Marc Burgauer
@somesheep.bsky.social
No straight paths, many fires/Constraint regimes/The Present of Work / Change Mapping
#socialpracticetheory #pluralism & Croissant-maker
#socialpracticetheory #pluralism & Croissant-maker
Pinned
Marc Burgauer
@somesheep.bsky.social
· Nov 7
Complexity is a device used by societies to solve problems, and they ratchet up effort and sophistication until the marginal return slopes down over time.
JA Tainter
JA Tainter
TFW confronted with journalists who have happily skewed the truth for their purposes now appealing to the public to care for preserving the BBC for its authenticity? Gaslight.
November 13, 2025 at 2:46 PM
TFW confronted with journalists who have happily skewed the truth for their purposes now appealing to the public to care for preserving the BBC for its authenticity? Gaslight.
@jonahg.bsky.social feedback: “discovered” you on Call me back. Subscribed to your podcast after listening to the Henry George episode: excellent!
November 10, 2025 at 7:24 AM
@jonahg.bsky.social feedback: “discovered” you on Call me back. Subscribed to your podcast after listening to the Henry George episode: excellent!
Is there a meme one could use on people who have a burning need to be seen as the smartest person in the room? Asking for a friend.
November 7, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Is there a meme one could use on people who have a burning need to be seen as the smartest person in the room? Asking for a friend.
Reposted by Marc Burgauer
Exactly. They are the same project.
The long-running ideological war on libraries, education, and government workers is not separate from AI boosterism. It is the same ideological war on human knowledge and expertise. In some cases AI is being used to directly supercharge this effort:
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
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 4:59 PM
Exactly. They are the same project.
Reposted by Marc Burgauer
Vital piece of investigative reporting from Sky. They've uncovered the X algorithm which feeds users extremist right wing material from the moment they join the site. It is a far-right radicalisation engine, by design.
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
news.sky.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Vital piece of investigative reporting from Sky. They've uncovered the X algorithm which feeds users extremist right wing material from the moment they join the site. It is a far-right radicalisation engine, by design.
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
Reposted by Marc Burgauer
So... we have a former prince but not a former Royal Society fellow, despite involvement in the same case and multiple current instances of improper behaviour, such as political interventionism, incitation to violence, etc.
One can only wonder why, right?
One can only wonder why, right?
October 31, 2025 at 2:44 PM
So... we have a former prince but not a former Royal Society fellow, despite involvement in the same case and multiple current instances of improper behaviour, such as political interventionism, incitation to violence, etc.
One can only wonder why, right?
One can only wonder why, right?
There was a phase in the late 70s and into the 80s where a lot of good music (composition and songwriting) was “enhanced” with “new” synth sounds or effects. Most of it just sounds crap today, cheap, show-offy and arbitrary. Makes the music annoying! That’s the stage we’re at with using AI.
November 3, 2025 at 9:43 AM
There was a phase in the late 70s and into the 80s where a lot of good music (composition and songwriting) was “enhanced” with “new” synth sounds or effects. Most of it just sounds crap today, cheap, show-offy and arbitrary. Makes the music annoying! That’s the stage we’re at with using AI.
How can we make the walls of your bubble that silently polarises you thicker?
Ah, Bluesky wants to make itself an even more comfortable place for users.
Great for people who don’t want to hear anything they disagree with. Bad if you occasionally have views that don’t please the majority.
Great for people who don’t want to hear anything they disagree with. Bad if you occasionally have views that don’t please the majority.
“As users ‘dislike’ posts, the system will learn what sort of content they want to see less of. This will help to inform more than just how content is ranked in feeds, but also reply rankings.”
November 1, 2025 at 12:49 PM
How can we make the walls of your bubble that silently polarises you thicker?
Expect Robert Jenrick to copy this joyousness in his social media pieces next. (No, only fools think this is authentic from Mamdani either.)
This was joyous. Just a mad ray of sunshine in an otherwise desolate landscape
Juntos vamos a construir la ciudad que merecemos!
Y con tu ayuda, voy a seguir aprendiendo español 😉
Y con tu ayuda, voy a seguir aprendiendo español 😉
October 30, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Expect Robert Jenrick to copy this joyousness in his social media pieces next. (No, only fools think this is authentic from Mamdani either.)
