R.D. Pohl
@rdpohl.bsky.social
Writer, critic, literary journalist, poetry editor. Trained as language philosopher. Follow at POETRY/POETICS/LANGUAGE/COMMUNITY (https://rdpohl.substack.com). Formerly with The Buffalo News, currently The Buffalo Hive, a non-profit arts & culture startup.
The Buffalo & Erie County Public Library presents Indie Author Day 2025 on Saturday, 11/5. thebuffalohive.com/the-buffalo-...
The Buffalo & Erie County Public Library presents Indie Author Day 2025 on Saturday -
The event runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m at its Central Branch, 1 Lafayette Square in Buffalo. Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.: The Buffalo and […]
thebuffalohive.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:08 AM
The Buffalo & Erie County Public Library presents Indie Author Day 2025 on Saturday, 11/5. thebuffalohive.com/the-buffalo-...
"Kojève’s course on Hegel was attended by such leading figures of French intellectual life as Georges Bataille, Jacques Lacan, André Breton, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Raymond Aron...the transcripts were widely read in Parisian intellectual circles that encompassed Sartre and Camus among others."
What Does It Mean to be Human? (According to Philosopher Alexandre Kojève)
Today, the notion and status of the human have become more and more problematic. We speak about human history as the epoch of the Anthropocene—an epoch that has led to the current global ecological…
lithub.com
November 12, 2025 at 9:51 PM
"Kojève’s course on Hegel was attended by such leading figures of French intellectual life as Georges Bataille, Jacques Lacan, André Breton, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Raymond Aron...the transcripts were widely read in Parisian intellectual circles that encompassed Sartre and Camus among others."
Reposted by R.D. Pohl
Great piece by Zadie Smith. When the right talks about classics or "Western" culture, these works are only important to the extent that it demonstrates their superiority, they have no interest in art in and of itself beyond that www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
November 12, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Great piece by Zadie Smith. When the right talks about classics or "Western" culture, these works are only important to the extent that it demonstrates their superiority, they have no interest in art in and of itself beyond that www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by R.D. Pohl
Yeah whoever jacked up tariffs on coffee from Brazil earlier this year must be a real bonehead
November 12, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Yeah whoever jacked up tariffs on coffee from Brazil earlier this year must be a real bonehead
Ten events this week in the Buffalo literary community, including the return of the Buffalo, Books & Beer Series with author Ken Belson.
thebuffalohive.com/buffalo-area...
thebuffalohive.com/buffalo-area...
Buffalo Area Poetry & Literature Calendar (week of Nov. 10 to Nov. 16) -
Ten events this week in the Buffalo literary community, including the return of the Buffalo, Books & Beer Series with author Ken Belson. Wednesday, Nov. 12, 6 p.m. to 7:30 […]
thebuffalohive.com
November 11, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Ten events this week in the Buffalo literary community, including the return of the Buffalo, Books & Beer Series with author Ken Belson.
thebuffalohive.com/buffalo-area...
thebuffalohive.com/buffalo-area...
Reposted by R.D. Pohl
Alex Karp runs Palantir—a $450B tech giant powering AI systems for the CIA, ICE, and the Israeli military during its campaign in Gaza. He’s a law grad with a PhD in philosophy and a CEO who’s as polarizing as he is powerful. www.wired.com/story/alex-k...
Alex Karp Goes to War
Palantir’s CEO is good with ICE and says he defends human rights. But will Israel and Trump ever go too far for him?
www.wired.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Alex Karp runs Palantir—a $450B tech giant powering AI systems for the CIA, ICE, and the Israeli military during its campaign in Gaza. He’s a law grad with a PhD in philosophy and a CEO who’s as polarizing as he is powerful. www.wired.com/story/alex-k...
Remembering Jorge Guitart (1937-2025):"His poetry was not for the masses; it was for everyone."
thebuffalohive.com/remembering-...
thebuffalohive.com/remembering-...
Remembering Jorge Guitart (1937-2025):"His poetry was not for the masses; it was for everyone." -
Dr. Jorge Guitart, a longtime Professor of Spanish linguistics in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at the University at Buffalo, and beloved member of the Buffalo arts and […]
thebuffalohive.com
November 9, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Remembering Jorge Guitart (1937-2025):"His poetry was not for the masses; it was for everyone."
thebuffalohive.com/remembering-...
thebuffalohive.com/remembering-...
