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Zohar Jacobs

@zoharjacobs.bsky.social
1.1K followers 513 following 715 posts

Migrant Jewish intellectual. Writer, historian, mystic | Fiction in Sunday Morning Transport, Analog, Asimov's & Clarkesworld | Oxford, UK

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Reposted by Zohar Jacobs
Jake Casella Brookins @casella.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Personal hobbyhorse, but thinking about AI in publishing is really making me want criticism to go harder on discussing the actual style & substance of books. If we just talk about plot & vibes, we're leaving the door totally open, & missing out on the good stuff besides. "It's just words on a page."
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 13h
The FAA warned rocket launches could “significantly reduce safety” for airplanes after we reported earlier this year on a SpaceX rocket explosion. Such disruptions will likely become more frequent, as SpaceX is planning up to 76 launches a year.
propublica.org
Club Med, a Disney Cruise and an Exploding Starship: SpaceX Used Bystander Videos to Track Falling Debris
A heavily redacted report obtained from the FAA by ProPublica reveals that SpaceX used videos from tourists and travelers in the Caribbean to help track falling debris after one of its Starship rocket...
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Dr_Aust_PhD @draustphd.bsky.social · 17h
One of the things I find most bizarre about the lingering sympathy for Russia on the crank left is that Russia's long history of imperialism *doesn't* get framed as the dreaded 'settler colonialism' - even though it clearly was. Did it not count because Russia conquered by land rather than sea?
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Dinah Rose KC @dinahrose.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
He definitely isn't allowed in the Senior Common Room.
Grey cat sitting in a beautiful 15th century State room. Rugs. A bay window.
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Emily Tesh @emilytesh.net · 09/10/2026
just finished reading Code and Codex by Yoon Ha Lee (new! Yoon Ha Lee! space opera! out this month!) and man. no one else does the combination of indulgent (complimentary) and very, very clever quite so well.
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Zohar Jacobs @zoharjacobs.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Agreed. The red arrow looks like a much easier merge to me (as a not-very-experienced cyclist), particularly because it doesn't involve a 90 degree turn probably from a dead stop on an uphill drag.
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Zohar Jacobs @zoharjacobs.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
That is very confusing. The arrows on the pavement seem to suggest that you can go straight at that point (following the red arrow) as well as turning right.
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Zohar Jacobs @zoharjacobs.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
No reason Canada wouldn't be proud too. But the original post was about Icelanders celebrating Carson, and I don't think her Canadian origins should make any difference to that.
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David C. Brock @dcbrock.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I had the privilege of conducting an oral history interview with Margaret Hamilton in 2017. I hope that it might enrich your understanding of her. 1/n computerhistory.org/blog/margare...
computerhistory.org
Margaret Hamilton In Her Own Words
Iconic computing pioneer Margaret Hamilton, who helped land men on the moon, shared her story with CHM in a uniquely rare oral history interview.
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Zohar Jacobs @zoharjacobs.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I hope we agree that immigrants can be considered a real part of their new country. In an era of xenophobia, the idea of Icelanders celebrating Anne Carson's win as a win for Iceland is really heartening!
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Taylor Mitchell Brown @tmitchellbrown.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Chronicle Heritage, the largest cultural resources management firm in the US, abruptly shuttered its operations last week. The sudden closure leaves many archaeologists without work just as the US field season is coming to a close. This is a developing story. 🧪🏺 #Archaeology at @science.org
science.org
Exclusive: Archaeology megafirm abruptly shuts down
Chronicle Heritage was largest U.S. cultural resources management company
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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Margaret Hamilton has died. Absolute legend, it was my honour to meet her and have a conversation with her just a few years ago, super nice and still sharp. Ave atque vale Margaret. news.mit.edu/2026/margare...
news.mit.edu
Margaret Hamilton, computing pioneer who led software development for the Apollo program, dies at 90
Margaret H. Hamilton, a profoundly influential computer scientist best known for leading the software engineering team at MIT’s Instrumentation Lab during NASA’s Apollo program, died at age 90.
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Victoria Strauss @victoriastrauss.com · 07/10/2026
Canada is refusing to issue ISBNs to books primarily generated with AI. This illustrates both the urgency of the problem of the growing flood of slop books, and also the toothlessness of addressing it on the honor system without there also being consequences for lying
Use of artificial intelligence
By registering with ISBN Canada, you declare that your book was created by a human author. You may use AI tools only for limited support tasks, such as brainstorming ideas, checking grammar, or formatting your book. You must not use AI to generate the text, create the artwork, or translate the book. ISBN Canada does not issue ISBNs for works whose content is primarily generated by AI. LAC is currently reviewing its policy regarding the use of AI content creation and our guidance is subject to change.
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Zohar Jacobs @zoharjacobs.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I don't yet - but I have an ex-historian's interest in how artists transform primary sources - plus conceptually find it interesting how this is a child of Russian-Jewish immigrants coming to grips with the late 19th century American story. More context here: www.cbeditions.com/userfiles/fi...
