iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sam Grinsell @samgrinsell.bsky.social · 1h

This thread is what bugged me about other elder scrolls games although I never actually played skyrim. Also, life in late capitalism eh

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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 15h

There is a moment at the very very end of Abdul El-Sayed's podcast with Ezra Klein (book recommendation section) where he talks about the idea of "speaking truth to pain" and this will be staying with me for an extremely long time. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/o...

But there’s also something about truth to pain. We talk a lot about truth to power, but I think it’s actually a lot harder to speak truth to pain. I say that as someone who went to medical school, realizing that in a lot of our politics right now, we’ve got to get a lot better at speaking truth to pain if we’re going to get through some of these challenges that we have.

What does “truth to pain” mean?

It’s one thing to look power in the eye and say: You’re wrong about this. But there’s a way in which pain is very difficult to reason with. Because when somebody is in their pain, they’re in their trauma. They see that pain, and they may not see what’s causing it.

I remember just very explicitly being in a trauma ward with a gunshot wound patient and watching this big guy with his hand on his gunshot wound. All the folks are trying to pull his hand off his pain, that point of his gunshot wound, this clear vulnerability.

And this emergency room doctor had the presence of mind to be like: Everyone, stop. And she looks him in the eyes, and she’s like: I get that really hurts, and I’m so sorry that you’re here. You don’t want to be here. We don’t want you to be here. But if you don’t let us fix this, you could die. So I’m going to take your hand, and I’m going to move it off, OK? Because I need to get there so that you can live.

She was speaking truth to pain. He understands he’s at the hospital, he needs care, but he also doesn’t want anybody to touch the wound. Which is a natural thing. And I think it is a really great metaphor for how we think about a lot of these challenges we talked about today.

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Sam Grinsell @samgrinsell.bsky.social · 10h

Werewolves not swearwolves

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David En-Griffiths @homodavien.bsky.social · 21h

I'll never be convinced a government is taking the country's issues seriously unless they announce truly massive increases to local authority budgets alongside whatever other improvements they suggest.

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Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.eurosky.social · 23h

can anyone on here suggest who to talk to about unofficial but rampant WhatsApp mods used in many African countries? (I'd forgotten just how US/Anglo-centric this site's user-base is, compared to - alas - Old Twitter)

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Henry Snow @henrys.now · 29/09/2026

my best advice for grad students and early career researchers is have hobbies and friends that will force you into a healthier work-life balance. sorry no more time to doom about the job market today, your international coterie of pals need you to fight in the Skeleton War online tonight

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Sam Grinsell @samgrinsell.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Fascinating choice of dates this, because if we're ending in 1997 wouldn't it be at the very least quite interesting to start from the reforming Liberal government of 1906...

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Dr Katie Twomey @k2mey.eurosky.social · 28/09/2026

This is quite cool. My university is the first organisation in the world to force Microsoft to allow us to turn off copilot summaries in Word 365, after a backlash against it from staff (including, very vocally, me). That cannot have been easy for our heroic IT people so hats very much off to them!

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Sam Grinsell @samgrinsell.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Shout-out to the English announcements at Palermo Airport that pronounce Bologna as baloney

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East Anglia Bylines @eastangliabylines.co.uk · 29/09/2026

47 miles of Roman road, impeccable signage and barely a navigation decision to make. Peddars Way might just be the easiest National Trail to follow that Sarah Pryor has walked so far. 🥾 #PeddarsWay #NationalTrail #Walking

eastangliabylines.co.uk

Peddars Way: a beautiful gentle National Trail through Norfolk

A gentle 47-mile Roman road trail beginning in Suffolk and passing through Norfolk: superbly signposted, rich in wildlife, history and views

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Ian Duhig @ianduhig.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Itō Jakuchū's 'Frog' of 1790 for me is the iconic image of numbed uncomfortable bafflement at the predicament of existence in the coming modern world, much as Munch's 'Scream' expressed it through horror.

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Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The idea of a "tech industry" has always relied on "computer" being a special kind of medium, akin to alchemy. And if tech demands to be king, AI hype has now elevated LLMs to a king of kings. But the solipsism has hit a dead end. The only way forward is to recognize that computers are not special.

productpicnic.beehiiv.com

LLMs are just normal technology. But tech is just a normal medium.

The more we focus on a particular technology, the more we lose sight of what normal people actually care about.

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cmrn knzlmn @ckunzelman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

If you are a graduate student in the humanities (construed as broadly as possible), what is the MOST EXCITING book published in the last five years to you? Please repost if you’re not a graduate student!

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Sam Grinsell @samgrinsell.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I've taught architectural history to engineering, and indeed chemistry and a bunch of other things, students

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Venus Bivar @vbivar.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

If you're in Newcastle, go check out this new radical bookstore - Books from Below - and cafe that was just launched by @emilywebz.bsky.social , @drrobertchapman.bsky.social , and @benbowsher.bsky.social.

bsky.app

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David Hood @thoughtfulnz.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Spiders McBody, who has been murdered 5,569,700 times, is an outlier and should not have been counted.

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Sam Grinsell @samgrinsell.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Glad to see The OA in there but Utopia (UK, haven't seen USian reboot) should be more widely watched

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Case @case.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Some tools the body learns. Some tools the body cannot learn. This is the difference between a car and a touchscreen.

