Dan Lockton
@danlockton.com
Utrecht, Netherlands + Norwich, UK
Director of the new Institute for Sustainable Worlds, Norwich University of the Arts ⦿ Design—imagination—climate—futures ⦿ Imaginaries Lab http://imaginari.es ⦿ New Metaphors http://newmetaphors.com ⦿ he/him
Director of the new Institute for Sustainable Worlds, Norwich University of the Arts ⦿ Design—imagination—climate—futures ⦿ Imaginaries Lab http://imaginari.es ⦿ New Metaphors http://newmetaphors.com ⦿ he/him
Pinned
Dan Lockton
@danlockton.com
· Oct 14
Join us online on Wed 22 Oct for 'Creative Futures in Education'. We have three amazing speakers: educator-researchers engaging with #futures:
↠ Grace Turtle (Monstrous Futurities, Sandberg Inst)
↠ Christian Petersen (Norwich University of the Arts)
↠ shobhan s (Purdue University & slowstudio)
↠ Grace Turtle (Monstrous Futurities, Sandberg Inst)
↠ Christian Petersen (Norwich University of the Arts)
↠ shobhan s (Purdue University & slowstudio)
Reposted by Dan Lockton
"Nostalgia is a warping gravity."
Just for any academics, let me be clear, Hookland is anti-nostalgic. It's an exploration and exorcism of my childhood, not a celebration of falsely remembered sunshine. Nostalgia is a warping gravity.
November 14, 2025 at 11:37 AM
"Nostalgia is a warping gravity."
Reposted by Dan Lockton
Was really struck by what a lovely inspiring exercise this is, like a primary school version of Mary Oliver’s Instructions for living a life
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it
November 10, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Was really struck by what a lovely inspiring exercise this is, like a primary school version of Mary Oliver’s Instructions for living a life
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it
Reposted by Dan Lockton
No other word has done more damage to the craft of writing in recent years than “content”. Even if you’re using the word “content” ironically, or as a cute little joke, don’t. When someone calls writing “content” they’re pissing on someone’s hard work & passion. “Content” is Technosatan’s henchword.
November 10, 2025 at 9:15 AM
No other word has done more damage to the craft of writing in recent years than “content”. Even if you’re using the word “content” ironically, or as a cute little joke, don’t. When someone calls writing “content” they’re pissing on someone’s hard work & passion. “Content” is Technosatan’s henchword.
Reposted by Dan Lockton
I know there's more imp things on here today, but anyone have folks/papers I could cite that support to this idea? "Hollywood and mainstream media’s narratives overwhelmingly focus on dystopian climate futures making interventions on what people think is possible more difficult."
November 4, 2025 at 2:43 PM
I know there's more imp things on here today, but anyone have folks/papers I could cite that support to this idea? "Hollywood and mainstream media’s narratives overwhelmingly focus on dystopian climate futures making interventions on what people think is possible more difficult."
Reposted by Dan Lockton
New utopian pulse is out! 𝐀𝐈 𝐈𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠? www.uu.nl/en/opinion/a...
This post is for anyone who uses AI text-to-image tools or is concerned by their use. It tells an unexpected tale, which led me back to the cornfields of Illinois to interview my dad about 1970s rural America...
This post is for anyone who uses AI text-to-image tools or is concerned by their use. It tells an unexpected tale, which led me back to the cornfields of Illinois to interview my dad about 1970s rural America...
AI images for dreaming or ghosting?
There is much to say about the implications of using AI to depict so-called better worlds, with already numerous critiques of bias, labour exploitation, and energy unsustainability. Or even worse, the...
www.uu.nl
October 29, 2025 at 8:29 AM
New utopian pulse is out! 𝐀𝐈 𝐈𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠? www.uu.nl/en/opinion/a...
This post is for anyone who uses AI text-to-image tools or is concerned by their use. It tells an unexpected tale, which led me back to the cornfields of Illinois to interview my dad about 1970s rural America...
This post is for anyone who uses AI text-to-image tools or is concerned by their use. It tells an unexpected tale, which led me back to the cornfields of Illinois to interview my dad about 1970s rural America...
Reposted by Dan Lockton
From coffee to the White House - how metonymies support and destroy our way of life #metonymy #linguistics makingsciencepublic.com/2025/10/26/a...
A week in metonymy: From the personal to the political
Last week was metonymy week for me. In this post I’ll tell you three stories about metonymy, all related to a train ride to and from Oxford with my husband – a sort of anniversary trip, as we met t…
makingsciencepublic.com
October 27, 2025 at 7:09 AM
From coffee to the White House - how metonymies support and destroy our way of life #metonymy #linguistics makingsciencepublic.com/2025/10/26/a...
Now that em-dashes have been ruined by their overpresence in AI slop, we might as well switch to something better⸻namely Unicode U+2E3B, the 3-em dash⸺or at the very least U+2E3A, the 2-em.
October 26, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Now that em-dashes have been ruined by their overpresence in AI slop, we might as well switch to something better⸻namely Unicode U+2E3B, the 3-em dash⸺or at the very least U+2E3A, the 2-em.
