iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Caddie Alford

James Bridle @jamesbridle.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Ugh, two emails from students on the same day, saying how important my work is to them and asking for help and collaboration. Both 100% AI-generated verbiage, referencing disparate works no human would put together. Because they don't, in fact, know my work. What a waste of everything.

1213

Caddie Alford @caddiealford.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Rob Asen, Jon Carter, + I will be leading a @rhetsoc.bsky.social workshop: "Rhetorical Democracy and Digitality in a Reactionary Era." We'd love to assist w/works-in-progress--please share w/anyone who might be interested! Let us know if want to see the full proposal. #TeamRhetoric #AcademicSky

$Image of fractured smiling emoji from Alan Warburton, Better Images of AI project.$

121

Caddie Alford @caddiealford.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

College of Humanities and Sciences: MOAR research! Also: fall fac mtg Wed, for 2 hrs! On top of midterm grades, submit progress reports--today! 2 hour mtg on Fri to apply for leave! Quick reimbursement? Hour long back-and-forth through 3rd party system! Wait, where's everyone's research?!? 🫠

120

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Would you like to be more informed about so-called "AI"? Got an icky feeling about it, but not quite sure why? Curious for more in-depth history, delivered with some sly humor? This movie is for you!

424883

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Repair Day is coming up in Oct; I was asked to review my various Places articles on the subject over the past decade. It's nice when an accidental series emerges over time, when a single thread slowly braids itself with others — and you can continually reflect and revise your thinking.

Over the past decade I’ve written an accidental series of pieces for Places about repair: my “Maintenance and Care” (2018), which has been republished and translated widely, examined repair thinking across scales: from software and gadgets to interiors, architectures, and regional infrastructures. My “Step by Step” (2024) then explored the history of the repair manual, and asked if its utility might extend to social and ecological realms. Yet as I’ve grappled the fragility and irreparability of the human body through “Purity and Security” (2020), which addressed pandemic-era plexiglass as security theater, and “Concealment and Compassion” (2021), on the design of spaces for memory care — and as we’ve faced the inevitability of climate collapse and witnessed the cowardice of institutional leadership in the face of fascism — I’ve embraced the insufficiency of “repair” in addressing the profundity of dysfunction across sites and systems. I return to the article that initiated the whole series: “Community Plumbing” (2018) commemorated the sale of my family’s hardware store and explored the history of the site as a vital social infrastructure. It reminds me that we have the tools to reimagine and build anew; we have to teach one another how to use them.

2235

Reposted by Caddie Alford

ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 27/08/2026

reminder: our last discussion of Techno-Negative will be today at 6p GMT (in ~3 hours; earlier than usual) today we'll get to speak with @thomas-dekeyser.bsky.social as well. i've got lots of reflections, thoughts, questions, etc; if you'd like to drop in and join us for the hour, please do!

buttondown.com

[AI Skeptics] Techno-Negative conclusive reflections

Hey there. In 3 hours at 6pm GMT, we're going to get together and wrap up our discussions about Techno-Negative by Thomas Dekeyser ... with Thomas Dekeyser....

161

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Kai Bosworth @kaibosworth.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

new from me on the Verso blog: what happened to the U.S. climate movement? what can we learn from it's dissipation? and in a time of quietude, what can be gleaned from contrasts with the data center rebellion? www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/w...

versobooks.com

Where is the U.S. climate movement?

In the United States, there is a pervasive sense that the once-ascendent climate movement is in disarray or has even disappeared. The prior decade saw the actions and ambitions of climate activism bec...

14519

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Caddie Alford @caddiealford.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Last semester I wrote a hybrid criticism piece (part personal essay + part film review, w/ philosophical implications + political stakes). Any ideas on where to submit it for publication? Most of the usual shoot-for-the-moon spots (LARB, n+1, Rumpus) never got back/rejected…

141

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Men are mad at me.

272253

Caddie Alford @caddiealford.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

141

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Caddie Alford @caddiealford.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

NOVA and DC!!! I'm giving a Profs and Pints talk on 8/9 in Arlington--it'll be a lively one, I promise. Please spread the word (link in comments for tickets)! #NOVA #AcademicSky #PublicHumanities #CriticalAI #TeamRhetoric

Post advertising a Profs and Pints on Big Tech.

