@waynejohns.bsky.social
Reposted
It’s really devastating to see the devaluation of so many things (reading, writing, critical thinking) that I have always thought were paramount.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/o...
Opinion | A.I. Threatens Our Ability to Understand the World
www.nytimes.com
October 29, 2025 at 4:49 PM
It’s really devastating to see the devaluation of so many things (reading, writing, critical thinking) that I have always thought were paramount.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/o...
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There really are two American internets now. @matteowong.bsky.social
What Elon Musk’s Version of Wikipedia Thinks About Hitler, Putin, and Apartheid
The next step in Musk’s propaganda machine
www.theatlantic.com
October 29, 2025 at 1:05 AM
There really are two American internets now. @matteowong.bsky.social
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Feels symbolic that a Confederate statue first installed in 1901, at the peak of the consolidation of the Jim Crow system—when the states of the former Confederacy were in the midst of revising their constitutions to disfranchise Black citizens—has been reinstalled.
www.npr.org/2025/10/27/n...
www.npr.org/2025/10/27/n...
A Confederate statue toppled in Washington, D.C., in 2020 has been reinstalled
A statue of Confederate general Albert Pike, which had been pulled down during the Black Lives Matter movement, has been put back up in Washington, D.C.'s Judiciary Square.
www.npr.org
October 28, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Feels symbolic that a Confederate statue first installed in 1901, at the peak of the consolidation of the Jim Crow system—when the states of the former Confederacy were in the midst of revising their constitutions to disfranchise Black citizens—has been reinstalled.
www.npr.org/2025/10/27/n...
www.npr.org/2025/10/27/n...
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During a class last term i was annoyed by students who kept looking at their phones every time I asked them a question. Then I realized they were checking ChatGPT. They had become so dependent on AI that they couldn’t answer simple questions without consulting it. I was horrified.
October 28, 2025 at 12:34 PM
During a class last term i was annoyed by students who kept looking at their phones every time I asked them a question. Then I realized they were checking ChatGPT. They had become so dependent on AI that they couldn’t answer simple questions without consulting it. I was horrified.
Thank God for these two... we need more heroes
Two Illinois National Guard members speak out: "I won't turn against my neighbors."
2 Illinois National Guard members speak out: "I won't turn against my neighbors"
Staff Sgt. Demi Palecek and Capt. Dylan Blaha say they'll defy federal orders regarding Trump's immigration enforcement operation in Chicago.
cbsn.ws
October 28, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Thank God for these two... we need more heroes
Reposted
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.
June 19, 2025 at 11:21 AM
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.
Reposted
According to OpenAI's own data, in a given week, millions of people "have conversations [with ChatGPT] that include explicit indicators of potential suicidal planning or intent"
OpenAI Says Hundreds of Thousands of ChatGPT Users May Show Signs of Manic or Psychotic Crisis Every Week
OpenAI says hundreds of thousands of ChatGPT users may show signs of manic or psychotic crisis every week.
www.wired.com
October 27, 2025 at 8:44 PM
According to OpenAI's own data, in a given week, millions of people "have conversations [with ChatGPT] that include explicit indicators of potential suicidal planning or intent"
Reposted
I truly wish that I were joking x.com/dhsgov/statu...
October 27, 2025 at 6:00 PM
I truly wish that I were joking x.com/dhsgov/statu...
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impossible to overstate the degree to which we are being governed by people whose formative politics is gamergate, but DHS posting Halo memes to recruit for ICE is pretty close.
October 27, 2025 at 5:58 PM
impossible to overstate the degree to which we are being governed by people whose formative politics is gamergate, but DHS posting Halo memes to recruit for ICE is pretty close.
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For @aaup.org’s podcast, I had the pleasure of speaking with Vineeta Singh, Jennifer Ruth, and Ellen Schrecker about academic freedom and about the work we have to do (organize) to translate writing and thinking and teaching into action.
aauppresents.buzzsprout.com/1837772/epis...
aauppresents.buzzsprout.com/1837772/epis...
