Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her)
@drsurekhadavies.bsky.social
Historian of science, art & ideas.
Words: Smithsonian, LA Times, TLS, Aeon, Nature, Science, Reactor.
Buy HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY now: https://www.surekhadavies.org/humans-a-monstrous-history
Newsletter: https://buttondown.com/surekhadavies?tag=bluesky
Words: Smithsonian, LA Times, TLS, Aeon, Nature, Science, Reactor.
Buy HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY now: https://www.surekhadavies.org/humans-a-monstrous-history
Newsletter: https://buttondown.com/surekhadavies?tag=bluesky
Pinned
Launch Day for HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY!
Welcome back, and hallo, new readers! This is it! The US launch day for HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY is February 4th. I’m amazed and relieved to get to this...
buttondown.com
Launch day for HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY! So relieved to make it this far.
💙📚 🧪 🗃 #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thC #HAMH
buttondown.com/surekhadavie...
💙📚 🧪 🗃 #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thC #HAMH
buttondown.com/surekhadavie...
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her)
Giving this a little bump because apparently a lot of folks missed it and some other folks are *really determined* to find someone to blame for it. Despite me explaining it's just crap luck and there's no one to blame.
*sigh* Yeah. About that.
If you hadn’t already seen, as of this morning the audiobook version of GOD's JUNK DRAWER has been pushed back to January 20th because it’s been dealing with a sort of rolling technical difficulty. I’m so very sorry.
If you hadn’t already seen, as of this morning the audiobook version of GOD's JUNK DRAWER has been pushed back to January 20th because it’s been dealing with a sort of rolling technical difficulty. I’m so very sorry.
Ahhhh, audiobook delayed?
November 25, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Giving this a little bump because apparently a lot of folks missed it and some other folks are *really determined* to find someone to blame for it. Despite me explaining it's just crap luck and there's no one to blame.
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her)
I'm already an above average writer so any supposed advantage to using an LLM goes out the window. I am not an above average artist, but that's why I pay artists when I need art. Remember I have it in my contracts that all work on my books (art, editing, translation, etc) has to be done by humans.
I imagine LLMs are less useful for expert wordsmiths like Mr. Scalzi.
November 25, 2025 at 7:30 PM
I'm already an above average writer so any supposed advantage to using an LLM goes out the window. I am not an above average artist, but that's why I pay artists when I need art. Remember I have it in my contracts that all work on my books (art, editing, translation, etc) has to be done by humans.
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her)
It's an easy commitment to make. One, it supports individual humans with money. Two, the work is better because there's an actual brain behind it that understands the context of the thing it's working on. Three, me making it a contract point makes it easier for other authors/writers to do the same.
I’m truly delighted to hear that it is part of your contract that all work on your books (art, editing, translation, etc.) must be done by humans. I greatly admire this commitment
November 25, 2025 at 7:50 PM
It's an easy commitment to make. One, it supports individual humans with money. Two, the work is better because there's an actual brain behind it that understands the context of the thing it's working on. Three, me making it a contract point makes it easier for other authors/writers to do the same.
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her)
It should be clear to people that these venture-capital techno fascist piss babies truly believe that they get to threaten the entirety of the country and the world‘s economy if they do not get their trillions of dollars for lying to America for nearly a decade.
November 25, 2025 at 4:43 PM
It should be clear to people that these venture-capital techno fascist piss babies truly believe that they get to threaten the entirety of the country and the world‘s economy if they do not get their trillions of dollars for lying to America for nearly a decade.
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her)
Sacks and the other venture capital fascists must be taught a valuable lesson. That they will be held accountable for financial crimes as well as the use of their money and technology to perpetrate mass murder and crimes against humanity.
November 25, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Sacks and the other venture capital fascists must be taught a valuable lesson. That they will be held accountable for financial crimes as well as the use of their money and technology to perpetrate mass murder and crimes against humanity.
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her)
There is no quarter or bailouts for the billionaire techno fascists. They must burn with there vaporware fraud monsters.
Additionally many of these people must be imprisoned for the crimes against humanity they have committed and facilitated.
