iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The Journal of Media Ethics asked me how AI is influencing online political communication. I told them it's a "shitpost accelerant." It invites faster, easier shitposting, but it did not create the system that rewards shitposting. 50 free clicks to the piece: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/JMZMN...

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Better Things Are Possible @internethippo.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

One of the many reasons AI can't produce good writing is it can't hate its own writing. It can't think to itself "Maybe I'm illiterate" during the writing process. And that's essential

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Some good points here, but dark humor is not a gen z thing. There were 9/11 memes on like 9/12, and folks joked about the challenger disaster in the 80s. It goes way back. It’s a human impulse.

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

my weather app has exactly this problem. i want to hear about imminent risks. it tells me about shark bites in fresno.

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RedruM @dorsalstream.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

The horse op-ed is an instant classic. I can't tell you how much joy this piece gives me. It should be taught in every introductory writing class in no small part because the horse arguments are so compelling. "I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children."

I Work Very Hard, And I Would Like To Try Cake

By A Horse

Hello. I am a horse. I work very hard at my job of being a horse. When humans say move the heavy thing, I move the heavy thing. When humans sit on top of me and pull on my head, I carry them where they want to go. The main food the humans give me is hay and oats. But I am thinking it would be nice to have a different food.

I am thinking I would like to try cake.

Yes, yes. Cake. I know all about it. When humans eat cake, it is in glad times. It is the food for a celebration, such as when a woman becomes 47. I have seen cake on the Fourth of July. When humans have a cake, they stand around it and clap hands and smile and say happy birthday at each other. Sometimes there are beautiful markings on a cake, such as balloons or a pink shape.

Sometimes the top of a cake is on fire and a boy must blow on the fire with mouth wind. This is the scariest cake. I do not want this kind. But I will eat any other cake. Any cake that is not the fire cake that tries to kill the boy.

Please understand: I do not get money for doing work. I do not get to go inside the house. All I am either doing my horse job or standing in my pen or eating food off the floor. I always do these things. But I have never once gotten cake and I would like it very much.

I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children. I am more helpful to the farm. Children do not move the heavy things like me or let anyone ride on them. And yet they get cake. Maybe the humans will realize this. Maybe they will say, "You know who deserves cake? That horse. That horse whose back we are always on."

Every day I dream about what it will be like if I get to eat cake. Here is what will happen. First, I will walk to the cake and putt my nose at it like hrrfff to make and stomping my hooves to make sure it is not a snake. Then I will trot in a circle to show that I am a horse and I am large. After that, I will nuzzle the cake to …

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Nick Seaver @nickseaver.website · 16/03/2026

After reading a ton of rec letters for an internal student grant, I can say with confidence that every single faculty member at my university is using a different, unauthorized version of the university letterhead

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

I’m in a hotel, and I forget how wild live tv is. I passed by a news channel that was just eight other news channels in split screen. I’m watching Mike Huckabee sell pills made of red grapes that “widen blood vessels”

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

Maybe, weirdly, LinkedIn’s shallow feel-goodery makes it a better place to share professional stuff? At least stuff that’s not lamentation or rage?

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

90 percent of the conversation in my feed here is anger about the present dystopia. Seems like stuff that’s not that, including more “apolitical” academic conversation, gets drowned out. Bums me out because I think we need both, and I want people to like my shitposts.

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Some cold water on the idea that a massive sea change of public opinion is happening. Good to keep in mind.

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

In all honesty, a few boxes of pop tarts are our hurricane prep treat, so I’m part of the problem.

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

It’s important to have six weeks worth of toilet paper and perishable milk; this could be the big one.

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

A student peer support service promising you’ll get to chat with a person. My university, like so many others, is embracing GAI. But when you talk to students on the ground, they’re more ambivalent. Having grown up through the rise of commercial social media, they see the mixed bag of big tech.

A sandwich board sign for a student support service. The prominent text reads “no bots; no AI.”

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Jeremy Littau @jeremylittau.com · 20/01/2026

I have been teaching about communication tech for a long time, and if there's one through line it's people will use things they find useful even if they see a lot of downsides to society or their self-interest. Survey after survey says it's leadership/management pushing the current iteration of AI.

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NPR @npr.org · 16/01/2026

As President Trump approaches one year back in office, the policies his administration pursues — and how those policies are communicated — have been increasingly shaped by social media.