Reposted by Dan Lockton
After submitting a FOIA request UKRI, I obtained success rates by three grant call scheme and I can only say that I am disheartened by the results:
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
October 22, 2025 at 7:55 AM
After submitting a FOIA request UKRI, I obtained success rates by three grant call scheme and I can only say that I am disheartened by the results:
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
"if your politics is all about offering imaginary solutions to mostly phantasmatic problems, generative AI is the perfect tool for propaganda" — very useful thread
There’s a growing & deeply problematic tendency to use #genAI for political and historical education Take this example from Germany, which translates as: «Hey AI, who should I vote for.» What’s typical here is that AI is not only addressed as pseudo-person but also as a kind of impartial judge
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Landtagswahl.ai
KI-generierte Bilder aus den Wahlprogrammen der Parteien zur Landtagswahl - Ausstellung und Podiumsdiskussion; Materialien für Schulklassen
www.landtagswahl.ai
October 23, 2025 at 12:08 PM
"if your politics is all about offering imaginary solutions to mostly phantasmatic problems, generative AI is the perfect tool for propaganda" — very useful thread
Reposted by Dan Lockton
Parents, please check your kids’ candy this Halloween. I’ve just found an ancient metal whistle with the inscription “QUIS EST ISTE QUI VENIT" inside a Snickers bar. I blew it and heard a note of infinite distance, and now I’m haunted by a figure in pale, fluttering draperies. Be safe.
October 22, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Parents, please check your kids’ candy this Halloween. I’ve just found an ancient metal whistle with the inscription “QUIS EST ISTE QUI VENIT" inside a Snickers bar. I blew it and heard a note of infinite distance, and now I’m haunted by a figure in pale, fluttering draperies. Be safe.
Reposted by Dan Lockton
If I were running Labour comms I would commission an app called 'Will the Tories/Reform deport you?' then let the reactions on TikTok and Instagram do their work.
October 22, 2025 at 10:29 AM
If I were running Labour comms I would commission an app called 'Will the Tories/Reform deport you?' then let the reactions on TikTok and Instagram do their work.
Reposted by Dan Lockton
I cannot quite describe how it feels to hear a proposal to deport millions of people coming from the ostensible 'right of centre' party. I cannot tell you how it feels to know this while waiting for my son's heart surgery: a claim on healthcare that would see me deported under this proposal.
Ostensibly the party of law and order with a plan to deport migrants even if they’ve done nothing more than live here legally and claim support to which they’ve contributed and are entitled. Years of targeting migrants disguised as concern about legality paving the way to this and open violence.
Here Lam explicitly sets out her proposal - which is official Conservative Party policy - to deport long-standing legal permanent residents who have *ever* claimed any benefit, including the state pension or child benefit (even if the child is British), or who earn less than £39K.
October 22, 2025 at 8:22 AM
I cannot quite describe how it feels to hear a proposal to deport millions of people coming from the ostensible 'right of centre' party. I cannot tell you how it feels to know this while waiting for my son's heart surgery: a claim on healthcare that would see me deported under this proposal.
Reposted by Dan Lockton
All networking events need at least one designated host who goes around looking for people on their own and introduces them to others with similar interests.
This takes maybe a couple of minutes per person and is pretty fun and easy if you know what you’re doing!
This takes maybe a couple of minutes per person and is pretty fun and easy if you know what you’re doing!
October 16, 2025 at 12:11 PM
All networking events need at least one designated host who goes around looking for people on their own and introduces them to others with similar interests.
This takes maybe a couple of minutes per person and is pretty fun and easy if you know what you’re doing!
This takes maybe a couple of minutes per person and is pretty fun and easy if you know what you’re doing!
Reposted by Dan Lockton
I'm workshopping my AI & Society course for next semester, and in particular what I've been calling the "conscientious objector" path through the class (though I've given it another name). Thoughts?
October 15, 2025 at 2:53 PM
I'm workshopping my AI & Society course for next semester, and in particular what I've been calling the "conscientious objector" path through the class (though I've given it another name). Thoughts?
Reposted by Dan Lockton
It is laughable to think that you can neuter the far right with minor tweaks like this.
How many Conservative or Reform supporters even know that immigrants have to pass a language test? They object to immigration on emotional grounds, not because they have dry objections to eligibility criteria.
How many Conservative or Reform supporters even know that immigrants have to pass a language test? They object to immigration on emotional grounds, not because they have dry objections to eligibility criteria.
October 15, 2025 at 7:20 AM
It is laughable to think that you can neuter the far right with minor tweaks like this.
How many Conservative or Reform supporters even know that immigrants have to pass a language test? They object to immigration on emotional grounds, not because they have dry objections to eligibility criteria.
How many Conservative or Reform supporters even know that immigrants have to pass a language test? They object to immigration on emotional grounds, not because they have dry objections to eligibility criteria.
