Hey, hey Woody Guthrie, I wrote you a song 'Bout a funny ol' world that's a-comin' along Seems sick and it's hungry, it's tired and it's torn It looks like it's a-dyin' and it's hardly been born - Bob Dylan
visualization librarian | philosophy, media, cyberwar, stats | Deconstruction Machines (UMN Press, 2018) | Revolutionary Mathematics: Artificial Intelligence, Statistics and the Logic of Capitalism (Verso, 2022) | my views are yours
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Hey, hey Woody Guthrie, I wrote you a song 'Bout a funny ol' world that's a-comin' along Seems sick and it's hungry, it's tired and it's torn It looks like it's a-dyin' and it's hardly been born - Bob Dylan
everyone should take three hours out of their day and watch THE LEOPARD, a total masterpiece of a film. www.theguardian.com/film/2025/se...
Italo Calvino, 1967 www.jfki.fu-berlin.de/academics/Su...
We thought we could master language and that hubris has destroyed all that was built of it
AI is just microplastics for software. It's polluted every app and slowly killing them.
TFW your model trained on Reddit data. Someone should also ask if they should leave their partner because they forgot to put the cap on the toothpaste tube or if their tv is mounted too high on the wall
The whole administration is really giving that king from the little prince who was in charge of everything but only would order things and people to do things they were already going to do anyway
Oh look a faint tiny sign of life from the interests of capital accumulation
Wait did they plan the rapture for Rosh Hashanah on purpose?
neurodiversity is Good Actually. just want to say that
I grew up in the 90s and back then the there were scandals that lasted years over blasphemy that wasn’t even close to this bad
This piece argues we’re in not one, but three AI bubbles: 1. a financial bubble with inflated valuations, 2. an infrastructure bubble with overbuilt data centers, 3. a hype bubble where AI can’t meet its promises. Honestly, all three seem highly likely to me.
This 100%. Something that will help with winning and also the day after we win is starting to talk about the real concrete things we are going to do to revive democracy and avoid another Biden interregnum. How are we going to hold people accountable, dismantle white supremacy, house people, etc
Very true
We should have a lot of debates about whether this a good idea but it’s also important to be 100% clear this was not a chatbot but a purpose built model. ”AI” models are incredibly powerful but chatbots are an intellectual and societal dead end and a whole lot of provosts are distracted by them
Oh
we had a professor in my masters program who wrote a whole ass essay on “how to read for academia” and it was exactly this but as horrible advice. He’s also somewhat famous in my field and has at least one essay where he writes about Heidegger and it‘s clear he has no idea what he’s talking about 🙃
Yeah that’s not winner talk
I got some press release yesterday from an AI security firm claiming that in fact security firms were winning the AI wars. And I thought, yeah no. But second—the fact that you're calling them "wars" says everything I need to know.
Agree. I think the biggest concern though is how many things will break along the way
Absolutely amazing. I truly think AI is leading not to super intelligence but instead to the end of the internet and networked computing (aside from maybe disconnected organization wide intranets)
Shawarma paper but the bribe would just be the food itself
And this is what bozo the clown Ezra Klein doesn’t understand about politics: you’be got to play to win you can’t fold on everything and hope to win by attracting the “only hate women a moderate amount“ vote
See now if the democrats were an organized party or say had any desire to ever win they’d take an issue like this (honestly anything but something easy like not taking bribes) and use the senate to shut down the whole government until this guy leaves. Take the W and move on to the next one
At least the top 8 were all non university
Yeah although in that study it was actually Beaumont that had the highest number in the entire country
It’s also going to hit hospitals incredibly hard. According to a 2017 study I found. Michigan has the highest percentage of care doctors on H-1B visas (nearly 4% of doctors)
It’s also going to hit hospitals incredibly hard. According to a 2017 study I found. Michigan has the highest percentage of care doctors on H-1B visas (nearly 4% of doctors)
The 100K fee for H-1B visas (yearly!) is reported as a hit on tech -- but it is a hit on universities. It will make it impossible for us to hire foreign visitors, or foreign scholars into tenure track positions--I think almost 40% of H-1Bs go to universities and university hospitals.
Oh, AI is bad at summarizing scientific articles? Is the pope from Chicago?
My “I’m just following orders” letter has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my letter
Not only are they not worth anything, but seeking them could be evidence of consciousness-of-guilt
My “I’m just following orders” letter has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my letter
Ha everyone knows the pope is from Chicago
Oh, AI is bad at summarizing scientific articles? Is the pope from Chicago?
Building data centers is a way to (territorially) rebuild/maintain empire, as fossil fuel gets (necessarily) replaced by solar energy — I can see no other reason to invest in AI infrastructure, as a technology it has no business model …beyond worldbuilding….
My professional opinion on the current state of affairs
Haha thanks that’s good advice
Update: I’m so happy she is excited about a musical instrument but I might not survive this. it has been non stop recorded every night
But sure, trust these bozos with your mind, future, and well-being. 😞
This has the vibe of the magic show I tried to do for my family when I was 7. Ten min of saying “oookeydoke,” fumbling w/cards, and feeling my face break out in sweat while my little sister body slammed the cat from the back of the sofa and my parents tried not to fall over themselves laughing
😂
This whole video right up to the end is amazing. It’s kind of satisfying watching him have to deal with how shitty the technology they’re trying to force on us is. I miss when things used to work
Know your rights These are your rights Number three You have the right to free Speech As long as You're not dumb enough to actually try it - the Clash
Know your rights These are your rights Number three You have the right to free Speech As long as You're not dumb enough to actually try it - the Clash
I know everything is terrible right now but I’m case you want to hear something good, my daughter couldn’t sleep last night because she was so ridiculously excited about getting her recorder in her 4th grade music class today. And she’s been playing hot cross buns all night
My ideas are complicated, the articulation even more unclear and I’m even difficult to get along with. I gladly accept the speaking invitation
My ideas are complicated, the articulation even more unclear and I’m even difficult to get along with. I gladly accept the speaking invitation
Trump approval is very far underwater and the impact of how badly he’s mishandled the economy hasn‘t even really hit at all. I think things are going to turn very quickly even if the media, the oligarchs and trumps buddies are going to try to wylie e coyote it but things can change fast
Oh I don’t know! I imagine they’d have to figure out some way to migrate accounts but maybe it’s starting from scratch?
