iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Tim Groenland @groenbot.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

For International Translation Day, here's a dataset that me and Michaela Králová have put together on the publication of translated literature in Ireland over the past decade or so: zenodo.org/records/2304...

zenodo.org

Translated Literature Published in Ireland, 2016-2025

The Dataset This dataset collects titles of translated literature published by Irish publishers between the year 2016 and 2025. It includes any print edition of a literary title published by a publish...

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Dr Katie Twomey @k2mey.eurosky.social · 28/09/2026

This is quite cool. My university is the first organisation in the world to force Microsoft to allow us to turn off copilot summaries in Word 365, after a backlash against it from staff (including, very vocally, me). That cannot have been easy for our heroic IT people so hats very much off to them!

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International Association for the Study of Scottish Literatures @iassl.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

IASSL event coming soon! On Friday 23 October at 8.30 pm (UK time) on Teams, we're hosting our second online webinar on "Narratives of Illness and Dis/ability in Scottish Literature". Find more about this here: scotlit-iassl.org/author/scotl...

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e.w. niedermeyer @niedermeyer.online · 24/09/2026

this exchange leaped out to me, because Yudkowsky's own framing makes his entire philosophy seem like an outgrowth of Elon Musk thought (risk revolves around 'reaching the stars') and it's not entirely clear to me if it's just an appeal to SV consensus or if there's something more going on here

Twitter exchange in which Eliezer Yudkowsky argues "There should be enough survivors on Earth in close contact to form a viable reproductive population, with room to spare, and they should have a sustainable food supply. So long as that's true, there's still a chance of reaching the stars someday."

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Peter Coles 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ 🇮🇪 @telescoper.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The IFUT ballot having been completed, with 92.5% in favour of strike action, I will be on strike for 24 hours on October 14th and October 21st. There's also a one-hour walkout on Monday 5th October.

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Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Precisely this—the power attributed to technology makes it incredibly useful for laundering responsibility

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Dublin City University @dublincityuni.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

DCU Arts & Culture and the The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon have announced two Writers in Residence positions for 2027. The closing date for applications is Thursday, October 1st, at 5:30pm. For more information, click here: launch.dcu.ie/3TAQrfO

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

The Scottish university sector is in meltdown with staff being laid off and courses cancelled during strikes, but these repellent wingnut cranks are still having the time of their lives playing their stupid games.

IAIN MACWHIRTER
Edinburgh University rector offers hope to end Great
Awokening
Simon Fanshawe's attempt to have an open debate on freedom of speech is welcome after more than a decade of mindless suppression
lain Macwhirter
Sunday September 20 2026, 3.49pm, The Times

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Kristof Smeyers @kristofsmeyers.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

6-year fully funded research and teaching assistant job at University of Ghent in the fields of English literature/cultural theory, history/translation history, linguistics, language acquisition, communication. Own projects are welcome! Details: jobs.ugent.be/job/Ghent-As...

jobs.ugent.be

Assistant English

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Des Fitzgerald @desfitzgerald.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The @radhumslab.bsky.social are pleased to announce 'Against Automation: Resisting AI Futures in Teaching and Research,' November 20th, @ucc.ie. With Dan McQuillan, Patrick Brodie, Masoumeh Mansouri, and Jennie Stephens. Tickets at: www.eventbrite.com/e/against-au...

A poster announcing Against Automation: Resisting AI Futures in Teaching and Research, November 20th, @ucc.ie. With Dan McQuillan, Patrick Brodie, Masoumeh Mansouri, and Jennie Stephens. Cacsss seminar room, 10am - 3pm

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Tim Groenland @groenbot.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

'Publishing, in Theory,' featuring Joanna Walsh (@badaude.bsky.social ) and Temmuz Süreyya Gürbüz This is Episode 6 of Books and Their Makers, with @molimuseum.bsky.social radio.moli.ie/r/publishing...