162

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Reed Van Schenck @reedvanschenck.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Just published in "Information, Communication & Society" about how hate sites stay online when they get kicked off the internet. If you've ever heard of Kiwi Farms before, it'll be an interesting read, and if you have not, I'm jealous. Grab a free copy here: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/6G987...

tandfonline.com

Replatformization and the expansion of the alt-tech ecosystem on kiwi farms

This paper develops ‘replatformization’ to evaluate the re-constitutive practices of alternative platforms. Alt-tech platforms that cater to ‘deplatformed’ reactionary users characterize themselves...

062

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

I sincerely think that we can do this.

11103

Caddie Alford @caddiealford.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

YES + as I always say, once you have more CONTEXT, you'll have decisions to make about what company you want to keep....when the worst of the worst have alway been excited about "AI" re: Epstein's 2002 "AI" symposium, where "superintelligence" comes from, Thiel's asides to Altman....

130

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

I selected readings that together build a public vocabulary for what AI means. The tech doesn’t have to work as promised for the tech to rework everything that matters. That is a more powerful analysis than what is Musk saying on X or debating water cooling science with sealions.

115021

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 03/08/2026

Want to Fight Back Against Big Tech? Start Here. “Democrats cannot just ‘win the midterms’ and go back to life before Donald Trump and his army of tech bros upended our way of life,” writes @tressiemcphd.bsky.social gift link www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/o...

nytimes.com

Opinion | Want to Fight Back Against Big Tech? Start Here. (Gift Article)

A.I. is a political theory. And it is gobbling up our democracy.

318588

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Kai Bosworth @kaibosworth.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Now available for pre-order: "Unsettling Land: Relational Practice for Contemporary Politics" edited by Preeti Sampat & Andrés León Araya. My chapter is "Settler Pipeline Struggles in the Context of Indigenous Resurgence in the US Great Plains."

Cover image of book "Unsettling land: Relational Practice for Contemporary Politics. " pre-order at upcolorado.com and use promo code SARA26 to get 40% off

154

Caddie Alford @caddiealford.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

162

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Ryan Broderick @ryanhatesthis.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Companies think we won't be able to tell but there will be signs everywhere that we can!!

720331

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 27/07/2026

The Venn diagram of political project of AI, MAGA authoritarianism, and global white Christian nationalism is basically a circle. Political leaders and policy experts ignore these connections at our peril

Musk constantly talks about a technological future of dazzling plenty that will extend to all: In the Economist interview, he predicted that by 2036 we'll see such "amazing abundance" that money will become meaningless. But his own rhetoric suggests he envisions something more like techno-utopia only for a select interplanetary elite
—after the dust settles from racial apocalypse on Earth. And as he himself has cryptically intimated on occasion, he's gearing up his SpaceX rockets for exactly that future.

064

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Molly White @molly.wiki · 27/07/2026

My newest Citation Needed project made an appearance on @lastweektonight.com! It’s a work in progress, but you can see the new interactive version of my map of the Trump family’s crypto ventures at map.citationneeded.news.

John Oliver speaking on Last Week Tonight, gesturing to an overlay of my web of the Trump family’s crypto businesses. The subtitles say “keeping track of them have wound up making diagrams like this”.

291029163

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 26/07/2026

The long game is to make sure everyone is recording everyone else all the time. Body cams for everyone! bsky.app/profile/hype...

824151

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 26/07/2026

FWIW, Meta was fully aware of how these glasses would primarily be used. The glasses were designed to erase consent, and that is why they exist. Anything that they do that suggests they want to ameliorate this use is an attempt to win the PR battle and manipulate public opinion.

futurism.com

Meta Desperately Trying to Ban Creeps Misusing Its AI "Pervert Glasses"

Meta is vowing to crack down on creeps misusing its Ray Ban smart glasses. Whether it will be enough to regain trust remains to be seen.

10437341285

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Jeff Kessler @jckessler.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

"We might do better to recall our ancestral intelligence: the unparalleled joy of a random home run, the idiosyncratic recipe cobbled together from texts to your family’s group chat, the reading group where hours are spent bumbling through philosophical obscurities."

031

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Jennifer Egan @egangoonsquad.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Thrilled about this probing and thoughtful article.

