Aparna Nair
@disabilitystor1.bsky.social
Historian, occasional anthropologist, working on disability, race and Empire; histories of public health. Eternal immigrant, writer, teacher. Indifferent cook. There will be many dogs on this feed. Luddite, yes, in the best way.
Lives with epilepsy.
Lives with epilepsy.
Reposted by Aparna Nair
DOGE is the epitome of the _software_ engineer mindset: seeing everything as an a-political technical problem to solve.
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There actually has not been enough reflection in the tech community about DOGE
November 24, 2025 at 6:14 PM
DOGE is the epitome of the _software_ engineer mindset: seeing everything as an a-political technical problem to solve.
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Joyce Carol Oates was absolutely right; the poorest people on Twitter likely have richer inner lives than this sentient tub slime
Everything about this might be the saddest thing I’ve ever seen
November 24, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Joyce Carol Oates was absolutely right; the poorest people on Twitter likely have richer inner lives than this sentient tub slime
Reposted by Aparna Nair
The tech bros don’t want artificial intelligence, they want artificial wit. They want this because they have no natural wit.
InsultComicGPT or Don Grokles is indeed the saddest thing imaginable.
InsultComicGPT or Don Grokles is indeed the saddest thing imaginable.
Everything about this might be the saddest thing I’ve ever seen
November 24, 2025 at 7:38 PM
The tech bros don’t want artificial intelligence, they want artificial wit. They want this because they have no natural wit.
InsultComicGPT or Don Grokles is indeed the saddest thing imaginable.
InsultComicGPT or Don Grokles is indeed the saddest thing imaginable.
Reposted by Aparna Nair
Okay, so the unique value proposition of Grok is that it will allow you to be meaner to people at parties you'll never get invited to because everyone hates you already.
Certainly seems worth hooking up all those gas turbines to the DC to operate
Certainly seems worth hooking up all those gas turbines to the DC to operate
Everything about this might be the saddest thing I’ve ever seen
November 24, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Okay, so the unique value proposition of Grok is that it will allow you to be meaner to people at parties you'll never get invited to because everyone hates you already.
Certainly seems worth hooking up all those gas turbines to the DC to operate
Certainly seems worth hooking up all those gas turbines to the DC to operate
I used to have/still have a dating rule that if a man brought up listening to Rogan seriously I was out of the chat/coffee/date immediately, and its stood me good for so many years
Same with Indian techbros I got set up with who worshipped Elon Musk. Immediate no.
Same with Indian techbros I got set up with who worshipped Elon Musk. Immediate no.
Everything about this might be the saddest thing I’ve ever seen
November 24, 2025 at 7:33 PM
I used to have/still have a dating rule that if a man brought up listening to Rogan seriously I was out of the chat/coffee/date immediately, and its stood me good for so many years
Same with Indian techbros I got set up with who worshipped Elon Musk. Immediate no.
Same with Indian techbros I got set up with who worshipped Elon Musk. Immediate no.
"epic vulgar roast with forbidden words" while Rogan sniggers
These are men in their 50s.
These are men in their 50s.
Everything about this might be the saddest thing I’ve ever seen
November 24, 2025 at 7:25 PM
"epic vulgar roast with forbidden words" while Rogan sniggers
These are men in their 50s.
These are men in their 50s.
I wonder sometimes if Sarah Hurwitz can hear herself talking, because the things she says
www.instagram.com/reel/DRaAMki...
www.instagram.com/reel/DRaAMki...
Omar Suleiman on Instagram: "“I’m talking through a wall of dead children.” Instead of stopping the slaughter, the solution to youth being exposed to daily videos of carnage in Gaza is to just avoid g...
Former Obama aide and speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz argues that limiting smartphone access until senior year of high school can help protect young minds from the negative effects of excessive digital exp...
www.instagram.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:20 PM
I wonder sometimes if Sarah Hurwitz can hear herself talking, because the things she says
www.instagram.com/reel/DRaAMki...
www.instagram.com/reel/DRaAMki...
