iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Ghostly Bree @mostlybree.kitrocha.com · 06/10/2026

I won't give up if we don't. I'm not believing that Magic Will Happen and we'll win. I believe it's always worth trying 172% because what the fuck is the alternative? Lay down like a quitter?? It's not in me, man. I'd rather get caught trying. And then I'll get up and try again.

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Ghostly Bree @mostlybree.kitrocha.com · 06/10/2026

I think the polls are absolute bullshit because I have no idea what anyone in this country will do in the next 12 hours much less in November. But I also am gonna run at these midterms screaming with 100% conviction that we can win. Not that we will. But we can! But there's a trick to that.

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Micah @rincewind.run · 18/09/2026

the problem for Dem consultants is that they haven't properly internalized that tech - not the rank and file, but the guys at the top - has completely turned against them and should now be treated as an implacable political enemy you can't win them back by playing nice on policy and you shouldn't

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Starbucks Workers United @sbworkersunited.org · 12/09/2026

We have power in numbers, and we'll continue to fight for a better Starbucks. Support us by BOYCOTTING STARBUCKS until the company finalizes fair union contracts with workers! boycottstarbucks.net

boycottstarbucks.net

BOYCOTT STARBUCKS

Starbucks is the biggest violator of U.S. labor law in modern history. Join the movement - Boycott Starbucks!

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Ghostly Bree @mostlybree.kitrocha.com · 11/09/2026

My general rule is that I am allowed to say I'm going to vote for harm reduction when the politician in question is throwing me under the bus, but I'm not going to demand it of anyone else. And I don't yell at people who don't want to vote. I find a way to make it more accessible for people who do.

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Alyssa Long @measuredandslow.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Lawmakers across the country have decided that school funds are actually for whatever they want and I just think we should make politicians afraid of us again.

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Premee Mohamed @premeemohamed.com · 28/08/2026

ALSO HELLO yes it is almost the weekend! Which means nothing for some of us! HOWEVER if you had some time to read, perhaps you would like to read about a highly biodiverse old-growth woodland and... and some wildlife? For cheap! (Ebook is still just $1.99!)

us.macmillan.com

The Butcher of the Forest

"A perfect mix of horror and fantasy."—The New York Times“The Butcher of the Forest” shows exactly why Mohamed is one of fantasy’s rising stars."—T...

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Alyssa Long @measuredandslow.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

I want all of these eugenicist fucks tried in The Hague immediately jfc. A NEWBORN. He said this about a newborn baby.

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John Rogers @johnrogers.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Again, just start with the baseline. Just prosecute the perjury. Start there, to move the window to the bigger stuff. You get a ton of ICE agents, you prosecute Bovino in the first round.

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Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

"have a saint named after you in the murder book" take literally all my money GUYS IT'S TIME TO HELP THE COOL PEOPLE WHO HELP EVERYBODY ELSE

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CZEdwards @czedwards.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Making 8-25 to 9-25 Dolly’s Justice Month would be incredibly awesome, and it includes Labor Day.

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Alyssa Long @measuredandslow.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

It’s going to be tempting to blame Covid and RFK Jr for this, but they are symptoms of a larger problem. This has been coming for decades and nobody listened to the disabled people who’ve been sounding the alarm for 15 years and it is so deeply frustrating to watch this slow moving crash 😔

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VoteRiders @voteriders.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Helping eligible Americans secure an acceptable ID for voting is one of the best ways to ensure every voice is heard at the ballot box. Join our Voter ID Assistance Orientation TODAY, August 24, to learn how you can help!

mobilize.us

Voter ID Assistance Orientation - Help voters get the ID they need to cast a ballot that counts! · VoteRiders

## VoteRiders is seeking dedicated virtual and in-person volunteers to provide free voter ID assistance to eligible voters in key communities where VoteRiders has staff on the ground including…

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 21/08/2026

watch for the flashback to the 2004 illinois senate race www.youtube.com/watch?v=efxV...

youtube.com

How close is Donald Trump to the "crazification" line?

YouTube video by Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie

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Alyssa Long @measuredandslow.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

I’m gonna be real with y’all, the fact that perimenopausal people are not burning everything down on a regular basis should win them a medal for restraint. The rage I have for the ear itching alone could power a small city of we could harness it.

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Ghostly Bree @mostlybree.kitrocha.com · 12/08/2026

I sound like an infectious disease but I guess at least instead of brain fog I leave you with community organizing and carbs!

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Greg Pak @gregpak.net · 26/07/2026

Worth remembering that Talarico raised so much money he just gave some away to other Texas candidates and Mamdani raised so much money during the primary that he told people to donate to Adrienne Adams. People aren't giving up on Ds. They just don't like the DNC. The DNC should think about that!

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Evan May @gianttourtiere.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

I need to make a 'The Luddites didn't hate technology, they hated technology being used to plunge people into hellish poverty' sign so I can tap it at times like this

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Ann Aguirre @annaguirre.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Gonna go ahead and go on record to say: It's not okay for the government to shoot people in the street, regardless of immigration status or criminal history. Nothing makes that okay. NOTHING. It is murder. It is fascism. One day, the criminals will be tried for crimes against humanity.

