Teresa Heffernan
@tjheffernan.bsky.social
Literature prof; author; current project: how literal readings of fiction by the tech industry are destroying the world. Let's read/interpret fiction as fiction. Boycott generative AI (chatbots etc); Website: https://www.socialrobotfutures.com/
I hope Canada is paying attention...'The "AI" investment bubble will burst, but unlike the 1840s Railway Mania, we will be left with a useless infrastructure of rusting data centres given the short shelf life of GPUs.' "AI" is not the future.
@mark-carney.bsky.social
@evansolomon.bsky.social
@mark-carney.bsky.social
@evansolomon.bsky.social
AI is going to consume 13-15% of the nation's energy in 3-5 years. For what? For what?
AI Data Center Mania is 'Epic Bubble,' Says Brad Conger
YouTube video by Bloomberg Podcasts
www.youtube.com
November 11, 2025 at 5:39 PM
I hope Canada is paying attention...'The "AI" investment bubble will burst, but unlike the 1840s Railway Mania, we will be left with a useless infrastructure of rusting data centres given the short shelf life of GPUs.' "AI" is not the future.
@mark-carney.bsky.social
@evansolomon.bsky.social
@mark-carney.bsky.social
@evansolomon.bsky.social
So Musk's Hitler-loving Grok can spew gutter talk, Zuck's platforms can sow division & disinformation, Altman's genAI can welcome fascism by blurring the boundary between the fake and the genuine, and Thiel/Karp's Palantir's war tech can leave behind graveyards of children.
AI is going to consume 13-15% of the nation's energy in 3-5 years. For what? For what?
AI Data Center Mania is 'Epic Bubble,' Says Brad Conger
YouTube video by Bloomberg Podcasts
www.youtube.com
November 11, 2025 at 5:05 PM
So Musk's Hitler-loving Grok can spew gutter talk, Zuck's platforms can sow division & disinformation, Altman's genAI can welcome fascism by blurring the boundary between the fake and the genuine, and Thiel/Karp's Palantir's war tech can leave behind graveyards of children.
Reposted by Teresa Heffernan
The #ExecutiveFunctionTheft of having to opt out.
Feeling annoyed at the cognitive cost of having to dismiss all the offers of "AI" assitance every time I use Acrobat to provide feedback on documents my students wrote. (NO I do NOT want an "AI" summary of this. In what world???)
Decided to check settings:
Decided to check settings:
November 10, 2025 at 6:39 PM
The #ExecutiveFunctionTheft of having to opt out.
Brilliant letter...was happy to sign.
Politicians need to stop listening to corporations peddling "magic" machines and start following the research.
Politicians need to stop listening to corporations peddling "magic" machines and start following the research.
Scientists and scholars in AI and its social impacts call on von der Leyen to retract #AIHype statement.
@olivia.science
@abeba.bsky.social
@irisvanrooij.bsky.social
@alexhanna.bsky.social
@rocher.lc
@danmcquillan.bsky.social
@robin.berjon.com
& many others have signed
www.iccl.ie/press-releas...
@olivia.science
@abeba.bsky.social
@irisvanrooij.bsky.social
@alexhanna.bsky.social
@rocher.lc
@danmcquillan.bsky.social
@robin.berjon.com
& many others have signed
www.iccl.ie/press-releas...
Scientists call on the President of the European Commission to retract AI hype statement
Experts in AI call on the President of the European Commission to retract unscientific AI hype statement she made in the budget speech.
www.iccl.ie
November 10, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Brilliant letter...was happy to sign.
Politicians need to stop listening to corporations peddling "magic" machines and start following the research.
Politicians need to stop listening to corporations peddling "magic" machines and start following the research.
Karp quotes Yeats to investors: “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold” and says “Today, America is the center, and it must hold."' Plus more blah blah on the AI economy.
He seems to have missed the line: "The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity"
He seems to have missed the line: "The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity"
November 9, 2025 at 2:07 AM
Karp quotes Yeats to investors: “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold” and says “Today, America is the center, and it must hold."' Plus more blah blah on the AI economy.
He seems to have missed the line: "The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity"
He seems to have missed the line: "The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity"
"Altman notes that GenAI blurs the border between the authentic and the artificial.
This is the point: democracy cannot function without truth, reality, expertise, and facts, and the AI industry is gunning for totalitarianism."
Time to pop that bubble.
@rebeccasolnit.bsky.social
This is the point: democracy cannot function without truth, reality, expertise, and facts, and the AI industry is gunning for totalitarianism."
