Mar
@histoftech.bsky.social
Historian of technology, & dad joke aficionado who lives w/a tiny, spotlight-stealing rabbit.
I won’t share AI generated content, except to critique it.
If you see me in person I’ll be wearing a mask. If you care abt me, put one on too.
www.marhicks.com
I won’t share AI generated content, except to critique it.
If you see me in person I’ll be wearing a mask. If you care abt me, put one on too.
www.marhicks.com
Pinned
Mar
@histoftech.bsky.social
· Jan 4
Hey did I tell y’all what my New Year’s resolution is?
1024 x 768
1024 x 768
Thus begins the #dadjoke thread for 2025 bsky.app/profile/hist...
Reposted by Mar
There hasn't been a big financial crash in a while, let's scrap regulation. After the next big financial crash: why didn't we have effective regulation? And so the pendulum swings, because when regulation works, we regularly forget why we need it.
A “shift to looser regulation is ‘likely to reduce the resilience of the banking sector to systemic market shocks.’”
A key lesson from 2008 was “heavily indebted banks lacked the equity capital to absorb large losses, leaving regulators [to let] banks fail or bail them out to protect depositors.”
A key lesson from 2008 was “heavily indebted banks lacked the equity capital to absorb large losses, leaving regulators [to let] banks fail or bail them out to protect depositors.”
This seems like an important story.
November 27, 2025 at 9:49 AM
There hasn't been a big financial crash in a while, let's scrap regulation. After the next big financial crash: why didn't we have effective regulation? And so the pendulum swings, because when regulation works, we regularly forget why we need it.
Yesterday someone jokingly referred to my friends very cool, unique car (which he bought used) as a “temu-ass supercar” and I am still laughing.
Just brutal in its accuracy.
Just brutal in its accuracy.
November 27, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Yesterday someone jokingly referred to my friends very cool, unique car (which he bought used) as a “temu-ass supercar” and I am still laughing.
Just brutal in its accuracy.
Just brutal in its accuracy.
This is true and deeply shameful for my country
it is very strange to me that Americans just cannot do packaged, relatively cheap sandwiches. they're fucking awful here. (handmade sandwiches are often great, but, like, the £2.75 Tesco's 'good but not great' sandwich is a missing piece)
It is a huge problem to me that sandwiches in the US are both delicious and stupidly expensive.
There are days I miss a prawn mayo or tuna sandwich meal deal from Boots or WH Smith.
There are days I miss a prawn mayo or tuna sandwich meal deal from Boots or WH Smith.
November 27, 2025 at 9:35 AM
This is true and deeply shameful for my country
Yesterday I took this striking picture of the clouds in between reading memes. The future is good sometimes.
Not that good but, you know, you take what you can get.
Not that good but, you know, you take what you can get.
November 27, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Yesterday I took this striking picture of the clouds in between reading memes. The future is good sometimes.
Not that good but, you know, you take what you can get.
Not that good but, you know, you take what you can get.
If I had enough money to buy a 911 that was the color of a tennis ball on the inside, you wouldn’t be able to tell me SHIT😍😍😍
November 27, 2025 at 9:27 AM
If I had enough money to buy a 911 that was the color of a tennis ball on the inside, you wouldn’t be able to tell me SHIT😍😍😍
Reposted by Mar
PROMOTE YOUR BOOKS! EVERYONE WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR PUBLISHED BOOKS! Do not ask me how my writing is going.
Because @lollardfish.bsky.social says we should promote our books: utpress.utexas.edu/9781477313138/
Loving Sports When They Don't Love You Back
Triumphant wins, gut-wrenching losses, last-second shots, underdogs, competition, and loyalty—it’s fun to be a fan. But when a football player takes a hi...
utpress.utexas.edu
November 26, 2025 at 6:33 PM
PROMOTE YOUR BOOKS! EVERYONE WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR PUBLISHED BOOKS! Do not ask me how my writing is going.
Reposted by Mar
I wrote a book about the animal research films made by experimental psychology. It's open-access and includes embedded videos.
Hooray for organic thinking and writing! Share yours!
www.ucpress.edu/books/the-ce...
