Ulysses Pascal
@ulyssespascal.bsky.social
Geography Postdoc in Finance and Big Tech at VUB, Brussels. PhD in Information Studies from UCLA. Writing “Circuits of Finance: NASDAQ and the making of the global market.” Platforms | Information Infrastructure | AI | Sustainability | Uneven Geographies
Pinned
I have work on AI and platform capitalism that Id love to share at a conference. I also have developed several hands on AI digital methods and LLM forensics workshops (please invite me to your classrooms). Manifesting more scholarly community 2025
Reposted by Ulysses Pascal
"A US regulator ruled on Thursday that Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company had acted illegally by using dozens of methane gas turbines to power massive data centers in Tennessee"
Not only is Xai designing software that causes massive harm in form of generated abuse, it's hurting communities
Not only is Xai designing software that causes massive harm in form of generated abuse, it's hurting communities
Elon Musk’s xAI datacenter generating extra electricity illegally, regulator rules
Win for Memphis activists who say ‘Colossus’ facilities add extra pollution to already overburdened communities
www.theguardian.com
January 16, 2026 at 2:40 PM
"A US regulator ruled on Thursday that Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company had acted illegally by using dozens of methane gas turbines to power massive data centers in Tennessee"
Not only is Xai designing software that causes massive harm in form of generated abuse, it's hurting communities
Not only is Xai designing software that causes massive harm in form of generated abuse, it's hurting communities
Reposted by Ulysses Pascal
I'm co-chairing the Society for Social Studies of Science @4sweb.bsky.social Conference in Toronto, Oct 2026. #STS #scipol #innovation
Theme: "TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures".
Open panel submissions portal is open! ls!
Deadline: 2nd February 2026
www.4sonline.org/about_the_co...
Theme: "TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures".
Open panel submissions portal is open! ls!
Deadline: 2nd February 2026
www.4sonline.org/about_the_co...
About the Conference
www.4sonline.org
January 14, 2026 at 4:12 PM
I'm co-chairing the Society for Social Studies of Science @4sweb.bsky.social Conference in Toronto, Oct 2026. #STS #scipol #innovation
Theme: "TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures".
Open panel submissions portal is open! ls!
Deadline: 2nd February 2026
www.4sonline.org/about_the_co...
Theme: "TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures".
Open panel submissions portal is open! ls!
Deadline: 2nd February 2026
www.4sonline.org/about_the_co...
I thought Bari Weiss was supposed to be a prominent critic of "cancel culture”
December 23, 2025 at 6:18 AM
I thought Bari Weiss was supposed to be a prominent critic of "cancel culture”
Reposted by Ulysses Pascal
It's worth watching for yourself.
cecot-60mins.mp4
drive.google.com
December 23, 2025 at 12:32 AM
It's worth watching for yourself.
Reposted by Ulysses Pascal
The real ai bubble is the billions of lines of technical debt tech firms accrued since the advent of vibe coding
December 20, 2025 at 4:22 PM
The real ai bubble is the billions of lines of technical debt tech firms accrued since the advent of vibe coding
Epstein was such a creep
December 20, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Epstein was such a creep
Who is in Lisbon for Digital Geographies 2025?
November 1, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Who is in Lisbon for Digital Geographies 2025?
Reposted by Ulysses Pascal
In 2008, Google created an ad-powered wiki encyclopedia called Knol, seen as a "Wikipedia killer" amid its highly-publicized launch. And the Wikimedia Foundation gave an unbothered response that I quite like: "the more good free content, the better for the world." Anyway Knol instantly flopped
October 29, 2025 at 2:37 PM
In 2008, Google created an ad-powered wiki encyclopedia called Knol, seen as a "Wikipedia killer" amid its highly-publicized launch. And the Wikimedia Foundation gave an unbothered response that I quite like: "the more good free content, the better for the world." Anyway Knol instantly flopped
G**kipedia v0.1 is an automated rewriting of history and it is just v0.1. With AI, oligarchs and authoritarians can create massive corpora that reframe any event or fact inline with their own political ideologies. One day this will be done in real time.
October 29, 2025 at 8:38 AM
G**kipedia v0.1 is an automated rewriting of history and it is just v0.1. With AI, oligarchs and authoritarians can create massive corpora that reframe any event or fact inline with their own political ideologies. One day this will be done in real time.
This isnt just ethnic cleansing it’s ethnic liquidation
There are no words for the level of sheer disgust I feel looking at this. Adorno was right, there is no such thing as actual humanity yet.