cbeditions.com
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Zohar Jacobs @zoharjacobs.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I am very excited about this.
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Isaac (proud small hat wearer) Gantwerk Mayer @isaacgantwerkmayer.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
forgot to post in time my favorite samuel pepys passage, his muddled depiction of the time he visited a synagogue and it happened to be simchat torah
Thence home and after dinner my wife and I, by Mr. Rawlinson’s conduct, to the Jewish Synagogue: where the men and boys in their vayles, and the women behind a lattice out of sight; and some things stand up, which I believe is their Law, in a press to which all coming in do bow; and at the putting on their vayles do say something, to which others that hear him do cry Amen, and the party do kiss his vayle. Their service all in a singing way, and in Hebrew. And anon their Laws that they take out of the press are carried by several men, four or five several burthens in all, and they do relieve one another; and whether it is that every one desires to have the carrying of it, I cannot tell, thus they carried it round about the room while such a service is singing. And in the end they had a prayer for the King, which they pronounced his name in Portugall; but the prayer, like the rest, in Hebrew. But, Lord! to see the disorder, laughing, sporting, and no attention, but confusion in all their service, more like brutes than people knowing the true God, would make a man forswear ever seeing them more and indeed I never did see so much, or could have imagined there had been any religion in the whole world so absurdly performed as this.
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Zohar Jacobs @zoharjacobs.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Fellow writers always look at me strangely when I say that one of my goals is to write books that quite a few people sincerely hate.
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Eric Pazdziora @ericpazdziora.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"Opera doesn't make money. Opera’s what you spend money *on*.” “But . . what do you get out of it?” “You get opera. You put money in, you see, and opera comes out,” said Salzella wearily. --Terry Pratchett, 'Maskerade'
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Luke Bones 🦴🦴 @lukemeister.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
They're good planets Brent Name them by SI prefixes of their mass in kg Sun: quettaplanet Jupiter: ronnaplanet Earth: yottaplanet Ceres: zettaplanet Comet 67P: teraplanet Chelyabinsk bolide: megaplanet Zodiacal dust: picoplanets-nanoplanets
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Zohar Jacobs @zoharjacobs.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Never thought I would start having warm feelings towards Jacob Rees-Mogg.
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Aaron Huertas @aaronhuertas.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
This really puts stuff like publicly funded third spaces in perspective for me. It's so relatively cheap to build out community centers, gyms, makerspaces, studios etc.
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Zohar Jacobs @zoharjacobs.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I'd go for the Sally Rooney myself (never having read Sally Rooney), but have to say that the Ishiguro one doesn't sound very Ishiguro-like.
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Nick Lloyd @spaincivilwartours.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
The Cable Street battle, Jewish London East End #OnThisDay 4 Oct 1936 with their banner explicitly adapting the antifascist slogan of the defence of Madrid "NO PASARÁN." They shall not pass. Many that day who fought against police who allowed the fascist march then came to Spain
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roterote @roterote.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
I think Greg is correct, but Americans need to be aware that Magyar’s Tisza government is aggressively going after every Fidesz official, removing them, using every lever of the state to yank them out of power. This is far more aggressive and rapid than anything proposed in the US so far.
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Steven (with a PH) @sjksalisbury.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The fact that September is all that stands between August and October is ridiculous. Those are two very different states of being. Feel like there should be at least one more month in-between them to ensure a smooth handover.
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Zohar Jacobs @zoharjacobs.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Congrats! Quite a star-studded ToC!
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Zohar Jacobs @zoharjacobs.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Of course there's an icy moons community on Bluesky. Of course.
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Dr. Adeene Denton @spacewhalerider.com · 02/10/2026
I regularly go through the NASA Apollo flickr archives looking for photos where the astronauts look silly. It's enrichment for me.
Astronauts John W. Young, right, prime crew commander for Apollo 16, and Charles M. Duke Jr., lunar module pilot, left, study rock formations along their simulated lunar traverse route. They are wearing mockup EVA backpacks and have cameras strapped to their chest. For some reason John Young is wearing an ushanka with aviators on top of this look. He looks. Indescribably silly.
Two members of the prime crew of the Apollo 17 lunar landing mission examine a rock specimen during lunar surface extravehicular activity simulation training on a geological field trip to the Pancake Range area of south-central Nevada. They are astronauts Eugene A. Cernan (right), commander; and Harrison H. Schmitt (left), lunar module pilot. They're wearing the EVA backpacks and have cameras strapped to their chests. Jack Schmitt's hat is only half on his head. Gene Cernan has a polo and what appears to be golf pants on. It's fashion.
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Dustin A. Chacón @lingdustin.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I've heard people make claims that AI would lead to a new Renaissance, but I didn't imagine it'd happen like this:
Screenshot of a Tweet from Pope Leo XIV. It reads: 

