Dave Palfrey
@01factory.bsky.social
Ex-historian of social and political thought (Cambridge, Birkbeck). Ex-Amazon (Alexa and AGI). Chief scientist at Mind Mage. LRB reader. 2025 side-mission: fighting global bias on Wikidata & Wikipedia.
"Only that which has no history can be defined"
"Only that which has no history can be defined"
Pinned
Yay! I've reached my first #Wikidata global representation goal! Women from the countries shaded red are 25% of global population, but in Dec '24 were only 0.83% of Wikidata bios. I set a target to increase this to 1%. Four months later, with 10,000 women added, they're now 1.01% of Wikidata bios!
Pleased with this 2025 achievement! The countries shaded red amount to half world population, but are grievously under-represented on Wikidata. 2025 saw over 20,000 women from these countries added, up from ~34,500 to over 55,000. A year ago they were only 0.83% of Wikidata bios. Now they're 1.17%.
Reposted by Dave Palfrey
And here's a starter pack (likely very partial and incomplete) of anthropologists:
January 15, 2026 at 1:35 AM
And here's a starter pack (likely very partial and incomplete) of anthropologists:
Reposted by Dave Palfrey
I tried to set this up as a 'starter pack' to allow one-click following of the accounts on this list. Unfortunately, I couldn't see how to do so without including myself. Nevertheless, if it's useful:
January 15, 2026 at 1:10 AM
I tried to set this up as a 'starter pack' to allow one-click following of the accounts on this list. Unfortunately, I couldn't see how to do so without including myself. Nevertheless, if it's useful:
Helpful disaggregation by @annaalexandrova.bsky.social @martinkusch.bsky.social: "there has not been one single & continuous S-debate [debate over the specialness of the soc scis] during the last 200 years [but] S-debates in diff countries at diff times, focused on diff paradigmatic nat & soc scis"
Article: Why do we argue about the specialness of the social sciences?, by Anna Alexandrova & Martin Kusch
doi.org/10.1016/j.sh...
doi.org/10.1016/j.sh...
January 16, 2026 at 11:37 AM
Helpful disaggregation by @annaalexandrova.bsky.social @martinkusch.bsky.social: "there has not been one single & continuous S-debate [debate over the specialness of the soc scis] during the last 200 years [but] S-debates in diff countries at diff times, focused on diff paradigmatic nat & soc scis"
Reposted by Dave Palfrey
January 15, 2026 at 10:12 AM
Reposted by Dave Palfrey
I don't know how United Nations, World Bank or G20 events go ahead properly in the US now
It's not safe for global participants to travel to the US, and in any case, State Dept just froze visa processing for 75 countries
www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...
It's not safe for global participants to travel to the US, and in any case, State Dept just froze visa processing for 75 countries
www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...
January 14, 2026 at 4:53 PM
I don't know how United Nations, World Bank or G20 events go ahead properly in the US now
It's not safe for global participants to travel to the US, and in any case, State Dept just froze visa processing for 75 countries
www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...
It's not safe for global participants to travel to the US, and in any case, State Dept just froze visa processing for 75 countries
www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...
Reposted by Dave Palfrey
What would it take to make #AnthroSky what #AnthroTwitter was?
January 14, 2026 at 2:01 PM
What would it take to make #AnthroSky what #AnthroTwitter was?
How to report X to the Apple App Store. Does not require you to install the X app.
I learned from: mastodon.social/@heidilifeld...
Heidi Li Feldman (@[email protected])
If you have an account with the Apple App Store, you can report a problem with an app even if you do not have it installed.
1. Go to App Store.
2. Open link for downloading X (https://apps.apple.com...
mastodon.social
January 13, 2026 at 9:26 PM
How to report X to the Apple App Store. Does not require you to install the X app.
Some thoughtful points in this thread
A big part of the "vibe shift." The way genAI was initially presented triggered ethical intuitions about "creativity" and "copying" that aren't triggered by Claude Code.
