Bruce Buchan
@brucealexb.bsky.social
Scholar. Historian of ideas. Mostly Enlightenment & race, quite a bit on empire & colonisation, plus some corruption and a little piracy for good measure.
As the old saying goes, ‘Charity begins at home.’
It ends there too, apparently.
It ends there too, apparently.
Elon Musk’s foundation gave away a record $474 million in 2024, with the vast majority again going to entities he controls
Elon Musk Gave Away $474 Million in 2024, Mostly to Entities He Controls
Elon Musk’s foundation gave away a record $474 million in 2024, with the vast majority again going to entities he controls.
bloom.bg
November 19, 2025 at 7:24 AM
As the old saying goes, ‘Charity begins at home.’
It ends there too, apparently.
It ends there too, apparently.
Late autumnal frost, Uppsala.
November 18, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Late autumnal frost, Uppsala.
Not sure it’s the best thing I’ve read on AI in higher ed, but it is worth reading. It confirms my worst suspicions and most depressing experiences. Abomination that it is though, AI is only one of the horsemen of the looming Apocalypse, the others being user pays, student debt, and job readiness.
This may be the best thing ive read yet on AI in higher ed, and its written by a Yale undergrad. Highly recommend.
Inside Yale’s Quiet Reckoning with AI | The New Journal
Amid ChatGPT's rising popularity and a computer science cheating scandal, Yale students, professors, and administrators wrestle privately with the proper role of AI in education. What happens when eve...
thenewjournalatyale.com
November 16, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Not sure it’s the best thing I’ve read on AI in higher ed, but it is worth reading. It confirms my worst suspicions and most depressing experiences. Abomination that it is though, AI is only one of the horsemen of the looming Apocalypse, the others being user pays, student debt, and job readiness.
The far right are no longer knocking on the door to public office, because centrist governments the world over have been busily taking that door off its hinges.
November 16, 2025 at 10:33 AM
The far right are no longer knocking on the door to public office, because centrist governments the world over have been busily taking that door off its hinges.
The political epitaph for a generation of American evangelicals will read “we professed faith to protect pedophiles in power who made cruelty and corruption our legacy to future generations.” They did the Lord’s work.
November 14, 2025 at 11:57 AM
The political epitaph for a generation of American evangelicals will read “we professed faith to protect pedophiles in power who made cruelty and corruption our legacy to future generations.” They did the Lord’s work.
Europe’s #Enlightenment invented race as it also invited its critique.
In 1780, James Dunbar warned that by dividing humanity into races: "...the oppression or extermination of a meaner race, will no longer be so shocking to humanity.”
- Essays on the History of Mankind, 1780, page. 150.
In 1780, James Dunbar warned that by dividing humanity into races: "...the oppression or extermination of a meaner race, will no longer be so shocking to humanity.”
- Essays on the History of Mankind, 1780, page. 150.
November 13, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Europe’s #Enlightenment invented race as it also invited its critique.
In 1780, James Dunbar warned that by dividing humanity into races: "...the oppression or extermination of a meaner race, will no longer be so shocking to humanity.”
- Essays on the History of Mankind, 1780, page. 150.
In 1780, James Dunbar warned that by dividing humanity into races: "...the oppression or extermination of a meaner race, will no longer be so shocking to humanity.”
- Essays on the History of Mankind, 1780, page. 150.
This is the fascist playbook. It never, ever changes. Fascists only ever persecute the most vulnerable among us. They have no conception of seizing power from oppressors in the name of justice. Their entire raison d’être is to stomp on the oppressed and call it vengeance.
“I think they wanted to make a point,” said Quinn Haberl, who is 4-foot-6 and legally blind. “So they picked the weakest person they could find and made a big show out of it.”
www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...
www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...
November 9, 2025 at 10:30 AM
This is the fascist playbook. It never, ever changes. Fascists only ever persecute the most vulnerable among us. They have no conception of seizing power from oppressors in the name of justice. Their entire raison d’être is to stomp on the oppressed and call it vengeance.
It was his idiotic policy, introduced without congressional approval, so if anything it should make him personally liable to pay back those sums, with all the coin he has scammed through his very own crypto-corruption.
November 6, 2025 at 7:13 PM
It was his idiotic policy, introduced without congressional approval, so if anything it should make him personally liable to pay back those sums, with all the coin he has scammed through his very own crypto-corruption.
Book launched!
@lindaaburnett.bsky.social @kathryn-seymour.bsky.social
#C18th #race #colonization #ScottishEnlightenment
@lindaaburnett.bsky.social @kathryn-seymour.bsky.social
#C18th #race #colonization #ScottishEnlightenment
October 29, 2025 at 11:51 PM
Book about to be launched!
@lindaaburnett.bsky.social @kathryn-seymour.bsky.social
www.intellectualhistory.net/events-outsi...
@lindaaburnett.bsky.social @kathryn-seymour.bsky.social
www.intellectualhistory.net/events-outsi...
Book launch and Reception: Linda Andersson Burnett and Bruce Buchan, Race and the Scottish Enlightenment: A Colonial History 1750 - 1820. — Institute of Intellectual History
University of Edinburgh. 29 October, 4.45 - 6 pm.
www.intellectualhistory.net
October 29, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Book about to be launched!
@lindaaburnett.bsky.social @kathryn-seymour.bsky.social
www.intellectualhistory.net/events-outsi...
@lindaaburnett.bsky.social @kathryn-seymour.bsky.social
www.intellectualhistory.net/events-outsi...
The Firth of Forth on a sunny autumn morning. Quite a rarity in Scotland!
October 25, 2025 at 7:41 AM
The Firth of Forth on a sunny autumn morning. Quite a rarity in Scotland!
