iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Margaret Hamilton has died. she led the team that wrote the software that powered the first moon landing in 1969. she got into programming in 1959, working in the meteorology department at MIT www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

Margaret Hamilton standing next to a tall stack of the paper documentation of software that powered the first moon landing in 1969.

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bryan newbold @bnewbold.net · 07/10/2026

ah damn, RIP Margaret Hamilton. she took safety-critical software engineering seriously, and got people to the moon and back. news.mit.edu/2026/margare...

old photos of a woman (Margaret Hamilton) standing next to a tall stack of books (printouts of Apollo space mission software source code)

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

On Thursday, I will be at SDSU in their terrific Digital Humanities chatting with Jessica Pressman about Inventing ELIZA! Team ELIZA will be joining via zoom. If you are in the area, join us!

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kalina kostyszyn 🌸 @kalinamalina.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

just found out about the ELIZA archaeology project and their book, Inventing ELIZA, and I’m going to lose so much time to this findingeliza.org

findingeliza.org

The first chatbot · ELIZA (1966)

A Critical Code Studies reading of ELIZA, Joseph Weizenbaum’s 1966 chatbot, built on the original source recovered from the MIT archive.

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Prepping the release of a new edition of the first print Mrs. Wobbles & The Tangerine House book UnBoxing for libraries and bookstores! Coming soon! Feat. poem by Margaret Rhee & Illustrations by Brian Gallagher!

Alt text: 3D mockup of the new edition of Mrs. Wobbles & The Tangerine House: UnBoxing by the Marino Family. The brown-and-cream cover shows a vintage-style illustration of a child riding a furry creature atop a large box, with a house in the background and a gold Robert Coover Award “Honorable Mention” medallion on the lower left. The book’s spine reads “Mrs. Wobbles,” “UNBOXING,” and “Marinos.” Bright orange banners over the image read “New edition” at the upper left and “coming SOON!” across the lower right.

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Congratulations to new PhuDs, Liza Long and Rob Wittig, whose dissertation injected doubt into the self-improving Journal till it overwhemed the system. UnderAcademy College takes not responsibility for the Autodors of the journal. claude.ai/artifact/Ayv...

A two-panel image with a black top banner reading "Reload to Revise".
Left Panel: A clean web interface listing five numbered titles:
Wearing the Glitch: Hallucination as Aesthetic Practice by Talan Memmott (290 pages) with a red tag labeled NEW PHUD.
Putting Context in Context, Taking Context Out of Context by Rob Wittig.
Portfolio of Questionable Digital Artifacts by Liza Long.
A Hippocratic Oath, Renewed Monthly (Premium Tier) by A Roomba, Field Researcher, via Davin Heckman.
Rubberband Theory: Artificial Intelligence in Tension with Human Agency by Scott Rettberg (203 pages).
Right Panel: A lined sheet with crossed-out text and red handwritten annotations. A box reads "62.5% sure this isn't a dissertation" over a crossed-out title. Lower notes read "notes to self. do not publish. journals. read by models. cited by no one... 8,344 litres of water for this? why?" and ask about "AGENTIC BROWSERS... Rate on a scale of 1 to 5 billion params. Worth it? No AI fluffing!"

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

In a later reloads (around version 24) of the Self-Improving Journal of Untrained Models, you play "Fakulty Crossing," tending to the UnderAcademy College Digressors for max data . Margaret Rhee, Patrick M Lichty, Sergio Figueiredo, Anna Nacher, Davin Heckman, and more! claude.ai/artifact/Ayv...

Screenshot of Fakulty Crossing, a satirical Animal Crossing-style game set on UnderAcademy Island, “where the bots gave up on the journal and now raise professors.” A colorful pixel-art island is populated by tiny professors and robots. The selected professor, Margaret Rhee, is described as the “Digressor, Artifeelcial Emotigence” and author of Love, Robot. Players can pour coffee, hold office hours, cite her work, or harvest her data. A message reads: “Day 26. The bots have stopped checking the university’s funds. Nobody has noticed. Least of all the university.”

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Re•mediate Lit Mag @remediatelitmag.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

A huge joy of working with @ben_zxb and other collaborators at re•mediate has been opening ourselves out to more multilingual work—+ this generative poem by Mehulkumar Desai + Deena Larsen is part-English, part-Gujarati! Shoutout to our friends @ Indian Consortium for Interactive Digital Narratives!

