Kevin Riggle
@kevinriggle.bsky.social
Principal @ http://complexsystems.group. I keep people safe on the internet (trying). Looking at the world with an “anarchist squint” 🏳️🌈 @ [email protected]
Man is right, _and_ genuinely seems like he is having a good time here
In the richest city in the richest country on the planet, the thing we can’t afford is to forget those who are left hungry.
November 28, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Man is right, _and_ genuinely seems like he is having a good time here
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
We've marked everything down. Sale ends December 5th, 2025.
shop with the link in our bio
#FIERROYORO ⚫️🟡
shop with the link in our bio
#FIERROYORO ⚫️🟡
November 28, 2025 at 9:00 PM
We've marked everything down. Sale ends December 5th, 2025.
shop with the link in our bio
#FIERROYORO ⚫️🟡
shop with the link in our bio
#FIERROYORO ⚫️🟡
Okay this shit hella slaps
We've marked everything down. Sale ends December 5th, 2025.
shop with the link in our bio
#FIERROYORO ⚫️🟡
shop with the link in our bio
#FIERROYORO ⚫️🟡
November 28, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Okay this shit hella slaps
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
This is why folks call it a tool of fascism. It generates fear and distrust, which benefits fascist liars.
one insidious thing about gen AI is it's not just causing us to mistrust dodgy images, it's also making us mistrust images that look perfectly normal. this is gaslighting in a very literal sense bc the technology is undermining the trust we have in our own ability to perceive reality!
November 28, 2025 at 8:59 PM
This is why folks call it a tool of fascism. It generates fear and distrust, which benefits fascist liars.
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
It's hard to over-state how important Trump admin subordination is to Putin, and not just because it hugely increases the pressure on Europe, above all on Ukraine. It's also because it gives Russia much more great power credibility, for which the Kremlin is absolutely desperate. 🧵
Both the Trump and Putin administrations like to think of themselves as hard-nosed realists - leaders in a world where great powers are the only stars that count. But Russia is China's dependent and Trump's US looks increasingly like Russia's junior partner. That's not very great power-like.
November 28, 2025 at 8:35 PM
It's hard to over-state how important Trump admin subordination is to Putin, and not just because it hugely increases the pressure on Europe, above all on Ukraine. It's also because it gives Russia much more great power credibility, for which the Kremlin is absolutely desperate. 🧵
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
Putin is the Hyacinth Bucket of great power leaders: it's all about keeping up appearances. Russia's a great power only to the extent that it can persuade others it is, because there's very little material basis for its pretensions to great power status. That's why Trump's deference is so important.
November 28, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Putin is the Hyacinth Bucket of great power leaders: it's all about keeping up appearances. Russia's a great power only to the extent that it can persuade others it is, because there's very little material basis for its pretensions to great power status. That's why Trump's deference is so important.
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
i hope this email finds you well
November 28, 2025 at 6:27 PM
i hope this email finds you well
Jesus, at this rate we really might patch up the Great Schism
El papa León XIV, en Nicea: retorno al lugar de la invención del cristianismo. El Pontífice, que condena “el uso de la religión para justificar la guerra y la violencia”, reza con patriarcas ortodoxos donde se celebró el primer concilio hace 1.700 años
El papa León XIV, en Nicea: retorno al lugar de la invención del cristianismo
El Pontífice, que condena “el uso de la religión para justificar la guerra y la violencia”, reza con patriarcas ortodoxos donde se celebró el primer concilio hace 1.700 años
elpais.com
November 28, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Jesus, at this rate we really might patch up the Great Schism
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
UNBOUND AUTHORS: Leftover copies of your books in the UK (MacMillan) warehouse will be pulped within the next week or two. DM me for a link to the warehouse stock list and contacts.
If you have no dosh, another publisher (Wilton Sq) is willing to buy the books & distribute on a 50/50 profit split
If you have no dosh, another publisher (Wilton Sq) is willing to buy the books & distribute on a 50/50 profit split
November 27, 2025 at 3:25 PM
UNBOUND AUTHORS: Leftover copies of your books in the UK (MacMillan) warehouse will be pulped within the next week or two. DM me for a link to the warehouse stock list and contacts.
If you have no dosh, another publisher (Wilton Sq) is willing to buy the books & distribute on a 50/50 profit split
If you have no dosh, another publisher (Wilton Sq) is willing to buy the books & distribute on a 50/50 profit split
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
The fact doomers have gone from "America is over" to "Dems won't hold anyone responsible when this is over" can actually be read as an optimistic signal imo.
November 28, 2025 at 7:28 PM
The fact doomers have gone from "America is over" to "Dems won't hold anyone responsible when this is over" can actually be read as an optimistic signal imo.
