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Lauren Beukes

@laurenbeukes.com
9.9K followers 221 following 1.2K posts

Novelist, scriptwriter, imaginative futurist, recovering journalist. Winner of the Arthur C Clarke and the University of Johannesburg Prize. Author of The Shining Girls (now on Apple TV), Zoo City and Bridge.

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Lauren Beukes @laurenbeukes.com · 30/09/2026
This whole thread
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Ian Duhig @ianduhig.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Itō Jakuchū's 'Frog' of 1790 for me is the iconic image of numbed uncomfortable bafflement at the predicament of existence in the coming modern world, much as Munch's 'Scream' expressed it through horror.
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Alex de Campi @alexdecampi.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
With alt text. I yelled
INTRODUCTION

The equities here could not be more one-sided. Defendants admit that they
provide a service without fully knowing how it works. 

This is not just any service. It is one that Defendants themselves concede poses an existential risk to the continued
survival of humankind. 

Defendants claim they cannot stop barreling forward with their potentially civilization-ending endeavors unless they are forced to do so by the
government. They have asked the government to tie them to the mast. 

Plaintiff brings good news to the Defendants: The Florida Attorney General is answering your
cry for help with a motion to enjoin you from harming Floridians with your reckless, unacceptably risky product.
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Josh Gondelman @joshgondelman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
It’s going to be pretty fucked up when this baby yeti starts telling people to kill themselves.
Subway display ad for meta’s muse ai product billed as “ai that gets it done.” The mascot is a little smiling fuzzy white puppet guy.
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⛧ Mother Suspiria ⛧ (Stina Marie) @stinasdemons.com · 28/09/2026
It's that day again. Use any and all resources available to help you through it. (And, as always, #FuckAI)
Reminder to treat your body like a data center:
1. Consume as much water and literature as possible 
2. Upset the local city council with your existence
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The Bear @bearlypolitics.co.uk · 28/09/2026
Well, well, well - if it isn’t the consequences of our own actions. It would appear that migrants are not, in fact, the fiscal drain we’ve been told they are by years if we go by the £4bn to £6.5bn shortfall that’s been caused by the precipitous drop in numbers under this government. Funny that.
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Davey Wilbury @daveishere.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
oh no, the scam everyone says is a scam may turn out to be a scam
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Aliette de Bodard @aliettedebodard.com · 27/09/2026
the news here is also that several countries that elected conservatives are hardening against women's rights
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Lauren Beukes @laurenbeukes.com · 27/09/2026
Speedo Kill (or Budgie Kill)
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Tracy King @tracyking.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This week I interviewed some of the nurses and healthcare staff who worked in intensive care during covid. One of them wanted to go on record as saying how utterly fucked - dead - we’d have been (and still would be) without migrant healthcare workers. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Angela Rayner criticises worker visa plans on eve of Labour conference
The housing secretary says the government's plans to change wait times for permanent residency are unfair because they "change the goalposts".
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Ed Morrish @edmorrish.com · 24/09/2026
funny how the government is considering jailing parents for the crimes their kids commit, but not jailing tech ceos for the crimes their ai agents commit
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Bart⚓️ @bartgonnissen.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The Facial Expressions of Tethys by artist Julius von Bismarck. A suspended high-sea buoy that moves in real time. Sensors on a twin buoy out in the Atlantic Ocean send live satellite data to motors inside the museum. This makes the indoor buoy copy the exact, real-time movements of the ocean waves.
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Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
We just dropped a bombshell investigation into ChatGPT's role in the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting. Incredible reporting from @markfollman.bsky.social that will have far-reaching effects...hopefully: www.motherjones.com/media/2026/0...
motherjones.com
ChatGPT helped the Tumbler Ridge school shooter focus on guns, tactics, and terror, our investigation reveals
OpenAI’s chatbot fed the shooter’s violent fantasies and planning up to the massacre.
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Reuters @reuters.com · 24/09/2026
AI tools generated nearly $1 billion in extra costs, Blue Cross insurers say reut.rs/3TfIfl3
reut.rs
AI tools generated nearly $1 billion in extra costs, Blue Cross insurers say
AI tools are raising health spending for insurers by nearly $1 billion over two years, as providers bill for more severe patient care, according ​to a Blue Cross Blue Shield Association study released Thursday.
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Sherry Turkle @sturkle.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I really enjoyed my conversation with @samleecole.bsky.social @404media.co. We talked about how my earlier work prepared me for writing Artificial Intimacy. How artificial companions deskill us in our capacity for human connection, and we got to the crucial question: How can we find our way back?
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Victoria Strauss @victoriastrauss.com · 18/09/2026
New #WriterBeware blog post: One writer sued their scammer...and won. The case provides a revealing window into the techniques scammers use to bleed their victims dry, and how they hide behind webs of corrupt businesses and forests of fake names, writerbeware.blog/2026/09/18/l...
