Reposted by Dr. Gabriel Baker👻madeline bOoOoOoOodent👻 @oldenoughtosay.com · 27/09/2026I think this is a key part of why historians are mad, yeah. Because it’s a dunk, and it’s one that like. We all know that scientists and engineers think themselves better and smarter than humanities students. There’s always an assumption that they could do our job but we couldn’t do theirs. 2231840
Reposted by Dr. Gabriel BakerAP Stylebook @apstylebook.com · 23/09/2026Artificial intelligence systems do not think, feel, want or understand. Avoid language that gives them human characteristics.apnews.comhttps://apnews.com/article/openai-safety-ai-framework-089e75b95bc935af092da7b79d92706d 5542411630
Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 31/08/2026Great fireside. Probably the best. ... I am an unbiased source. 010
Reposted by Dr. Gabriel BakerElizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 23/08/2026Forgive the all caps, it’s just hard to process so much hegemonic self-destruction all at once 1224417
Reposted by Dr. Gabriel BakerElizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 21/07/2026Can't get numb to this: The United States is stuck in a war it started, cannot end, and may further escalate to no avail, having dismantled its diplomatic apparatus, depleted its military stockpile, and destroyed its credibility. A historic strategic mistake harming millions in many different ways. 22680982174
Reposted by Dr. Gabriel BakerSarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 29/06/2026Every single publisher getting an AI payout from the LLM lawsuits should be paying it to their authors & making that author’s book open access—regardless of who own the rights. Most academic authors (ca. 80%) do not own their own publishing rights (especially first authors) & wont get checks at all. 07420
Reposted by Dr. Gabriel BakerTed McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 12/06/2026getting rid of grades entirely would be much more effective at curbing surreptitious use of genAI than any amount of surveillance, would do vastly less harm to the pedagogical relationship at the heart of education, and wouldn't be another massive economic windfall for the creepiest people you know 1322081
Reposted by Dr. Gabriel BakerTed McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 02/06/2026Uninterested in leading a pile-on but no, AI does not “have access” to everything ever published. Not archival material, obviously, but not secondary material either. Nor across times nor languages. AI is not human knowledge personified. It’s exactly not that, in fact. It’s not even a search engine. 101325334
Reposted by Dr. Gabriel BakerThomas Lecaque @tlecaque.bsky.social · 22/04/2026Hegseth's repeal of universal flu vaccines is nonsense on so many levels, but his claim vaccine mandates were an "era of betrayal" irked me as a historian. Here's my response, in @thebulwark.com this morning; www.thebulwark.com/p/george-was...thebulwark.comGeorge Washington’s Woke VaccinesWhat the Founders would have thought about Pete Hegseth lifting the requirement that service members get the flu vaccine. 10752262
Reposted by Dr. Gabriel Baker"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 14/04/2026I apologize, but I've some harsh words here: Until the tenured are taking pay cuts to get more tenure lines, until they are pooling their salaries to provide basic living for the folks who *didn't* get hired in this shit job market, y'all have no right, zero, NONE to tell us how to do history. 1905
Reposted by Dr. Gabriel BakerAnne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 12/04/2026Orban concedes defeat. The support of Trump, Vance, Putin, Lavrov, Weidel, Milei, Le Pen, Fico, Babis and many others could not overcome Hungarian anger at a stagnant, corrupt regime www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...theguardian.comHungary election live: Viktor Orbán concedes defeat in Hungarian election after 16 years in powerLong-serving prime minister beaten by opposition after early results showed clear lead 28778451888
Reposted by Dr. Gabriel BakerSarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 03/04/2026“The Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 Budget proposes to eliminate the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and provides $38 million to conduct an orderly shutdown of the Agency.” — NEH.gov The NEH has $207 million for FY2026. War in Iran? 1 billion per day. We go through 4.83 NEHs a day for what? 723889
Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 30/03/2026Looking forward to it. They need ruffling. 000
Reposted by Dr. Gabriel BakerErin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 09/03/2026The danger to my job from AI isn't that AI can do my job, it's that my job is made even more precarious by the way AI is shaping ideas of the value of work. It can't do my job, but it can be part of convincing people (incorrectly) that my job isn't necessary. 8852269
Reposted by Dr. Gabriel BakerAngry Staff Officer @pptsapper.bsky.social · 04/03/2026I know that the people who need to read this aren’t here, but here goes: Rules of engagement aren’t for the enemy. They’re for you. They’re for your soldiers when they’re captured or wounded. They’re for your civilians when they’re in range of the enemy. They’re for your allies, to reassure. 4042121041
Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 02/03/2026There's probably a starter pack that includes you, I would guess. 040
Reposted by Dr. Gabriel BakerElizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 28/02/2026Quick reactions after learning that no, nobody could stop him. 1/ goodauthority.org/news/trump-m... 1/goodauthority.orgTrump might start a war with Iran. Can anyone stop him?Trump might start a war with Iran. Can anyone stop him? Congress, public opinion, and administration insiders aren’t reliable constraints on Trump’s foreign policy decisions. 16642239
Reposted by Dr. Gabriel BakerGrace Panetta @gracepanetta.bsky.social · 22/02/2026Alysa Liu telling 60 Minutes “I love struggling, it makes me feel alive” is a legit revolutionary statement from a Bay Area native in a time when copious amounts of time and resources are being put toward convincing us to opt out of experiencing struggle, friction and self-actualization 105138092484
Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 16/02/2026Even in the Mid Republic, women are active participants in defining what virtus *is* and the bounds of its requisite behaviors and attitudes! To say women are "outside" of it or somehow separate from it is a wild reading of the evidence. 040
Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 11/02/2026My dissertation adviser is chairing your panel! She's great! Also I wish I'd made arrangements to go to this SMH, because those ancient history panels look great. 140
