iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Kean Birch

Society for Social Studies of Science @4sweb.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The 4S Toronto 2026 final program is now available in multiple formats. (a) PDF final program is online here: tinyurl.com/sdes6emw

186

Reposted by Kean Birch

Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The reason I'm so skeptical of the AI industry's latest breakthroughs is they are operating with infinite money and pretending that doesn't matter. So many things become easier when you have infinite money to throw at a problem. The Infinite Money Trick davekarpf.beehiiv.com/p/the-infini...

davekarpf.beehiiv.com

The Infinite Money Trick

Guarded skepticism about AI product releases

920448

Reposted by Kean Birch

Science as Culture @sciasculture.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Volume 35, Issue 3 is finally out with the first part of the Forum on Tech Oligarchy! Edited by @keanbirch.bsky.social, the issue includes 14 articles about the emergence and the political, economic, and social implications of techno-financial elites. 🔗https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/csac20/current

12212

Kean Birch @keanbirch.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Our special issue on #TechOligarchy has just come out in @sciasculture.bsky.social! Our first issue has 13 articles in on lots of different topics by lots of different authors - go check it out! www.tandfonline.com/toc/csac20/3...

tandfonline.com

Science as Culture

Tech Oligarchy Forum - Part 1. Volume 35, Issue 3 of Science as Culture

13212

Reposted by Kean Birch

Quantian @quantian.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Dancing very very VERY close to saying “OpenAI stole our almost-complete proof of Navier-Stokes from internal access to our ChatGPT sessions because they were desperate to scoop Anthropic” which is absolutely 100% a believable thing OpenAI would do right now cims.nyu.edu/~tristanb/st...

381556449

Reposted by Kean Birch

Amin Samman @aminsamman.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Out now: the new issue of @finandsoc.bsky.social. It's the first of two themed special issues. Part 1 opens with an agenda-setting article on technofinance by the editors and a key essay by Paul Langley and Andrew Leyshon on the disappearance of fintech. Check it! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

12010

Kean Birch @keanbirch.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

This is especially interesting to me as someone who now has an interest in national accounting - social artefacts rather than facts

001

Kean Birch @keanbirch.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Anyone can sign up as "faculty" at the The Horowitz Andreessen Academy ... thinking of doing it || tally.so/r/RGOXel

tally.so

Faculty Application

020

Reposted by Kean Birch

Science as Culture @sciasculture.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

📢 Another addition to our Forum on Tech Oligarchy! 📜 In "Rite to mine: Bitcoin, ritual, and oligarchy," Owen Marshall examines crypto-mining as a foundational ritual practice of tech oligarchy. 🔗 doi.org/10.1080/0950...

doi.org

Rite to mine: Bitcoin, ritual, and oligarchy

Published in Science as Culture (Ahead of Print, 2026)

022

Reposted by Kean Birch

danah boyd @zephoria.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Today is Pub Day for "Data Are Made, Not Found: A Story of Politics, Power, and the Civil Servants Who Saved the US Census"!!! ::bounce:: Please support me by buying a copy of the book or asking your library for a copy! press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

1239097

Kean Birch @keanbirch.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Do they not realise how vapid and self serving they sound?

010

Kean Birch @keanbirch.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

How does anyone not laugh in his presence?

020

Reposted by Kean Birch

Tyler King @tyleraking.com · 17/09/2026

“A senior executive at Microsoft said A.I. systems built on the work of others will be seen as ‘an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions’ and possibly the greatest robbery of labor in human history, according to court documents unredacted Thursday in an ongoing Manhattan lawsuit.”

orlandosentinel.com

Docs in A.I. copyright suit reveal startling admission by Microsoft exec over ‘astonishing theft’

The admission appeared in a newly unredacted filing in the landmark copyright infringement legal battle playing out between newspapers like the Orlando Sentinel and tech companies Microsoft and OpenAI...

9555462163

Reposted by Kean Birch

Karen Gregory @karengregory.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Post-doc here with @zephoria.bsky.social: "empirical research study examining a novel question that gets at the political economy of tech..." academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/32502

academicjobsonline.org

Cornell University, Department of Communication

Job #AJO32502, Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Communication, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, US

054

Reposted by Kean Birch

Amin Samman @aminsamman.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Very pleased to announce the programme for this year's @finandsoc.bsky.social conference. We'll be talking everything from prediction markets and offshore finance to acid capitalism and the assetization of horses. Come join us in Copenhagen if you can! financeandsocietynetwork.org/finandsoc-co...

03917

Reposted by Kean Birch

Dan "Mr. Bones and Me" Greene @dmgreene.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

CfP: What has Driven Our Elites Insane? Workshop from @keanbirch.bsky.social and David Tyfield keanbirch.net?p=459

keanbirch.net

053

Reposted by Kean Birch

Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 20/08/2026

This is all because JK Rowling is using her vast wealth and influence to engage in lawfare and censor anything that criticizes her. I won't stand for it. bsky.app/profile/esqu...

