Dr Lauren Cullen
@laurenicullen.bsky.social
writes about 19th/20th literature and culture, animals, and the environment.
SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at UBC
📍Vancouver / London / Oxford
SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at UBC
📍Vancouver / London / Oxford
Reposted by Dr Lauren Cullen
AI is a climate issue. AI is a climate crisis.
A few important points here
- Generative AI supercharged data centre growth: lobbyist and substacker lines pretending like this is just streaming are false
- Even when you consider much of the projected growth is speculative, the *likely* projects are still MASSIVE
media.licdn.com/dms/document...
- Generative AI supercharged data centre growth: lobbyist and substacker lines pretending like this is just streaming are false
- Even when you consider much of the projected growth is speculative, the *likely* projects are still MASSIVE
media.licdn.com/dms/document...
December 4, 2025 at 5:55 PM
AI is a climate issue. AI is a climate crisis.
Reposted by Dr Lauren Cullen
Check out the BAVS 2026 conference website: www.ljmu.ac.uk/bavs2026
CfP deadline extended until 12th December 2025!
CfP deadline extended until 12th December 2025!
British Association for Victorian Studies (BAVS) conference
The Centre for Modern and Contemporary History, with the Centre for Port and Maritime History, are delighted to welcome BAVS delegates to Liverpool in 2026.
www.ljmu.ac.uk
November 24, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Check out the BAVS 2026 conference website: www.ljmu.ac.uk/bavs2026
CfP deadline extended until 12th December 2025!
CfP deadline extended until 12th December 2025!
“I don’t doubt that it is a great privilege to be a human being. But may it not be the happier destiny to be an animal or a plant?” — Wilkie Collins (1875)
November 24, 2025 at 8:30 PM
“I don’t doubt that it is a great privilege to be a human being. But may it not be the happier destiny to be an animal or a plant?” — Wilkie Collins (1875)
Reposted by Dr Lauren Cullen
You can sabotage AI with poetry, pass it on
Looks like LLMs are *very* vulnerable to attack via poetic allusion: "curated poetic prompts yielded high attack-success rates (ASR), with some providers exceeding 90% ..."
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
November 21, 2025 at 3:24 AM
You can sabotage AI with poetry, pass it on
We’d love to see you! 🙂↔️
Reminder that the next @bavs-uk.bsky.social ECR Tea Time will take place tomorrow at 5pm - 6pm on Zoom! DM me or @laurenicullen.bsky.social for the Zoom link and join us for an informal chat about all things early career and nineteenth century 🫖 ☕️
a painting of a woman sitting on a couch drinking tea
ALT: a painting of a woman sitting on a couch drinking tea
media.tenor.com
November 17, 2025 at 6:28 PM
We’d love to see you! 🙂↔️
Reposted by Dr Lauren Cullen
Calling @bavs-uk.bsky.social ECRs! Our next BAVS Tea Time will take place tomorrow (Weds 22nd) at 5pm-6pm (UK) on Zoom - join for all or part of an informal catch up about all things Victorian and ECR. DM me for link! We will also welcome our new BAVS ECR Rep @laurenicullen.bsky.social 🎉🫖☕️
a woman in a lace top is drinking from a cup
ALT: a woman in a lace top is drinking from a cup
media.tenor.com
October 21, 2025 at 8:46 AM
Calling @bavs-uk.bsky.social ECRs! Our next BAVS Tea Time will take place tomorrow (Weds 22nd) at 5pm-6pm (UK) on Zoom - join for all or part of an informal catch up about all things Victorian and ECR. DM me for link! We will also welcome our new BAVS ECR Rep @laurenicullen.bsky.social 🎉🫖☕️
Reposted by Dr Lauren Cullen
The official CFP is a few days off, but I can't wait that long to announce that #BAVS2026 will be held in Liverpool, 27-29 July. We hope that some of the @rs4vp.org crowd will be able to make the trip over from #RSVP2026 and join @bavs-uk.bsky.social for more Victorian stuff. Details to follow.
October 15, 2025 at 10:51 AM
The official CFP is a few days off, but I can't wait that long to announce that #BAVS2026 will be held in Liverpool, 27-29 July. We hope that some of the @rs4vp.org crowd will be able to make the trip over from #RSVP2026 and join @bavs-uk.bsky.social for more Victorian stuff. Details to follow.
Reposted by Dr Lauren Cullen
In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.
October 17, 2025 at 12:16 PM
In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.
Reposted by Dr Lauren Cullen
OpenAI *really* isn't hiding its intention to power the AI boom with fossil fuels.
New from me @desmog.com
www.desmog.com/2025/10/13/o...
