Janet D. Stemwedel
@docfreeride.bsky.social
12K followers 1.7K following 3.9K posts
Academic philosopher, lapsed chemist, occasional science writer, perpetual ethics booster. All views my own. (she/her)
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Reposted by Janet D. Stemwedel
tylerfromtheinternet.com
Taking frogs back from the alt right 🫡
oregonian.com
Things are happening at Portland's ICE facility tonight.

Read more of our protest coverage here: www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/1...
Reposted by Janet D. Stemwedel
jessdkant.bsky.social
One curious thing on this site about speaking out against the encroachment of LLMs is that inevitably you get accused of being anti-tech. I don’t hate technology. I’ve used machine learning in my own code before. But I also recognize that oligarchs are so hellbent on pushing this tech for a reason.
Reposted by Janet D. Stemwedel
docfreeride.bsky.social
Tech bubbles always burst.
Bursting is what bubbles do.
Reposted by Janet D. Stemwedel
histoftech.bsky.social
“Concerns over an AI bubble bursting have grown lately, with analysts recently finding that it’s 17 times the size of the dotcom-era bubble and four times bigger than the 2008 financial crisis.”

Hang onto your butts. This “correction” is gonna hurt.
futurism.com/artificial-i...
Bank of England Warns of Impending AI Disaster
The Bank of England has sounded the alarm, warning of an intensifying risk of a "sudden correction" due to an AI spending frenzy.
futurism.com
Reposted by Janet D. Stemwedel
astroprofhoff.bsky.social
I fear this is the beginning of the end for our illustrious scientific institutions.
fringedoctor.bsky.social
Brief life update: On Monday I resigned from my appointment at Lowell Observatory. I wish my remaining friends and colleagues the best of luckin their endeavors in increasing new visitor center visitation, and continuing to pursue world-class research in the face of having ended tenure today.
Reposted by Janet D. Stemwedel
ashleylynch.bsky.social
It's worth noting also that while OpenAI's revenue has increased, their costs have increased even more, because ultimately their solution to providing better results is to throw more compute at it.

It's getting more expensive to use and the results still suck.
jessdkant.bsky.social
Energy requirements for AI mean that the only way for the bubble not to burst would require companies to multiply their carbon footprint to an unimaginable degree. Right now, while AI is barely functional and mostly a novelty for the lazy, it requires so much energy that data centers rival cities.
Reposted by Janet D. Stemwedel
jediofgallifrey.bsky.social
Trump: *Does something illegal*

Court: That's illegal, stop that

Trump: lol fuck you

Democrats:

Trump: *Does something illegal*

Court: That's illegal, stop that

Trump: lol fuck you

Democrats:

Trump: *Does something illegal*

Liberals: The courts will stop this and then we'll win the midterms
docfreeride.bsky.social
You, sir, have no leg to stand on!
Reposted by Janet D. Stemwedel
mskellymhayes.bsky.social
I donated some copies of Let This Radicalize You for distribution at an ICE watch training for folks who want to join school patrols in a nearby neighborhood. Not everyone got a copy, because 120 people showed up for that training tonight. I am endlessly proud of Chicago.
A display of copies of Let This Radicalize You on a table in front of a sign that reads: "Let This Radicalize You offers stories, strategy and heart for the kind of collective care and resistance we're building together today. It helps us move from reacting to organizing. Showing how ordinary people protect each other, build power, and keep hope alive. Take a copy. Read it. Stay connected."
Reposted by Janet D. Stemwedel
docfreeride.bsky.social
Nothing like needing a weekend in a week when I also need to work on Saturday. 😳
Reposted by Janet D. Stemwedel
gavinyamey.bsky.social
“A study, published on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that last season’s 2024–2025 mRNA COVID vaccines reduced people’s risk of emergency department visits by 29%, their risk of hospitalizations by 39% & their risk of death by 64%”

Benefits were seen even if 0 risk factors
sorenlarsen.bsky.social
Annual COVID Vaccines Protect People against Severe Disease, Even with Prior Immunity

"The new research also “calls into question the idea that younger individuals and those without risk factors don’t need the vaccine,” Viswanathan says."
Annual COVID Vaccines Save Lives, New Study Shows
A new study shows that receiving an updated COVID vaccine reduced people’s risk of severe disease and death in all age groups, regardless of immunity from prior infection or vaccination
www.scientificamerican.com
Reposted by Janet D. Stemwedel
tedmccormick.bsky.social
Appendix 1: on gun analogies

Nobody ever asked me to teach gun safety in history class. The reasons are so obvious they don't need stating and have nothing to do with whether gun safety matters.

But I am being asked (not politely) to spend history class helping people to learn how to use Al.
Reposted by Janet D. Stemwedel
disabilitystor1.bsky.social
I’m sure that the AI bros never ever lie or overstate the importance of their technology to the world. They wouldn’t, would they? They’re such a noble and self serving lot of technofascists, I’m sure they have the best interests of humanity at heart.
Reposted by Janet D. Stemwedel
tedmccormick.bsky.social
This also indicates the essential dishonesty of saying “it’s just a tool.” A hammer is a tool. Nobody writes about the “inevitability” of hammers. Nobody has ever studied the harmful effects of hammers on learning and concluded that teachers must all hit their students with hammers “responsibly.”
Reposted by Janet D. Stemwedel
tedmccormick.bsky.social
The basic structure of so much commentary, some in the guise of academic study, reduces to:

(1) generative AI products are detrimental to the goals of education

(2) therefore, the goals of education must change.

Without the tacit axiom that AI has authority behind it, that just doesn’t follow.
Reposted by Janet D. Stemwedel
blockclubchi.bsky.social
A federal judge in Chicago says ICE violated a consent decree with warrantless arrests. blockclubchi.co/4nGUOQ8
Reposted by Janet D. Stemwedel
dearsarah.bsky.social
Rutgers Professor @mark-bray.bsky.social, who studies & writes about Antifascism,Tries to Flee to Spain After Death Threats

By the time he & his family reached the gate, their tickets were cancelled.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/n... flagrantly & appallingly lawless. Hope he & his family are ok.
Rutgers Expert on Antifa Tries to Flee to Spain After Death Threats
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Janet D. Stemwedel
aster-verite.bsky.social
6/
This is how asymmetrical resistance works....

Use absurdity to fracture spectacle

Use laughter to disrupt command

Use mockery to rob power of its mask

It’s not weakness.
It’s insurgent narrative warfare.
Reposted by Janet D. Stemwedel
aster-verite.bsky.social
1/
🧵
Froggie vs. ICE: The asymmetrical symbol of a failing authoritarian state.

You’ve seen the video.
An inflatable frog at a Portland protest.
Unarmed. Unbothered. Unapologetically absurd.
And ICE panics.

They fire pepper spray up a frog caricature's ass.

The frog wins.
Reposted by Janet D. Stemwedel
caitlinmoriah.bsky.social
habeas corpus is the girlfriend of one of the founders of antifa
Reposted by Janet D. Stemwedel
niais.bsky.social
Love your neighbor, love your God, save your soul and quit your job!

(this is an amazing chant. We should all be chanting this chant. Constantly.)