Reposted by Nik JanosNils Gilman @nilsgilman.bsky.social · 25/09/2026The main AI risks don't derive from the models themselves, but from the failure of humans to monitor & control them. This is how all technology works. 2153
Reposted by Nik JanosNils Gilman @nilsgilman.bsky.social · 03/09/2026The backlash against data centers is not a backlash against AI qua *technology*; it’s rather that data centers have become a site of cathexis for people’s sense of powerlessness in contrast to the unaccountable power of the AI *companies* www.politico.com/news/2026/09...politico.comAmericans love AI. They don’t want the data centers that power it.The disconnect is becoming a political problem for Trump and politicians in both parties as voters embrace AI tools while revolting against the infrastructure needed to power them. 195
Nik Janos @nik-janos.bsky.social · 18/08/2026Come for the Arday Affair, stay for the blistering indictment of higher education. 010
Nik Janos @nik-janos.bsky.social · 06/08/2026Google search: Reddit ChatGPT: Reddit It’s Reddit all the way down 021
Reposted by Nik JanosSky Marchini @sky.skymarchini.net · 31/07/2026jesus. www.dw.com/en/germanys-...dw.comGermany's heat death toll nears 10,000Germany's heat-related death toll for 2026 has already surpassed every full-year total since 2016 — and is expected to climb as another spell of extreme temperatures takes hold. 16493172
Nik Janos @nik-janos.bsky.social · 27/07/2026Sittin back watching non-Greeks decide who is and who isn’t Greek. 🤷🏻♂️ 000
Reposted by Nik JanosEdSource @edsource.org · 21/05/2026California State University's $17 million contract with OpenAI has been met with criticism, but canceling it would create fragmentation and inequity. Instead, the focus should be on finding a constructive path forward for AI in higher education.buff.lyCOMMENTARY: Canceling that Cal State ChatGPT contract does not solve the AI problem; it might make it worseCalifornia State University's $17 million contract with OpenAI has been met with criticism, but canceling it would create fragmentation and inequity. Instead, the focus should be on finding a… 011
Nik Janos @nik-janos.bsky.social · 16/01/2026It’s the year 2026 and not only are we still serving milk to every student but milk has somehow taken the stage in the culture wars. She probably hiding but the one person who can save us is @emelaniedupuis.bsky.social 😉 310
Reposted by Nik JanosMelts Into Air @meltsintoair.bsky.social · 20/11/2025Nik Janos and Zach Justus in @insidehighered.com arguing nostalgia detracts from honest conversations about AI in higher education. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...insidehighered.comNo, the Pre-AI Era Was Not That Great (opinion)Misplaced nostalgia doesn’t get us anywhere. 021
Reposted by Nik JanosInside Higher Ed @insidehighered.com · 20/11/2025Opinion | No, the Pre-AI Era Was Not That Great Misplaced nostalgia doesn’t get us anywhere. bit.ly/4pk3uwa #EDUSky #HigherEd #AcademicSky 051
Nik Janos @nik-janos.bsky.social · 20/11/2025Me and Zach Justus in @insidehighered.com popping the nostalgia bubble about pre-AI higher ed. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...insidehighered.comNo, the Pre-AI Era Was Not That Great (opinion)Misplaced nostalgia doesn’t get us anywhere. 020
Nik Janos @nik-janos.bsky.social · 10/10/2025Fantastic thread on nationalism as a social thing and historical process but also on the dubious ways that social scientists and the rest often practice a “methodological nationalism” to interpret social forms of all variation (networks, scales, places etc). 010
Reposted by Nik JanosNed Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 04/10/2025Probably dumb as hell to publish this on a Friday afternoon, but the clock is ticking to get @gavinnewsom.bsky.social to sign SB 79. Please share — and, if you're a Californian, please call the governor's office at (916) 445-2841 to ask for his signature. publiccomment.blog/p/newsom-s-f...publiccomment.blogNewsom's Fateful ChoiceWhy the governor needs to sign SB 79 316350
