Dave Karpf
@davekarpf.bsky.social
Political Communication Professor at GWU. I write a lot about the history and future of tech and politics. Best known for that one time I made fun of Bret Stephens.
Davekarpf.substack.com
Davekarpf.substack.com
The journalistically appropriate sequence of follow-up questions here are:
-why?
-no seriously, what possible social value would that have?
[then unveil a guillotine.]
-repeat question 1 and question 2.
-why?
-no seriously, what possible social value would that have?
[then unveil a guillotine.]
-repeat question 1 and question 2.
The co-founder of Kalshi says: " The long-term vision is to financialize everything and create a tradable asset out of any difference in opinion."
December 4, 2025 at 4:35 AM
The journalistically appropriate sequence of follow-up questions here are:
-why?
-no seriously, what possible social value would that have?
[then unveil a guillotine.]
-repeat question 1 and question 2.
-why?
-no seriously, what possible social value would that have?
[then unveil a guillotine.]
-repeat question 1 and question 2.
Reposted by Dave Karpf
people, you have the chance to put my book ahead of Olivia Nuzzi’s on the bestseller list. put aside all other considerations and think how objectively funny this would be. #1, that Mountain Goats guy. #2, Antivax Man Has My Heart. funniest list of the century. We can do this if we try
December 4, 2025 at 3:47 AM
people, you have the chance to put my book ahead of Olivia Nuzzi’s on the bestseller list. put aside all other considerations and think how objectively funny this would be. #1, that Mountain Goats guy. #2, Antivax Man Has My Heart. funniest list of the century. We can do this if we try
Reposted by Dave Karpf
hey @nytimes.com i had the scoop on this story hours ago. add a reference in your story to my name and outlet. thanks.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/u...
Trump Renames Institute of Peace for Himself
www.nytimes.com
December 4, 2025 at 2:09 AM
hey @nytimes.com i had the scoop on this story hours ago. add a reference in your story to my name and outlet. thanks.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/u...
Reposted by Dave Karpf
Bluesky Wrapped and it's how many times your own joke was explained to you
December 4, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Bluesky Wrapped and it's how many times your own joke was explained to you
Reposted by Dave Karpf
“We want people to make as many giant buckets that say ‘insert money here’ as we possibly can. No, they won’t do anything. Why do you ask?”
The co-founder of Kalshi says: " The long-term vision is to financialize everything and create a tradable asset out of any difference in opinion."
December 3, 2025 at 11:01 PM
“We want people to make as many giant buckets that say ‘insert money here’ as we possibly can. No, they won’t do anything. Why do you ask?”
Reposted by Dave Karpf
Last week @theverge.com published my essay exploring the limitations of large-language models. This week, that same essay is cited by a federal judge in Michigan to distinguish the process of human reasoning from what these models do. Very, very gratifying.
h/t @robertfreundlaw.bsky.social
holy shit, an accurate legal critique of LLMs. LLMs don't reason because they're just stitching together plausible-looking sentences indifferent to the content
holy shit, an accurate legal critique of LLMs. LLMs don't reason because they're just stitching together plausible-looking sentences indifferent to the content
December 3, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Last week @theverge.com published my essay exploring the limitations of large-language models. This week, that same essay is cited by a federal judge in Michigan to distinguish the process of human reasoning from what these models do. Very, very gratifying.
Reposted by Dave Karpf
it is genuinely fascinating, if not bleak, to watch happen in real time to basically every Anglosphere user still on X
Noah Smith has been a 6 year study into Twitter radicalisation by the Royal Holloway University politics department
please study this man's brain in a lab
December 3, 2025 at 6:46 PM
it is genuinely fascinating, if not bleak, to watch happen in real time to basically every Anglosphere user still on X
It’s important to remember, for posterity, that Noah Smith’s takes were approximately this bad *before* the AI ate his brain.
December 3, 2025 at 8:01 PM
It’s important to remember, for posterity, that Noah Smith’s takes were approximately this bad *before* the AI ate his brain.
