iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alias Messier @amampersand.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

#mekons last night at sf elks lodge with a song they say “doesn’t mean anything anymore” 🤣

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Alias Messier @amampersand.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

All San Franciscans should be voting HELL NO on Prop D’s anti-democratic bs

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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 02/10/2026

Manny's cafe was once a hotspot for public chats about politics. But it avoided any discussion of San Francisco's role in incubating tech fascism. Then Manny ran for office as a darling of the tech billionaire set. Now he's dropped out amid sex assault claims. sfstandard.com/2026/10/01/m...

sfstandard.com

Manny Yekutiel drops out of SF supervisor race

In the hours after the Standard reported new allegations of sexual assault against the candidate, Yekutiel had lost numerous endorsements, including Mayor Daniel Lurie.

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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

It's good news that NY Governor Kathy Hochul has appointed Leticia James special prosecutor in this case, and here remember that Hochul became governor because Governor Andrew Cuomo was forced to resign in disgrace because of his serial sexual harassment...

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Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

New from @timnitgebru.blacksky.app and me: "It is high time for us to regulate usage of systems sold as “AI”, not because they are magical machines, but because they are error-prone products that shouldn’t be used in high stakes scenarios." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

theguardian.com

Forget ‘superintelligence’: error-prone AI nearly sparked world war three this month | Timnit Gebru and Emily M Bender

The risks of AI aren’t what we think they are, as a recent security incident between China and the United States reveals

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Michael Li (李之樸) @mcpli.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Washington, D.C. mural to suffragette Mabel Ping-Hua Lee (李彬華), who campaigned for women to get the right to vote even though she herself was unable to vote because of the Chinese Exclusion Act.

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Alias Messier @amampersand.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Today the vast majority of one of my classes let me know, in no uncertain terms, that they do not want to read their homework on a screen. They do not like reading on screens. They want print. They have a whole litany of good reasons. It was amazing. #amteaching

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Alias Messier @amampersand.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

All of this. She nails it, as usual.

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COYOTE @coyotemedia.org · 24/09/2026

Gavin Newsom, who has spent the past year courting billionaires and the right wing, is "a political juker — an advocate for nothing but his own ambitions as the Democrats’ best boy," writes @soleilho.com. www.coyotemedia.org/what-is-the-...

coyotemedia.org

What Is the Point of Gavin Newsom?

You can’t build a movement around a person whose only commitment is staying uncommitted.

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Alyssa S. @drsepinwall.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I've been starting ch. 5 of my book, about my Author #5. I was going to start with a story about her husband being subpoenaed & the news calling her "his wife" - without knowing she was also a blacklistee. But I'll start with this! It's a much better kickoff (Author #5 would show up!).

Ad that James Baldwin placed to get people to talk about the civil rights march in DC, 1963.

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Mary Lewis @profmarylewis.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Excellent oped in @theharvardcrimson.bsky.social by my @harvard.edu colleague Jill Lepore. www.thecrimson.com/article/2026...

But of course, the machine conversation is not free. It comes at the cost of our common life together as teachers, learners, and researchers, colleagues, mentors, and friends. Not to mention, supervising student researchers is our job.

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Alias Messier @amampersand.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Ok, so NOT the “only” (as Gebru corrects in follow-ups). But certainly a crucial voice and take that I’m glad to get at this particular moment.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

It is nearly impossible for this idea to not to be utter horseshit under present economic conditions. The existing third party evaluators (like METR) are basically Anthropic et al in a trench coat. And of course they are. The funding base and training pathways all enforce the same values and norms.

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Alias Messier @amampersand.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Fascinating to understand that @naomiaklein.bsky.social @ @astra.bsky.social’s 2025 article was the start, because it *absolutely* was the biggest element of a number of things that clicked into place for me in spring 2025. My thinking (& reading, & work) have not been the same since.

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Alias Messier @amampersand.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Ok, took me a minute to get to this, but IT’S REALLY GOOD. Excellent entry point. Gonna use with students.

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Alias Messier @amampersand.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

RT if you've never had a tab of ChatGPT open, period.