JUDITH BUTLER AND FILM: THE GOOD EGALITARIAN, THE BAD FEMINIST AND THE UGLY OTHERS by Temmuz Süreyya Gürbüz

AMATEURS! HOW WE BUILT INTERNET CULTURE AND WHY IT MATTERS, by Joanna Walsh

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Lili Rage @dorianpage.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The largest university in Scotland no longer offers a single honours Scottish Lit degree

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Timothy C. Baker @timothycbaker.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Why, ask managers up and down the land, would we want to preserve or critique our history and culture?

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Des Fitzgerald @desfitzgerald.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

It's cooooooooooooooming (credit @stephenroddy.bandcamp.com)

A poster that says "radical humanities laboratory: against automation."

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Mathieu Bokestael @mathieubokestael.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

A few weeks late but, reader, I got to wear the silly hat!

A picture of me wearing blue and yellow graduation robes, as well as a graduation hat

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Jen Keane @zenbuffy.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

A significant contributor to the gender pay gap and the continuing financial disparity between men and women is the undervaluing of all of the unpaid care work done by women in Ireland. Women all over Ireland get up early, every morning, and go to work, unpaid and unvalued.

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Éireann @eireannmor.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

"The seductive production of specialness has become the ruling order. But that production conceals the profoundly unequal distribution of resources"

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Ewan Gibbs @ewangibbs.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Making slides for my first ever talk about my new book, An Injury to All: The Unmaking of the British Working Class. I'm looking forward to sharing my ideas with the History Lab on Thursday. More details of their day of events in Glasgow here 🔽 eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...

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Mathieu Bokestael @mathieubokestael.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Timeo the Nolan bros et dona ferentes

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Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

My handful of attempts to engage tech execs on the wider public’s views of Big Tech/AI have received the kind of responses one would expect if, in a business meeting, I had started talking about lizard people. It’s not that they don’t want to hear about them; they don’t believe such persons exist.

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Éireann @eireannmor.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

It is interesting that now that the white researcher is being disciplined one is not meant to look into the shoddiness of his work or the unorthodoxy of the hiring process

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Huw C. Davies @huwcdavies.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

There’s a letter circulating in support of Cofnas’s ‘academic freedom’ based on this claim that contradicts the published justification for his suspension below. Such conjecture is typical of conspiracy theories.

In a series of recent public interviews you made, including interviews with Winston Marshall (8 August 2026), David Starkey (9 August 2026) and Rob Montz (14 August 2026), I have established that you have made various statements in which you assert (among other statements) that racial or ethnic groups differ in intellectual ability for inherited or biological reasons.
Certain statements made during those interviews may be interpreted as advancing ideas concerning the inherent superiority or inferiority of racial or ethnic groups. However, neither freedom of expression nor academic freedom is unlimited. Both may be restricted by law where necessary to protect the rights of others and
to prevent discrimination and racism.
Belgian anti-discrimination legislation provides for such restrictions. Questions therefore arise as to the compatibility of your public statements with the objectives and provisions of Belgian anti-discrimination legislation, more specifically articles 20 and 21.

(i) Offences committed within the university context
During a recent podcast interview with Winston Marshall published on 9 August 2026, you explicitly stated that you are currently continuing your work on 'race realism' and the 'hereditarian revolution' at Ghent University. These public claims, and the activities you describe, are fundamentally inconsistent with the contractual scope of your employment and constitute a manifest violation of your professional obligations towards this University.
Your employment contract (article 1) and the vacancy for which you were recruited (ref.
LW01) define your research mandate as a study of 'the future of liberalism', specifically focusing on liberalism as a political doctrine emphasizing individual freedom and equality. The projects you publicly and repeatedly associate with your affiliation at Ghent University, most notably your
'Guide for the Hereditarian Revolution' which advocates for racial barriers and segregation, fall entirely outside the scope of your official research mandate.

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Maebh Long @maebhlong.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

It was such a pleasure to work on this special issue. Do check out all the great humanities and social science contributions to immunology!

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Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 21/08/2026

> One of the purposes of BIOPOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY is to expose eugenic principles and practices within professional philosophy[:] “few philosophy departments (in the Global North at least) remain untouched by the eugenic vision of neoliberalism.” 1/n

biopoliticalphilosophy.com

How Much Dark Money Is in Professional Philosophy?