Join us online on Wed 22 Oct for 'Creative Futures in Education'. We have three amazing speakers: educator-researchers engaging with #futures:
↠ Grace Turtle (Monstrous Futurities, Sandberg Inst)
↠ Christian Petersen (Norwich University of the Arts)
↠ shobhan s (Purdue University & slowstudio)
↠ Grace Turtle (Monstrous Futurities, Sandberg Inst)
↠ Christian Petersen (Norwich University of the Arts)
↠ shobhan s (Purdue University & slowstudio)
October 14, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Join us online on Wed 22 Oct for 'Creative Futures in Education'. We have three amazing speakers: educator-researchers engaging with #futures:
↠ Grace Turtle (Monstrous Futurities, Sandberg Inst)
↠ Christian Petersen (Norwich University of the Arts)
↠ shobhan s (Purdue University & slowstudio)
↠ Grace Turtle (Monstrous Futurities, Sandberg Inst)
↠ Christian Petersen (Norwich University of the Arts)
↠ shobhan s (Purdue University & slowstudio)
A very niche post for the #petrocultures historians of East Anglia, but I thought it was interesting to see “carless” as an intentional typo on the Hiscox advert, as I headed on the train towards Harwich,where for 60 years the Carless name hasn’t been a typo at all
October 8, 2025 at 7:12 PM
A very niche post for the #petrocultures historians of East Anglia, but I thought it was interesting to see “carless” as an intentional typo on the Hiscox advert, as I headed on the train towards Harwich,where for 60 years the Carless name hasn’t been a typo at all
Reposted by Dan Lockton
the answer to the trolley problem is not to pick who to sacrifice, it’s to dismantle the system that led to an unsafe trolley crossing.
if any part of your morality strategy involves picking a group to let die on a hill, throw the entire strategy out. it’s wrong.
if any part of your morality strategy involves picking a group to let die on a hill, throw the entire strategy out. it’s wrong.
October 8, 2025 at 6:03 PM
the answer to the trolley problem is not to pick who to sacrifice, it’s to dismantle the system that led to an unsafe trolley crossing.
if any part of your morality strategy involves picking a group to let die on a hill, throw the entire strategy out. it’s wrong.
if any part of your morality strategy involves picking a group to let die on a hill, throw the entire strategy out. it’s wrong.
Reposted by Dan Lockton
if you’ve ever watched the apprentice, that’s the world without arts or humanities degrees
October 8, 2025 at 1:12 PM
if you’ve ever watched the apprentice, that’s the world without arts or humanities degrees
Reposted by Dan Lockton
With yet another university hosted event closed to 'non academics' (aka those not employed by a university)* I'm just going to leave this piece by @drhelenkara.bsky.social and myself here blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci...
* yes I know it's utter nonsense and academics/researchers exist outside unis
* yes I know it's utter nonsense and academics/researchers exist outside unis
Institutional affiliation should not be a requirement for doing research - Impact of Social Sciences
Universities espouse a universalist approach to creating research-based knowledge. Helen Kara & Petra Boynton argue, from the outside these claims are hollow.
blogs.lse.ac.uk
October 7, 2025 at 3:42 PM
With yet another university hosted event closed to 'non academics' (aka those not employed by a university)* I'm just going to leave this piece by @drhelenkara.bsky.social and myself here blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci...
* yes I know it's utter nonsense and academics/researchers exist outside unis
* yes I know it's utter nonsense and academics/researchers exist outside unis
Reposted by Dan Lockton
Social media is a utility that should not be owned by private, for-profit companies run by random people who routinely go insane. It should be a publicly owned service, like the post office.
October 6, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Social media is a utility that should not be owned by private, for-profit companies run by random people who routinely go insane. It should be a publicly owned service, like the post office.
There's definitely a lot here—but I'd argue that the "strange situation in which young designers are situated between activism, performative gesture and a residual urge to create" is exactly because they recognise that design as only "a tool to improve lives" was a naïve approach to "social purpose"
on.ft.com/46M9mXI Why designers abandoned their dreams of changing the world. Free to Read.
Why designers abandoned their dreams of changing the world
Design was once seen as a tool to improve lives — but as modernism has become marketing, that sense of social purpose has drifted away
on.ft.com
October 6, 2025 at 6:58 AM
There's definitely a lot here—but I'd argue that the "strange situation in which young designers are situated between activism, performative gesture and a residual urge to create" is exactly because they recognise that design as only "a tool to improve lives" was a naïve approach to "social purpose"
Reposted by Dan Lockton
New preprint 🌟 Psychology is core to cognitive science, and so it is vital we preserve it from harmful frames. @irisvanrooij.bsky.social & I use our psych and computer science expertise to analyse and craft:
Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacy for Psychologists. doi.org/10.31234/osf...
🧵 1/
Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacy for Psychologists. doi.org/10.31234/osf...
🧵 1/
October 4, 2025 at 5:33 AM
New preprint 🌟 Psychology is core to cognitive science, and so it is vital we preserve it from harmful frames. @irisvanrooij.bsky.social & I use our psych and computer science expertise to analyse and craft:
Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacy for Psychologists. doi.org/10.31234/osf...
🧵 1/
Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacy for Psychologists. doi.org/10.31234/osf...
🧵 1/