Cover of book with text in yellow reading: The Firearm Revolution: From Renaissance Italy to the European Empires, overlaid on an image of an angel in seventeenth-century dress with wings and a long gun.
Hello Bluesky! My new book, THE FIREARM REVOLUTION, is out on 14 April. It’s about how a new technology changed society, and how hard it was to control. Here’s a little thread of what’s inside:
When universities tout their partnerships with OpenAI, parents, faculty and everyone really should be asking how they intend to account for the increasing evidence that their technology is hurting people, especially young and vulnerable people. How many instances of harm will be enough?
In New York, nearly two in three voters across the state favor Zohran Mamdani's promise to provide universal government-funded child care and would support the mayor-elect's plan to pay for it by increasing taxes on those earning more than $1 million a year, a new poll found.
If you're a published author, you're probably on here!
![Well, everything. The death of art. [Laughs.] A thing that I’ve been struck by in the last year of tech development around art is that what makes us human is making art, even if you’re not a professional artist. This is kind of corny, but I think about cavemen, right? One of the first things we ever did as a species was put our handprints on a wall, and it’s just this drive that has always been there. It’ll always be there. And I think it’s preposterous that these people are suggesting that they develop this technology, and the first thing they want to eliminate is art, so you have more time to…what, email? I don’t know what they think I’m going to do with my fucking day. Most of the population is not artists, but a lot of the population has artistic hobbies, and if you replace that with a computer doing it for you or whatever, it’s just pointless. I think there’s a death drive in these people, almost, and an actual hatred of artists; they are jealous of people with imagination because they don’t have one, and they almost consciously want to eliminate it.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:obalt57atoxc2zooldtuur75/bafkreifnjtvupzmkqg7cggiv2z5nckzpp5yd2sm7h5gg2kq3plbwv2btuy)
Well, everything. The death of art. [Laughs.] A thing that I’ve been struck by in the last year of tech development around art is that what makes us human is making art, even if you’re not a professional artist. This is kind of corny, but I think about cavemen, right? One of the first things we ever did as a species was put our handprints on a wall, and it’s just this drive that has always been there. It’ll always be there. And I think it’s preposterous that these people are suggesting that they develop this technology, and the first thing they want to eliminate is art, so you have more time to…what, email? I don’t know what they think I’m going to do with my fucking day. Most of the population is not artists, but a lot of the population has artistic hobbies, and if you replace that with a computer doing it for you or whatever, it’s just pointless. I think there’s a death drive in these people, almost, and an actual hatred of artists; they are jealous of people with imagination because they don’t have one, and they almost consciously want to eliminate it.
My wife is in Vogue shitting on your AI-generated "art" 💜 www.vogue.com/article/matt...
I'm sure this is a serious social issue (on which I'm not qualified to comment) but I did find this genuinely hilarious:
'The company is yet to experiment with creating plus-size women, claiming "the technology is not advanced enough for that".'
Is the theme of 2025 giving people things they never asked for, don’t want, and will make life just a little bit worse?
What do monsters have to do with science?
Today, Dr Surekha Davies joins us to discuss her new book Humans: A Monstrous History – a sweeping look at how ideas about humanity have been shaped by encounters with that which did not quite "fit".
@drsurekhadavies.bsky.social
#HPS #history #monsters
Really important clarifications here by @chanda.bsky.social about Wages for Housework. People do love to package such influential and radical feminist work as "history" with a tidy end date.
Meta is building something the size of Manhattan to try to create superintelligence but we already have a superintelligent thing the size of Manhattan and it’s Manhattan and all of the people in it
Listening to Mark Cuban rave about AI on pod save america recently was kind of embarrassing.
Billionaires are convinced AI is on the verge of making new scientific discoveries because they don't understand how AI chatbots work.
So grateful for the clear, unequivocal witness and voice of Rep. @maxwellfrost.bsky.social who visited the horrifying detention camp in Florida. As he said, “I didn’t see any Russians who’ve overstayed their visas. Only Black & Latino men who look like me.” @maddow.msnbc.com
Trump surrenders in his lawsuit against the Des Moines Register and an Iowa pollster, in which he claims he suffered mental damage as a result of a poll showing Kamala Harris doing well, but not winning, in Iowa. It's one of a dozen lawsuits of this sort that he filed as ostensible cover for bribes.
Like yes this. Get out in front of this. MANY students I’ve taught just in the last year - at VIRGINIA TECH!!! - are sick of AI crap
I have literally never seen a graph like this once in all my years of being an election sicko
18-24 always lags, always, it’s just a natural law of politics
and this is the guy they want to throw out of the party?!
What about his specific plan to massively boost funding for hate crime prevention? How is that not doing exactly what you suggest he is not?
One thing that is really noteworthy about so many of these "great ideas" about AI and the classroom is that it is clear they haven't actually asked instructors what would be helpful or effective.
Every future imagined by a tech company is worse than the previous iteration.
If you're about to post something mean about Andrew Cuomo, I urge you to pause, take a deep breath, and think of something even meaner.
Democrat Billie Butler has won a special election for the NH House by a 55-45 margin, very close to Harris' 55-44 margin in 2024.
Butler, a trans woman, was the target of vicious anti-trans attacks by Republicans.
Background on the race: www.seacoastonline.com/story/news/p...
Graphic for an infographic from CDT’s Equity in Civic Technology team, entitled “State Leadership in Public Sector AI Governance: A Breakdown of Key Officials & Their Responsibilities.” Brightly colored icons, front left to right: a government building; an executive chair; a draft state bill; a gavel.
New infographic: State leaders across government have critical roles to play in managing the development, acquisition, use, & ongoing monitoring of AI in public service delivery. But too often, decision-making is siloed in technology offices / positions. cdt.org/insights/sta...
Note to dem politicians:
Hillary's vote for the Iraq war seemed like the safe play at the time & cost her the presidency twice
I hear the questions about Mamdani’s management experience, think about what I’ve seen of him in this campaign, and recall Obama’s response when confronted with the same doubts:
“Look at my campaign.”
the thing with Mamdani is that he’s obviously an incredible political talent - the campaign he’s run has been extremely impressive even if you don’t like his policies
the party should be delighted, and that they’re instead pulling out all the stops to beat him speaks volumes
So odd that Congress is so willing to have their power usurped and stripped from them.
Sometimes people ask if for me as an educator the most frustrating part of “AI” is students cheating and like yeah I don’t love that but I’m much more worried about their brains atrophying than whether they’re being honest in my class
This sounds like a bit but I’m being serious: kids using chat gpt for their homework are denying themselves the invaluable experience of learning how to bullshit their way through a problem. You drink some caffeine the night before and figure it the fuck out. That’s a skill. You need it in life.
One thing that's so great tra la la about being a woman in America at this moment is seeing how many people across parties and industries simply do not care about multiple allegations of sexual harassment and assault. Just do not see it as a dealbreaker.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/o...
