Roger Whitson
@rogerwhitson.bsky.social
lit and media prof @WSU — science fiction, buddhism, william blake, science & tech studies, polyamory.
Pinned
I'll be giving a talk at Jupiter's Eye Book Cafe with D.J. Lee on Oct. 3! Learn about: conversations with the dead about illuminated printing, seeing in the infinite in everything, englobing the vortices of spacetime, and why everyone is a prophet.
"Machines deal with commands not according to their meaning but according to the assigned syntax, which follows the rules of logic and the orders of symbols." - Yuk Hui, Existence of Dig Ob
Does this still hold true w/ AI? I suspect so, but I'm wondering about any caveats to this binary.
Does this still hold true w/ AI? I suspect so, but I'm wondering about any caveats to this binary.
November 11, 2025 at 7:12 PM
"Machines deal with commands not according to their meaning but according to the assigned syntax, which follows the rules of logic and the orders of symbols." - Yuk Hui, Existence of Dig Ob
Does this still hold true w/ AI? I suspect so, but I'm wondering about any caveats to this binary.
Does this still hold true w/ AI? I suspect so, but I'm wondering about any caveats to this binary.
If [renting digital platforms sounds like a] medieval problem for society, that's probably because it really is an uncanny echo of that era in history. The only real difference is the digital form of the landscape. The nature of the lords taking tribute payments remain the same."
—Izabella Kaminska
—Izabella Kaminska
November 2, 2025 at 5:42 PM
If [renting digital platforms sounds like a] medieval problem for society, that's probably because it really is an uncanny echo of that era in history. The only real difference is the digital form of the landscape. The nature of the lords taking tribute payments remain the same."
—Izabella Kaminska
—Izabella Kaminska
Reposted by Roger Whitson
This is new from the always insightful Fred Turner, who has previously written extensively on the “Californian ideology.” thebaffler.com/salvos/the-t...
The Texan Ideology | Fred Turner
The Texan Ideology reflects a century-old fusion of the oil industry and millenarian Christianity.
thebaffler.com
October 31, 2025 at 1:37 PM
This is new from the always insightful Fred Turner, who has previously written extensively on the “Californian ideology.” thebaffler.com/salvos/the-t...
has anyone talked about the connections between Yuk Hui's technodiversity and Siegfried Zielinski's variantology? there are differences, but interesting intersections as well.
October 15, 2025 at 7:04 PM
has anyone talked about the connections between Yuk Hui's technodiversity and Siegfried Zielinski's variantology? there are differences, but interesting intersections as well.
I'm giving a talk here with Michael Goddard of Goldsmiths Uni of London that will be livestreamed from 2-4pPST. It's free to watch, if you are interested, but you do need to register: ubc.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
October 15, 2025 at 7:03 PM
I'm giving a talk here with Michael Goddard of Goldsmiths Uni of London that will be livestreamed from 2-4pPST. It's free to watch, if you are interested, but you do need to register: ubc.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Look who I found while walking around UBC’s campus… @loriemerson.net
October 15, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Look who I found while walking around UBC’s campus… @loriemerson.net
:(
Terrible news www.yahoo.com/entertainmen...
D'Angelo dead: Grammy-winning R&B singer and neo-soul icon was 51
D’Angelo, the Grammy-winning R&B singer and musician who helped usher in the neo-soul movement, died on Tuesday after a "prolonged and courageous battle with cancer," his family said. He was 51.
www.yahoo.com
October 14, 2025 at 6:54 PM
:(
DH scholars, are there any databases with new (>2018) DH syllabi? The newest syllabi in the Zotero library seem to be around 2014.
October 10, 2025 at 8:39 PM
DH scholars, are there any databases with new (>2018) DH syllabi? The newest syllabi in the Zotero library seem to be around 2014.
"The depth of our ignorance about techniques is unfathomable. We are not able even to count their number, nor can we tell whether they exist as objects or as assemblies or as so many sequences of skilled actions."
—Bruno Latour
—Bruno Latour
October 10, 2025 at 1:43 PM
"The depth of our ignorance about techniques is unfathomable. We are not able even to count their number, nor can we tell whether they exist as objects or as assemblies or as so many sequences of skilled actions."
—Bruno Latour
—Bruno Latour
I'll be giving a talk at Jupiter's Eye Book Cafe with D.J. Lee on Oct. 3! Learn about: conversations with the dead about illuminated printing, seeing in the infinite in everything, englobing the vortices of spacetime, and why everyone is a prophet.
October 9, 2025 at 2:01 AM
I'll be giving a talk at Jupiter's Eye Book Cafe with D.J. Lee on Oct. 3! Learn about: conversations with the dead about illuminated printing, seeing in the infinite in everything, englobing the vortices of spacetime, and why everyone is a prophet.
"An obscene amount of money has turned debate into a weapon, deliberately honed to punish good-faith participation by making us feel like fools for assuming the best of an ideological opponent who only wants to win. "
Gift link: essential and sadly brave writing for dark times from Tressie McMillan Cottom (@tressiemcphd.bsky.social). www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...
Opinion | Mourn, or Else
www.nytimes.com
October 2, 2025 at 5:19 PM
"An obscene amount of money has turned debate into a weapon, deliberately honed to punish good-faith participation by making us feel like fools for assuming the best of an ideological opponent who only wants to win. "
I'm teaching our Intro to DH seminar for grad students. I've not taught it in a bit, and I'm struggling to find newish (2019-present) syllabi online. I also veer more into media studies/archeology than distant reading or archives. So, if anyone has suggestions, please let me know.
