Ted Byfield
@tbfld.bsky.social
Ex-academic, ex-artist, editor/writer (EU research network grants 🎯), Open Syllabus co-founder, nettime mod 25 yrs. I “worked at the intersection of” when it was a red-light district not a venn diagram. Deep South 🔁 Deep North.
More: https://counter.ink
More: https://counter.ink
It never occurred to me — maybe because I’m a white guy? — that this bizarre drive to snatch people off the street and ship them to random foreign places has less to do with the Global War on Terror than an inverted fantasy reenactment of enslaving people.
November 26, 2025 at 5:38 PM
It never occurred to me — maybe because I’m a white guy? — that this bizarre drive to snatch people off the street and ship them to random foreign places has less to do with the Global War on Terror than an inverted fantasy reenactment of enslaving people.
I like this meme a lot
November 21, 2025 at 1:27 PM
I like this meme a lot
Reposted by Ted Byfield
Musk is a parasite on the future; he preys upon the imagination of others, taking any vision of a better world and depreciating it by hawking options on a transparently fake facsimile.
He is capitalism's full-throated assault on the utopian imaginary.
He is capitalism's full-throated assault on the utopian imaginary.
November 11, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Musk is a parasite on the future; he preys upon the imagination of others, taking any vision of a better world and depreciating it by hawking options on a transparently fake facsimile.
He is capitalism's full-throated assault on the utopian imaginary.
He is capitalism's full-throated assault on the utopian imaginary.
@matthewstoller.bsky.social’s redux of the vile power-mongering misogynist Larry Summers is not to be missed: “bad predictions don’t matter; in some ways, they are a reflection of his power.” It’s no coincidence he was an intimate of Epstein. He knew it all.
The Blast Radius of Jeff Epstein
Larry Summers controlled two Presidents, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and organizes economists and oligarchs. Joe Biden talked to him all the time. And now he's in a serious scandal. Or is he?
www.thebignewsletter.com
November 16, 2025 at 2:24 PM
@matthewstoller.bsky.social’s redux of the vile power-mongering misogynist Larry Summers is not to be missed: “bad predictions don’t matter; in some ways, they are a reflection of his power.” It’s no coincidence he was an intimate of Epstein. He knew it all.
Paint me skeptical that this was a purely financial decision. @leximcmenamin.com and their colleagues ran one of the best publications in US media, and I’m not even slightly exaggerating. Here’s hoping some smart shop scoops them all up ✊🏻 ✊🏼 ✊🏽 ✊🏾 ✊🏿
I was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
November 3, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Paint me skeptical that this was a purely financial decision. @leximcmenamin.com and their colleagues ran one of the best publications in US media, and I’m not even slightly exaggerating. Here’s hoping some smart shop scoops them all up ✊🏻 ✊🏼 ✊🏽 ✊🏾 ✊🏿
Reposted by Ted Byfield
It gets better and better. Mamdani: no line for brunch.
Nearly a million New Yorkers ready to flee NYC if Mamdani becomes mayor — possibly igniting mass exodus: poll
Nearly a million New Yorkers ready to flee NYC if Mamdani becomes mayor — possibly igniting mass exodus: poll
Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers are prepared to bolt from the Big Apple if socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani wins Tuesday's mayoral race — potentially setting the stage for the largest population flight in US history, a new poll warns.
nypost.com
November 3, 2025 at 2:42 PM
It gets better and better. Mamdani: no line for brunch.
“Stochastic terrorism” has become another one of those Godwin’s Law–style gems of internet bullshit, a mathy-sounding way to avoid articulating the issue: specific people, words, and contexts aimed at inciting violence with specific aims. Focus on the details and ditch the pretentious pseudo-math.
October 24, 2025 at 9:07 AM
“Stochastic terrorism” has become another one of those Godwin’s Law–style gems of internet bullshit, a mathy-sounding way to avoid articulating the issue: specific people, words, and contexts aimed at inciting violence with specific aims. Focus on the details and ditch the pretentious pseudo-math.
Seems like boycotting ACECO, the contractor that’s actually demolishing the White House, should be a thing until they go bust.
October 22, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Seems like boycotting ACECO, the contractor that’s actually demolishing the White House, should be a thing until they go bust.
Maybe this will help people to understand what Trump is doing news.artnet.com/art-world/do...
October 22, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Maybe this will help people to understand what Trump is doing news.artnet.com/art-world/do...