Defending Academic Freedom: Learning to Resist - AAUP Presents
The 9th episode of our special series “Academic Freedom on the Line” is a conversation among 4 authors who contributed to the recently published University Keywords, a volume on how universities opera...
aauppresents.buzzsprout.com
October 27, 2025 at 12:42 PM
For @aaup.org’s podcast, I had the pleasure of speaking with Vineeta Singh, Jennifer Ruth, and Ellen Schrecker about academic freedom and about the work we have to do (organize) to translate writing and thinking and teaching into action.
aauppresents.buzzsprout.com/1837772/epis...
aauppresents.buzzsprout.com/1837772/epis...
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a lawsuit against an AI chatbot maker now turns on the question of whether or not AI produces legally-protected speech — a fantastic and important report here:
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/m...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/m...
October 27, 2025 at 12:47 PM
a lawsuit against an AI chatbot maker now turns on the question of whether or not AI produces legally-protected speech — a fantastic and important report here:
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/m...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/m...
"[Some] universities encourage the “responsible use” of generative AI.... But Vanrie wonders what students need to be capable of such ‘responsible use’. “You can only critically assess the output of an AI chatbot if you have the skills to do so, and you don’t develop these skills by using AI.”
and target universities the same way big tobacco and religion aggressively target children. Imagine wanting to arrest human thinking capacity at the exact place people go to expand their thinking. Imagine being paid to teach but instead collaborating with creepy techbros.
apache.be/2025/10/24/b...
apache.be/2025/10/24/b...
Belgian AI scientists resist the use of AI in academia
Several AI scientists have published an open letter calling for a ban on AI use by students.
apache.be
October 27, 2025 at 1:44 AM
"[Some] universities encourage the “responsible use” of generative AI.... But Vanrie wonders what students need to be capable of such ‘responsible use’. “You can only critically assess the output of an AI chatbot if you have the skills to do so, and you don’t develop these skills by using AI.”
Reposted
The situation is becoming very clear at this point. AI companies see 3 paths through the bubble many of them won’t survive: 1) pornbots, 2) Ponzi austerity SaaS, 3) plagiarism & detection. The latter two are built around presumptions about education which are not true. For instance, that we need LMS
4. Another one from Perplexity, this one just goes right to "cheat"
October 26, 2025 at 4:35 PM
The situation is becoming very clear at this point. AI companies see 3 paths through the bubble many of them won’t survive: 1) pornbots, 2) Ponzi austerity SaaS, 3) plagiarism & detection. The latter two are built around presumptions about education which are not true. For instance, that we need LMS
Reposted
Another one for the collection: "never get flagged again"
October 24, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Another one for the collection: "never get flagged again"
Reposted
Huh? It’s almost like there’s a correlation between the imposition of AI in education & authoritarian creep.
October 24, 2025 at 6:36 AM
Huh? It’s almost like there’s a correlation between the imposition of AI in education & authoritarian creep.
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I didn’t get the wording down precisely, so I won’t quote it, but one of the things that hit hard in the room:
Reactionaries waging culture wars against the humanities have a more accurate account of our power than we do. And our humility is not admirable, but an abdication of responsibility.
Reactionaries waging culture wars against the humanities have a more accurate account of our power than we do. And our humility is not admirable, but an abdication of responsibility.
October 22, 2025 at 11:58 AM
I didn’t get the wording down precisely, so I won’t quote it, but one of the things that hit hard in the room:
Reactionaries waging culture wars against the humanities have a more accurate account of our power than we do. And our humility is not admirable, but an abdication of responsibility.
Reactionaries waging culture wars against the humanities have a more accurate account of our power than we do. And our humility is not admirable, but an abdication of responsibility.
Reposted
Photo from a review of the exhibition that opens on the 23rd: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Breathtaking, unsettling, healing: a new exhibit by Black US artists transforms Confederate monuments
The sweeping exhibition Monuments opens in Los Angeles on 23 October and is on view through May
www.theguardian.com
October 18, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Photo from a review of the exhibition that opens on the 23rd: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
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Holy crap Kara Walker chopped up a Stonewall Jackson statue and revealed a monster
October 18, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Holy crap Kara Walker chopped up a Stonewall Jackson statue and revealed a monster
Reposted
The writer Peter Matthiessen traveled the world looking for elusive snow leopards and rare cranes. But a new biography shows that the genuine self he was really seeking would be much harder to find, writes John Kaag:
A Warning for the Modern Striver
A new biography of Peter Matthiessen chronicles his many paradoxical attempts to escape who the world expected him to be.
bit.ly
October 14, 2025 at 8:00 PM
The writer Peter Matthiessen traveled the world looking for elusive snow leopards and rare cranes. But a new biography shows that the genuine self he was really seeking would be much harder to find, writes John Kaag:
Reposted
“With your patient and rigorous work, you can act as a barrier against those who, through the ancient art of lying, seek to create divisions in order to rule by dividing,” he said. “You can be a bulwark of civility against the quicksand of approximation and post-truth...”
apnews.com/article/pope...
apnews.com/article/pope...
