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OnlySky

@onlys.ky

76 followers 26 following 299 posts

OnlySky is a digital magazine for America’s majority-in-the-making: the nonreligious and secular-minded. We explore life, culture, and the future through science, wonder, and human curiosity. onlys.ky

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OnlySky @onlys.ky · 10h

Everyone wants AI. Nobody wants the data center. That's not a tech problem — it's a geography-of-harm problem. New piece by @bledewitz.bsky.social works out the math. onlys.ky/the-future-of-data-centers #AI #DataCenters #LandUse #TechPolicy #Infrastructure

The future of data centers

Who should have to bear the burden of development for the greater good of society?

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 13h

The internet didn't just change retail. It changed who gets to learn how to make things. A quiet revolution in craft — by @daylightatheism.bsky.social #MakerMovement #DIY #Crafts #Technology #Humanism

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OnlySky @onlys.ky · 30/09/2026

NASA: 2,300 asteroids large enough to end most life on Earth cross our orbit regularly. Probability all of them eventually hit us? Nearly 100%. This is the honest version of pla... onlys.ky/look-up-or-dont-look-up-we… #Astronomy #Space #ExistentialRis

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 30/09/2026

AI is optimized for predictable humans. Humans are optimizing themselves to be predictable. A 2026 study calls it 'robotoid humanness.' By @susanfourtane.bsky.social onlys.ky/is-ai-teaching-us-to-be-le… #ArtificialIntelligence #HumanBehavior #Humanism #Cognitive #FutureTech

Is AI teaching us to be less human?

The more humanlike AI becomes, the more we need to protect what makes us unique.

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 29/09/2026

Nail polish is genderless. Pigment on keratin. The gender is a story we layered on top — and stories can change. onlys.ky/nail-polish-and-femininity… #Feminism #GenderNorms #MensLiberation #Culture #SecularHumanism

My favorite contradiction: Nail polish, femininity, and feminism

Colorful and sparkly nail polish is a fun hobby, sure. But nail polish also plays a huge role in feminism and men's liberation.

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OnlySky @onlys.ky · 28/09/2026

"The algorithm determined this" does the same work as "God has judged you." Human judgment disappears. The verdict stands. No one to argue with. onlys.ky/the-power-of-naming #ArtificialIntelligence #AlgorithmicBias #AIEthics #Technology #Humanism

The power of naming

The authority we once gave to churches and priests is now wielded by databases and algorithms.

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OnlySky @onlys.ky · 28/09/2026

Men who resent female pleasure are ashamed of their own. That's Deedee Redletter's whole theory — and she builds the science to back it. by @deedee-redletter.bsky.social onlys.ky/beyond-the-male-loneliness… #Sexuality #GenderStudies #SexualHealth #Feminism #RelationshipScience

The feminist future of straight sex: After the "male loneliness epidemic"

Patriarchy discourages men from seeking the sexual pleasure that's in their power to claim.

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 28/09/2026

Kojima predicted surveillance capitalism in 2001 via a video game villain who controlled society through data curation. He was the most prescient voice in the room. That makes w... onlys.ky/hideo-kojima #VideoGames #HideoKojima #MetalGearSolid #SurveillanceCapitalism #Storytelling

Video games' greatest visionary warned you about the man he's become

An auteur with a singular vision has fallen into the same pitfalls he once warned us about.

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OnlySky @onlys.ky · 28/09/2026

The predictable body — wakes on schedule, sits for hours, recovers from illness on cue — is a fiction. Society is a monument to a person who has never existed. onlys.ky/myth-of-the-predictable-bo… #Disability #Ableism #ChronicIllness #Accessibility #BodyAutonomy

The myth of the predictable body

We all benefit when society isn't designed around the fiction of perfect, reliable health.

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OnlySky @onlys.ky · 24/09/2026

The Death Clock gives you a specific Tuesday. That's the whole point. Vague mortality is easy to ignore. A date is not. onlys.ky/will-i-go-gentle #Death #Mortality #Secular #Philosophy #Humanism

Will I go gentle?

