Ralph Drayton
@rddrayton.bsky.social
Historian of science and medicine, esp. c.1250-1700, esp. France, esp. medical authority, astrology, religion, and magic
Portland, Oregon, the biofilm
Portland, Oregon, the biofilm
Hot take: turkey is really good and there are many ways to prepare it, easy and complicated (but fun and rewarding!), and you can get great advice about that and not fuck it up.
I’m the only one in my family who likes turkey and it makes me sad sometimes but whatever
every fucking year man
November 24, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Hot take: turkey is really good and there are many ways to prepare it, easy and complicated (but fun and rewarding!), and you can get great advice about that and not fuck it up.
Had a good time helping out a colleague last night to track down some racist arguments by Voltaire for a student who was interested in the matter. Great teaching moment for the student re: research techniques.
November 24, 2025 at 1:54 AM
Had a good time helping out a colleague last night to track down some racist arguments by Voltaire for a student who was interested in the matter. Great teaching moment for the student re: research techniques.
AI isn’t “just a tool.” It’s people doing things. Look at what the people who built and maintain Grok, for instance, are doing.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
French authorities investigate alleged Holocaust denial posts on Elon Musk’s Grok AI
X chatbot suggested gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkenau were ‘designed for disinfection’ not mass executions Europe live
www.theguardian.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:22 PM
AI isn’t “just a tool.” It’s people doing things. Look at what the people who built and maintain Grok, for instance, are doing.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
French authorities are taking X to court because Grok is now doing straight up holocaust denial. Gas chambers intended for disinfection, cyanide residue tiny, ‘story’ persists because of taboo against critical examination. (Full translation in alt text)
November 20, 2025 at 1:03 PM
French authorities are taking X to court because Grok is now doing straight up holocaust denial. Gas chambers intended for disinfection, cyanide residue tiny, ‘story’ persists because of taboo against critical examination. (Full translation in alt text)
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
(Talk) From Sacred Plants to Golden Wine: The Alchemist’s Art of Healing histoiresante.blogspot.com/2025/11/lart... #histmed
November 20, 2025 at 1:29 PM
(Talk) From Sacred Plants to Golden Wine: The Alchemist’s Art of Healing histoiresante.blogspot.com/2025/11/lart... #histmed
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
Ellis makes the inoculation order seem like the top-down decision of wise George Washington rather than what it really was: Washington changed his mind after being pressured to do so by his soldiers, officers, and medical staffers (and after his wife Martha sought inoculation for herself)
November 20, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Ellis makes the inoculation order seem like the top-down decision of wise George Washington rather than what it really was: Washington changed his mind after being pressured to do so by his soldiers, officers, and medical staffers (and after his wife Martha sought inoculation for herself)
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
Ah, Burns does mention Washington’s inoculation of the Army, but the documentary made the odd claim that new recruits were carrying smallpox into the Army. That’s new true. New recruits were demanding to be inoculated because smallpox was already in the Army. #HATM
November 20, 2025 at 1:29 AM
Ah, Burns does mention Washington’s inoculation of the Army, but the documentary made the odd claim that new recruits were carrying smallpox into the Army. That’s new true. New recruits were demanding to be inoculated because smallpox was already in the Army. #HATM
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
authors you have the chance to do the funniest thing right now
AI advocates have warned that if every author in the class action filed a claim, it would "financially ruin" the entire industry.
Authors celebrate “historic” settlement coming soon in Anthropic class action
Advocates fear such settlements will “financially ruin” the AI industry.
arstechnica.com
November 18, 2025 at 4:35 AM
authors you have the chance to do the funniest thing right now
The show offers me no explanation for why Native Americans would fight with the French or the British.
November 17, 2025 at 4:44 AM
The show offers me no explanation for why Native Americans would fight with the French or the British.
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
Congratulations to @rachelschine.bsky.social for winning the Best Book Award from the Middle East Medievalists association for her book, Black Knights: Arabic Epic and the Making of Medieval Race! Brava!!! 🍾🍾🍾
Here's the link, if you haven't already read it: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
Here's the link, if you haven't already read it: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
Black Knights
A new account of racial logics in premodern Islamic literature. In Black Knights, Rachel Schine reveals how the Arabic-speaking world developed a different form of racial knowledge than their Europe...
press.uchicago.edu
November 14, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Congratulations to @rachelschine.bsky.social for winning the Best Book Award from the Middle East Medievalists association for her book, Black Knights: Arabic Epic and the Making of Medieval Race! Brava!!! 🍾🍾🍾
Here's the link, if you haven't already read it: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
Here's the link, if you haven't already read it: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
@rachelschine.bsky.social Congratulations on your book award!