🔮 The $230M DOJ demand is to cover the budget for the $250M ballroom, because the titans of tech didn’t promise $200M — just $20M x the obligatory exaggeration. Hence the rush. The “charity” will turn out to be the American people. 🔮
October 22, 2025 at 1:26 PM
🔮 The $230M DOJ demand is to cover the budget for the $250M ballroom, because the titans of tech didn’t promise $200M — just $20M x the obligatory exaggeration. Hence the rush. The “charity” will turn out to be the American people. 🔮
The real story of the White House demolition will turn out to be that the contractors are 💯 pwned by foreign intelligence agencies, the “ballroom” is one big listening outpost, and it’ll need to be razed.
October 22, 2025 at 1:14 PM
The real story of the White House demolition will turn out to be that the contractors are 💯 pwned by foreign intelligence agencies, the “ballroom” is one big listening outpost, and it’ll need to be razed.
Reposted by Ted Byfield
The fact that there were no counterprotests shows that Trumpism and MAGA barely exist outside of social media. This movement has gradually collapsed completely within the population. — It’s difficult to fill the real world with Trump government troll bots.
October 19, 2025 at 5:40 AM
The fact that there were no counterprotests shows that Trumpism and MAGA barely exist outside of social media. This movement has gradually collapsed completely within the population. — It’s difficult to fill the real world with Trump government troll bots.
A silo is filled to capacity isn’t full. Farmers leave headspace (like in canning) for expansion, settling, and (I love this) the “angle of repose,” i.e., the diff between the contour of surface and base. So the collapsing market for US soybeans 👉🏼 *many* silos are overfilled and at structural risk.
Video shows the moment a grain silo collapsed in Illinois, though no one was hurt.
October 17, 2025 at 4:28 PM
A silo is filled to capacity isn’t full. Farmers leave headspace (like in canning) for expansion, settling, and (I love this) the “angle of repose,” i.e., the diff between the contour of surface and base. So the collapsing market for US soybeans 👉🏼 *many* silos are overfilled and at structural risk.
EXPOSED SECRET LEFTIST TECHNOLOGY FOR RUSING RIGHTISTS INTO HANGING FLAGS THAT LOOK NORMAL BUT HAVE A SWASTIKA WHEN SEEN THROUGH A “WOKON” CAMERA
October 17, 2025 at 3:05 PM
EXPOSED SECRET LEFTIST TECHNOLOGY FOR RUSING RIGHTISTS INTO HANGING FLAGS THAT LOOK NORMAL BUT HAVE A SWASTIKA WHEN SEEN THROUGH A “WOKON” CAMERA
Reposted by Ted Byfield
People better start reviewing the history of the Barings Bank collapse and more recently the FTX bankruptcy. Reviewing the history of the 1990s Albanian Pyramid schemes wouldn't be bad, either.
it's going to be a 20+ year orgy of dysfunction and financial fraud painfully illustrating why functioning regulators are important
completely avoidable, but we all have to suffer in perpetuity because eggheads like Andreessen got mad because a female antitrust reformer briefly ran the FTC
completely avoidable, but we all have to suffer in perpetuity because eggheads like Andreessen got mad because a female antitrust reformer briefly ran the FTC
Printing Money: Paxos Mints, Then Burns $300 Trillion in PayPal Stablecoins - Decrypt
A fat-finger mistake, or a hack? Crypto traders are confounded after $300 trillion worth of PayPal's PYUSD was minted and then burned.
decrypt.co
October 16, 2025 at 2:50 PM
People better start reviewing the history of the Barings Bank collapse and more recently the FTX bankruptcy. Reviewing the history of the 1990s Albanian Pyramid schemes wouldn't be bad, either.
Seems like a good rule of thumb for anything. If you’re storied, you probably aren’t storying anymore.
When they call your media outlet "storied," that means something bad is happening.
October 9, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Seems like a good rule of thumb for anything. If you’re storied, you probably aren’t storying anymore.
When fascists are ramping up legal theories like “everyone who opposes us is categorically a terrorist or an insurrectionist,” I don’t think casting that in psychological terms — pure projection — is the most politically effective way to frame it.
Notice how they’re now calling everyone else an “insurrectionist.” Pure projection.
October 7, 2025 at 9:12 PM
When fascists are ramping up legal theories like “everyone who opposes us is categorically a terrorist or an insurrectionist,” I don’t think casting that in psychological terms — pure projection — is the most politically effective way to frame it.
We hear lots re artificial *intelligence* but little re artificial [other cerebrations] — so I looked up AG Care, AG Empathy, AG Wisdom. Nada. Yes, lots of ppl would arg affective/social phenom aren’t on the same plane as “intelligence.”Their args would mostly be: *lots of others made the same arg*.
![Screenshot of a Google search for "Artificial general wisdom" showing an extended AI overview, because there’s only one result:
{{{ "Artificial general wisdom"
ResearchGate
https://www.researchgate.net › publication › 39377528... :
(PDF) The Deal of the Century: A Strategic Memo for Key ...