"In this era of artificial intelligence, it is becoming urgen to distinguish human art from what machines produce. There is an ontological difference, even before an aesthetic one, between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others. Algorithms lack the spark of humanity. For this reason, the Church wishes to renew an alliance with artists and cultural institutions to safeguard our humanity."
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Daniel Sugarman @danielsugarman.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
My favourite bit of the NYT article was this:
A Rabbi told Anthropic that he personally didn't believe that they were creating conscious beings, but that if Anthropic truly believed they were, then by that definition they were creating slaves, which would obviously be an extremely bad thing
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Zohar Jacobs @zoharjacobs.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
It's turtles all the way down
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Zohar Jacobs @zoharjacobs.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Congratulations!
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Zohar Jacobs @zoharjacobs.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Because it would be easier, cheaper and probably faster to get them there?
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Ariel Edwards-Levy @aedwardslevy.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
There is a lot of "oh dear" to go around in the results of this very thorough Pew study on the issues with synthetic samples, but this strikes me as particularly "oh dear" www.pewresearch.org/data-labs/20...
AI polling results can lean on racial or partisan stereotypes

In many cases, our AI poll took beliefs or attitudes that are reasonably common among a particular subgroup and portrayed them as nearly ubiquitous. For example, our AI poll would indicate that:

    97% of Hispanic adults are at least somewhat likely to follow the World Cup (while the actual share is 43%).
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Locus Magazine @locusmag.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Alexandra Pierce reviews CODE AND CODEX by Yoon Ha Lee: “This novel is magnificent and I hope it finds many readers who will engage with its themes of censor¬ship and totalitarianism and human possibility.” locusmag.com/review/...
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Alyssa Harad @alyssaharad.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
More and more, for me the point of art in any form is: how do we stay human?
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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
There is a moment at the very very end of Abdul El-Sayed's podcast with Ezra Klein (book recommendation section) where he talks about the idea of "speaking truth to pain" and this will be staying with me for an extremely long time. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/o...
But there’s also something about truth to pain. We talk a lot about truth to power, but I think it’s actually a lot harder to speak truth to pain. I say that as someone who went to medical school, realizing that in a lot of our politics right now, we’ve got to get a lot better at speaking truth to pain if we’re going to get through some of these challenges that we have.