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 08/09/2026

Asking Gemini to lie to you, I mean summarize for you, doesn’t count as doing the reading

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s. e. smith @sesmith.lol · 08/09/2026

I live for that. I live for the incredibly diverse spectrum of people in my life with centuries of combined experience who argue and riff off and care for each other. genAI is just a house of mirrors, sound and fury signifying nothing. I find that repellent.

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s. e. smith @sesmith.lol · 08/09/2026

All else aside there is nothing I want or need genAI to do for me. I like reading. I like doing research. I like playing around in spreadsheets. I like interviewing people. I like writing. I like doing these things for myself because I take pleasure in the doing and they make me a better thinker.

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𝕯𝖆𝖓🍂🎃🕸️ @arepublic86.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Charlotte Wainwright restoring and saving old/ancient books. www.wainwrightbookbinding.com

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Alias Messier @amampersand.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Last week, I provided students with my Reasons to Hate AI mini comic, & now you can have it, too. Thanks to @nsousanis.bsky.social for suggestions & so many for the accumulated info, esp. @emilymbender.bsky.social, @alexhanna.bsky.social, @karenhao.bsky.social , @dairinstitute.bsky.social.

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Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

They’ll keep telling us it’s inevitable but NYC and other large school systems are starting to say no to AI, recognizing it’s not a legitimate tool for k-12 learning. Even some universities are putting their foot down, like U Chicago (and some law schools) www.nyc.gov/mayors-offic...

nyc.gov

Mayor Mamdani and Chancellor Samuels Put Students First with Nation’s Broadest Generative AI Moratorium in Schools

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Rebecca Scales @rebeccapscales.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

My student introduced me to some new vocabulary today:

Meat proxy: a person who forwards AI-generated text, code, or other output without reading, understanding, or validating it. The person acts only as a relay between the AI system and the intended recipient.

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Ghost in the Machine @ghostdoc2026.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

AI is a marketing term. What is being sold? GHOST IN THE MACHINE is coming to @pbs.org and YouTube September 14th at 10pm ET / 7pm PT!

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Ashley @ashleysays.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Chefs kiss

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Alias Messier @amampersand.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

I’m partway through chapter two and have already had several OOOOhhhhhhhh… riiiight kind of connect the dots moments.

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Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

I have to believe that the slightly larger portion of us do not regard our humanity as a meatsuit seperatimg us from pure productivity. But it’s hard sometimes.

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mattie lubchansky @mattielubchansky.com · 24/08/2026

the way of the future | patreon.com/lubchansky

PANEL 1: MATTIE is looking down. A SECOND PERSON is on the ground.
MATTIE: WHAT ARE YOU DOING DOWN THERE?
PERSON: OH I'M MOVING AROUND LIKE A LITTLE WORM.

PANEL 2: Closer in on the PERSON, who smiles beatifically.
MATTIE: SEEMS UNCOMFORTABLE.
PERSON: IT'S THE FUTURE! ALL THE BIG MONEY IS ON IT, MANY ARTICLES AND LEADING FIGURES ARE SAYING IT AS WELL.
PERSON: WHO AM I TO ARGUE!

PANEL 3: MATTIE puts a hand to her chin.
MATTIE: I JUST DON'T SEE THE BENEFIT. FOR MY OWN LIFE.
PERSON: YOU CAN EITHER GET WITH IT OR PERISH IN THE FUCKING DUST, OLD WOMAN.

PANEL 4: The PERSON holds up their phone. On it is a photo of a tech CEO-looking guy on the ground, being interviewed by a journalist
TEXT: DAVOS
TEXT: CEO OF SquirmX SAYS WRITHING AROUND WILL ACCOUNT FOR 700% OF US ECONOMY WITHIN 2 MONTHS
PERSON: THAT'S A DIRECT QUOTE.

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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Geologists and evolutionary biologists do not have to debate creationists. Astronomers do not have to debate pre-Copernican theories of the heavens. Doctors do not have to debate anti-vax nuts. Climate scientists do not have to debate industry-funded deniers. All that goes for racists times ten.

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Alias Messier @amampersand.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

“to think for themselves, to listen to one another without the cacophony of other (disembodied and non-human) voices in the room, to make mistakes, and to change their minds as they engage with thinkers of the past, with us, and with their fellow students in good faith, face-to-face”

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Alias Messier @amampersand.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I have been dying on this hill for a while now, please join me, the grass is green. But the number of students who LIT UP in yesterday’s first classes when I announced that our class would be an “AI-free zone” gives me hope.

