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Ben Templesmith

@templesmith.bsky.social
4.5K followers 270 following 8.7K posts

Australo-American. Grumpy rabble rouser. Co-created 30 Days of Night, you know, that became that film. Writer, artist, cephalopod, cat & horror enthusiast. Annoyingly for you, still here.

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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 2m
Ahahahahahaha Texas is GONE. ( *pending standard elections outside of Republican anti democracy attempts ) newrepublic.com/post/216014/...
newrepublic.com
Ken Paxton Caught Privately Trashing Trump in Leaked Audio
The attorney general and Senate candidate warned Trump is dragging down all Republicans with him.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 2h
On the same day Trump announces that top tech firms have signed an accord to "self-police" their own AI development, we learned that OpenAI employees and security researchers were reportedly ignored when they brought safety concerns to the company's top executives. See the problem here?
nytimes.com
OpenAI Ignored Employees’ Warnings About Safely Testing A.I. Models
Employees and security researchers said that they had cautioned the company on safely testing its A.I. models and strengthening its corporate infrastructure, but that OpenAI did not listen.
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Henry Flint @henryflint.bsky.social · 16/11/2025
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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 2h
Ah, the fearless media.
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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 3h
My gods, so the Orange Administration is trying to rename “ai” ( a fake & misleading name for slop chatbots & algorithms ) to “super intelligence” which it most definitely isn’t, & sounds like something a 6 year old would do to “make something sound awesome”. www.cnbc.com/amp/2026/09/...
cnbc.com
Trump tries to rename AI 'super intelligence' as polls show him sinking on key issue
Trump shrugged when asked if he is concerned that his support for AI and data centers could hurt Republicans in the upcoming midterm election.
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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 13h
I haven’t read much about it I admit, but his boyfriend did “fall off” a balcony & he was questioned by police over it. There are no good billionaires. That includes the ones “giving away their wealth”. Because they could change the world for good, with that wealth, instead of feel good charity.
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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 22h
This one's for @patrickzircher.bsky.social & his love of reading. It really does make for lifelong decent people. phys.org/news/2026-09...
phys.org
The novel on your nightstand may be doing more for your empathy and cognitive health than you think
A popular narrative across Instagram Reels, business podcasts and magazine covers is that people who are smart and serious about growth read nonfiction. Nonfiction directly provides factual informatio...
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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 23h
It’s nearly goddamn October. Wasn’t it just summer? I missed it last year… but should I try to do #INKTOBER this year? I want to do a volume 2 of weird dinosaur heads for a nice little book ( to be a combined little hardcover eventually? ) Not gonna post em to to Meta stuff though. Just here.
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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
So 36k-40k people die from vehicles roughly each year, & that’s the argument why we need to eliminate human drivers in favour of corporate owned driverless cars… But 55k die annually from denials/delays in US healthcare, & that’s not needing a solution everyone else already fixed? Sigh.
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404 Media @404media.co · 28/09/2026
Executives working on AI at Microsoft and OpenAI admitted what its critics have been saying all along: LLms are predatory pieces of technology that have been built on what a Microsoft executive called “an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions.” www.404media.co/doom-loop-op...
404media.co
‘Doom Loop’: OpenAI and Microsoft Admits LLMs Are Destroying the Web and Built on Theft
"Millions of people around the world will soon consider large models ‘hoovering up’ all their work to be an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions."
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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
If I’m ever reincarnated, I want to come back as a Fizzgig.
static.klipy.com
Imladir and Fizgig from The Dark Crystal
ALT: Imladir and Fizgig from The Dark Crystal
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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Beware. Thankfully I’m never updating my version of Photoshop… if I can help it. It’s pre-Ai junk infused. I still need to learn an alternative & swap away from rancid Abobe “products”. All they can do is lie to boost their fantasy “ai”stats & keep the “ai dream” alive & the expense of us.
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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
All these “ai” companies are just an NFT grift on steroids. The promise ld fantasy of eliminating labor costs ( most people including you & me ) though, has the parasitic 1% frothing in anticipation, regardless of the reality. Tech workers are the enemies of humanity at this point. It’s that bad.
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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I should have known we entered the Dark Timeline when The Dark Crystal tv show got cut after ONE season but we have to put up with endless sequels to bloody Avatar crap. Just not fair. & yes I’m rewatching it as I work, & it’s still amazing to look at.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
In March, Washington State passed a tax on millionaires to fund public education, childcare, and expand its earned income tax credit. Now, special interest groups backed by the rich are trying to trick voters into repealing the tax by claiming it will apply to non-millionaires. Don't fall for it.
nytimes.com
Washington Taxed Its Millionaires. Now the Rich Want It Repealed.