writerbeware.blog
Love v. Wiley Book Writers: A Publishing Scam Gets a Rare Comeuppance - Writer Beware
Raymond Love just wanted to publish his children’s book with a trustworthy self-publishing company. Instead, he found a scam that took his money and delivered nothing of value. For most authors in thi...
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Starfire’s Deranged Neocon Foreign Policy Podcast @irhottakes.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
It’s very simple. A reality TV host became dictator because he turned down a role for Sharknado 4 and that’s why the king of outer space, who cheats at Diablo, got to kill Africa. Now the economy is controlled by a sex cult that has something to do with Harry Potter fanfic because of robots.
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Lauren Beukes @laurenbeukes.com · 17/09/2026
its incredible!
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Mai Més @maimes.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
L'autor, lector i amic Marc Pastor @doctormoriarty.bsky.social ens recomana: Les lluminoses, de @laurenbeukes.com 🔪⌚
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Adam Chapman @adamchapman.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This is a very interesting new resource, The Register of British Slave-Traders. 'The Register focusses on the individuals who sought to profit from the enslavement of over 3 million African men, women, and children, whose identity was – for the most part – erased from the historical record.' 🗃️
britishslavetraders.org
The Register of British Slave-Traders
The Register of British Slave-traders compiles and presents information on all known slave-traders in Britain who invested in the trafficking of captive Africans from 1563 to 1807.
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Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
The rule they are overturning was predicted to give $120 billion in public health benefits by 2047, with projections that by 2035, it would would prevent up to 1,200 premature deaths, 870 hospital and emergency room visits, 360K asthma attacks, 48K school absence days and 57K lost workdays each year
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Lauren Beukes @laurenbeukes.com · 14/09/2026
a musk see even (i‘m sure i’m one if a million people who have made the same pun)
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Roland Pierik @roleo.eurosky.social · 08/09/2026
The number of cases of cervical cancer reported in Scotland among women given the HPV vaccine at 12-13 years of age is now zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
No cervical cancer cases in fully HPV-vaccinated women in Scotland
A study published by Public Health Scotland finds that the HPV vaccine is "highly effective".
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Mark Harris @markharris.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
As if the headline isn't enough incentive, do read this short news story to the last paragraph because MAN does it escalate! playbill.com/article/man-...
playbill.com
Man Sentenced to 2-Year Jail Sentence After Strangling Fellow Theatregoer for Singing Along During We Will Rock You
The dust-up happened at a 2023 press performance in London's West End.
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Caroline Lucas @carolinelucas.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
So pleased to see @zackpolanski.bsky.social demanding the Government’s suppressed then redacted report on ecosystem collapse be published in full. People can’t prepare for what they don’t know - concealing this report is unforgivable #WildSummit
theguardian.com
Polanski calls for report on ecosystem collapse to be published in full
Green leader says ministers must stop ‘hiding the truth’ about threat to UK security from climate and nature crisis
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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Let’s go.
bbc.co.uk
Police launch criminal investigation into Reform UK donations
The investigation, which follows a broadcast by Channel 4 News, is being folded into the inquiry that has been underway into other donations.
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Keith Edwards @kedwards.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
AI Investor: I have created the most dangerous machine in the world. It will wreck the economy, the environement, and the sanity of all who behold it. It doesn't have to be this dangerous, I just refuse to build in any safeguards or turn it off. I would like 1 Trillion American dollars please.
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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
"Perhaps more concerningly, the TVs were capable of recording microphone audio when in standby; this continued even after the TV was disconnected from the internet, with audio files stored offline and uploaded once a connection was restored."
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Spooky Snigdha @snig.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Not everyone's train journey is the same.
A lone black woman on a train. 
Her carriage is full of masked white men going to march for white supremacy.Three white women on a train smiling. Their carriage is full of masked white men going to block the port of Dover.
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Tits McGee @scientits.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Unsurprising news to many freelancers But companies underestimate how long it can take to properly 'clean' AI slop into something useable, and it can often take longer than creating something from scratch
theguardian.com
Freelancers are getting buried with ‘soulless’ AI slop cleanup: ‘It’s a shame we need to do it’
As more companies turn to AI, they’re hiring freelancers to clean up its mistakes rather than create original work
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Kate Bevan @katebevan.com · 03/09/2026
I was having a conversation about using AI at work with a colleague, and she made the very smart observation that using AI doesn't reduce work - it creates different work, going over it, making sure it makes sense, etc, and all too often that work gets pushed along the chain to the next person.
