iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 23h

Plenty of good critical writing as well of course

040

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I don't think there's a song with better, more compact storytelling

030

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

And it's true that I stole your lighter And it's also true that I lost the map But when you said I wasn't worth talking to I had to take your word on that

140

Reposted by Patrick Iber

The Great Pumpkin Papers 🎃🎃🎃 @professormusgrave.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

You’re right to push back. That was a set of red balloons, not a Soviet first strike. Should I order some ambulances?

735454

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Look, if it's a Bob Mortimer story, it's always true

1210

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Just want to praise this because quote tweets are so rarely any good (e.g. this one, by me)

130

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Everywhere I've traveled in the last few years it has been ubiquitous, and of course tailored to the local taste in sports

130

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

As an addendum, someone should write about the role of Bill Simmons here; for 25 years, through Grantland and The Ringer, he's offered a place for perceptive and not reactionary commentary on sports and pop culture while also unquestioningly mainstreaming gambling

050

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Anyway, without romanticizing the health of Brazilian politics or anything like that, just a reminder to politicians in the US and elsewhere that some day it may be possible to Do Things

1111

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I don't think we're at 3/4 yet in the US, but you can imagine getting there. It reminds me with many of the temperance movements of the past, in which the addictions of men are ruining household budgets, relationships, families, etc., leading to a social response

190

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

According to the article, 3/4 of Brazilians support a ban. The order will have to be approved by Congress or it will expire in 120 days - if Flávio Bolsonaro wins, it's safe to say that it will be reversed.

190

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

In Brazil, Lula (just ahead of an election) signed an executive order banning online betting, and made criticism of the "bets" a prominent theme on the campaign trail. A few years ago I remember reading that 20% of his signature cash transfer program was going to bets www.reuters.com/world/americ...

reuters.com

Brazil's Lula bans online betting, unveils debt relief plan as reelection race tightens

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday announced a ban on online betting operations in Latin ‌America's largest economy and unveiled a new debt relief program aimed at households, the ...

16318

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

judah what about my desire to complain that people in the past didn't solve all the problems. bit rude of you to deny me this

110

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I'm sure you're right about that - people read fewer novels, fewer long books in general...glad you enjoyed the podcast!

010

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

We are working out the technical stuff and will improve over time, only for our efforts to be erased by a rain that lasts for four years

020

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

That was my immediate thought as well, and that Glenn snapped right back when his audience didn't follow his pivot

090

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Actually we talk about the novel's connection to theories of Latin American underdevelopment, the show's exceptional cinematography, who opens doors and who closes them, and how great things turn themselves into cliché

130

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The first ep of Experts in a Dying Field, a culture and politics podcast with me, @zunguzungu.bsky.social & @lililoofbourow.bsky.social, is up. We talk 100 Years of Solitude's Netflix adaptation and why no one is talking about it until we perish of self-contradiction www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLyj...

youtube.com

Netflix's One Hundred Years of Solitude | Ep. 1 Experts in a Dying Field

YouTube video by Experts InADyingField

2177

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Rob, Drew is gonna go 1/3 of a Gordie Howe hat trick on you for that

120

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Oh wow you've given people millions of dollars in their late teens and twenties and it turns what they are doing is not cleaning up after themselves, not thinking about the neighbors, and having irresponsible sex parties? Yeah go figure

030

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The thing I hated most about South Bay culture when I went there to be a student in 1999 was that it was full of people with enormous entitlement, no sense of social responsibility, and too much money. The problem has only gotten worse www.nytimes.com/2026/09/21/t...

nytimes.com

The A.I. Party House Where Networking Has a Dark Side

Group tech houses have proliferated across the San Francisco Bay Area in the artificial intelligence boom. One of the most prominent has also racked up an extensive police record.

160

Reposted by Patrick Iber

Quinn Slobodian @quinnslobodian.com · 21/09/2026

Perhaps the best piece I've read yet on this emergent politics ⬇️

110334

Reposted by Patrick Iber

Ken Jennings @kenjennings.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I don’t usually meddle on the writing side of Jeopardy!, but tonight I called in a favor for our Bluesky viewers.

