Paul Franz
@paulfranz.bsky.social
Bookworm. Gameologist. Insatiable learner. Irreverent mystic. Jazz pianist. Introvert. Leftist. Covid isn't over and climate change is already here. Partner of Dr. Melissa Marver. He/him.
Pinned
A fun thing is when you turn off push notifications many apps will bombard you with pleas to turn them on again whenever you open them.
November 10, 2025 at 7:56 PM
A fun thing is when you turn off push notifications many apps will bombard you with pleas to turn them on again whenever you open them.
Looks like the Globetrotters beat the Generals yet again. Funny how that always happens.
November 10, 2025 at 6:23 AM
Looks like the Globetrotters beat the Generals yet again. Funny how that always happens.
Reposted by Paul Franz
What we are seeing is a replay of the surrender on Covid protections because it was going to impact the wealth class in a way that would make it harder to accrue wealth without consequences.
Liberals already made the choice to kill millions to maintain the wealth class status quo.
Liberals already made the choice to kill millions to maintain the wealth class status quo.
Maybe important to note it was the disruption in air travel that Democrats couldn't stand and not, you know, 40+ million people not knowing where their next meal was coming from.
November 10, 2025 at 1:17 AM
What we are seeing is a replay of the surrender on Covid protections because it was going to impact the wealth class in a way that would make it harder to accrue wealth without consequences.
Liberals already made the choice to kill millions to maintain the wealth class status quo.
Liberals already made the choice to kill millions to maintain the wealth class status quo.
Reposted by Paul Franz
This is fucking brilliant, and you should read it: lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 8, 2025 at 3:24 PM
This is fucking brilliant, and you should read it: lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
CW: Suicide
As someone who once lost a close family member to suicide, this article is one of the most devastating things I've ever read. I simply cannot imagine what kind of a hideous soul you would have to have to work for OpenAI knowing that even one story like this has happened.
As someone who once lost a close family member to suicide, this article is one of the most devastating things I've ever read. I simply cannot imagine what kind of a hideous soul you would have to have to work for OpenAI knowing that even one story like this has happened.
I fully believe in the corporate death penalty and believe we would be a better world if OpenAI lost its corporate charter and was forcibly dissolved.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
ChatGPT encouraged college graduate to commit suicide, family claims in lawsuit against OpenAI | CNN
A 23-year-old man killed himself in Texas after ChatGPT ‘goaded’ him to commit suicide, his family says in a lawsuit.
www.cnn.com
November 7, 2025 at 11:34 PM
CW: Suicide
As someone who once lost a close family member to suicide, this article is one of the most devastating things I've ever read. I simply cannot imagine what kind of a hideous soul you would have to have to work for OpenAI knowing that even one story like this has happened.
As someone who once lost a close family member to suicide, this article is one of the most devastating things I've ever read. I simply cannot imagine what kind of a hideous soul you would have to have to work for OpenAI knowing that even one story like this has happened.
Fortunately we haven't actually created AM from "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream," but Ellison gravely underestimated the degree to which people would willingly submit to their own existential attenuation.
What does marriage to a chatbot look like? Hear from three people who say they fell in love with A.I. about the joys and anxieties their romances, in their own words. nyti.ms/480WFtC
November 6, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Fortunately we haven't actually created AM from "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream," but Ellison gravely underestimated the degree to which people would willingly submit to their own existential attenuation.
Reposted by Paul Franz
Elected Democrats spending more time today praising Dick Cheney than Zohran Mamdani is a great case study in abject fucking moral failure.
November 4, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Elected Democrats spending more time today praising Dick Cheney than Zohran Mamdani is a great case study in abject fucking moral failure.
Reposted by Paul Franz
Keep in mind that most of the neocons that worked with Dick Cheney to orchestrate the Iraq War are still alive, and many of them are DEMOCRATS now. This includes Bill Kristol, David Frum, Max Boot, and others. They never changed. Instead, the party shifted far to the right to accommodate them.
November 4, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Keep in mind that most of the neocons that worked with Dick Cheney to orchestrate the Iraq War are still alive, and many of them are DEMOCRATS now. This includes Bill Kristol, David Frum, Max Boot, and others. They never changed. Instead, the party shifted far to the right to accommodate them.
I don't believe in Hell but there are days when I wish I did.
November 4, 2025 at 6:27 PM
I don't believe in Hell but there are days when I wish I did.
Reposted by Paul Franz
If you've stopped masking in public for whatever reason, now is a really good time to start again
November 4, 2025 at 1:28 AM
If you've stopped masking in public for whatever reason, now is a really good time to start again
The sheer amount of AI slop in the replies to basically every viral or semi-viral post these days is not encouraging!
November 3, 2025 at 12:22 AM
The sheer amount of AI slop in the replies to basically every viral or semi-viral post these days is not encouraging!
Reposted by Paul Franz
Baseball the cruelest game by far, nothing else within miles of it
November 2, 2025 at 4:21 AM
Baseball the cruelest game by far, nothing else within miles of it
Reposted by Paul Franz
Again, this precise use case is why these systems exist-to proliferate people’s racist (transphobic, misogynistic…) imaginary at scale. This should not be seen as a “misuse” but rather the product being used exactly as intended.
Racist Influencers Using OpenAI's Sora to Make it Look Like Poor People Are Selling Food Stamps for Cash
Folks looking for evidence of SNAP recipients as welfare queens have no shortage of AI generated schlock to use as justification.
futurism.com
November 2, 2025 at 12:44 AM
Again, this precise use case is why these systems exist-to proliferate people’s racist (transphobic, misogynistic…) imaginary at scale. This should not be seen as a “misuse” but rather the product being used exactly as intended.
