Jason Heppler
@jasonheppler.org
Historian of the North American West | Writes from a farmstead on the tall grass prairies of central Nebraska | Books and more: jasonheppler.org | Views own | ⚓
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Jason Heppler
@jasonheppler.org
· Sep 18
I’m joining the starter pack train: here’s a bunch of historians of the American West here on Bluesky!
Reposted by Jason Heppler
welcome to bluesky. if the word "mapquest" means anything to you and/or you used it as a verb, you're in the right place
November 11, 2025 at 1:11 AM
welcome to bluesky. if the word "mapquest" means anything to you and/or you used it as a verb, you're in the right place
Reposted by Jason Heppler
And just like that, it's real.
When Democrats Won the Heartland: Progressive Populism in the Age of Reagan, 1978-1992, from @illinoispress.bsky.social. Due out 4/14/26.
Thanks to everyone who tolerated this dream and made it happen. Pre-order if you'd like: www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p0...
When Democrats Won the Heartland: Progressive Populism in the Age of Reagan, 1978-1992, from @illinoispress.bsky.social. Due out 4/14/26.
Thanks to everyone who tolerated this dream and made it happen. Pre-order if you'd like: www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p0...
When Democrats Won the Heartland
www.press.uillinois.edu
November 10, 2025 at 7:56 PM
And just like that, it's real.
When Democrats Won the Heartland: Progressive Populism in the Age of Reagan, 1978-1992, from @illinoispress.bsky.social. Due out 4/14/26.
Thanks to everyone who tolerated this dream and made it happen. Pre-order if you'd like: www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p0...
When Democrats Won the Heartland: Progressive Populism in the Age of Reagan, 1978-1992, from @illinoispress.bsky.social. Due out 4/14/26.
Thanks to everyone who tolerated this dream and made it happen. Pre-order if you'd like: www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p0...
Reposted by Jason Heppler
There's a book to be written on the places these companies choose. Meta and Amazon are not investing tens of billions in North Louisiana because they respect the local population. Quite the opposite. And they prefer that there's no critical local journalism or anyone to write that book.
Microsoft and Google say data centers will create thousands of jobs in Chile, but an analysis of permit filings by @restofworld.org shows only a small number of potential positions — and most are not skilled IT jobs, but those in security and cleaning. restofworld.org/2025/data-ce...
Microsoft, Google say their data centers create thousands of jobs. Their permit filings say otherwise
Chile and tech giants promise economy-wide impact but permits show fewer onsite jobs after construction.
restofworld.org
November 10, 2025 at 8:01 PM
There's a book to be written on the places these companies choose. Meta and Amazon are not investing tens of billions in North Louisiana because they respect the local population. Quite the opposite. And they prefer that there's no critical local journalism or anyone to write that book.
Not bad for a first attempt.
November 9, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Not bad for a first attempt.
Spending a drizzly morning on some planning before heading out to work on farmstead tasks.
November 8, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Spending a drizzly morning on some planning before heading out to work on farmstead tasks.
Reposted by Jason Heppler
Currently reading: Love for the Land: Lessons from Farmers Who Persist in Place by Brooks Lamb 📚
November 7, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Currently reading: Love for the Land: Lessons from Farmers Who Persist in Place by Brooks Lamb 📚
Reposted by Jason Heppler
I wish Douthat had followed up and asked Andrews what "areas of inquiry" have been "ruled out of bounds in history" because they are "too controversial" and lead historians away from "truth seeking."
November 6, 2025 at 9:44 PM
I wish Douthat had followed up and asked Andrews what "areas of inquiry" have been "ruled out of bounds in history" because they are "too controversial" and lead historians away from "truth seeking."
Finished reading: American Zion: A New History of Mormonism by Benjamin E. Park 📚
November 6, 2025 at 1:38 AM
Finished reading: American Zion: A New History of Mormonism by Benjamin E. Park 📚
Reposted by Jason Heppler
In a list of the most important technologies that have shaped the American West, barbed wire would be near the top. It's great for the livestock industry, but can harm wildlife.