Time to pop that bubble.
@rebeccasolnit.bsky.social
Here's some more AI making up a quote from me. It's gonna be a nightmare, so let's pray the bubble pops soon and big.
November 8, 2025 at 6:39 PM
"Altman notes that GenAI blurs the border between the authentic and the artificial.
This is the point: democracy cannot function without truth, reality, expertise, and facts, and the AI industry is gunning for totalitarianism."
Time to pop that bubble.
@rebeccasolnit.bsky.social
This is the point: democracy cannot function without truth, reality, expertise, and facts, and the AI industry is gunning for totalitarianism."
Time to pop that bubble.
@rebeccasolnit.bsky.social
Musk to Rogan: "Most of what people consume in five or six years, maybe sooner than that, will be just AI-generated content. So music, videos"
Right, so talentless billionaires can profit from massive theft & planet-burning tech? Nope.
Sorry bro...people are boycotting crappy "AI" chatbots.
Right, so talentless billionaires can profit from massive theft & planet-burning tech? Nope.
Sorry bro...people are boycotting crappy "AI" chatbots.
November 8, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Musk to Rogan: "Most of what people consume in five or six years, maybe sooner than that, will be just AI-generated content. So music, videos"
Right, so talentless billionaires can profit from massive theft & planet-burning tech? Nope.
Sorry bro...people are boycotting crappy "AI" chatbots.
Right, so talentless billionaires can profit from massive theft & planet-burning tech? Nope.
Sorry bro...people are boycotting crappy "AI" chatbots.
Reposted by Teresa Heffernan
Not pictured: the guy with the controller crouched in the corner
For 200 bucks a month, you too can rent a robot and a guy on an H1B1 visa to come to your house and do chores
For 200 bucks a month, you too can rent a robot and a guy on an H1B1 visa to come to your house and do chores
NEO, a new humanoid robot that can do housekeeping, has the internet buzzing. The hosts of "Hard Fork" met with Bernt Bornich, the chief executive of the company 1X, which created the robot, and got to put NEO to the test. nyti.ms/47MhkAo
November 8, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Not pictured: the guy with the controller crouched in the corner
For 200 bucks a month, you too can rent a robot and a guy on an H1B1 visa to come to your house and do chores
For 200 bucks a month, you too can rent a robot and a guy on an H1B1 visa to come to your house and do chores
Reposted by Teresa Heffernan
Simply repeating “productivity”/”nation-building” isn’t enough. There are many ways to improve productivity and to build a nation. Why these choices and not others?
Canadians are owed explanations and a debate over alternatives. Esp when youth and the most vulnerable are being asked to “sacrifice.”
Canadians are owed explanations and a debate over alternatives. Esp when youth and the most vulnerable are being asked to “sacrifice.”
November 8, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Simply repeating “productivity”/”nation-building” isn’t enough. There are many ways to improve productivity and to build a nation. Why these choices and not others?
Canadians are owed explanations and a debate over alternatives. Esp when youth and the most vulnerable are being asked to “sacrifice.”
Canadians are owed explanations and a debate over alternatives. Esp when youth and the most vulnerable are being asked to “sacrifice.”
Carney also pushing data centres and "AI"industry nonsense, driving up energy demands to keep the oil industry alive, threatened as it is by cheaper renewables. I was really hoping Canada would be a little smarter and not fall for the "AI con."
The world blew past the dangerous 1.5 degree red line.
Our grandkids will pay the price.
Canada was the outlier in the G7 because of massive oil production expansion.
Mark Carney has decided to go all in on planet burning as a national strategy.
nationalnewswatch.com/2025/11/07/c...
Our grandkids will pay the price.
Canada was the outlier in the G7 because of massive oil production expansion.
Mark Carney has decided to go all in on planet burning as a national strategy.
nationalnewswatch.com/2025/11/07/c...
Carney tells business crowd a new pipeline project is 'going to…
National Newswatch: Canada's most comprehensive site for political news and views.
nationalnewswatch.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:21 AM
Carney also pushing data centres and "AI"industry nonsense, driving up energy demands to keep the oil industry alive, threatened as it is by cheaper renewables. I was really hoping Canada would be a little smarter and not fall for the "AI con."
Reposted by Teresa Heffernan
In 2008, a blogger named Curtis Yarvin called for a future president to kill foreign aid programs as part of a plan to replace democracy with dictatorship.
Now 600,000 people are dead—and 14 million will die by 2030, according to the Lancet. This is the running death toll of tech fascism.