(With deep respect for Hayes personally), I think it's the same technology, and human ethical intuitions are just confused. But …
(With deep respect for Hayes personally), I think it's the same technology, and human ethical intuitions are just confused. But …
Seems to me there is a huge distinction between AI applications that are basically working towards full natural lanugage programming, task management etc and AI applications to *make new stuff*. The former seems both more promising as an actual useful tech and also way way less ethically dubious
January 13, 2026 at 8:51 PM
Some thoughtful points in this thread
Well done @sport-england-se.bsky.social
Sport England suspends account on X, saying the platform 'increasingly promotes and monetises an environment that is hostile to women and girls'. Latest from @seaningle.bsky.social
Sport England suspends X social media account and takes aim at Elon Musk
Sport England has revealed that it has suspended its account on the social media platform X
www.theguardian.com
January 13, 2026 at 6:25 PM
Well done @sport-england-se.bsky.social
Reposted by Dave Palfrey
On #PublicRadioBroadcastingDay, a look back to the BBC’s first daytime Women’s Hour (1923–24), when women on air discussed everything from infant welfare to journalism.
Read more: womenshistorynetwork.org/early-radio-...
#WomensHistory #RadioHistory #GenderHist
Read more: womenshistorynetwork.org/early-radio-...
#WomensHistory #RadioHistory #GenderHist
Early radio broadcasting for women in the BBC’s Women’s Hour 1923-4 – Kate Murphy
Many readers will know of Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, which has been broadcast on the BBC for more than 75 years. Far less well known is an earlier programme called Women’s Hour, which first appeared 1…
womenshistorynetwork.org
January 13, 2026 at 10:13 AM
On #PublicRadioBroadcastingDay, a look back to the BBC’s first daytime Women’s Hour (1923–24), when women on air discussed everything from infant welfare to journalism.
Read more: womenshistorynetwork.org/early-radio-...
#WomensHistory #RadioHistory #GenderHist
Read more: womenshistorynetwork.org/early-radio-...
#WomensHistory #RadioHistory #GenderHist
Reposted by Dave Palfrey
One of the few things that might actually get some kind of reaction from Musk would be the government and all MPs simply leaving X.
This doesn't require regulatory or legal action. There are no barriers. They could *and should* just do it.
This doesn't require regulatory or legal action. There are no barriers. They could *and should* just do it.
Liz Kendall to give a Commons statement today on online regulation. She wrote this Telegraph piece, calling this a tipping point.
I'd like to hear govt + the regulator show that they are taking the full range of unlawful content seriously - not just one strand
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01...
I'd like to hear govt + the regulator show that they are taking the full range of unlawful content seriously - not just one strand
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01...
Sexual deepfakes are a disgrace – and we won’t stand for it
This Government is as determined to ensure women and girls are safe online as we are to ensure they are safe in the real world
www.telegraph.co.uk
January 12, 2026 at 8:53 AM
One of the few things that might actually get some kind of reaction from Musk would be the government and all MPs simply leaving X.
This doesn't require regulatory or legal action. There are no barriers. They could *and should* just do it.
This doesn't require regulatory or legal action. There are no barriers. They could *and should* just do it.
Has any research compared the content of the knowledge graph #Wikidata with natural language #Wikipedias? Lev Manovich once contrasted databases and narratives (though they are also here clearly 'natural symbionts', as Katherine Hayles said). Presumably some kinds of information is more amenable 1/
January 12, 2026 at 10:48 AM
Has any research compared the content of the knowledge graph #Wikidata with natural language #Wikipedias? Lev Manovich once contrasted databases and narratives (though they are also here clearly 'natural symbionts', as Katherine Hayles said). Presumably some kinds of information is more amenable 1/
Reposted by Dave Palfrey
this is a persistent pattern with this government - they're not very good at making decisions
i don't even mean they make bad decisions; they equivocate, delay, try to get someone else to make the call
the act of deciding itself is hard for them
i don't even mean they make bad decisions; they equivocate, delay, try to get someone else to make the call
the act of deciding itself is hard for them
January 10, 2026 at 12:55 PM
this is a persistent pattern with this government - they're not very good at making decisions
i don't even mean they make bad decisions; they equivocate, delay, try to get someone else to make the call
the act of deciding itself is hard for them
i don't even mean they make bad decisions; they equivocate, delay, try to get someone else to make the call
the act of deciding itself is hard for them
Reposted by Dave Palfrey
Outgoing talk by @katrohrbacher.bsky.social at Bielefeld University.