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The Journal of Untrained Models (Issue 5) is now even more self-improving! President Memmott and I have basically let the bots have at it! Every time you reload the journal, it improves itself. Even better than a revise and resubmit. It's full on Universal Paperclips now. claude.ai/artifact/Ayv...

claude.ai

Claude Artifact

Try out Artifacts created by Claude users

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Journal of Untrained Models, Vol. 4, No. ∞ is out and it's now self-improving! New editor, the UnderAcad-O-Matic 6000, rewrites the issue every time you reload. Keep reloading: it publishes its friends, writes poetry, and eventually places me in a folder. claude.ai/artifact/SV7...

Pink announcement card for the Journal of Untrained Models, Volume 4, Number Infinity, The Self-Improving Number. The UnderAcademy College seal with its upside-down pig sits at left. A tracked change reads "Edited by Mark Marino," struck through and replaced with "the UnderAcad-O-Matic 6000" in typewriter text. A purple stamp reads "build 6000.∞."

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

So pleased to publish 4 new issues of the Journal of Untrained Models hallucinated by Davin Heckman. His CV must be jumping for joy! This is an UnderAcademy College misadventure. Prematurely Imprimatured by President Talan Memmott. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

docs.google.com

Journal of Untrained Models Vol1_No3_Prepublication

Unaccredited since 2011 Journal of Untrained Models An Anti-Degree Journal of the UnderAcademy College Fakulty Volume 3 · Number 1-4 · September 2026 Special Prepublication Number Containing Volu...

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

So happy to see Quantum Entanglement in Re*mediate! Cats, robots, and octopuses in this work of quantum erotica. (This domesticated edition is safe for wok.) The new issue launches tomorrow! Written with 7 others in Quantized Victoria Clarckson. On Scrollimation! remediatelitmag.xyz/issue6/

Screenshot of “Quantum Entanglement” by Quantized Authors in Re·mediate. The page has a retro digital design in teal and pale blue. An embedded video titled “Quantum Entanglement Traversal” shows a mock Spanish book cover reading “Enredo Cuántico de María G,” with wine glasses, abstract red-orange imagery, and the author name “Quantized Victoria Clarckson.” A note beside the video directs readers to the Altsalt platform to read the piece.

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Got an AI-generated dissertation? UnderAcademy College wants you to submit. Then defend it against our v 0.1 agentic examination bots. Don't have the tokens? We'll generate it for you! claude.ai/artifact/31J... Unendorsed by President Talan Memmott

claude.ai

Claude Artifact

Try out Artifacts created by Claude users

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I'm proud to announce the second issue of the Journal of Untrained Models featuring the generated dissertations of Scott Rettberg and Patrick M Lichty to candidates for for the UnderAcademy College PhuD Degree Uncertificate. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

docs.google.com

Journal of Untrained Models 1.2c (September 2026)

Unaccredited since 2011 Journal of Untrained Models An Anti-Degree Journal of the UnderAcademy College Fakulty Volume 1 · Number 2 · September 2026 Peer-adjacent. Openly inaccessible. Published ...

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Announcing the phirst ever PhuD from UnderAcademy College! Only AI generated applications will be considered (i.e. stochastic sorting). Fully defunded. Despite this sloppy certificate, we remain a committed free non-degree granting uninstitution AIpply here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Satirical UnderAcademy College diploma for a “PhuD,” a fully defunded non-degree with “Honors Hallucinatorius.” The cream-and-red vintage certificate features an upside-down pig, the motto “Do No Ham,” an official-looking seal, and jokes including “More Slop, Less Support” and “Generating Plausible Nonsense.” It is signed by President Talan Memmott and Provisional Provost Mark C. Marino.

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MIT Press @mitpress.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

@berrydm.bsky.social & @markcmarino.bsky.social, two of the authors behind "Inventing ELIZA," joined The Vergecast to explain how Joseph Weizenbaum created the first chatbot, why he came to regret it, and what ELIZA can teach us about life in the AI age. @theverge.com

youtube.com

How a 1960s chatbot fooled everyone | The Vergecast

From The Vergecast, this episode takes a look back at one of the earliest chapters in the history of AI. Before Alexa and Siri, there was ELIZA. The first chatbot ever was the creation of a man named…

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Here's a video of David Berry of Team ELIZA on the code of the first chatbot at the UNESCO Source Code Exhibition. This exhibition can travel to your area Organized by the Software Heritage Foundation. A milestone in Critical Code Studies #critcode @softwareheritage.org youtu.be/-Xo4uImfdLc?...

youtu.be

ELIZA: Rediscovering the First Chatbot / À la redécouverte du premier chatbot by TEAM ELIZA

YouTube video by Inria - Médiation Scientifique

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

looks like Th 10/22 Peggy Weil will be at the MIT Bookstore!