6 days ago — Artificial General Wisdom. - and, eventually, if it'll ever. get to that, a future hi[...] conscious. Artificial Super Wisdom . Convergence of ...
Images
The difference between INTE...
YouTube
The Profound Philosophies of...
YouTube
Ted Chiang on Supe
L Literary Hub
Show more images
Also search for
Artificial general wisdom reddit
Artificial general wisdom
meaning
Google > 1 2 Next }}}](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:robotenuzg6w4takznzjsxtb/bafkreifnjr4m2lqbwm6ofrydzlz4uditkptk6ypaxdzvs7vawurg3l3myy@jpeg)
October 4, 2025 at 5:26 PM
We hear lots re artificial *intelligence* but little re artificial [other cerebrations] — so I looked up AG Care, AG Empathy, AG Wisdom. Nada. Yes, lots of ppl would arg affective/social phenom aren’t on the same plane as “intelligence.”Their args would mostly be: *lots of others made the same arg*.
I did
Who had "defense officials join ranks of antifa" on their bingo card?
Defense officials were shocked at the cost and danger of assembling the military’s top officers to listen to meandering tirades.
September 30, 2025 at 9:29 PM
I did
Sorry, but anyone who didn’t see this kind of entrapment and subversion coming really needs to wake up. What do you think all these fashy campus groups are doing, planning bake sales?
Am I reading this correctly?
A grad student ... in Computer Science ... enrolled in an undergraduate seminar ... in the American Indian and Indigenous Studies program ... where he ignored the readings and hijacked discussions to talk about Israel and defend its actions in Gaza?
What the hell?
A grad student ... in Computer Science ... enrolled in an undergraduate seminar ... in the American Indian and Indigenous Studies program ... where he ignored the readings and hijacked discussions to talk about Israel and defend its actions in Gaza?
What the hell?
Cornell is cancelling a distinguished professor's classes on Gaza and suspending him because of the complaints of a student who previously served in Israel's military surveillance agency and was literally recording the comments of other students in class and deliberately derailing discussion.
September 29, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Sorry, but anyone who didn’t see this kind of entrapment and subversion coming really needs to wake up. What do you think all these fashy campus groups are doing, planning bake sales?
“Highest Quality 24 Karat Gold” is 🔥, since karat is a quality measure. Aside from labs, there’s no higher karat (24K = 99.9%). 1g of gold leaf covers ~1/2 square meter. Oval Office has ~203 sqm walls, so gold-leafing *the entire room* = ~400g, or ~$50K. Plus say ~$5k for plastic ornaments. 👍🏼
September 29, 2025 at 3:16 PM
“Highest Quality 24 Karat Gold” is 🔥, since karat is a quality measure. Aside from labs, there’s no higher karat (24K = 99.9%). 1g of gold leaf covers ~1/2 square meter. Oval Office has ~203 sqm walls, so gold-leafing *the entire room* = ~400g, or ~$50K. Plus say ~$5k for plastic ornaments. 👍🏼
Reposted by Ted Byfield
I have been writing Democracy Americana for almost three years. It was always entirely free. But now I am asking for your support, as things have changed.
I wrote about why I left academia and chose to become a full-time independent writer:
I wrote about why I left academia and chose to become a full-time independent writer:
Onward. Forward. Steady.
Things have really changed. Now I need your help.
steady.page
September 25, 2025 at 4:48 PM
I have been writing Democracy Americana for almost three years. It was always entirely free. But now I am asking for your support, as things have changed.
I wrote about why I left academia and chose to become a full-time independent writer:
I wrote about why I left academia and chose to become a full-time independent writer:
Yes, this is ‘just’ a book review, but it’s something we don’t see much of anymore: the [Prestige City] Review of Books genre at its finest — one of the richest, densest, most intellectually stimulating pieces I’ve read in a long time. Or, as they say now, 🔥
I have a review of John Ganz's When The Clock Broke in the new LRB www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
William Davies · Repeal the 20th Century: Pre-MAGA
To understand the intellectual coordinates of Trumpism requires us to look in less conventional places and to pay more...
www.lrb.co.uk
September 19, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Yes, this is ‘just’ a book review, but it’s something we don’t see much of anymore: the [Prestige City] Review of Books genre at its finest — one of the richest, densest, most intellectually stimulating pieces I’ve read in a long time. Or, as they say now, 🔥
This is an adorable image of an imaginary landscape in sherbet colors, with flowers, little animals, and a sun.
September 15, 2025 at 4:07 PM
This is an adorable image of an imaginary landscape in sherbet colors, with flowers, little animals, and a sun.
This is a cute image of a kitten
September 15, 2025 at 4:05 PM
This is a cute image of a kitten