15710300783

Reposted by Patrick Iber

Quinn Slobodian @quinnslobodian.com · 18/09/2026

postfordist emojis

2365

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

The logical next step is skepticism of indoor plumbing. Have you seen how much a plumber charges just to visit your house? Isn’t there lead in those pipes anyway? What about the dangers of snakes swimming out of toilets? What if we went back to shitting in pots and throwing it out the window

050

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

"Five intellectuals in close proximity to power can do a lot of damage." Really fascinating @briankgoodman.bsky.social piece on the post-liberal scene (and pseudo-scene) in Hungary www.thedriftmag.com/the-last-day...

thedriftmag.com

The Last Days of the Danube Institute | A Report from Postliberal Budapest

By Brian Goodman. In the wake of Viktor Orbán’s defeat, Budapest’s postliberals face end times.

1155

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

It’s certainly true that it’s hard to organize tech workers and so the people you see on the street in San Francisco or wherever just look like a nuisance, not a responsibility

010

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

To be clear lots of the billionaires of the past were horrible people who made money by suppressing labor demands, stripping the environment, anticompetitive practices, etc. So it's not that it used to be good and now it's bad, but it is sort of different to have such youthful oligarchs

170

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I don't want to romanticize the billionaires of the past but I do think it is remarkable how callow many of today's are. Perhaps there is a structural component in that today's are making money through tech rather than managing large enterprises; the latter just takes more time and life experience

1130

Reposted by Patrick Iber

Dennis Hogan @dennismhogan.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

In @dissentmag.bsky.social, I look at years of patient organizing around labor and housing that reshaped politics in Providence, feeding into the campaigns that lifted @davidmoralespvd.bsky.social and council allies like Miguel Youngs to victory last week. dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...

dissentmagazine.org

The Socialist Wave Hits Rhode Island - Dissent Magazine

The sweep by democratic socialist David Morales and other progressive primary candidates in Providence is a testament to years of organizing and coalition-building in the Ocean State.

05721

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

You probably know this but before his soft rock phase he fronted a metal band called Ekyhomsis

030

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I think human extinction is extremely unlikely but I would be willing to consider a dramatic and rapid drop in the human population

170

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Lot of people with more information than I have seem to think we will all be dead within ten years

141

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I really want everyone to have the same information, and to know how to prepare a successful application no matter what their background

010

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Our students are too young to remember; I think Spencer @attackerman.bsky.social's 2021 book "Reign of Terror" is a valuable resource newrepublic.com/article/1631...

newrepublic.com

How the War on Terror Undermined American Democracy

Spencer Ackerman’s new book argues that the forever wars created the conditions for Trump’s rise.

050

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

That's true. One of the main purposes of this advice is to make sure that students can succeed with their applications regardless of background

000

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I share it with every prospective applicant so they're all on an even playing field. If it would be helpful for you, please feel free to use it and modify as needed for your situation

150

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I'm fielding requests from prospective Ph.D. students, and maybe you are too. Over the summer, I wrote this guide for students in History: including 1) don't do it; 2) if you must do it, this is how the process works and how to prepare your application patrickiber.org/2026/06/24/a...

patrickiber.org

A guide to preparing a Ph.D. application in History

Applying to graduate school is something that likely only happens once in a lifetime, and so almost no one doing it has experience in the process. The goal of this post is to help demystify the pro…

27013

Reposted by Patrick Iber

Noam Scheiber @noamscheiber.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

If you're lucky, someone will eventually review your book in a way that almost makes you jealous of their insights into the material. It's fair to say that the historian Gabe Winant has just published that review of my book. dissentmagazine.org/article/muti...

dissentmagazine.org

The Party of Baristas - Dissent Magazine

Noam Scheiber’s Mutiny shows that the labor organizing of the radicalized PMC is far more than a fit of whimsical proletarian roleplay.

2297

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

It was the Navier-Stokes proof that really got me, even though it cost ten million dollars worth of electricity and if a human had figured it out it would have cost twenty years worth of cheeseburgers

030

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Can I admit that I am a little bit freaked out right now though, without seeming stupid

130