iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

In one dimension, it reminds me of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars books; in another, it feels more like Becky Chambers's monk-and-robot novels. It is one of the most compassionate books I have read in a long time. /end

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

But the core of the story is spiritual -- what do we mean to each other, and does it matter whether "meaning" is wholly invented by its adherents? It is a pilgrimage story, and thus is as much about the relationships between the pilgrims as it is about the nature of their individual quests. /3

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

... so it would be fine with me if it *were* simply SF; but it isn't.) It certainly has SF tropes and attempts to answer questions about the future, and those answers are both surprisingly pessimistic and surprisingly optimistic. /2

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Here's the review I just posted of @matthewkressel.net 's "The Rainseekers": It would be a mistake to approach this gem of a short novel as science fiction and nothing else. (To be clear, I speak as both an SF writer and a dyed-in-the-wool SF fan, ... /1

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Marcheto @cuentosalgernon.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Our annual free anthology is now out: “Cuentos para Algernon. Año XIII”, with terrific stories by @gregegansf.bsky.social, @gemmafiles.bsky.social, @jeffreyford8.bsky.social, @thomasha.bsky.social, @rachaelkjones.bsky.social, K. J. Parker, @rebelsam94.bsky.social‬, @kenschneyer.bsky.social… (1/2)

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

@alexachipman.bsky.social Is there a chance you might do a set of reaction videos to the TV show "The Prisoner"?

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

Got an actual, honest-to-goodness fan letter! (Well, fan e-mail.) Whee!

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

Do you think your mom would be interested in stories about economics? I’d recommend “The Cambist and Lord Iron”.

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the Driveby Calligrapher @dbcalligrapher.bsky.social · 20/07/2025

@kenschneyer.bsky.social recommending a story about tax accountants for dragons

Calligraphy: “how do you amortize a hoard of gold”

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

Across the US, university presidents, deans, and provosts are opening the academic year with the following nuanced, complex, and inspiring address: "First, AI. AI AI: AI, AI AI AI AI. When AI, consider AI, not to mention AI, AI, AI, and AI. AI AI AI AI. "In conclusion, AI AI AI AI AI."

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Indeed, the author touts the value of AI in “storytelling,” in an article that demonstrates just how bad LLMs are at doing that. How the editor didn’t catch this irony (or the awfulness of the writing) is beyond me. I dunno, maybe it’s a joke, & I’m missing it? /end

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

These, of course, are the markers of the bad writing I typically see in LLM-written student papers. So I wasn’t surprised to learn that AI was used in the composition of the article. But what horrifies me is that the author doesn’t seem to understand just how bad the writing is. /2

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Latest Mensa Research Journal contains an article supposedly describing the ways AI can be used to enhance human intelligence. About 1/3 through, I noticed that the article was unnecessarily repetitive and at a unhelpfully high level of abstraction. 1/

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

A portal-fantasy, time-travel story with Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie? Jeez, it's like the studio bosses said, "Let's market this to Ken." #ABigBoldBeautifulJourney

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

With the appearance of Hishashi Kujirai's Japanese version of "Laws of Impermanence" in Babelzine vol 4., my work has now been translated into seven (7) languages.

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Completing my panel-selection process for a con, and noticing how great is the temptation to opine on subjects as to which I am not remotely qualified...

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

Look, I didn’t like that immunity decision either, but are you honestly saying that there are no judicial checks on the executive branch unless you can put a president or ex-president in prison?That the only thing stopping the previous 44 presidents from abuse of power was the threat of prosecution?

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Null convention @nullconvention.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

A lot of resistance work also will not SEEM like resistance work. People have a tendency to believe everything is dramatic like movies and comics when a lot of resistance is community building. Someone feeding friends who've had their SNAP cut is still doing something critical.

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

"The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it--and the glow from that fire can truly light the world." -- John F. Kennedy, January 20, 1961 /end

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

"In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility--I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. /1

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

This was precisely the strategy in N*zi Germany: put a Party official in a parallel position alongside government officials, and give them the real power. Later, an SS official was added over the Party official in each position, and then *they* had the real power.

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

In such a scenario, it would not surprise me if 20 states, comprising 44% of the population and 50% of the gross domestic product, declared their independence. ...and if history is any guide, what probably follows next is horrific. /end

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

The States recover their complete independence and no longer owe anything to the federal government. The Congress ceases to have authority, the President is no longer an executive with legitimate power, and federal law evaporates. /5

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

Should the federal government declare the Constitution to be suspended, or should it act in defiance of SCOTUS orders interpreting the Constitution (esp. in cases where States are asking for their rights and powers to be upheld), the compact no longer exists, and thus the Union is dissolved. /4

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

The Constitution contains no provision allowing it to be suspended or held in abeyance, even in an emergency. (There are exceptions, such as the writ of habeas corpus, but they are enumerated and specific.) /3

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

That document is the compact by which the States agree to forego some part of their independence in order to form a single unit. It contains compromises and adjustments, some of which are awful, which were the price of getting consent to form the federal government at all. /2

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

The United States might exist as a nationality or cultural identity regardless of what legal framework accompanies it. But the United States as a POLITICAL and LEGAL ENTITY does not exist without the Constitution. 1/

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Karen K. Ho @karenho.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

There will be moments when you wonder if it's pointless to do the right and ethical thing; to still care about justice and helping others when it seems like the worst people are getting to rob everyone else without consequences. Little actions still matter. Ethics still matter. Keep helping others.

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Alyssa MacKenzie @alyssamackenzie.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Disrupt. And we disrupt by refusing to comply, pushing back against this absolute nonsense, and being vocal about what's happening, in a level that indicates how serious this moment in time is and how it is OVERWHELMINGLY unacceptable. What would YOU do to save your country? Your loved ones?

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Judging from the trailers, the production premise of "Fanastic Four: First Steps" seems to be that F4 is an artifact of the 1960s and must be presented as such. Given the failures of the previous attempts, this may be the best working theory.

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

(Elections too, obviously.) But if the system collapses into nothing but command-and-control, then passive resistance, manufactured “well-intentioned incompetence,” lip-service with no action, sand in the gears and energy-wasting distractions, will be the way to go. /end

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

…And that will determine what the most effective form of resistance is. So long as the rule of law and constitutional democracy still exist, formal challenges, lawsuits, and state legislative action will be optimal. /6

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Sooner or later, a judge is going to jail a federal official for contempt of court for disobeying an injunction on the president’s instructions. What happens immediately afterwards will determine whether the Constitution still exists. /5

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

The tipping point is likely to be a showdown with the courts. Despite what some of you think, there are lots of areas in which SCOTUS has refused to roll over for 45/47, and there are likely to be more. /4

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Once he has such control, the orders and policies will be even worse than those coming out now, and likely will be better thought-out for effectiveness. /3

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

This is why so many slipshod orders are coming out so fast. He figures his opponents can stop some of them, but not all. Each one that is not stopped solidifies his hold. Clearly he wants to be free of all control, including (especially) control by law, states, or the other two branches. /2

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

The 45/47 strategy at this point is to build as much unilateral control by one man as possible. The individual policies are nauseating, but he’ll sacrifice any one of them to get more of an iron grip elsewhere. /1

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Resisters in WW2 frequently used the appearance of well-intentioned incompetence to great effect.

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

I think Robert Graves wrote that pouring beer into the ground as a gift to [a god whose name I can't remember] was a method practiced in ancient times.

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

He happens to be my senator. I have written to him, as you suggest.

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Ken Schneyer @kenschneyer.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

Yeah, that was my thinking as well. Talk about taking "surrender in advance" to the next f*cking level...

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