I'm probably not going to die today, but I will in the fairly near future. I want to know what it will be like. The experts aren't helping.

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OnlySky @onlys.ky · 24/09/2026

"We are not good. We are not even fine." Secular ethics borrows the standards without building the repair infrastructure. by @bledewitz.bsky.social onlys.ky/teshuva-for-the-secular #Secularism #Humanism #Ethics #Judaism #MoralPhilosophy

Teshuva for the secular

How do nonreligious people repent?

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OnlySky @onlys.ky · 24/09/2026

We didn't lose boredom by accident. We replaced it, deliberately, with content. Now the neuroscience bill is coming due. by @susanfourtane.bsky.social onlys.ky/in-praise-of-doing-nothing #MentalHealth #Neuroscience #DigitalWellbeing #Attention #SocialMedia

In praise of doing nothing

Boredom and deliberate mental downtime have become scarce and valuable commodities.

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 21/09/2026

Finland's nuclear vault will be sealed around 2100. The waste inside stays lethal for 10,000 years. The real puzzle: how do you warn people that far ahead? by @daylightatheism.b... onlys.ky/a-warning-to-the-distant-f… #NuclearEnergy #Futurism #NuclearWaste #LongTermThinking #Science

How can we get a warning to the distant future?

Can we design warnings that last as long as the mortal dangers we create?

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 21/09/2026

Morality isn't discovered floating in the cosmos. It's built — the way language and law are built. Human-made doesn't mean false. It means we're responsible for the quality of t... onlys.ky/morality-is-story #SecularEthics #Humanism #Morality #Philosophy #Meaning

Morality is story: What a secular future must build

Giving up belief in gods doesn't mean giving up the stories that teach us moral lessons.

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 18/09/2026

Entropy isn't just disorder — it's the statistical reason the past stays past. Physics doesn't explain time's arrow. Entropy does. And it maps onto growing up with uncomfortable... onlys.ky/entropy-time-and-the-arrow… #Entropy #Physics #Philosophy #Adolescence #TimeArrow

Entropy, time, and the arrow of adolescence

Is the forward motion of time inherently linked to an increase in disorder? Physicists (and novelists) have mixed opinions on the matter.

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 18/09/2026

The curb cut wasn't designed for you. The caption wasn't either. And yet you've used both today. Accessibility doesn't serve a minority — it builds the floor everyone walks on. onlys.ky/accessibility-should-be-bo… #Accessibility #DisabilityRights #UniversalDesign #Inclusion #Design

Accessibility should be boring

People with disabilities should get to go to the beach, too.

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 18/09/2026

The Houthis now control the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Diesel is $6/gal. This is what cascading geopolitical failure looks like — by @daylightatheism.bsky.social onlys.ky/the-energy-crisis-is-coming #EnergyPolicy #GeoPolitics #FossilFuels #YemenCrisis #ClimatePolicy

The energy crisis is coming

Shortages, price spikes, inflation—it's about to be the 1970s all over again.

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 14/09/2026

75% of hospitals employ chaplains. 29% of Americans have no religious affiliation. That math hasn't been reconciled yet — and patients in crisis are living in the gap. onlys.ky/who-comforts-the-secular #Secularism #Healthcare #HumanistChaplain #PatientRights #Medicine

Who comforts the secular?

Hospitals still carry embedded religious assumptions, even as more people than ever are nonbelievers.

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 14/09/2026

Secularists treat public school as values-neutral. It isn't. Never was. That's the uncomfortable foundation of Bruce Ledewitz's argument. by @bledewitz.bsky.social onlys.ky/public-funding-of-religiou… #Secularism #Education #SchoolChoice #ChurchAndState #PublicSchools

The secular case for public funding of religious schools

Greater school choice might be preferable to trying to create one curriculum that offends no one.

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 11/09/2026

Freud called the US "pious America" in 1927. A century later, a new annotated edition asks what his illusion framework still explains about us. onlys.ky/the-past-and-future-of-an-… #Psychology #ReligiousTrauma #Deconstruction #Psychoanalysis #Secularism

The past and future of an illusion

Freud's thoughts on religion through a 21st-century deconstructionist lens.