Barbed wire fences dot the West. There’s a growing movement to take them down -- for wildlife
Every two and a half miles of barbed wire is responsible for killing one deer, elk or pronghorn a year, one study estimated.
n.pr
November 5, 2025 at 4:13 PM
In a list of the most important technologies that have shaped the American West, barbed wire would be near the top. It's great for the livestock industry, but can harm wildlife.
“See, the truck nobody else wanted had been my office. I’d built a portable desk inside it. My truck desk, I called it. A couple of planks screwed together, our union sticker slapped on, the whole deal sealed with shellac.”
My Truck Desk by Bud Smith
October 29, 2025 – “Now that I had my Truck Desk, that vehicle was my very own rolling cubicle.”
www.theparisreview.org
November 4, 2025 at 12:56 PM
“See, the truck nobody else wanted had been my office. I’d built a portable desk inside it. My truck desk, I called it. A couple of planks screwed together, our union sticker slapped on, the whole deal sealed with shellac.”
Really excited to see our new issue of Current Research in Digital History with articles on topic models, event extraction modeling, network visualizations, maps, visualizing art, and computational analysis on congressional roll call votes.
November 3, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Really excited to see our new issue of Current Research in Digital History with articles on topic models, event extraction modeling, network visualizations, maps, visualizing art, and computational analysis on congressional roll call votes.
Reposted by Jason Heppler
Don't see a way out of this apart from the strict legal regulation of all generative "AI". Everything needs to be labeled, the use of the likeness of real people (alive or dead) without their express consent needs to be libel (even in a labeled video), and the fines need to be ruinous.
November 1, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Don't see a way out of this apart from the strict legal regulation of all generative "AI". Everything needs to be labeled, the use of the likeness of real people (alive or dead) without their express consent needs to be libel (even in a labeled video), and the fines need to be ruinous.
Reposted by Jason Heppler
"Certain chemicals used on farms, including pesticides and herbicides, have been linked to increased cancer rates. There’s also some evidence that nitrates, which can seep into drinking water from crop fields, are linked to some forms of cancer."
minnesotareformer.com/briefs/repor...
minnesotareformer.com/briefs/repor...
Report: Cancer rates rising among young people in the Corn Belt • Minnesota Reformer
The six states that lead in corn production — Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana and Kansas — have seen higher rates of cancer among young people than other states over the past decade, acco...
minnesotareformer.com
October 31, 2025 at 3:46 PM
"Certain chemicals used on farms, including pesticides and herbicides, have been linked to increased cancer rates. There’s also some evidence that nitrates, which can seep into drinking water from crop fields, are linked to some forms of cancer."
minnesotareformer.com/briefs/repor...
minnesotareformer.com/briefs/repor...
Reposted by Jason Heppler
those of you who are afraid of aging, please understand that one of the huge blessings of middle age is arriving at this exact station
We gotta normalize responding to bullshit with "dude who fucking cares"
October 30, 2025 at 12:44 AM
those of you who are afraid of aging, please understand that one of the huge blessings of middle age is arriving at this exact station
That’s not what those are for, ladies.
October 30, 2025 at 1:00 AM
That’s not what those are for, ladies.
Reposted by Jason Heppler
I warned Indigenous people last year about this: "AI" slop is destroying Indigenous knowledge transmission over the Internet because people won't know what's reliable info, our distinct cultures being further sloppified, this slop is regurgitated as "fact", kinda like OG anthropology / archaeology
New from 404 Media: AI generated history videos are flooding YouTube, and drowning out real history. "It’s worrying to me just for humanity. It’s not good for the state of knowledge in the world. It makes me worry for the future."
www.404media.co/ai-generated...
www.404media.co/ai-generated...