13 January 2026, 10:00–12:00
Hybrid, Lecture Hall X-E1-201 and Zoom
Measuring Narrative Space: A Computational Study of German and English Prose Fiction
Details and Zoom access:
www.dhss.phil.fau.eu/2026/01/09/o...
13 January 2026, 10:00–12:00
Hybrid, Lecture Hall X-E1-201 and Zoom
Measuring Narrative Space: A Computational Study of German and English Prose Fiction
Details and Zoom access:
www.dhss.phil.fau.eu/2026/01/09/o...
January 9, 2026 at 12:14 PM
Outgoing talk by @katrohrbacher.bsky.social at Bielefeld University.
13 January 2026, 10:00–12:00
Hybrid, Lecture Hall X-E1-201 and Zoom
Measuring Narrative Space: A Computational Study of German and English Prose Fiction
Details and Zoom access:
www.dhss.phil.fau.eu/2026/01/09/o...
13 January 2026, 10:00–12:00
Hybrid, Lecture Hall X-E1-201 and Zoom
Measuring Narrative Space: A Computational Study of German and English Prose Fiction
Details and Zoom access:
www.dhss.phil.fau.eu/2026/01/09/o...
Reposted by Dave Palfrey
poets.org/2020-on-lear...
On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs
by Renée Nicole Macklin
i want back my rocking chairs,
solipsist sunsets,
& coastal jungle sounds that are tercets from cicadas and pentameter from the hairy legs of
cockroaches...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing...
On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs
by Renée Nicole Macklin
i want back my rocking chairs,
solipsist sunsets,
& coastal jungle sounds that are tercets from cicadas and pentameter from the hairy legs of
cockroaches...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing...
2020 Academy of American Poets Prize
On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs by Renée Nicole Macklin
poets.org
January 8, 2026 at 5:30 AM
poets.org/2020-on-lear...
On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs
by Renée Nicole Macklin
i want back my rocking chairs,
solipsist sunsets,
& coastal jungle sounds that are tercets from cicadas and pentameter from the hairy legs of
cockroaches...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing...
On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs
by Renée Nicole Macklin
i want back my rocking chairs,
solipsist sunsets,
& coastal jungle sounds that are tercets from cicadas and pentameter from the hairy legs of
cockroaches...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing...
@trinityhallcamb.bsky.social this is miserable. Marcus Tomalin's claim to be concerned about the possibility of "reverse discrimination" is especially shameful. (Full disclosure: I myself went to Trinity Hall after attending an elite private school.)
January 8, 2026 at 9:46 AM
@trinityhallcamb.bsky.social this is miserable. Marcus Tomalin's claim to be concerned about the possibility of "reverse discrimination" is especially shameful. (Full disclosure: I myself went to Trinity Hall after attending an elite private school.)
Reposted by Dave Palfrey
Where the hell are Google and Apple enforcing their app store terms of service on X? Grok doing CSAM should instantly be a removal from the app store. Any other app doing this would be pulled instantly. Journalists should be asking for comment from these companies.
January 7, 2026 at 1:58 PM
Where the hell are Google and Apple enforcing their app store terms of service on X? Grok doing CSAM should instantly be a removal from the app store. Any other app doing this would be pulled instantly. Journalists should be asking for comment from these companies.