Additionally many of these people must be imprisoned for the crimes against humanity they have committed and facilitated.
November 25, 2025 at 4:35 PM
There is no quarter or bailouts for the billionaire techno fascists. They must burn with there vaporware fraud monsters.
Additionally many of these people must be imprisoned for the crimes against humanity they have committed and facilitated.
Additionally many of these people must be imprisoned for the crimes against humanity they have committed and facilitated.
Max this thread up hundredfold for the practice of research and writing in the humanities. 1/2
Consider a programmer looking at code they themselves wrote a year ago, now having to identify and fix a bug. They have to rebuild the mental model of what is going on, which is easier if they have already had a mental model of what is going on.
November 25, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Max this thread up hundredfold for the practice of research and writing in the humanities. 1/2
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her)
This is a slippery slope, because if the programmer can't be fucked to write the code, which you already know they are, they *definitely* can't be fucked to read code.
They'll slap it right back into the bullshit machine for it next time they need to touch it.
They'll slap it right back into the bullshit machine for it next time they need to touch it.
June 24, 2025 at 6:52 AM
This is a slippery slope, because if the programmer can't be fucked to write the code, which you already know they are, they *definitely* can't be fucked to read code.
They'll slap it right back into the bullshit machine for it next time they need to touch it.
They'll slap it right back into the bullshit machine for it next time they need to touch it.
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her)
Consider a programmer looking at code they themselves wrote a year ago, now having to identify and fix a bug. They have to rebuild the mental model of what is going on, which is easier if they have already had a mental model of what is going on.
June 24, 2025 at 6:37 AM
Consider a programmer looking at code they themselves wrote a year ago, now having to identify and fix a bug. They have to rebuild the mental model of what is going on, which is easier if they have already had a mental model of what is going on.
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her)
It's amazing that any programmer would look at the "take an icepick to the parts of your brain that you use to program" machine and think this is a good idea.
It indicates they are already utterly fucking up at being programmers, even before they touch the bullshit machine.
It indicates they are already utterly fucking up at being programmers, even before they touch the bullshit machine.
June 24, 2025 at 6:57 AM
It's amazing that any programmer would look at the "take an icepick to the parts of your brain that you use to program" machine and think this is a good idea.
It indicates they are already utterly fucking up at being programmers, even before they touch the bullshit machine.
It indicates they are already utterly fucking up at being programmers, even before they touch the bullshit machine.
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her)
As the NYTimes put it in a wonderful review of her new book Without Consent, @sarahweinman.com "is the rare true-crime writer who rises above the genre’s inherent voyeurism to interrogate our moral, cultural and legal failings." I just purchased my copy.
Today is the publication day for WITHOUT CONSENT, a book I am so proud to share with the world, and that the New York Times Book Review says "is years — decades — overdue."
Read more, and order in your preferred format from your favorite retailer here: www.sarahweinman.com/book/without...
Read more, and order in your preferred format from your favorite retailer here: www.sarahweinman.com/book/without...
November 12, 2025 at 12:05 AM
As the NYTimes put it in a wonderful review of her new book Without Consent, @sarahweinman.com "is the rare true-crime writer who rises above the genre’s inherent voyeurism to interrogate our moral, cultural and legal failings." I just purchased my copy.
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her)
For the What's History Feed 🗃️.
This is a fantastic opportunity for historians off the tenure track (including NTT, contingent, and independent scholars, archivists and librarians, museum workers and other public history folks) to spread the word about their publications.
✍🏽📚📄
This is a fantastic opportunity for historians off the tenure track (including NTT, contingent, and independent scholars, archivists and librarians, museum workers and other public history folks) to spread the word about their publications.
✍🏽📚📄
Haven't received as many contributions as usual for this year's lists--could be many things, but one aspect is surely that our ability to get this in front of people is much diminished. If you know folks whose stuff should be on here, please suggest it! contingentmagazine.org/yearly-pub-l...
Publications by Non-Tenure-Track Historians
Since we began publishing in 2019, Contingent has published end-of-year lists of books and articles by non-tenure-track historians released in the past calendar year. To submit something for inclusion...
contingentmagazine.org
November 24, 2025 at 7:44 PM
For the What's History Feed 🗃️.