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FactPost @factpostnews.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Mayor Mamdani announces a ban on generative AI in schools through 8th grade: AI is not going to replace student-teacher interaction in NYC public schools. We have also heard the importance of protecting childhood—allowing students the opportunity to ask questions, to engage, to fail, to learn.
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Joe Tidy BBC News @joetidy.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
This was surreal. I emailed the proton mail of the hacker group that breached the UK airports yesterday and they replied overnight with this...
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Luna Press Publishing @lunapress.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Tight deadline, but just saw this from Creative Scotland for a fully funded Crime Writing Residency 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🥷
covepark.org
Loch Long Crime Writing Residency 2026-2027
We are now accepting applications for the fourth edition of the Loch Long Crime Writing Residency, a fully funded opportunity for Scotland-based writers developing new work in crime fiction. This year...
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Erin Biba @erinbiba.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
HELL YEAH!!!!!! (And congrats to @gregpak.net for his absolutely tireless work pushing for this outcome)
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Liz Fong-Jones (方禮真) @lizthegrey.com · 02/09/2026
This is why you shouldn't trust a service that claims to "delete scans of your ID" once they're verified. a provider to Hertz and many other US companies just got popped. krebsonsecurity.com/2026/09/fbi-...
krebsonsecurity.com
FBI Probes Service Selling 153M+ Drivers Licenses – Krebs on Security
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Jay Troyer @gr8flbluejay.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Olaniyi Omotayo, Nigerian (1995- ), Empowered Unity 4, 2025, oil and acrylic on canvas, 36 x 48 in, private collection
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 01/09/2026
Someday I hope to have more rights than AI generated child sex abuse material
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Ashley Lynch ✂️🎞️ @ashleylynch.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I would 100% support a law that says if any digital platform removes your access to media you paid for then they are required to refund you the entirety of the original purchase price. That would solve this whole thing in a hurry.
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Lauren Beukes @laurenbeukes.com · 01/09/2026
oh no, 5-10 working days and prob only when i run out of underwear
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Lauren Beukes @laurenbeukes.com · 01/09/2026
lol www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Deported Milo Yiannopoulos says he is ‘ashamed’ of support for Trump
British far-right pundit breaks silence on ICE arrest and deportation and says he was ‘really, really terrified’
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Juliet E McKenna @julietemckenna.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Journalists need to stop describing these incidents in terms implying software has agency and intent. It does not. The people who created a faulty and dangerous product are the ones responsible for whatever happens, and must be held to account, with punitive financial penalties for damage done.
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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Good piece on England’s completely avoidable water crisis. “At the moment, we're using world-class drinking water to cool data centres, to irrigate our golf courses.”
bbc.co.uk
The race to stop England running out of water
Who is to blame for the summer drought, and can England future-proof its water supplies?
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⛧ Mother Suspiria ⛧ (Stina Marie) @stinasdemons.com · 28/08/2026
Forming a theory about how the most correct response for any and all "AI" interactions is to treat it like a game of Speed Mad Libs Human, logical structuring of grammar, cadence, and inflection but just spewing out absolute gibberish in the Information transfers
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Lauren Beukes @laurenbeukes.com · 27/08/2026
Aargh! I forgot to do alt text on all the images. I'm so sorry. I was caught up in finding the right links and pics (and words).
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Lauren Beukes @laurenbeukes.com · 27/08/2026
Hole! is the funniest and most heartfelt musical comedy about the apocalypse, cults, and butt plugs. (Totally a genre of musical) www.edfringe.com/tickets/what... Finally, fellow South African and sweetest magician Stuart Lightbody blows my mind every time. www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
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Lauren Beukes @laurenbeukes.com · 27/08/2026
Here's the Cabbage the Clown: Cinemadrome link www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
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Lauren Beukes @laurenbeukes.com · 27/08/2026
And shows I'd highly recommend that I've seen before: Cinemadrome: clowning, trashdrag, millennial lesbian angst & heartache. (This was the best thing I saw at last year's Fringe and I saw it again at Soho Theatre two months ago where Cabbage took my 17 year old daughter as her teenage bride)
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Lauren Beukes @laurenbeukes.com · 27/08/2026
Also enjoyed Mercurial: a blind hook-up goes wrong and it goes VERY dark, before making a U turn www.edfringe.com/tickets/what... Joe Sellman-Leava's Copycat, a thoughtful, funny interrogation of AI and what it means to make human art, with impressions and powerpoint www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
edfringe.com
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Lauren Beukes @laurenbeukes.com · 27/08/2026
Similar vein immersive horror comedy: I had a blast being in the studio audience for Grubby Mitt's Late Night 70s Game Show, a work in progress that felt fully realised, with more sinister shenanigans beneath the surface, along with the horror of the UK in the 70s. www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
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