Reposted by Aparna Nair
About 15 years ago I had to explain COINTELPRO to an elder millennial Yale grad, so I’m gonna say you are correct.
November 24, 2025 at 5:08 PM
About 15 years ago I had to explain COINTELPRO to an elder millennial Yale grad, so I’m gonna say you are correct.
Reposted by Aparna Nair
As an American who is both well travelled and possessing a not insignificant knowledge of history, I can categorically say that most Americans have no idea, literally none. Most Americans don’t have too much desire to confront that aspect of our international diplomacy either
November 24, 2025 at 5:18 PM
As an American who is both well travelled and possessing a not insignificant knowledge of history, I can categorically say that most Americans have no idea, literally none. Most Americans don’t have too much desire to confront that aspect of our international diplomacy either
Reposted by Aparna Nair
Obama speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz describes her post–October 7 campus intervention tour to save Jewish students who reject Zionism.
She describes college students who separate antisemitism from antizionism as “irrational” and confused, and in need of realignment, so they can accept their love for...
She describes college students who separate antisemitism from antizionism as “irrational” and confused, and in need of realignment, so they can accept their love for...
November 24, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Obama speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz describes her post–October 7 campus intervention tour to save Jewish students who reject Zionism.
She describes college students who separate antisemitism from antizionism as “irrational” and confused, and in need of realignment, so they can accept their love for...
She describes college students who separate antisemitism from antizionism as “irrational” and confused, and in need of realignment, so they can accept their love for...
Reposted by Aparna Nair
The "tech community" is not built or incentivized for "reflection" though.
There actually has not been enough reflection in the tech community about DOGE
November 24, 2025 at 5:45 PM
The "tech community" is not built or incentivized for "reflection" though.
Reposted by Aparna Nair
Barely any budget for elective courses, and otherwise we basically didn't control our own curriculum. Core courses (90% of enrollment) had to conform to requirements imposed by the next tier up in the state higher-ed system, usually deeply "traditional" in all ways.
November 24, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Barely any budget for elective courses, and otherwise we basically didn't control our own curriculum. Core courses (90% of enrollment) had to conform to requirements imposed by the next tier up in the state higher-ed system, usually deeply "traditional" in all ways.
Reposted by Aparna Nair
Can confirm so hard. I have a PhD in Education but was a CS instructor at a public community college for over a decade. It would have been such a great context to expose students to STS material, equity issues in tech, etc., but the best feasible option was to sneak it in around the edges. 1/2
November 24, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Can confirm so hard. I have a PhD in Education but was a CS instructor at a public community college for over a decade. It would have been such a great context to expose students to STS material, equity issues in tech, etc., but the best feasible option was to sneak it in around the edges. 1/2
The other thing I keep pointing out--and hope for a real and sensitive reckoning around--is how many of the technofascists (at all levels) in SV are of Indian origin. There is something deep rooted going on here: casteist notions of "innate" abilities in engineering/CS; histories of immigration.../
lmao @ people claiming the DOGE staff weren't engineers
like we all haven't worked with that guy who is like "we don't need tests" and "I can merge my own code"
Just because they don't represent what we WANT to be doesn't mean we get to disown them.
like we all haven't worked with that guy who is like "we don't need tests" and "I can merge my own code"
Just because they don't represent what we WANT to be doesn't mean we get to disown them.
all I see are "they're not engineers" "that's not what engineering is" I want a thick good really real piece to sink my teeth in about all the parts of this that ARE "like engineering"
November 24, 2025 at 5:54 PM
The other thing I keep pointing out--and hope for a real and sensitive reckoning around--is how many of the technofascists (at all levels) in SV are of Indian origin. There is something deep rooted going on here: casteist notions of "innate" abilities in engineering/CS; histories of immigration.../
Reposted by Aparna Nair
lmao @ people claiming the DOGE staff weren't engineers
like we all haven't worked with that guy who is like "we don't need tests" and "I can merge my own code"
Just because they don't represent what we WANT to be doesn't mean we get to disown them.
like we all haven't worked with that guy who is like "we don't need tests" and "I can merge my own code"
Just because they don't represent what we WANT to be doesn't mean we get to disown them.
all I see are "they're not engineers" "that's not what engineering is" I want a thick good really real piece to sink my teeth in about all the parts of this that ARE "like engineering"
November 24, 2025 at 5:02 PM
lmao @ people claiming the DOGE staff weren't engineers
like we all haven't worked with that guy who is like "we don't need tests" and "I can merge my own code"
Just because they don't represent what we WANT to be doesn't mean we get to disown them.
like we all haven't worked with that guy who is like "we don't need tests" and "I can merge my own code"
Just because they don't represent what we WANT to be doesn't mean we get to disown them.
