Adam Quinn
@adamquinnphd.com
Postdoctoral Fellow @ Science History Institute. Writing a labor & environmental history of the computer industry.
Views expressed here are my own and not my employer's.
To read my work & for queries, visit www.adamquinnphd.com
Views expressed here are my own and not my employer's.
To read my work & for queries, visit www.adamquinnphd.com
The AI Coca-Cola ad seems to have involved as many workers and expenses as their traditional ads. Generative AI won't fully replace jobs and give us a 12 hour workweek. It'll just save time on some tasks while making roles more rote, deskilled, and alienating.
That's how labor automation works!
That's how labor automation works!
November 5, 2025 at 1:29 PM
The AI Coca-Cola ad seems to have involved as many workers and expenses as their traditional ads. Generative AI won't fully replace jobs and give us a 12 hour workweek. It'll just save time on some tasks while making roles more rote, deskilled, and alienating.
That's how labor automation works!
That's how labor automation works!
The votes are in four years later: unions and @organizeworkers.bsky.social confirmed cool
November 5, 2025 at 3:01 AM
The votes are in four years later: unions and @organizeworkers.bsky.social confirmed cool
This year's environmental history job market is the wettest we've ever seen, from the standpoint of water studies
November 4, 2025 at 6:20 PM
This year's environmental history job market is the wettest we've ever seen, from the standpoint of water studies
Talk I gave yesterday; the "Wild West" title refers to how two Silicon Valley firefighters I interviewed from separate fire departments both called Silicon Valley the "Wild West" due to the chemical fires, explosions, and toxic leaks in the under-regulated 20th century electronics industry.
October 29, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Talk I gave yesterday; the "Wild West" title refers to how two Silicon Valley firefighters I interviewed from separate fire departments both called Silicon Valley the "Wild West" due to the chemical fires, explosions, and toxic leaks in the under-regulated 20th century electronics industry.
Sorry but you have to change your clocks and mess up your sleep schedule because someone over a century ago wanted to sell more cigars.
October 26, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Sorry but you have to change your clocks and mess up your sleep schedule because someone over a century ago wanted to sell more cigars.
It also appears that the AI Bed that doesn't work during an AWS outage has a $200 per year subscription and inexplicably uses about as much data per month as the average smartphone
October 21, 2025 at 11:10 AM
It also appears that the AI Bed that doesn't work during an AWS outage has a $200 per year subscription and inexplicably uses about as much data per month as the average smartphone
My personal favorite bit of the AWS outage so far: "my AI Bed is down and won't let me sleep"
October 21, 2025 at 11:03 AM
My personal favorite bit of the AWS outage so far: "my AI Bed is down and won't let me sleep"
Historian here, to be annoying to the Philly influencer accounts
October 17, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Historian here, to be annoying to the Philly influencer accounts
The top downloader this year of my old master's thesis on the First Red Scare is a law firm. Maybe not a great sign for how society is doing.
October 16, 2025 at 3:35 PM
The top downloader this year of my old master's thesis on the First Red Scare is a law firm. Maybe not a great sign for how society is doing.
I saw this chart on the other site. I don't think ChatGPT alone caused this divergence; other things like interest rates factor in.
But it is revealing of how AI investment, like monetary policy, was intended to help "correct" the leverage workers gained in the hot labor market of early Covid.
But it is revealing of how AI investment, like monetary policy, was intended to help "correct" the leverage workers gained in the hot labor market of early Covid.
October 1, 2025 at 11:16 PM
I saw this chart on the other site. I don't think ChatGPT alone caused this divergence; other things like interest rates factor in.
But it is revealing of how AI investment, like monetary policy, was intended to help "correct" the leverage workers gained in the hot labor market of early Covid.
But it is revealing of how AI investment, like monetary policy, was intended to help "correct" the leverage workers gained in the hot labor market of early Covid.
Judge Young (a Reagan appointee) ruled in favor of the AAUP/AFT and against Trump for punishing immigrant students for pro-Palestine speech.
His decision remarks that the government's campaign goes "beyond its closest analogues in the Red Scare."
Here's how he starts the decision off:
His decision remarks that the government's campaign goes "beyond its closest analogues in the Red Scare."
Here's how he starts the decision off:
September 30, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Judge Young (a Reagan appointee) ruled in favor of the AAUP/AFT and against Trump for punishing immigrant students for pro-Palestine speech.
His decision remarks that the government's campaign goes "beyond its closest analogues in the Red Scare."
Here's how he starts the decision off:
His decision remarks that the government's campaign goes "beyond its closest analogues in the Red Scare."
Here's how he starts the decision off:
I'm walking near Penn's Landing, and I think I may have just stumbled upon the greatest road sign typo in history.
September 29, 2025 at 5:55 PM
I'm walking near Penn's Landing, and I think I may have just stumbled upon the greatest road sign typo in history.
Some photos from my last couple of trips to "War ravaged Portland"
September 27, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Some photos from my last couple of trips to "War ravaged Portland"
In light of the new presidential memorandum on countering political violence and terrorism, it's worth noting that Miller just posted that merely calling ICE authoritarian "incites violence and terrorism."
September 25, 2025 at 11:52 PM
In light of the new presidential memorandum on countering political violence and terrorism, it's worth noting that Miller just posted that merely calling ICE authoritarian "incites violence and terrorism."
explaining being in awe of nature to an American: "imagine a community"
September 25, 2025 at 3:59 PM
explaining being in awe of nature to an American: "imagine a community"
Home building corporation Lennar just reported their average home sales prices are now below pre-Covid levels.
September 24, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Home building corporation Lennar just reported their average home sales prices are now below pre-Covid levels.
This kind of smart, walkable, Shrek-use urbanism would be illegal to build in most non-Philly cities
August 24, 2025 at 9:13 AM
This kind of smart, walkable, Shrek-use urbanism would be illegal to build in most non-Philly cities
Times are tough out there, they got Sheryl Crow working at the fortune cookie factory
August 21, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Times are tough out there, they got Sheryl Crow working at the fortune cookie factory
Somehow, Sid from Ice Age returned
August 18, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Somehow, Sid from Ice Age returned
Alien: Earth episode 2
August 16, 2025 at 11:55 PM
Alien: Earth episode 2
Excited to share that I'm moving to Philadelphia to join the Science History Institute as a Haas Postdoctoral Research Fellow.
I'll be working on my book project "The Nature of Computing: The Making of Computers and the Remaking of American Capitalism."
www.sciencehistory.org/about/news/s...
I'll be working on my book project "The Nature of Computing: The Making of Computers and the Remaking of American Capitalism."
www.sciencehistory.org/about/news/s...
July 1, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Excited to share that I'm moving to Philadelphia to join the Science History Institute as a Haas Postdoctoral Research Fellow.
I'll be working on my book project "The Nature of Computing: The Making of Computers and the Remaking of American Capitalism."
www.sciencehistory.org/about/news/s...
I'll be working on my book project "The Nature of Computing: The Making of Computers and the Remaking of American Capitalism."
www.sciencehistory.org/about/news/s...
I'll be on this cool panel on technology and worker power at LAWCHA in Chicago on Friday morning, if anyone is interested and awake!
June 13, 2025 at 1:08 AM
I'll be on this cool panel on technology and worker power at LAWCHA in Chicago on Friday morning, if anyone is interested and awake!
Dissertation submitted to my committee!
May 19, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Dissertation submitted to my committee!
How it started / how it's going
May 4, 2025 at 6:13 PM
How it started / how it's going