent power - is nullified by money. I, according to my individual characteristics, am lame, but money furnishes me with twenty-four feet. Therefore I am not lame. I am bad, dishonest, unscrupulous, stupid; but money is honoured, and hence its possessor. Money is the supreme good, therefore its possessor is good. Money, besides, saves me the trouble of being dishonest: I am therefore presumed honest. I am brainless, but money is the real brain of all things and how then should its possessor be brainless? Besides, he can buy clever people for himself, and is he who has [In the manuscript: "is. - Ed.] power over the clever not more clever than the clever? Do not I, who thanks to money am capable of all that the human heart longs for, possess all human capacities? Does not my money, therefore, transform all my incapacities into their contrary?](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:givg3amslsq46o3f25ga5esh/bafkreig4odpf2rmnmzzaiw45dbmsiiltel6wiv4sv32o7ojwdz3vpuf34q@jpeg)
February 12, 2026 at 6:35 AM
A bit long but here’s Marx from the 1844 manuscripts providing an exposition of Goethe and Shakespeare on the power of money that all happens to sum up exactly where we are right now. (Reminded of this passage by Epstein’s capture of prominent academics.)
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
Remember when we all said Clearview was going to be a big problem down the road? Here we are.
NEW: CBP signs a new deal with Clearview AI to access its scraped image database for "tactical targeting," including efforts to “disrupt, degrade, and dismantle” networks of people labeled security threats.
CBP Signs Clearview AI Deal to Use Face Recognition for ‘Tactical Targeting’
US Border Patrol intelligence units will gain access to a face recognition tool built on billions of images scraped from the internet.
www.wired.com
February 11, 2026 at 6:38 PM
Remember when we all said Clearview was going to be a big problem down the road? Here we are.
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
I have been pleasantly surprised to hear people openly talking about the end of institutional life as we know it (it’s been over. We’ve been living and working in zombie institutions for three decades now) and instead of collapsing at the thought they’re like okay let’s rebuild but better. More.
This is the type of thing I keep trying to talk to people about for higher ed. Not conference rooms where I "listen to diverse perspectives" but actually doing work to imagine what strengthening the US higher education system in furtherance of a democracy would look like.
Very excited about this new @knightcolumbia.org project, both because it gives us the chance to look beyond the current democratic crisis and because so many super people have already agreed to participate. knightcolumbia.org/content/new-...
February 11, 2026 at 9:26 PM
I have been pleasantly surprised to hear people openly talking about the end of institutional life as we know it (it’s been over. We’ve been living and working in zombie institutions for three decades now) and instead of collapsing at the thought they’re like okay let’s rebuild but better. More.
Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction should just be required reading for ninth graders now
February 12, 2026 at 12:17 PM
Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction should just be required reading for ninth graders now
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
What's so amazing about Jim Henson as a puppeteer is that he could literally be explaining that Kermit is made out of felt and ping pong balls and yet Kermit still feels alive the whole time he's doing it
February 11, 2026 at 10:03 PM
What's so amazing about Jim Henson as a puppeteer is that he could literally be explaining that Kermit is made out of felt and ping pong balls and yet Kermit still feels alive the whole time he's doing it
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
I don't know how online instruction is possible under these conditions. And I have online classes this summer and in the fall. It's gonna be a trip.
Chrome will now "autobrowse" and take action for you.
Free.
And it just took a quiz on my behalf in Canvas after a little coaxing.
Free.
And it just took a quiz on my behalf in Canvas after a little coaxing.
February 12, 2026 at 1:17 AM
I don't know how online instruction is possible under these conditions. And I have online classes this summer and in the fall. It's gonna be a trip.
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
Most people don’t know this: Heat pumps REDUCE gas consumption even if running 100% on electricity from a gas fired power plant.
More here in my piece for @carbonbrief.org👇
interactive.carbonbrief.org/factcheck/he...
More here in my piece for @carbonbrief.org👇
interactive.carbonbrief.org/factcheck/he...
February 11, 2026 at 9:03 PM
Most people don’t know this: Heat pumps REDUCE gas consumption even if running 100% on electricity from a gas fired power plant.
More here in my piece for @carbonbrief.org👇
interactive.carbonbrief.org/factcheck/he...
More here in my piece for @carbonbrief.org👇
interactive.carbonbrief.org/factcheck/he...
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
what makes something "vulnerable to AI" is not the capacity of machines but the credulity of management.
Of course, it is also true that historians jobs may in practice be vulnerable to AI, because a lot of people who control the money for historian jobs probably haven’t thought much about where history comes from, either.
February 11, 2026 at 8:39 PM
what makes something "vulnerable to AI" is not the capacity of machines but the credulity of management.
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
Love how colon cancer keeps killing people under 50 and yet insurance doesn't cover colonoscopy without cost-sharing until age 45.
I just paid $1,584 out of pocket for mine thanks to my deductible and copays
I just paid $1,584 out of pocket for mine thanks to my deductible and copays
February 11, 2026 at 8:11 PM
Love how colon cancer keeps killing people under 50 and yet insurance doesn't cover colonoscopy without cost-sharing until age 45.
I just paid $1,584 out of pocket for mine thanks to my deductible and copays
I just paid $1,584 out of pocket for mine thanks to my deductible and copays
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
This is the type of thing I keep trying to talk to people about for higher ed. Not conference rooms where I "listen to diverse perspectives" but actually doing work to imagine what strengthening the US higher education system in furtherance of a democracy would look like.