This is a fantastic opportunity for historians off the tenure track (including NTT, contingent, and independent scholars, archivists and librarians, museum workers and other public history folks) to spread the word about their publications.
✍🏽📚📄
This is a fantastic opportunity for historians off the tenure track (including NTT, contingent, and independent scholars, archivists and librarians, museum workers and other public history folks) to spread the word about their publications.
✍🏽📚📄
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her)
Pleased to see several familiar names on @wired.com's list of Great Tech Books, including @ashleyshoo.bsky.social, @margaretomara.bsky.social & @ruha9.bsky.social.
#histSTM #STS
#histtech #BigTech 🗃️📜
#histSTM #STS
#histtech #BigTech 🗃️📜
This is a surprisingly good list of tech books to gift from Wired, including some aged classics and some new work destined to be classics down the line (*cough* @ashleyshoo.bsky.social's book *cough*)
25 Great Tech Books to Gift (or Keep for Yourself)
Give the techie in your life access to the inner workings of the companies and characters shaping Big Tech.
www.wired.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Pleased to see several familiar names on @wired.com's list of Great Tech Books, including @ashleyshoo.bsky.social, @margaretomara.bsky.social & @ruha9.bsky.social.
#histSTM #STS
#histtech #BigTech 🗃️📜
#histSTM #STS
#histtech #BigTech 🗃️📜
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her)
And we're back in our Nation's Capital! Hello @mesa1966.bsky.social and #MESA2025 attendees! Drop by the exhibit hall and check out our latest books in Middle East Studies!
And visit our MESA website to save 40% on our displayed books throughout the conference: www.ucpress.edu/book-lists/m...
And visit our MESA website to save 40% on our displayed books throughout the conference: www.ucpress.edu/book-lists/m...
November 23, 2025 at 6:01 PM
And we're back in our Nation's Capital! Hello @mesa1966.bsky.social and #MESA2025 attendees! Drop by the exhibit hall and check out our latest books in Middle East Studies!
And visit our MESA website to save 40% on our displayed books throughout the conference: www.ucpress.edu/book-lists/m...
And visit our MESA website to save 40% on our displayed books throughout the conference: www.ucpress.edu/book-lists/m...
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her)
Thanks to @economist.com for including Seth Berkley, MD's FAIR DOSES: An Insider's Story of the Pandemic and the Global Fight for Vaccine Equity in their "Best Books of 2025" feature! www.economist.com/culture/2025...
The best books of 2025
Gladiators and dictators, wolves and Beatles feature in our list this year
www.economist.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Thanks to @economist.com for including Seth Berkley, MD's FAIR DOSES: An Insider's Story of the Pandemic and the Global Fight for Vaccine Equity in their "Best Books of 2025" feature! www.economist.com/culture/2025...
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her)
Thanks to @thelancet.com for the great review of Seth Berkley, MD's FAIR DOSES: An Insider's Story of the Pandemic and the Global Fight for Vaccine Equity: "Berkley’s narrative is both illuminating about this history and serves as a wake-up call": www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
A quest for vaccine equity
For those working in global health, and especially on immunisation, it is difficult
not to feel despair at the headwinds in 2025 that have been blowing forcefully against
decades of collective efforts...
www.thelancet.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Thanks to @thelancet.com for the great review of Seth Berkley, MD's FAIR DOSES: An Insider's Story of the Pandemic and the Global Fight for Vaccine Equity: "Berkley’s narrative is both illuminating about this history and serves as a wake-up call": www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her)
So excited to see Automatic Noodle on @bookriot.bsky.social's best books of 2025, along with great new work from @charliejane.bsky.social, @aeosworth.bsky.social, Lee Lai, @khanwong.bsky.social, @kimberlylemming.bsky.social and more!! bookriot.com/best-books-o...
