iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

"Something will crack. The nonsuburban electorate will decide that the system has failed and start looking for a strongman to vote for...All the sadism which the academic Left has tried to make unacceptable to its students will come flooding back." - Richard Rorty, ACHIEVING OUR COUNTRY, 1998

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Will Oremus @willoremus.com · 02/10/2026

feels like there is a group of smart and well-intentioned people who long ago made up their minds that AI Is Bad, swore off using it, and now get all their info about AI from each other. not saying they're wrong that ai is bad! but i think they're gradually losing touch with what it is and does

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Some personal news: I'm going to be leaving Vox after 12 years (!!) to start not one, but two new projects! The details are still under wraps, but I can tell you that I'll still be writing about the crisis of democracy, the far-right, and liberalism's future. Looking forward to sharing more soon!

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

People used to see philosophical ethics and philosophy of mind as flights of fancy that we, as a society, funded because they were abstractly interesting. In the AI era, they've become two of the most relevant fields of inquiry to the human future. A pretty good argument for academic freedom!

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Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Here’s a (weird) explanation for why America.gov sends a (much weirder) 1,808-word response when you write “Play Minecraft.” gizmodo.com/trumps-new-a...

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I am currently arguing with the America.gov chatbot over whether it sent me an insane several-thousand word quasi-poem about "the constituent"

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brent 🌹🗽 @therealbrent.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I’ve never been in denial about it but I do think today was the first day I truly realized how much antisemitism is spreading and being normalized in online far-left circles. It’s scary and frightening and is only going to get worse if the left insists it’s not a problem.

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This is the funniest thing to happen in the Senate in a long time

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Nobody seems to bat an eye that Rufo's podcast partner is a longtime anonymous troll who called gays "f*ggots," referred to Asians as "mongoloids," and explicitly sees his partnership with Rufo as a strategy of normalizing what most of us would see as bigotry www.vox.com/politics/368...

vox.com

An inside look at how the far right is mainstreaming itself

An radical troll got unmasked — and then spilled the beans.

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

"If Pilkington is right that post-Cold War liberals don’t have a good understanding of why their world is falling apart, neither did the postliberals after Magyar’s win." www.thedriftmag.com/the-last-day...

thedriftmag.com

The Last Days of the Danube Institute | A Report from Postliberal Budapest

By Brian Goodman. In the wake of Viktor Orbán’s defeat, Budapest’s postliberals face end times.

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I think it's unfortunate that people are polarizing against a movement that has saved millions from preventable diseases and was ahead of everyone on AI risk

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

One thing I learned from Hungary is that moving on the free press requires overwhelming dominance. If an authoritarian can't shutter the vast majority of opposition media quickly, voters will simply shift to different free outlets — and get angrier at both the state and its would-be mouthpieces

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The DSR Network @thedsrnetwork.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Today on The Daily Blast, @gregsargent.bsky.social talks to @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social about Trump’s fury at Canada growing so Unhinged that even GOPers are rattled... podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t... youtu.be/5nG-ytzO6nA

youtu.be

The Daily Blast: Trump’s Fury at Canada Grows So Unhinged that Even GOPers are Rattled

YouTube video by The DSR Network

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

The concept outlined here — called recursive self-improvement (RSI) — seems much more plausible than AI consciousness or human-style cognition. Which is to say, much more frightening.

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I remember those war on terror debates, and this is the rare victory lap that's actually earned. Too bad what they predicted was so grim.

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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Trump's rage at Canada is so unhinged that GOPers are now leaking that his trade war is a huge problem in the midterms. The big story here: MAGA zero-sum economics is a substantive *and* political disaster. On the pod @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social explains this so well: newrepublic.com/article/2152...

newrepublic.com

Trump’s Fury at Canada Grows So Unhinged that Even GOPers are Rattled

As Trump’s anti-Canada lunacy starts spooking Republicans, the author of a piece on Trump’s trade-warring explains how badly divorced from reality this whole crusade has truly become.

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

This weekend, as you may have heard, a party full of neo-Nazis won a state election in Germany. I wrote about how the Trump administration has been trying to make this happen since basically day 1, and why they care so much www.vox.com/politics/502...

vox.com

A Nazi-curious party just won big in Germany. The White House approves.

How a very dangerous state election in Germany helps reveal Trump’s real foreign policy.

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

One of the great things about living in a free society is that nobody is forcing you to eat the milkshake

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

New poll from Navigator finds that 20 percent of Trump 2024 voters regret voting for him. The number one reason cited? The war in Iran.

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

You may have heard that Trump is blatantly breaking the law to try and end mail balloting. The good news is that this is not true! The bad news is that the underlying situation is actually quite bad — just in a more subtle way than recent headlines suggested www.vox.com/policy/50175...

vox.com

How freaked out should you be about Trump’s plot to disrupt mail voting?

There’s a very serious threat here. But it’s not as bad as some recent news might suggest.

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The Lake Ontario name change is insanely unpopular: just 14 percent support it. By point of comparison, 14 percent of Americans also believe that the moon landing was fake.