Hooray for organic thinking and writing! Share yours!
www.ucpress.edu/books/the-ce...
November 26, 2025 at 11:46 PM
A “shift to looser regulation is ‘likely to reduce the resilience of the banking sector to systemic market shocks.’”
A key lesson from 2008 was “heavily indebted banks lacked the equity capital to absorb large losses, leaving regulators [to let] banks fail or bail them out to protect depositors.”
A key lesson from 2008 was “heavily indebted banks lacked the equity capital to absorb large losses, leaving regulators [to let] banks fail or bail them out to protect depositors.”
November 27, 2025 at 8:51 AM
A “shift to looser regulation is ‘likely to reduce the resilience of the banking sector to systemic market shocks.’”
A key lesson from 2008 was “heavily indebted banks lacked the equity capital to absorb large losses, leaving regulators [to let] banks fail or bail them out to protect depositors.”
A key lesson from 2008 was “heavily indebted banks lacked the equity capital to absorb large losses, leaving regulators [to let] banks fail or bail them out to protect depositors.”
Reposted by Mar
If you get cancer, it means you weren't healthy.
See how self-serving this worldview is.
See how self-serving this worldview is.
November 27, 2025 at 7:09 AM
If you get cancer, it means you weren't healthy.
See how self-serving this worldview is.
See how self-serving this worldview is.
Reposted by Mar
Reposted by Mar
“…our study suggests distinct brain structural alterations and ongoing neurodegenerative processes in individuals with cognitive dysfunction, which are not prominent in those with other symptoms among PASC(post acute sequelae of covid)
November 26, 2025 at 3:57 PM
“…our study suggests distinct brain structural alterations and ongoing neurodegenerative processes in individuals with cognitive dysfunction, which are not prominent in those with other symptoms among PASC(post acute sequelae of covid)
Reposted by Mar
“Hence, the pathogenesis underlying cognitive dysfunction in long COVID differs from non-cognitive symptoms, while its long-term course and clinical significance should be confirmed in future longitudinal studies.”
November 26, 2025 at 3:57 PM
“Hence, the pathogenesis underlying cognitive dysfunction in long COVID differs from non-cognitive symptoms, while its long-term course and clinical significance should be confirmed in future longitudinal studies.”
Reposted by Mar
I don’t owe LLMs good faith.
Wow 80% bad-faith responses, and people lecturing the creator of Flask here and the creator of Django/datasette in the comments on why AI is useless for software engineering...
Is this platform still massively against AI or has it moved more towards acceptance?
November 26, 2025 at 3:33 PM
I don’t owe LLMs good faith.
Reposted by Mar
But this is America, we only throw female executives who kill people with phony products in jail.
November 26, 2025 at 12:46 AM
But this is America, we only throw female executives who kill people with phony products in jail.
Reposted by Mar
"It is against the TOS to be talked into suicide by our LLM" is possibly the most evil tech bro thing I've ever read
Additionally, OpenAI argues its not liable because Raine, by using ChatGPT for self-harm, broke its terms of service
November 26, 2025 at 12:29 AM
"It is against the TOS to be talked into suicide by our LLM" is possibly the most evil tech bro thing I've ever read
Reposted by Mar
In the short run, this means that the powerful can get their way without consequences — as we know.
But in the longer run, it also means that they become decreasingly knowledgeable about the world. This trend has a breaking point.
But in the longer run, it also means that they become decreasingly knowledgeable about the world. This trend has a breaking point.
November 26, 2025 at 12:34 PM
In the short run, this means that the powerful can get their way without consequences — as we know.
But in the longer run, it also means that they become decreasingly knowledgeable about the world. This trend has a breaking point.
But in the longer run, it also means that they become decreasingly knowledgeable about the world. This trend has a breaking point.
Reposted by Mar
Understanding the world is intimately tied to acting in the world; you know something to be true because of the coherent activities it supports in the world.
This creates a link between knowledge and power: when you're powerful, *incoherent* actions can succeed from sheer power.
This creates a link between knowledge and power: when you're powerful, *incoherent* actions can succeed from sheer power.
