iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ellen Muehlberger @emuehlbe.bsky.social · 20h

Resurrected my street's book club, which had faded out just before the pandemic---we met last night and started with The Hounding, which is *great*

180

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Alison Gopnik @alisongopnik.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

This is an excellent article by Leif Wetherby - why AI is a cultural technology not a collection of human-like agents (citing our work on this). And why the anthropomorphism is a distraction from the very real risks and dangers and the way to deal with them. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/01/o...

nytimes.com

Opinion | Stop Talking About A.I. Like a Human (Gift Article)

If we want to figure out the proper way to control A.I. models, we need to recognize what they really are.

620190

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Cynthia Miller-Idriss @milleridriss.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I have reviewed thousands of grad school applications over my career & always advocated against looking at overall undergrad GPA & instead at the trajectory in the last two years. That’s because I saw a pattern on so many women’s transcripts as they experienced something in their first year 1/

17823

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Lake Huron! Live! @lake-huron.live · 01/10/2026

Current* conditions near St. Ignace, MI:

Southern view from a dock in Lake Huron near the Administration building of the Mackinac Bridge traversing the Straits of Mackinac. // Image captured at (local time): 2026-10-01 18:42:02 EDT (about 1 min. prior to this post) // Image sourced from: mackinacbridge.org // Current Temp in St. Ignace: 61 F | 16 C // Precip: overcast clouds // Wind: NNW at 7 mph | 11 kph // Humidity: 81%

061

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Lake Michigan! Live! @lake-michigan.live · 01/10/2026

Current* conditions near Chicago, IL:

View looking east from the Skydeck atop the Sears Tower towering over the Loop, Millennium Park and Chicago Harbor with Lake Michigan beyond. // Image captured at (local time): 2026-10-01 06:06:21 CDT (about 1 min. prior to this post) // Image sourced from: youtube.com/@earthcam // Current Temp in Chicago: 65 F | 18 C // Precip: light rain // Wind: S at 5 mph | 8 kph // Humidity: 96%

0204

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This is fantastic cultural geography. Very strong lede. Even if you don’t read it all (you should; remember we are working on our brains) the first three paras do the work. Thanks to the person who shared it. www.queergeographies.com/stuck-on-the...

queergeographies.com

Why We’re Stuck on the Last Ditch

Why does the public delight in watching lesbian bars unravel?

214452

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Anne Helen Petersen @annehelen.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

This is *the* piece. Kate Manne, professor of philosophy at Cornell, speaks truth to the totality of failures at the university — and why students protesting the war in Gaza have faced far harsher consequences than any of the Cornell 7: www.thecut.com/article/what...

thecut.com

What It Feels Like at Cornell Right Now

As a professor at the Ivy League school, Kate Manne has known many, many victims. There’s a palpable feeling on campus, she writes, that this is big.

5030631078

Ellen Muehlberger @emuehlbe.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

When you click through thinking, "I wonder if it's that guy," it usually is

165

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

ElieNYC @elienyc.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

As a Michigan fan, I guess I can empathize with Eric Schmitt. The Iowa Hawkeyes are exposing a lot of people as gigantic frauds these days.

1773768

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Hannah Vardit @hannahvardit.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

i worry that men think being A Good Guy is dramatically and heroically intervening on behalf of an endangered woman and then being publicly rewarded on a grand scale when actually being A Good Guy is just usually saying, “hey man that’s not funny” or “wow that’s fucked up” and there is no reward

10134133768

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Lake Huron! Live! @lake-huron.live · 29/09/2026

Current* conditions near St. Ignace, MI:

Eastern view from the St. Ignace Ferry Dock to Mackinac Island overlooking St. Ignace Marina breakwall and Mackinac Island in Lake Huron. // Image captured at (local time): 2026-09-29 09:42:05 EDT (about 1 min. prior to this post) // Image sourced from: 9and10news.com // Current Temp in St. Ignace: -460 F | -273 C // Precip: null // Wind: N at 0 mph | 0 kph // Humidity: null%

021

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Eileen Clancy 🧿 @clancyny.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

"Go Human or Go Home"™️

095

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Abigail Modaff @abigailmodaff.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I see this a lot with my well-meaning students: the sense that their STEM courses are immovable objects, and my requirements in History are somehow less reasonable/should bend in response to their other course commitments. They are not coming up with this assumption, they have been taught it

1235

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Ellen Muehlberger @emuehlbe.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

One option for humanities classes going forward: don't schedule the class, schedule the work

126917

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Dr. Chance Bonar @chancebonar.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The technicality and knowledge base of many humanities disciplines are, in effect, hidden from students who only have to engage with materials in English translation & never have to gain the expertise needed to perform basic research in these fields

2458

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Dr. Chance Bonar @chancebonar.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I think about this a lot in terms of languages. Some depts expect/are expected to train students in the requisite math, coding, and technical knowledge to understand the material in more depth Most humanities courses don’t expect/aren’t allowed to require students to know requisite languages

2487

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

the babahuck @tylerhuckabee.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

rip annie dillard

One of the things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water. Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.