Reposted by Marc Burgauer
Well, guess I have a new favorite movie...
October 28, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Well, guess I have a new favorite movie...
Reposted by Marc Burgauer
Hard to find a better illustration of why you should ignore everything before the 'but':
October 27, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Hard to find a better illustration of why you should ignore everything before the 'but':
Reposted by Marc Burgauer
In case you needed another reason to sign the letter by @olivia.science and @irisvanrooij.bsky.social against "uncritical adoption of AI in academia"...
openletter.earth/open-letter-...
openletter.earth/open-letter-...
Open Letter: Stop the Uncritical Adoption of AI Technologies in Academia
openletter.earth
October 24, 2025 at 7:12 AM
In case you needed another reason to sign the letter by @olivia.science and @irisvanrooij.bsky.social against "uncritical adoption of AI in academia"...
openletter.earth/open-letter-...
openletter.earth/open-letter-...
Reposted by Marc Burgauer
Go glial cells! More and more evidence keeps pouring in that the cognitive brain is not just a neuronal network. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Spontaneous activity of astrocytes is a stochastic functional signal for memory consolidation | PNAS
In the absence of explicit neuronal inputs, the glial cell astrocytes exhibit recurring
intracellular Ca2+ fluctuations, primarily localized at thi...
www.pnas.org
October 21, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Go glial cells! More and more evidence keeps pouring in that the cognitive brain is not just a neuronal network. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Marc Burgauer
I think this is true in a deep and troubling way. I have been observing this too. I am getting old & maybe I’m wrong, but I really feel basic academic, critical and intellectual, attitudes that were normal and prominent 20 years ago seem to have eroded. I agree, we need to understand how and why.
The scenario in which there are oligarchs powerful enough to succeed at their AI con and force LLMs onto the rest of society is the outright fascist and dystopian scenario. That higher ed has largely capitulated to the scam means it had already been deskilled. We need to understand how and why.
“Ultimately, the collective strategy of AI companies threatens to deskill precisely those people who are essential for society to function(…) automation of knowledge and culture by private companies is a worrying prospect – conjuring dystopian and outright fascistic scenarios.” — @olivia.science
October 18, 2025 at 10:49 PM
I think this is true in a deep and troubling way. I have been observing this too. I am getting old & maybe I’m wrong, but I really feel basic academic, critical and intellectual, attitudes that were normal and prominent 20 years ago seem to have eroded. I agree, we need to understand how and why.
Reposted by Marc Burgauer
It is a form of scientism to rationalize the course of scientific progress with plausible post hoc narratives and to try to establish the historical inevitability of scientific knowledge. This kind of scientism stands firmly against scientific pluralism. In that, I find Chang's work self-affirming.
October 17, 2025 at 5:36 PM
It is a form of scientism to rationalize the course of scientific progress with plausible post hoc narratives and to try to establish the historical inevitability of scientific knowledge. This kind of scientism stands firmly against scientific pluralism. In that, I find Chang's work self-affirming.
There’s always one exploitative way of making money from early technology.
Altman: "Are you wearing something sexy?"
ChatGPT: "Sure I can do that for you."
Altman: "Describe it to me."
ChatGPT: "Okay here is a list of 10 items people consider to be sexy..."
ChatGPT: "Sure I can do that for you."
Altman: "Describe it to me."
ChatGPT: "Okay here is a list of 10 items people consider to be sexy..."
Oh good, ChatGPT is getting "erotica for verified adults" later this year
October 14, 2025 at 7:43 PM
There’s always one exploitative way of making money from early technology.
Reposted by Marc Burgauer
Altman: "Are you wearing something sexy?"
ChatGPT: "Sure I can do that for you."
Altman: "Describe it to me."
ChatGPT: "Okay here is a list of 10 items people consider to be sexy..."
ChatGPT: "Sure I can do that for you."
Altman: "Describe it to me."
ChatGPT: "Okay here is a list of 10 items people consider to be sexy..."
Oh good, ChatGPT is getting "erotica for verified adults" later this year
October 14, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Altman: "Are you wearing something sexy?"
ChatGPT: "Sure I can do that for you."
Altman: "Describe it to me."
ChatGPT: "Okay here is a list of 10 items people consider to be sexy..."