Reposted by Dave Karpf
please study this man's brain in a lab
December 3, 2025 at 5:38 PM
please study this man's brain in a lab
Reposted by Dave Karpf
Hey folks: this morning we're launching a monthlong fundraiser for @techdirt.com. Over the last year, we've been steadfast in not self-censoring, not capitulating, not sanewashing bullshit. But that's come at a cost. And we need help: rtb.techdirt.com/products/fri...
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December 3, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Hey folks: this morning we're launching a monthlong fundraiser for @techdirt.com. Over the last year, we've been steadfast in not self-censoring, not capitulating, not sanewashing bullshit. But that's come at a cost. And we need help: rtb.techdirt.com/products/fri...
Reposted by Dave Karpf
anyway one of the richest guys on earth is posting racist shit again and uh chilling effect go brrr www.theverge.com/news/837423/...
December 3, 2025 at 5:43 PM
anyway one of the richest guys on earth is posting racist shit again and uh chilling effect go brrr www.theverge.com/news/837423/...
Reposted by Dave Karpf
Will continue to bang this drum: this is the system university admins are cramming into every aspect of education. This is the system we are told “isn’t going anywhere” so we all have to adjust to it.
New from 404 Media: ChatGPT told a violent stalker to continue running his misogynistic and threat-filled podcast despite the “haters,” and to visit more gyms to find women. The man stalked women in multiple states, including touching and following from work
www.404media.co/chatgpt-spot...
www.404media.co/chatgpt-spot...
ChatGPT Told a Violent Stalker to Embrace the 'Haters,' Indictment Says
A newly filed indictment claims a wannabe influencer used ChatGPT as his "therapist" and "best friend" in his pursuit of the "wife type," while harassing women so aggressively they had to miss work a...
www.404media.co
December 3, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Will continue to bang this drum: this is the system university admins are cramming into every aspect of education. This is the system we are told “isn’t going anywhere” so we all have to adjust to it.
Reposted by Dave Karpf
There is such a thirst in some progressive centrist circles that they will look at the Trump administration as a model to get things done. I think its worth addressing the argument. This is from Mark Dunkelman, author of the widely praised "Why Nothing Works."
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/o...
Opinion | What the Left Could Learn From Trump’s Brutal Efficiency
www.nytimes.com
December 3, 2025 at 1:48 PM
There is such a thirst in some progressive centrist circles that they will look at the Trump administration as a model to get things done. I think its worth addressing the argument. This is from Mark Dunkelman, author of the widely praised "Why Nothing Works."
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/o...
Reposted by Dave Karpf
I'm sympathetic to the idea that progressives need to rethink procedural barriers to getting things done, and that this a crucial moment for American government. But we are witnessing a shift to authoritarianism right now. American needs not just a theory of power but also theory of accountability.
December 3, 2025 at 2:06 PM
I'm sympathetic to the idea that progressives need to rethink procedural barriers to getting things done, and that this a crucial moment for American government. But we are witnessing a shift to authoritarianism right now. American needs not just a theory of power but also theory of accountability.
Reposted by Dave Karpf
Lesson 6: If you have a theory of the Supreme Court that does not include political ideology, its going to be wrong. During the Biden administration it was all major questions because they did not like his policies, and during Trump it is mostly unitary executive, because they do.
December 3, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Lesson 6: If you have a theory of the Supreme Court that does not include political ideology, its going to be wrong. During the Biden administration it was all major questions because they did not like his policies, and during Trump it is mostly unitary executive, because they do.
Reposted by Dave Karpf
Lesson 4: If you are peddling the "trust in govt" has dropped because of proceduralism, you either don't understand the study of trust or don't care. It has dropped in all countries and all institutions over the same time period. It is mostly driven by perception of politics not govt services.
December 3, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Lesson 4: If you are peddling the "trust in govt" has dropped because of proceduralism, you either don't understand the study of trust or don't care. It has dropped in all countries and all institutions over the same time period. It is mostly driven by perception of politics not govt services.
Reposted by Dave Karpf
everybody to jail
December 2, 2025 at 10:09 PM
everybody to jail
lol my local bookstore didn't even place an order for any copies of Nuzzi's book.