New from me @desmog.com
www.desmog.com/2025/10/13/o...
OpenAI’s New Energy Chief Is a Trump Administration Natural Gas Evangelist
The ChatGPT creator hired John McCarrick, a gas-loving former Trump energy official, to guide how the company will source huge quantities of power for its colossal supercomputers.
www.desmog.com
October 13, 2025 at 4:09 PM
OpenAI *really* isn't hiding its intention to power the AI boom with fossil fuels.
New from me @desmog.com
www.desmog.com/2025/10/13/o...
New from me @desmog.com
www.desmog.com/2025/10/13/o...
Reposted by Dr Lauren Cullen
Want to attend NAVSA 2025: Aftermaths but can't make it to DC? Want MORE brilliant Victorianist scholarship than you can get at the in-person event? The NAVSA 2025 DIGITAL PRESESSION is free and open to all —registration required for security
(thread of papers below)
(thread of papers below)
#NAVSA2025 is running special digital panels on Fri, Nov 7 and Sat Nov 8! Registration is FREE but required: tinyurl.com/hy2zhe2y
NAVSA 2025: Aftermaths // Digital Pre-Session Registration
Attendance at the NAVSA 2025 digital pre-sessions is free but you must register in order to receive zoom links for both dates (Friday, November 7th and Saturday, November 8th). Please register if you ...
tinyurl.com
October 3, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Want to attend NAVSA 2025: Aftermaths but can't make it to DC? Want MORE brilliant Victorianist scholarship than you can get at the in-person event? The NAVSA 2025 DIGITAL PRESESSION is free and open to all —registration required for security
(thread of papers below)
(thread of papers below)
Reposted by Dr Lauren Cullen
This point is well made. During the prospectus and methods portion of my dissertation, what I realized was that the committee was not there to give you lots of known things but rather to gently steer you away from trying to make entirely unknowable claims. Expertise is understanding limits.
Podcasts and "deep dive" media will try to convince you that you *now* know things, thanks to them.
A PhD, especially one with archival, observational, or observational components, will definitely convince you that you know next to nothing, thanks to the available resources & one's predecessors.
A PhD, especially one with archival, observational, or observational components, will definitely convince you that you know next to nothing, thanks to the available resources & one's predecessors.
September 24, 2025 at 12:29 PM
This point is well made. During the prospectus and methods portion of my dissertation, what I realized was that the committee was not there to give you lots of known things but rather to gently steer you away from trying to make entirely unknowable claims. Expertise is understanding limits.
Reposted by Dr Lauren Cullen
Here are my top 10 fall dogs!
September 22, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Here are my top 10 fall dogs!
Reposted by Dr Lauren Cullen
I will say this: if you use the toys of rent-seeking billionaires to do your writing for you, I promise I will never care about a single thing you write or think, ever
January 22, 2025 at 1:54 PM
I will say this: if you use the toys of rent-seeking billionaires to do your writing for you, I promise I will never care about a single thing you write or think, ever
Reposted by Dr Lauren Cullen
“Massive numbers of students are going to emerge from university with degrees, and into the workforce, who are essentially illiterate…Both in the literal sense and in the sense of being historically illiterate and having no knowledge of their own culture, much less anyone else’s.”
Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College
ChatGPT has unraveled the entire academic project.
nymag.com
May 7, 2025 at 11:08 AM
“Massive numbers of students are going to emerge from university with degrees, and into the workforce, who are essentially illiterate…Both in the literal sense and in the sense of being historically illiterate and having no knowledge of their own culture, much less anyone else’s.”
Reposted by Dr Lauren Cullen
Today is the centenary of the publication of The Great Gatsby! Here's the piece I wrote about the novel: theconversation.com/after-100-ye...
After 100 years, The Great Gatsby still reminds us of the ability of literature to transform everyday life
Gatsby has become more than just a novel, but instead an exploration of what literature can mean.
theconversation.com
April 10, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Today is the centenary of the publication of The Great Gatsby! Here's the piece I wrote about the novel: theconversation.com/after-100-ye...
Now that I’m (mostly) settled into my new West Coast life, I’m thrilled to write that I’m a postdoctoral research fellow at gorgeous #UBC. It’s wonderful to be back in Canada — and there’s no better place for me to sink my teeth into a new project centring “wild” places in 19thC literature.🏔️🐳
January 21, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Now that I’m (mostly) settled into my new West Coast life, I’m thrilled to write that I’m a postdoctoral research fellow at gorgeous #UBC. It’s wonderful to be back in Canada — and there’s no better place for me to sink my teeth into a new project centring “wild” places in 19thC literature.🏔️🐳