Patrick McCray
@patrickmccray.bsky.social
Professor @ UCSB => science + tech + environment
Kluge Chair in Technology & Society @ LoC, 2025-26
New book = https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262553483/readme/
Cairn kicker 🚵 🎣 🧗♂️⛷️🏄🏼♂️🏔 in Cali-rado.
More = https://www.patrickmccray.com
Kluge Chair in Technology & Society @ LoC, 2025-26
New book = https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262553483/readme/
Cairn kicker 🚵 🎣 🧗♂️⛷️🏄🏼♂️🏔 in Cali-rado.
More = https://www.patrickmccray.com
Pinned
My new book will be out in early December 2025 via
@mitpress.bsky.social
Details at: mitpress.mit.edu/978026255348...
#HistSci #Computing #History #Books 🗃️
@mitpress.bsky.social
Details at: mitpress.mit.edu/978026255348...
#HistSci #Computing #History #Books 🗃️
A glee club with a business school attached to it...
February 6, 2026 at 6:48 PM
A glee club with a business school attached to it...
The persistent belief that "Tech" is a non-human thing and covering it that way, rather than understanding it as fully human-made and suffused throughout our lives.
February 6, 2026 at 2:37 PM
The persistent belief that "Tech" is a non-human thing and covering it that way, rather than understanding it as fully human-made and suffused throughout our lives.
[Super Bowl writers room]
"So what do we call the pro-fascism team?"
[a young Frank Miller exhales his cigarette smoke]
"The Patriots."
"So what do we call the pro-fascism team?"
[a young Frank Miller exhales his cigarette smoke]
"The Patriots."
February 6, 2026 at 1:00 AM
[Super Bowl writers room]
"So what do we call the pro-fascism team?"
[a young Frank Miller exhales his cigarette smoke]
"The Patriots."
"So what do we call the pro-fascism team?"
[a young Frank Miller exhales his cigarette smoke]
"The Patriots."
Colorado represents....
"If a person is, for example, wearing a mask and not showing ID but attempting to detain someone," the Fort Collins police chief said, "call 911, and we will be there very fast."
"If a person is, for example, wearing a mask and not showing ID but attempting to detain someone," the Fort Collins police chief said, "call 911, and we will be there very fast."
February 5, 2026 at 9:34 PM
Colorado represents....
"If a person is, for example, wearing a mask and not showing ID but attempting to detain someone," the Fort Collins police chief said, "call 911, and we will be there very fast."
"If a person is, for example, wearing a mask and not showing ID but attempting to detain someone," the Fort Collins police chief said, "call 911, and we will be there very fast."
There's a simple way for Sen. Britt to feel less guilty "as a Christian and a mother"
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/u...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/u...
The G.O.P. Senator Who Can’t Stop Thinking About the Boy ICE Detained
www.nytimes.com
February 5, 2026 at 3:54 PM
There's a simple way for Sen. Britt to feel less guilty "as a Christian and a mother"
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/u...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/u...
For about a decade, I stoped teaching my "Histories of Nuclear War" class as it didn't seem as relevant...I put it back into rotation last year. My students will definitely be reading this:
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/u...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/u...
Nuclear Arms Control Era Comes to End Amid Global Rush for New Weapons
www.nytimes.com
February 5, 2026 at 1:38 PM
For about a decade, I stoped teaching my "Histories of Nuclear War" class as it didn't seem as relevant...I put it back into rotation last year. My students will definitely be reading this:
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/u...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/u...
Reposted by Patrick McCray
We just dropped the trailer to OVERBURDEN. Looking forward to getting this film out in the world. A huge thanks to the entire team involved, spanning four continents. overburdenfilm.com
#biodiversity #mining #ConvivialConservation #envhist #liberia
#biodiversity #mining #ConvivialConservation #envhist #liberia
February 4, 2026 at 11:53 AM
We just dropped the trailer to OVERBURDEN. Looking forward to getting this film out in the world. A huge thanks to the entire team involved, spanning four continents. overburdenfilm.com
#biodiversity #mining #ConvivialConservation #envhist #liberia
#biodiversity #mining #ConvivialConservation #envhist #liberia
Had very interesting conversation recently with senior (Jewish) scholar about the Epstein files and the prevalence of Jewish men in them, the failure of ethics, and the price of assimilation.
February 5, 2026 at 12:07 AM
Had very interesting conversation recently with senior (Jewish) scholar about the Epstein files and the prevalence of Jewish men in them, the failure of ethics, and the price of assimilation.
Here's the in-house medievalist talking about her new project on medieval bees, gardens, and agriculture...
#medieval #bees #gardens #environmentalhistory
magazine.libarts.colostate.edu/article/hist...
#medieval #bees #gardens #environmentalhistory
magazine.libarts.colostate.edu/article/hist...
Medieval lessons on bees and reshaping Colorado classrooms - Magazine
Travel back with Historians as your podcast guide to using our past as a way to improve our present, from K-12 classrooms to modern bee-keeping.
magazine.libarts.colostate.edu
February 1, 2026 at 3:01 PM
Here's the in-house medievalist talking about her new project on medieval bees, gardens, and agriculture...
#medieval #bees #gardens #environmentalhistory
magazine.libarts.colostate.edu/article/hist...
