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Sam Rotengold

@samrotengold.bsky.social
127 followers 235 following 13 posts

Outlandish Writer, Serious Puppeteer - samrotengold.com Creator of Ambie Award-nominated Newts! - newtspod.com Read CONVERSO, a Black List Featured Project - bit.ly/41qDHKl

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Reposted by Sam Rotengold
Seth Masket @smotus.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Wild they never design an AI to, say, fight with health insurance companies for me to make sure a procedure is covered, and they focus all their efforts toward liberating me from the parts of my life that have the most meaning
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Laura Bassett @lebassett.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
“If you don’t like public executions just don’t watch it” says the crowd trying to ban drag shows and books
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🎃👻🧙‍♀️ Vio the VVitch 🧙‍♀️👻🎃 @viothevvitch.myatproto.social · 08/10/2026
this is so fucking sad
Alvin Sng 0 @alvinsng My wife: Can you read our baby a book?
Follow
Me: Icanjust play an audiobook from my phone.
My wife: But then it won't be in your voic e.
Me:| can train a voice model.
Parenting hits different when you workin Al.
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Soraya Nadia McDonald @soraya.press · 07/10/2026
This is sexual violence as a form of terrorism. It is political violence and it is chilling and horrific, and AOC was absolutely right to be terrified that the goons (now pardoned) laying siege to the capital would rape her if they found her. Small changes won't fix this. FLIP THE TABLE NOW
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Diversity in Horror (they/them) @diversityhorror.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Just so everyone is aware, bookshop.org is having an “anti-Prime” sale today. Part of the proceeds of their sales go to help independent bookstores and you can buy ebooks! 💜
bookshop.org
Bookshop.org: Buy books online. Support local bookstores.
A better way to buy books online. Every purchase financially supports local independent bookstores.
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The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Sometimes my wife and I like to send each other text messages as though they’re democratic fundraising messages, and I believe she has produced the jewel of the form.
, it's
and I
have some personal news to share with you.
Being a mom is one of the greatest joys of my life, and I feel deeply that we should have salad tonight
This year has been challenging in many ways, and I have immense gratitude for the kindness and support of family, community, and people like you who have continued to stand by me through everything. It means the world, and I wanted you to be among the first to know that squash is in the oven and kale is in the fridge.As many of you are aware, ve been navigating one of the most challenging periods of my day while waiting for dinner.
Facing baseless federal hunger brought on by not eating since lunch, fighting for the working kids of this country, and now caring for a mean toddler and helping him grow up in a world that isn't always easy. But it has also reminded me exactly why I do this work and who I do it for.
I will never stop working to eat dinner. I will never stop fighting for what is right, even when there is also some feta in the fridge. And I will never stop being so very thankful that you are by my side in this important work and that there is tahini in the pantry for dressing
With love and gratitude,
stop to end
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Andrew Tobolowsky @andytobo.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
This is almost exactly what I say to my students. I don't have any use for your essays! You have use for your essays!
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John Gary @johngary.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Partly I think what's going on is people who use genAI to write things don't realize that to the rest of us, it's painfully obvious when you use genAI to write things.
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Sam Rotengold @samrotengold.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
on.substack.com/p/model-beha...
on.substack.com
Model Behavior: George Saunders
“Of course, if AI can cure cancer, bravo. I’m all for it. But even with cancer cured, death will still arrive somehow.”
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Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
They quoted me in this New Yorker piece about AI today. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
“Let’s say there’s a world or time line I exist in where A.I. has been subject to regulation. It is ethical. It has no footprint environmentally,” the novelist Jeff VanderMeer, a prominent critic of A.I., told me over the phone. “With those guardrails in place, would I read an A.I. book? All I can say is no. And the reason is, in part, because I want to read something coming from a particular mind.” Using A.I., he said, “feels like a betrayal of the whole point of why you’re a writer.”
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Sam Adams @samadams.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I can only assume Garth Marenghi's Darkplace hasn't shown up on the NYT list so far because it's in the top 20
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 15/09/2026
“trump will destroy everything he cannot own in perpetuity” is one reason i am filled with dread over 2028
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Jody Avirgan @jodyavirgan.com · 08/09/2026
"I welcome Al to replace all the idiots who are into nothing but repeating"
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s. e. smith @sesmith.lol · 08/09/2026
All else aside there is nothing I want or need genAI to do for me. I like reading. I like doing research. I like playing around in spreadsheets. I like interviewing people. I like writing. I like doing these things for myself because I take pleasure in the doing and they make me a better thinker.
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KrazyTheeAlaskan™️ @krazytheealaskan.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
Hells Librarians🔥 #LibrarySky #ReadToLive
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Libby Hill @libbyhill.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
It’s Tim and Eric’s world and we’re just living in it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Re6...
youtube.com
All The Food is Poison | Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! | Adult Swim
YouTube video by Adult Swim
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Joshua Bowman @thalesdisciple.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Working on an A.I. policy for my calculus classes. Decided to be upfront about the current situation with LLMs and to give a heartfelt explanation for why the course still matters.
Al policy