Reducing ableist language use is, by the way, fundamental to the fight against fascism. The core ideological underpinning of fascism is eugenics. Ableist language is a reflection of eugenic attitudes. Be less ableist = be less eugenicist = fight fascism. It's not the whole game but it's essential.
October 30, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Reducing ableist language use is, by the way, fundamental to the fight against fascism. The core ideological underpinning of fascism is eugenics. Ableist language is a reflection of eugenic attitudes. Be less ableist = be less eugenicist = fight fascism. It's not the whole game but it's essential.
Once again confronting the apparent impossibility of calling fascists evil without using ableist language. "Cruel" is good, but the other three are a gut punch. The thing that sucks about (insert person here) is not fatness or stupidity or dementia. The PFP is quite the kicker.
October 30, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Once again confronting the apparent impossibility of calling fascists evil without using ableist language. "Cruel" is good, but the other three are a gut punch. The thing that sucks about (insert person here) is not fatness or stupidity or dementia. The PFP is quite the kicker.
Reposted by Paul Franz
Weird because I could have sworn the NYT told us we shouldn't worry about these viruses and should just get back to brunch
A number of viral infections, including flu, Covid-19 and shingles, are linked to an increased risk of heart disease and stroke, a new study affirmed.
Covid and Flu Can Triple Your Risk of Heart Attack
A new analysis adds to the research about the link between viral infections and heart disease.
nyti.ms
October 30, 2025 at 5:49 AM
Weird because I could have sworn the NYT told us we shouldn't worry about these viruses and should just get back to brunch
Reposted by Paul Franz
youtube decided they're gonna ai upscale sd content by default and if you have a youtube channel you should turn that shit off
Hey everyone, here's a real simple way to disable "Super Resolution" on your channels:
• YouTube Studio
• Settings
• Channel
• Advanced settings
• Uncheck "Let YouTube enhance visual quality"
• Uncheck "Let YouTube enhance audio quality"
• YouTube Studio
• Settings
• Channel
• Advanced settings
• Uncheck "Let YouTube enhance visual quality"
• Uncheck "Let YouTube enhance audio quality"
October 29, 2025 at 11:59 PM
youtube decided they're gonna ai upscale sd content by default and if you have a youtube channel you should turn that shit off
Our beagle Lucy generally doesn't like being picked up and carried, but as she's gotten older she sometimes struggles to make it up the stairs. Last night for the first time she actually waited in front of the staircase up to the bedroom so I could carry her. It was very sweet and a little sad.
October 23, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Our beagle Lucy generally doesn't like being picked up and carried, but as she's gotten older she sometimes struggles to make it up the stairs. Last night for the first time she actually waited in front of the staircase up to the bedroom so I could carry her. It was very sweet and a little sad.
Reposted by Paul Franz
To use it like this is to teach children that a statistical composite is better than their own imagination.
It is morally wrong on that basis alone, before you even get to all the harm required to produce it
It is morally wrong on that basis alone, before you even get to all the harm required to produce it
October 23, 2025 at 5:19 PM
To use it like this is to teach children that a statistical composite is better than their own imagination.
It is morally wrong on that basis alone, before you even get to all the harm required to produce it
It is morally wrong on that basis alone, before you even get to all the harm required to produce it
Reposted by Paul Franz
I told them I would always rather see what they had drawn themselves.
"But I can't draw it as pretty"
I hate this fucking technology and it should not be anywhere near a classroom
"But I can't draw it as pretty"
I hate this fucking technology and it should not be anywhere near a classroom
October 23, 2025 at 5:16 PM
I told them I would always rather see what they had drawn themselves.
"But I can't draw it as pretty"
I hate this fucking technology and it should not be anywhere near a classroom
"But I can't draw it as pretty"
I hate this fucking technology and it should not be anywhere near a classroom
As a former middle school teacher, this is pedagogical malpractice.
Yesterday my 5th grader told me their teacher gave them an assignment:
write a description of their own secret garden (apparently they've been reading it)...that she would then feed into ChatGPT to make a picture of it
I hate this so much
write a description of their own secret garden (apparently they've been reading it)...that she would then feed into ChatGPT to make a picture of it
I hate this so much
October 23, 2025 at 5:15 PM
As a former middle school teacher, this is pedagogical malpractice.
This was a great episode and a wonderful salve if you're feeling run down by certain aspects of the recent discourse. Very happy to see it in the main feed so I can recommend it to folks.
Now unlocked: we speak with William C. Anderson about taking action now and not being led to despair or resignation by the churn of the electoral cycle, and his recent essay, “Another way out: Fighting back against inaction”
on.soundcloud.com/Dvx4pAxbaeDi...
on.soundcloud.com/Dvx4pAxbaeDi...
Another Way Out w/ William C. Anderson (Unlocked)
This episode was originally released June 23rd for Death Panel patrons and is being unlocked today for the first time. To support the show and help make episodes like this one possible, become a patro
on.soundcloud.com
October 23, 2025 at 5:08 PM
This was a great episode and a wonderful salve if you're feeling run down by certain aspects of the recent discourse. Very happy to see it in the main feed so I can recommend it to folks.
Yep. The most recent @citationspod.bsky.social news brief talks about the quite intentional (and well-funded) effort by several different new ostensibly center-left organizations to push this exact thing. Worth a listen imo: citationsneeded.libsyn.com/news-brief-t...
October 20, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Yep. The most recent @citationspod.bsky.social news brief talks about the quite intentional (and well-funded) effort by several different new ostensibly center-left organizations to push this exact thing. Worth a listen imo: citationsneeded.libsyn.com/news-brief-t...