iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 07/02/2026

Doomed to be an artist and doomed to be niche.

Reposted by Deborah Pearson

Luc Amkreutz @prehistoryrmo.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

Nice constellation of the almost full moon🌔and Jupiter this evening. Jupiter has 92 moons!! And is the gatekeeper of our solar system, preventing impact from ☄️ comets etc.

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 30/01/2026

Catherine O’Hara was a hilarious, gorgeous, and older woman. Three things a lot of women grew up thinking didn’t mix, but they did. They all did. RIP you Canadian treasure

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 30/01/2026

Canadian treasure! But yes a treasure

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 30/01/2026

Catherine O’Hara got us through the pandemic. In our darkest hour Moira Rose lit up the day

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Reposted by Deborah Pearson

Hannah Nicklin @hannahnicklin.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Brilliant news

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 10/01/2026

Really enjoyed Midsummer Night’s Dream at #theglobe - A comedy transformed into a class tragedy about agency under authoritarianism, with Bottom as the lead

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 07/01/2026

Thank you for reposting, Katherine. ❤️

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 07/01/2026

7/7 7. #AI doesn’t make any money and probably will never make any money. $525 billion has already been lost on AI industries. So this is not about profit for investors, it’s about something else. That’s my diatribe on why AI is about ushering in tech fascism. May it fail and fail spectacularly.

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 07/01/2026

6/7 6. by pushing the idea that humans can be replaced by #AI, the likelihood of a recession rises, an excellent atmosphere to push through undemocratic legislation and undermine labour laws. undermining the perceived agency of the majority is something that billionaires are very invested in doing

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 07/01/2026

5/7 the more people use AI, the more their critical skills and their ability to be creative will atrophy, also useful for fascism. System 2 thinking is difficult to motivate ourselves to do and needs practice.

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 07/01/2026

4/7 4. its obsession with plagiarising/undermining intellectual property and art is useful because content is engaging, but artists are problematic and tend to be dissidents. But the more difficult it becomes for people to live off of their creativity, the more helpful that is for tech fascism.

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 07/01/2026

3/7 3. ⁠ the fact that it’s made it so difficult to tell who is human and who constantly lowers the bar on our relationship with privacy. So it is feasible that eventually we would happily give away our DNA in order to verify our identities. This would’ve been unthinkable before AI.

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 07/01/2026

2/7 2. it is environmentally unsustainable - a pro for apocalyptic accelerationist tech bros. Many “preppers” have bought land in New Zealand expecting there to be an oncoming climate disaster that they themselves are protected from through owning clean drinking water and building bunkers.

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 07/01/2026

Thread - 1/7 7 reasons #AI is a tool of global domination and tech fascism. 1. Constant hallucinations which are factually incorrect but subtly interwoven with correct information, requiring expertise to spot. As a routinely used research tool, it undermines facts/truth - helpful for fascism.

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 17/11/2025

Wrote a little thing on my substack about Mary Beard and Roman Emperors and AI. performingquiet.substack.com/p/what-the-r...

performingquiet.substack.com

What the Roman Empire tells us about AI

GABBO, Vespasian and other instances of Manufactured Demand

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Reposted by Deborah Pearson

Hannah Berry @streakofpith.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Who’s been putting off filling in that government consultation on AI then? Because you took one look and realised that fucking thing was designed SPECIFICALLY to put you off? Don’t worry, there are three online guides to help you: The Association of Illustrators theaoi.com/news/the-cop...

theaoi.com

The Copyright and AI consultation - how to respond as an illustrator – The AOI

The Copyright and Artificial Intelligence consultation was published by in December 2024, and we are encouraging illustrators to submit a response to the consultation to demonstrate the negative affec...

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 24/02/2025

You’ve got the next hour to fill this in if you can. The questions are definitely phrased in a way to discourage you from finishing the survey, but finish it anyway. Our human voices should be heard, not stolen.

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Reposted by Deborah Pearson

Jonathan Wakeham @jonathanwakeham.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Last chance to respond to the government’s consultation on AI’s threat to creatives and copyright. Here’s a handy guide to filling it in from @writersguildgb.bsky.social.