Reposted by Aparna Nair
People are already trying to "no true Scotsman" their way out of this one.
November 24, 2025 at 4:59 PM
People are already trying to "no true Scotsman" their way out of this one.
Reposted by Aparna Nair
By methods, I mean, "doing tech-centric things without oversight or pushback".
November 24, 2025 at 4:47 PM
By methods, I mean, "doing tech-centric things without oversight or pushback".
Reposted by Aparna Nair
My SWAG is that many tech people who do not agree with DOGE's aims nonetheless agree with their methods.
There actually has not been enough reflection in the tech community about DOGE
November 24, 2025 at 4:45 PM
My SWAG is that many tech people who do not agree with DOGE's aims nonetheless agree with their methods.
Reposted by Aparna Nair
Our (tech, ahem, my) culture has been a low-key dumpster fire for decades, DOGE was just a distillation of it
There actually has not been enough reflection in the tech community about DOGE
November 24, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Our (tech, ahem, my) culture has been a low-key dumpster fire for decades, DOGE was just a distillation of it
When has the tech community done anything but deflect about its issues?
From eugenics to gender issues to its implication in the current strain of technocultic fascism which has taken over/is attempting to take over huge swathes of the world, tech does not do self reflection.
From eugenics to gender issues to its implication in the current strain of technocultic fascism which has taken over/is attempting to take over huge swathes of the world, tech does not do self reflection.
There actually has not been enough reflection in the tech community about DOGE
November 24, 2025 at 5:35 PM
When has the tech community done anything but deflect about its issues?
From eugenics to gender issues to its implication in the current strain of technocultic fascism which has taken over/is attempting to take over huge swathes of the world, tech does not do self reflection.
From eugenics to gender issues to its implication in the current strain of technocultic fascism which has taken over/is attempting to take over huge swathes of the world, tech does not do self reflection.
Reposted by Aparna Nair
What a strange framing and characterization. How does one describe his blatantly dishonest, racist question about taxes as “press[ing] the Mayor-elect on his policy proposals”? In what way does this lying troll emerge as a “winner“?
November 24, 2025 at 11:50 AM
What a strange framing and characterization. How does one describe his blatantly dishonest, racist question about taxes as “press[ing] the Mayor-elect on his policy proposals”? In what way does this lying troll emerge as a “winner“?
Reposted by Aparna Nair
We should require 2 years of US History in high schools across the land
November 24, 2025 at 4:50 PM
We should require 2 years of US History in high schools across the land
Reposted by Aparna Nair
Even if people have access to facts, reconciling it with US exceptionalism is impossible. Even before the present authoritarianism, stories of US innocence or US improvement over time cast US violence as rare, necessary or unfortunate, and/or something in the past from which we have moved on.
November 24, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Even if people have access to facts, reconciling it with US exceptionalism is impossible. Even before the present authoritarianism, stories of US innocence or US improvement over time cast US violence as rare, necessary or unfortunate, and/or something in the past from which we have moved on.
Reposted by Aparna Nair
like...it's very very grim.
November 24, 2025 at 4:39 PM
like...it's very very grim.
Indian troll seems more likely than Russian here, knowing how important social media is to sustaining anti-Muslim hate and racism as a political policy in the country
genuinely: a russian nesting doll of bullshit that bad actors are using to cast aspersions on basically anything they want
November 24, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Indian troll seems more likely than Russian here, knowing how important social media is to sustaining anti-Muslim hate and racism as a political policy in the country