Pope urges news agencies to stand as bulwark against lies, manipulation and post-truths
Pope Leo XIV has encouraged international news agencies to stand firm as a bulwark against the “ancient art of lying” and manipulation.
apnews.com
October 12, 2025 at 5:16 PM
“With your patient and rigorous work, you can act as a barrier against those who, through the ancient art of lying, seek to create divisions in order to rule by dividing,” he said. “You can be a bulwark of civility against the quicksand of approximation and post-truth...”
apnews.com/article/pope...
apnews.com/article/pope...
Reposted
“There are no unsacred places; there are only sacred places and desecrated places.”
~ Wendell Berry, from ‘Given: Poems.’
#Painting, ‘Surf at Salvo’ by P.A. Nisbet (b. 1948).
~ Wendell Berry, from ‘Given: Poems.’
#Painting, ‘Surf at Salvo’ by P.A. Nisbet (b. 1948).
October 12, 2025 at 10:12 AM
“There are no unsacred places; there are only sacred places and desecrated places.”
~ Wendell Berry, from ‘Given: Poems.’
#Painting, ‘Surf at Salvo’ by P.A. Nisbet (b. 1948).
~ Wendell Berry, from ‘Given: Poems.’
#Painting, ‘Surf at Salvo’ by P.A. Nisbet (b. 1948).
Reposted
This conversation between Olga & @davidnaimon.bsky.social is FABULOUS!! Explores how witch hunts & trials were important to creating the notion of state, family & self that we still live under today; folk magic & alchemy; animating the archive thru ritual & imagination.
tinhouse.com/podcast/olga...
tinhouse.com/podcast/olga...
Olga Ravn : The Wax Child - Tin House
Set during the 17th century witch trials in Denmark, and relayed to us through the voice of a magically animated wax child of one of the accused, Olga Ravn’s new book, which creates something uncannil...
tinhouse.com
October 10, 2025 at 6:54 PM
This conversation between Olga & @davidnaimon.bsky.social is FABULOUS!! Explores how witch hunts & trials were important to creating the notion of state, family & self that we still live under today; folk magic & alchemy; animating the archive thru ritual & imagination.
tinhouse.com/podcast/olga...
tinhouse.com/podcast/olga...
Reposted
Under the Trump administration, fashion is losing its playfulness and taking cues from authoritarian aesthetics and conservatism.
How Trump-Era Politics Are Reshaping Fashion: From Barbiecore to Workwear
In this reported op-ed, writer Kelsey Stiegman connects the rise of MAGA politics to a darker fashion shift — where self-expression gives way to self-preservation.
www.teenvogue.com
October 9, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Under the Trump administration, fashion is losing its playfulness and taking cues from authoritarian aesthetics and conservatism.
Reposted
The decline is occurring as the Trump administration has delayed visa processing, instituted travel bans or restrictions for 19 countries, threatened to deport international students for pro-Palestinian speech, and heightened the vetting of student visa applicants.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Nearly 20 Percent Fewer International Students Traveled to the U.S. in August
The data shows the steepest decline in August international student arrivals since the pandemic.
www.nytimes.com
October 6, 2025 at 11:27 AM
The decline is occurring as the Trump administration has delayed visa processing, instituted travel bans or restrictions for 19 countries, threatened to deport international students for pro-Palestinian speech, and heightened the vetting of student visa applicants.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Reposted
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How to Turn Off AI Tools Like Gemini, Apple Intelligence, Copilot, and More - Consumer Reports
AI features are crowding into Google search, Gmail, iPhones, Windows laptops, and other products. If you're suffering from AI overload, these settings can help.
www.consumerreports.org
October 3, 2025 at 10:02 PM
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