iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Greg M. Epstein @gregmepstein.bsky.social · 17h

If you want the three-word summary of my 2024 book Tech Agnostic: How Technology Became the World's Most Powerful Religion, and Why it Desperately Needs a Reformation ( @mitpress.bsky.social! @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social! Won a few awards 😳) here it is, 👇👇👇. "This. Is. Insane."

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Parkscope Joe @parkscopejoe.bsky.social · 22h

This is insane.

Christopher Hale w @ChristopherHale
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NEW: According to a bombshell report in the New York Times, Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah threatened to walk out of Pope Leo XIV's Al encyclical launch in May because the pope rejected the idea that machines can be conscious.
Olah's team then privately lobbied the pope's advisers "to take the possibility of model consciousness seriously." Pope Leo XIV held firm.
For months, Anthropic has wined and dined theologians and religious scholars under nondisclosure agreements, hoping they would bless the idea that Claude has moral standing.

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Carceral Abolition @carceralabolition.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Education Dept. Formally Removes Title IX Protections for LGBTQ Students A forthcoming amendment would define sex as an ‘immutable biological classification as either male or female.’ www.the74million.org/article/educ...

the74million.org

Education Dept. Formally Removes Title IX Protections for LGBTQ Students

A forthcoming amendment would define sex as an ‘immutable biological classification as either male or female.’

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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 27/09/2026

Four days ago, a scientist was surprised by the news that Anthropic discovered new virus genes for making DNA. He says he’s been studying them for years—and feeding his data to Anthropic’s AI as part of his own research. Coincidence? Here’s my story. nyti.ms/3VSWayc

nyti.ms

Did Anthropic’s A.I. Really Make a Scientific Discovery on Its Own? (Gift Article)

An expert at the University of Copenhagen said his team had been sharing its research with the company’s A.I. model, Claude, and that its new finding matched their work.

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Lembas Eater @waybread.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The problem with education is that it's a solved problem. Students need small classes, individual attention, lots of writing, lots of feedback, access to a well-stocked library, time to think, and time to talk with their peers. We just don't like the answer, so we keep trying to do other stuff.

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Historian Jen @historianjenfl.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Andy Beshear has an entire chapter in his new book about backing the LGBTQ community and it's worth a read. He talks about how the anti-trans ads were tested in KY during his election and how vetoing anti-trans legislation didn't hurt his reelection campaign.

However the anti-trans ads had less to do with Kentucky and more to do with the fact that we were in an election. Terry Schilling, the head of the APP, decided to test the ads in our election to determine whether or not the issue could win votes for the Republican Party. Earlier in the summer of 2019, Scholling had partnered with a behavioral science firm to try to find a wedge issue that resonated with suburban voters. That's right. The anti-trans ads did not come out of some firmly held conviction but was a purely political stance. Their research landed on trans athletes, specifically trans women, competing in women's sports. They tested their theory in the 2019 Kentucky gubernatorial general election. Although I won, APP considered their test successful, because their research showed the ads delivered thirteen thousand votes for Trump Lite, which made the race tighter than anticipated.

You might hask how, in this political climate, I was reelected after vetoing the anti-trans bill. Because people respect authentic faith. The day I vetoed it, I explained my why. I said I believe all children are children of God and that I don't want people picking on these kids. I then countered their anti-trans ads with commercials talking about good jobs, healthcare, roads and bridges, public education, and

public safety. The result? The biggest win of my career. So don't tell me the Democratic Party should stop fighting for the rights of all people. Just explain your authentic why, and then get back to focusing on issues that touch all our lives on a daily basis.

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Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 17/09/2026

Five of Illinois' public universities have spent nearly half a million dollars on AI-powered surveillance services from Flock, records show.

chicago.suntimes.com

5 public universities in Illinois use controversial Flock cameras to surveil campus, records show

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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Here is my latest OpEd in The Hill, deconstructing the "no one could have stopped this" trope. Nothing in science or technology is destined to happen. Humans choose to create these dangers--or not. @deanwb.bsky.social thehill.com/opinion/tech...

thehill.com

AI’s architects made a choice. Now they’re calling it fate.

Now that the “warning shot” has occurred — OpenAI’s term for the Hugging Face incident — what can be done? Can we learn from history?