It would be hilarious if the bluesky people rolled out a tik tok clone ready to go just as the new app launches
I know it’s been a very long road to get here but I do feel like the Dems folding rather than doubling down on the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and made up claims of voter fraud was one of the very early steps on the way to this moment
To quote Bob Dylan, “doesn’t take a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowin”
To quote Bob Dylan, “doesn’t take a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowin”
Only slightly unrelated but this summer some colleagues and I spent a week together with no Internet and the conversations we had were amazing. We didn’t have to but ended up hanging out for 6-7 hrs a day just talking about the world. It was exhilarating. highly recommend
The only correct way to use the internet has always been: click on link; go make sandwich; come back read a single fan webpage about a star war; turn off computer and go outside for the rest of the day
Ha I have very very vague memories of that
Honestly looks more fun than finding bicycles
I am now 100% convinced that most of the top admin at American universities are now terminally reliant on AI to function, encasing them in a completely alien alternate reality. As in, they are using it WAY more than the undergrads are.
Nominating "There's no justification for this however you cut it but the beatings will continue until a stillborn god is born." for perfect sentences, @lifewinning.com
wHAT
NOT NOW, WE’RE BUSY
Wtf this is how I found out. Video is crazy
We just call them days now.
I mean the uncredentialed leader of public health is also listening to someone who says acetaminophen causes neurodivergence. Either this is another case of tabloid quality misdirection or it's real and I can hitchhike to a more civilized age. Regardless I'm busy until there's an action item.
This is the weirdest goddamn timeline and I’d like off now, please.
Tenure won’t save you.
Somehow I missed this. The video is linked in the thread.
I’m not even joking the video is wild (from 2024 off the coast of Yemen) www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comme...
You can see it easily here on this subreddit www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comme...
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a... The video is wild
I can’t believe we’re having the kind of day where congress releases a video of a UFO flying off after being hit by a hellfire missile and it’s not even one of the top three news stories of the day
SMH at the number of people making sure the Texas A&M professor who was fired wasn’t tenured/tenure track. It’s horrible either way and they’re just testing it out on lecturers, they’ll get to TT faculty in due time unless we all get together and stand up to this stuff
It’s wild. In 1997 it would have been news for a month or more
I can’t believe we’re having the kind of day where congress releases a video of a UFO flying off after being hit by a hellfire missile and it’s not even one of the top three news stories of the day
SMH at the number of people making sure the Texas A&M professor who was fired wasn’t tenured/tenure track. It’s horrible either way and they’re just testing it out on lecturers, they’ll get to TT faculty in due time unless we all get together and stand up to this stuff
Funny story: the first time statistics was used in a court case was about a supposed forgery. They brought in CS Pierce’s dad who argued it was highly unlikely for two signatures to be exactly the same. Still the case today. The fact they don’t match is evidence it is trump and not a photocopy job
Funny story: the first time statistics was used in a court case was about a supposed forgery. They brought in CS Pierce’s dad who argued it was highly unlikely for two signatures to be exactly the same. Still the case today. The fact they don’t match is evidence it is trump and not a photocopy job
They’re going to kill the internet
This is an excellent, eminently readable and well sourced short piece on why we need to organise and keep the synthetic text extruders out of education.
IMO the biggest differences between universities are: - does the library have books (not only digital subscriptions) and a budget - are there staff for support/admin work or is it someone’s second job - do students have time to study and faculty time to teach No big names or tech matter as much.
Thanks!
Two trials will be repeated endlessly despite always producing the same results: 1) Does UBI work? (yes) 2) Does AI improve productivity? (no)
Just like the old saying goes, “Don’t throw stones if you live in two houses and claim principle residency exemptions on both of them”
Just like the old saying goes, “Don’t throw stones if you live in two houses and claim principle residency exemptions on both of them”
To the extent that we have a civic religion, this is actual blasphemy, and we need a Jesus fucking up the moneylenders plying their wares in our temples of democracy.
Thank you!
Its really really good! I’m commenting just to sub the recomendation. This one and The Eye of the Master by Pasquinelli are two essential books to grasp what AI really means
Did I ever mention what a great book this is? One of the best books on so-called AI I've read. Serious recommendation!
Thanks so much, Roland. I really appreciate it.
sam altman is trying to find the guy who did this
When you were partying I studied Bataille While you were having pre-marital sex, I read the accursed shade And now that the world is on fire and the barbarians are at the gate you have the audacity to talk to me about abundance?
I am once again asking you to stop sending us money. But we do need your time. ⏰ zohranfornyc.com/events
I think tomorrow I’m going to write a post that tells people artificial intelligence is nothing more than guessing the next most likely word and get a few thousand likes.
When you were partying I studied Bataille While you were having pre-marital sex, I read the accursed shade And now that the world is on fire and the barbarians are at the gate you have the audacity to talk to me about abundance?
One thing that is so dispiriting about our present moment is how so much is going to just keep getting worse and new students and faculty won’t know what they are missing only the misery of shitty AI and overworked people trying to hold things together with nails and duct tape
Stephen Shapiro 