Liam McHugh-Russell
@xntl.info
Canadian law professor. Transnational law, labour regulation, cooperatives and corporate governance, knowledge politics. Currently obsessed with the uses of legal scholarship. Two time dad. Not even a jack of any trades.
Reposted by Liam McHugh-Russell
low stakes posting today reminds me that 1) Facebook is for talking to people you know IRL but don’t like and 2) microblogging sites are for talking to people you don’t know but do like.
we forget these things at our peril
we forget these things at our peril
December 24, 2025 at 9:11 PM
low stakes posting today reminds me that 1) Facebook is for talking to people you know IRL but don’t like and 2) microblogging sites are for talking to people you don’t know but do like.
we forget these things at our peril
we forget these things at our peril
Reposted by Liam McHugh-Russell
We're about 6 months out from a well respected artist who has one or two break out albums ending their career by releasing an album that's just one song they wrote plus 10 tracks that sound like them ginned up using GenAI
December 24, 2025 at 4:05 PM
We're about 6 months out from a well respected artist who has one or two break out albums ending their career by releasing an album that's just one song they wrote plus 10 tracks that sound like them ginned up using GenAI
I am seeing that Lowe's Christmas album came out in 1998 and it's doing me real psychic violence
Low - Just Like Christmas
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
share.google
December 24, 2025 at 8:14 PM
I am seeing that Lowe's Christmas album came out in 1998 and it's doing me real psychic violence
A Billboard top 100 list that's all just Milli Vanilli but worse
We're about 6 months out from a well respected artist who has one or two break out albums ending their career by releasing an album that's just one song they wrote plus 10 tracks that sound like them ginned up using GenAI
December 24, 2025 at 4:06 PM
A Billboard top 100 list that's all just Milli Vanilli but worse
We're about 6 months out from a well respected artist who has one or two break out albums ending their career by releasing an album that's just one song they wrote plus 10 tracks that sound like them ginned up using GenAI
December 24, 2025 at 4:05 PM
We're about 6 months out from a well respected artist who has one or two break out albums ending their career by releasing an album that's just one song they wrote plus 10 tracks that sound like them ginned up using GenAI
Reposted by Liam McHugh-Russell
Do not cite an academic paper unless you’ve read it
AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals
Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.
www.rollingstone.com
December 19, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Do not cite an academic paper unless you’ve read it
Reposted by Liam McHugh-Russell
Virginia Heffernan wrote this shortly after the 2016 election and it still holds true
December 16, 2025 at 4:21 AM
Virginia Heffernan wrote this shortly after the 2016 election and it still holds true
Reposted by Liam McHugh-Russell
1/ Hope this thread helps break through the mental logjam for normies. For anyone in the game of technology/ innovation/development this is just basic facts now. For the first time in 2 centuries, the West is no longer the leader in future technology,but the follower
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
September 3, 2025 at 3:02 AM
1/ Hope this thread helps break through the mental logjam for normies. For anyone in the game of technology/ innovation/development this is just basic facts now. For the first time in 2 centuries, the West is no longer the leader in future technology,but the follower
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Reposted by Liam McHugh-Russell
Social media polarization story is a story of elites! It’s the elites and para-elites driven insane by online, and it trickles down to the masses.
I think this is useful to read the whole way through to see just how Internet-poisoned right wing billionaires are. This guy is insane nyeditorialboard.substack.com/p/john-catsi...
John Catsimatidis on Donald Trump, Immigration, and New York Republicans
The New York Editorial Board's interview with businessman John Catsimatidis.
nyeditorialboard.substack.com
December 17, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Social media polarization story is a story of elites! It’s the elites and para-elites driven insane by online, and it trickles down to the masses.
Reposted by Liam McHugh-Russell
The sanctions that Trump has imposed on the ICC and UN rapporteurs have been deterring American human rights advocates and scholars from exercising their First Amendment rights. This letter--obtained by @mesa1966.bsky.social & @knightcolumbia.org--should help. knightcolumbia.org/content/trum...
Trump Administration Concedes That U.S. Researchers May Engage With Sanctioned U.N. Official
knightcolumbia.org
December 17, 2025 at 6:59 PM
The sanctions that Trump has imposed on the ICC and UN rapporteurs have been deterring American human rights advocates and scholars from exercising their First Amendment rights. This letter--obtained by @mesa1966.bsky.social & @knightcolumbia.org--should help. knightcolumbia.org/content/trum...
Reposted by Liam McHugh-Russell
Beautiful eulogy for Asad Haider from Jeffrey Weber.
In memoriam: Asad Haider (1987-2025) - Historical Materialism
‘Our subjective horizon is the optimism of the intellect; our objective, structuring condition is pessimism of the will. Without optimism of the intellect, we have the party without the people. Withou...
www.historicalmaterialism.org
December 16, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Beautiful eulogy for Asad Haider from Jeffrey Weber.
Well here's some fantastic news!
"According to the…annual Harris Poll, for the 1st time, a majority of Americans believe billionaires are a threat to democracy. A remarkable 71% believe there should be a wealth tax. A majority believe there should be a cap on how much wealth a person can accumulate." www.nytimes.com/2025/12/14/o...