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Minnesota shows what happens when governing and content creation merge

As President Trump approaches one year back in office, the policies his administration pursues — and how those policies are communicated — have been increasingly shaped by social media.

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

"look no one has sued THIS clown yet"

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

when i was publishing my 2016 book on memes, we asked the MIT press lawyers, and they were like *shrug we dunno*, so that sealed it for me. the appendix of that book provides an ethical justification if it helps make the case to the journal

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

I've never requested any permissions and will only track down an original source if it fits the argument. I include when and where I collected an image, though. In the early days, I had to justify this a bit more, but a decade + into meme research that argument has been made and that seems standard

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Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 20/12/2025

The ‘deck’ in “Deck the Halls” means “to decorate.” But, it is not related or a shortening of ‘decorate.’ It comes from the Dutch word meaning “to cover.” You also use it when you’re all “decked out.”

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Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

“I made it simple for baby boy”

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

ahh, december. wherein i determine whether organizing my desktop wallpapers is "work"

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

I am watching a blu ray from the library as we speak! That plus kanopy and hoopla for streaming, and you’re so set.

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Becca Lewis @beccalew.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

Seems extra relevant after today’s news

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

the sentence structure isn’t quite right, and “some see” the visible crew member with the fake vomit tube as immersion breaking? it sounds like an Amazon review synthesis. Maybe we just write like this now? Or maybe I’m paranoid. Which is another fun side effect of the AI internet.

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

okay but is this headline an AI summary?

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

smart kids. they cracked the code.

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

but what if the antennas were like REALLY big?

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

I think the desire is for the sense of accomplishment? Click the button, and it becomes “I made this”? I offended a student because I said her AI generated project title wasn’t good. “I’m not critiquing you. You didn’t come up with it.” “But I picked it from the list.”

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

a decade after I threw away all my DVDs, I’ve bought my first 4K blu-ray. discs, vinyl, hardbacks. physical media as luxury item is a funny streaming-era byproduct.

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

“Never rake” under my live oak made my backyard a giant mosquito love nest. I have switched sides.

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

I have a John Henry's Hammer mentality about AI. I can write emails better and faster than you, and I will die proving it.

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Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 13/11/2025

If you have ‘dibs’ on something, you claim or declare rights to that thing before anyone else. ‘Dibs’ comes from an old children's game called ‘dibstones,’ which resembled the game of jacks.

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Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

I feel one million years old here, but we do actually have a pretty reliable way of knowing what news is true. Did a real newspaper publish it? Then probably yes. Can’t find it in a real newspaper? Maybe not.

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the Mountain Goats @themountaingoats.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

those of you who are afraid of aging, please understand that one of the huge blessings of middle age is arriving at this exact station

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

I'm happy to report I just put on The Big Hoodie for the first time this season

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

I’ve never read this book, and I am tickled to death this is how I’m reading it

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

I’m reading Thus Spoke Zarathustra inside a video game where your only objective is to pass time. Been sitting here for an hour clicking A to make my little goblin advance the page. A model Übermensch

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 12/09/2025

my kids are still young but this is basically our strategy. even video games are something that we first and foremost play together, as a family, in the living room.

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Retro Tech Dreams @retrotechdreams.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

This summer, you can find me at the pool

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

Alvin and the Chipmunks is on Hulu. The Squeakquel is on Disney Plus. Chipwrecked is on Peacock. But you have to pay 14.99 for Road Chip.

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

I regret to inform you this essay did not live up to my standards.

A screenshot of Microsoft copilot comparing its services to Wookiepedia, the Star Wars wiki.

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 26/04/2025

screaming WELCOME TO CHARLESTON the second we land so the captain can’t be the first one to do it

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

had my first foodtruck Philly cheesesteak and it’s challenging the döner kebab for street food supremacy

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

me: damn we're spending more on groceries than on our mortgage my escrow shortage: I have good news for you :)

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

reviewing a dissertation and really happy to see where the field has gone

A light green anthropomorphic squid is being crushed between two horizontal gray cylinders covered in spikes. The cylinders are attached to a light red vehicle being driven by a green fish. The caption below reads: "Figure 17. Squidward Meme."

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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Honestly for a huge number of content creators, podcast hosts etc, I don't think they think they have a responsibility to try to find out if something is true or not. Rogan feels like a dorm-room bull session for a reason. But of course when you have millions of viewers you can do real damage!

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

and a "this is how the humans talk" option.

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