October 1, 2025 at 5:00 PM
I'm teaching our Intro to DH seminar for grad students. I've not taught it in a bit, and I'm struggling to find newish (2019-present) syllabi online. I also veer more into media studies/archeology than distant reading or archives. So, if anyone has suggestions, please let me know.
If you see this, quote skeet with a screenshot from a video game that released the year you were born.
By the time I was aware of games, Galaga was out and I was more into that one. But this is pretty solid.
By the time I was aware of games, Galaga was out and I was more into that one. But this is pretty solid.
September 27, 2025 at 4:34 PM
If you see this, quote skeet with a screenshot from a video game that released the year you were born.
By the time I was aware of games, Galaga was out and I was more into that one. But this is pretty solid.
By the time I was aware of games, Galaga was out and I was more into that one. But this is pretty solid.
list 3 things you can talk about for 3 hours with no prep:
1. The triangle era of Superman comics.
2. William Blake's approach to mysticism & illuminated printing.
3. Why Dark Souls is a Buddhist game.
1. The triangle era of Superman comics.
2. William Blake's approach to mysticism & illuminated printing.
3. Why Dark Souls is a Buddhist game.
list 3 things you can talk about for 3 hours with no prep
1. Letterpress printing
2. Infantry tactics from the 30YW to Napoleon
3. Mid-era Sonic Youth
1. Letterpress printing
2. Infantry tactics from the 30YW to Napoleon
3. Mid-era Sonic Youth
list 3 things you can talk about for 3 hours with no prep
1. the feces of various species
2. lunch meat
3. sweetbreads
1. the feces of various species
2. lunch meat
3. sweetbreads
September 25, 2025 at 11:08 PM
list 3 things you can talk about for 3 hours with no prep:
1. The triangle era of Superman comics.
2. William Blake's approach to mysticism & illuminated printing.
3. Why Dark Souls is a Buddhist game.
1. The triangle era of Superman comics.
2. William Blake's approach to mysticism & illuminated printing.
3. Why Dark Souls is a Buddhist game.
Reposted by Roger Whitson
Commitment to free speech doesn't just mean commitment to letting people say things you don't believe in. It's a commitment to them saying or expressing it in a *way* that you dislike, or is actively unpleasant to you.
there is a point here i want to amplify. the free speech defenders of the mainstream seem to have no awareness that actual free speech is often more fractious and destabilizing than civil and respectful. a society where speech is genuinely free isn’t the deferential space they want it to be.
The round-up.—
www.unpopularfront.news/p/reflection...
www.unpopularfront.news/p/reflection...
September 21, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Commitment to free speech doesn't just mean commitment to letting people say things you don't believe in. It's a commitment to them saying or expressing it in a *way* that you dislike, or is actively unpleasant to you.
For instance, the way he links cybernetics with Whitehead's philosophy of organism is amazing. It's something that seems obvious, but I never made the connection between them.
September 21, 2025 at 4:12 PM
For instance, the way he links cybernetics with Whitehead's philosophy of organism is amazing. It's something that seems obvious, but I never made the connection between them.
The scope of Yuk Hui's work is pretty breathtaking, but it only comes into focus after looking at several of his works - at least for me. I'm fascinated that he spends so much time on Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, someone I haven't thought about since reading Annie Dillard in undergrad.
September 21, 2025 at 4:11 PM
The scope of Yuk Hui's work is pretty breathtaking, but it only comes into focus after looking at several of his works - at least for me. I'm fascinated that he spends so much time on Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, someone I haven't thought about since reading Annie Dillard in undergrad.
most: Beauvoir or Arendt. I'd have a fun but dramatic friendship w/ Deleuze.
Least: Heidegger. I mean, what he did to Husserl....
Least: Heidegger. I mean, what he did to Husserl....
Tonight, following the ethics reading group, I asked a bunch of philosophers which historical philosopher they'd most and least like to befriend. I chose Hume for 'most', and oscilated between Kant, Wittgenstein and Schopenhauer for 'least'. What about the rest of you? #philsky #philosophy
September 18, 2025 at 10:44 PM
most: Beauvoir or Arendt. I'd have a fun but dramatic friendship w/ Deleuze.
Least: Heidegger. I mean, what he did to Husserl....
Least: Heidegger. I mean, what he did to Husserl....
I'm showing The Matrix in my sci-fi class today. Of 20 students, only three of them have seen it before.
September 18, 2025 at 5:55 PM
I'm showing The Matrix in my sci-fi class today. Of 20 students, only three of them have seen it before.
Dark is three seasons. does that count?
Everyone has a 1-2 season TV show they sorely miss and not enough people knew about that you are always praising the heavens about.
What's yours?
What's yours?
September 17, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Dark is three seasons. does that count?
Is there anyone familiar with Hegel read Yuk Hui's new book? He spends the first two chapters on Hegel's sense of universality and world spirit, and it occurs to me that I have no way of contextualizing how that take works w/ Hegel or Marx scholars.
September 17, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Is there anyone familiar with Hegel read Yuk Hui's new book? He spends the first two chapters on Hegel's sense of universality and world spirit, and it occurs to me that I have no way of contextualizing how that take works w/ Hegel or Marx scholars.
hey @ifanboy.com, are y'all still taking questions for the 1000 episode?
September 17, 2025 at 1:50 PM
hey @ifanboy.com, are y'all still taking questions for the 1000 episode?
This is the coolest thing I've seen in a while.
Do you know about New Sessions? The publish zines using telnet. anewsession.com
New Session – TTY Real
anewsession.com
September 16, 2025 at 1:52 PM
This is the coolest thing I've seen in a while.