Ryan Hendrickson
@imaginaryhistories.bsky.social
"You ever feel like nothin' good was ever gonna happen to you?"
"Yeah, and nothing did. So what?"
Archivist at Boston University for ~25 years, he/they
https://www.imaginaryhistories.com
"Yeah, and nothing did. So what?"
Archivist at Boston University for ~25 years, he/they
https://www.imaginaryhistories.com
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
As strange as it is to say, it is hard not to conclude that the value of knowing things — I don’t mean the value of *knowledge* in the abstract, or of this or that *type of knowledge*, but of *people knowing things* — is simply not a matter of consensus, even within institutions of higher education.
November 29, 2025 at 5:33 PM
As strange as it is to say, it is hard not to conclude that the value of knowing things — I don’t mean the value of *knowledge* in the abstract, or of this or that *type of knowledge*, but of *people knowing things* — is simply not a matter of consensus, even within institutions of higher education.
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
I agree with sentiments I’ve seen expressed to the effect that the rush to generative AI is an opportunity to see best what is human; if human understanding isn’t the point of education then I don’t think there is a point to it. That said, it is only an opportunity, and we’ve passed those up before.
November 29, 2025 at 5:21 PM
I agree with sentiments I’ve seen expressed to the effect that the rush to generative AI is an opportunity to see best what is human; if human understanding isn’t the point of education then I don’t think there is a point to it. That said, it is only an opportunity, and we’ve passed those up before.
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
Educators do not speak with one voice even on, say, generative AI in the classroom. There are resources and a certain kind of institutional power to be got by embracing it. Many parents are swayed by techno-determinism and market rhetoric. Students understandably want to secure what future they can.
November 29, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Educators do not speak with one voice even on, say, generative AI in the classroom. There are resources and a certain kind of institutional power to be got by embracing it. Many parents are swayed by techno-determinism and market rhetoric. Students understandably want to secure what future they can.
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
I used to think that, in the absence of administrative leadership — or rather, in the face of institutional weakness and resistance — some combination of teachers, students and parents might hold the line. I’m no longer convinced that there is enough agreement on what any such line is to be hopeful.
November 29, 2025 at 5:16 PM
I used to think that, in the absence of administrative leadership — or rather, in the face of institutional weakness and resistance — some combination of teachers, students and parents might hold the line. I’m no longer convinced that there is enough agreement on what any such line is to be hopeful.
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
They are doing so, of course, asymmetrically. Some schools are keeping their libraries, and the books in them. Some schools are keeping their humanities and basic science departments and language programs. Some schools are keeping tenure (though few or none are expanding it). Still, it’s a fight.
November 29, 2025 at 4:01 PM
They are doing so, of course, asymmetrically. Some schools are keeping their libraries, and the books in them. Some schools are keeping their humanities and basic science departments and language programs. Some schools are keeping tenure (though few or none are expanding it). Still, it’s a fight.
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
I will add: there’s a sense in which we (I speak as a learner not a teacher now; or as both) have always had to fight to get an education out of institutions of learning. A capacity for gamification or proceduralism is built into any system. But the resources for fighting that fight are shrinking.
November 29, 2025 at 4:01 PM
I will add: there’s a sense in which we (I speak as a learner not a teacher now; or as both) have always had to fight to get an education out of institutions of learning. A capacity for gamification or proceduralism is built into any system. But the resources for fighting that fight are shrinking.
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
“it’s just a tool” becomes unconvincing when entrepreneurship means leveraging power to make it impossible for people to avoid your product, and creating problems for whomever doesn’t use it
November 30, 2025 at 1:38 PM
“it’s just a tool” becomes unconvincing when entrepreneurship means leveraging power to make it impossible for people to avoid your product, and creating problems for whomever doesn’t use it
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
the single defining “new technology” of the 21st century is in fact nothing more than the subscription, an early modern innovation
November 30, 2025 at 1:41 PM
the single defining “new technology” of the 21st century is in fact nothing more than the subscription, an early modern innovation
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
The @nsarchive.bsky.social Posts Declassified Documents on Operation Condor’s Dark History | This cross-border network of repression (launched 50 years ago in Chile) targeted hundreds of dissidents & opponents of right-wing regimes for kidnapping, torture & disappearance in the Southern Cone.
Operation Condor: A Network of Transnational Repression 50 Years Later
Washington, D.C., November 26, 2025 - On General Augusto Pinochet’s 60th birthday, November 25, 1975, four delegations of Southern Cone secret police chieftains gathered in Santiago, Chile, at the inv...
nsarchive.gwu.edu
November 29, 2025 at 1:58 PM
The @nsarchive.bsky.social Posts Declassified Documents on Operation Condor’s Dark History | This cross-border network of repression (launched 50 years ago in Chile) targeted hundreds of dissidents & opponents of right-wing regimes for kidnapping, torture & disappearance in the Southern Cone.
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
i wonder how much student loan debt facilitated the 75 million dollars that northwestern university just gave to the gov't to satiate their fascist extortion methods
November 29, 2025 at 2:19 AM
i wonder how much student loan debt facilitated the 75 million dollars that northwestern university just gave to the gov't to satiate their fascist extortion methods
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
Crazy how the CIA murdered her
Sarah Beckstrom's ex-boyfriend told NBC News she dreamed of becoming an FBI special agent.