Reposted by Nik JanosNumbers Fuckstein’s Monster @drwalpurgisnacht.bsky.social · 12/09/2025An assassin writes Bella Ciao in the same breath as a Notices Your Bulge meme on his bullets. One of the government responses is a practicing Hindu asserting that the fundamentalist Christian victim will join him in a Norse pagan afterlife. Welcome to the epistemic collapse. 201952552
Nik Janos @nik-janos.bsky.social · 26/05/2025Joins a long list of ways people treat “the environment” as a means to an end. Ex: I don’t like thing. Environment environment! Thing bad. 010
Reposted by Nik JanosMatt Huber @matthuber.bsky.social · 29/04/2025To underscore its importance, my new article w/ @fredstaffordcs.bsky.social came out on the day of the huge Iberian blackout. We argue the left/liberal's fixation on increasing renewables often downplays (or rejects) how grid reliability must be central to any winning electricity politics. 252
Reposted by Nik Janosae @aelkus.bsky.social · 17/04/2025people wanted a luxury belief presidency that would give them the means to live out the indulgences they craved while making them richer. They got a bunch of meth tweakers ripping everything out of the walls 430141
Nik Janos @nik-janos.bsky.social · 15/04/2025Let’s go #Cascadia! Unite British Columbia-Washington-Oregon-California. 031
Nik Janos @nik-janos.bsky.social · 14/04/2025So deglobalize textiles but globalize American prisons. They’re gonna offshore human rights abuses of Americans if they can. 021
Nik Janos @nik-janos.bsky.social · 09/04/2025Paging Max Weber and Wendy Brown: we need a new ethic of responsibility. 000
Reposted by Nik JanosJames Medlock @jdcmedlock.bsky.social · 09/04/2025The message from the Left should be: tariffs bad, industrial policy good. Sure, there are niche cases where tariffs might be useful as part of industrial policy, but it really weakens the message to add qualifiers. Fight unreservedly against the thing destroying the economy. 481811282
Reposted by Nik Janos𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝙲. 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚗 @charlescmann.bsky.social · 09/04/2025This NYTimes story exemplifies one of the stupidest aspects of DOGE's crusade to "cut government spending." DOGE fired a NOAA employee who supervises a dozen NW salmon hatcheries to ensure they comply with the Endangered Species Act and other laws and it may screw up salmon harvests for years. 1/14nytimes.comNOAA Staffing Cuts Threaten Years of Salmon Harvests (Gift Article)In Washington, where salmon is a multibillion dollar industry, government staff terminations and budget freezes may put salmon production at risk. 515967
Reposted by Nik Janosae @aelkus.bsky.social · 08/04/2025imagine the Downfall meltdown scene as an online all hands Teams meeting 0412
Reposted by Nik JanosLiam Knox @liamknox.bsky.social · 08/04/2025We're tracking student visa revocations at Inside Higher Ed. If you know of any that aren't on our map--or want to report numbers from your own institution--email me (liam.knox@insidehighered.com) or @amowreader.com (ashley.mowreader@insidehigered.com) www.insidehighered.com/news/global/...insidehighered.comWhere Students Have Had Their Visas RevokedThe Trump administration has quietly revoked hundreds of student visas across the country, wrecking havoc on the system. 11621
Reposted by Nik JanosNils Gilman @nilsgilman.bsky.social · 08/04/2025I want to tear my hair out when I see people cheering charts like in this skeet. From a climate change mitigation perspective the ONLY thing that matters is ABSOLUTE carbon emissions — not the ratio of renewable to hydrocarbons, not the energy intensivity per unit of output, or anything else. 253
Reposted by Nik JanosChristopher Mims @mims.bsky.social · 08/04/2025We're gonna do a covid supply shock to ourselves, I really think this needs to be the message, because we all lived through that and nothing makes the complete disruption of global supply chains more visceral 513334
