iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Re-reading some WW1 poetry and came across "To Germany" by Charles Sorley. Seems relevant vis-a-vis Iran! You are blind like us. Your hurt no man designed, And no man claimed the conquest of your land. But gropers both through fields of thought confined We stumble and we do not understand.

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Os Keyes @okeyes.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Since we’re doing another round of “AI will destroy humanity” doom-hype, it’s a good time to announce a new paper myself and my postdoc advisor just had accepted by BioSocieties on just this. TL;DR: almost all the “AI can make bioweapons” literature comes ultimately from the Effective Altruists.

ironholds.org

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Yes the Iran War is immoral and criminal and horrific and strategically very very stupid; it's also very good that gas prices are finally going up. Upending the global energy market and forcing a green transition might be the greatest unintended good consequence in all of military history! 🤣

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I don't care who wins the Trump-Iran War as long as big stupid diesel trucks lose.

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Lilly Wachowski @lillywachowski.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Hi! This is out today and it’s awesome! And I am proud to be connected to it! SUPPORT TRANS PEOPLE!!! WE ARE FUCKING MAGICAL!!!!

youtu.be

What Happened at Aleister Crowley’s Boleskine House? | #WITCHYAF

YouTube video by Etch

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Adrian Daub @adriandaub.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Hey I can finally find out what [who cares] thinks about [fart noise]!

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Slotkin's basic pitch to the electorate boils down to, "Can't we all just go out together and butcher brown people like we used to?"

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Merry Kirkmas to all who celebrate

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Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

so far these are the big real uses of AI 1. Analyzing huge data sets better than we could before 2. Automate hacking and malware to an unprecedented degree 3. Supercharge fraud beyond all prior precedent 4. Flood the internet with slop / disinfo Where's the change in our very nature?

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Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Vaccine conspiracism is overwhelmingly clustered among the religious, white and affluent. It’s a function of conservative ideology and bad faith media. Being nicer to MAHA types will not ‘bring them into the fold,’ it will only increase their sense of entitlement.

Objective: Strengthening of antivaccination movements in recent decades has coincided with unprecedented increases in the incidence of some communicable diseases. Many intervention programs work from a deficit model of science communication, presuming that vaccination skeptics lack the ability to access or understand evidence. However, interventions focusing on evidence and the debunking of vaccine-related myths have proven to be either nonproductive or counterproductive. Working from a motivated reasoning perspective, we examine the psychological factors that might motivate people to reject scientific consensus around vaccination. To assist with international generalizability, we examine this question in 24 countries. Methods: We sampled 5,323 participants in 24 countries, and measured their antivaccination attitudes. We also measured their belief in conspiracy theories, reactance (the tendency for people to have a low tolerance for impingements on their freedoms), disgust sensitivity toward blood and needles, and individualistic/hierarchical worldviews (i.e., people's beliefs about how much control soci hould have over individuals, and whether hierarchies are desirable). Results: In
order of magnitude,
antivaccination attitudes were highest among those who (a) were high in conspir-
atorial thinking, (b) were high in reactance, (c) reported high levels of disgust toward blood and needles, and (d) had strong individualistic/hierarchical worldviews
. In contrast, demographic variables (including
education) accounted for nonsignificant or trivial lev
f variance. Conclusions: These data help
identify the "attitude roots" that may motivate and sustain vaccine skepticism. In so doing, they help shed light on why repetition of evidence can be nonproductive, and suggest communication solutions to that problem.
Keywords: vaccination, conspiracy beliefs, health communication,

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

I know we have to mortgage the death of the author in order to pay for the birth of the reader, but does that mean we need to mortgage the lives of trans people to pay for the construction of another Rowling mansion?

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Extremely funny that Hillsdale College went all in on Donald Trump. The school's motto is "Strength rejoices in the challenge," but Trump has known nothing but ease his whole life, has done nothing but fraud his whole time in office, and now is pushing AI on the world - the laziest tech out there!

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Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 02/09/2026

The bar for progressive policies is: "did this unilaterally solve the entire gigantic systemic issue without making a single person sad?" The bar for conservative policies is: "did the people pushing this yell out the name of a real problem before doing something unrelated, cruel and ineffective?"

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Latest article for my "Copagandists" series is finally up! We're taking some time away from the police procedural to discuss the classic QM series The Fugitive! owensymes.substack.com/p/the-copaga...

owensymes.substack.com

The Copagandists 24 | Quinn Martin Pt 10: A Felonious Detour

Creating and producing “The Fugitive”

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

If we're still workshopping what to call humanoid robots, I'd like to suggest we repurpose the term Junkie.