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 11/09/2026

99% of Americans can't see the Milky Way. We didn't lose it. We lit it out of existence. The question is whether we'll decide the sky was worth keeping. onlys.ky/keeping-the-universe-in-si… #DarkSkies #LightPollution #Astronomy #Science #Humanism

Struggling to keep the universe in sight

The future is too bright.

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 10/09/2026

Automation kills 92M jobs by 2030, creates 170M. The net math works. The meaning problem doesn't. By @susanfourtane.bsky.social onlys.ky/post-work-society #FutureOfWork #Automation #UBI #Economics #AI

Post-work society: The future of life after jobs

What would you do if you had all the free time in the world?

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 07/09/2026

A cabinet secretary's teenage daughter understood liberal education better than he did. "Conservative school to conservative college — that's just one-sided." She's 18. He runs... onlys.ky/value-of-liberal-education #LiberalEducation #HigherEd #CriticalThinking #Secularism #Education

The enduring value of liberal education

Higher education should challenge personal beliefs, not blindly reaffirm them. That's why conservatives hate and fear it.

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OnlySky @onlys.ky · 05/09/2026

We treat privacy like a switch. It's actually a spectrum we've never mapped — and corporations mapped it for us while we weren't paying attention. onlys.ky/anonymity-privacy-transpar… #Privacy #DataRights #DigitalIdentity #TechEthics #Futuri

Anonymity, privacy, transparency, integrity: Do we even know the future we want?

We react inconsistently to anonymity, but what does "knowing" a person actually do? What would a world of more integrity actually look like?

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OnlySky @onlys.ky · 04/09/2026

Teahouse culture on Ceres. An asymmetric rattlesnake station. A pilot called Iron Fist Bailey. 'Gamelan Bowl' builds a whole solar system in the cracks between a job briefing. onlys.ky/gamelan-bowl #SciFi #SpeculativeFiction #ShortFiction #AsteroidBelt #Worldbuilding

Even in the future among the stars, tea is serious business.

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 04/09/2026

Climate change has shortened the re-chalking schedule for a prehistoric English giant from every 25 years to every 7-10. Deep time, disrupted. by @susanfourtane.bsky.social onlys.ky/rechalking-the-giant #Archaeology #DeepTime #ClimateChange #CulturalHeritage #History

Rechalking the giant

The Cerne Giant in Dorset is an earthly legend that links past, present, and future.

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 03/09/2026

Secularism is great at dismantling holidays. Terrible at building new ones. Thanksgiving is the proof. by @bledewitz.bsky.social onlys.ky/a-secular-life-of-thanksgi… #Secularism #Humanism #Thanksgiving #Ethics #Philosophy

A secular life of thanksgiving

It makes for a better life when we practice secular humanist gratitude.

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OnlySky @onlys.ky · 02/09/2026

Four billion American chestnut trees, gone in decades. The roots are still alive underground — still trying to grow back. Still being killed every time they surface. by @dayligh... onlys.ky/the-resurrection-of-the-am… #AmericanChestnut #Conservation #Ecology #Biotech #Natura

The resurrection of the American chestnut

Humans wiped out a beloved tree species. Should we try to fix that mistake?

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OnlySky @onlys.ky · 02/09/2026

Europe's hospital scanning machines are failing from heat. The continent was never built for this. Neither was our energy grid. by @daylightatheism.bsky.social onlys.ky/our-shady-future #ClimateChange #RenewableEnergy #SolarPower #ClimateAction #EnergyTransition

Our shady future

Where should we put solar? Everywhere!

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 01/09/2026

Disabled people asked for remote work for years. Were told it wasn't possible. Covid proved it was always possible. The future was just being rationed. onlys.ky/disabled-people-live-in-th… #Disability #Accessibility #FutureOfWork #DisabilityJustice #TechForGood

Disabled people live in the future

Technology that merely represents convenience to some can be lifesaving to others.

