Joseph Howley
@illdottore.bsky.social
“imagine a classics professor” – The New Yorker
Reposted by Joseph Howley
"We should bear witness to the brutality and demand that our government protect our freedoms—not crush them with armed, masked men who think they can act with impunity. As people who have chosen learning, it’s the least we can do." —Wesleyan University President @msroth.bsky.social on Minneapolis
Minneapolis is Now Ground Zero for Our Democracy
www.wesleyan.edu
January 25, 2026 at 3:15 PM
"We should bear witness to the brutality and demand that our government protect our freedoms—not crush them with armed, masked men who think they can act with impunity. As people who have chosen learning, it’s the least we can do." —Wesleyan University President @msroth.bsky.social on Minneapolis
This is how we understood the crackdown on campus Gaza protests at the time. They don’t even realize they have these problems for quite some time, if ever, because they crave or are satisfied by the spectacles of violence their escalation produces
they have no ability to back down and recalibrate AND they lack a theory of mind for their opponents
January 25, 2026 at 3:17 PM
This is how we understood the crackdown on campus Gaza protests at the time. They don’t even realize they have these problems for quite some time, if ever, because they crave or are satisfied by the spectacles of violence their escalation produces
Here’s what you do. You print out a bunch of pictures of victims to honor. Put them in sleeves if it’s going to be rainy. Pick a spot on campus and tell all your colleagues when to be there and to tell all their friends too. Everyone who stays after the vigil is your first organizing group
Since last spring, colleagues at my school and several others have held weekly vigils Monday at noon on campus for victims of ICE. if you’re thinking of organizing on your campus after this latest travesty, I recommend joining them. it’s something lots of people want to show up for
January 25, 2026 at 2:28 PM
Here’s what you do. You print out a bunch of pictures of victims to honor. Put them in sleeves if it’s going to be rainy. Pick a spot on campus and tell all your colleagues when to be there and to tell all their friends too. Everyone who stays after the vigil is your first organizing group
Since last spring, colleagues at my school and several others have held weekly vigils Monday at noon on campus for victims of ICE. if you’re thinking of organizing on your campus after this latest travesty, I recommend joining them. it’s something lots of people want to show up for
January 25, 2026 at 6:59 AM
Since last spring, colleagues at my school and several others have held weekly vigils Monday at noon on campus for victims of ICE. if you’re thinking of organizing on your campus after this latest travesty, I recommend joining them. it’s something lots of people want to show up for
Logging on with an extremely specific travel question, what’s my best option for lunch at or near the Frankfurt hbf?
January 20, 2026 at 9:20 AM
Logging on with an extremely specific travel question, what’s my best option for lunch at or near the Frankfurt hbf?
OK logging off again, ttyl, abolish ICE
January 8, 2026 at 2:18 PM
OK logging off again, ttyl, abolish ICE
Logging back on briefly to encourage you to go read this issue of Pasts Imperfect, where I have an essay about the push to automate literacy in the contemporary academy and the relegation and subjection of literacy in Ancient Rome pasts-imperfect.ghost.io/pasts-imperf...
Pasts Imperfect (1.8.26)
This week, we are back from holiday break with a deep dive into the ethics, big business, and myth-peddling of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in higher education. Then, bees in ancient jawbones within t...
pasts-imperfect.ghost.io
January 8, 2026 at 1:42 PM
Logging back on briefly to encourage you to go read this issue of Pasts Imperfect, where I have an essay about the push to automate literacy in the contemporary academy and the relegation and subjection of literacy in Ancient Rome pasts-imperfect.ghost.io/pasts-imperf...
Reposted by Joseph Howley
Pasts Imperfect is back from break! This week, we focus on AI ethics and labor with @illdottore.bsky.social, Christine Johnston & Leigh Anne Lieberman. Then, ancient bees in jawbones, Roman camels in Basel, a book on temple robbery, new ancient world journals @yaleclassicslib.bsky.social & much more
Pasts Imperfect (1.8.26)
This week, we are back from holiday break with a deep dive into the ethics, big business, and myth-peddling of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in higher education. Then, bees in ancient jawbones within t...
pasts-imperfect.ghost.io
January 8, 2026 at 1:32 PM
Pasts Imperfect is back from break! This week, we focus on AI ethics and labor with @illdottore.bsky.social, Christine Johnston & Leigh Anne Lieberman. Then, ancient bees in jawbones, Roman camels in Basel, a book on temple robbery, new ancient world journals @yaleclassicslib.bsky.social & much more
See y’all later!
December 7, 2025 at 10:47 AM
See y’all later!
Reposted by Joseph Howley
The narrow answer to "why can't computer vision see the past?" is bc CV is linear algebra & I reject the premise that math is sight. But the big answer is that the data extraction industry is leveraging computer vision to engineer an anti-human future.
sonja-drimmer.squarespace.com/blog-1/2025/...
sonja-drimmer.squarespace.com/blog-1/2025/...