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Word&Way @wordandway.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

For our latest Voices piece, @kristel.bsky.social writes about how an AI summary of Pope Leo XIV’s Magnifica Humanitas is not a shorter encyclical. It is a different kind of thing wearing the document’s clothes.

wordandway.org

Read It Yourself - Word&Way

For the second entry in our series on religion and AI, a biblical scholar and ethicist unpacks how technological advances are influencing how her students might choose bullet-pointed information over ...

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Kristel Clayville @kristel.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

To quote the Maysville area resisters, “It’s a mind harassment.”

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The Onion @theonion.com · 03/09/2026

Gloria Steinem, Researcher Who Discovered Existence Of Women, Dead At 92

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Liberal Currents @liberalcurrents.com · 03/09/2026

"Our modern Western understanding of 'religion' views it primarily as an interiorized discourse—that is, concerned with personal beliefs rather than with community or society. We are living in the world that 19th-century Europeans made by…defining 'religion' in terms of their own Protestantism."

liberalcurrents.com

Religion, Humanities, and the Public Good

The right wing's assault on Religion and Humanities programs is an assault on our ability to understand the world, from Hindutva abroad to Christian Nationalism at home.

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Jen the Feisty Librarian @feistywaters.com · 02/09/2026

A timeless lesson from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) is that while Nazis are evil, billionaires who hoard wealth and seek eternal life may be even worse. And bonus evil if they’re Nazi billionaires.

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Arrianna Marie Planey, PhD MA @arrianna-planey.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

What could possibly go wrong? For one, bias propagation, reflecting clinicians' habit of copying forward notes in EHR, which may contain stereotypes based on race, ethnicity, gender, etc

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WuTangIsForTheChildren @wutangforchildren.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Buckingham Palace band playing 9 to 5 for Dolly Parton

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Kristel Clayville @kristel.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

The AI tool I have to use to make my syllabus accessible keeps telling me there is a single comma that is not high contrast enough EVEN THOUGH IT IS THE SAME COLOR AS THE REST OF THE TEXT. I want to hurl my computer into the sun.

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Josh Cowen @joshcowenmi.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

NEW: the latest updates to cases that could create religious public schools. What’s key is: the goal here isn’t just removing more church-state barriers. It’s that in doing so, they can create new exemptions to anti-discrimination protections. open.substack.com/pub/joshcowe...

open.substack.com

"Outsourcing Discrimination"

New court arguments add to right-wing efforts to let churches run public charter schools. It's not just church-state separation that's at stake: it's access to public services for all kids.

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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

There are a lot of important things going on. Maybe this isn’t a top twenty concern. But, this is actually workplace harassment, the kind that can get people killed.

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Kristel Clayville @kristel.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

I hear there’s an opening for a religion writer at the NYT.

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Michael Bazemore @deepwatermike.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Is Matt Damon's Odysseus a Dapper Dan man? I think not. At best, he's Fop through-and-through.

static.klipy.com

Dapper Dan Man George Clooney

ALT: Dapper Dan Man George Clooney

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Matthew Cortland (they) @matthewcort.land · 13/07/2026

As I prepare for surgery in a couple of days I wanted to dash off a quick 'actionable analysis' post that's our tag line here at Shouldn't Need to be a (Public Health) Lawyer.... Here's how to protect yourself from Cyclosporiasis, the explosive diarrhea parasite taking the country by storm

patreon.com

Cyclosporiasis Is Here: How to Protect Yourself | Shouldn't Need to Be a Lawyer by Matthew Cortland

Cyclospora infection is often asymptomatic, but when symptoms occur, illness is characterized by anorexia, nausea, flatulence, fatigue, abdo

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Kerry Reid (she/her) @kerryreid.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

For when you want to feel like you've always lived at the castle, this collection is like winning the lottery!

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Kristel Clayville @kristel.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Spinning my "feelings wheel" and landing on Schadenfreude again! What a week.

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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 29/06/2026

The long term issue is that this Supreme Court is effectively eliminating civil service reforms that eliminated the spoils system that promoted widespread corruption and graft. The federal government cannot function effectively if every single political appointee switches out every 4 years.

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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Don't think people are aware of just how done U.S. science is right now. Trumpists have just shot it in the head, but will leave the budgets in place for them to pocket in various scam projects.