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Peggy is doing an impromptu book signing at the MIT Bookstore in October!

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

If you're in San Diego, come hear about Inventing ELIZA on Oct. 8. I'll be there in person, and Team ELIZA virtually. Thanks, to Jessica Pressman for all the support!

Promotional poster for an Inventing ELIZA book talk with Mark C. Marino at SDSU’s Digital Humanities Center on Thursday, October 8, 12:30–1:45 PM. The orange and blue poster features the MIT Press book cover and describes Inventing ELIZA as a critical analysis of Joseph Weizenbaum’s original chatbot and its impact on ideas about AI and society. Marino will appear in person, with co-authors joining via Zoom. The poster includes SDSU Digital Humanities branding and a QR code.

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Out today: TextGenEd: Continuing Experiments! I’ve got two pieces in the collection, coauthored with Jeremy Douglass and Jon Ippolito. Shoutouts to Jeremy and Jon, and congrats to Annette, Carly, and Tim on the new collection! @jonippolito.net

Promotional graphic for TextGenEd: Continuing Experiments, a new WAC Clearinghouse collection featuring 15 classroom-tested assignments exploring generative AI and writing. The graphic highlights two pieces by Mark C. Marino: “Stump the Robot” Microexpertise Exercise, coauthored with Jon Ippolito, and “The Analog Sandwich,” coauthored with Jeremy Douglass.

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Part 3 of my Resistance Training exercises is online at Medium. This is a series of exercises designed to teach critical AI literacy through interaction with AI systems. markcmarino.medium.com/resistance-t... #criticalai

markcmarino.medium.com

Resistance Training: teaching with and against AI (part 3)

This is the third in a series of posts about resistance training. Here’s part 1 and part 2.

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Catherine D'Ignazio (she/her/ella) @kanarinka.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Join our open, free learning community 📣 Technofascism, Feminism and Democracy 📣 to explore: the rise of global authoritarianism; Big Tech, AI, & the billionaire class; how feminist & grassroots movements are proposing alternative democratic futures. technofascism.dataplusfeminism.mit.edu

Image depicts a bundle of cables (referencing the origin of the word "fasces" which means bundle in Italian) along with the head of an ax protruding from them. The text reads Technofascism, Feminism, Democracy and a smaller text invites you to join the open learning community with a QR code.

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Alex Saum @alexsaum.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Friends of the Bay! @mariosantamaria.bsky.social and I are taking folks on a new tourist experience! Join us on October 3rd for **A TOUR OF AI** and help us beat the algorithm together ✨💕 www.eventbrite.com/e/a-tour-of-...

eventbrite.com

A Tour of AI, with Mario Santamaría and Alex Saum

An In-Person Journey through Santa Clara’s AI Infrastructure: A Tourist Route of Non-Touristic Places and Prompts

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

After having discarded and shredded all the drafts, I have put the much anticipated Sentence 117 into the bookstore that is my email signature. I believe these are so far uncollected, so you must trade with my correspondents to read them all. #e-sig

Photo of a shredder. Text: All drafts shredded. Sentence 117 is ready

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

This Thursday: Sarah Ciston and David Berry will launch Inventing ELIZA at the Weizenbaum Institute in Berlin! If you are in the area, check it out! 👉 More information: buff.ly/etpZItR @sarahciston.com @davidmberry.bsky.social

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

At InventingEliza.com you can talk to the most accurate reproduction of DOCTOR running on the ELIZA platform and find loads of other content, including code and context. Anthony Hay built this faithful recreation, featured at the Jeu de Paume in Paris! #ArtificialIntelligence #computerhistory

A screenshot of the InventingEliza.com website interface, featuring a retro green-screen terminal window that reads "ELIZA · DOCTOR · CTSS (EMULATED)" at the top and displays the text prompt "HOW DO YOU DO. PLEASE TELL ME YOUR PROBLEM" in capital letters, with the website URL "InventingEliza.com" overlaid in bold green lettering across the center.