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Trans News Network @transnews.network · 21/08/2026

"If trans people want a boycott of The New York Times, where's the call to do so?" Here is a declaration laying out how the NYT is a key driver of trans genocide, why boycotts work and why anyone who gives a damn about trans lives and rights must boycott The New York Times.

transnews.network

Boycott The New York Times

For years The New York Times has relentlessly pushed anti-trans propaganda, playing a significant role in the escalating genocide against us. It's far past time for a call to action: anyone who cares ...

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

For comparison's sake, imagine saying this *during* WW2 and asking about the "tallest fully constructed building" in Germany or Poland...Or wondering why large swathes of Europe were in the grips of poverty and turmoil. Walsh has the brain of a bedbug and the moral compass of a bit of spittle.

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

When someone comments on "AI," I think it's useful to parse out whether they mean "the technology of LLMs" vs "the industry as it's currently constituted." I have some major philosophical concerns with using LLMs in creative work, but my *PRIMARY* critique of "AI" is industrial; it's about power!

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Bret Stephens is a bedbug and The Atlantic is his bed.

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Moira Donegan @moiradonegan.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

The thing about “woke 1” was that it was substantially correct.

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Gul Dukat @realguldukat.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

The number one Goal is, and always will be, that the Gorn cannot have, in any way, shape, or form, a Genesis Torpedo. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President Gul Dukat. #StarTrek #Sisko197

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

I think it's fine to argue that violence is wrong, full stop (I disagree, but it's a position to take). This kind of head-in-the-sand nonsense, however, is pathetic. Your pacifism needs to grapple with reality if its going to be worth anything!

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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

The excesses of the left lead to performativity. The excesses of the right lead to death.

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alec karakatsanis @equalityalec.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

It is absurd and dangerous to wave away concern about how repression crushes marginalized people and the left and enables ruling class to manage, control, and enforce prodigious inequality as "woke" in same way as neoliberal identity politics that many are rightly upset about.

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

I guess it would be frustrating to be a US sailor on a poop-covered aircraft carrier that didn't have enough ice cream to go around

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Finally uploaded the latest episode of "The Copagandists" podcast, analyzing QM's The New Breed and its messaging around police. Check it out! owensymes.substack.com/p/ep-23-quin...

owensymes.substack.com

Ep 23 - Quinn Martin Pt 9: The Ideology of The New Breed

What QM's "The New Breed" has to say about police and society

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

"Roth didnt specify which scenes used generative AI or how the technology was incorporated, emphasizing only that its use was limited to 'a very small portion of a few scenes.'" Bullshit. If creatives dont draw a hard line now, we will lose power to the technocrats trying to sap the world of joy!

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Fellas, what's stopping you from costuming your historical epics like this? (From the solid-but-not-great "Helen of Troy," 1956)

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Maybe The Atlantic will go away if we all just stop talking about it?

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Quibbles with the awful costumes aside, I though The Odyssey to be a stupendous achievement. Truly a miracle of technical expertise and artistic vision!

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

If the Fauci Saga should teach scientists anything, it's that their only response to right-wing freaks *just asking questions* is to reply firmly and loudly, "Eat my shit and hair."

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

The word writing in that first sentence is doing a lot of heavy lifting here!

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Went and saw "Her Private Hell" knowing practically nothing about it. Just saw its poster and decided to give it a go. It's not for everyone, I'm not even sure I'd call it good, but it was certainly interesting and the more I talk about it with people, the more I like it!

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Hey so I think those centrist Dems might be on to the right idea, election-winning-wise. They do, after all, have a pretty good track record, right? Lemme just check on Bill Clinton's election results and...hey wait...Ok well Obama...right, he ran on an anti-establishment message...Ok but surely...

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Senator Graham and I disagreed on a lot of things

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

"Starman" has so much going for it: stellar performances from all involved, great chemistry between the leads, a lovely depiction of community amid a hostile world. It's charming and funny and I love that it ends with Karen Allen's character watching her alien paramour returning home.

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gwen howerton @kissphoria.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Houston is the 4th largest city in the nation. ICE is here, has been here, and killed a man here. His name was Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. Don't let that pass you by because it's not on your feed as much as Chicago or Minnesota or LA.

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

It's underappreciated how ahead of their time the Wachowskis have been. In a nerd culture seeped in nostalgia and cynicism, dominated by the cyanide screeds of Quentin Tarantino, they've continued to make the most optimistic, lovely, boundary-pushing art of any blockbuster filmmaker. Remarkable!

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Owen Symes @owen-symes.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

On yet another holiday where politicians like to bloviate about the virtue of the military, I'd like to remind everyone that dental hygienists have done more to protect this country than the troops ever have

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Kristi Yamaguccimane @wapplehouse.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Posting this is the worst thing John Hinckley has ever done

The Bible speaks against interracial marriage. Ezra 9:2, Ezra 9:12, Nehemiah 13:27.

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