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

A local clothing shop here in London, Ontario has put out a Lake Ontario clothing line. They're pretty nice shirts! www.fiveonenineclothing.com/collections/...

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

It’s an honor to serve in the opinion police with all of you

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Future Americans will marvel at not just the cruelty of this moment — the destruction of USAID, the mass deportations — but its sheer, shameful pettiness

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

An all-timer post from @tompepinsky.com that was widely misinterpreted by bad-faith idiots at the time

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Even if you grant the absurd premise about Jews and Italians, this only makes sense if you know *nothing* about India or its politics. Mamdani is criticizing a leader of the RSS. It's a violent Hindu nationalist group, one of whose devotees literally killed Gandhi.

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Protect Democracy @protectdemocracy.org · 27/08/2026

How to end the gerrymandering wars and two-party doom loop? @farbodnagra.bsky.social makes the case for proportional representation. Catch the full discussion between Farbod, @amandacarpenter.bsky.social and @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social on American democracy after Trump. 🔗 protdem.org/3UlkA2K

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David Rothkopf @djrothkopf.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Seems similar to some of his other wars and battles...actually, to all of them. No logic. No strategy. See: Iran, global trade war, Greenland, battles with allies, etc.

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

The key thing to understand about Trump's trade war with Canada is that there is no logic, strategy, or theory behind it. Not even Trump's ideological allies think this was a good idea. It's almost *entirely* about Trump's personal desire to dominate and humiliate Canada www.vox.com/politics/500...

vox.com

Nobody wants this trade war with Canada

Except Trump.

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Norm Eisen @normeisen.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Please don't overreact to Roberts Court decision on the contemplated USPS ballot moves They simply held that the injunction came too early in the process, before there was a final rule👇 Now we HAVE a final rule & we will litigate it. I'm as confident in our arguments here as in any of our cases!

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Glad I could help smuggle some trade war insights from @kesmonde.bsky.social into @caitlindewey.bsky.social's newsletter today

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Asawin Suebsaeng @swin24.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I hope you read this one. I wanted to capture how…angry I am about this one and dug a little bit harder into how it isn’t treated by too much of our media and politics like the scandal it is Lying a nation into a destructive, pointless war with no end in sight is supposed to be considered a scandal

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Optimist: the cup is half full Pessimist: the cup is half empty Rawlsian: whether the cup is half empty or half full is a question to be determined through the exercise of public reason by free and equal citizens in a well-ordered society

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◥◤Kriston Capps 250 @kristoncapps.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

I am going to become the Joker if the Bluesky takeaway is that Natalie Harp was not a shrewd gambit by Jon Ossoff but a reporting failure by the mainstream media

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

If you're interested in how democracies survive backsliding, and what kind of reforms can be enacted afterwards to stop it from happening again, this is the event for you

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

"In a year full of ugly primaries across the country, this is without question the ugliest and most hateful." www.vox.com/politics/499...

vox.com

The worst primary in America just ended

An Islamophobic Congress member beat an antisemitic influencer. It may be a sign of the GOP to come.

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Similarly, this is part of why the right-wing intellectual world feels stagnant at the moment. Everyone hitched their wagons to Trump, and you can't say his presidency is a disaster without admitting you made a massive mistake. But it obviously is even by many of the right's own standards.

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

A House primary in Florida pitted a congressman who cheered on Palestinian starvation against a manosphere influencer who posted approvingly about Hitler. It might just be the future of the GOP www.vox.com/politics/499...

vox.com

The worst primary in America just ended

An Islamophobic Congress member beat an antisemitic influencer. It may be a sign of the GOP to come.

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

reminded of the genuine greatest interaction I ever had on here

Screenshot of a Bluesky conversation. lastpositivist.bsky.social posts: “My people (the Celts) have quite an impressive roster of martial ballads (Men of Harlech, Flower of Scotland, every Irish rebel song) despite basically losing every war we've ever fought since, like, the Roman Empire. Incredible theatre kid energy.”

JimmyC (@j-212.bsky.social) replies: “WHITE music of course.”

lastpositivist.bsky.social responds: “What?”

JimmyC replies: “Cracker.”

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Jon Fasman @jonfasman.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

For a chunk of the American left, "genocide" has come to mean "something I don't like." It's the new "problematic."

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Three things that are all true: 1) Woke 1 involved speech suppression and lowered intellectual standards 2) Woke 1 delivered concrete gains for the anti-Trump resistance, women targeted for sexual abuse, and police reform 3) The antiwoke cure has been worse than the disease

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Counterpoint: the Chinese military is nowhere near competitive with the US at global scale, Beijing has few real allies, its longterm demographic future is a ticking time bomb, and its economic model is on the brink of collapse www.foreignaffairs.com/china/next-g...

foreignaffairs.com

The Next Global Economic Crisis Could Be Made in China

How overcapacity ends.

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

This "Blanche-22" concept from @raders.bsky.social is excellent, and an important addition to the "Trump is losing" argument I've been pushing for over a year now www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/blanche-22

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