174

Caddie Alford @caddiealford.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

This was an inspiring listen. Thank you, library workers.

0154

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Kendall Gerdes 📚🐦‍⬛ @kendalljoy.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

If you want to call @ncte.org, here is their customer service number: (877) 369-6283. Their team has not been briefed but has been told to take names and numbers. I asked that the intensity of my shock be conveyed, and to please note that I will not renew my membership without the CCCC.

0135

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Le Ca-ghoul @lecagle.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

FYI just learned, Kathleen Blake Yancey has actions for us to take: bsky.app/profile/dlib...

043

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Every single day now I realize that becoming smart was a mistake.

1384

Caddie Alford @caddiealford.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Hey, @egangoonsquad.bsky.social fans! Chris Thomas + I are excited to circulate our @disjunctionsmag.bsky.social article: "AI" is a Candy House: Jennifer Egan's Prescient Reclamation of Human Sensemaking." The Candy House was way ahead of its time. disjunctionsmag.com/articles/ai-... #CriticalAI

disjunctionsmag.com

“AI” is a Candy House

Jennifer Egan’s prescient reclamation of human sensemaking

351

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Lucy Parsons Labs @lucyparsonslabs.com · 20/07/2026

Want to see a public collection of all the times cops have been busted abusing Flock systems to stalk exes, spy on protests, or deport migrants? You can check it out here 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽 HT @deflock library.kansas.watch

library.kansas.watch

ALPR Abuse Library — Kansas Watch

A publicly maintained index of news articles documenting abuses, misuses, and civil liberties concerns related to Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs).

010058

Caddie Alford @caddiealford.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Peer review is a LOT of work, but something I really appreciate about this labor is how much it helps me FIND and DISCOVER relevant scholarship and questions that would have been hard for me to find otherwise.

0110

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Le Ca-ghoul @lecagle.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Now the forests are on fire so you know what to do

0112

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

When I talk about 8-tracks & laserdiscs in my Media Sudies courses, it is not as popular media which went extinct, but as emergent media which failed to become popular despite what was (at the time) enormous investments in development and diffusion.

4182

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Jennifer Sano-Franchini @jsanofranchini.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

the 'AI' discourse makes it obvs U.S. education needs more—not less—focus on rhetorical, comparative & historical analysis AI is like a calculator? refusing to use 'AI' is like abstinence-only sex ed?? the environmental effects of chatbots are minor compared to that of eating meat??? bffr 🤖💩

27518

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Kai Bosworth @kaibosworth.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

anyone have existing writing on "the climate movement has faded"? I know it's been floating around In The Discourse, but curious who is writing about it (since I am)

361

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Mél Hogan / The Data Fix @melhogan.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

a lot of talk about polluted water and data centers these days — it’s been a really massive hidden issue since well before ai. ai just made it worse, but the logics of it all have been long established

0217

Reposted by Caddie Alford

tante @tante.cc · 10/07/2026

In the context of the crowdfunding for her next book "Recovering After GenAI" Kim Crawley invited me to participate in a webinar on Saturday, July 18th (8pm CEST, 2pm EDT, 11am PDT). I'll focus on what kind of damage to our social relationships especially #GenAI has done. All info here:

stopgenai.com

Recovering After Gen AI webinars – Stop Gen AI

03513

Caddie Alford @caddiealford.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

I love lil' windows into work-in-progress-lands. Fellow Authors: without any context, what's the first line of your current work in progress?

Screenshot of work-in-progress chapter on Big Tech's colonization of imagination.

2103

Reposted by Caddie Alford

Donnie Johnson Sackey @donniejsackey.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

There's a plain language alternative to "nonconsensual sex." It's called "rape." Who is the editor?

1274

Caddie Alford @caddiealford.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Ed Zitron, every time: "When this era ends, we will need to thoroughly excavate the collapse to make sure it doesn’t happen again, identifying the organizations and personalities that were used to manufacture consent and spread mythology about LLMs." #CriticalAI www.wheresyoured.at/let-ai-burn/...

wheresyoured.at

Let AI Burn

If you liked this piece, you should subscribe to my premium newsletter. It’s $70 a year, or $7 a month, and in return you get a weekly newsletter that’s usually anywhere from 5,000 to 18,000 words, in...

23813