Context

Artificial Intelligence, or "A.l.," Is a broad term used to refer to several different kinds of technologies. The kind most relevant to this class are Large Language Models (LLMs), which use mathematics to analyze large amounts of human-produced text and then generate new text that simulates what a human might write in response to prompts or questions. Some examples of LLMs are OpenAl's ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude, and Google's Gemini.Current LLMs can provide a solution to any calculus problem I give you. So why should we work on them, you might ask? Here's the thing: for the most part, the problems were already solved anyway. Calculus as a subject is nearly 400 years old. It has reached into virtually every modern scientific and economic field. And while I would like to believe that I have crafted a few new problems with some small amount of originality tailored to this class, for the most part I have curated a collection of exercises drawn from my years of teaching calculus. Those exercises come from textbooks, workshops, friends, and other fields of study, as well as my own invention.
And they nearly all have known solutions, often with fairly standard approaches.
Before A.I. became widely available, you could find those solutions in another textbook, or from a friend's notes, or through a repository on the internet.The point of this class is not necessarily to solve problems that have never been solved before. It is for you to develop habits of thinking that are used by mathematicians, scientists, and policymakers-to develop a sort of mental toolbox that can be applied to new problems. If along the way you happen to find a new way of solving one of the class exercises, that's great! I am constantly learning new things from my students. But you will be bereft of discovery if you rely on a LLM for solutions to the calculus problems before you. Here I mean the discovery of having your own realizations, crystallizing your own internal understanding, claiming the knowledge in a way that cannot be taken away from you.
That ownership is what I want for you, and that is what the course is built around.
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lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · 09/08/2026
if they're drinking nounwine it's fantasy. if they're snorting a verb it's sci fi
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👻👹 boo-rit 👹👻 @britculpsapp.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
christ if that’s not a metaphor for our times
reuters: 