Very excited about this new @knightcolumbia.org project, both because it gives us the chance to look beyond the current democratic crisis and because so many super people have already agreed to participate. knightcolumbia.org/content/new-...
New Knight Institute Initiative to Focus on “Reconstructing Free Expression” After Trump
knightcolumbia.org
February 11, 2026 at 9:07 PM
This is the type of thing I keep trying to talk to people about for higher ed. Not conference rooms where I "listen to diverse perspectives" but actually doing work to imagine what strengthening the US higher education system in furtherance of a democracy would look like.
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
Reverse Dorian Gray: you yourself stay the same while you, in the photos from your college years, become younger and hotter with each passing decade
February 11, 2026 at 6:14 PM
Reverse Dorian Gray: you yourself stay the same while you, in the photos from your college years, become younger and hotter with each passing decade
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
I don’t really pay attention to charges of doomerism. I don’t know what it means offline.
I do know that refusing a version of how the future will unfold forecloses on the power that actually shapes that future. That’s not disavowing that tech changes are happening but they are in now a given.
I do know that refusing a version of how the future will unfold forecloses on the power that actually shapes that future. That’s not disavowing that tech changes are happening but they are in now a given.
I understand why people are exhausted by AI hype, and why those of us squarely in the corner of "human dignity uber alles" see AI doomerism as self-serving hype, but I *really* think people on the left broadly need to start thinking seriously about the possibiltiy of the hype being...true.
February 11, 2026 at 5:51 PM
I don’t really pay attention to charges of doomerism. I don’t know what it means offline.
I do know that refusing a version of how the future will unfold forecloses on the power that actually shapes that future. That’s not disavowing that tech changes are happening but they are in now a given.
I do know that refusing a version of how the future will unfold forecloses on the power that actually shapes that future. That’s not disavowing that tech changes are happening but they are in now a given.
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
I think the greatest gift college professors in the humanities can give to students right now is a seminar room where, for 80 minutes twice a week, nothing that happens to them is a sales pitch for an AI product.
February 11, 2026 at 8:45 PM
I think the greatest gift college professors in the humanities can give to students right now is a seminar room where, for 80 minutes twice a week, nothing that happens to them is a sales pitch for an AI product.
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
if you played sonic the hedgehog and put down the controller, sonic would look at you and tap his foot impatiently. this was proof that sega genesis cartridges had souls. the decision was made to make the storage cases a lot larger than the cartridges so they would have room to move around in there
February 11, 2026 at 3:58 PM
if you played sonic the hedgehog and put down the controller, sonic would look at you and tap his foot impatiently. this was proof that sega genesis cartridges had souls. the decision was made to make the storage cases a lot larger than the cartridges so they would have room to move around in there
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
stupid strategy,, when university administrators are doing it for free!
Microsoft, Google, Meta and Amazon paying influencers $400k-$600k to post months of AI hype content. Absolutely busted, failed industry, embarrassing era
www.cnbc.com/2026/02/06/g...
www.cnbc.com/2026/02/06/g...
Google and Microsoft offer lucrative deals to promote AI, but even $500,000 won't sway some creators
Tech companies including Google and Microsoft are paying influencers hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote AI products.
www.cnbc.com
February 11, 2026 at 7:07 PM
stupid strategy,, when university administrators are doing it for free!
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
So I'm starting a daily practice of reading a bit of poetry and close reading lines that I find striking. Not sure if that's of interest to anyone, but I'll make a little thread.
My first was a brief consideration of a couple lines from Hyperion:
tobiaswilsonbates.substack.com/p/hyperion?r...
My first was a brief consideration of a couple lines from Hyperion:
tobiaswilsonbates.substack.com/p/hyperion?r...
Hyperion
John Keats had words
tobiaswilsonbates.substack.com
February 11, 2026 at 5:02 PM
So I'm starting a daily practice of reading a bit of poetry and close reading lines that I find striking. Not sure if that's of interest to anyone, but I'll make a little thread.
My first was a brief consideration of a couple lines from Hyperion:
tobiaswilsonbates.substack.com/p/hyperion?r...
My first was a brief consideration of a couple lines from Hyperion:
tobiaswilsonbates.substack.com/p/hyperion?r...
Reposted by Tobias Wilson-Bates
So I'm starting a daily practice of reading a bit of poetry and close reading lines that I find striking. Not sure if that's of interest to anyone, but I'll make a little thread.
My first was a brief consideration of a couple lines from Hyperion:
tobiaswilsonbates.substack.com/p/hyperion?r...
My first was a brief consideration of a couple lines from Hyperion:
tobiaswilsonbates.substack.com/p/hyperion?r...
Hyperion
John Keats had words
tobiaswilsonbates.substack.com
February 11, 2026 at 5:02 PM
So I'm starting a daily practice of reading a bit of poetry and close reading lines that I find striking. Not sure if that's of interest to anyone, but I'll make a little thread.
My first was a brief consideration of a couple lines from Hyperion:
tobiaswilsonbates.substack.com/p/hyperion?r...
My first was a brief consideration of a couple lines from Hyperion:
tobiaswilsonbates.substack.com/p/hyperion?r...