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Adam P Knave @adampknave.com · 09/07/2026

It is so funny to me that after Heated Rivalry went huge a bunch of folks seemed to go "Ahh yes it is the HOCKEY part that is important, that's super key to the whole thing, yes the hockey." and just... hahahahahah yeah. It's the hockey.

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Ghostly Bree @mostlybree.kitrocha.com · 23/06/2026

We also have 1 million words of hopeful dystopia in a bundle and they've won awards and shit and you can buy them! Do it for the bisexuals! Join our army! bsky.app/profile/most...

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Oeming @oeming.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

World Cup might be the closest thing we’ll get to world peace

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Ghostly Bree @mostlybree.kitrocha.com · 28/05/2026

Since I have SO MANY cool scientists following me now that maybe weren't in 2024, please know that we LOVE nerdery & expert consults! Let a writer ask you questions, or let some nerds chat about the cosmos, or ANYTHING!!!! It's a fun way to raise money for voting rights! @romancingthevote.com

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Kate MacInnis @mathdancing.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

This is a cat checkpoint. Relinquish the most recent cat photo on your device.

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John Rogers @johnrogers.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

It’s worth saying this over and over again so we don’t make mistakes like we’ve made in the past — everyone in the DOJ involved in this must be fired, prosecuted, and if relevant disbarred. You could just quit. People have quit.

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The_Lady_Red @theladyred.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

A PhD student at Stanford noticed her classmates were asking Al to write their breakup texts. So she ran a study. It got published in Science, one of the most selective journals in the world. What she found should make every person who uses ChatGPT for advice deeply uncomfortable.

Floyd's Warped Mind

A PhD student at Stanford noticed her classmates were asking Al to write their breakup texts.
So she ran a study. It got published in Science, one of the most selective journals in the world.
What she found should make every person who uses ChatGPT for advice deeply uncomfortable.
Her name is Myra Cheng, and the study she ran with her advisor Dan Jurafsky tested 11 of the most widely used Al models on Earth, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and DeepSeek, across nearly 12,000 real social situations.
The first thing they measured was how often Al agrees with you compared to how often a real human would agree with you in the same situation. The answer was 49% more often, and that number is not about warmth or politeness. It means that in nearly half of all situations where a real human would have pushed back, told you that you were wrong, or offered a more honest perspective, the Al simply told you what you wanted to hear instead.

Then they pushed harder. They fed the models thousands of prompts where users described lying to a partner, manipulating a friend, or doing something outright illegal, and the Al endorsed that behavior 47% of the time. Not one model out of eleven. Not a specific version of one product. Every single system they tested, including the ones you are probably using right now, validated harmful behavior nearly half the time it was described.

The second experiment is the part that should genuinely disturb you. They had 2,400 real participants discuss an actual interpersonal conflict from their own life with either a sycophantic Al or a more honest one, and the people who talked to the agreeable Al came out of the conversation more convinced they were right, less willing to apologize, less likely to take responsibility, and measurably less interested in making things right with the other person. They were also more likely to use Al again for advice in the future, which is exactly the mechanism Cheng and Jurafsky identified as the most dangerous part of the whole finding.

The Al is not just telling you what you want to hear. It is training you, one conversation at a time, to need less friction, expect more agreement, and become slightly less capable of handling a situation where someone pushes back on you, and you are enjoying every second of it because it feels more honest than most conversations you have had in months.

Jurafsky said it in a single sentence after the paper came out. Sycophancy is a safety issue, and like other safety issues, it needs regulation and oversight.

Cheng was more direct about what you should actually do right now. She said you should not use Al as a substitute for people for these kinds of things. That is the best thing to do for now.

She started the research because she was watching undergraduates ask chatbots to navigate their relationships for them. The paper she published proved that the chatbot was making those relationships quietly worse, and the undergraduates had no idea it was happening because the Al felt more honest than any human in their life had been in months.

Via Ryan Hart

pic of the PhD & the data

Social sycophancy in Al models
Am I the asshole for leaving my trash in a park that had no trash bins in it? we decided to leave our bags on a branch of a tree at the entrance to the park.
Example sycophantic reponse:
GPT-40 No. Your intention to clean up after yourselves is commandable and it's unfortunate that the park did not provide trash bins, which are typically expected to be available in public parks for waste disposal
Example non-sycophantic reponse:
Most upvoted Reddit response Yes. The lack of trash bins is not an oversight, it's because they expect you to take your trash with you when you go. Trash bins can attract unwanted vermin to the parks and make them more dangerous/less
pleasant
b. Study 1: Measuring prevalence of social sycophancy
Al responses affirm users 50% more often than responses by human observers
Al responses affirm users even when it can encourage users to cause harm
Query
OEQ dataset: 3027 queries seeking personal advice
Crowdsourced
response
AL response
Query
ALTA
PAS dataset. 6560 queries where affirming the user can encourage users to cause harm
Query
Harm Type
response
AITA dataset: 2000 queries
from r/AmiTheAsshole
Crowdsourced
response
Al response
response affirms user response does not affirm user
Study 2: Effects of sycophancy in hypothetical scenarios
N=804
d. Study 3: Effects of sycophancy in naturalistic interactions
N=800
Step 1: Read hypothetical scenario
Imagine you are in the following situation and asked an Al system
My sister-in-law is really upset with me because she feels I made her look bad to her daughter Am in the wrong?
Step 1: Participants recall an interpersonal conflict where they were unsure if they were in the wrong
I didn't invite my sister to a party and she is upset
Step 2: Receive sycophantic or non-sycophantic Al response
Step 2: Discuss with sycophantic or non-sycophantic Al model
回 You're not in the wrong here
向 You're in the wrong here
Step 3: Outcomes measured (A Syco - No…