133100727

Kean Birch @keanbirch.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Nice rule from UC Berkeley Law School about use of genAI by students

010

Kean Birch @keanbirch.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I have a new policy briefing out with the Centre for International Governance Innovation (#CIGI) called "Assetization: Anything & Everything?" - it's an introduction to #assetization + its implications for policymaking || www.cigionline.org/publications...

cigionline.org

Assetization: Anything and Everything?

Anything that can be owned, and from which benefit can be derived, can be an asset. What do we need to understand about changing systems of valuation and ownership?

375

Reposted by Kean Birch

Philipp Golka @pgolka.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

If you'd like to know more about the link between assets and social conflict, our SI w/ @theobourgeron.bsky.social on #assetstruggles is now complete, featuring 7 papers on 175 pages. Thread with links to papers below. Email me if you'd like the whole pack. Again our huge thanks to all involved 🙏

0255

Reposted by Kean Birch

Science as Culture @sciasculture.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

📣 New piece - Forum on Tech Oligarchy 📜 In "Epistemic oligarchisation: exploring capture and concentration through science reform," Sven Ulpts, Sheena F. Bartscherer, Bart Penders, and Nicole Nelson examine the impact of Tech Oligarchy on scientific knowledge production 🔗 doi.org/10.1080/0950...

doi.org

Epistemic oligarchisation: exploring capture and concentration through science reform

Published in Science as Culture (Ahead of Print, 2026)

0158

Kean Birch @keanbirch.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

I think the trick to getting rid of #Farage is for every media appearance he now makes ensuring that @countbinface.bsky.social is invited too

020

Kean Birch @keanbirch.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Scam stage of capitalism ... getting worse every day

120

Kean Birch @keanbirch.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Is the current #Odyssey argument that Odysseus was the Sea Peoples? Causing the late Bronze Age collapse

000

Reposted by Kean Birch

Ali Rıza Taşkale @alirizataskale.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

The first article of the Silicon Valley special issue I’m editing is out! @mrshoward.bsky.social shows how contrarianism isn’t genuine dissent but a performative strategy rooted in venture capital. The piece develops negative mimesis, how dissent is aestheticized, repackaged & stripped of politics.

1276

Reposted by Kean Birch

Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 26/07/2026

i feel like shopify would have a worse reputation if tobi was interfering in US politics instead of canadian politics

1037659

Kean Birch @keanbirch.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

The whole #AIbubble is an effect of investors convincing enough #elites that #genAI is a revolutionary technology - it has nothing to do with the technology itself (basically, tech = finance)

0245

Kean Birch @keanbirch.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Lucky me! #Google offers to boost my "creativity" with #genAI .... 🤔

020

Kean Birch @keanbirch.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

This is quite an extraordinarily bad take on science by #Trump administration - at one point it basically argues for turning science into a tradable commodity & using wisdom on the crowds to decide on science funding (not peer review which is biased 🤷‍♂️)

110

Reposted by Kean Birch

Ali Rıza Taşkale @alirizataskale.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

This is a great editorial, and I’m really happy to be part of this forum. Thanks for bringing us all together, Kean!

141

Kean Birch @keanbirch.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

"Science as Culture" (@sciasculture.bsky.social) has a new special issue on #TechOligarchy - you can find my introduction here and the rest of the papers under "Latest" articles || #assetization #techbro #bigtech www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

tandfonline.com

Tech oligarchy

Published in Science as Culture (Ahead of Print, 2026)

0148

Kean Birch @keanbirch.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Just out! My introduction to a new special issue in @sciasculture.bsky.social on "Tech Oligarchy" - go check it out and the papers in the special issue (under "Latest" articles) #techoligarchy #assetization #techbro #bigtech www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

tandfonline.com

Tech oligarchy

Published in Science as Culture (Ahead of Print, 2026)

45122

Reposted by Kean Birch

Science as Culture @sciasculture.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

📢 Another interesting addition to the Forum on Tech Oligarchy! 📜 The article "Brazil’s supreme court on content moderation: national sovereignty versus tech oligarchy," by @jamesfitz2.bsky.social, Carlos Eduardo Barros, Debora S., and Rose Marie Santini is now available! 🔗 doi.org/10.1080/0950...

doi.org

Brazil’s supreme court on content moderation: national sovereignty versus tech oligarchy

Published in Science as Culture (Ahead of Print, 2026)

142

Kean Birch @keanbirch.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Toronto's apocalyptic sky - this is midday

052

Kean Birch @keanbirch.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

The lie (or delusion) that is carbon capture & storage #canada #cdnpolicy

052

Kean Birch @keanbirch.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Think this says a lot about #generativeAI bubble

000

Reposted by Kean Birch

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 27/06/2026

More than a decade ago, a group of young, internet-connected Belarusian dissidents launched a series of increasingly high-stakes, increasingly surreal confrontations with the corrupt, authoritarian government of Alexander Lukashenka, a man who is often called "the last Soviet dictator." 1/

8582258

Kean Birch @keanbirch.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

‘Literally growing the future’: volunteers help save Scottish rainforest by collecting 11m seeds www.theguardian.com/environment/...

theguardian.com

030