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Reposted by Deborah Pearson

Prof Julia Steinberger 🌹🌱🌍 #ClimateAction #Fightfascism @jksteinberger.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

As promised, here are the slides I shared with students to convince them to NOT use chatGPT and other artificial stupidity. TL;DR? AI is evil, unsustainable and stupid, and I'd much rather they use their own brains, make their own mistakes, and actually learn something. 🪄

NO CHATGPT Or other artificial stupidity: motivation
First, clarity on distinguishing AIs:
Non-generative: grammar aid, translation, dictionary, text-to-audio (e.g. Natural Reader): no problem
As long as you use the appropriate tools (least intensive in data and server energy use).
Why? Because you provide the content. Your brain is doing the most important work
Generative: ChatGPT & Co.
You only supply the prompt, the AI supplies the content.
Why is this delegation of work problematic?
3 domains: ethical, environmental, intellectual engagement.

(Caveat: generative is probably ok for computer programming, where it can be useful and save time. Not relevant to this class.)

1) AI and ethics
Mass theft of all and everything
«learning» on books, articles, blogs, social media, images, music, cultural production, without permission of authors/creators, and leading to their mass joblessness. Profits are not reditributed to originators.
Permanent destruction of the mental health of underpaid precarious tech workers in the Global South (Kenya, Philippines …):
«correction» to avoid production of violent and pedophile contents etc, tech workers are obliged to watch and correct super violent contents for days on end, leading to extreme psychological suffering and trauma, from which recovery is doubtful. No or little compensation (certainly not at the level of the suffering inflicted).
In short, an industry built on theft of real human creation and sacrifice of real human health, profiting a few megafortunes.

2) AI and (un)sustainability

Massive consumption of electricity, water, server capacity for generative AI.
Outcome: keep fossil fuel companies in business, using up new renewable capacity, without any satisfaction of basic human needs.
Massive misappropriation of the finance necessary for climate and ecological action (renewable generation, efficiency and retrofit for buildings, public transit, infrastructures for cycling etc) towards AI industry.
Overall: undermine climate action, reinforce fossil industry, waste resources necessary for human development.

3) AI and intellectual engagement

First, what learning is (or should be) about:
The goal should not (only) be the reproduction of «correct» knowledge,
But mainly personal engagement and experience of thinking about topics of interest. Personal engagement = using one’s own brain.
The most important activity for learning and intellectual engagement is the experience of making one’s own mistakes, by trial and error, corrections based on new ideas, starting over again. Learning to recognise nuances, knowledge gaps, better explanations
This kind of learning is possible only through using your own brain, not AI.
Also, Ais are not «intelligent». At all.
They simply reproduce pre-existing patterns. They «bullshit», invent false references, false facts, false data, simply because those sound plausible. VERY DANGEROUS.
If you learn how to NOT use AI, and how to research facts and data on your own, this will serve you and your communities for the rest of your life.

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 24/02/2025

“I use antlers in all of my decorating.” Is there any better lyric in film?

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Writers' Guild of Great Britain @writersguildgb.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

An important piece in today’s Observer from Katie Hims on why cuts to audio drama are so damaging - to writers, audiences and the wider cultural ecosystem in the UK We continue to campaign to Save Audio Drama at the BBC #SADatTheBBC www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

theguardian.com

BBC radio drama is in grave danger. Without it we may lose the next generation of writing talent

Hundreds of hours of original plays have been cut from the corporation’s programming in recent years. If the trend continues, a valuable training ground for writers will be lost

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 20/02/2025

Some people are celebrities as a result of absolute privilege. Some are celebrities as a result of absolute hardship. Some are celebrities as a result of incredibly hard work/virtuosic skill. Liza Minelli is all three. #Legend #LoveLiza

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 14/02/2025

Incredibly honest moment: one of the most useful cookbooks I have ever bought is Tim Anderson’s Microwave Cooking. Not necessarily for the recipes but for the paradigm shift it offers a cook in terms of how they think of their microwave. It isn’t just for reheating, it’s a tool.

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Reposted by Deborah Pearson

Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

Not exaggerating when I say I would like a personal, handwritten apology from every pundit who barfed out a dozen "the left wants to change the way you talk!" op-eds based on non-mandatory guidelines in obscure PDFs.

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 10/02/2025

Anyone else feel like “Feed the Birds” in Mary Poppins is the moment you realise your nanny is a radical anarchist who wants to take down capitalism with her cool chimney sweep artist f-buddy? And does the beauty of that realisation make anyone else cry?