November 26, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Understanding the world is intimately tied to acting in the world; you know something to be true because of the coherent activities it supports in the world.
This creates a link between knowledge and power: when you're powerful, *incoherent* actions can succeed from sheer power.
This creates a link between knowledge and power: when you're powerful, *incoherent* actions can succeed from sheer power.
Reposted by Mar
ChatGPT marketed as a salve for loneliness, as shown in AI generated images on Christopher Street and 7th Ave in the West Village, NYC.
November 23, 2025 at 9:01 PM
ChatGPT marketed as a salve for loneliness, as shown in AI generated images on Christopher Street and 7th Ave in the West Village, NYC.
Reposted by Mar
November 25, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Reposted by Mar
We found that if every car had these driver assist features, the U.S. could prevent 1.6 million total car crashes (including about 7,200 fatal crashes), and save more than $260 billion annually in costs to society www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
November 26, 2025 at 1:14 PM
We found that if every car had these driver assist features, the U.S. could prevent 1.6 million total car crashes (including about 7,200 fatal crashes), and save more than $260 billion annually in costs to society www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Mar
Another way to look at this is when ICE, CBP, et al lie on reports, now they can blame AI. “U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis wrote… that the practice of using ChatGPT to write use-of-force reports undermines the agents’ credibility and ‘may explain the inaccuracy of these reports.’”
Judge's footnote on immigration agents using AI raises accuracy and privacy concerns
A federal judge called out an immigration enforcement agent for using artificial intelligence to write the narrative of a use-of-force report as just a small part of a scathing opinion that rebutted f...
apnews.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Another way to look at this is when ICE, CBP, et al lie on reports, now they can blame AI. “U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis wrote… that the practice of using ChatGPT to write use-of-force reports undermines the agents’ credibility and ‘may explain the inaccuracy of these reports.’”
Reposted by Mar
Is Santa Real? Many users feel they're getting presents from him. Scientists say it's time to consider whether they're onto something.
November 26, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Is Santa Real? Many users feel they're getting presents from him. Scientists say it's time to consider whether they're onto something.
Reposted by Mar
Obvs different contexts, but my introduction to this sort of capitulation was CBS to Brown & Williamson 30 years ago almost to the day, and it just guts folks rooting for a free and adversarial press focused on afflicting the comfortable and publishing facts that powerful people want to keep secret
In case you missed this, the BBC edited a historian's speech about Trump to remove the claim that he's "the most openly corrupt president in US history." This came after Trump had threatened a $1 billion lawsuit.
Elite capitulation continues.
Read all about it here:
newrepublic.com/article/2036...
Elite capitulation continues.
Read all about it here:
newrepublic.com/article/2036...
Trump Angrily Threatened to Sue BBC. Then Things Took a Darker Turn.
First, British Broadcasting Corporation execs resigned after Trump complained about a segment. Now the BBC edited out a line from a historian that was critical of Trump. Where does this end?
newrepublic.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Obvs different contexts, but my introduction to this sort of capitulation was CBS to Brown & Williamson 30 years ago almost to the day, and it just guts folks rooting for a free and adversarial press focused on afflicting the comfortable and publishing facts that powerful people want to keep secret
Reposted by Mar
without glasses or with glasses, still fuzzy🐰
November 26, 2025 at 12:18 AM
without glasses or with glasses, still fuzzy🐰
When you listen to public health advice from the govt about covid please keep in mind that a great many government officials in these roles literally do not care about us and regularly do things that increase the spread of disease and death
After two infants died, the Louisiana Dept of Health under the leadership of the new incoming deputy director of the CDC, delayed notifying the public for months of a whooping cough outbreak. Instead, he ordered DOH to stop promoting vaccines. Pertussis is currently a national health crisis.
Louisiana officials waited months to warn public of whooping cough outbreak
After a whooping cough outbreak killed two infants, Louisiana health officials waited months to officially alert physicians or do public outreach. That's not the typical public health response.
www.npr.org
November 26, 2025 at 1:21 PM
When you listen to public health advice from the govt about covid please keep in mind that a great many government officials in these roles literally do not care about us and regularly do things that increase the spread of disease and death