Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Gwen Snyder is undead @gwensnyder.bsky.social · 21h

New Orwellianism just dropped

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 22h

Huh: TikTok took down my 8-second video featuring this image of Debbie Brockman — the news producer just detained by Trump’s CBP agents — saying it violates the “joy of TikTok”

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Luke Stark @lukestark.bsky.social · 20h

Thank you!

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Carolyn Harris 🇨🇦 @royalhistorian.bsky.social · 21h

@lukestark.bsky.social Listening to you discuss AI on the 50th anniversary Quirks and Quarks podcast right now! Well done!

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Andrea Lathrop @cabernet.bsky.social · 23h

The linked piece is really good. I particularly like this bit:

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Dana Houle @danahoule.bsky.social · 1d

Reminder that Border Patrol is doing this 300 miles from the nearest border.

CJ Ciaramella @cjciaramella.bsky.social · 1d

UPDATE: In emailed statement to me / @reason.com, DHS alleges that WGN-TV producer Debbie Brockman "threw objects at Border Patrol’s car and she was placed under arrest for assault on a federal law enforcement officer."

Screencap of email from DHS public affairs: Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin:

“U.S. Border Patrol was conducting immigration enforcement operations and when several violent agitators used their vehicles to block in agents in an effort to impede and assault federal officers. In fear of public safety and of law enforcement, officers used their service vehicle to strike a suspect’s vehicle and create an opening. As agents were driving, Deborah Brockman, a U.S. citizen, threw objects at Border Patrol’s car and she was placed under arrest for assault on a federal law enforcement officer.

“This incident is not isolated and reflects a growing and dangerous trend of illegal aliens violently resisting arrest and agitators and criminals ramming cars into our law enforcement officers. These attacks highlight the dangers our law enforcement officers face daily—all while receiving no pay thanks to the Democrats’ government shutdown.”

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Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 1d

That's wild. If you know anything about ICE agents, looking scared, changing your demeanor, etc are eminently reasonable reactions

thematthill.bsky.social @thematthill.bsky.social · 3d

Wow. Greg Bovino admits on camera that his agents can detain people if you look scared, change your demeanor, or grip a steering wheel too tight.

As his unmasked agents walk around with large guns to scare you, they may arrest you just for that — even if you're a U.S. citizen.

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The Assisi Project @assisiproject.com · 2d

"In a world where the poor are increasingly numerous, we paradoxically see the growth of a wealthy elite, living in a bubble of comfort and luxury, almost in another world compared to ordinary people." #PopeLeoXIV #DilexiTe #RememberThePoor www.ncronline.org/pope-leo-bla...

Pope Leo blasts elitism, indifference toward poor in first major document

"I am convinced that the preferential choice for the poor is a source of extraordinary renewal both for the church and for society," the pope wrote in Dilexi Te.

www.ncronline.org

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Alexander Doria @dorialexander.bsky.social · 1d

"Can democracy survive an AI boom": not a common opinion on here, but definitely on my mind.

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Jason Furman @jasonfurman.bsky.social · 1d

The other day a student asked me about the prevalence of insider trading in prediction markets. I now have an answer.

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Michael Karanicolas @karanicolas.bsky.social · 1d

Imagine if Canada was out there trying to recruit brilliant American researchers the way E.U. universities are. This is a once-in-a-generation moment to capitalize on an outflow of talent from the U.S., and we're sitting on our hands.

Florian Scheuer @florianscheuer.bsky.social · 1d

I am delighted to share that Nobel laureates Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee will join our Department of Economics @econ.uzh.ch at the University of Zurich on July 1, 2026, as Lemann Foundation Professors of Economics.

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Adam Rothman enjoys a good sandwich @adamrothman.bsky.social · 1d

Noem now complaining about amphibious assaults by antifa

The Oregonian @oregonian.com · 1d

Things are happening at Portland's ICE facility tonight.

Read more of our protest coverage here: www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/1...

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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 1d

He wants X thing so he gets X thing is not a given. And to me that's the thing to uproot from people's consciousness. Because we're less than a year in and many people seem already defeated.

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Ben Litherland @benlitherland.bsky.social · 1d

It's never been a better time in the whole of history to be extraordinarily wealthy and they spend the whole time whining and moaning and scared that there will be a couple of extra percentage points on their taxes. It's kind of sad.

Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 1d

All these anxious billionaires....

“It’s become quite difficult to hide one’s money,” Thiel said, according to the recordings. “An incredible machinery of tax treaties, financial surveillance, and sanctions architecture has been constructed.” Wealth gives the “illusion of power and autonomy,” Thiel added, according to the recordings, “but you have this sense it could be taken away at any moment.”

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Sytze Van Herck @sytzevh.bsky.social · 1d

@lukestark.bsky.social works on‘Reordering Emotion: Histories of Computing and Human Feelings from Cybernetics to AI’ (MIT press, 2027) juxtaposing Wiener’s Cybernetics (1949) influenced by psychology with the omission of emotion from CS at Darthmouth’s AI project (1956) @shothisttech.bsky.social

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mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 1d

the administration is laser-focused on making sure Americans don't get clean energy, so Saudi Arabia (Trump's paymaster) has someone to sell their oil to in 10 years when the rest of the world has moved on to solar+batteries

Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 1d

Picture how big the Hoover Dam is. An absolute unit. The Hoover Dam has a power capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW).