And this is in DC. If your political-journalist-tawdry-memoir isn't moving copies on Capitol Hill, it isn't moving copies anywhere.
And this is in DC. If your political-journalist-tawdry-memoir isn't moving copies on Capitol Hill, it isn't moving copies anywhere.
December 2, 2025 at 10:18 PM
lol my local bookstore didn't even place an order for any copies of Nuzzi's book.
And this is in DC. If your political-journalist-tawdry-memoir isn't moving copies on Capitol Hill, it isn't moving copies anywhere.
And this is in DC. If your political-journalist-tawdry-memoir isn't moving copies on Capitol Hill, it isn't moving copies anywhere.
Reposted by Dave Karpf
First of all, one of the reporters on that story was in the Army infantry in Iraq
Q: So you didn't see any survivors after that first strike?
HEGSETH: I did not personally see survivors. The thing was on fire. This is called the fog of war. This is what you in the press don't understand. You sit in your air conditioned offices and plant fake stories in the Washington Post
HEGSETH: I did not personally see survivors. The thing was on fire. This is called the fog of war. This is what you in the press don't understand. You sit in your air conditioned offices and plant fake stories in the Washington Post
December 2, 2025 at 8:26 PM
First of all, one of the reporters on that story was in the Army infantry in Iraq
Nvidia is spending $1.3 billion to rent its own chips back from CoreWeave, a company in which it owns a $4 billion stake.
There are, AFAICT, only two explanations for this arrangement:
(1) It's accounting fraud.
(2) It's accounting non-fraud, because we don't prosecute financial crimes anymore.
There are, AFAICT, only two explanations for this arrangement:
(1) It's accounting fraud.
(2) It's accounting non-fraud, because we don't prosecute financial crimes anymore.
December 2, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Nvidia is spending $1.3 billion to rent its own chips back from CoreWeave, a company in which it owns a $4 billion stake.
There are, AFAICT, only two explanations for this arrangement:
(1) It's accounting fraud.
(2) It's accounting non-fraud, because we don't prosecute financial crimes anymore.
There are, AFAICT, only two explanations for this arrangement:
(1) It's accounting fraud.
(2) It's accounting non-fraud, because we don't prosecute financial crimes anymore.
Reposted by Dave Karpf
Trump dozes while Marco Rubio speaks to him directly next to him. Just insane optics.
December 2, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Trump dozes while Marco Rubio speaks to him directly next to him. Just insane optics.
Reposted by Dave Karpf
Got my first pass pages!!! It’s coming!
December 2, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Got my first pass pages!!! It’s coming!
Reposted by Dave Karpf
I am not going to hateread the Nuzzi book.
I am not going to hateread the Nuzzi book.
I am not going to hateread the Nuzzi book.
I am not going to hateread the Nuzzi book.
I am not going to hateread the Nuzzi book.
I am not going to hateread the Nuzzi book.
I am not going to hateread…
I am not going to hateread the Nuzzi book.
I am not going to hateread the Nuzzi book.
I am not going to hateread the Nuzzi book.
I am not going to hateread the Nuzzi book.
I am not going to hateread the Nuzzi book.
I am not going to hateread…
December 2, 2025 at 2:45 PM
I am not going to hateread the Nuzzi book.
I am not going to hateread the Nuzzi book.
I am not going to hateread the Nuzzi book.
I am not going to hateread the Nuzzi book.
I am not going to hateread the Nuzzi book.
I am not going to hateread the Nuzzi book.
I am not going to hateread…
I am not going to hateread the Nuzzi book.
I am not going to hateread the Nuzzi book.
I am not going to hateread the Nuzzi book.
I am not going to hateread the Nuzzi book.
I am not going to hateread the Nuzzi book.
I am not going to hateread…
Reposted by Dave Karpf
hands down my favorite line from a book that provides no value add to the written word besides being, possibly, the most narcissistic memoir ever put to paper.
December 2, 2025 at 2:41 PM
hands down my favorite line from a book that provides no value add to the written word besides being, possibly, the most narcissistic memoir ever put to paper.