Reposted by Nik JanosYakov Feygin @buddyyakov.bsky.social · 04/04/2025In brighter news CPE is going to keep fighting for public policy action until the bitter end. A new initiative we’re launching: publicenterprise.org/report/enhan...publicenterprise.orgEnhanced Geothermal Consortium for the Mountain WestRead the full report here. Next-generation geothermal technologies are at the frontier of energy development in the United States. Drawing on drilling techniques developed during the shale boom, en... 1499
Reposted by Nik JanosChris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 03/04/2025Those trying to understand the tariffs as economic policy are dangerously naive. No, the tariffs are a tool to collapse our democracy. A means to compel loyalty from every business that will need to petition Trump for relief. 1/ A 🧵 to explain his plan and how we fight back. 9052800313786
Nik Janos @nik-janos.bsky.social · 01/04/2025What did we all think four decades of a right wing anti-government crusade meant? Vibes? Essays? 000
Reposted by Nik JanosVenkatesh Rao 🔹 @vgr.bsky.social · 31/03/2025Wrapping up my weekend trilogy on education. Please share with any educators you know. open.substack.com/pub/contrapt...open.substack.comWhat Makes a Good Teacher?The timeless question of education beneath the urgent crises of 2025 0114
Reposted by Nik Janosbrasidas @brasidas.bsky.social · 28/03/2025The environmental impact of AI is entirely overblown. There are a lot of reasons to decry AI. AI’s energy use isn’t one of them. All computation (across every type of computer) uses less energy than aluminum refining. 4223
Nik Janos @nik-janos.bsky.social · 24/03/2025I am enjoying writing my current book, perhaps the most fun I’ve had in my career, but a day doesn’t go by that I ponder “what the hell am I doing and why am I doing it?” 010
Nik Janos @nik-janos.bsky.social · 24/03/2025What are good examples of the “just transition thesis” working, where environmental justice accompanies decarbonization (a win-win)? At what scale? How fast? 000
Reposted by Nik JanosMartha Bellisle @marthabellisle.bsky.social · 15/03/2025AP Exclusive: Trump administration workforce cuts at the federal agencies that oversee the nation's dams are jeopardizing their ability to provide reliable electricity, provide water for irrigation and control flooding, workers and dam-safety experts warn. apnews.com/article/dams...apnews.comCritics warn staff cuts at federal agencies overseeing US dams could put public safety at riskExperts are warning that Trump administration workforce cuts at federal agencies overseeing U.S. dams are threatening their ability to provide reliable electricity, supply water to farmers and protect... 581290776
Reposted by Nik JanosNils Gilman @nilsgilman.bsky.social · 15/03/2025Scholarly research is about to experience an unprecedented vortex, as two huge air masses clash: the cold air mass of radical federal defunding of academia, OTOH, and the hot air mass of AI-enabled research, OTO. The tornadoes spinning out of this confluence will remake the intellectual landscape. 2116
Reposted by Nik JanosJoshua Holland @joshuaholland.bsky.social · 09/03/2025Dude was visiting his fiancé, who lives in Vegas. His English isn’t good so he misunderstood the border goons when they asked where he lives, he said Vegas, they took him away for questioning without a translator and now he’s been in a jail for two weeks. 8639131708
Nik Janos @nik-janos.bsky.social · 05/03/2025It’s very possible that within a few years Artificial General Intelligence will replace climate change as the defining political crisis of our time. Big implications for those concerned about climate. 010
Reposted by Nik JanosDavid Roberts @volts.wtf · 04/03/2025Trump moves to take total control of FERC. You can say goodbye to any substantial transmission-planning or distributed-energy reforms.eenews.netLegal experts sound alarm over Trump bid to control FERCScholars and former FERC officials warn that political interventions could harm energy markets. 712140