Dr. Jorge Guitart, a longtime Professor of Spanish linguistics in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at the University at Buffalo, and beloved member of the Buffalo arts and poetry communities, died on Oct. 28th in Buffalo. He was 88.
Dear All by Jorge Guitart (1937-2025) - Just Buffalo Literary Center | Buffalo, NY
Read "Dear All" by Jorge Guitart - part of the Poem of the Week series, curated by literary legacy awardee R.D. Pohl.
www.justbuffalo.org
November 9, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Dr. Jorge Guitart, a longtime Professor of Spanish linguistics in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at the University at Buffalo, and beloved member of the Buffalo arts and poetry communities, died on Oct. 28th in Buffalo. He was 88.
Reposted by R.D. Pohl
Librarians told 404 Media they're being inundated with new pitches for AI library tech and catalogs are being flooded with AI slop books.
But more broadly, AI maximalism across society is supercharging the ideological war on libraries, schools, government workers, and academics.
But more broadly, AI maximalism across society is supercharging the ideological war on libraries, schools, government workers, and academics.
AI Is Supercharging the War on Libraries, Education, and Human Knowledge
"Fascism and AI, whether or not they have the same goals, they sure are working to accelerate one another."
www.404media.co
November 6, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Librarians told 404 Media they're being inundated with new pitches for AI library tech and catalogs are being flooded with AI slop books.
But more broadly, AI maximalism across society is supercharging the ideological war on libraries, schools, government workers, and academics.
But more broadly, AI maximalism across society is supercharging the ideological war on libraries, schools, government workers, and academics.
Reposted by R.D. Pohl
It’s like he thinks saying “It’s a regulatory tariff not a tax” is a get out of jail free card, and the justices ain’t having it.
November 5, 2025 at 3:52 PM
It’s like he thinks saying “It’s a regulatory tariff not a tax” is a get out of jail free card, and the justices ain’t having it.
Reposted by R.D. Pohl
This is the most important thing @jvl.bsky.social has written: why?
* Trumpism is a fundamentally socialist hybrid state capitalist approach with an authoritarian bent
*it’s Peronist but with a balance sheet
*the next logical step is for the trumpists to make the fed balance sheet their own
* Trumpism is a fundamentally socialist hybrid state capitalist approach with an authoritarian bent
*it’s Peronist but with a balance sheet
*the next logical step is for the trumpists to make the fed balance sheet their own
@jvl.bsky.social: "The real socialism is coming from inside the White House."
Read The Triad on Trump's nuclear socialism, only @thebulwark.com: www.thebulwark.com/p/trumps-nuc...
Read The Triad on Trump's nuclear socialism, only @thebulwark.com: www.thebulwark.com/p/trumps-nuc...
Trump's Nuclear Socialism
You’re worried about Mamdani? The real socialism is coming from inside the White House.
www.thebulwark.com
October 31, 2025 at 4:49 PM
This is the most important thing @jvl.bsky.social has written: why?
* Trumpism is a fundamentally socialist hybrid state capitalist approach with an authoritarian bent
*it’s Peronist but with a balance sheet
*the next logical step is for the trumpists to make the fed balance sheet their own
* Trumpism is a fundamentally socialist hybrid state capitalist approach with an authoritarian bent
*it’s Peronist but with a balance sheet
*the next logical step is for the trumpists to make the fed balance sheet their own
Reposted by R.D. Pohl
“What [Dick Cheney works] to preclude is any acknowledgment that the issue at hand, whether it is avoiding military service or authorizing torture, might have a moral or an ethical or even a self-interested dimension that merits discussion.” —Joan Didion
Cheney: The Fatal Touch | Joan Didion
It was in some ways predictable that the central player in the system of willed errors and reversals that is the Bush administration would turn out to be its vice-president, Richard B. Cheney.
www.nybooks.com
November 4, 2025 at 4:18 PM
“What [Dick Cheney works] to preclude is any acknowledgment that the issue at hand, whether it is avoiding military service or authorizing torture, might have a moral or an ethical or even a self-interested dimension that merits discussion.” —Joan Didion
Five events this week in the Buffalo literary community, including a return visit by fiction writer Brock Clarke to Buffalo in the Exhibit X Fiction Series.
thebuffalohive.com/buffalo-area...
thebuffalohive.com/buffalo-area...