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Sam Grinsell @samgrinsell.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Public transport settings need an intervention system for moments like this. If three-quarters majority of the strangers who can hear you are internally desperate to tell you to dump the guy, intervention triggered

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Mister Alex @awp.christies.org.uk · 26/09/2026

Bruno began to doubt her qualifications.

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Pluto Press @plutopress.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

The Feminist Art of Walking | @thelrm.bsky.social | Birmingham | Oct 9 | Birmingham Literature Festival www.ticketsource.com/bhamlitfest/...

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richard mortimer @richardmortimer.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

The Daily Rothno is a rendered wall in Lucca #aofoto

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Sam Grinsell @samgrinsell.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Glad to see The OA in there but Utopia (UK, haven't seen USian reboot) should be more widely watched

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richard mortimer @richardmortimer.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The Daily Rothno is The Sound and Isle of Arran #aofoto

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Chris Millard @chrismillard83.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

anyone had experience with debate website “Geo”? it looks a bit sus to me - one of the PGRs I supervise was approached by them to contribute to a debate - and I’m getting the ick from the shiny “debate me” vibes (and the third video I saw featured Steve Fuller, whom I’d not thought about in years)

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Sam Grinsell @samgrinsell.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The very skidmarks of periodization

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Charlotte Lydia Riley @lottelydia.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I had no idea this was the etymology of “bumf” (which I always spelled “bumpf”)

Screen grab from Merriam Webster dictionary:

Etymology
from bumf toilet paper, short for bumfodder, from BUM entry 1 + fodder
First Known Use
circa 1889, in the meaning defined above

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Sam Grinsell @samgrinsell.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Everyone who's ever flown anywhere absolutely hyperventilating just reading this thread

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Morgan Leigh Davies @mldavies.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Reposting this horrific saga so that when Sarah goes to war with British Airways she’s got viral numbers

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Alan Lester @alanlester.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

It’s time for a zero tolerance crack down on far right thugs. They’re costing the taxpayer, soaking up police resources, intimidating peaceful communities & delaying the measures that are reducing the asylum backlog & its cost. Enough is enough. End the menace. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...

theguardian.com

Far-right activist Daniel Thomas slashes dinghy in Channel with blade while rescue worker onboard

Thomas called followers to protest against arrival of asylum seekers in Gosport, but Border Force instead transported them to Dover

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Every time I return to Paris, I notice they've done more to reclaim streets from drivers and cars, including removing on-street parking, protecting cyclists from drivers, and prioritizing pedestrians and cyclists in shared spaces. Other cities can learn a lot from Paris.

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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I sincerely believe part of my job is leaving the house and having experiences, hopefully so my writing isn’t boring.

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

'The Office for Students (OfS) has reduced the importance of employment outcomes metrics within its quality framework, citing that employment outcomes are influenced by factors beyond universities’ control and that Graduate Outcomes data is imperfect.'

wonkhe.com

Why has the OfS downgraded graduate outcomes?

Stephen Isherwood explains that despite the challenges of measuring career outcomes, they remain central to student interests, value for money and informed choice

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Sam Grinsell @samgrinsell.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

What if the bouncer from the club was an antelope

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Natalie V. @nvbinder.io · 21/09/2026

Is this supposed to be reassuring?

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Tim Waterman @tim-waterman.co.uk · 21/09/2026

Remember this big guy? Just happened to spot him in the docks in Hamburg today.

Big green container ship called the Ever Given. Yes, the same one that stopped up the Suez Canal

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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Do you hate academic reading and writing? Do you hate them so much that you’ll buy an app to turn them into tiktoks and slop for you? Try this one simple trick: Do something else

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Nick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com · 19/09/2026

They are built for a mission which is definitionally impossible. You cannot beat the sea. This Earth should be called Ocean and the water is the most powerful thing on it. But these folks volunteer to go out there and fight it anyway because humans should take care of humans.

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Nick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com · 19/09/2026

The RNLI is the closest you will ever get to actual Batman. When rescue is visibly, viscerally, obviously impossible; when the water is a smothering, thundering black wall and the wind is screaming straight from Hell; when you are absolutely going to die: someone’s hand pulls you out and you don’t.

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Adam Chapman @adamchapman.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

If you're in reach of London, even occasionally, and have an interest in history, @ihrlibrary.bsky.social membership is worth the (minimal) effort of filling in the form. Libraries are wonderful and the IHR Library is a particular treasure. AND IT IS FREE.

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Jeremy Pober @jpober.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Ok, but we generally do assume that sufficiently complex behavior is an (epistemic) *indicator* of consciousness, even if we know it's not metaphysically sufficient. Fair enough, but that still doesn't get you LLM consciousness, as @eschwitz.bsky.social and I argue www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...

google.com

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Sam Grinsell @samgrinsell.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

substack.com/home/post/p-... interesting stuff from @will-davies.bsky.social on consensus in our current era of social media

substack.com

What is LinkedIn?

The rise of mindful slop

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Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 18/09/2026

We warmly welcome applications to join the Fellowship of the Society. Next closing dates: 5 Oct and 14 December. Fellowship is open to those who've made a scholarly research contribution to #history in all sectors (within & beyond higher education) in the UK/worldwide bit.ly/4iOu51g #Skystorians

bit.ly

Apply for Fellowship - RHS

Closing dates for next applications: Mondays 5 October and 14 December 2026 Fellowships are awarded to those who have made an original contribution to historical scholarship, typically through the a...

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Sam Grinsell @samgrinsell.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Finally made the panopticon described in Foucault's great work Don't Make the Panopticon

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