#medieval #bees #gardens #environmentalhistory
magazine.libarts.colostate.edu/article/hist...
There are few public trash cans in Japanese cities. At the same time, there also very few pigeons & other critters that like what's in the trash cans. I'll take well-designed, plentiful & clean public toilets + collective responsibility for trash over lotsa bins any day.
www.wsj.com/lifestyle/tr...
www.wsj.com/lifestyle/tr...
Tourists in Japan Are Baffled: Where Are the Trash Cans?
One of the cleanest places in the world has almost no public garbage bins, forcing visitors to rely on coat pockets and backpacks.
www.wsj.com
February 1, 2026 at 1:30 PM
There are few public trash cans in Japanese cities. At the same time, there also very few pigeons & other critters that like what's in the trash cans. I'll take well-designed, plentiful & clean public toilets + collective responsibility for trash over lotsa bins any day.
www.wsj.com/lifestyle/tr...
www.wsj.com/lifestyle/tr...
Ride for Alex; Fort Collins, CO
January 31, 2026 at 8:30 PM
Ride for Alex; Fort Collins, CO
"Mr. Lutnick planned the Caribbean excursion along with his wife, Allison...they would be arriving on a 188-foot yacht called “Excellence.”...A day later, an assistant to Mr. Epstein forwarded Mr. Lutnick a message from Mr. Epstein: “Nice seeing you,” it said."
www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...
www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...
Live Updates: Millions of Pages of Epstein Documents Released
www.nytimes.com
January 30, 2026 at 10:03 PM
"Mr. Lutnick planned the Caribbean excursion along with his wife, Allison...they would be arriving on a 188-foot yacht called “Excellence.”...A day later, an assistant to Mr. Epstein forwarded Mr. Lutnick a message from Mr. Epstein: “Nice seeing you,” it said."
www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...
www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...
"Born to Black farmers in rural Virginia, Dr. West lived through remarkable societal and technological transformations — from segregation to the civil rights movement, from calculators to supercomputers, and from paper maps to Google Maps."
Remarkable!
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/s...
Remarkable!
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/s...
Gladys West, Unsung Figure in Development of GPS, Dies at 95
www.nytimes.com
January 28, 2026 at 10:12 PM
"Born to Black farmers in rural Virginia, Dr. West lived through remarkable societal and technological transformations — from segregation to the civil rights movement, from calculators to supercomputers, and from paper maps to Google Maps."
Remarkable!
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/s...
Remarkable!
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/s...
40 years ago...Jan. 1986 - I was a freshman engineering student at the University of Pittsburgh when I learned about the Challenger explosion. I've since used the accident in a variety of teaching situations.
January 28, 2026 at 7:12 PM
40 years ago...Jan. 1986 - I was a freshman engineering student at the University of Pittsburgh when I learned about the Challenger explosion. I've since used the accident in a variety of teaching situations.
I gave a book talk at Stanford a few days ago; a student reporter grokked it:
stanforddaily.com/2026/01/25/r...
stanforddaily.com/2026/01/25/r...
'README' reveals McCray's bookish vision for technological change
In a book talk made meta, McCray reminds us that the history of computers is also one of books as well.
stanforddaily.com
January 27, 2026 at 12:40 PM
I gave a book talk at Stanford a few days ago; a student reporter grokked it:
stanforddaily.com/2026/01/25/r...
stanforddaily.com/2026/01/25/r...
“The good ideas are coming from China,” LeCun said. “But Silicon Valley also has a superiority complex, so it can’t imagine that good ideas can come from other places.”
Gift link
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/t...
Gift link
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/t...
An A.I. Pioneer Warns the Tech ‘Herd’ Is Marching Into a Dead End
www.nytimes.com
January 26, 2026 at 3:44 PM
“The good ideas are coming from China,” LeCun said. “But Silicon Valley also has a superiority complex, so it can’t imagine that good ideas can come from other places.”
Gift link
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/t...
Gift link
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/t...
"The coal mascot—named “Coalie”—appears to be a new character designed to represent the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), a bureau in the U.S. Department of the Interior. "
January 26, 2026 at 3:11 PM
"The coal mascot—named “Coalie”—appears to be a new character designed to represent the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), a bureau in the U.S. Department of the Interior. "
Any statement from the NRA?
Didn't think so.
Didn't think so.
January 24, 2026 at 7:01 PM
Any statement from the NRA?
Didn't think so.
Didn't think so.
Crazy to be wishing that Colorado's Front Range would get as much snow as Arkansas is projected to receive
January 24, 2026 at 2:05 AM
Crazy to be wishing that Colorado's Front Range would get as much snow as Arkansas is projected to receive
Thoughtful dialogue here with @anneapplebaum.bsky.social ...but surprised to not see a reference to Lysenkoism; I think that's perhaps the best analogy for understanding what's happening with respect to science.
www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/202...
www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/202...
Defund Science, Distort Culture, Mock Education
It’s not just about cuts to research. It’s about power.
www.theatlantic.com
January 23, 2026 at 10:45 PM
Thoughtful dialogue here with @anneapplebaum.bsky.social ...but surprised to not see a reference to Lysenkoism; I think that's perhaps the best analogy for understanding what's happening with respect to science.
www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/202...
www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/202...