John Palowitch
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johnpalowitch.bsky.social
John Palowitch
@johnpalowitch.bsky.social
senior AI engineer @the internet archive. formerly @deepmind working on NLP, graphs, and computation social science.

ml.johnpalowitch.com
Reposted by John Palowitch
My org @fightforthefuture.org has been “de-googling” for the last year.

We’re totally off Google suite, Google docs, Drive, Calendar.

We’re using Signal and Element for chat, Nextcloud for docs, etc

Planning to publish a “how to” guide for other nonprofits and activist groups soonish.
December 6, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Reposted by John Palowitch
A point of nuance here: "masculine leadership to protect our most vulnerable" is how lynch mobs are described, not state-sanctioned executions.
A Palantir billionaire just called for public hangings.

“It's time to bring back masculine leadership to protect our most vulnerable,” writes Joe Lonsdale.

This is where Silicon Valley authoritarianism is heading:

www.thenerdreich.com/joe-lonsdale...
Joe Lonsdale Calls For Public Hangings
Silicon Valley radicalization escalates
www.thenerdreich.com
December 7, 2025 at 4:43 AM
Reposted by John Palowitch
Here's an idea: Any Democrat who wants to be taken seriously as a presidential candidate in 2028 must pledge to rip this cabal of anti-democracy tech fascists out of our government.

Anyone who won't make that pledge is for the billionaires, not the people. This must be a deal-breaking litmus test.
A Palantir billionaire just called for public hangings.

“It's time to bring back masculine leadership to protect our most vulnerable,” writes Joe Lonsdale.

This is where Silicon Valley authoritarianism is heading:

www.thenerdreich.com/joe-lonsdale...
Joe Lonsdale Calls For Public Hangings
Silicon Valley radicalization escalates
www.thenerdreich.com
December 7, 2025 at 4:51 AM
Reposted by John Palowitch
Argh, AI chatbots are NOT the actors here. We're talking about specific applications of technology. Please specify the tech and attribute it to the builders and/or operators. #AIEthics

cc @dgrand.bsky.social
New: AI chatbots can change voters' minds, according to a pair of in-depth studies published just now in Science and Nature.

How they do it is interesting — and concerning. Gift link: wapo.st/49RSstP
Voters’ minds are hard to change. AI chatbots are surprisingly good at it.
New research suggests AI chatbots can shift people’s political views more effectively than campaign ads on TV.
wapo.st
December 4, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Reposted by John Palowitch
Here’s my Spotify Wrapped 🎵✨
December 3, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by John Palowitch
The real question is not "Why is Bluesky so left-coded," the real question is "Why can't the right exist in a social media environment without algorithmic assistance, where people can ignore them"
December 2, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Reposted by John Palowitch
“Go back to your country”: a close read(ing) ✊🏾✊🏾
December 2, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Reposted by John Palowitch
There was a time when professors warned students never to cite Wikipedia. Now it has become foundational knowledge for AI systems and a trusted resource for community fact-checkers who use it to make sense of information & settle debates. notetracker.socialmedialab.ca #FactChecking #DigitalLiteracy
December 2, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Reposted by John Palowitch
I take Wikipedia for granted. Reading this Jimmy Wales interview reminded me in our Fantasyland age what a remarkable and important creation it is. True pillar of civilization. Runs on only $200 million a year. Requires our support. So I’m finally donating. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/m...
The Culture Wars Came for Wikipedia. Jimmy Wales Is Staying the Course.
www.nytimes.com
November 30, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Reposted by John Palowitch
"Don't follow illegal orders" would be more meaningful if Democrats had prosecuted literally any of the prominent war criminals of the last 30 years instead of, you know, fucking campaigning with them
November 30, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Reposted by John Palowitch
lol. lmao even
November 30, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Reposted by John Palowitch
The White House’s new anti-media website includes denunciations of:

-ABC, which bribed the president
-CBS, which bribed the president and moved away from fact-based journalism trying to appeal to him and his fans
-WaPo, which spiked a Harris endorsement and tilts coverage in Trump’s favor

Fools.
November 30, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Reposted by John Palowitch
The problem with fetishizing the rule of law is that people have to break the law to resist fascism, state violence, and oppression. This has always been true, and is very much the case RIGHT NOW.
November 29, 2025 at 1:44 AM
Reposted by John Palowitch
trump: “no see we HAVE to blow up those boats in the caribbean, they could be carrying drugs!”

also trump:
November 29, 2025 at 12:01 AM
Reposted by John Palowitch
Google at its peak was basically the best information retrieval system in human history and they and every competitor decided going from there to “you didn’t want answers you wanted half-assed auto-complete 80%-wrong hallucinations” in a few years was the right idea
November 25, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Reposted by John Palowitch
evergreen
November 22, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Reposted by John Palowitch
donald trump endorsed zohran mamdani before chuck schumer lmao
November 21, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Reposted by John Palowitch
once again joining the many people who have observed how much of a world-historical problem it is that Trump is so fucking funny
Q: Are you affirming that you think President Trump is a fascist?

MAMDANI: I've spoken about--

TRUMP: That's okay. You can just say yes. I don't mind.
November 21, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Reposted by John Palowitch
Trump frickin' loves this guy lmao
November 21, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Reposted by John Palowitch
Bellingcat’s contact email has always been a magnet for people with fairly unusual views; paranoid delusions, sprawling conspiracies, the works. But recently, the pattern has shifted, we’re seeing more and more emails clearly written with ChatGPT.
November 19, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by John Palowitch
“Using copyright claims to retaliate against critics is wrong, and it chills public debate about surveillance technology,” EFF’s @jmullin.bsky.social told @arstechnica.com.
He got sued for sharing public YouTube videos; nightmare ended in settlement
Librarian vows to stop invasive ed tech after ending lawsuit with Proctorio.
arstechnica.com
November 19, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Reposted by John Palowitch
Status update: fiber cut between data centers - trucks are rolling. Services are slow but functional, except for the Wayback Machine, which is still offline.
The Wayback Machine, openlibrary.org, and some other archive.org functions are offline because some network gear has failed.

We apologize and are working on it. More as it happens.
November 20, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Reposted by John Palowitch
Just wanna re-up in simple terms that when Biden talked to platforms, Jim Jordan launched years of investigations into everybody involved, said it was tyranny, censorship, etc.

And now they just straight up acknowledge that they talk to platforms too.

www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/crime/3...
DHS playing 'whack-a-mole' shooting down made-up ICE stories
The Department of Homeland Security is stepping up efforts to combat fake news, viral AI videos, and misinformation on ICE and Border Patrol.
www.washingtonexaminer.com
November 20, 2025 at 1:54 AM
Reposted by John Palowitch
Unprincipled and weak. The murder of journalists is perhaps the single most direct violation of the right to freedom of speech. (1/2)
Trump suggests Khashoggi had it coming: "You're mentioning someone that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen. But he knew nothing about it. You don't have to embarrass our guest."
November 20, 2025 at 2:32 AM