Now 600,000 people are dead—and 14 million will die by 2030, according to the Lancet. This is the running death toll of tech fascism.
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 7, 2025 at 10:28 PM
In 2008, a blogger named Curtis Yarvin called for a future president to kill foreign aid programs as part of a plan to replace democracy with dictatorship.
Now 600,000 people are dead—and 14 million will die by 2030, according to the Lancet. This is the running death toll of tech fascism.
Now 600,000 people are dead—and 14 million will die by 2030, according to the Lancet. This is the running death toll of tech fascism.
Capek, having witnessed the senseless Great War, wrote R.U.R., about a global corporation run by a small group of men--all driven by a mechanistic ideology & convinced machines would solve world problems. The play ends in catastrophe. NB: It wasn’t meant to be a how-to-manual for the 21st century.
November 7, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Capek, having witnessed the senseless Great War, wrote R.U.R., about a global corporation run by a small group of men--all driven by a mechanistic ideology & convinced machines would solve world problems. The play ends in catastrophe. NB: It wasn’t meant to be a how-to-manual for the 21st century.
"it was precisely the failure of the digital industries to build an egalitarian society that led to homelessness on San Francisco’s streets....it may be that in due course, the economic inequalities that have long plagued Texas will drown out the self-serving voices of the high-tech entrepreneurs."
The 1990s “Californian Ideology” has soured, producing the very inequality its barons now flee. Our essay of the week charts the rise of a "Texan Ideology" that connects digital plunder with oil, Christian nationalism, and racial hierarchy.
By Fred Turner in @thebaffler.com
buff.ly/aSoRbKP
By Fred Turner in @thebaffler.com
buff.ly/aSoRbKP
November 7, 2025 at 5:53 PM
"it was precisely the failure of the digital industries to build an egalitarian society that led to homelessness on San Francisco’s streets....it may be that in due course, the economic inequalities that have long plagued Texas will drown out the self-serving voices of the high-tech entrepreneurs."
Reposted by Teresa Heffernan
Google paid $2.7b to license Character.AI models and to poach 20% of their staff. This is after Character led a teen to his suicide and has been defending themselves on First Amendment grounds.
These are deeply unethical people.
These are deeply unethical people.
November 7, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Google paid $2.7b to license Character.AI models and to poach 20% of their staff. This is after Character led a teen to his suicide and has been defending themselves on First Amendment grounds.
These are deeply unethical people.
These are deeply unethical people.
Crap built on hype and lies sold by an ass wins the day...so much for innovation and meritocracy. Time for a change.
Tesla’s profit fell 37% in the third quarter. It's been in the process of laying off 14,000 workers. It had more cars impacted by recalls than any other brand in 2024.
Yet Elon Musk just got a pay package worth $1 trillion.
American capitalism is off the rails.
Yet Elon Musk just got a pay package worth $1 trillion.
American capitalism is off the rails.
November 7, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Crap built on hype and lies sold by an ass wins the day...so much for innovation and meritocracy. Time for a change.
Haha...stop ripping off fiction Bank of Dallas.
Capek's 1920s play R.U.R is about building robots to usher in an age where there will be “so much of everything” for everyone that there will be no poverty and no need to work. The play ends with the death of humanity.
Capek's 1920s play R.U.R is about building robots to usher in an age where there will be “so much of everything” for everyone that there will be no poverty and no need to work. The play ends with the death of humanity.
AI could end scarcity, end humanity - or boost trend growth by 0.2 percentage points
November 7, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Haha...stop ripping off fiction Bank of Dallas.
Capek's 1920s play R.U.R is about building robots to usher in an age where there will be “so much of everything” for everyone that there will be no poverty and no need to work. The play ends with the death of humanity.
Capek's 1920s play R.U.R is about building robots to usher in an age where there will be “so much of everything” for everyone that there will be no poverty and no need to work. The play ends with the death of humanity.
My students are really sick of being harassed by chatbots popping up when they are writing.
me at the end of class: here's a little speculative exercises; imagine you wake up from cryosleep in 2085. what's the kind of tech-society r/ship you'd like to see around you?
students: no AI
I honestly think students' views are missing from the 'should AI be integrated in classrooms' discussion
students: no AI
I honestly think students' views are missing from the 'should AI be integrated in classrooms' discussion
November 7, 2025 at 12:02 PM
My students are really sick of being harassed by chatbots popping up when they are writing.
Reposted by Teresa Heffernan
ChatGPT is pedagogically harmful.
