iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Colleges need to stop teaching abstractions. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/colleges-n...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Colleges need to teach last-mile knowledge

Come down from the ladder of abstraction

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Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Some propositions about the aesthetics of looking at buildings. 1. A beautiful encounter should not require recollection. 2. An aesthetic theory should not require the job of picturing. 3. Remembering an experience and reproducing it .... hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/how-i-look...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

How I look at buildings, with aphantasia

A photograph is not a substitute

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Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

How I look at buildings, with aphantasia

A photograph is not a substitute

021

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Rob Sica @robsica.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

😺"Some people want a kind of boy scouts program to counter 'brain rot' and 'cognitive decline.' Jonathan Haidt’s four proposed norms call for keeping kids away from smartphones and social media, advocating 'more independence, free play, and responsibility in the real world.' Basically boy scouts."

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Darwin and AI

Relax. Humans are not degenerating.

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Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

H.G. Wells has had an outsized influence on how people think about evolution, about how technology (like AI) will turn us into helpless, hairless blobs. Humans will be fine. There is no Brain Rot. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/darwin-and...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Darwin and AI

Relax. Humans are not degenerating.

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Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Most student born after 2006 have never held a dictionary in their hands. Never understood the weigh of words and they are There for the using, as tools. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/aristotle-...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Aristotle and AI

Before tokens, words

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Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Confused about the story about the OpenAI agent swarms and the Hugging Face incident in the news? Look no further. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/just-one-m...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Just one more thing....

What Columbo might say about the Hugging Face postmortems...

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Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

I would love any feedback and critique however negative. I’m writing a follow up.

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Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

That "big five" personality test was never robust and it is the worst possible instrument for giving AI a personality. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/teaching-t...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Teaching the Ocean to Swim

Why LLMs keep failing their Big Five personality tests

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Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

There's no envelope when you're chatting with an LLM. There's no presumption of privacy at all. The medium is eating the message. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/the-singul...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

The Singularity is Post-Privacy

The medium eats the message

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Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

There's no envelope when you're chatting with an LLM. There's no presumption of privacy at all. The medium is eating the message. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/the-singul...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

The Singularity is Post-Privacy

The medium eats the message

022

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

If you saw that viral Talenti gelato piece you know what I'll be saying about higher education. Quality has declined but nobody notices because of the nice packaging. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/what-if-wi...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

What if Wirecutter Rated Universities?

It might be the end of the shell game

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Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Michael Carlson @micarlson.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

@anecdotal.bsky.social that old dilemma of texts & reception

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Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

What if Wirecutter Rated Universities?

It might be the end of the shell game

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Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

This is an excellent point I will quote you feel free to say it on the other sites too

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Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Mario Rustan @mariorustan.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Yes, you might have said this in the piece but it's interesting that while in the 1970s computer research was the pride of universities, and to some degrees biotech and robotics are for today's university, but nobody shares excitement in AI research. Also nice footnote on the public phones.

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Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Colleges & universities are successfully saying 'no' to AI. Whether that's a win or not is up to you. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/universiti...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Universities would prefer not to.

AI and the degree monopoly

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Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

It surprises me how @aaup.org does not see how this is important.

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Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Part 2 -- learning outcomes as a Gordian knot and a Hippocratic miasma. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/the-miasma...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

The Miasma Theory of Education

The knockoff educational product economy (Part 2)

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Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Why the questions you ask will have more and more similar answers. open.substack.com/pub/hollisro...

open.substack.com

Stereotype Threat

Inference and prejudice

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Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

This was written in response to a conversation about how hiring more conservative faculty was the most important problem higher ed should address. Ha. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/look-on-my...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Look on my Outcomes, ye Mighty and despair

The knockoff educational product economy (Part 1)

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Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Part 2 -- learning outcomes as a Gordian knot and a Hippocratic miasma. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/the-miasma...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

The Miasma Theory of Education

The knockoff educational product economy (Part 2)

001

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Look on my Outcomes, ye Mighty and despair

The knockoff educational product economy (Part 1)

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Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Why the questions you ask will have more and more similar answers. open.substack.com/pub/hollisro...

open.substack.com

Stereotype Threat

Inference and prejudice

001

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

On all the philosophers working to make AI "better." hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/why-cant-a...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Why Can't a Model Be More Like a Man?

Everybody's Alfred P. Doolittle now

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Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

On all the philosophers working to make AI "better." hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/why-cant-a...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Why Can't a Model Be More Like a Man?

Everybody's Alfred P. Doolittle now

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Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

They're presented as if interpretation in the new book "isn't new" and that was my read too. Again, returning to Stowe.

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Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

I don't think that's true. This doesn't seem to be about interpretation but data.

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Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

This part I don't follow since HB Stowe already undermined that hagiography in basing Miss Ophelia in part on them, at least that's how I always read that particular bit of satire.

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Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

I'm tired of politics and so here is cultural politics: hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/how-to-lis...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

How to Listen to a Tarantino Movie

Starting with "Django Unchained"

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Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

I'm tired of politics and so here is cultural politics: hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/how-to-lis...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

How to Listen to a Tarantino Movie

Starting with "Django Unchained"

001

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Why to resist posting what everyone else does. open.substack.com/pub/hollisro...

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Why to resist posting what everyone else does. open.substack.com/pub/hollisro...

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Happy Father's Day review of @read.lukeburgis.com's book about how to be your own person. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/the-one-an...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

*The One and the Ninety-Nine* [review]

Luke Burgis's moving new book

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Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Are there really Marxists in higher ed? If there were, there would be more attention to students outside the elite schools. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/from-the-a...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

From the Athens of Veracruz to ChatGPT

Norma Sancho on the emptiness of online education

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Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Are there really Marxists in higher ed? If there were, there would be more attention to students outside the elite schools. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/from-the-a...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

From the Athens of Veracruz to ChatGPT

Norma Sancho on the emptiness of online education

001

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Perhaps in a few years you too could leave the rat race and start a farm on Mars. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/trad-husba...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Trad-husband jobs on Mars

Thoughts on Banff and Brigadoon

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Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Perhaps in a few years you too could leave the rat race and start a farm on Mars. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/trad-husba...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Trad-husband jobs on Mars

Thoughts on Banff and Brigadoon

043

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

My Father’s Daughter @aninsggirb.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

“…the only defensible reason for universities to remain in operation is to offer students an opportunity to learn from faculty whose expertise surpasses current AI.” - @anecdotal.bsky.social www.newyorker.com/news/fault-l...

newyorker.com

Why the Future of College Could Look Like OnlyFans

Universities have become generic, one professor and former dean argues. In the A.I. era, students may demand something they can’t get elsewhere.

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Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Everyone hates them so why? open.substack.com/pub/hollisro...

open.substack.com

Discuss Among Yourselves

Federally subsidized "comments" degrees

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