What does “truth to pain” mean?

It’s one thing to look power in the eye and say: You’re wrong about this. But there’s a way in which pain is very difficult to reason with. Because when somebody is in their pain, they’re in their trauma. They see that pain, and they may not see what’s causing it.

I remember just very explicitly being in a trauma ward with a gunshot wound patient and watching this big guy with his hand on his gunshot wound. All the folks are trying to pull his hand off his pain, that point of his gunshot wound, this clear vulnerability.

And this emergency room doctor had the presence of mind to be like: Everyone, stop. And she looks him in the eyes, and she’s like: I get that really hurts, and I’m so sorry that you’re here. You don’t want to be here. We don’t want you to be here. But if you don’t let us fix this, you could die. So I’m going to take your hand, and I’m going to move it off, OK? Because I need to get there so that you can live.

She was speaking truth to pain. He understands he’s at the hospital, he needs care, but he also doesn’t want anybody to touch the wound. Which is a natural thing. And I think it is a really great metaphor for how we think about a lot of these challenges we talked about today.
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The Author, Séamas O'Reilly @seamas.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
We've had the ability to watch, say, Counterstrike marathons, Street Fighter tournaments, or chess matches between computers since the 90s. Spectacles which, by their very definition, would be at a "higher standard" than human play. And nobody wants it. It's entirely meaningless. It has no appeal.
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Zohar Jacobs @zoharjacobs.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Thanks for the comparison, really useful. Though possibly one omission: how do they compare on price?
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Zohar Jacobs @zoharjacobs.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Had never heard of Sarum College as a writing retreat destination. Or indeed at all. Added to the list!
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Zohar Jacobs @zoharjacobs.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Great suggestions so far, but for something more subcultural and edgy, how about John Rechy's "City of Night"? Hispanic hustler explores the underground gay (and trans) scene across America in the late 50s.
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Suzan the chalant goth @sillysyntax.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Hello! 🔥
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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
as a satire on so-called late stage capitalism how could one beat investors pouring a trillion into a company offering to wipe out humankind
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Zohar Jacobs @zoharjacobs.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
You say this like it's a bad thing!
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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Two-tier British citizenship latest.
 Conservatives to strip migrant criminals of British citizenship

Dual nationals serving sentences over five years could lose passports under the proposals
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Zohar Jacobs @zoharjacobs.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Damn foreigners ruining our universities again, amiright? www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
‘It’s like the Scottish Upper East Side’: shame and snobbery as American students blamed for St Andrews classism
Online comments reflect class tensions at Scottish university between those from lower-income families and wealthier US undergraduates
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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
My latest @newscientist.com cartoon. many more here: www.newscientist.com/author/tom-gauld/
Image: A graph with lots of red dots clustered together in a curve. The are all looking upwards at a single red dot wearing sunglasses. 

Caption: Mike was an outlier and would probably be excluded from the study, but all the other data points secretly thought he was really cool.
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Bart⚓️ @bartgonnissen.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The Facial Expressions of Tethys by artist Julius von Bismarck. A suspended high-sea buoy that moves in real time. Sensors on a twin buoy out in the Atlantic Ocean send live satellite data to motors inside the museum. This makes the indoor buoy copy the exact, real-time movements of the ocean waves.
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Zohar Jacobs @zoharjacobs.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I own a couple of pieces by @elakdawalla.bsky.social and they are so cool.
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Zohar Jacobs @zoharjacobs.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Very true. A similar but not quite identical principle is understanding the difference between Feeling Unsafe (being in a big city, for instance, or being in a context where other people's opinions don't align with your own) and actually Being Unsafe.
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