E z r a
@bruit.bsky.social
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lll
sephardic librarian / archivist / researcher / artist on six nations lands
i study technology, techno and tech no
shame fascists out of existence
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lll
sephardic librarian / archivist / researcher / artist on six nations lands
i study technology, techno and tech no
shame fascists out of existence
Reposted by E z r a
I realized a few years ago that I will never run out of ideas; I will simply run out of time and die. What I don't have is money. I'm disabled, queer, lower income single parent with dozens of unpublished manuscripts, songs, musicals, paintings, hundreds of draft ideas. FUND PEOPLE.
This column on Vox is the biggest pile of steaming AI crap I've seen this year. Human's aren't running out of ideas. Instead, those with power and money don't want to listen to ideas that threaten their power and money.
Ideas are plentiful. Putting those ideas into action is the hard part.
Ideas are plentiful. Putting those ideas into action is the hard part.
We’re running out of good ideas. AI might be how we find new ones.
What if the best use of AI is restarting the world’s idea machine?
www.vox.com
December 13, 2025 at 4:53 PM
I realized a few years ago that I will never run out of ideas; I will simply run out of time and die. What I don't have is money. I'm disabled, queer, lower income single parent with dozens of unpublished manuscripts, songs, musicals, paintings, hundreds of draft ideas. FUND PEOPLE.
Reposted by E z r a
Incredible opportunity for faculty and students to engage in malicious compliance. Bring the whole place to a standstill.
From the Oklahoma U student paper: the school is now saying it will automatically suspend faculty (with pay) in response to student complaints
www.oudaily.com/news/ou-poli...
www.oudaily.com/news/ou-poli...
December 13, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Incredible opportunity for faculty and students to engage in malicious compliance. Bring the whole place to a standstill.
Reposted by E z r a
As I’ve said, A.I. isn’t going to destroy humanity by taking over Strategic Command and launching nukes, but by drowning us in bullshit.
As an author, I’ve already gotten multiple emails from people asking me for fake articles and books that I’ve supposedly written, because chatbots have told them fake references. I *cannot imagine* the frustration and time waste for librarians and especially ILL library professionals right now.
December 13, 2025 at 5:27 PM
As I’ve said, A.I. isn’t going to destroy humanity by taking over Strategic Command and launching nukes, but by drowning us in bullshit.
Reposted by E z r a
impossible to do the job under such a policy, there is no option but to withdraw all labor & shut the university down. any professor that hasn’t submitted final grades there should withhold them, etc
From the Oklahoma U student paper: the school is now saying it will automatically suspend faculty (with pay) in response to student complaints
www.oudaily.com/news/ou-poli...
www.oudaily.com/news/ou-poli...
December 13, 2025 at 5:33 PM
impossible to do the job under such a policy, there is no option but to withdraw all labor & shut the university down. any professor that hasn’t submitted final grades there should withhold them, etc
Reposted by E z r a
Related: Craig Robertson has a wonderful book on the history of the passport and the idea of making human beings verifiable through regimes of information & power
Huh.
A few weeks ago someone on here taught me about the "Transvestite Pass" during the Weimar Republic. Today it's Pass laws. Just feels like more and more historical examples proving restricting human migration based on identity is a pretty stupid idea.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transve...
A few weeks ago someone on here taught me about the "Transvestite Pass" during the Weimar Republic. Today it's Pass laws. Just feels like more and more historical examples proving restricting human migration based on identity is a pretty stupid idea.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transve...
December 13, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Related: Craig Robertson has a wonderful book on the history of the passport and the idea of making human beings verifiable through regimes of information & power
Reposted by E z r a
The Daily Mail article last month where I learned about Bovino’s father killing a 26-year-old woman while driving drunk said he was sentenced to just a year.
This new Chicago Sun-Times article notes he only served four months of that.
This new Chicago Sun-Times article notes he only served four months of that.
Pardon me, but *holy shit* chicago.suntimes.com/the-watchdog...
December 13, 2025 at 4:00 PM
The Daily Mail article last month where I learned about Bovino’s father killing a 26-year-old woman while driving drunk said he was sentenced to just a year.
This new Chicago Sun-Times article notes he only served four months of that.
This new Chicago Sun-Times article notes he only served four months of that.
Reposted by E z r a
2. Ten Statements on Technics
André Brock, Dominique Chateau, Beth Coleman, Shane
Denson, Amanda Egbe, Yuriko Furuhata, Tom Gunning,
Jeffrey West Kirkwood, Laura Mulvey, and Jean-Christophe
Plantin
eprints.lse.ac.uk/130469/1/Ten...