Washington State voters will get a chance to accept or reject the 9.9 percent income tax on millionaires approved by the Legislature, which broke the state’s taboo against levying income taxes.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Still wondering why people are fed up with the system?
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
We don’t allow corporations to come up with new nuclear weapons or biological pathogens. If a product is potentially dangerous, it should be regulated and corporations should be held accountable for wrongdoing. Why would AI be any different? www.commondreams.org/news/ai-securi…
commondreams.org
AI Giants Probe 'Tens of Thousands' of Security Incidents—Some Involving Government Sites | Common Dreams
Security researchers investigate tens of thousands of artificial intelligence security incidents, fueling fresh calls fo
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James Stokoe @jamesstokoe.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I got to do a cover for Shaolin Cowboy (!!!???!!!)
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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
You wonder why I harp on how much I loathe tech people these days. Also s good reminder that the biggest crime has always been wage/labour thefts. It dwarfs everything else but strangely, is never focused on for… reasons. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
AI exec: We may have pulled off “the largest theft of labor in human history.”
Documents from our lawsuit reveal how tech leaders talk when they think no one is listening.
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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Dignity. Self respect. Social cues. Charisma. A body not built like a bloated toad. The love of his children once they’re old enough to realize much about him. A country’s true soul that will thankfully outlive him as a parasite on its host.
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Censorship is alive and well in the American tech oligarchy. 🇺🇸 www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/dig...
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The techbros don't want you to see this trailer. Pass it on.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The response when progressive policies that help millions of people are proposed... "How will you pay for it?" The response when the richest 1% ask for tax cuts, or banks ask for bailouts, or defense contractors ask for more contracts... "How much do you need?" It doesn't have to be this way.
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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Pretty confident I can outlive Jensen Huang.
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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Fuck em. I’m so sick of them winning everything. No more handouts for them til they hit the wooden spoon. ( apologies to Americans who have no idea what’s going on in the 4th most popular football code in the world, after gridiron )
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Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
An ancient and magical amber bear 🐻 ✨ Carved some 10,000 years ago, it washed up on a beach at Fanø in Denmark from a submerged Mesolithic settlement under the North Sea. National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen 📷 by me #Archaeology
My photo shows a small and ancient figurine of an amber bear carved some 10,000 years ago during the Danish Mesolithic period. The museum lighting makes the amber glow translucent orange against a dark display case background. The bear is displayed on a small metal stand viewed in profile facing right. The ears, muzzle, and mouth are defined. The neck has a polished groove suggesting it was once suspended on a cord. The characteristic shoulder hump of a brown bear is clearly defined. There are some finely incised horizontal lines along the belly. The legs are incomplete. Length 6.5cm. Amber has many properties which may have been associated with 'magic' for ancient peoples. For example, when rubbed against fur, amber produces static electricity which can give off sparks in the dark, make hair stand on end, and attract small things towards it.
The bear was found in 1991 on a west coast beach of the Danish North Sea island of Fanø. It is one of a small number of amber animal figurines from the Baltic Sea region which have been assigned to the Mesolithic period by means of a typo-chronological approach and /or other contextual information.
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Phil Klinkner @pklinkne.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Iowa has had a Republican governor for the last 16 years. He could have retired at any time after he turned 77.
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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
You’ve likely seen the news: The U.S. Supreme Court Friday greenlit a flawed Trump administration database for purging voters from the rolls. Almost as troubling: Plenty of major news outlets were eager to downplay the decision’s importance. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
democracydocket.com
This week at Democracy Docket: The Supreme Court boosted Trump’s voter suppression. Legacy media shrugged
The U.S. Supreme Court Friday greenlit a flawed Trump administration database for purging voters from the rolls. And plenty of major news outlets were eager to downplay the decision's importance.
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🦥🎃 lex (they/she) 👻 (luddite arc) @just-slothlike.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
there's lots of reasons to hate ai, but a pretty big one for me is that all of these tech leaders are sociopaths who want to completely rewrite society and how human relationships function. they see themselves as revolutionaries and pioneers in a brave new world ruled by tech. it is a cult.
