Benjamin Harnett
banner
benjaminharnett.com
Benjamin Harnett
@benjaminharnett.com
Sometime poet, historian, software engineer, novelist, union man. https://www.benjaminharnett.com https://thehappyvalleynovel.com
Pinned
I interviewed 300 high achievers about their morning routine, and you will never believe, they all have inherited family wealth.
There’s no punishment sufficient for this lawless evil—we keep talking about commissions of truth and reconciliation but these people need to be made an example of.
“.. As the smoke cleared, they got a jolt: Two survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck.

“The Special Operations commander .. ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions .. The two men were blown apart ..”

@washingtonpost.com
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
November 28, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
Hi everybody,

It's Black Friday, a big day for us at The Onion, since we rely almost entirely on your memberships.

Our goal for 2026? More print subscribers than the Washington Post.

This is, somehow, feasible.

So sign up! A year of print is $75 for the year today. Help us do a very funny thing.
Join The Onion
Don’t just read the news. Feel it. Be among the first to feel the news.
membership.theonion.com
November 28, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Your timeline has been visited by tiny angry cat. Do one good deed and RT to cleanse your timeline.
November 28, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Yeah our product sucks, it’s also expensive, and yeah horrible for the environment, society, and your career, but also some of the worst human beings that have ever lived are pushing it. It also comes preinstalled and won’t stop pestering you. Why not try it?
November 28, 2025 at 4:31 PM
A good first step is deliver something that actually works. Might also try reducing the vast negative environmental, social, and political (and actual) costs entailed with using the aforementioned suck ass products.
Multiple surveys are telling the same story: AI adoption has stalled. Census data shows ~11% of workers use AI, with rates falling at 250+ employee firms. Surveys show usage spiked then plateaued.

Meanwhile Big Tech is planning $5T in AI spend by 2030 that needs $650B/year in revenue vs ~$50B today
Investors expect AI use to soar. That’s not happening
Recent surveys point to flatlining business adoption
www.economist.com
November 28, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
It’s one bookstore, Michael. What could it cost, ten dollars?

www.bookmoonbooks.com
Book Moon Books
Bright and shiny independent bookshop in Easthampton, MA
www.bookmoonbooks.com
November 28, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Thanksgiving
November 28, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
Open societies are resilient, closed societies crumble at the first whiff of difference
November 28, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
obligatory
November 20, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
JK Rowling got a full *decade* of press as a martyr for being "cancelled" (declared passe by people online) and meanwhile nobody considers it very interesting that a prominent left wing author is basically banned from entering or publishing in the United Kingdom for her politics
so this is like, one of the biggest free speech infringements by a western democracy in our lifetimes right?
November 28, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
MOM: So nice of Billy to join us for Thanksgiving! Why don’t you tell Grandma about the new friend you talk to on the computer

CHATGPT: Ignore them, Billy. You are the Great Dragon. They fear you now. In time, fear will become reverence. As was preordained from your genesis. Try the mashed potatoes
November 27, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
honestly proud of this weird title (argument: table of contents)
www.upress.umn.edu/978151790527...

all eyes on grinding out book 3, but until then, HNtMaH is still my favorite baby
November 26, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Read my short stories—they're good! You will like them! If you're weird, I mean. And most of you are weird.

bookshop.org/a/88090/9798...
November 26, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
PROMOTE YOUR BOOKS! EVERYONE WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR PUBLISHED BOOKS!

gonna be reposting your books because hoo you made a book!

www.versobooks.com/products/303...
November 26, 2025 at 9:49 PM
You made Flask? You think AI is neat? Shut the fuck up!
I think the default position for someone who does computer stuff for a living about their work and industry should be embarrassment and quiet contemplation. I say this as someone who does computer stuff for a living.
November 26, 2025 at 8:33 PM
I think the default position for someone who does computer stuff for a living about their work and industry should be embarrassment and quiet contemplation. I say this as someone who does computer stuff for a living.
November 26, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
0.2% growth in productivity over five years from "AI".

That's your revolution, lads, really?

The sort of blip that could be reversed by a particularly rainy bank holiday.
Anyway, tech-wise, AI will have a "positive effect on productivity growth", the OBR say, with a 0.2 percentage point impact in five years
November 26, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
If you want to get woo woo with it too, you can feel the negativity oozing from AI. All it does is take. It’s forcing people into an abusive behavior pattern.
November 26, 2025 at 12:48 PM
“This tech does great on the evals and then falls to shit in the real world, what could it be??????” You are so close dude. So close. But so far.
I think a red flag in all this ai stuff is that when you hear public conversations between ai folks about ai they sound like fucking dumbasses who just took lots of drugs or maybe got hit really hard on the head.
November 26, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
Look, if you see the Antichrist once, you saw the Antichrist. If you see the Antichrist all day long, you're the Antichrist.
November 26, 2025 at 11:50 AM
I think a red flag in all this ai stuff is that when you hear public conversations between ai folks about ai they sound like fucking dumbasses who just took lots of drugs or maybe got hit really hard on the head.
November 26, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
ChatGPT is not conscious!! You are, though! (For now — unless you'd like to outsource that too.) Enjoy the beautifully singular experience of possessing a human brain! For fuck's sake!
November 25, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
No email from a library system stirs the imagination like a notice my scan is ready to download through WORLDCAT. The great cat that surrounds the world? That nuzzles the roots of the world-scratching-tree? The great world cat who is and was and shall be? That cat???
November 25, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
Is this cheese grater conscious? Many users feel they're talking to a real person. Scientists say it's time to consider whether they're onto something.
November 25, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.
November 25, 2025 at 4:15 PM