November 15, 2025 at 3:27 AM
@rachelschine.bsky.social Congratulations on your book award!
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
The wonderful people at @uncpress.bsky.social sent me an advance copy of my book and I think I’ll have a little cry now. You can order it from here and it will arrive soon (use code 01UNCP30) for a discount uncpress.org/978146968920...
November 13, 2025 at 11:33 PM
The wonderful people at @uncpress.bsky.social sent me an advance copy of my book and I think I’ll have a little cry now. You can order it from here and it will arrive soon (use code 01UNCP30) for a discount uncpress.org/978146968920...
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
Word of the Day is ‘catchfart’ (17th century): an obsequious individual who sucks up to the boss and always follows the political wind.
November 7, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Word of the Day is ‘catchfart’ (17th century): an obsequious individual who sucks up to the boss and always follows the political wind.
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
If the sandwich don’t split, you must acquit
Defense says that the officer's testimony was "very questionable" because he said the sandwich both exploded in spray of mustard and onions and also landed in its wrapper on the ground.
November 5, 2025 at 8:29 PM
If the sandwich don’t split, you must acquit
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
BREAKING: Colorado voters approved a ballot measure that would raise state income taxes on higher-earning households to fund free meals for all public school students.
Follow AP for live updates.
Follow AP for live updates.
Live updates: US voters head to the polls in first general election since Trump's return to power
One year after Donald Trump retook the presidency, 2025 Election Day includes closely watched races for New York City mayor, New Jersey governor and California's Proposition 50.
bit.ly
November 5, 2025 at 3:33 AM
BREAKING: Colorado voters approved a ballot measure that would raise state income taxes on higher-earning households to fund free meals for all public school students.
Follow AP for live updates.
Follow AP for live updates.
From this time last year
November 1, 2025 at 6:38 PM
From this time last year
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
"Many of the deals OpenAI has struck — with chipmakers, cloud computing companies and others — are strangely circular. OpenAI receives billions from tech companies before sending those billions back to the same companies to pay for computing power and other services." www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
How OpenAI Uses Complex and Circular Deals to Fuel Its Multibillion-Dollar Rise
Here are seven unusual financial agreements helping to drive the ambitions of the poster child of the A.I. revolution.
www.nytimes.com
October 31, 2025 at 10:58 AM
"Many of the deals OpenAI has struck — with chipmakers, cloud computing companies and others — are strangely circular. OpenAI receives billions from tech companies before sending those billions back to the same companies to pay for computing power and other services." www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
My latest: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Cleaning the scientific house: Rebuilding trust in science requires confronting the harms of ghostwriting
American science is under attack. Recent cuts to funding and staffing of federal agencies, layoffs of scientists, and rescission of billions of dollars in grants are unprecedented in US history and th...
www.science.org
October 30, 2025 at 6:52 PM
My latest: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
When people learn with ChatGPT instead of following their own searches, they end up knowing less, caring less, and producing worse advice, even when the facts are the same.
Friction is an essential ingredient for learning! Convenience makes us shallow.
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Friction is an essential ingredient for learning! Convenience makes us shallow.
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Experimental evidence of the effects of large language models versus web search on depth of learning
Abstract. The effects of using large language models (LLMs) versus traditional web search on depth of learning are explored. A theory is proposed that when
academic.oup.com
October 28, 2025 at 3:14 PM
When people learn with ChatGPT instead of following their own searches, they end up knowing less, caring less, and producing worse advice, even when the facts are the same.
Friction is an essential ingredient for learning! Convenience makes us shallow.
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Friction is an essential ingredient for learning! Convenience makes us shallow.
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
“Tell your children who the cowards were.”
October 27, 2025 at 10:19 PM
“Tell your children who the cowards were.”
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
A grave of a Roman physician in Bingen dating to the 2nd c. AD contained a remarkable set of medical instruments, including cupping cups with a stand in the shape of a grapevine.
These cups were used for therapeutic suction or bloodletting, a practice with deep roots in Greco-Roman . 🧵1/ 2
📷 me
🏺
These cups were used for therapeutic suction or bloodletting, a practice with deep roots in Greco-Roman . 🧵1/ 2
📷 me
🏺
October 22, 2025 at 7:06 AM
A grave of a Roman physician in Bingen dating to the 2nd c. AD contained a remarkable set of medical instruments, including cupping cups with a stand in the shape of a grapevine.
These cups were used for therapeutic suction or bloodletting, a practice with deep roots in Greco-Roman . 🧵1/ 2
📷 me
🏺
These cups were used for therapeutic suction or bloodletting, a practice with deep roots in Greco-Roman . 🧵1/ 2
📷 me
🏺