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
When troops are deployed overseas in places they absolutely should not be because of a warmonger ass president, and they are killed by someone who acted on their own accord, we typically don’t have a problem blaming the U.S. commander in chief
"In the months leading up to the D.C. deployment, Beckstrom worked for a community health center that serves people with mental illness and substance abuse disorders." www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
National Guard member killed in D.C. shooting remembered for 'heart of gold'
The slain soldier’s former boyfriend recalled her empathy and generosity. “She doesn’t even have to know you and she’ll do anything for you,” he said.
www.nbcnews.com
November 28, 2025 at 8:42 PM
When troops are deployed overseas in places they absolutely should not be because of a warmonger ass president, and they are killed by someone who acted on their own accord, we typically don’t have a problem blaming the U.S. commander in chief
A reminder that there are many fewer self-identified Republicans than there used to be. It’s the party of groypers, opportunists, and pedophiles
New Gallup poll shows Trump's approval hit a new low for his second term:
-36% approve
-60% disapprove
His approval among Republicans went from 91% in January to 84% in November
news.gallup.com/poll/699221/...
-36% approve
-60% disapprove
His approval among Republicans went from 91% in January to 84% in November
news.gallup.com/poll/699221/...
Trump's Approval Rating Drops to 36%, New Second-Term Low
President Donald Trump's job approval rating has slipped to a new second-term low point and is approaching his all-time low of 34%.
news.gallup.com
November 28, 2025 at 8:56 PM
A reminder that there are many fewer self-identified Republicans than there used to be. It’s the party of groypers, opportunists, and pedophiles
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
this week ya girl will have been unemployed for ONE YEAR !!!!
please consider buying some THINGS to HOLD STUFF
please consider buying some THINGS to HOLD STUFF
November 12, 2025 at 6:57 PM
this week ya girl will have been unemployed for ONE YEAR !!!!
please consider buying some THINGS to HOLD STUFF
please consider buying some THINGS to HOLD STUFF
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
This touches on a few of the biggest sources of low morale for me:
- flood of AI slop lands in my inbox as peer review requests
- my critical reviews of said AI slop are then ignored by editors at Journals that won't give my work consideration
- all while I'm expected to ⬆️ research output
- flood of AI slop lands in my inbox as peer review requests
- my critical reviews of said AI slop are then ignored by editors at Journals that won't give my work consideration
- all while I'm expected to ⬆️ research output
It's easy to see shoddy research as a bad actor problem. But if AI slop like this can make it through editors and peer reviewers, it means there are systemic problems at work. And I'd argue that at least part of the problem is the overwork culture in academia-- pressure to do more while caring less.
"Runctitiononal features"? "Medical fymblal"? "1 Tol Line storee"? This gets worse the longer you look at it. But it's got to be good, because it was published in Nature Scientific Reports last week: www.nature.com/articles/s41... h/t @asa.tsbalans.se
November 28, 2025 at 5:43 PM
This touches on a few of the biggest sources of low morale for me:
- flood of AI slop lands in my inbox as peer review requests
- my critical reviews of said AI slop are then ignored by editors at Journals that won't give my work consideration
- all while I'm expected to ⬆️ research output
- flood of AI slop lands in my inbox as peer review requests
- my critical reviews of said AI slop are then ignored by editors at Journals that won't give my work consideration
- all while I'm expected to ⬆️ research output
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
More plausible is "I spent 35.5 hours straight pursuing increasingly more ridiculous attempts to diagnose and fix a really stupid error I made in the first 30 minutes that had become entirely invisible to me"
November 28, 2025 at 8:42 PM
More plausible is "I spent 35.5 hours straight pursuing increasingly more ridiculous attempts to diagnose and fix a really stupid error I made in the first 30 minutes that had become entirely invisible to me"
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
I was watching Adam Friedland's interview with Zohran and he said "you're the first one who is one of Our Guys" and then he said "well, Mayor Pete, but he's really one of the people our age who is trying to suck up to the parents" and it was an incredibly illuminating thought!
November 28, 2025 at 6:35 PM
I was watching Adam Friedland's interview with Zohran and he said "you're the first one who is one of Our Guys" and then he said "well, Mayor Pete, but he's really one of the people our age who is trying to suck up to the parents" and it was an incredibly illuminating thought!
Also: For the love of god, unless this is your area of expertise, please defer to service members on the question of what are and aren’t war crimes. They’ve been trained extensively on it and most of the rest of us haven’t
Regarding the latter, one could argue there is a level of seniority below which it is not reasonable to expect service members to exercise their own judgement about that.
But the former—*everyone* knows that kind of order is illegal and must be refused. This is basic-training-level stuff.
But the former—*everyone* knows that kind of order is illegal and must be refused. This is basic-training-level stuff.
Refusing to follow a “kill the survivors of the previous strike who are clearly hors de combat” order SHOULD BE significantly more clear-cut than refusing one due to “this entire operation is unlawful because citing inherent Article II authority is insufficient.”
There must be accountability.
There must be accountability.