Reposted by Dr. Gabriel BakerChristian Cooijmans @ccooijmans.bsky.social · 06/01/2026'Reclaiming academic publishing as a public good will require a return to not-for-profit models and sustainable open-access systems. Quality, accessibility and integrity need to be put ahead of profit.'theconversation.comThe 5 stages of the ‘enshittification’ of academic publishingAcademic publishing now shows the same decline that has hit social media and online marketplaces. 0219
Reposted by Dr. Gabriel BakerKim A. Wagner @kimatiwagner.bsky.social · 03/01/2026Operation Just Because 1213
Reposted by Dr. Gabriel BakerThomas Lecaque @tlecaque.bsky.social · 24/12/2025I want to treat "Roman Helmet Guy" as a serious interlocuter, and I want to do it as someone who does what might be called "New Military History," applying cultural studies to military history (religious violence and apocalypticism during wars): you can't study war without studying people. 1417922
Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 24/12/2025Okay locking this thing up. Let's all go enjoy the lovely day. 050
Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 24/12/2025It's cool and my apologies too--I'd read a bunch of other/negative commentary before replying, and that became the lens through which I read your comments. I'm generally not internet-fighty and should've asked questions rather than start on defense. 140
Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 24/12/2025"not nearly the depth of analysis you’d get in other sub fields" indicated an overall tone or attitude, or that's how I read them. Sincerely, I don't want to talk past one another here, and I do apologize if I missed the point. 100
Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 24/12/2025Hm, well, as I said in the 2nd piece of the thread, I may be misunderstanding. I don't think my comments indicated that I felt personally attacked, so much as I was defending the subfield. I thought some comments indicated read in your thread/replies, e.g. 100
Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 24/12/2025For sure, and thanks for saying so. I'm just surprised to learn that a bunch of historians are unaware of this fact, and/or have a very outdated view of the subfield. Another fun day of Discourse. 010
Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 24/12/2025Yeah I guess that's where some of the confusion lies. I study the same topics as you, but for antiquity, and I would say I am a military historian. 020
Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 24/12/2025Put another way: I feel like we can poo-poo on bad actors without throwing shade at entire subfields. I am a non-entity and will likely regret and ultimately delete this post, but this isn't the first such comment I've seen recently, and it is disappointing. 2280
Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 24/12/2025Maybe I am misunderstanding the intent? I realize Helmet Guy is imagining fife-&-bugle, weapon fetishist stuff, but I'd expect my historian colleagues to know that's NOT the field's cutting edge, or even where most of the work is happening. 2310
Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 24/12/2025I don't understand the point of this comment. Because from where I'm sitting, it is actually not a Good Thing for a world class university--situated in a democracy that is frequently at war, where a disproportionate number of future policy makers are educated--to NOT teach military history. 1018315
Reposted by Dr. Gabriel BakerDr Rob @robheighton.bsky.social · 23/12/2025May the Ents march forth and tear your data centres to the ground 1307
Reposted by Dr. Gabriel BakerKevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 07/12/2025This really is a must read for anyone in academia. 351897782
Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 30/11/2025I use this exact painting in class to illustrate... a Greek phalanx. (That Paestum museum is the gift that keeps on giving for class images!) 040
Reposted by Dr. Gabriel BakerJason "Red5" Lyall @jaylyall.bsky.social · 20/11/2025Just a reminder that I'm happy to speak to any journalist, or to recommend other scholars to do so, about why prejudice and "potentially divisive symbols" like swastikas (!) are so harmful to morale and cohesion in militarieswashingtonpost.comU.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses as hate symbolsThe military service, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, has drafted a new policy that classifies such items “potentially divisive.” 716436
Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 10/11/2025www.npr.org/2025/11/10/n... "'I swore an oath to the Constitution, not a person,' she says. 'I just really, really implore my peers and everybody outside looking in, to just think about that. Really think about that, and think about what that means.'"npr.orgIn an encrypted group chat, National Guard members question Trump deploymentsAs President Trump's call for National Guard deployments rings out across the U.S., a small contingent of Ohio guard members is quietly expressing concern in an encrypted group chat. 042
Reposted by Dr. Gabriel BakerJason "Red5" Lyall @jaylyall.bsky.social · 24/10/2025"Wouldn't it be fascinating to live in the late Roman Republic?" (Monkey paw curls). 512223
Reposted by Dr. Gabriel BakerGovernor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 07/10/2025BEST BIG CITY IN THE US 9 YEARS IN A ROW. While critics try to paint Chicago as something to fear, the rest of the world knows the truth — this is the best big city in America.choosechicago.comBest Big City: Chicago Wins Award 9th Year in a RowLearn why Chicago was voted the Best Big City for the 9th consecutive year by exploring our vibrant culture, welcoming inclusion, and so much more. 404125693511
Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 27/09/2025These last lines are so telling. Aeneas' decision to kill Turnus (who is defeated and submitting) directly sets him against Anchises' assertion in book 6: Rome's destiny is "to spare the defeated and to conquer the proud" (parcere subiectis et debellare superbos). Virgil knew what he was about. 030
Reposted by Dr. Gabriel BakerBrian Farrell 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @hisbpf.bsky.social · 10/09/2025If Putin concludes that NATO’s incredibly weak physical and verbal response to his aerial assault on Poland is as robust as it is willing to get, then the disparity in wealth etc won’t deter him at all. How is this not blindingly obvious? VERY serious danger is now heading towards us at speed. 283
Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 06/09/2025This is an excellent piece! Thank you for writing it and advocating for all of us so well. (I especially love this bit: "the greatest danger to university funding today is without a doubt a product of a catastrophic failure of public communication in his own field: medicine." Crit.) 020