How to See the Past Seeing the Past — Sonja Drimmer
When I ask the question, "why can't computer vision see the past?" the narrow answer is because computer vision is linear algebra, and as an art historian I reject the premise that math is sight. ...
sonja-drimmer.squarespace.com
December 6, 2025 at 3:25 PM
The narrow answer to "why can't computer vision see the past?" is bc CV is linear algebra & I reject the premise that math is sight. But the big answer is that the data extraction industry is leveraging computer vision to engineer an anti-human future.
sonja-drimmer.squarespace.com/blog-1/2025/...
sonja-drimmer.squarespace.com/blog-1/2025/...
Reposted by Joseph Howley
According to these administrators, faculty should do this as a measure of self-protection. But they’re also telling faculty that they’re on their own: none of the institution’s resources will be brought to bear to protect the speech of faculty and staff. What deterrent effect will that have?
December 6, 2025 at 5:22 PM
According to these administrators, faculty should do this as a measure of self-protection. But they’re also telling faculty that they’re on their own: none of the institution’s resources will be brought to bear to protect the speech of faculty and staff. What deterrent effect will that have?
Reposted by Joseph Howley
What’s interesting here is that, despite the best efforts of unhinged lawmakers, there’s no legal reason for any of this. It’s coming from administrators desperate to avoid a fight.
December 6, 2025 at 4:58 PM
What’s interesting here is that, despite the best efforts of unhinged lawmakers, there’s no legal reason for any of this. It’s coming from administrators desperate to avoid a fight.
Reposted by Joseph Howley
new episode of kill the computer where we talk about how the oklohoma university essay debacle was a planned political narrative targeting a trans professor from the very start
True Grift Ft. Parker Molloy
Podcast Episode · Kill The Computer · 12/04/2025 · 1h 16m
podcasts.apple.com
December 4, 2025 at 5:24 PM
new episode of kill the computer where we talk about how the oklohoma university essay debacle was a planned political narrative targeting a trans professor from the very start
Reposted by Joseph Howley
Assume they’ve been deported for recognising Palestine in the original countries of the world song
Animaniacs please do something
December 5, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Assume they’ve been deported for recognising Palestine in the original countries of the world song
Reposted by Joseph Howley
AI Is Not Inevitable
join AAUP for a conversation with educators, educator unions, and the Collaborative Research Center for Resilience
zoom.us/webinar/regi...
join AAUP for a conversation with educators, educator unions, and the Collaborative Research Center for Resilience
zoom.us/webinar/regi...
December 5, 2025 at 1:18 PM
AI Is Not Inevitable
join AAUP for a conversation with educators, educator unions, and the Collaborative Research Center for Resilience
zoom.us/webinar/regi...
join AAUP for a conversation with educators, educator unions, and the Collaborative Research Center for Resilience
zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Reposted by Joseph Howley
I love this intro to a philosophy paper, though I can't actually remember which paper it's from.
December 5, 2025 at 8:53 AM
I love this intro to a philosophy paper, though I can't actually remember which paper it's from.
Reposted by Joseph Howley
for the record i am not actually that down on llms. but data science feels a lot less scientific than it used to.
December 5, 2025 at 7:50 AM
for the record i am not actually that down on llms. but data science feels a lot less scientific than it used to.
Since I read it I have not stopped thinking about Kenney and Lincoln's description of this as "a case of mutual but unequal reputation laundering" osf.io/preprints/so...
December 5, 2025 at 8:23 AM
Since I read it I have not stopped thinking about Kenney and Lincoln's description of this as "a case of mutual but unequal reputation laundering" osf.io/preprints/so...
Reposted by Joseph Howley
My employer, Dartmouth College, today boasts it's 1st Ivy "to launch AI at an institutional scale." It is doing this by partnering--"more than a collaboration"--with Anthropic, a company that stole the books of many faculty, me included, which many of us are suing.
December 4, 2025 at 9:38 PM
My employer, Dartmouth College, today boasts it's 1st Ivy "to launch AI at an institutional scale." It is doing this by partnering--"more than a collaboration"--with Anthropic, a company that stole the books of many faculty, me included, which many of us are suing.
Reposted by Joseph Howley
Weird situation. AI adoption in the work world is stagnating, while higher-ed institutions are rushing to embrace it so that students will be prepared for…the work world?
“we estimate employment-weighted share of Americans using AI at work has fallen by a percentage point & now sits at 11%. Adoption has fallen sharply at the largest businesses, those employing +250 people. 3 yrs into the genAI wave, demand looks surprisingly flimsy” www.economist.com/finance-and-...
Investors expect AI use to soar. That’s not happening
Recent surveys point to flatlining business adoption
www.economist.com
December 4, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Weird situation. AI adoption in the work world is stagnating, while higher-ed institutions are rushing to embrace it so that students will be prepared for…the work world?
Reposted by Joseph Howley
Look… I know very little about the show, but I DO know how our show was marketed, so maybe take a beat on the outrage and check it out when it airs. 🤷♂️
December 4, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Look… I know very little about the show, but I DO know how our show was marketed, so maybe take a beat on the outrage and check it out when it airs. 🤷♂️
has any Latinist had the fortitude to write the essay about this point and Vergil I wonder
December 4, 2025 at 12:40 PM
has any Latinist had the fortitude to write the essay about this point and Vergil I wonder