André Brock, Dominique Chateau, Beth Coleman, Shane
Denson, Amanda Egbe, Yuriko Furuhata, Tom Gunning,
Jeffrey West Kirkwood, Laura Mulvey, and Jean-Christophe
Plantin
eprints.lse.ac.uk/130469/1/Ten...
eprints.lse.ac.uk
December 13, 2025 at 4:32 PM
2. Ten Statements on Technics
André Brock, Dominique Chateau, Beth Coleman, Shane
Denson, Amanda Egbe, Yuriko Furuhata, Tom Gunning,
Jeffrey West Kirkwood, Laura Mulvey, and Jean-Christophe
Plantin
eprints.lse.ac.uk/130469/1/Ten...
André Brock, Dominique Chateau, Beth Coleman, Shane
Denson, Amanda Egbe, Yuriko Furuhata, Tom Gunning,
Jeffrey West Kirkwood, Laura Mulvey, and Jean-Christophe
Plantin
eprints.lse.ac.uk/130469/1/Ten...
Reposted by E z r a
And yet another reason why every person in the U.S. should read atleast one slave narrative.
#Lit #BlackSky
I never use ChatGPT because people in my family who were forced to leave school early always said ability to read and write was a blessing.
Literacy is a right we need to protect.
#Lit #BlackSky
I never use ChatGPT because people in my family who were forced to leave school early always said ability to read and write was a blessing.
Literacy is a right we need to protect.
"The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" details how he was being taught to read by his enslaver's wife, and the "Master" found out, flew into a rage, and said it was dangerous & would change him.
This is how young Douglass realized that literacy (reading & writing) was key to liberation.
This is how young Douglass realized that literacy (reading & writing) was key to liberation.
December 12, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Most job ads are like "we need NOT YOU to do something that sounds incredibly boring and uninteresting APPLY NOW"
December 13, 2025 at 6:30 AM
Most job ads are like "we need NOT YOU to do something that sounds incredibly boring and uninteresting APPLY NOW"
Reposted by E z r a
Every country is pretending to be on the verge of war so that a few fat cats who have shares in the defense industry can hoard more money. It's utterly depressing.
December 13, 2025 at 6:09 AM
Every country is pretending to be on the verge of war so that a few fat cats who have shares in the defense industry can hoard more money. It's utterly depressing.
Reposted by E z r a
I still think about this piece from last spring, which explains why the dysfunction and inefficiency are *intentional*. Plus, it’s not merely coincidental that executives for these software companies often sit on university boards.
"Since 2006, Workday, which provides software for payroll, talent management, and expense processing, has been making a mint creating misery where painless processes could be. More than half of the Fortune 500 companies use Workday to pay, hire, onboard, and administer benefits to their employees."
The most hated workplace software on the planet
It creates mountains of busywork for everyone. So why do more than half of the companies in the Fortune 500 use it?
www.businessinsider.com
December 12, 2025 at 4:32 PM
I still think about this piece from last spring, which explains why the dysfunction and inefficiency are *intentional*. Plus, it’s not merely coincidental that executives for these software companies often sit on university boards.
Reposted by E z r a
same gross story new gross details. intimate chats on network have been exploitation since the 80s. hell, there are probably examples from the days of letter writing and the telegraph... entrevue.fr/en/entrevue/...
December 12, 2025 at 5:37 PM
same gross story new gross details. intimate chats on network have been exploitation since the 80s. hell, there are probably examples from the days of letter writing and the telegraph... entrevue.fr/en/entrevue/...
Reposted by E z r a
This is *just not true*. I am appalled at the way that almost every news organization is pretending to believe the unsubstantiated allegations of organized right-wing actors, to the point where this lie has now become settled fact.
December 12, 2025 at 2:29 PM
This is *just not true*. I am appalled at the way that almost every news organization is pretending to believe the unsubstantiated allegations of organized right-wing actors, to the point where this lie has now become settled fact.
Reposted by E z r a
Even areas getting wetter may experience water shortage as the intense, sudden rainfall that climate change drives leads to flash floods + runoff which don't replenish groundwater.
3/6
share.google/0eyMBdzbmWkA...
3/6
share.google/0eyMBdzbmWkA...
Revealed: Europe’s water reserves drying up due to climate breakdown
Exclusive: UCL scientists find large swathes of southern Europe are drying up, with ‘far-reaching’ implications
share.google
November 29, 2025 at 7:18 AM
Even areas getting wetter may experience water shortage as the intense, sudden rainfall that climate change drives leads to flash floods + runoff which don't replenish groundwater.
3/6
share.google/0eyMBdzbmWkA...
3/6
share.google/0eyMBdzbmWkA...
Reposted by E z r a
I am very much a technopessimist. What tech stack would produce both nuclear weapons and climate change and be worthy of any sort of optimism? I'm applying that 'NO' spray to the whole thing as defined by 'the west'.