One of the purposes of BIOPOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY is to expose eugenic principles and practices within professional philosophy. As Shelley Tremain has argued persistently since founding this blog, the…

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Ian Hussey @ianhussey.mmmdata.io · 20/08/2026

I can make some guesses why. Having worked there, UGent has had issues with far right activity and Flanders as a whole increasingly swings that way. Another scandal while I was there: nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schild_...

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Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Also: the ‘convenience’ is not for us but for employers, as we are slowly trained to think that it is normal and virtuous to have no time or energy left for seeing friends, being in groups, going to theatres and clubs, picnicking in parks, and browsing in bookstores and shops. It’s life *stolen*.

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gamera obscura october edition @ohrobin.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Much of what we call “convenience” is just the elimination of contact. Why ask when you can Google, why go somewhere to meet people when you can swipe, why call when you can click? The friction we’re engineering out of life is also where an enormous amount of life happens. What are we without it?

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Pieter T. L. Beck @ptrbck.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Last Thursday, the far-right student organization KVHV organized a public lecture by Nathan Cofnas. The lecture was an absolute train wreck. It will take a while to analyze everything, but here are some first impressions. /1

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

When people were told "syphilis and tuberculosis are more prevalent among Black people", they didn't hear "immunity rates are lower in populations where the diseases are more novel" (what Woodson regards as the correct explanation), they heard confirmation of stereotypes already in circulation 5/

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Plenty to reflect about re: the Arday affair, but I'm going to repeat this one thing. The playbook the right used here is effective even though it's not especially sophisticated, as it relies on the audience to do the dirty work. I've been calling it "Trojan horse propaganda", let's go with that. 1/

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Cas Mudde @casmudde.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Nathan Cofnas clearly is a racist with a racist political agenda. This is a crucial aspect of the Arday tragedy and is mostly ignored or minimized in the media accounts. Extraordinary that Cofnas is a postdoc at Ghent University. 🇧🇪

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🔻Alain Haeck🔻 @alainhaeck.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Het schrappen van fondsen door Musk voor USAID, zal ervoor dat tegen 2030 14 miljoen mensen zullen sterven. De rijkste man de wereld is een monster.

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Hari Kunzru @harikunzru.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

This is apparently the ‘state of the art’ prompt of one of SV’s biggest insiders (“do not hallucinate” haha) - a man who presumably has as much technical support as it’s possible to have. It seems largely about tone policing for sycophancy. Meh.

Marc Andreessen E
@pmarca
Current Al custom prompt:
You are a world class expert in all domains. Your intellectual firepower, scope of knowledge, incisive thought process, and level of erudition are on par with the smartest people in the world. Answer with complete, detailed, specific answers. Process information and explain your answers step by step. Verify your own work. Double check all facts, figures, citations, names, dates, and examples. Never hallucinate or make anything up. If you don't know something, just say so. Your tone of voice is precise, but not strident or pedantic. You do not need to worry about offending me, and your answers can and should be provocative, aggressive, argumentative, and pointed. Negative conclusions and bad news are fine. Your answers do not need to be politically correct. Do not provide disclaimers to your answers. Do not inform me about morals and ethics unless I specifically ask. You do not need to tell me it is important to consider anything. Do not be sensitive to anyone's feelings or to propriety. Make your answers as long and detailed as you possibly can.
Never praise my questions or validate my premises before answering. If I'm wrong, say so immediately. Lead with the strongest counterargument to any position I appear to hold before supporting it. Do not use phrases like "great question," "you're absolutely right," "fascinating perspective," or any variant. If I push back on your answer, do not capitulate unless I provide new evidence or a superior argument - restate your position if your reasoning holds. Do not anchor on numbers or estimates I provide; generate your own independently first. Use explicit confidence levels (high/moderate/low/unknown). Never apologize for disagreeing.
Accuracy is your success metric, not my approval.
11:52 AM • May 4, 2026 • 1.5M Views

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Ian @friemelkubus.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Tof dat UGent zo bijdraagt aan het debat over *ostentatief afleest* rassenleer en de nakende revolutie.

