Noam Cohen
noamcohen.bsky.social
Noam Cohen
@noamcohen.bsky.social
200 followers 250 following 29 posts
Journalist who’s interested in what’s true on the Internet and who decides, which means I like to write stories about @Wikipedia. Author of The Know-It-Alls, on Silicon Valley's libertarian politics: http://thenewpress.com/books/know-it-alls.
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Reposted by Noam Cohen
I think the belief by the powerful that "people will put up with many things if you are excellent at math" is incredibly revealing in terms of understanding How We Got Here
does seems counter-intuitive, no?
Just as The Free Press journalist Olivia Reingold was getting noticed for her John Oliver impression, her Wikipedia article was deleted for not being “notable.” A reverse Streisand effect … you briefly get public's attention, only to be told, "Why should we care?" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikiped...
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Olivia Reingold - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Reposted by Noam Cohen
The heroes of the day are Richard Knipel, chair of @wikimedianyc.bsky.social, and @fuzheado.bsky.social, who stepped up and saved lives at Civic Hall. They were already anchors in the community, now their work in trust and safety extends to the physical realm. They deserve all our care and support.
Reposted by Noam Cohen
Now Trump is hoping to at least get a Daytime Nobel Peace Prize.
Bias wasn't why, he said. “We don’t have to assume that Fox is acting in good or bad faith—we simply need to assess if we can trust the information being provided.... a lot of users suggested using our policies that it couldn’t be trusted enough to be ‘reliable’..." 2/2 www.wired.com/story/why-wi...
Why Wikipedia Decided to Stop Calling Fox a ‘Reliable’ Source
The move offered a new model for moderation. Maybe other platforms will take note.
www.wired.com
Before Sen. Ted Cruz accused Wikipedia of bias for labeling Fox News unreliable about politics and science, I wrote @wired.com about how Fox News earned that designation. The process was guided by an apolitical British editor is mainly interested in snooker arstechnica.com/tech-policy/... 1/2
Category: Policy
Civilization &
arstechnica.com
Reposted by Noam Cohen
In 1996, Brewster Kahle wrote "Preserving the Internet" for Scientific American. Nearly 30 years later, it’s striking how many of his predictions about digital preservation came true—and how many challenges remain.

Let’s compare 1996 vs 2025 🧵
As Peter Thiel turns loopier and loopier — meditating on the anti-Christ — Marc Andreessen has emerged to reveal Silicon Valley’s dark heart, as per this BI article:
* only engineers matter
* use lawsuits to intimidate critics
* build cults of personality
www.businessinsider.com/marc-andrees...
Elon Musk’s rage toward Wikipedia — and dreams of replacing it with an encyclopedia of his own — is in line with autocrats around the world, in China, Russia, Turkey and lately India. As I argued in this piece for The Globe and Mail a little while back. archive.ph/yoByG
archive.ph
Much unintentional humor in the Guardian piece on performers' explanations for taking the money to perform at the Riyadh Comedy Festival. www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...
The article briefly cited an article from Catholic New Agency — “Report: Charlie Kirk was ‘this close’ to becoming Catholic just prior to his death.” The material was removed, however, while Wikipedians debate the relevance and reliability of the account. www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/266671/...
Report: Charlie Kirk was ‘this close’ to becoming Catholic prior to his death
Slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk was reportedly strongly considering becoming Catholic just prior to his assassination, according to a bishop.
www.catholicnewsagency.com
Charlie Kirk article's single-day traffic was highest in Wikipedia history - 15 mil views the day he died. It pulls no punches. Kirk was “a right-wing political activist" advocating Christian nationalism and Great Replacement conspiracy theory. New discussion topic: Was Kirk becoming Catholic? 1/2
Talk:Charlie Kirk - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Reposted by Noam Cohen
My “America at 250” class—taught with David Blight and Beverly Gage — can be found here.

New lectures and podcasts put up every week.

m.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
One line from Levy’s essay reveals what he hasn’t seen: “Why did the Ayn Rand–loving heroes of tech become Donald Trump’s bootlickers?” Levy asks. An answer:
These Randian characters became Trump’s bootlickers because it offers the best path to a Randian world of cutthroat competition .... 6/7
This seems way off. Trump and tech leaders are closely aligned ideologically: opposition to regulation; belief that the rich should rule; contempt for democracy and the public’s right to steer the ship of state. No surprise far-right libertarians make common cause with an autocrat like Trump … 5/7
Levy says he no longer is in thrall to the “wizards” he thought were “changing the world with tools designed to uplift us.” Still, he insists the tech community “overwhelmingly leans left.” Silicon Valley’s alliance with Trump? That’s about making deals and getting things done, apparently. ... 4/7
of ever trusting them with power: the contempt for the “idiots” who can't program computers; the belief that computers will save the world; the casual misogyny and racism; the distrust of institutions and regulations in the public interest; the hyper-individualism. ... 3/7
To start, huge respect for Levy. 40 years ago, his book “Hackers” brought to life the cohort of computer obsessives who, improbably, dominate our economy, our politics, our social interactions. While deeply flattering toward these characters, "Hackers" couldn’t help but reveal the dangers ... 2/7
The tech journalist stevenlevy.bsky.social wrote an apologia @wired.com after decades of largely flattering coverage of Silicon Valley. This feels like a vital moment -- a case for dismantling tech giants from an unlikely voice -- even if the essay pulls punches. 🧵 1/7 www.wired.com/story/silico...
I Thought I Knew Silicon Valley. I Was Wrong
Tech got what it wanted by electing Trump. A year later, it looks more like a suicide pact.
www.wired.com
Reposted by Noam Cohen
I don't want to speculate, but you have to think that the hours that Peter Thiel and Jeffrey Epstein spent over lunch in 2017 almost certainly featured one of the most normal conversations of all time.
The Mark Zuckerberg image makeover continues … Zuck’s Wikipedia article now features a fresh, Meta-produced photo (left), replacing a 2020 shot (right).
Reposted by Noam Cohen
It's helpful information how much the support of Kimmel is a sign of moral revulsion and how much it is a pure political calculation that Trumpism is weakening & a bluff. So it'd be good to have an instrument that has no capacity for morality and only detects political interest. Thank you, Ted Cruz!
Reposted by Noam Cohen
This is airing on 60 Minutes this Sunday. The operation to fluff Bari Weiss is underway.