November 28, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Also: For the love of god, unless this is your area of expertise, please defer to service members on the question of what are and aren’t war crimes. They’ve been trained extensively on it and most of the rest of us haven’t
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
One time I saw a distinguished British historian playing with his small child, who was doing finger guns. He put his arms up and the boy - who was about six - went "bang!" and he very seriously explained that you must never shoot a prisoner.
Regarding the latter, one could argue there is a level of seniority below which it is not reasonable to expect service members to exercise their own judgement about that.
But the former—*everyone* knows that kind of order is illegal and must be refused. This is basic-training-level stuff.
But the former—*everyone* knows that kind of order is illegal and must be refused. This is basic-training-level stuff.
Refusing to follow a “kill the survivors of the previous strike who are clearly hors de combat” order SHOULD BE significantly more clear-cut than refusing one due to “this entire operation is unlawful because citing inherent Article II authority is insufficient.”
There must be accountability.
There must be accountability.
November 28, 2025 at 7:27 PM
One time I saw a distinguished British historian playing with his small child, who was doing finger guns. He put his arms up and the boy - who was about six - went "bang!" and he very seriously explained that you must never shoot a prisoner.
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
They believe that Trump will use the formal powers of the government and whatever informal powers he may have to extract costs from them if they do not play ball and they equally believe that the anti-Trump coalition will not extract these costs.
So we need to extract those costs.
So we need to extract those costs.
given how unpopular Trump is, it’s insane that civil society/universities/law firms are still asking themselves “how do I stay on Trump’s good side” rather than “how do I avoid facing consequences for complying with Trump’s illegal demands”
New Gallup poll shows Trump's approval hit a new low for his second term:
-36% approve
-60% disapprove
His approval among Republicans went from 91% in January to 84% in November
news.gallup.com/poll/699221/...
-36% approve
-60% disapprove
His approval among Republicans went from 91% in January to 84% in November
news.gallup.com/poll/699221/...
November 28, 2025 at 6:09 PM
They believe that Trump will use the formal powers of the government and whatever informal powers he may have to extract costs from them if they do not play ball and they equally believe that the anti-Trump coalition will not extract these costs.
So we need to extract those costs.
So we need to extract those costs.
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
When you don't control any of the political branches job one as a political party is to change that.
November 28, 2025 at 7:43 PM
When you don't control any of the political branches job one as a political party is to change that.
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
I wrote a bit about this many years ago on Twitter-that-was: the algorithm has gradually eroded "here's what you want to see" by replacing it with "here's what we'd like you to want to see."
It continues to trade on its former reputation solely due to inertia. Underneath, it's all ads.
It continues to trade on its former reputation solely due to inertia. Underneath, it's all ads.
love to live in a world where all my personal data is relentlessly harvested so that megacorps can feed it into their all-knowing algorithms and yet somehow the end result is that algorithm going “we think you’d like Clarkson’s Farm”
November 28, 2025 at 11:54 AM
I wrote a bit about this many years ago on Twitter-that-was: the algorithm has gradually eroded "here's what you want to see" by replacing it with "here's what we'd like you to want to see."
It continues to trade on its former reputation solely due to inertia. Underneath, it's all ads.
It continues to trade on its former reputation solely due to inertia. Underneath, it's all ads.
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
A book and a train is a hell of a combination.
*bonus points for the snowy landscape.
*bonus points for the snowy landscape.
November 28, 2025 at 5:41 PM
A book and a train is a hell of a combination.
*bonus points for the snowy landscape.
*bonus points for the snowy landscape.
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
There are no high-minded nor structural defenses against an elite class that is all in on being terrible, there's just beating them.
November 28, 2025 at 6:47 PM
There are no high-minded nor structural defenses against an elite class that is all in on being terrible, there's just beating them.
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
if a little piece of decoration you're putting on your slide isn't very specifically designed to support & extend whatever information you're trying to convey, slapping some weird little AI thing in there isn't going to add value. just get a swirly border or use a damn gradient, idk.
November 28, 2025 at 4:45 PM
if a little piece of decoration you're putting on your slide isn't very specifically designed to support & extend whatever information you're trying to convey, slapping some weird little AI thing in there isn't going to add value. just get a swirly border or use a damn gradient, idk.
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
this is part of a discussion about using AI art in your presentation slides, but also feels like it captures where this all goes wrong.
people who don't see the visuals as communication can't respect the skill & thought of the artists whose work got fed into these models to begin with.
people who don't see the visuals as communication can't respect the skill & thought of the artists whose work got fed into these models to begin with.
Yes! Visuals are part of the communication. Treating them as ignorable decoration completely misses the point and it’s not how they’re received by an audience
November 28, 2025 at 4:43 PM
this is part of a discussion about using AI art in your presentation slides, but also feels like it captures where this all goes wrong.
people who don't see the visuals as communication can't respect the skill & thought of the artists whose work got fed into these models to begin with.
people who don't see the visuals as communication can't respect the skill & thought of the artists whose work got fed into these models to begin with.