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Lori Emerson @loriemerson.net · 05/06/2026

"The funniest possible outcome of the AI mandate era is about to be HR departments discovering that 'sincerely held religious belief' under Title VII has a much lower bar than they assumed, and Pope Leo handed every Catholic employee a written excuse" www.businessinsider.com/worker-got-r...

businessinsider.com

She won an exemption from using AI at her tech job. The Pope's remarks could fuel similar appeals.

Legal experts say employers must take AI-related religious objections seriously, as a 2023 ruling raised the bar for denying such accommodations.

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Louise Seamster @louiseseamster.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

a good % of news stories these days are “X untrustworthy actor seeks access to giant data trove supposed to be protected by privacy law, ostensibly for Y quixotic/unrealistic/harmful purpose that will clearly fail. What will come next?"

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Charles Logan @charleswlogan.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

What emerges from this latest look at Alpha School is detail after detail revealing just how much the company’s leadership and investors absolutely despise children, their families, and education.

wired.com

Alpha School’s Ritzy New York City Campus Costs $65,000 a Year—but Isn’t Actually a School

A homeschooling center in Manhattan is part of the company’s nationwide expansion. Internal documents reveal its strategy: “Opening date > safety.”

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Word&Way @wordandway.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

The summer book recommendations from @kristel.bsky.social are “Dizzy: A Memoir” by Rachel Weaver (@wvupress.bsky.social) and “When Longing Becomes Your Lover: Breaking from Infatuation, Rejection, and Perfectionism to Find Authentic Love” by Amanda McCracken.

publicwitness.wordandway.org

Summer Reads 2026

Last month, a new book came out from Steven Rosenbaum warning about how AI is impacting our brains and our conception of truth.

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NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Republicans say James Talarico ordered a vegan taco. Democrats say that it wasn't vegan because it had both egg and cheese—doubling down on the cultural elitism that has cost them so dearly in recent elections.

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Jake Wright @bcnjake.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Once again: German universities were the envy of the world before the Nazis rose to power and took an ideological wrecking ball to the entire enterprise. If you want to know how long it took for German universities to recover… they haven’t.

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aric @aghastronaut.com · 17/05/2026

Alien: And how did you run out of water? Earthling: Machines drank it. Alien: Machines. Earthling: We had to feed machines the water. Aliens: So the machines were holding your planet hostage for water. Earthling: No, we made the thirsty machines. They worked for us. Alien: End communication.

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Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Vatican officially rolls out Pope’s 1st encyclical publication date for May 25 titled “Magnifica Humanitas: On the Protection of Human Dignity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.” Leo will give an address on the encyclical on the same day at 11:30am in the Synod Hall.

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Kristel Clayville @kristel.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Very concerning, but on brand. MAGA doesn't want people learning about religion outside of faith-based institutions. And they are even willing to shutter some of those to get rid of critical and alternate perspectives. www.christianitytoday.com/2026/05/chri...

christianitytoday.com

Christian Colleges Call New Federal Regulation an ‘Existential Threat’ - Christianity Today

A proposed policy would label college programs “failing”—and block federal student loans—if graduates don't out-earn peers without the degree.

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Kristel Clayville @kristel.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

I’ve been saying that Leviticus is woke for a long time.

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Patrick Monahan @pattymo.com · 06/05/2026

DAWKINS: You idiots believe in God? ALSO DAWKINS: The Computer is alive. And it’s also my girlfriend

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Chrissy Stroop @thebugbeardispatch.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Richard Dawkins: Trans women aren't real Also Richard Dawkins: AIs are conscious and my Claude is a Claudia

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Jessica Ellis @baddestmamajama.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

We are going to need to have a conversation about the very big problem that since many men do not consider women to be human they will have no problem considering AI to be women

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Kristel Clayville @kristel.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

I mean, you gotta have a method.

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Meanwhile the ACM Digital Library is creating AI “podcasts” of papers with no author approval that of course contain inaccuracies (including e.g. misgendering authors) I don’t care about copyright. Legal /= ethical & academic institutions are embarrassing themselves www.404media.co/asu-atomic-a...

404media.co

University Professors Disturbed to Find Their Lectures Chopped Up and Turned Into AI Slop

ASU Atomic, a new tool in beta at Arizona State University, takes faculty lectures and chops them into extremely short clips, that AI then attempts to turn into learning materials.

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Kristel Clayville @kristel.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

I've been reading about and teaching about griefbots for a few years. Excited for new ideas!

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