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 31/08/2026

A fake press release. A plausible moral panic. Dozens of news outlets that ran it anyway. Negativland's 1989 hoax is the cleanest demonstration of confirmation bias ever recorded. onlys.ky/negativland-and-me #MediaLiteracy #Epistemology #Skepticism #MoralPanic #ConfirmationBias

Negativland and me: Why we fall for hoaxes

Public gullibility was a problem in the 1980s when I was caught up in a famous media hoax. It’s worse today.

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OnlySky @onlys.ky · 31/08/2026

"The difference between their dependence and mine is not that mine exists. It is that mine is visible." This essay reframes independence from the ground up. onlys.ky/independence-is-interdepen… #Disability #Interdependence #Accessibility #Humanism #DisabilityJustice

The future of independence is interdependence

Every one of us depends on others; the only difference is how visible that dependence is.

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OnlySky @onlys.ky · 30/08/2026

AI attends your meetings. AI drafts your emails. AI coaches your small talk. Somewhere in that list, you became optional. Where's the line? onlys.ky/the-human-archipelago #ArtificialIntelligence #HumanConnection #Technology #Sociology #DigitalLife

The human archipelago

Like most modern toxins, AI's ability to isolate us proceeds with our enthusiastic permission.

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OnlySky @onlys.ky · 29/08/2026

A portable planetarium in a school gym can fly kids past Andromeda. 22% of US high schoolers reach science proficiency. The math here is not complicated. onlys.ky/educated-by-the-stars #ScienceEducation #Education #Space #Humanism #SciComm

Educated by the stars

Science education can—and should—instill kids with a sense of awe and wonder at the world.

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OnlySky @onlys.ky · 28/08/2026

Japan prescribed forest walks as medicine for tech worker burnout — in 1982. We're still arguing about whether wellness culture is cringe. onlys.ky/forest-bathing #ForestBathing #Nature #PublicHealth #MentalHealth #ShinrinYoku

How forest bathing can soothe our souls

The individual and collective benefits of immersion in nature.

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 28/08/2026

Atomic clocks define our seconds. A 16th-century papal decree defines our years. The most underexamined contradiction in modern science is the calendar. onlys.ky/godless-time #Secularism #History #Science #Calendar #ChurchAndState

Godless time: Time for a secular calendar

Time is measured by scientific standards, so why do we still use a calendar based on religion?

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OnlySky @onlys.ky · 27/08/2026

The year 2100 is foggy. The year 3000 is almost readable. A millennium of cause and effect narrows the options. Three futures. All defensible. onlys.ky/three-visions-of-the-year-… #Futurism #LongTermThinking #ClimateChange #Humanism #Civilization

Three visions of the year 3000

A quick look at the long run.

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OnlySky @onlys.ky · 26/08/2026

Star Trek's humanist promise: you can hold two moral peaks at once and not need the universe to tell you which one is right. SNW remembers this. Most recent Trek forgot it. onlys.ky/star-trek-strange-new-worl… #StarTrek #SciFi #Humanism #Television #Philosophy

Strange New Worlds: Star Trek's return to humanist form

Finally! A Star Trek that we can really grapple with as humanists. Join me in reflecting on Strange New Worlds. More episode reviews to come.

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OnlySky @onlys.ky · 26/08/2026

SCOTUS didn't impose religion on America. It just made the Establishment Clause optional. There's a difference — and it matters more. by @bledewitz.bsky.social onlys.ky/is-the-supreme-court-forci… #Secularism #SCOTUS #FirstAmendment #ChurchAndState #ConstitutionalLaw

Is the Supreme Court forcing religion on us?

Right-wing justices are giving wide latitude to elected officials to impose their religious views.

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 25/08/2026

The problem isn't that we're too selfish to fix the world. It's that we're all waiting for someone else to move first. Prisoner's dilemma, civilizational scale. By @daylightathe... onlys.ky/the-future-is-a-prisoners-… #Ethics #GameTheory #CollectiveAction #Humanism #Politics

The future is a prisoner's dilemma

Our future is increasingly made worse by a refusal to cooperate.