Buffalo Area Poetry & Literature Calendar (week of Nov. 3 to Nov. 9) -
Five events this week in the Buffalo literary community, including a return visit by fiction writer Brock Clarke to Buffalo in the Exhibit X Fiction Series. Wednesday, Nov. 5, 7 […]
thebuffalohive.com
November 4, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Five events this week in the Buffalo literary community, including a return visit by fiction writer Brock Clarke to Buffalo in the Exhibit X Fiction Series.
thebuffalohive.com/buffalo-area...
thebuffalohive.com/buffalo-area...
The Literary Café Series at the CFI will feature poets Susan Nusbaum and John Burroughs reading from their work on Wednesday, November 5th at 7:30 p.m. at The Center for Inquiry, 1310 Sweet Home Rd. in Amherst, NY. The event is free and open to the public.
Golden Locust by Susan Dworski - Just Buffalo Literary Center | Buffalo, NY
Read "Golden Locust" by Susan Dworski - part of the Poem of the Week series, curated by literary legacy awardee R.D. Pohl.
www.justbuffalo.org
November 3, 2025 at 3:49 PM
The Literary Café Series at the CFI will feature poets Susan Nusbaum and John Burroughs reading from their work on Wednesday, November 5th at 7:30 p.m. at The Center for Inquiry, 1310 Sweet Home Rd. in Amherst, NY. The event is free and open to the public.
Reposted by R.D. Pohl
"The new Luddites aren’t afraid of AI. They’re afraid of the people who profit from pretending it’s intelligent." Erik J. Larson reviews "The AI Con" by Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-return-of-the-luddites/
October 31, 2025 at 3:31 PM
"The new Luddites aren’t afraid of AI. They’re afraid of the people who profit from pretending it’s intelligent." Erik J. Larson reviews "The AI Con" by Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-return-of-the-luddites/
Reposted by R.D. Pohl
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com
“What is the role of us as technologists in this country? What is our obligation to America? How can we be helping?” Shyam Sankar, the CTO of Palantir, discussed surveillance, A.I. and the future of war on this episode of “Interesting Times With Ross Douthat.”
“What is the role of us as technologists in this country? What is our obligation to America? How can we be helping?” Shyam Sankar, the CTO of Palantir, discussed surveillance, A.I. and the future of war on this episode of “Interesting Times With Ross Douthat.”
Opinion | What Palantir Sees
The tech company’s C.T.O. on surveillance, A.I. and the future of war.
nyti.ms
October 31, 2025 at 11:50 AM
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com
“What is the role of us as technologists in this country? What is our obligation to America? How can we be helping?” Shyam Sankar, the CTO of Palantir, discussed surveillance, A.I. and the future of war on this episode of “Interesting Times With Ross Douthat.”
“What is the role of us as technologists in this country? What is our obligation to America? How can we be helping?” Shyam Sankar, the CTO of Palantir, discussed surveillance, A.I. and the future of war on this episode of “Interesting Times With Ross Douthat.”
Reposted by R.D. Pohl
every paragraph in this @emilymullin.bsky.social story is wilder than the last www.wired.com/story/startu...
A New Startup Wants to Edit Human Embryos
Seven years after the first gene-edited babies were revealed, biotech startup Manhattan Genomics is reviving the idea of editing human embryos to make disease-free children.
www.wired.com
October 30, 2025 at 4:40 PM
every paragraph in this @emilymullin.bsky.social story is wilder than the last www.wired.com/story/startu...
Reposted by R.D. Pohl
They fear speech.
Wole Soyinka, Nigerian Nobel laureate and Trump critic, says US visa revoked
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...
Wole Soyinka, Nigerian Nobel laureate and Trump critic, says US visa revoked
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...
Wole Soyinka, Nigerian Nobel laureate and Trump critic, says US visa revoked
Soyinka, 91, who recently compared US president to Idi Amin, says ‘I have no visa – I am banned’
www.theguardian.com
October 29, 2025 at 11:25 AM
They fear speech.
Wole Soyinka, Nigerian Nobel laureate and Trump critic, says US visa revoked
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...
Wole Soyinka, Nigerian Nobel laureate and Trump critic, says US visa revoked
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...