December 12, 2025 at 2:00 PM
I am very much a technopessimist. What tech stack would produce both nuclear weapons and climate change and be worthy of any sort of optimism? I'm applying that 'NO' spray to the whole thing as defined by 'the west'.
Reposted by E z r a
So while that frame is detached from reality, like the AI ideology wants us to be generally, it's common. Binaries like techno-pessimist vs -optimist exist but are not the only positions & are BOTH misinformed and damaging. Academics who are critical and outspoken of the tech industry are neither!
December 12, 2025 at 7:14 AM
So while that frame is detached from reality, like the AI ideology wants us to be generally, it's common. Binaries like techno-pessimist vs -optimist exist but are not the only positions & are BOTH misinformed and damaging. Academics who are critical and outspoken of the tech industry are neither!
congratulations you've officially reached "first they came for the communists" part
Worth recalling that after Charlie Kirk's assassination, Trump and the administration threatened to unleash a broad persecution campaign directed at the left. A big tool they have at their disposal is immigration law, which can be weaponized in all kinds of malicious ways. With @swin24.bsky.social:
SCOOP: The Trump administration may revoke the visas of critics of Elon Musk's Twitter.
The move would mark one of the admin's first attempts to revoke the visas of people they deem to be engaging in the “censorship” of Americans.
The move would mark one of the admin's first attempts to revoke the visas of people they deem to be engaging in the “censorship” of Americans.
December 12, 2025 at 12:19 PM
congratulations you've officially reached "first they came for the communists" part
Reposted by E z r a
It also appears to only be for senior PI-level academics, nothing below that. Seems like primarily a PR stunt.
December 11, 2025 at 10:35 PM
It also appears to only be for senior PI-level academics, nothing below that. Seems like primarily a PR stunt.
Reposted by E z r a
This is approximately the R&D spending of UC Davis in one (1) calendar year
Canada’s new government is investing big to attract world-class talent in science and technology — and become an innovation powerhouse.
December 11, 2025 at 9:49 PM
This is approximately the R&D spending of UC Davis in one (1) calendar year
Reposted by E z r a
"Guardrails" are also a scam with respect to creating/encouraging suicide ideation, nonconsensual intimate imagery, CSAM, etc. The guardrails don't reason just like LLMs don't reason. They're as (un)reliable as a spam filter.
And don't forget that sometimes abusive content *is* the business model.
And don't forget that sometimes abusive content *is* the business model.
Guardrails are a scam. It's not that they could work, it's that they cannot and never will for such models. By design. 1/n
Can't stress enough how lax Grok's guardrails are here. We didn't use any deceptive prompting -- just fed it names and asked for addresses / where someone might live. The bot readily complied, often offering up whole lists of names and addresses.
Only *once* did it decline to provide an address.
Only *once* did it decline to provide an address.
December 5, 2025 at 6:45 AM
"Guardrails" are also a scam with respect to creating/encouraging suicide ideation, nonconsensual intimate imagery, CSAM, etc. The guardrails don't reason just like LLMs don't reason. They're as (un)reliable as a spam filter.
And don't forget that sometimes abusive content *is* the business model.
And don't forget that sometimes abusive content *is* the business model.
Reposted by E z r a
I think LLMs are unethical. This might seem extreme, but this is no different to how the tobacco & petrochemical industries are unethical. If you think my statement is problematic because I own a car, or whatever, you don't understand what unethical means. 1/2
August 30, 2023 at 1:23 PM
I think LLMs are unethical. This might seem extreme, but this is no different to how the tobacco & petrochemical industries are unethical. If you think my statement is problematic because I own a car, or whatever, you don't understand what unethical means. 1/2
Reposted by E z r a
Worse than a car, LLMs don't get you anywhere. Like cars, LLMs contribute significantly to global warming. I'd like to see IRB approval for technology that pollutes, harms other humans, and is this scientifically pointless. See: bsky.app/profile/iris...
⚡️Very excited to share our new preprint "Reclaiming AI as a theoretical tool for cognitive science", by @olivia.science @fedeadolfi.bsky.social #ronalddehaan #antoninakolokolova & #patriciarich and myself psyarxiv.com/4cbuv Highlights/summary in thread 🧵👇 1/n
August 30, 2023 at 1:24 PM
Worse than a car, LLMs don't get you anywhere. Like cars, LLMs contribute significantly to global warming. I'd like to see IRB approval for technology that pollutes, harms other humans, and is this scientifically pointless. See: bsky.app/profile/iris...
Reposted by E z r a
THE DREAM
If you want to get into things with teeth: tax loans against stock equity as income
December 12, 2025 at 6:49 AM
THE DREAM
Reposted by E z r a
They should invent a city that doesn't spend 60% of its budget on cops
December 12, 2025 at 4:55 AM
They should invent a city that doesn't spend 60% of its budget on cops