Best Books of 2025
Picking the best books of the year was no easy task, but we sure had a lot of fun doing it. We present you with our picks for the best books of 2025!
bookriot.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:38 AM
So excited to see Automatic Noodle on @bookriot.bsky.social's best books of 2025, along with great new work from @charliejane.bsky.social, @aeosworth.bsky.social, Lee Lai, @khanwong.bsky.social, @kimberlylemming.bsky.social and more!! bookriot.com/best-books-o...
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her)
Two perfectly normal ads in the perfectly normal city of San Francisco.
November 22, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Two perfectly normal ads in the perfectly normal city of San Francisco.
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her)
Meta halted internal research that purportedly showed (young) people who stopped using Facebook became less depressed and anxious, according to an unredacted legal filing released on Friday. www.cnbc.com/2025/11/23/m...
Meta halted internal research suggesting social media harm, court filing alleges
Meta is alleged to have halted internal research suggesting social media harm, according to court documents.
www.cnbc.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Meta halted internal research that purportedly showed (young) people who stopped using Facebook became less depressed and anxious, according to an unredacted legal filing released on Friday. www.cnbc.com/2025/11/23/m...
Some top lore here!
Thanks to a phone update, my alarm went off an hour late on the morning of my 1st-year geology exam. I unknowingly arrived 30 mins late, wasn't allowed to take/resit it, and my college suggested i switch to the history and philosophy of science instead :)
November 23, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Some top lore here!
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her)
It’s crazy to have SIX dedicated security lines at LaGuardia airport just for Clear & give them priority at the THREE general boarding lanes. This is a tax-payer funded airport that seems to be trying to force people to give their biometric info over to a private company or get squeezed & squeezed.
November 23, 2025 at 7:00 PM
It’s crazy to have SIX dedicated security lines at LaGuardia airport just for Clear & give them priority at the THREE general boarding lanes. This is a tax-payer funded airport that seems to be trying to force people to give their biometric info over to a private company or get squeezed & squeezed.
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her)
If you’re a journalist who’s still on Twitter, from now on in your writing you have to replace “the American people want” with “troll bots in Eastern Europe demand”
Being there makes your judgment suspect. I don’t care how savvy you think you are, you’re marinating in a disinformation campaign.
Being there makes your judgment suspect. I don’t care how savvy you think you are, you’re marinating in a disinformation campaign.
November 23, 2025 at 4:27 PM
If you’re a journalist who’s still on Twitter, from now on in your writing you have to replace “the American people want” with “troll bots in Eastern Europe demand”
Being there makes your judgment suspect. I don’t care how savvy you think you are, you’re marinating in a disinformation campaign.
Being there makes your judgment suspect. I don’t care how savvy you think you are, you’re marinating in a disinformation campaign.
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her)
Impossible how good reading is. You mean I just point my face at the paper for a bit and it does a whole update on my brain?
November 23, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Impossible how good reading is. You mean I just point my face at the paper for a bit and it does a whole update on my brain?
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her)
Twitter pays people based on engagement (views, retweets, comments, etc). It appears that many MAGA accounts are based abroad and they use AI technology to generate low-effort rage bait.
My guess is that this will get worse as AI tech improves. For instance, fake videos of minorities doing crime.
My guess is that this will get worse as AI tech improves. For instance, fake videos of minorities doing crime.
November 23, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Twitter pays people based on engagement (views, retweets, comments, etc). It appears that many MAGA accounts are based abroad and they use AI technology to generate low-effort rage bait.
My guess is that this will get worse as AI tech improves. For instance, fake videos of minorities doing crime.
My guess is that this will get worse as AI tech improves. For instance, fake videos of minorities doing crime.
@anandwrites.bsky.social: "Generally, you can’t read other people’s emails. Powerful people have private servers, I.T. staffs, lawyers. When you get a rare glimpse into how they actually think and view the world, what they actually are after, heed Maya Angelou: Believe them."
Opinion | How the Elite Behave When No One Is Watching: Inside the Epstein Emails
www.nytimes.com
November 23, 2025 at 2:54 PM
@anandwrites.bsky.social: "Generally, you can’t read other people’s emails. Powerful people have private servers, I.T. staffs, lawyers. When you get a rare glimpse into how they actually think and view the world, what they actually are after, heed Maya Angelou: Believe them."