William Powers @wpowers.bsky.social · 01/09/2026www.nytimes.com/2026/08/31/u...nytimes.comWendell Berry, Writer Who Extolled America’s Agrarian Past, Dies at 92 (Gift Article)A Kentucky farmer, he railed against agribusiness and championed small family farms and the environment, winning widespread acclaim. 130
Reposted by William PowersYale University Press @yalepress.bsky.social · 29/05/2026STEPHEN SONDHEIM is reviewed in @us.theguardian.com. "A superb biography of the musical master. . . this book is also a fascinating study in the gestation of genius." theguardian.comStephen Sondheim by Daniel Okrent review – a superb biography of the musical masterPacked with gossip and incident, this book is also a fascinating study in the gestation of genius 181
Reposted by William PowersReuters @reuters.com · 15/04/2026EU age verification app ready as Europe moves to curb children's social media access reut.rs/4cduBFQreut.rsEU age verification app ready as Europe moves to curb children's social media accessThe EU's age verification app for online platforms is ready and will soon be available to use, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday, as member states push ahead with plans to limit children's access to social media. 23114
Reposted by William PowersThe Guardian @theguardian.com · 18/03/2026Trump now calls war reporting ‘treason’. His attacks on the press are escalating fast | Margaret Sullivantheguardian.comTrump now calls war reporting ‘treason’. His attacks on the press are escalating fast | Margaret SullivanThe US president is using the language and the strategy of authoritarians once again 3518579
Reposted by William PowersThe Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 06/02/2026"In the mirror, Jeff Bezos will see a man who grievously weakened an American institution dedicated to freedom and democracy at a time when those very ideals were under enormous threat."lnk.thebulwark.comJeff Bezos Must Sell the Washington PostMass layoffs undermine his promises to protect a great American institution. 98864187
Reposted by William PowersThe Associated Press @apnews.com · 03/02/2026Spain plans to ban social media access for children under 16, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Tuesday, in a move designed to shield young people from the harms of online content.bit.lySpain considers social media ban for under-16s, joining others in EuropeSpain's prime minister says that his government plans to ban social media access for children under 16. 720547
Reposted by William PowersSenator Chris Van Hollen @vanhollen.senate.gov · 01/02/2026Foreign countries are bribing our president to sell out the American people. Trump family businesses made $187 MILLION from this deal, and just months later he gave the UAE some of our most top-secret AI tech. They are selling our national security to the highest bidder. 16826071061
William Powers @wpowers.bsky.social · 25/01/2026nytimes.comOpinion | Humans Possess One Thing That A.I. Does Not: Judgment 010
Reposted by William PowersIan Preston @ianopolous.bsky.social · 18/12/2025Move carefully and fix things. Build things that help people, and protect democracy. 022
William Powers @wpowers.bsky.social · 12/12/2025. . . And could those dulled minds explain the unfortunate state of things in general? news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...news.harvard.eduIs AI dulling our minds? — Harvard GazetteExperts weigh in on whether tech poses threat to critical thinking, pointing to cautionary tales in use of other cognitive labor tools. 130
Reposted by William PowersPolitico @politico.com · 23/11/2025‘We’re basically pushers’: Court filing alleges staff at social media giants compared their platforms to drugsdlvr.it‘We’re basically pushers’: Court filing alleges staff at social media giants compared their platforms to drugsMeta said the allegations “rely on cherry-picked quotes and misinformed opinions” to present a misleading narrative. 611554
Reposted by William PowersMelanie Mitchell @melaniemitchell.bsky.social · 22/10/2025👀 www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...bbc.co.ukLargest study of its kind shows AI assistants misrepresent news content 45% of the time – regardless of language or territoryAn intensive international study was coordinated by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and led by the BBC 59645
Reposted by William PowersIyad Rahwan | إياد رهوان @iyadrahwan.bsky.social · 21/10/2025A word of gratitude to the anonymous reviewers, the unsung heroes of science. We recently had the great fortune to publish in @nature.com. We even made the cover of the issue, with a witty tagline that summarizes the paper: "Cheat Code: Delegating to AI can encourage dishonest behaviour" 🧵 1/n 191
Reposted by William PowersCarl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 13/10/2025Paul Simon, born today in 1941. “It’s a cliché,” he said, “but music really IS the closest we come to a universal language. It crosses borders as effortlessly as a cloud.” 481878373
Reposted by William PowersJohn West @johnwest.bsky.social · 09/10/2025I wrote this essay, which is, in part, about the time I tried to turn a language model into Bartleby the Scrivener. 041
Reposted by William PowersMelanie Mitchell @melaniemitchell.bsky.social · 01/10/2025Andrew Ng: "AI is the new electricity!" Cory Doctorow: "AI is the asbestos we are shoveling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...) 8470110
