iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

TED CHIANG VISITED YALE!!! AND I GOT TO MEET HIM!!!

A group of six students, Ted Chiang, and me

Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Interesting to see how when some people refer to “critical thinking skills” they mean “the ability to effectively challenge systems of power and domination,” while others mean “the ability to like think reeeeally hard.”

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I can't speak for how the social services are where you are, but if this were the U.S., the obvious alternative would be that there should have been a hotline you can call where somebody knowledgeable just helps you! All that has been methodically defunded though, so chatbots are all we have left.

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Sorry to hear about your troubles =( I wish there were more tools for this overall. It seems like all that's left is (several variations on) just the one, which is a bad situation. If it hadn't worked, you'd just be stuck.

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

When people say chatbots are “good for research”, it’s important to remember how easily you used to be able to just Google this stuff. Sure seems like today, “good for research” really means "all the other tools are ruined.”

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I (sigh) decided to ask ChatGPT later, just to see what it returned, and it dutifully spat back a copy somebody had uploaded somewhere.

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

The slides were the inspiration for the cover of the Shirley & Marschner textbook, so we’re not talking about something obscure here. Later, I tracked it down on Internet Archive: web.archive.org/web/20000925...

web.archive.org

The Tiger Experience

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Brian Barsky was visiting yesterday, and I mentioned Alain Fournier’s “The Tiger Experience” to him. He had not heard of it, even though Fournier was a good friend of his. I tried to Google up the slidedeck, but it returned nothing.

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

They were competing to see who could inflict, and endure, the most violence. While the others watched. No reason I was thinking about this. Not related to any recent stories at all. Nope. Definitely not.

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Tried watching the latest JACKASS movie yesterday. Turned it off after 15 minutes. They were all standing in a circle, laughing hysterically at each other’s pain and humiliation. It was a cold, violent laughter. You could see in their eyes that nobody was having fun, or found anything funny.

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

So the next time some bootlicker from Meta tells you that AI is just like CGI, remember it’s all bullshit. Reminder: I have two Oscars and was a Pixar scientist. That shithead from Meta doesn’t know what the fuck they’re talking about.

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Whenever I examine new tech with students, I ask them: “Who is excited about this, the artists or the suits?” If the answer is the suits, run away. That tech just makes art cheaper, not better. AI is the least excited I have ever seen artists about any tech in my lifetime.

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The real question is: why did people love CGI then, but hate AI now? The unconscionable environmental and social costs are obvious, but also: We not even getting any cool new movies! Where are the awesome new dinosaurs that look better than anything we've ever seen before?

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Same with the infamous car crash scene from “Along Came a Spider” (2001). Why is that CGI shot even there? Hollywood stunt people already knew how to do really good live-action car crashes! Again, because audiences were *demanding CGI in everything.* youtu.be/FPbDFxXU_74?...

youtu.be

Along Came a Spider (1/10) Movie CLIP - Bridge Crash (2001) HD

YouTube video by Movieclips

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

That’s how we got the awful CGI Scorpion King in “The Mummy Returns” (2001). The shots were rushed through because film execs were afraid that audiences would *punish* the film for *not having enough* CGI. www.youtube.com/shorts/OdR4p...

youtube.com

The worst VFX shot of all time? 🦂 👑 | The Scorpion King

YouTube video by Ángel Gallardo

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Unlike with AI, moviegoers were not booing and boycotting CGI movies: they were *demanding* it. That next summer blockbuster *better* have some awesome new CGI effect that nobody had ever seen before or audiences wouldn't come.

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Nobody at SAF-AFTRA was saying that new union protections were needed for this new form of worker exploitation. Nobody was protesting the awful environmental cost, because even ILM was only using ~200 computers. Nobody’s power bill was going up because of CGI, and nobody’s wells were running dry.

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Nobody was shoving the technology down your throat. If you didn’t like CGI, you could just *go to a different movie*. If you didn’t like movies, you could just *get on with your life*. None of this inevitability bullshit demanding that everybody needs to start using this tech or else.

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Then "Jurassic Park" (1993) arrived, and we got to see a dinosaur that looked WAY better. It was fucking awesome! No moviegoer in history had ever gotten to see this before! There was no downside! youtu.be/E8WaFvwtphY?...

youtu.be

Jurassic Park (1993) - Welcome to Jurassic Park Scene | Movieclips

YouTube video by Movieclips

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The benefits of CGI were SO OBVIOUS to every moviegoer, including me. Before, we were stuck watching a buncha cheesy-looking stop-motion dinosaurs. youtu.be/W2bgeq6hAlU?...

youtu.be

One Million Years B. C. Highlight

YouTube video by apollomovieguy

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I’m seeing more and more people argue that AI in movies is “just like when CGI was introduced.” This is obviously wrong for one glaring reason: When CGI was introduced, moviegoers LOVED it. I was one of them. It's why I got into film to begin with. A 🧵

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Multiple students reported to me today that their high schools counted programming as a “foreign language” class. WTF. Putting Python and Java on equal footing with the rich cultural history of any spoken language is horrific. Might as well count Microsoft Excel as a "foreign language" too.