ChatGPT: "Sure I can do that for you."
Altman: "Describe it to me."
ChatGPT: "Okay here is a list of 10 items people consider to be sexy..."
Reposted by Marc Burgauer
OTD in 1906 Hannah Arendt was born.
"The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact & fiction and the distinction between true & false no longer exist".
"The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact & fiction and the distinction between true & false no longer exist".
October 14, 2025 at 4:48 PM
OTD in 1906 Hannah Arendt was born.
"The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact & fiction and the distinction between true & false no longer exist".
"The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact & fiction and the distinction between true & false no longer exist".
Reposted by Marc Burgauer
feels like yet again time to mention that the *videogames* industry (that's a creative industry, which people do creative degrees in) brings in more than twice the amount to the British economy as the fishing and steel industries *combined*
I cannot understand what these people think the purpose of human life is?
It is *not* "pursue joy, deal justly, love well, try to understand as much and see as much of this beautiful world and of the deepness, richness and variety of human culture and experience as you can before you die"?
It is *not* "pursue joy, deal justly, love well, try to understand as much and see as much of this beautiful world and of the deepness, richness and variety of human culture and experience as you can before you die"?
How is this repeatedly made into a policy issue - by *all* parties - when the blunt fact of the matter is that grown adults who are obliged to pay for their own education, and relentlessly pursued to repay their loans, should be able to study whatever the fuck they want.
October 8, 2025 at 8:30 AM
feels like yet again time to mention that the *videogames* industry (that's a creative industry, which people do creative degrees in) brings in more than twice the amount to the British economy as the fishing and steel industries *combined*
Reposted by Marc Burgauer
A bubble so large you can see it from space and it's going to fuck all of us.
NVIDIA and OpenAi:
Concerns that their “increasingly complex and interconnected web of business transactions is artificially propping up the trillion-dollar AI boom.“
@bloomberg.com $NVDA 👀
www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
Concerns that their “increasingly complex and interconnected web of business transactions is artificially propping up the trillion-dollar AI boom.“
@bloomberg.com $NVDA 👀
www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
October 8, 2025 at 7:15 AM
A bubble so large you can see it from space and it's going to fuck all of us.
There is so much I liked about this, but that notion of it justifying moral dogmatism keeps nagging at me. Demonstrate to me it ain't so?
The politics of drawing a moral line: When we need to call out racism for what it is open.substack.com/pub/iandunt/...
The politics of drawing a moral line
The politics of drawing a moral line.
open.substack.com
October 6, 2025 at 1:59 PM
There is so much I liked about this, but that notion of it justifying moral dogmatism keeps nagging at me. Demonstrate to me it ain't so?
Reposted by Marc Burgauer
Me: "You didn't write this, Kant did."
Student: "Yeah but Kant didn't opt out after I announced I'd be using his work..."
Student: "Yeah but Kant didn't opt out after I announced I'd be using his work..."
Exclusive: OpenAI is planning to release a new version of its Sora video generator, which creates videos featuring copyrighted material unless copyright holders opt out of having their work appear.
OpenAI’s New Sora Video Generator to Require Copyright Holders to Opt Out
Executives at the startup notified talent agencies and studios over the last week.
on.wsj.com
September 30, 2025 at 6:16 AM
Me: "You didn't write this, Kant did."
Student: "Yeah but Kant didn't opt out after I announced I'd be using his work..."
Student: "Yeah but Kant didn't opt out after I announced I'd be using his work..."
Reposted by Marc Burgauer
In general I think it's hard to combat scientific misinformation when some of the best research is locked behind an academic paywall, while lots of nonsense gets published free for everyone to read in predatory journals.
September 28, 2025 at 5:25 PM
In general I think it's hard to combat scientific misinformation when some of the best research is locked behind an academic paywall, while lots of nonsense gets published free for everyone to read in predatory journals.
There should be a meme that renders anyone who compares any aspect of social or biological life to a machine or using machine metaphors to be seen as a person of limited imagination and limited ability to understand. Down with machine thinking.
September 29, 2025 at 5:31 AM
There should be a meme that renders anyone who compares any aspect of social or biological life to a machine or using machine metaphors to be seen as a person of limited imagination and limited ability to understand. Down with machine thinking.