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Dr. Gabriel Baker

@gabrielbaker.bsky.social
1.2K followers 752 following 77 posts

Ancient History PhD. Teacher. H-War Network Editor. Author of Spare No One: Mass Violence in Roman Warfare. Chicagoland. Views/opinions are my own.

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Reposted by Dr. Gabriel Baker
👻madeline bOoOoOoOodent👻 @oldenoughtosay.com · 27/09/2026
I 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.
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AP Stylebook @apstylebook.com · 23/09/2026
Artificial intelligence systems do not think, feel, want or understand. Avoid language that gives them human characteristics.
apnews.com
https://apnews.com/article/openai-safety-ai-framework-089e75b95bc935af092da7b79d92706d
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Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Great fireside. Probably the best. ... I am an unbiased source.
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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Forgive the all caps, it’s just hard to process so much hegemonic self-destruction all at once
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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Can'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.
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Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Every 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.
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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
getting 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
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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Uninterested 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.
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Thomas Lecaque @tlecaque.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Hegseth'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.com
George Washington’s Woke Vaccines
What the Founders would have thought about Pete Hegseth lifting the requirement that service members get the flu vaccine.
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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
I 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.
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 12/04/2026
Orban 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.com
Hungary election live: Viktor Orbán concedes defeat in Hungarian election after 16 years in power
Long-serving prime minister beaten by opposition after early results showed clear lead
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Sarah 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?
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Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
Looking forward to it. They need ruffling.
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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
The 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.
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Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
Subscribe! Listen!
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Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
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Angry Staff Officer @pptsapper.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
I 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.
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Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
There's probably a starter pack that includes you, I would guess.
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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
Quick reactions after learning that no, nobody could stop him. 1/ goodauthority.org/news/trump-m... 1/
goodauthority.org
Trump 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.
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Grace Panetta @gracepanetta.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
Alysa 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
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Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
Even 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.
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Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
My 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.
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Christian 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.com
The 5 stages of the ‘enshittification’ of academic publishing
Academic publishing now shows the same decline that has hit social media and online marketplaces.
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Kim A. Wagner @kimatiwagner.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Operation Just Because
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Thomas Lecaque @tlecaque.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
I 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.
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Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
Okay locking this thing up. Let's all go enjoy the lovely day.
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Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
It'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.
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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.
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Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
Hm, 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.
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Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
Very true!
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Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
For 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.
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Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
This right here.
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Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
Yeah 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.
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Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
Put 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.
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Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
Maybe 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.
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Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
I 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.
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Dr Rob @robheighton.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
May the Ents march forth and tear your data centres to the ground
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
This really is a must read for anyone in academia.
When my business school colleagues insist that ChatGPT is “just another tool in the toolbox,” I’m tempted to remind them that Facebook was once “just a way to connect with friends.” But there’s a difference between tools and technologies. Tools help us accomplish tasks; technologies reshape the very environments in which we think, work, and relate. As philosopher Peter Hershock observes, we don’t merely use technologies; we participate in them. With tools, we retain agency—we can choose when and how to use them. With technologies, the choice is subtler: they remake the conditions of choice itself. A pen extends communication without redefining it; social media transformed what we mean by privacy, friendship, even truth.
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Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
Precisely this.
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Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
I use this exact painting in class to illustrate... a Greek phalanx. (That Paestum museum is the gift that keeps on giving for class images!)
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Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
Introduce yourself with four spaceships.
The USS Defiant from Star Trek: Deep Space NineThe Battlestar Galactica The Red Dwarf A-Wing starfighter from Return of the Jedi
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Jason "Red5" Lyall @jaylyall.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
Just 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 militaries
washingtonpost.com
U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses as hate symbols
The military service, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, has drafted a new policy that classifies such items “potentially divisive.”
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Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
www.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.org
In an encrypted group chat, National Guard members question Trump deployments
As 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.
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Jason "Red5" Lyall @jaylyall.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
"Wouldn't it be fascinating to live in the late Roman Republic?" (Monkey paw curls).
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Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 18/10/2025
I can totally hear it!
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Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 07/10/2025
BEST 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.com
Best Big City: Chicago Wins Award 9th Year in a Row
Learn why Chicago was voted the Best Big City for the 9th consecutive year by exploring our vibrant culture, welcoming inclusion, and so much more.
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Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
These 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.
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Brian Farrell 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @hisbpf.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
If 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.
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Dr. Gabriel Baker @gabrielbaker.bsky.social · 06/09/2025
This 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.)
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