Reposted by Dave Palfrey
If the Palestine Action hunger strikers die - which they could do at any moment, as they are now very close to the end - it will be the government that killed them. Today’s column explains why. Please share, and write urgently to your MP.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Let’s be clear: if the Palestine Action hunger strikers die, the government will bear moral responsibility | George Monbiot
The three remaining hunger strikers have been convicted of nothing. Yet with astonishing cruelty, ministers refuse to listen to their reasonable demands, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
www.theguardian.com
January 7, 2026 at 8:07 AM
If the Palestine Action hunger strikers die - which they could do at any moment, as they are now very close to the end - it will be the government that killed them. Today’s column explains why. Please share, and write urgently to your MP.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Dave Palfrey
I am extremely confused as to why the UK government and police are saying Grok’s mass-scale CSAM generation is an issue for Ofcom.
This isn’t about X failing to moderate CSAM, which is an Online Safety Act issue. It is about the company and its technology being actively involved in its generation.
This isn’t about X failing to moderate CSAM, which is an Online Safety Act issue. It is about the company and its technology being actively involved in its generation.
January 7, 2026 at 7:37 AM
I am extremely confused as to why the UK government and police are saying Grok’s mass-scale CSAM generation is an issue for Ofcom.
This isn’t about X failing to moderate CSAM, which is an Online Safety Act issue. It is about the company and its technology being actively involved in its generation.
This isn’t about X failing to moderate CSAM, which is an Online Safety Act issue. It is about the company and its technology being actively involved in its generation.
Reposted by Dave Palfrey
I’ve been scanning the November and December file releases at the National Archives
Some quick notes:
November 2025: 9853 files, a quarter of which are regular Treasury files
Oldest has documents from 1896 on India and stamp duty
Some quick notes:
November 2025: 9853 files, a quarter of which are regular Treasury files
Oldest has documents from 1896 on India and stamp duty
January 6, 2026 at 8:21 AM
I’ve been scanning the November and December file releases at the National Archives
Some quick notes:
November 2025: 9853 files, a quarter of which are regular Treasury files
Oldest has documents from 1896 on India and stamp duty
Some quick notes:
November 2025: 9853 files, a quarter of which are regular Treasury files
Oldest has documents from 1896 on India and stamp duty
Reposted by Dave Palfrey
🧵 All the academics who are smarter than I am are doing "explainer" threads.
I'll just provide some readings on indirect rule that might be increasingly relevant over the next few years.
1. David Lake's work on indirect rule and U.S. foreign policy.
I'll just provide some readings on indirect rule that might be increasingly relevant over the next few years.
1. David Lake's work on indirect rule and U.S. foreign policy.
Indirect Rule by David A. Lake | Paperback | Cornell University Press
Indirect Rule examines how states indirectly exercise authority over others and how this mode of rule affects domestic and international politics. Indirect rule has long characterized interstate relat...
www.cornellpress.cornell.edu
January 5, 2026 at 5:29 PM
🧵 All the academics who are smarter than I am are doing "explainer" threads.
I'll just provide some readings on indirect rule that might be increasingly relevant over the next few years.
1. David Lake's work on indirect rule and U.S. foreign policy.
I'll just provide some readings on indirect rule that might be increasingly relevant over the next few years.
1. David Lake's work on indirect rule and U.S. foreign policy.
Reposted by Dave Palfrey
This poster is one of the best on here and I’m so sad we’re losing her because of the appalling harassment she has been subjected to. Of course she must look after herself. And the rest of us need to do whatever we can to challenge and change this cruel, sick, dangerous, culture.
I‘m discontinuing my social media use for the foreseeable future and I want to explain why.
I woke up in the new year to discover that some guy on here had saved photos I took on New Year’s Eve and used Grok to remove my clothes. I know this because he showed me.
I woke up in the new year to discover that some guy on here had saved photos I took on New Year’s Eve and used Grok to remove my clothes. I know this because he showed me.
January 4, 2026 at 11:26 AM
This poster is one of the best on here and I’m so sad we’re losing her because of the appalling harassment she has been subjected to. Of course she must look after herself. And the rest of us need to do whatever we can to challenge and change this cruel, sick, dangerous, culture.