Opinion | The Billionaires Have Gone Full Louis XV
www.nytimes.com
December 15, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Well here's some fantastic news!
Reposted by Liam McHugh-Russell
I guess I do have one more thought on this, which is that we still really don't have a morally coherent way of thinking about what the ethics and obligations of 'poster' as a political category are.
the only thing I'll say about the meta-ethics of posting and which platform is that purely as a matter of realpolitik every political party and government not aligned with Elon Musk's at this point very explicit politics should be trying to degrade twitter's importance in the information ecosystem
December 15, 2025 at 6:58 PM
I guess I do have one more thought on this, which is that we still really don't have a morally coherent way of thinking about what the ethics and obligations of 'poster' as a political category are.
Some days it actually is possible to be shocked by a reminder that one of the worst currently living persons holds the most powerful political offices in the world.
December 15, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Some days it actually is possible to be shocked by a reminder that one of the worst currently living persons holds the most powerful political offices in the world.
I imagine that parties and political scientists have done focus groups and A/B testing, and found that comms with an Urgent! Deadline! message leads to a bump in donations and engagement. But has anyone tested whether that works when a party's "Once in a Lifetime!" message comes every 4-5 days?
December 15, 2025 at 5:32 PM
I imagine that parties and political scientists have done focus groups and A/B testing, and found that comms with an Urgent! Deadline! message leads to a bump in donations and engagement. But has anyone tested whether that works when a party's "Once in a Lifetime!" message comes every 4-5 days?
Reposted by Liam McHugh-Russell
more power to any Dean who makes the case that their discipline-specific standard for AI is refusal, and AI refusal will be what they integrate into the curriculum
It's hard to overstate how impossible this demand is from Purdue's administration to implement these AI requirements by next fall. We are nowhere close to understanding what AI proficiency means or what it looks like in education.
www.forbes.com/sites/michae...
www.forbes.com/sites/michae...
December 14, 2025 at 4:58 PM
more power to any Dean who makes the case that their discipline-specific standard for AI is refusal, and AI refusal will be what they integrate into the curriculum
Reposted by Liam McHugh-Russell
My most fundamental belief is that we do not have to live like this.
December 14, 2025 at 1:01 PM
My most fundamental belief is that we do not have to live like this.
Reposted by Liam McHugh-Russell
my cover letter opening line
December 14, 2025 at 1:26 PM
my cover letter opening line
Reposted by Liam McHugh-Russell
apart from the sheer inconceivable horror of the El Fasher massacre and its attendant horrors itself, the thing I'm feeling depressed about is that it probably won't matter.
these were people already on the utmost margins of the global system, who the world has already decided it doesn't care about
these were people already on the utmost margins of the global system, who the world has already decided it doesn't care about
60,000 is the *low end* estimate.
So, El Fasher looks like one of the worst single event atrocities to happen this century so far, but the evidence has come in such a trickle it seems to only now be getting verified
December 13, 2025 at 6:34 AM
apart from the sheer inconceivable horror of the El Fasher massacre and its attendant horrors itself, the thing I'm feeling depressed about is that it probably won't matter.
these were people already on the utmost margins of the global system, who the world has already decided it doesn't care about
these were people already on the utmost margins of the global system, who the world has already decided it doesn't care about
Reposted by Liam McHugh-Russell
So, El Fasher looks like one of the worst single event atrocities to happen this century so far, but the evidence has come in such a trickle it seems to only now be getting verified
At least 60,000 murdered in Sudanese city, which resembles ‘a slaughterhouse’
Satellite evidence shows extent of paramilitary massacre in El Fasher
www.irishtimes.com
December 13, 2025 at 3:50 AM
So, El Fasher looks like one of the worst single event atrocities to happen this century so far, but the evidence has come in such a trickle it seems to only now be getting verified
Reposted by Liam McHugh-Russell
Reposted by Liam McHugh-Russell
In late 2020 a Chinese man called Guan Heng travelled to Xinjiang with our BuzzFeed map of detention facilities to provide ground truth for our work - he provided the first corroborating evidence for many sites.
He escaped to the US - then ICE detained him.
www.wsj.com/world/china/...
He escaped to the US - then ICE detained him.
www.wsj.com/world/china/...
ICE Holding Chinese Man Who Documented Uyghur Camps
Heng Guan is awaiting an immigration hearing on Monday that could lead to his removal from the U.S. and ultimately land him back in China, according to his lawyer and a New York-based activist group.
www.wsj.com
December 13, 2025 at 3:17 PM
In late 2020 a Chinese man called Guan Heng travelled to Xinjiang with our BuzzFeed map of detention facilities to provide ground truth for our work - he provided the first corroborating evidence for many sites.
He escaped to the US - then ICE detained him.
www.wsj.com/world/china/...
He escaped to the US - then ICE detained him.
www.wsj.com/world/china/...
Reposted by Liam McHugh-Russell
Brb writing a 250 page review of the 200 page review of the 145 page book
December 12, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Brb writing a 250 page review of the 200 page review of the 145 page book
Reposted by Liam McHugh-Russell
I guess it's fitting that it's a reimagined, worse version of someone else's artwork
December 12, 2025 at 4:00 AM
I guess it's fitting that it's a reimagined, worse version of someone else's artwork