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

As always, @tressiemcphd.bsky.social ’s analysis of the “AIs gone rogue” bullshit is spot on. “Why do the powerful leaders of A.I. want us to panic? Because panic sells the idea that A.I. is ungovernable.” They show their unseriousness when “[n]one of them are enthusiastic about accountability."

nytimes.com

Opinion | A.I. Is a Threat, but Not in the Way You Think (Gift Article)

The threats from A.I. are real — and they’re ones we know how to deal with.

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Curse you past me, why would you write down the Hessian but not the gradient? I'm sure future me is cursing present me for something else at this very moment.

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Seeing some minoritized students running towards AI thinking that if they show enough technical acumen they will win them in-group acceptance is very demoralizing. Other students (both minority and not) can smell that something is off and aren’t buying it. I’ll be focusing my energies on them. 3/3

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Revisiting the 2021 article today, it reads like a bright red warning klaxon for the arrival of ChatGPT in November 2022. All the current deskilling of a just barely diversified programmer population, on the heels of nascent tech worker organizing, it’s just the 1950s redux. 2/3

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Assigned “Sexism is a Feature Not a Bug” by @histoftech.bsky.social for our "Topics in Critical Computing" class reading today. direct.mit.edu/books/edited... 1/3

direct.mit.edu

Sexism Is a Feature, Not a Bug

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

One student did in fact circle that answer.

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

The following is a test question I gave to CS students after a class screening of Terminator 2 and SOME OF THEM GOT IT WRONG.

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Reposted by Theodore Kim

Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

We've got 40+ alums coming to campus for the teach-in on democratizing Yale on Tuesday 1 September at 1:30PM. If you get there early enough, you'll get a zine by Greg Pak (Class of 1990) and a t-shirt, though we're really saving them for the students. 1/

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Reposted by Theodore Kim

Yale AAUP @aaupyale.org · 31/08/2026

Democratize Yale! Join students, faculty, alumni, and community members for a teach-in on academic freedom, shared governance, free expression, and Yale’s autonomy from unlawful federal coercion. 📍 Yale Cross Campus 🗓 TOMORROW: Sept. 1 🕜 1:30 PM #AcademicFreedom #DemocracyAtYale #YaleIsNotForSale

Dark blue event poster with a light-blue collage featuring a large lipstick, flowers, Yale architecture, and archival-style images of student and worker demonstrations. Large white text reads “DEMOCRATIZE YALE,” followed by “a faculty & student teach-in.” At the bottom: “SEP. 1, 1:30PM · CROSS CAMPUS.”

Dark blue event poster reading, “FOR DIVERSITY, FREE EXPRESSION, SHARED GOVERNANCE, AND ACADEMIC FREEDOM.” Featured speakers are David W. Blight, Sterling Professor of History and Black Studies and 2019 Pulitzer Prize winner for History; Daniel Martinez HoSang, Professor of American Studies and Yale AAUP President; Gregg Gonsalves ’11 ’17 Ph.D., Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases) and 2018 MacArthur Fellow; Susan Choi ’90, 2019 National Book Award winner; Alex W. Chen ’28, President of the Yale College Council; Isabel Matos ’28, Endowment Justice Collective organizer; and Marah Rigaud ’28, President of the Black Student Alliance at Yale, plus more. The poster also notes an appearance by Sam Waterston ’62, Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actor. Bottom text reads: “SEP. 1, 1:30PM · CROSS CAMPUS.”

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Sure does seem like Mediocre Essay Machine is also Mediocre Code Machine. Wonder how long before people stop with the FOMO.

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

This is like how the Stuxnet worm “escaped containment” back in 2010. OMG! This proves that Stuxnet was conscious! The bugs were signs of super-intelligence! Everybody throw billions of dollars at Stuxnet worm to usher in a new Renaissance! SO STUPID.

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

I'm going to start referring to them as "shatbots". Person: "Did you mean chatbots" Me: "I said what I said"

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Really getting the sense that the current "age of ai" is some rich people discovering that a very small, very squalid corner of non-linear optimization happens to yield to tons of money.

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

I got elected to the Academy. If "I Love Boosters" doesn't make the Best Picture noms this year, you can count on me to be the anonymous member complaining to Variety.

Invitation email to join AMPAS, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Me: Now if you steal a car you can't just sell it, you have to take it to a chop shop. Now a chop shop is -- Kid: I know what a chop shop is. Me: How do you know what a chop shop is?! From me talking about Grand Theft Auto? Kid: Yes.

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Plus they get to learn who Andy Richter is.

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Theodore Kim @theodore-kim.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Also, the movie was scary as shit! Most skillful violation of screen space since IT FOLLOWS. 2/2

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