This is what Blair’s team created together with BCG
September 30, 2025 at 11:29 AM
This isnt just ethnic cleansing it’s ethnic liquidation
Merit based hiring is the first step to merit based firing archive.is/3FbPX
archive.is
August 18, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Merit based hiring is the first step to merit based firing archive.is/3FbPX
Reposted by Ulysses Pascal
"If you’re pasting in contracts, asking legal questions, or asking [the chatbot] for strategy, you're not getting legal advice…You’re generating discoverable evidence. No attorney-client privilege. No confidentiality. No ethical duty. No one to protect you."
If You've Asked ChatGPT a Legal Question, You May Have Accidentally Doomed Yourself in Court
Sam Altman has admitted that ChatGPT conversations can be used against you in court if they are subpoenaed.
futurism.com
July 28, 2025 at 7:56 PM
"If you’re pasting in contracts, asking legal questions, or asking [the chatbot] for strategy, you're not getting legal advice…You’re generating discoverable evidence. No attorney-client privilege. No confidentiality. No ethical duty. No one to protect you."
Reposted by Ulysses Pascal
The groypers running the White House's social media accounts have posted yet another piece of fascist Trump AI slopaganda which I won't reproduce here in full. However, the Gladiator-esque backdrop of US soldiers in desert camouflage holding back the pseudo-Roman crowd is quite fascinating
1/
1/
July 26, 2025 at 10:35 AM
The groypers running the White House's social media accounts have posted yet another piece of fascist Trump AI slopaganda which I won't reproduce here in full. However, the Gladiator-esque backdrop of US soldiers in desert camouflage holding back the pseudo-Roman crowd is quite fascinating
1/
1/
Reposted by Ulysses Pascal
Much funding in the justice & human rights sectors pivoted to "AI for good" and working with tech companies, weakening the work on important critical education and preventing harm. AI companies promised many fantasies they will NOT deliver. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Preventing Woke AI in the Federal Government
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose.
www.whitehouse.gov
July 24, 2025 at 5:53 AM
Much funding in the justice & human rights sectors pivoted to "AI for good" and working with tech companies, weakening the work on important critical education and preventing harm. AI companies promised many fantasies they will NOT deliver. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
I knew the US had a cruel obsession with torturing muslims but the level of inhumane disregard for life in Gaza is horrendous even for US standards
July 23, 2025 at 9:43 AM
I knew the US had a cruel obsession with torturing muslims but the level of inhumane disregard for life in Gaza is horrendous even for US standards
When does it stop being oligarchy and it is just authoritarianism though?
"Billionaire media oligarchs... many of them have clearly decided that multi-million dollar bribes and abandoning any form of journalistic integrity are a small price to pay for gutting regulatory oversight and lower taxes."
New in PN: CBS cancels Colbert as media continues to turn Trumpward
"For billionaires, palliating Trump is really just palliating themselves, since Trump stands for the inalienable truth that rich white guys should be allowed to do whatever they want without any accountability whatsoever."
"For billionaires, palliating Trump is really just palliating themselves, since Trump stands for the inalienable truth that rich white guys should be allowed to do whatever they want without any accountability whatsoever."
July 21, 2025 at 10:19 PM
When does it stop being oligarchy and it is just authoritarianism though?
I wish real life mag still existed. I have been writing a piece about ai, politics and chess that is too weird for academia. Are there other homes for tech/cultural criticism?
April 8, 2025 at 3:25 PM
I wish real life mag still existed. I have been writing a piece about ai, politics and chess that is too weird for academia. Are there other homes for tech/cultural criticism?
Auto-regressive state apparatus
guess where they got their weird trade deficit math from?
i went to the pit for y'all and brought back the screenshots with alt text
i went to the pit for y'all and brought back the screenshots with alt text
![chatgpt log:
What would be an easy way to calculate the tariffs that should be imposed on other countries so that the US is on even-playing fields when it comes to trade deficit? Set minimum at 10%.
Reasoned about trade tariffs and deficits for 10 seconds v
A straightforward (if naïve) method is to set the tariff rate for each trading partner equal to the percentage share of the trade deficit relative to that country's total imports-always no less than 10%. In formula form:
Tariff Rate (%) = max(10, (Trade Deficit ÷ Total Imports) *
100)
For example, if the US runs a $20 billion deficit on $100 billion worth of imports from a country, the calculated rate is (20/100)×100 = 20%. If the deficit were only 5%, you'd still impose a 10% floor.