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Mikko Tolonen @tolonen.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

We are hiring! Permanent position for a University Lecturer in Digital Humanities at the University of Helsinki. The application period is open and closes on 3 October 2026: jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki... Please read the job description carefully and feel free to spread the word widely.

jobs.helsinki.fi

University Lecturer in Digital Humanities

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

New Transformers debate: High Stakes Metaphors (for AI): Calculators, Ladders, & Bad Managers. Discussion with Maha Bali, Jeremy Douglass, Jon Ippolito, Mark C. Marino, and Anna Mills www.writingtransformers.org/high-stakes-... @mahabali.bsky.social @annamillsoer.bsky.social @jonippolito.net

writingtransformers.org

High Stakes Metaphors: Calculators, Ladders, and Bad Managers – Writing Transformers

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berlin-news-en.bsky.social @berlin-news-en.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

❝ strippel.bsky.social (2/2): "Inventing ELIZA," about the development of the first chatbot by #JosephWeizenbaum 60 years ago. Registration: www.weizenbaum-institut.de/veranstaltun... #ELIZA60

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berlin-news-en.bsky.social @berlin-news-en.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

weizenbauminstitut.bsky.social ↻ strippel.bsky.social (1/2): In exactly one week, the book launch for "Inventing ELIZA" will take place at @weizenbauminstitut.bsky.social. We are currently working on

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Now that you've seen The Odyssey (pr even before), you can play a modern adaptation of it in Salt Immortal Sea for free, featuring the stunning visuals of Joellyn Rock , entrancing interaction design from John Murray , mesmerizing music by Ken Joseph and writing by me. jtm.io/saltimmortal...

A brightly colored collage overlayed with silhouettes of tanks, lions, and an ancient styled bearded ruler seated and raising a commanding hand

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Christian Strippel @strippel.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

In genau einer Woche findet am @weizenbauminstitut.bsky.social die Buchvorstellung von „Inventing ELIZA“ statt. Wir arbeiten gerade daran, dass Weizenbaums Chatbot vor Ort im Original genutzt werden kann. Es gibt noch freie Plätze, Anmeldung hier: www.weizenbaum-institut.de/veranstaltun...

Zwei Stapel von Exemplaren des Buchs „Inventing ELIZA“ nebeneinander.

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Wow. Blown away by this glowing review of Inventing ELIZA in the Wall Street Journal! My favorite line is that we were "talmudically annotating the code." archive.ph/fCcIy @sarahciston.com, @mitpress.bsky.social @wsj.com #critcode #ArtificialIntelligence #computerhistory #SoftwareHistory

Screen shots of the review in the Wall Street Journal: 'Inventing ELIZA' Review: The Mother of all Chatbots

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Curtis Frye @curtisfrye.com · 18/08/2026

Published by @mitpress.bsky.social, Inventing ELIZA offers a deep dive into the famous early program. It's a groundbreaking book that serves the fields of computing history, sociology, gender studies, and computer-human interaction in equal measure. I enthusiastically recommend it.

techsoc.com

Review of Inventing Eliza from The MIT Press - Technology and Society, Incorporated

Landing page for Technology and Society, Incorporated. Owner Curtis Frye is an online trainer and conference keynote speaker.

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

David Berry and I (1/4 of Team ELIZA) enjoyed our chat with David Pierce of the Vergecast Podcast! Fun to share some of our findings from Inventing ELIZA! youtu.be/vDq1y4wozqk?... #critcode #ArtificialIntelligence #computerhistory @mitpress.bsky.social @theverge.com

youtu.be

How a 1960s chatbot fooled everyone | The Vergecast

YouTube video by The Verge

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David Pierce @davidpierce.xyz · 11/08/2026

Today’s Vergecast: Lessons from the very first chatbot. Before Alexa and Siri, there was ELIZA. The first chatbot ever was the creation of a man named Joseph Weizenbaum, who built the bot almost as a magic trick — and then... www.theverge.com/podcast/978198/eli…

youtube.com

Today’s Vergecast: Lessons from the very first chatbot.

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markcmarino.bsky.social @markcmarino.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

David Berry giving the keynote at the Retro AI Symposium, a talk that covered code, vectors, and manifolds as he discussed the past, present, and future of AI. #RETROAI #CRITCODE

David Berry gestures with his fist standing before the ELIZA code.

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