Reposted by William PowersThe New York Times @nytimes.com · 30/09/2025“Gen Z needs a normal that we’ve never experienced.” The Reconnect Movement has organized phone-free hangouts on college campuses in Florida. Now it’s bringing them to colleges and cities in other parts of the country.nyti.msCollege Students Are Seeking Out Phone-Free Social ConnectionA campus movement aims to find out. 1218228
Reposted by William PowersThe Japan Times @japantimes.co.jp · 23/09/2025The city of Toyoake in Aichi Prefecture has become the first municipality in Japan to introduce an ordinance asking all residents to limit their daily leisure-related use of smartphones.ebx.shCity in Aichi Prefecture passes ordinance capping screen time to two hoursThere are no penalties for violators, with the city's mayor saying the aim is for residents to see whether they are losing sleep by using smartphones too much. 174
Reposted by William PowersMelanie Mitchell @melaniemitchell.bsky.social · 15/09/2025I wrote a response to Thomas Friedman's "magical thinking" on AI here: aiguide.substack.com/p/magical-th...aiguide.substack.comMagical Thinking on AIA Response to Thomas Friedman's Recent AI Columns in the New York Times 910053
Reposted by William PowersAnil Dash @anildash.com · 02/09/2025Good news about the cutting-edge AI tools from the $3-trillion-dollar company. 24184322123
Reposted by William PowersThe New Yorker @newyorker.com · 25/08/2025An M.I.T. study found that 95% of companies that had invested in A.I. tools were seeing zero return. It jibes with the emerging idea that generative A.I., “in its current incarnation, simply isn’t all it’s been cracked up to be,” johncassidysays.bsky.social writes.newyorker.comThe A.I.-Profits Drought and the Lessons of HistoryLike the steam engine, electricity, and computers, generative artificial intelligence could take longer than expected to transform the economy. 44880752539
Reposted by William PowersEmily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 07/08/2025We're going to need journalists to stop talking about synthetic text extruding machines as if they have *thoughts* or *stances* that they are *trying* to *communicate*. ChatGPT can't *admit* anything, nor *self-report*. Gah. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/chat... 19639222
Reposted by William PowersGarrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 30/07/2025“Democracy tolerated Hitler and helped him take office to destroy democracy. This peaceful death of German democracy is one of the strangest chapters in history. German democracy marched to its grave with eyes wide open, and singing, ‘Beware of Adolf Hitler.’” www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/fleeing-on...doomsdayscenario.coFleeing One Step Ahead of FascismThe chilling warnings of Europe in the 1930s: "Reality is stronger than all our wishes" 22406170
Reposted by William PowersLondon Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 26/07/2025‘Humanists knew that they were imitating the ancients when they sat and talked in libraries. But they knew little about what these lost collections looked like or included.’ Anthony Grafton on Renaissance libraries: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...lrb.co.ukAnthony Grafton · No Cheese Please: The First BibliophilesThe library made possible a new kind of intellectual life. Machiavelli, when he’d been exiled from Florence, described... 0247
William Powers @wpowers.bsky.social · 19/07/2025This headline makes me wonder: Are social media dying? Or is a new generation of smarter, more human-positive social platforms waiting to be born? 030
Reposted by William PowersJohn Fugelsang @johnfugelsang.bsky.social · 10/07/2025On this date in 1776 the statue of King George III was pulled down in New York City. Because America didn't want a king who lived above the law. 260112882839
Reposted by William PowersK. Thor Jensen @kthorjensen.bsky.social · 28/06/2025The singularity is awesome 271207254332
Reposted by William PowersKeith Fitzgerald @keithfitzgerald.bsky.social · 26/06/2025Worth a watch: Head of Signal, Meredith Whittaker, on so-called "agentic AI" and the difference between how it's described in the marketing and what access and control it would actually require to work as advertised. 204109324360
William Powers @wpowers.bsky.social · 21/06/2025wapo.st/3TzDtv6wapo.stThe latest reason to send a teen to summer camp? No cellphones.Camp rules against screens are providing teenagers with a much-needed break from their phones. 031
Reposted by William PowersWalter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 12/06/2025Good article on masking and identity concealment by agents on ICE raids (also quotes me, for which thanks). A few bits: /1motherjones.comICE agents concealing their faces: Can they really do that?It's not illegal, but paired with high-visibility raids, police masking sows fear and conflict. 15341112
Reposted by William PowersNoah @bedmounds.com · 10/06/2025A robin made a nest in one of my plant pots right outside my studio. The baby birds are hatching today. 656243482689
William Powers @wpowers.bsky.social · 06/06/2025www.axios.com/2025/06/04/f...axios.comAI's "making stuff up" problem won't go awayCompanies are making some headway at limiting "hallucinations." The price is slower, costlier AI. 021
Reposted by William PowersPete Buttigieg @petebuttigieg.bsky.social · 23/05/2025America cannot long remain free, nor first among nations, if it becomes the kind of place where universities are dismantled because they don't align politically with the current head of the government. 14424769011267
Reposted by William Powersdell cameron @dell.bsky.social · 23/05/2025Interview Pepsi’s CEO next and ask him what he thinks the best drink in the world is 231174185