AI Generated 'Boring History' Videos Are Flooding YouTube and Drowning Out Real History
"These AI videos are just repeating things that are on the internet, so you end up with a very simplified version of the past."
www.404media.co
September 3, 2025 at 4:57 PM
I warned Indigenous people last year about this: "AI" slop is destroying Indigenous knowledge transmission over the Internet because people won't know what's reliable info, our distinct cultures being further sloppified, this slop is regurgitated as "fact", kinda like OG anthropology / archaeology
Reposted by Jason Heppler
New from 404 Media: AI generated history videos are flooding YouTube, and drowning out real history. "It’s worrying to me just for humanity. It’s not good for the state of knowledge in the world. It makes me worry for the future."
www.404media.co/ai-generated...
www.404media.co/ai-generated...
AI Generated 'Boring History' Videos Are Flooding YouTube and Drowning Out Real History
"These AI videos are just repeating things that are on the internet, so you end up with a very simplified version of the past."
www.404media.co
September 3, 2025 at 4:10 PM
New from 404 Media: AI generated history videos are flooding YouTube, and drowning out real history. "It’s worrying to me just for humanity. It’s not good for the state of knowledge in the world. It makes me worry for the future."
www.404media.co/ai-generated...
www.404media.co/ai-generated...
An impending wind storm and drop in temperatures means we christen the new chicken coop tonight. Still some work to wrap up, but close enough to keep everybody safe and warm.
October 29, 2025 at 12:13 AM
An impending wind storm and drop in temperatures means we christen the new chicken coop tonight. Still some work to wrap up, but close enough to keep everybody safe and warm.
Reposted by Jason Heppler
I made a similar point last week at our generative AI roundtable. LLMs cannot know History or our sources because it mimics them back. Our sources are unreliable narrators and these systems cannot handle ambiguity—feed it that ambiguity, we get ambiguity back.
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
October 28, 2025 at 11:58 AM
I made a similar point last week at our generative AI roundtable. LLMs cannot know History or our sources because it mimics them back. Our sources are unreliable narrators and these systems cannot handle ambiguity—feed it that ambiguity, we get ambiguity back.
Reposted by Jason Heppler
Emma Thompson is a queen.
"I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING REWRITE WHAT I'VE JUST WRITTEN!"
October 28, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Emma Thompson is a queen.
I made a similar point last week at our generative AI roundtable. LLMs cannot know History or our sources because it mimics them back. Our sources are unreliable narrators and these systems cannot handle ambiguity—feed it that ambiguity, we get ambiguity back.
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
October 28, 2025 at 11:58 AM
I made a similar point last week at our generative AI roundtable. LLMs cannot know History or our sources because it mimics them back. Our sources are unreliable narrators and these systems cannot handle ambiguity—feed it that ambiguity, we get ambiguity back.
I’m bearish on generative AI and it’s role in historical research, but stuff like this is genuinely interesting.
The leading AI models are now good historians
... in specific domains. Three case studies with GPT-4o, o1, and Claude Sonnet 3.5, and what they mean
resobscura.substack.com
October 27, 2025 at 10:04 PM
I’m bearish on generative AI and it’s role in historical research, but stuff like this is genuinely interesting.
Reposted by Jason Heppler
There are now 183 videos of our Greenhouse #envhum book talks available to view via our Vimeo showcase. This includes our most recent talks.
You can also listen to the audio-only podcast, which is slightly behind with 154 episodes available: newnatures.org/greenhouse/f...
You can also listen to the audio-only podcast, which is slightly behind with 154 episodes available: newnatures.org/greenhouse/f...
Greenhouse Environmental Humanities Book Talks
Book talks with authors of recent books in environmental humanities, with the authors in discussion with Dolly Jørgensen and Finn Arne Jørgensen, University of Stavanger, Norway. The book talks are he...
vimeo.com
October 26, 2025 at 9:53 AM
There are now 183 videos of our Greenhouse #envhum book talks available to view via our Vimeo showcase. This includes our most recent talks.
You can also listen to the audio-only podcast, which is slightly behind with 154 episodes available: newnatures.org/greenhouse/f...
You can also listen to the audio-only podcast, which is slightly behind with 154 episodes available: newnatures.org/greenhouse/f...