Matthew Kirschenbaum
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mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Matthew Kirschenbaum
@mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Critical tech and AI. Cats, letterpress printing, tabletop gaming.

Distinguished University Professor at UMD; come January, Commonwealth Professor at UVA.

I am speaking only for myself and as a private citizen here. Being a dick gets you blocked.
Thanks. Need to read and digest—
November 20, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Heh, sorry. Originals are paywalled so this is best alternative.
November 20, 2025 at 2:44 PM
I remember he sort of threw up his hands and declared “You just need to get it.”
November 19, 2025 at 11:46 PM
<psst> David Greetham’s Introduction to Textual Scholarship, which had just come out.
November 19, 2025 at 11:43 PM
Jerome McGann made us buy a clothbound university press book for $60, an astronomical sum in 1990s money. It wasn’t just, and nowadays would be at least a minor social media scandal. Still, you can guess where this is going: the book has remained on my shelf and I go back to it not infrequently.
November 19, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Though I think it’s hard to generalize, even amongst students in the same class as the same institution. For some there will be genuine hardship, and there should be options in place; for others not so much, and they should have the same opportunity we did to find satisfaction in building a library.
November 19, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Maybe @subcontrarian.bsky.social has a perspective.
November 19, 2025 at 6:16 PM
I actually never went very far down the cogsci rabbit hole, though MT and I did briefly overlap as colleagues here at Maryland.
November 19, 2025 at 6:16 PM
That is so kind! Thank you. I will tell Rita.
November 19, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Again, exactly what I was looking for. Thank you.
November 19, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Yes, thank you, this is exactly what I was after. I will look up the Willis posthaste. Appreciated.
November 19, 2025 at 3:43 PM
You don’t say.
November 19, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Put writing high quality literary text on the list of things that AIs used to not be able to do but now can do

With fine-tuning, now outperforming MFA-trained expert writers at emulating award-winning authors when rated blindly by MFA-trained experts papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
November 19, 2025 at 2:40 PM
From what I understand, imitation of style is a fairly common writing workshop exercise. That’s not what’s happening here of course, but imitation is not necessarily a creative dead end.
November 19, 2025 at 2:28 PM