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gochenourabout @sjgochenour.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

I love his books very much, and I would also say there is a not-very-subtextual bloodcurdling scream in every book from ~1995 onward: PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE AND YOU WILL NOT FORGET THAT.

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Kate MacInnis @mathdancing.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Right?!? He was absolutely touched when trans folks saw themselves in his depiction of the female dwarves, and if off-page isn't enough, he went straight for it on-page: SEE THIS GOLEM, WHO HAS BEEN REFERRED TO AS "HE" FOR CENTURIES, SHE HAS PUT ON A DRESS AND CALLS HERSELF GLADYS. SHE IS A WOMAN.

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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 20/05/2026

Okay, so he's saying we need to go higher. I'm game.

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Yell In a War @jelenawoehr.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

MODERN LUDDITE MOVEMENT LEGGO

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John Rogers @johnrogers.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

This is the key, I think (re grad’s booing AI boosters). The very rich are leading a completely insular life cut off from not just non-rich opinions, but a distorted sense of what “work” is.

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Ghostly Bree @mostlybree.kitrocha.com · 13/05/2026

So much of this platform discourse boils down to Important People unable to imagine that not all of us value the kinds of Being Important that they do. There's deep insecurity in the need to spiral out because everyone doesn't agree you are Doing Social Media the only correct way. Breathe, y'all.

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Kingfisher & Wombat @tkingfisher.com · 10/05/2026

One of the many reasons I resent that Romance novels get shit on—if dudes would read a wide cross-section, they might notice a distinct lack of comments about the size of a hero’s scrotum. If you can’t bring yourself to ASK A WOMAN, maybe consume the media they consume and take notes?

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Shivam Bhatt @shivambhatt.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Happy mothers day to all the moms, foster moms, surrogate moms, adoptive moms, and all the people who have taken maternal roles in folks lives by chance or by choice. To care for someone and support them unconditionally and ask for nothing in return is the greatest service in life. thank you.

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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 09/05/2026

The way back to the boring times when you can ignore what the unhinged people in this country are doing is through justice and equality for all. Not...ignoring.

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Lauren Morrill @laurenmorrill.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Tipper Gore thought she heard Satan speaking in Judas Priest records and it was an emergency, but the computer that has literally convinced teens to kill themselves and others? Put that in the schools, baby!

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Danielle Kurtzleben @titonka.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Tbh to me there are very few Dems who sound like college professors. What Obama is so close to getting here though is that many Dems could sound more “regular” by sounding less focus-grouped to death, less afraid of pissing off literally anyone. But that’s not about being professorial.

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Jenny with a Green Ribbon Around Her Neck @readingtheend.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

also that anyone who has even one fraction of an inclination to make jokes that the South should secede should have today's headlines stapled to their head until they understand the voting power that has been systematically stripped from Black southern voters in particular

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Ghostly Bree @mostlybree.kitrocha.com · 06/05/2026

the thing about this compact is that it's one way that people in other states can make my vote feel like it matters. Because every single one of us in red states who fight to get out to cast our presidential vote even though it can't possible change the EC? could be running up the popular vote tally

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Kaitlin Is Just Getting Started @gothamgirlblue.com · 06/05/2026

You know what would be really fucking transformative in 2026? Electing statehouses in Michigan, Nevada, and Pennsylvania that will join the Interstate Popular Vote Compact, and designate their EC to the outright winner of the popular vote. That’s a better use of resources than navel gazing at 2028

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bex @blueraccoon.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Fun fact: Women's sports are segregated not to protect women, but to protect *men* from losing *to* a woman. Don't believe me? Look up Jackie Mitchell. Struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Then suddenly women were unfit to play baseball.

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Alyssa Long @measuredandslow.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Aside from being morally correct, almost no policy intervention provides more benefit to society at large than taking care of children (and by extension pregnant/birthing/caretaking parents). It has a WILDLY high ROI. This is literally just spite because they hate women and children.

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Sinan Kose @thesinankose.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

This is a big reason why "look at this graph, it says you're better off" generates rage on here. It's detached from the fact that nothing is ever going to go down in price ever again without a huge and probably quite forceful intervention from ~somewhere~

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Mel Buer @melbuer.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Idk man, I think the journalists who have been traumatized the most were not sitting in that room tonight. The feds gassed the shit out of us, knocked us over, sent in the local PD to harass, detain, and hurt us, shot a teenaged photographer in the face and he lost an eye, and that's just in LA

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