Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 15hThe endless discourse around whether AI is conscious or not without anyone on either side bothering to define what they mean by "conscious" is kind of driving me crazy. 020
Reposted by Nick ArvinNick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 08/10/2026A story about what happens when you cut out the middleman of usefulness... I'm posting a story a week in 2026! #40/52 is "The Wanting Machine."nickarvin.substack.comThe Wanting Machine#40 of 52 Fictions: A Story a Week for 2026 012
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 08/10/2026A story about what happens when you cut out the middleman of usefulness... I'm posting a story a week in 2026! #40/52 is "The Wanting Machine."nickarvin.substack.comThe Wanting Machine#40 of 52 Fictions: A Story a Week for 2026 012
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 08/10/2026I'm sure the FCC will step in to enforce equal time requirements. 000
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 06/10/2026Lol. I hadn't thought of that, but it did remind me a bit of Howl's Moving Castle. 010
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 06/10/2026🤓 yup... Florence was an oil boom town, and I think this was an oil drilling rig, although there wasn't any signage around. It was just kind of sitting there like someone forgot it. 120
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 06/10/2026This is sitting by the street in Florence, CO. I understand that if you stand in the right spot, it will tie your shoes for you. 2255
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 03/10/2026These are really good stories. Many of them are objectively creepy af. 070
Reposted by Nick ArvinRyan @rwmaxey.bsky.social · 26/09/2026How the fuck is Sisyphus happy this sucks 212513
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Reynolds Park yesterday. Beautiful view with stressed and beetle killed trees. 🙁 050
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026"A really great example of a short story tackling sci-fiesque themes but in such a tender and (ironically) real way" is how one kind commenter described this story, and I love it. I'm posting a story a week in 2026. #38/52 is "There Is No We in IRL." 021
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 20/09/2026It's rainbow season here. Vivid double this evening. 071
Reposted by Nick ArvinMitchell Nobis @mitchnobis.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Today is a good day to buy my first poetry collection from @matchfactoryeds.bsky.social. 🤘🏼matchfactoryeditions.comThe Size of the Horizon, or, I Explained Everything to the Trees by Mitchell Nobis | Books | Match Factory EditionsThe Size of the Horizon explores parenting, uncertainty, and injustice, weaving nature, gun violence, and joy into poetry that embraces life’s chaos. 186
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 18/09/2026I started this story with two paragraphs about a weird kid, then it didn't go anywhere. I put it away for a while, and when I came back to it, it went in a totally different direction... I'm posting a story a week in 2026: #38 of 52 is "One Good Lie." nickarvin.substack.com/p/one-good-lienickarvin.substack.comOne Good Lie#38 of 52 Fictions: A Story a Week for 2026 031
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 17/09/2026This is bipartisan and utterly stupid, a backdoor hit on electric vehicles. Electric vehicle motors generate electromagnetic interference that causes static on AM radio frequencies. 021
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 13/09/2026Yeah, I was curious about that too. From this article the police position on Axon isn’t clear to me. 000
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 12/09/2026Our local city council taking out the Flocks. Interestingly the police were like, sure, go for it.littletonindependent.netEnglewood City Council unanimously votes to terminate Flock contractEnglewood City Council unanimously voted to terminate the city’s contract with Flock for automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras. A proposed similar contract with Axon failed after the vote was 110
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 12/09/2026I wanted this story to turn on the possibility that the most important friendships in life aren’t the ones that last the longest. Maybe you've had friendships like this too?nickarvin.substack.comIn Praise of Short Friendships#37 of 52 Fictions: A Story a Week for 2026 051
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 10/09/2026As far as I could figure out, this is a haunted tiny home. 081
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 09/09/2026As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found his phone in his bed and resumed scrolling. 020
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 07/09/2026This is likely only a coincidence, but knowing that many advice column entries are fiction, and considering that the kind of person who entertains themself by creating fictional advice column submissions also probably wouldn’t hesitate to use some AI assistance, it does make me go hm. 010
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 07/09/2026FWIW, I spent a bunch of time driving around rural Minnesota last week, and I saw zero (0) roadside MAGA signage/flags/etc. 030
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 06/09/2026My story here:nickarvin.substack.comIntramarital Dispute Data Tracker.xls#14 of 52 Fictions: A Story a Week for 2026 000
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 06/09/2026This is remarkably similar to a short story I put out in April, titled "Intramarital Dispute Data Tracker.xls."nytimes.comMy Husband Read My Journal and Now He’s Furious. Was I in the Wrong?I had kept a log of the fights we had, to help sort through my emotions. 120
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 04/09/2026My latest is a kind of “13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” story, but with men and their hearts. This was fun as hell to write.nickarvin.substack.comMen Showing Heart#36 of 52 Fictions: A Story a Week for 2026 074
Reposted by Nick ArvinDavid Roberts @volts.wtf · 03/09/2026We're just hurtling toward immense destruction & suffering & the entire US political class has agreed it's better not to talk about it. "Insanity" barely covers it.nytimes.comU.N. Says World Will Miss Its 1.5-Degree Climate TargetCarbon removal combined with emissions reduction is the only remaining pathway to avert catastrophic levels of warming, a new report warns. 481807579
Reposted by Nick ArvinJoel Calahan @joelcalahan.com · 01/09/2026You’re going to want to read today’s story by @nickarvin.bsky.social. So sentimental (complimentary)! It reminds me a little of Calvino, and also somehow of Jack Prelutsky. nickarvin.substack.com/p/men-showin...nickarvin.substack.comMen Showing Heart#36 of 52 Fictions: A Story a Week for 2026 111
Reposted by Nick ArvinKaren Palmer @karenpalmer.bsky.social · 01/09/2026It's a match for this morning's sunrise. 121
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 01/09/2026In Willmar, MN, for work, and there isn’t a lot going on, but the sunset is fabulous. 2102
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 27/08/2026Grim.nytimes.comWest Point Climate Professor Says He Was Fired for Refusing to ‘Defy Science’Dr. Adam Kalkstein is suing the U. S. Military Academy, where he was a professor of geography and the only climate scientist, after being fired. 021
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 26/08/2026The plan is to actually, literally build data center capacity that will *double* the amount of electrical power consumed in Texas! 000
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 26/08/2026These numbers are deranged. The entire city of Chicago uses an average of 3.5 GW. If you wanted to generate all this data center power with nukes, you would need something like 100 large new nuclear power stations. 154
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 25/08/2026Lil jumping spider fella hanging out in our backyard. 130
Reposted by Nick ArvinLauren Flans @laurenflans.bsky.social · 25/08/2026Thinking about how the John Henry of AI would just be someone who wrote an email all by himself and then died of exhaustion. 1164
Reposted by Nick ArvinNick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 21/08/2026I love Erin's illustration for this one, which uses a picture of the wings of a cicada that I found awhile ago when I went to grab a door knob on the garage. Startling! You like ghost stories? Here is a lil' ghost story.substack.comRyan, a Rational Man, Didn’t Believe in Ghosts#33 of 52 Fictions: A Story a Week for 2026 051
Nick Arvin @nickarvin.bsky.social · 25/08/2026Sorry, King Soopers, no apostrophe. I don't know what possessed me. 070