1134241138

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Melissa Johnson, PhD @ladyhistorian.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I am tired of having to pretend that the value of studying my discipline solely rests on the "marketable skills" we teach. Sometimes things are just worth knowing and doing because they make your life bigger and richer.

131228257

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Professor Nutella @jpnudell.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This is one of the challenges in drawing students to humanities majors. Either the subjects are frivolous so why take them, or students are shocked that the teachers expect them to do work so they seek easier pathways that promise greater material rewards.

2346

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Isabel Köster @iotasubscript.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Language courses aside, the idea that sequences build on each other and that you need to have a body of foundational knowledge to succeed in what the course catalog calls upper division classes is something we've lost.

1131

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Isabel Köster @iotasubscript.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Yes, and also a great reluctance to have prerequisites for anything. The main reason why math/science classes in college are hard is that there's stuff you're just expected to know that will not be taught again in later classes.

1131

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Isabel Köster @iotasubscript.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

In the language of youth: 🎉📣👍

051

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

OK I actually love this suggestion, not only for the reasons discussed here, but because how awesome would it be to actually have the time to work through, say, all the stages of writing a research paper *with* the students? You can bet they'd learn the process better.

2244

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Dr. Garrett Schumann @garrt.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Also music schools (if you are in a performance ensemble for example)

071

Ellen Muehlberger @emuehlbe.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

One option for humanities classes going forward: don't schedule the class, schedule the work

126917

Ellen Muehlberger @emuehlbe.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Ellen's Wager: If the AI panic is right, then I will be dead along with the rest of humanity, and it would be rational to never lend any more money, attention, or power to these people again---we should all stop right now

1122

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Most people have no idea how much international students are the lifeblood of higher education. But they’re about to learn. Sigh.

322235587

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Émilie Oléron Evans @bringyourownsun.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

'[Students] generally do not want history departments to normalise or require high levels of AI use.'

03818

Ellen Muehlberger @emuehlbe.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

A new one for me: just turned down a professional opportunity that would have had me on a committee with some seriously awesome people because it would break me, psychologically

5220

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

weeder @weeder.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

God, grant me the courage to change the things I can and incredible new powers to change the things I can't.

63106932532

Ellen Muehlberger @emuehlbe.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

What's LGBTQ stand for? wrong answers only LaForge, Guinan, Beverly, Troy, and, well, Q

0103

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

It continues to amaze me that the industry/culture that so demonizes cultural theory and humanities are its greatest purveyors. Naming machine learning “artificial intelligence” is gramsci level politics. yet when we call that naming what it is, suddenly it doesn’t matter what you call it.

223235

Ellen Muehlberger @emuehlbe.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

And this chase spawned a lot of bad effects elsewhere beyond the obvious data centers: people chase that feeling across the country to new places where they expect their pie-in-the-sky plans to 1) be funded and 2) be hailed as generous benefaction

030

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

When the powerful playact powerlessness it is always a ploy to avoid accountability.

91320415

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Dr Victoria Leonard @tigerlilyrocks.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

New #BMCR review of Susanna Elm's The Importance of Being Gorgeous: Gender and Christian Imperial Rule in Late Antiquity, by Ellen Muehlberger @emuehlbe.bsky.social bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2026/2026.09...

bmcr.brynmawr.edu

The importance of being gorgeous: gender and Christian imperial rule in late antiquity – Bryn Mawr Classical Review

195

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

if you are reviewing an unpublished manuscript and you have the sheer unmitigated audacity, cheek, gall and laziness to upload it into an LLM to generate a review, let me tell you, you should be shunned and tarred and feathered

231782316

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Lake Ontario! Live! @lake-ontario.live · 18/09/2026

Current* conditions near Kingston, ON:

Various views of Lake Ontario from the Richardson Bath House on Richardson Beach in Kingston, ON. // Image captured at (local time): 2026-09-18 15:30:02 EDT (about 1 min. prior to this post) // Image sourced from: cityofkingston.ca // Current Temp in Kingston: 70 F | 21 C // Precip: broken clouds // Wind: N at 15 mph | 24 kph // Humidity: 37%

011

Ellen Muehlberger @emuehlbe.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Just got a peek at the LAEC program for next February and I am not sure how to control my excitement 🤩🤩🤩

120

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

How do we think about the "Fall" of Rome today? What can we do to frame it in a more productive way? Our new open access article tries to tackle these questions and offer a new view of the scholarly narrative of the end of Rome. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

cambridge.org

Towards and beyond the ‘Fall’: rethinking Rome’s end | The Journal of Roman Studies | Cambridge Core

Towards and beyond the ‘Fall’: rethinking Rome’s end

415460

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

Nome @nome.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I am, I do not mind saying, an absolute slut for logos with creative use of negative space.

1424747

Reposted by Ellen Muehlberger

De Gruyter Brill Religion, Bible, and Theology @dgb-relbibtheo.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

In just over 50 pages, @candidamoss.bsky.social challenges modern assumptions about who counted as a slave trader and demonstrates that the entire apparatus of Roman medicine, commerce, and education was complicit in the manufacture and sale of human beings. Link below 👇🔗