Increasingly evident, its cognitively not useful at the least.
It also clearly seems to have profoundly dangerous mental health consequences for vulnerable people.
And I feel like Im in the Twilight Zone trying to get people to hear me on this.
Increasingly evident, its cognitively not useful at the least.
It also clearly seems to have profoundly dangerous mental health consequences for vulnerable people.
And I feel like Im in the Twilight Zone trying to get people to hear me on this.
this story is horrifying and universities NEED to accept that ChatGPT is actively harmful
1.This is not the only known example we know of ChatGPT cheering on a vulnerable young person to die by suicide, this time it is a recent Texas A&M grad
2. Every single university that has invited OpenAI into our midst should be asked to account for their choices.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
2. Every single university that has invited OpenAI into our midst should be asked to account for their choices.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
November 7, 2025 at 2:02 AM
ChatGPT is pedagogically harmful.
Increasingly evident, its cognitively not useful at the least.
It also clearly seems to have profoundly dangerous mental health consequences for vulnerable people.
And I feel like Im in the Twilight Zone trying to get people to hear me on this.
Increasingly evident, its cognitively not useful at the least.
It also clearly seems to have profoundly dangerous mental health consequences for vulnerable people.
And I feel like Im in the Twilight Zone trying to get people to hear me on this.
Reposted by Teresa Heffernan
oh look at that. it’s really easy to make people hate data centers
November 6, 2025 at 9:20 PM
oh look at that. it’s really easy to make people hate data centers
Reposted by Teresa Heffernan
everything wrong with the world in one skeet
Elon Musk Is repsonsible for the deaths of 600,000 human beings and yet is being rewarded by capitalists with 1000 billion dollars
bsky.app/profile/newy...
bsky.app/profile/newy...
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
November 7, 2025 at 12:55 AM
everything wrong with the world in one skeet
Reposted by Teresa Heffernan
"Fascism and AI, whether or not they have the same goals, they sure are working to accelerate one another."
🗣️📢
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
🗣️📢
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
AI Is Supercharging the War on Libraries, Education, and Human Knowledge
"Fascism and AI, whether or not they have the same goals, they sure are working to accelerate one another."
www.404media.co
November 6, 2025 at 6:12 PM
"Fascism and AI, whether or not they have the same goals, they sure are working to accelerate one another."
🗣️📢
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
🗣️📢
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
"Billions of dollars have backed AI and the immortality industry with their fiction-fueled dreams of sentient robots, space colonies, uplifted animals, and downloaded brains while science-based climate research has met resistance, deferral, and denial as the world burns." @mmasnick.bsky.social
Feels like the opening to a very bad sci-fi film.
November 7, 2025 at 12:13 AM
"Billions of dollars have backed AI and the immortality industry with their fiction-fueled dreams of sentient robots, space colonies, uplifted animals, and downloaded brains while science-based climate research has met resistance, deferral, and denial as the world burns." @mmasnick.bsky.social
Because the techno-fascist billionaires--suffering from male birth fantasies, building their bunkers, and putting their "king" in power--have been doing such a bang-up job.
I wonder how all the women reporters and editors at the Times feel about this headline.
November 6, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Because the techno-fascist billionaires--suffering from male birth fantasies, building their bunkers, and putting their "king" in power--have been doing such a bang-up job.
And the 1950s fairy tale persists with billionaires feeding it while hoping the bubble won't burst.
November 6, 2025 at 6:04 PM
And the 1950s fairy tale persists with billionaires feeding it while hoping the bubble won't burst.
Reposted by Teresa Heffernan
This was self evident from the beginning; and why I find universities' uncritical relationships with OpenAI and Microsoft CoPilot etc so very problematic--we know what the long term goals of these projects/companies are, and their imbrications within technofascism.
How can you reconcile this?
How can you reconcile this?
The long-running ideological war on libraries, education, and government workers is not separate from AI boosterism. It is the same ideological war on human knowledge and expertise. In some cases AI is being used to directly supercharge this effort:
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
AI Is Supercharging the War on Libraries, Education, and Human Knowledge
"Fascism and AI, whether or not they have the same goals, they sure are working to accelerate one another."
www.404media.co
November 6, 2025 at 5:15 PM
This was self evident from the beginning; and why I find universities' uncritical relationships with OpenAI and Microsoft CoPilot etc so very problematic--we know what the long term goals of these projects/companies are, and their imbrications within technofascism.
How can you reconcile this?
How can you reconcile this?