This method ignores the intricate dynamics of international trade-such as elasticities, retaliatory measures, and supply chain nuances-but it provides a blunt, proportional rule to "level the playing field." One might implement it in Python like so:
[code]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:iyz5zf463ic52vqbonyu2ebu/bafkreigbalqxjorllnpelbwe5kcla5fdedxvgv3cicxdsrbdxarodif5ba@jpeg)
![Grok:
the deficit. The deficit as a percentage of total trade is
$295B/$582B = 50.69%. Using the formula Tariff% = 10% +
(Deficit% × Scaling Factor), we choose a scaling factor of 50 for illustration:
• Tariff = 10% + (50.69% × 50) = 10% + 25.345% = 35.345%, rounded to 35.3%.
This means a 35.3% tariff on Chinese goods could be proposed to offset the imbalance, aiming to reduce imports and encourage domestic production or exports.
Extending to Other Countries
To provide a broader view, here's a table of top US trading partners with 2024 deficits, using data from The Motley Fool and similar calculations (assuming scaling factor of 50 for consistency):
[data table headings]
Country
Deficit
(USD
Billion)
Total
Trade
(USD
Billion)
Deficit %
Calculate d Tariff %
China
-295
582
50.69%
35.3%
Mexico
-172
840
20.48%
20.2%
Vietnam
-123
(Data incomplet e, estimate)
~30%
25.0%
Ireland
-87
(Data incomplet e, estimate)
~25%
22.5%
Germany
-85
(Data incomplete estimate)
~20%
20.0%](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:iyz5zf463ic52vqbonyu2ebu/bafkreietqlxsi5akdrvtp2rwqpc6kt6g6bbb2dppqcfn2j4q7xkofn4f4y@jpeg)
April 3, 2025 at 6:59 AM
Auto-regressive state apparatus
A free chat interface is not open ai’s product!
You are criticizing the hype. Not the product.
Am i the only one who finds these takes naive and dangerous??
We are being categorized and surveilled by ai. It’s built into everything on the backend. The chat interface is just the 1% you see
You are criticizing the hype. Not the product.
Am i the only one who finds these takes naive and dangerous??
We are being categorized and surveilled by ai. It’s built into everything on the backend. The chat interface is just the 1% you see
"Is AI Worth It?" @jathansadowski.com @wolvendamien.bsky.social @danmcquillan.bsky.social and I say... hrmmm, maybe?
Just kidding, we say definitely not.
www.nobhillgazette.com/feature/is-a...
Just kidding, we say definitely not.
www.nobhillgazette.com/feature/is-a...
Is AI Worth It? A Growing Number of Artificial-Intelligence Skeptics Is Raising Doubts About a Utopian Future
If you listen to the heads of artificial-intelligence companies, the venture capitalists investing in them, the researchers and software engineers developing new models and apps, or the numerous techn...
www.nobhillgazette.com
March 30, 2025 at 12:03 PM
A free chat interface is not open ai’s product!
You are criticizing the hype. Not the product.
Am i the only one who finds these takes naive and dangerous??
We are being categorized and surveilled by ai. It’s built into everything on the backend. The chat interface is just the 1% you see
You are criticizing the hype. Not the product.
Am i the only one who finds these takes naive and dangerous??
We are being categorized and surveilled by ai. It’s built into everything on the backend. The chat interface is just the 1% you see
Is it unethical to get your Al to work better by telling it that it needs to do o good job or else its mom will die of cancer?
March 15, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Is it unethical to get your Al to work better by telling it that it needs to do o good job or else its mom will die of cancer?
If you submitted an article to a journal and they didn’t get back to you for 2+ years what do you do?
when i submit an article manuscript for peer review
a woman in a black jacket says " i 'll see you again in 25 years "
ALT: a woman in a black jacket says " i 'll see you again in 25 years "
media.tenor.com
February 22, 2025 at 1:43 PM
If you submitted an article to a journal and they didn’t get back to you for 2+ years what do you do?
In Rome they offered bread and circuses, in the US they offer chatbot arenas
February 19, 2025 at 2:15 PM
In Rome they offered bread and circuses, in the US they offer chatbot arenas
I work with AI in social science and it takes months of iterative improvement to engineer and evaluate prompts to ensure they don’t cause numerous bugs and unexpected behavior. Feeding government data into AI is dangerous www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...
Elon Musk’s DOGE is feeding sensitive federal data into AI to target cuts
U.S. DOGE Service workers embedded in the Education Department have been processing sensitive agency data using artificial intelligence.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 17, 2025 at 8:41 AM
I work with AI in social science and it takes months of iterative improvement to engineer and evaluate prompts to ensure they don’t cause numerous bugs and unexpected behavior. Feeding government data into AI is dangerous www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...
How did they ship this?
February 11, 2025 at 1:02 PM
How did they ship this?