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David Zvi Kalman

@dzkalman.bsky.social
683 followers 2K following 108 posts

I write about religion and tech. I also design dreidels.

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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Last week I participated in a convening on AI and religion. It wasn't hosted by a university or AI policy center. It was hosted by Anthropic. My thoughts on what it means for an AI firm to be in direct conversation with religious thought and religious leaders. www.jellomenorah.com/p/faith-in-a...
jellomenorah.com
Faith in Anthropic
A tech company has opened itself to religious thought. What comes next?
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
There is only one good name for a dachshund and it is Hebrew National
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
New from me: AI Ethics is a Casualty of the Gaza War Would love your thoughts. www.jellomenorah.com/p/ai-ethics-...
jellomenorah.com
AI Ethics is a Casualty of the Gaza War
Does our traumatized minority even have the bandwidth?
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
With great trepidation, I’m excited to launch Sabbath Mode, a YouTube channel about religion and tech. This is a vulnerable step for me, a perpetual podcaster. More videos coming later this summer. youtu.be/Or0KqnwTpEU?...
youtu.be
Two Religions Invented A Bad Lamp
YouTube video by Sabbath Mode
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Last week I attended a conference at Harvard Law School on religion and psychedelics. I left feeling energized about the state of Jewish psychedelic culture. Here's my write-up.
jellomenorah.com
Psychedelic Judaism is going to win
The energy is there and the obstacles are surprisingly few
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
The guy who went to jail for using CRISPR to genetically edit babies is just regularly tweeting that he wishes he could do it all the time.
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
When you ask the wrong OpenAI model to give you a picture
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
I think about this video at least once a week.
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
TIL that the Camp Khitomer peace accords were signed at American Jewish University
A still image from Star Trek VI showing Camp Khitomer.
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
I wrote up the state of the Jewish AI conversation—which is picking up speed! Lots of goodies here.
jellomenorah.com
Finally, a Jewish AI debate has emerged
The field is broadening. Here's my report card.
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
Two weeks in, the clear media pattern appears to be that international insanity is treated as Big News while domestic government-breaking is treated as a series of minor stories. This despite the fact that the former is more likely to be bluster/negotiation tactics while the latter is well underway.
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
Where I’m at today.
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
Ai Weiwei —>
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
It’s fascinating that a certain segment of the Orthodox world has identified Orthodox podcasts as a dangerous subversion of authority (and of course they’re correct). yated.com/beware/?fbcl...
yated.com
Beware! - Yated.com
Who remembers blogs? Not long ago, perhaps a bit more or less than fifteen years ago, blogs were all the rage. It was a totally new concept. Anyone who had opinions, regardless of how good, how crazy,...
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
This is literally the premise of Ken Liu's short story "Byzantine empathy." gizmodo.com/florida-judg...
gizmodo.com
Florida Judge Allows VR Simulation of Alleged Crime to Be Submitted as Evidence
The defendant's attorney wanted the judge to see the altercation from his client's eyes.
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
The One Jasons is better, this was a cash grab pure and simple
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
This is the way Hanukkah ends. This is the way Hanukkah ends. This is the way Hanukkah ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
I'd like an AI that will tell me if the work I'm doing could be done more efficiently with the help of AI.
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 01/01/2025
If you're not hanging on every twist and turn of AI development, this is a great rundown of the last year. It's technical but within reason—and of course you can always ask an LLM for help if you don't understand something! simonwillison.net/2024/Dec/31/...
simonwillison.net
Things we learned about LLMs in 2024
A lot has happened in the world of Large Language Models over the course of 2024. Here’s a review of things we figured out about the field in the past …
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 01/01/2025
Predictions about the future of AI could not be any further apart.
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
A reminder that Christmas is much more like Shabbat than it is like Hanukkah, and if that seems absurd maybe consider that Americans have an unhealthy relationship to work. www.jellomenorah.com/p/the-jewish...
jellomenorah.com
The Jewish Christmas is...Shabbat.
Forget Hanukkah. Christmas shares much with the day of rest.
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
Honored to be among such excellent company!
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
On this Christmas Eve, a new episode for you: the story of why people keep making AI models of Jesus, and why they may be more than a novelty. I spoke with Marco Schmid, who made the AI confessional booth in Lucerne that received an avalanche of media attention. open.spotify.com/episode/5h26...
open.spotify.com
The Beta Testing of Jesus Christ
Belief in the Future · Episode
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
This is such a beautiful thought from Flannery O'Connor.
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
I have institutional library access but I end up seeking out "other" sources for PDFs because this is just so annoying.
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
He's correct, and there's only one solution: go outside.
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
This academic detective story is incredibly well written—and the payoff is unbelievably beautiful.
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
As Hanukkah approaches, I continue to be tickled by the fact that I am one of the only people in the world who actually makes money off dreidels.
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Hanukkah is never late, nor is it early; it arrives precisely when it means to.
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
Yes, but who is appropriating who
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
what I would give
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
The only time it works for me is while driving through Appalachia.
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
I'll sell this to you for less than $6 million
a mezuzah attached to a white wall with duct tape.
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
messiah lookalike contest in flatbush this weekend
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
In terms of Jews: Americans think we’re heavy cream, but actually (appropriately?) we’re more like skim milk.
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
I thought this platform wasn’t going to hurt me
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
The long 21st century
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
1. It’s great to be here and not the other place 2. Why wasn’t the lesson that we actually just need to go outside? 3. The irony of going to a virtual place called “Blue Sky”
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
If you wanted evidence that academic illustration is the future, this is it.
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
I’m on this friendly platform to tell you that the Goya building lots like a Goya can
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
Look at this photograph of bagel peddlers from 1938 by Roman Vishniac. Look at those bagels! At what point does shmear even make sense??
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
Today’s bit of self-care: finally watched La Jetée. What a movie. There’s something about the photo-film format that feels adjacent to text. A+
Still from La Jetée
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
I think of Shabbat as Book Day and I’m sure I’m not the only one
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
lowkey my favorite government account
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
That محمد (Muhammad) is taking some real liberties.
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
In another universe HHS really does have a undersecretary for loneliness mitigation
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
As a small publisher myself, I am so proud to see other publishers demonstrate that their ultimate desire is not money but to see good ideas in the hands of people who want it. Kudos to Haymarket. www.haymarketbooks.org/blogs/517-te...
haymarketbooks.org
Ten Free Ebooks for Getting Free
“What keeps us going, ultimately, is our love for each other, and our refusal to bow our heads, to accept the verdict, however all-powerful it seems. It’s what ordinary people have to do. You have to ...
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David Zvi Kalman @dzkalman.bsky.social · 11/11/2024
a incredibly important article about our missing middle institutions www.thenation.com/article/poli...
thenation.com
The US Is a Civic Desert. To Survive, the Democratic Party Needs to Transform Itself.
The party should jettison its consultant class and move toward a local-membership model that would help to rejuvenate civic life across the country.
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Reposted by David Zvi Kalman
Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 09/11/2024
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Reposted by David Zvi Kalman
Filipe Campante @filipecampante.bsky.social · 10/11/2024
A huge problem we face is Americans’ complete lack of familiarity with actual authoritarian regimes. It leaves people both fearing imaginary dangers (“there will be no more elections!”) and, for that exact reason, unable to see the actual threats (cronyism, authoritarian consolidation, etc.).
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