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 06/02/2025

Let’s not trade wisdom for knowledge.

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 26/01/2025

Art reclassified as content and they think people who make it are arrogant, pretentious and make them feel boring. They also think (rightly) that artists are a danger to totalitarianism. Most people don’t want all this AI. But the government is kowtowing to billionaires, who are not most people.

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 26/01/2025

There could be a future where algorithms chatting with eachother about all the things the humans used to do is the only intelligent life left in the universe.

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 23/01/2025

“Dreyfuss once wrote from Devil’s Island that he would see the most glorious birds. Many years later in Brittany he realised they had only been seagulls. For me, they will always be glorious birds.” - Maude

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Reposted by Deborah Pearson

Hoodlum 🇺🇸 @nothoodlum.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

Today, honor a King, not a Felon. #mlkday2025

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 21/01/2025

Anyone truly interested in elegance must admire the inimitable creature that is the cat.

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 14/01/2025

After almost 20 years living in the U.K., my North American accent sounds like I left yesterday. But the place where I’ve “gone British” is in emails. I have never signed one “Cheerio” but that could be next

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 13/01/2025

So the Labour government clearly does not give a sh*t about climate change. Carbon emissions from even relatively simple AI use are enormous. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

theguardian.com

‘Mainlined into UK’s veins’: Labour announces huge public rollout of AI

Plans to make UK world leader in AI sector include opening access to NHS and other public data

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 09/01/2025

There is a lot of irony in this headline reading “over 40” when every actress referenced in the article is over 50. Why pretend they are 10 years younger? Isn’t it cooler that these women are over 50? www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

theguardian.com

Demi, Jodie and Nicole: is Hollywood finally ready to recognise complex female characters over 40? | Natasha Ginnivan

At the Golden Globes, the spotlight was on women playing multilayered, courageous and middle-aged lead roles

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Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com · 09/01/2025

I am a climate scientist and this is correct ⬇️

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 09/01/2025

Some people make life bigger and more beautiful. And some people make life smaller and worse.

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Reposted by Deborah Pearson

Courtney Love Lies Bleeding 🫦 @hexadecibelle.fyi · 19/12/2024

once again i am astonished at UK politicians and their inability to understand the simplest fucking things about the gift horse that is the 🇬🇧 creative industry and how little money they will fuck it over for.

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 20/12/2024

“You speak like someone who has no ideals.” “True. I am a neo-frivolist.” “And how does that differ from old-fashioned frivolity?” “Mostly in the ‘neo’ prefix. It makes it more interesting.” - Antal Szerb, The Pendragon Legend, 1933

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 19/12/2024

The government will try to sell the public on AI generated art as a collaboration between algorithms and artists, but can collaboration be non-consensual, aimed at erasing the autonomy of the human collaborator? www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

theguardian.com

UK proposes letting tech firms use copyrighted work to train AI

Consultation suggests opt-out scheme for creatives who don’t want their work used by Google, OpenAI and others

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 18/12/2024

Re: AI I emailed copyrightconsultation@ipo.gov.uk the following letter. Happy to share and I urge all my colleagues to get in touch with these kowtowers and tell it like it is.

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 18/12/2024

Also read second panel first. New to the ins and outs of posting screenshots on Bluesky. :)

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Deborah Pearson @performingquiet.substack.com · 18/12/2024

Just used this to email my MP. I urge you to do the same. If you are an artist make no mistake, you have skin in the game and corporate greed doesn’t want to eliminate content, it wants to eliminate you, the critical thinking embedded in your “content” and any need to pay you.

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Reposted by Deborah Pearson

Aliki Chapple @commonmugwort.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

The thing with theatre is you can’t really expect it to become self-funding. You have to think it’s worth funding indefinitely; it’s not a startup, it’s not going to grow up some day and make money. Theatre doesn’t make money. It makes experiences, connections, memories, community, it makes artists.

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Daniel Bye @danielbye.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

This morning two theatre companies (Freedom Studios and Coney) have announced their permanent closure. Both 'left' the National Portfolio in 2023 and have found the climate impossible since. Their statements are heartbreakingly similar. Without massive funding reform many more will follow in 2025.

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