Ron Padgett's Pink Dust (NYRB Books), a collection about aging and death, offers a vision of life as a continual act of reading. (Rhian Sasseen)
The Immortal Poetry of Ron Padgett
Pink Dust, a collection about aging and death, offers an optimistic vision of life as a continual act of reading.
www.thenation.com
October 29, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Ron Padgett's Pink Dust (NYRB Books), a collection about aging and death, offers a vision of life as a continual act of reading. (Rhian Sasseen)
Happening tonight (10/27) in the heart of Buffalo's Elmwood Village.
thebuffalohive.com/buffalo-area...
thebuffalohive.com/buffalo-area...
Buffalo Area Poetry & Literature Calendar (week of Oct. 27 to Nov. 2) -
Six events this week in the Buffalo literary community Monday, Oct. 27, 7:30 p.m.: Sound + Text at BICA. Readings featuring Thom Eichelberger-Young, Mathilda Cullen, Tommy Murther, & Diego Espíritu wi...
thebuffalohive.com
October 29, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Happening tonight (10/27) in the heart of Buffalo's Elmwood Village.
thebuffalohive.com/buffalo-area...
thebuffalohive.com/buffalo-area...
Reposted by R.D. Pohl
Enormous news for US literature. A new, Mellon-led, $50 million fund for nonprofit literary orgs and publishers. Closest thing we've ever had to it was Mellon and Wallace in 1991, which, in today's dollars, was still less than half this. Open call begins Nov 10. literaryartsfund.org/about/
About | Literary Arts Fund
The Literary Arts Fund advances support for the nonprofit literary arts field toward ensuring creative writers’ contributions to American literature for generations to come.
literaryartsfund.org
October 28, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Enormous news for US literature. A new, Mellon-led, $50 million fund for nonprofit literary orgs and publishers. Closest thing we've ever had to it was Mellon and Wallace in 1991, which, in today's dollars, was still less than half this. Open call begins Nov 10. literaryartsfund.org/about/
Six events this week in the Buffalo literary community.
thebuffalohive.com/buffalo-area...
thebuffalohive.com/buffalo-area...
Buffalo Area Poetry & Literature Calendar (week of Oct. 27 to Nov. 2) -
Six events this week in the Buffalo literary community Monday, Oct. 27, 7:30 p.m.: Sound + Text at BICA. Readings featuring Thom Eichelberger-Young, Mathilda Cullen, Tommy Murther, & Diego Espíritu wi...
thebuffalohive.com
October 28, 2025 at 3:39 AM
Six events this week in the Buffalo literary community.
thebuffalohive.com/buffalo-area...
thebuffalohive.com/buffalo-area...
This your future and mine in the accelerationist age of dystopian surveillance capitalism. We will all need to wear specially tinted glasses to circumvent the facial scanning and iris reading of technologies which are read and matched by artificial intelligence in real time.
NEW: we tested Zenni's anti-facial recognition glasses coating. "ID Guard" adds a pink sheen to the surface of the glasses that reflects the infrared light used by some facial recognition cameras.
www.404media.co/zennis-anti-...
www.404media.co/zennis-anti-...
Zenni’s Anti-Facial Recognition Glasses are Eyewear for Our Paranoid Age
These anti-facial recognition glasses technically work, but won’t save you from our surveillance dystopia.
www.404media.co
October 27, 2025 at 3:11 PM
This your future and mine in the accelerationist age of dystopian surveillance capitalism. We will all need to wear specially tinted glasses to circumvent the facial scanning and iris reading of technologies which are read and matched by artificial intelligence in real time.
Reposted by R.D. Pohl
NEW: we tested Zenni's anti-facial recognition glasses coating. "ID Guard" adds a pink sheen to the surface of the glasses that reflects the infrared light used by some facial recognition cameras.
www.404media.co/zennis-anti-...
www.404media.co/zennis-anti-...
Zenni’s Anti-Facial Recognition Glasses are Eyewear for Our Paranoid Age
These anti-facial recognition glasses technically work, but won’t save you from our surveillance dystopia.
www.404media.co
October 27, 2025 at 1:52 PM
NEW: we tested Zenni's anti-facial recognition glasses coating. "ID Guard" adds a pink sheen to the surface of the glasses that reflects the infrared light used by some facial recognition cameras.
www.404media.co/zennis-anti-...
www.404media.co/zennis-anti-...