Nero fiddled while Rome burned.
October 25, 2025 at 4:21 AM
Nero fiddled while Rome burned.
The word “healthy” here is doing quite a lot of deceptive work in this exchange. A more honest word to use than “healthy” would be “compelled”, and the more appropriate term than “health system” would be “compulsion system”.
Dr Oz: "We should make you so healthy that you flourish in life and you engage the workplace. Getting America back to work full speed, getting you to work longer if you desire, that builds trillions of dollars of value to the GDP. That's the goal of the health system."
October 24, 2025 at 1:50 PM
The word “healthy” here is doing quite a lot of deceptive work in this exchange. A more honest word to use than “healthy” would be “compelled”, and the more appropriate term than “health system” would be “compulsion system”.
Imagine a university where academics are free to teach what they are researching, where students are enabled to follow their interests, and where scholars are supported to push the boundaries of knowledge. That university is so far from our lived reality as to constitute a half forgotten dream.
October 24, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Imagine a university where academics are free to teach what they are researching, where students are enabled to follow their interests, and where scholars are supported to push the boundaries of knowledge. That university is so far from our lived reality as to constitute a half forgotten dream.
From the tyrant whose entire philosophy of government is to use the constitution as toilet paper, this is truth masquerading as metaphor.
Trump posts AI video of himself flying KING TRUMP jet and bombing protesters with brown liquid
Trump posts AI video of himself bombing protesters with brown liquid
www.independent.co.uk
October 19, 2025 at 12:15 PM
From the tyrant whose entire philosophy of government is to use the constitution as toilet paper, this is truth masquerading as metaphor.
History will record it as The Great Patriotic Portland War. It will be regarded by future generations as an axis in world history, after which no nation will be from the scourge of a dancing T-Rex.
The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.
October 10, 2025 at 2:17 AM
History will record it as The Great Patriotic Portland War. It will be regarded by future generations as an axis in world history, after which no nation will be from the scourge of a dancing T-Rex.
Our book launch is happening, at IASH in Edinburgh, October 29. It was there that @lindaaburnett.bsky.social and I first met, and had an idea that we might do some work together. That was in 2012! If you'll be in Edinburgh then, please come to our launch. Details below.
Book launch: "Race and the Scottish Enlightenment: A Colonial History, 1750-1820" (Yale UP)
Wed 29 Oct, 16:45-20:00, including drinks
Featuring a host of IASH alumni, this event celebrates the new volume by Linda Andersson Burnett & Bruce Buchan.
raceandthescottishenlightenment.eventbrite.co.uk
Wed 29 Oct, 16:45-20:00, including drinks
Featuring a host of IASH alumni, this event celebrates the new volume by Linda Andersson Burnett & Bruce Buchan.
raceandthescottishenlightenment.eventbrite.co.uk
Race and the Scottish Enlightenment: Book Launch and Discussion
Join authors Bruce Buchan and Linda Andersson Burnett to celebrate "Race and the Scottish Enlightenment: A Colonial History 1750-1820".
raceandthescottishenlightenment.eventbrite.co.uk
October 9, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Our book launch is happening, at IASH in Edinburgh, October 29. It was there that @lindaaburnett.bsky.social and I first met, and had an idea that we might do some work together. That was in 2012! If you'll be in Edinburgh then, please come to our launch. Details below.
When I was studying political science 30 years ago, we kept being told about democratic governments being concerned to govern within the bounds of ‘legitimacy’. Anyways…
The heinous nature of this comes from nothing but a place of pure evil. None of this should be happening, and none of it would be if we had a leader who cared about something other than cruelty, vengeance and hate. A blood thirsty administration intent on inflicting as much pain as possible…
THERE’S NO BOTTOM WITH THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
Operation “Freaky Friday”, a calculated scheme targeting some of the most vulnerable people in the country: immigrant children.
ICE is sending letters offering minors $2,500 for “voluntary” departure, while threatening enforcement if they refuse.
1/3
Operation “Freaky Friday”, a calculated scheme targeting some of the most vulnerable people in the country: immigrant children.
ICE is sending letters offering minors $2,500 for “voluntary” departure, while threatening enforcement if they refuse.
1/3
October 7, 2025 at 5:18 AM
When I was studying political science 30 years ago, we kept being told about democratic governments being concerned to govern within the bounds of ‘legitimacy’. Anyways…
Gettysburg, 2.0.
Texas proudly invading Illinois.
It’s hard to describe the level of potential constitutional crisis here.
It’s hard to describe the level of potential constitutional crisis here.
October 6, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Gettysburg, 2.0.
Many think that time travel was a creation of science fiction. It wasn’t. It began as a presumption of Enlightenment thought, and became a concomitant of global colonisation in the #C18th.
1/6 Another highlight for our 10th anniversary. @brucealexb.bsky.social (Griffith University) who wrote "Travels in Space and Time: Progress, War, and the Historical Mobilities of Scotland’s Enlightenment" with us in 2022 (print 2023). We asked him about this work and its future. His response:
October 6, 2025 at 3:33 AM
Many think that time travel was a creation of science fiction. It wasn’t. It began as a presumption of Enlightenment thought, and became a concomitant of global colonisation in the #C18th.
With thanks to @global-ih.bsky.social for promoting my article on mobility, Enlightenment, war and colonisation.
1/6 Another highlight for our 10th anniversary. @brucealexb.bsky.social (Griffith University) who wrote "Travels in Space and Time: Progress, War, and the Historical Mobilities of Scotland’s Enlightenment" with us in 2022 (print 2023). We asked him about this work and its future. His response:
October 5, 2025 at 10:36 AM
With thanks to @global-ih.bsky.social for promoting my article on mobility, Enlightenment, war and colonisation.