Sunken Nazi warships resurface as water levels drop
Scuttled German WW2 warships have reemerged from the Danube in drought-hit Europe.
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Jesse Hawken @jessehawken.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
She got a lot done in her lifetime
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John Rogers @johnrogers.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
The audience wants to watch charismatic people solving moderately difficult problems, delivered in weekly doses with occasional short breaks. That was what the market *told us* over seven decades. It created international cultural dominance and enormous wealth. www.wsj.com/business/med...
wsj.com
Exclusive | Netflix Is Exploring Live TV and Bundles as It Struggles to Keep Viewers Hooked
The streamer is rethinking some of its core strategies to compete with rivals.
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C. Robert Cargill @crobertcargill.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
A reminder that as you see photos of those Patriot Front douchebags today, they are marching on a holiday because none of them have anywhere else to be. None of them have friends or family who want them around on a holiday. No one is missing them today. They're already with their only friends.
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Haus of Decline @hausofdecline.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
A man says "I'm an adult! I can do anything I want!" he then bears a quizical expression and asks himself "Hey What DO I want?" He holds his position and ages for years and years until he is a skeleton.
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Mel Stefaniuk @melstefaniuk.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
You either die recruiting Carl Reiner at a sporting event or you live long enough to become Carl Reiner at a sporting event
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Bruno J. Navarro @brunojnavarro.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
funny how that works
@omgsidewalks
Honestly, i don't understand this economy when nursing homes are so expensive they bankrupt our grandparents but nursing home aides need to use food banks.
daycare is so expensive it eats up one parent's entire paycheck and yet daycare providers only make $10/hr and need second jobs.
college costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and puts students into debt for life and yet we have thousands of professors living in their cars.
everything we need is astronomically expensive and yet almost none of the money we pay is going towards the people actually doing the work and providing the services.
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Mo Ryan @moryan.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
I read a lot of bios/autobios & watch docus on all kinds of artists& talk to industry people a lot: They often talk abt a cheap place to live in thr past. A lot yr favorite art creation in many realms driven by 1 union wages => decent income 2 countries w free/low cost health care 3 affordable rent
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Sky Marchini @sky.skymarchini.net · 04/06/2026
has any man ever been more vindicated? x.com/stuartbuck1/...
Conversation
Crémieux
@cremieuxrecueil
·
Feb 15, 2025
DOGE has a very obvious feedback mechanism for its cuts.

If DOGE makes a big, broad cut against a million programs, people get upset about a few specific, very good ones like PEPFAR, and then that program comes back because DOGE's members are, thus, informed it was good.
Crémieux
@cremieuxrecueil
·
Feb 15, 2025
I can only hope people realizing this won't damage the mechanism, because it's still useful to have professionals getting mad about some very good thing getting cut before it's brought back online as a result.

In a word, DOGE is responsive, which is unusual for the government!
Stuart Buck
@stuartbuck1
·
Feb 15, 2025
I agree, but it would be more efficient to spend one hour ahead of time talking to experts or just reading up on the history of a program for [disease, student testing, nuclear safety, etc.]

Plus, some programs don't have famous proponents with time to dig into the weeds.
Crémieux
@cremieuxrecueil
·
Feb 15, 2025
I'm highly sympathetic, but there really are thousands and thousands of programs and grants to cut, so I'm not sure the small team doing the cuts has the ability to go through them all one-by-one on their short timeline.

Maybe a system can be developed to assist with feedback.
This Post was deleted by the Post author. Learn more
Stuart Buck
@stuartbuck1
Despite some bogus grants, a lot of government is like this cartoon. I bet this "small team" would find a line item for "screwworm sterilization" and delete it, not knowing that they just devastated American farming: https://theatlantic.com/science/archiv
e/2020/05/flesh-eating-worms-disease-containment-america-panama/611026/
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5:03 PM · Feb 15, 2025
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Sky Marchini