William Powers @wpowers.bsky.social · 22/05/2025Beautifully written and reported story by the Wash Post’s recent Pulitzer Prize winner — @bradydennis.bsky.social 000
Reposted by William PowersMorgan J Freeman @mjfree.bsky.social · 20/05/2025I'm going to post this video every day so we never forget what the 34x convicted felon & adjudicated rapist Trump did. 7530091041
Reposted by William PowersMichael Savage @michaelsavage.bsky.social · 20/05/2025NEW: The Chicago Sun-Times ran a best of summer reading guide. Just one problem - some of the books didn’t exist. 🤯 The list was partially created by AI, reports @404media.co. www.404media.co/chicago-sun-...404media.coChicago Sun-Times Prints AI-Generated Summer Reading List With Books That Don't Exist"I can't believe I missed it because it's so obvious. No excuses," the writer said. "I'm completely embarrassed." 22112
William Powers @wpowers.bsky.social · 18/05/2025“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” — Orwell, 1984 www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...theguardian.comOklahoma high schools to teach 2020 election conspiracy theories as factState superintendent Ryan Walters tapped chief of Heritage Foundation, key player behind Project 2025, for curriculum 021
William Powers @wpowers.bsky.social · 14/05/2025I’m running for trustee of our public library here in small-town Massachusetts. This pin was a gift from local friends. 020
William Powers @wpowers.bsky.social · 12/05/2025Brilliant column with a profoundly important message. Kudos to @binajv.bsky.social 👏👏👏 wapo.st/4keFurSwapo.stOpinion | RIP American innovationWhy destroy the funding that made the United States a leader in technology and invention? 2118
Reposted by William PowersSenator Chris Van Hollen @vanhollen.senate.gov · 10/05/2025I salute the 600 Naval Academy grads who released a letter condemning Trump's book bans at the Academy. At this week's Board meeting, I moved to reverse the ban & made clear I won’t give up the fight. Are we really afraid to have midshipmen read Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”?baltimoresun.comVan Hollen introduces motion urging reversal of Naval Academy book removalU.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen urged the Naval Academy Board of Visitors to replace the books removed from its library amid a Trump administration crackdown on DEI in education. 472486565
Reposted by William PowersSenator Chris Van Hollen @vanhollen.senate.gov · 07/05/2025What we're witnessing from Donald Trump right now is the most corrupt scheme we've ever seen from a president of the United States. He is literally selling access to the presidency for his own personal profit. We're introducing a bill to stop him.youtube.comWhat we're seeing from Trump is the most corrupt scheme from a U.S. president in our historyYouTube video by Senator Chris Van Hollen 41780176
Reposted by William PowersJamie Gangel @jamiegangel.bsky.social · 04/05/2025New: “Trump says, ‘I don’t know,’ when asked if he’s required to uphold Constitution” www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...washingtonpost.comTrump says, ‘I don’t know,’ when asked if he’s required to uphold ConstitutionThe president also downplayed fears of a recession and spoke of potential successors when his four-year term ends in an NBC interview. 2121198438
Reposted by William PowersJohn Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · 29/04/2025LLMs don't read. Automated text generation is not the same thing as writing. Tech advancing is not the same thing as societal progress. These are the themes of More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI. It might help you think more too. www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/john-...hachettebookgroup.comMore Than WordsA veteran writing teacher makes a “moving” (Rick Wormeli) argument that writing is a form of thinking and feeling and shows why it can’t be replaced by... 2289
Reposted by William PowersThe New Yorker @newyorker.com · 28/04/2025Barry Blitt’s cover for this week’s issue, “The First Hundred Days.” #NewYorkerCovers nyer.cm/ysrCZ47 413273836604
Reposted by William PowersSenator Chris Van Hollen @vanhollen.senate.gov · 25/04/2025This is a positive step forward after courts found the Trump Admin’s actions here were blatantly unlawful. We must continue fighting to end this president's lawless acts, like the illegal detentions of students like Mahmoud Khalil, Rumeysa Ozturk & others.politico.comTrump administration reverses abrupt terminations of foreign students’ US visa registrationsDOJ announced the reversal in federal court after weeks of intense scrutiny by courts and dozens of restraining orders issued by judges. 30901132
Reposted by William PowersThe New Yorker @newyorker.com · 25/04/2025Donald Trump has promised a slew of deals, but none have materialized. “The bottom line, as so often with Trump, is that there’s no there there,” Susan B. Glasser writes.newyorker.comWaiting for Trump’s Big, Beautiful DealsWhether a trade pact with China or a peace accord with Russia, the President doesn’t seem to know what he’s actually asking for, never mind how to actually achieve it. 40721148
William Powers @wpowers.bsky.social · 25/04/2025Attention lovers of notebooks and all varieties of paper media down through the ages. This book is absolutely phenomenal!! Thank you @zibaldoni.bsky.social for telling the story so beautifully. 👏👏👏 1195
Reposted by William PowersNews Eye @newseye.bsky.social · 24/04/2025The cover of this week’s Economist. 26394402260