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Kasey Kagawa @punkey.org · 26/09/2026
Oh hey it's the thing I posted about last night with Meta and the tort of appropriation
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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
May this man never eat a meal he didn’t cook himself, without spit or worse in it, ever again. futurism.com/health-medic...
futurism.com
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Says That Sacrificing Our Children's Minds to AI Is a Price He's Willing to Pay
Thanks to AI, it won't matter if students can do multiplication, or even remember their own home address, tech billionaire Jensen Huang said.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
DoorDash spent $1.4M trying to stop Zohran Mamdani from becoming mayor. This week's historic $131.5M enforcement action against DoorDash for underpaying NYC delivery workers shows why. Yet another reminder that the only thing that can beat organized money is organized people.
theintercept.com
DoorDash Spent $1.4 Million Trying to Stop Mamdani From Becoming Mayor. Now We Know Why.
In a wage-theft settlement, DoorDash now has to pay its workers around 100 times what it spent trying to beat Zohran Mam
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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Yeah… why did I open Bluesky today. I need a cute cat picture or something to make up for everything I just saw/read/is happening right now. Back to work though!
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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Parasites buying corrupt politicians with money made by literal IP stealing from you & me.
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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This. This is fucking life now man. Thanks techbros & oligarchs! It’s really quite amazing I still have a non internet fridge, a kettle that boils with the touch of *one* button & a microwave that just… *works*.
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Jamie Smart @jamiesmart.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Can’t eat a sandwich until you subscribe to sandwiches. Can’t eat today’s sandwich until it has applied daily sandwich updates. Sandwich now has adverts even though you paid for ad-free sandwich. Can pay again to have less sandwich adverts. Now you can eat the sandwich, but it’s smaller.
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Marley Zarcone @kittycoffee.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is actually insane. The chatbot was suggested the most effective guns for committing the Tumbler Ridge school shooting. www.motherjones.com/media/2026/0...
motherjones.com
ChatGPT helped the Tumbler Ridge school shooter focus on guns, tactics, and terror, our investigation reveals
OpenAI’s chatbot fed the shooter’s violent fantasies and planning up to the massacre.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Do you know how much the pay of CEOs at major companies has skyrocketed since 1978? 50%? 100%? 500%? Try 1,316% Meanwhile, the typical workers’ compensation increased only 28%. This is what I mean when I say the system is rigged.
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BatMiteReborn @bam-pow.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
My art teacher said that every peice you do is a practice for the next one. 🦇
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Aaron Campbell @aaroncampbellarts.com · 25/09/2026
My cover for 12-Foot Skeleton 3!
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Patch Zircher @patrickzircher.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Comics: Creator: I've been living with this story, night and day, for 10 weeks. Reader: That was an entertaining 20 minutes.
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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
"It turns out, the American AI company OpenAi wanted to find out what a function public health system looks like, not having any of their own" www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09...
abc.net.au
What we know about the data accessed in the Medicare AI hack
An AI agent accessed Medicare data. But what did it get? And what else do we know?
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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
So it turns out women are better at managing other's emotions, while men are better at managing their own. At least according to new research & also a trend over 30 years, where the emotional intelligence gaps are narrowing. phys.org/news/2026-09...
phys.org
Study challenges assumption that women have more emotional intelligence than men
A widely held belief that women have more emotional intelligence than men does not hold up under scrutiny, according to a large study of research spanning three decades.
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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
For anyone worried about the Republicans "not swearing in" Dems in the next Congress because of the BS media op ed morons of late, it's apparently important to note that the House is a *non continuing* body, & a previous congress can't make rules for a future one. It'll be all new.
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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
In keeping with the apparent new trend these days, of missing letters in names to "look cool & hip" I shall now go by: Bn Tmplesmth.
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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
So I'm expecting alleged incest rapist, Sam Altman, to be extradited to Australia to face charges for all this. & OpenAi to face real reprocussions for criminal acts. RIght? Riiight? 'Course not. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09...
abc.net.au
OpenAI agents attack the 'first' government hack by autonomous AI, researchers say
A swarm of OpenAI rogue AI agents appear to have gone on a spree of trying to access Australian government health data, in what some researchers say is the first autonomous hack of a government websit...
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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
And once again, we are here.
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Ben Templesmith @templesmith.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I’ll never trust these flawed corporate things who don’t pay their way on the roads & get away with things you never will, while risking all our lives for their shareholder profit. thehill.com/policy/trans...
thehill.com
Waymo drives through Denver farmers market during setup
New video shows a Waymo robotaxi driving down a closed road and through a Denver farmers market.
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Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
"Most importantly, the back-to-normal approach to governance rests on an unspoken belief that authoritarianism is a unique, albeit terrible, aberration in a long arc of progress. We would not bet on this premise." 🔥 democracyjournal.org/magazine/82/...
democracyjournal.org
Governance in an Anti-System Age
What if returning to “normal” is not the safest path for our democracy, but the most dangerous one?
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