Stuart Buck
@stuartbuck1
·
Feb 15, 2025
I can see the DOGE tweet: "We canceled a contract for Panamanian screwworms, saving $165 million dollars!!!" [https://aphis.usda.gov/news/agency-an
nouncements/usda-approves-emergency-funding-protect-us…
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Sam Rotengold @samrotengold.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Biased because I made it, but you might enjoy NEWTS!, a Surf Rock Sci-Fi show about greed, modernity, and world-conquering amphibians. Ambie award nominated for best fiction podcast! (newtspod.com) My personal favorite is Appearances, by Sharon Mashihi. Less genre-y, but remarkable storytelling.
newtspod.com
Newts!
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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Grimly amusing to see corporations well-versed with "enter market by burning money, then jack up rates" caught completely surprised by AI companies doing the same thing. The extreme burn rate was pretty well known, guys! What did you think would happen next???
wsj.com
Corporate America Is Starting to Ration AI as Cost Skyrockets
Executives are scrambling to track returns on AI investments as the bill for massive computing needs comes due.
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Sunkissed Peaks @sunkissedpeaks.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
It’s really frightening.
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
the platonic trumpist candidate. Secret libertine running on a platform of state social control for everyone else bsky.app/profile/sanh...
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 22/05/2026
all americans are created equal which is why equality demands that we obliterate all representation for 40 percent of the people of the state
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Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
This isn’t like letting kids use a calculator, this is more akin to letting kids smoke. The whole point here is pushing an addictive product and getting kids hooked on it early—not educational best practices. www.newyorker.com/culture/prog...
newyorker.com
What Will It Take to Get A.I. Out of Schools?
“I find myself speaking with my kids about A.I. in the same terms that we might discuss a creepy neighbor who lives down the block,” Jessica Winter writes. Read her report on the push for A.I. in educ...
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Greg Pak @gregpak.net · 04/05/2026
@schiff.senate.gov, please directly address the reports that LLMs have encouraged kids to kill themselves and shoot up their schools AND that "A.i." decreases cognitive abilities AND the companies are run by right wing billionaires AND the environmental and economic damage the industry causes.
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utopia deferred @utopia-defer.red · 30/04/2026
This is a cold civil war. There is no more territory to expand as a release valve, there’s no Kansas-Nebraska Acts and more Indians to force onto reservations; the only frontiers are inward and slave power is forcing its hand to tilt the scales while it still can.
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Jill Twiss @jilltwiss.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
this would be a huge loss if they paid taxes
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Richard Waite @waiterich.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
I used to be good at Computer. Now Computer thinks it is good at me. But it actually isn’t??????
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Karen Carpenter’s Halloween @kellylink.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
This Is Just To Say I have turned off the AI features that were in the update and which you were probably hoping to monetize Fuck you they were stupid so unnecessary and so annoying
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
the penne opticon
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Puff the Magic Hater @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
You have more in common with the people of Iran than you do with anyone in this administration, any member of the technocracy, anyone who is profiting from this war, or any billionaire. When you see Iranians forming human chains outside key infrastructure sites, you should feel a sense of kinship.
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👻madeline bOoOoOoOodent👻 @oldenoughtosay.com · 07/04/2026
just to be clear, everyone, when 8 pm EDT comes and goes, regardless of what does or does not happen, the president still threatened genocide and war crimes and we should still impeach, arrest, and try him
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Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
what the actual fuck is wrong with you? He has declared his openly genocidal intent to kill millions of Iranians.
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Thomas Lecaque @tlecaque.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Threatening nuclear war and genocide and we're just showing up for our stupid little jobs to respond to stupid little emails.
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Mike Ginn @shutupmikeginn.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Letterbox is the best social media app because it’s 99% finding cool new movies from friends and 1% like a Free Willy Stan gets mad at you
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Defector @defector.com · 04/04/2026
There is no way to watch the new 'Harry Potter' show subversively. If you're watching, you are buying in.
defector.com
It’s Time To Grow Up | Defector
HBO’s new Harry Potter TV series is premiering this Christmas Day. Under current plans, it will last at least a decade. The trailer looks like the original films were run through an AI generator, but…
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My Password is Louvre @bmceuen.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Thinking more about this, while I agree that they very likely don’t enjoy writing, I think the AI advocates for it do enjoy the *output* of writing. They see being an author as something notable to do, but it’s less about the book you make and more the fact you checked it off your list
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
I think the reason AI propagandists are so flustered by the fact that no real writer wants to use their idiotic tools is that they themselves don't enjoy writing. They see it as a boring arduous chore to be avoided, while real writers actually enjoy writing and actually care about the quality of it.
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Henry Gargan @hankyjg.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Also, writing is how you make the thoughts! It’s not just stenography of pre-formed thought
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