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Dr. Émile P. Torres @xriskology.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

The voices of people—especially Black women—in marginalized communities are often systematically erased by white men. Attention-seeking AI guru Connor Leahy is now outlining an intellectual history of SV that is virtually identical to the one outlined by me and Gebru. 1/3

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Alias Messier @amampersand.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I think it must have been this one unless they also released a cd of The King & Eye. But I couldn’t play it because I didn’t own a CD player for several more years.

Album cover for The Residents’ “Freak Show” (1989) shows disturbing carnivalesque cartoon of performers without skin wearing iconic top hatted eyeball heads.

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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

LowerEd won by eating HigherEd.

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Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Preparing for a workshop on teaching critical thinking in STEM in light of current, let's say pressures, and decided I should start my talk with a slides that lays out the values that form my premises:

Slide header: Premises/values: Cards on the table

Bullet points:
* I care more about students’ learning than about the “accuracy” of grades or the prestige associated with a specific degree
* I want to work collaboratively with my students, rather than policing them
* I don’t want to spend any time reading, much less providing feedback on, something nobody wrote
* Science is a human, communal process; there is no knowing without knowers; and our work cannot be autocompleted
* Deep thinking and human connection are always more important than polish, speed, or “productivity”
* Research agendas should not be set by & for industry

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Alias Messier @amampersand.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

TFW you use the private chat during a dept meeting to convince a colleague to last-min order @karenhao.bsky.social’s Empire of AI for a course instead of whatever the previous plan was…

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Alias Messier @amampersand.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

An excellent explainer — and therefore an excellent last-minute addition to my fall syllabus!

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Brett "Solidarity 2026" Banditelli @banditelli.org · 14/08/2026

Seems like all the news is bad, but remember there are millions of people organizing for A Good News Day, often of which will be ignored unless you're connected to them. In the meantime, enjoy this UNEDITED PELICAN SESSION!!! 🪶

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Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 13/08/2026

🔇 🔇 🔇 My book, Deep Unlearning, is now available for preorders! I don't know how people write so many books because this one took a lot out of me. It turns out, I had a lot to say 😂, with editors cutting out 50k of my words 🫣 ✴️ You can now preorder it at www.simonandschuster.com/books/Deep-U....

Cover of my new book, Deep Unlearning: The Rise of AI and The Radicalization of a Tech Idealist.

There are two concentric circles in the book, the left being circuits in black an white, and the right being a bunch of dots with orange accents. The cover background is cream. And the words are written in black except for "Un" which is in orange.

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Nick Sousanis @nsousanis.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

I think what’s going on with Ai is antithetical to education, and anti-life. We need to make different choices…

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Alias Messier @amampersand.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

RIP John Crowley, who has loomed large in my reading habits for decades. Little, Big is among my most-read novels, and many of his lesser-known works, such as The Four Freedoms, have likewise stalked my imaginings in all the best of ways.

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Jane Rosenzweig @janerosenzweig.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

On professors retiring early because of AI. This is the thing: we are going to need a new approach and a lot of good people are trying to figure it out but the headwinds are strong. I think it can be done, but we need to start by talking about writing courses. /1 www.chronicle.com/article/thes...

Kalve said her colleagues talk all the time about how to recognize and prevent AI cheating. But she’s consumed by larger questions that she said colleges aren’t confronting: What skills are they really trying to teach, and how do they teach them, in this upended world? “I think, really, that just has to be a whole new approach,” Kalve said.

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Alias Messier @amampersand.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Excellent framing. The big tech capture of educators who somehow believe their responsibility to students means ‘teaching’ AI use should have trouble sustaining that take in the face of increasingly skeptical students. Love to see it.

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Alias Messier @amampersand.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Con 100% confirm. One of my most-favorite recent reads.

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EMILY WILSON @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

I wrote about the Nolan Odyssey for the LRB. I'll summarize some of my main points below, in case you don't feel like reading all that. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

lrb.co.uk

Emily Wilson · An Uncomplicated Man

As they say at the awards shows, I was humbled to learn that Christopher Nolan has read at least the first line of my...

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