Reposted by Nik JanosGregor Macdonald @gregor.us · 25/02/2025I wish it wasn't Yergin who's saying it, but, it needs to be said. "In other words, what has been unfolding is not so much an “energy transition” as an “energy addition.” Rather than replacing conventional energy sources, the growth of renewables is coming on top of that of conventional sources."🔌💡 5125
Nik Janos @nik-janos.bsky.social · 21/02/2025Me and Zach Justus in IHE on the MAGA coding of AI and what it means for higher education. 000
Reposted by Nik Janosae @aelkus.bsky.social · 14/02/2025coming to really hate how social media has made writing itself worse because you cannot write anything without a million caveats 0163
Reposted by Nik JanosAndrew Berzanskis @aberzanskis.bsky.social · 07/02/2025News headlines about publishing usually focus on problems! Not the everyday successes that happen outside the spotlight. So I appreciate @derekkrissoff.bsky.social reminding folks in the @chronicle.com: university presses are thriving & making extraordinary books. www.chronicle.com/article/this...chronicle.comOpinion | This Is a Golden Age for University PressesThe focus on efficiency and innovation misses the point: We are producing fabulous books. 0186
Reposted by Nik JanosAndrew Berzanskis @aberzanskis.bsky.social · 07/02/2025Next month, OU Press will publish "The Opposite of Cheating: Teaching for Integrity in the Age of AI" by @tbertramgallant.bsky.social and David A. Rettinger. For a sneak peek, here is an insightful author interview with the @edsurge.com podcast. www.edsurge.com/news/2025-01...edsurge.comAI Has Changed Student Cheating. But Strategies to Stop It Remain Consistent. - EdSurge NewsIn a new book, a long-time expert on academic integrity argues that understating why students cheat is key to making adjustments in teaching to prevent ... 185
Reposted by Nik JanosChildless Dog Lady is on sabbatical. 🍉🌺 @sgbuggs.bsky.social · 04/02/2025holy hell someone in an SUV did a hit and run on sociologist Michael Burawoy and killed him!!!! www.mercurynews.com/2025/02/04/o...mercurynews.comOakland resident dead in hit-and-run crash at intersectionThe collision happened around 7:10 p.m. Monday near the entrance to Children’s Fairyland. 64015
Reposted by Nik JanosNils Gilman @nilsgilman.bsky.social · 04/02/2025An “self-coup” (enabling a President to rule by decree) entails two steps: (1) the President sidelines the legislative branch by issuing orders rather than relying on legislation; (2) the President sidelines the judicial branch by ignoring court orders declaring the former step illegal. Here we go: 1116
Reposted by Nik Janosae @aelkus.bsky.social · 04/02/2025First post of the new war, on a subject that I really wish I didn't have to revisit again: Trump adamelkus.com/posts/newtr @adamgurri.liberalcurrents.comadamelkus.comPricing In The CircusYou are not the clown, you are the whole circus 02811
Reposted by Nik JanosAndrew Berzanskis @aberzanskis.bsky.social · 03/02/2025Even rockier times ahead for academia. I hope that any scholar serving as a peer reviewer will recognize the headwinds facing writers of serious books right now & feel the urgency to use peer review as an opportunity for solidarity in building things up, not tearing them down. 36211
Reposted by Nik JanosNils Gilman @nilsgilman.bsky.social · 27/01/2025To survive the coming assault from MAGA, universities need to focus on (a) training students in technical competencies; (b) promoting the discovery of new facts about & conceptions of the world; and (c) preserving & transmitting the knowledge that already exists. open.substack.com/pub/nilsgilm...open.substack.comReforming the research universityU.S. research universities face a uniquely dangerous moment. Radical reform will be required to survive the coming assault. Tl;dr: time to get back (and stick) to the knitting 181
Reposted by Nik Janostweety fish @sifu.tweety.fish · 27/01/2025One of the reasons I’ve been kind of meh on the ecological footprint arguments against “AI” is that 1) there’s no particular technical reasons things can’t get vastly more efficient and 2) “just add scale” has diminishing returns. It turns out tech… investors… didn’t… know this? 4504