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 24/08/2026

Every solo survival plan hits the same wall: you can't manufacture antibiotics alone. Civilization isn't a luxury — it's the infrastructure keeping you alive. by @daylightatheis... onlys.ky/the-svalbard-seed-vault-a-… #Futurism #Sustainability #Resilience #U

The Svalbard seed vault: A survival bunker for civilization

How could we reengineer civilization to be resilient against catastrophe? A vault of seeds slumbering in Arctic permafrost suggests one way.

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OnlySky @onlys.ky · 24/08/2026

Spent a few days in a house with no Wi-Fi. It felt like time travel — and not the bad kind. by @susanfourtane.bsky.social onlys.ky/information-overload/ onlys.ky/information-overload #InformationOverload #DigitalWellbeing #Attention #Neuroscience #SocialMedia

The cost of information overload

Our brains' ability to process information hasn't kept pace with the tools that deliver it.

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 23/08/2026

Morality isn't handed down — it's engineered. Same iterative logic as limestone → mortar → civilization. By @daylightatheism.bsky.social onlys.ky/morality-is-a-technology-t… #Ethics #Humanism #Morality #Philosophy #SecularThought

Morality is a technology

Just as inventions like metal forging and glass-making improve our physical capabilities, morality is a technology that gives us the ability to achieve what no one individual could do alone.

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OnlySky @onlys.ky · 23/08/2026

Simulation theory: statistically rigorous, genuinely weird, and structurally identical to religion once you squint at it. The overlap is the most interesting part. onlys.ky/time-to-accept-were-living… #Philosophy #SimulationTheory #Physics #Consciousness #Secular

Is simulation theory just another form of religion?

There's no way to prove the simulation concept. That has never stopped humans from trying to gain favor from unseen and unproven creators.

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 22/08/2026

Secular 40: career panic, fertility grief, ironic detachment, facelift jokes. What's absent is a story. Organized secularism hasn't built one. by @bledewitz.bsky.social onlys.ky/this-is-secular-40 #Secularism #Humanism #Philosophy #MidlifeReflections #Meaning

This is secular 40

Religion, for all its faults, gives life a sense of narrative.

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 22/08/2026

The admin didn't hide it — they admitted in court they cut research grants based on which states voted Harris. Documented corruption is still corruption. By @bledewitz.bsky.social onlys.ky/can-we-restore-lawful-gove… #AmericanPolitics #ConstitutionalCrisis #RuleOfLaw #Science #Accoun

Can we restore lawful government?

A more blatantly corrupt and cruel administration than any we've seen before—but it's not too late to stop it.

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 20/08/2026

Political identity isn't downstream of values anymore. It IS the value. That inversion is the whole problem — and it predates the last decade by 40 years. onlys.ky/a-better-form-of-belonging #Politics #Tribalism #AmericanPolitics #Democracy #Polarization

A better form of belonging

Our political allegiances often determine our moral beliefs, rather than vice versa. Can the fever break?

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 19/08/2026

Medicine optimized for diagnosis and forgot to optimize for understanding. Narrative medicine is the correction — and it's been overdue for decades. onlys.ky/narrative-medicine-why-sto… #Medicine #NarrativeMedicine #MedicalEducation #Healthcare #Humanities

Narrative medicine: Why stories matter in healthcare

Narrative medicine provides skills that put the human connection back into the increasingly quantitative and automated practice of medicine.

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OnlySky @onlys.ky · 19/08/2026

Disabled people have been running asynchronous, energy-aware, home-optimized lives for years. That's not a workaround. That's a preview. onlys.ky/future-in-bedrooms #Disability #FutureOfWork #ChronicIllness #AccessibilityDesign #Neurodivergent

Disabled people are creating the future in their bedrooms

A life lived in a small space doesn't have to be deprived or meaningless.

OnlySky @onlys.ky · 19/08/2026

"Values are just preferences" — the move designed to defuse fanaticism. It doesn't work. Preferences scale. Mobs have them. Via @bledewitz.bsky.social onlys.ky/is-objective-morality-dang… #Philosophy #Ethics #ObjectiveMorality #Humanism #SecularThought

Is objective morality dangerous?

Does belief in objective value make us more or less likely to fight and kill each other?