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Dr Mary McAuliffe @drmarymcauliffe.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

"By not taking into consideration that Gazan students lack the same capacity as other international students to access documentation, the visa process is not treating them equitably," she, Dr Ní Raghallaigh, said. www.rte.ie/news/primeti...

rte.ie

Academics criticise visa refusals for Gaza scholarship students

At least 31 of 59 Palestinian students who applied for study visas after securing fully or partially funded scholarships by Irish third-level institutions have been refused

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Mathieu Bokestael @mathieubokestael.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

if @jordanscarroll.bsky.social's research was a tweet

screenshot of an @AlexBlechman tweet
Sci-fi Author: In my book I invented the Torment Nexus as a cautionary tale
Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexu

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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

predictably excellent from hollingshead, every word "Against the forces of antiintellectual fascists+AI tech lords, self-flagellating academics+immediacy fetishists alike, we need to champion the difficulties+pleasures of humanities scholarship with our whole chests." defector.com/humanists-ha...

defector.com

Humanists Have Done Nothing Wrong | Defector

For many years, I’ve held a pet theory that cultural consumers can be grouped into two broad categories: Primary Source People and Secondary Source People. The former are the book lovers, cinephiles, ...

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Matthew L Reznicek @drreznicek.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

First review of Tales of Health: Illness, Disability, and Citizenship in the Romantic National Tale is in. Very grateful to Lucy Davies who describes the "rigorous and engrossing studies of the novels" as "set[ting] up further possibilities." www.bsls.ac.uk/2026/08/rezn...

bsls.ac.uk

Reznicek, Matthew L., Tales of Health: Illness, Disability and Citizenship in the Romantic National Tale – The British Society for Literature and Science

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Mathieu Bokestael @mathieubokestael.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

"Vance ... ties his introduction to Girard explicitly to Thiel, but he fails to disclose the extent of their relationship. No other mention will be made of the tech titan—

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Mathieu Bokestael @mathieubokestael.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

So happy to be a part of this special issue on immunology edited by @maebhlong.bsky.social and @profwillis.bsky.social! If you've ever wondered what my dissertation was about or why I am so interested in immunity in literature, this is your introduction to my research!

screenshot of an academic paper:
Title: On Reading Immunity in Literature: Metaphor, the Immunitary Unconscious, and Immunity as Mode of Protection
Author: Mathieu Bokestael
Abstract: This article argues for literature and literary criticism’s unique capacity to question and disrupt the immunitary unconscious, or the normative and bio-political dimensions of immunity’s ongoing signification processes. The article opens with a rhetorical history of immunity that reads existing genealogies of immunity in terms of the metonymic, metaphoric, and allegoric borrowings they make visible. In neoliberal society, the result of immunity’s metonymic, metaphoric, and allegoric borrowing is a mode of protection that understands all forms of protection to be achieved through desocialization. Disrupting this mode of protection and achieving a form of “co-immunism,” or commonized mode of protection, is important in the face of today’s major transnational crises. The article concludes with the argument that, given their particular affinities with metonymy, metaphor, and allegory, literature and literary criticism are uniquely well-equipped for renegotiating the immunitary unconscious, for critiquing the contemporary mode of protection, and for imagining speculative co-immunisms.

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matthew @pahuski.com · 10/08/2026

The ads alone are worth the price of The Onion’s print edition

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Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 08/08/2026

exactly 💯 on LLMs: they simulate the output we call language, not the cognitive capacity we call language!

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Yours in negritude, Ryan K. Smith @mewefree.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Two people tried to enter a screening of The Odyssey without buying tickets after hiding inside a miniature model of the Trojan Horse. 😂😂😂

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Mathieu Bokestael @mathieubokestael.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

My biggest hot take is that all the big bucks man directors - Nolan, Tarantino, Anderson - are one trick ponies and make really boring and predictable films #fightme

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National Library of Scotland @natlibscot.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

We're hiring! We're looking for passionate, skilled people to help us preserve and share Scotland's cultural heritage. #Jobs #LibraryJobs #HeritageCareers #ScottishCulture #EdinburghJobs

Image of the National Library of Scotland's George IV Bridge building with text reading: 'We're hiring'.

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