The solar farm that the Admin just cancelled could have produces 6.2 GW of power. That's more than 3 Hoover Dams.

jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · 1d

SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled

The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency

@heatmap.news

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Luke Stark @lukestark.bsky.social · 1d

📌

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𝕍∃, Cyber closed shell syndrome relief fund coordinator @vortexegg.com · 2d

I’ve been thinking for a bit that we’ve moved not only into a post-material perspective of the world, but also a post-informational one that privileges collective make-believe and imagining over any other mode of reality

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Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 2d

I also wonder if the habit many AI boosters (both professional and enthusiast) have developed of essentially dismissing the entire non-online world + information not legible to LLMs as *irrelevant and unimportant* is linked to this Excruciating Onlineness Uptick

Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 2d

as soon as the pandemic social distancing hit, I predicted that this would ignite the most terminally online era in human history - and I do think I nailed that

William B. Fuckley @opinionhaver.bsky.social · 2d

I think it’s because this is the first disruption that was paired with widespread, mature internet entertainment platforms. Some latent “hyper online” tendency got activated in lots of population where it was previously dormant.

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Bar Mageddon @barmageddon.bsky.social · 1d

image from the movie jaws showing a sweaty chief brody in the cockpit of a boat with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. text should say "we're gonna need a bigger boat" but the last part has a box over it so it says "we're gonna need a bigger nursing home"

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Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 1d

We could have replaced actual football games with AI players on a simulated field a LONG time ago - we could have pulled this off by simply televising people playing Madden even before that.

Imagine the money executives would save!

How mysterious that this never took off.

Peace, Truth, Science @mrchompchomp.bsky.social · 1d

Analogy: Imagine a robot could play really good golf. Would you watch? Maybe as a curiosity. Would you want it competing against humans? Ofc not. Now imagine the robot played good golf sometimes but sometimes threw all its clubs off a cliff. That’s gen AI doing art. Misses the point & also sucks.

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Mél Hogan / The Data Fix @melhogan.bsky.social · 1d

thenarwhal.ca/ai-data-cent...

What will the AI data centre boom mean for Canada? | The Narwhal

Sprawling AI data centres, like Kevin O’Leary’s plans for Wonder Valley in Alberta, are hungry for land, water and power

thenarwhal.ca

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Will Bunch @willbunch.bsky.social · 2d

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Luke Stark @lukestark.bsky.social · 2d

Sagan, Nunberg, Postman - they all called it. Farewell to the Information Age.

Mark Harris @markharris.bsky.social · 2d

This administration is a dull-minded, paranoid, gullible old man surrounded by twenty cranks, thousand-year-reich zealots, and single-issue lunatics, all with phones, running around saying, "Show him this! He'll like this! Make sure he sees this!"

Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 2d

Besides linking Tylenol in pregnant women to autism, RFK Jr. now says circumcision is part of the reason why kids are autistic.

"Children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism, and it's highly likely because they're given Tylenol. None of this is positive..."

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Josh Gondelman @joshgondelman.bsky.social · 2d

Whenever anyone says how much of the U.S. economy is tied to AI right now, I'm like...damn, what if a single rich person had any idea other than "try to zero out labor costs through theft."

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J.D. Connor @jdconnor.bsky.social · 2d

When I saw Godot with Aasif Mandvi and Rainn Wilson last year the couple next to me also squirmed through the first act and then left at intermission. Sam’s still got it

Lux "Nightmare" Alptraum @luxalptraum.com · 2d

TFW you paid $1400 to see Beckett’s most famous work without knowing anything about it

One Star Review of Waiting for Godot on Broadway
I recently attended Waiting for Godot on Broadway and spent over $1,400 for two Row C seats (103 and 104). I'm a longtime admirer of Broadway productions and even hold a season pass for Shea's Performing Arts Theatre, so I came in with genuine enthusiasm and high expectations. Unfortunately, this show was unlike anything ! have ever experienced —and not in a good way.
What I encountered was not the artistry, music, or emotional storytelling I usually associate with Broadway, but instead what felt like an endless cycle of nonsensical conversation between characters who seemed trapped in their own madness. I tried-truly tried-to find meaning, symbolism, or even a thread of emotional resonance. I stayed through the first half hoping the second would offer clarity. But by intermission, it was clear: this was a waste of both time and money.
Keanu Reeves is an actor I respect greatly, but I cannot fathom why he would agree to participate in such a disjointed, inaccessible production. His talent was lost in a performance that defied reason rather than provoked insight.
To anyone considering attending: unless you are drawn to highly abstract, nearly incomprehensible theater, I strongly caution you against this show. For the average, educated, thoughtful theatergoer, it is far more frustrating than fulfilling. In my opinion, this was the single most disappointing Broadway experience I've ever had - an unfortunate waste of money and, more importantly, of time.

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