She didn't want to deploy to D.C.
"She hated it. She cried about it."
But she started visiting monuments and museums and started enjoying it.
May she rest in peace.
www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
She didn't want to deploy to D.C.
"She hated it. She cried about it."
But she started visiting monuments and museums and started enjoying it.
May she rest in peace.
www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
National Guard member killed in D.C. shooting remembered for 'heart of gold'
The slain soldier’s former boyfriend recalled her empathy and generosity. “She doesn’t even have to know you and she’ll do anything for you,” he said.
www.nbcnews.com
November 29, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Crazy how the CIA murdered her
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
this dog’s about to kick my ass in a shaw brothers movie
Some of those dogs at the dog show are just obscene abominations unto the lord.
November 28, 2025 at 5:28 PM
this dog’s about to kick my ass in a shaw brothers movie
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
There is no way to read these agreements, at a moment when the presidency is so obviously both lawless and unpopular, other than a willful collaboration by university administrators who see utility and purpose in the overreach by a flailing fascist government.
BREAKING: Northwestern University has agreed to pay the U.S. Treasury $75 million, over the course of three years as part of an agreement with the federal government to restore funding and end investigations into the university
Full statement from NU below:
Full statement from NU below:
November 29, 2025 at 1:05 AM
There is no way to read these agreements, at a moment when the presidency is so obviously both lawless and unpopular, other than a willful collaboration by university administrators who see utility and purpose in the overreach by a flailing fascist government.
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
Admin are continually pressuring us to make the course "more accessible," by which they mean "devastatingly easy to complete," but it's not about access. Many students refuse to read or write in any capacity that isn't tech-aided, no matter how simple the assignment, no matter how process-based.
November 28, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Admin are continually pressuring us to make the course "more accessible," by which they mean "devastatingly easy to complete," but it's not about access. Many students refuse to read or write in any capacity that isn't tech-aided, no matter how simple the assignment, no matter how process-based.
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
It's only a matter of time before humanities departments will be forced to accept AI-authored assignments, as part of revised university policy to cooperate with these billionaires. It's already happening, and our response needs to be decisive. Because our students' ability to *think* is at stake.
November 28, 2025 at 10:37 PM
It's only a matter of time before humanities departments will be forced to accept AI-authored assignments, as part of revised university policy to cooperate with these billionaires. It's already happening, and our response needs to be decisive. Because our students' ability to *think* is at stake.
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
And I swear, once again, this is not dunking on kids. We are seeing this at all levels--even grad students. AI + social media has had a profound impact on how we think and process our world, and we can't stop to reflect on it, because billionaires keep hurling addictive tech at us.
November 28, 2025 at 10:34 PM
And I swear, once again, this is not dunking on kids. We are seeing this at all levels--even grad students. AI + social media has had a profound impact on how we think and process our world, and we can't stop to reflect on it, because billionaires keep hurling addictive tech at us.
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
Universities are assembling larger and larger teams to deal with academic integrity issues--mostly focused on AI--while simultaneously holding AI "writing" contests, AI-themed events, "hey, come play with these fun tools!" The messages are so mixed, it's criminal. Because AI is bloated with money.
November 28, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Universities are assembling larger and larger teams to deal with academic integrity issues--mostly focused on AI--while simultaneously holding AI "writing" contests, AI-themed events, "hey, come play with these fun tools!" The messages are so mixed, it's criminal. Because AI is bloated with money.
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
I will again say to my colleagues at these institutions, what do you plan to do about your leadership sacrificing the future of your institution for the lesser evil of collaborating with these people?
November 29, 2025 at 1:11 AM
I will again say to my colleagues at these institutions, what do you plan to do about your leadership sacrificing the future of your institution for the lesser evil of collaborating with these people?
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
Elon Musk and the Trump administration gleefully shutting down USAID “has already caused the deaths of six hundred thousand people, two-thirds of them children.”
People throw around terms like genocide quite freely online but it’s hard to find other words to describe this level of man-made death.
People throw around terms like genocide quite freely online but it’s hard to find other words to describe this level of man-made death.
USAID shutdown has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
The Trump administration’s decision to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths from infectious diseases and malnutrition, accord...
hsph.harvard.edu
November 28, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Elon Musk and the Trump administration gleefully shutting down USAID “has already caused the deaths of six hundred thousand people, two-thirds of them children.”
People throw around terms like genocide quite freely online but it’s hard to find other words to describe this level of man-made death.
People throw around terms like genocide quite freely online but it’s hard to find other words to describe this level of man-made death.
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
"The CIA has denied the allegations of brutality among the units, saying they were the result of Taliban propaganda...However, USCIS used a Human Rights Watch report decrying the units as a reason to deny US citizenship to an Afghan soldier who had worked alongside American forces"
November 28, 2025 at 1:43 AM
"The CIA has denied the allegations of brutality among the units, saying they were the result of Taliban propaganda...However, USCIS used a Human Rights Watch report decrying the units as a reason to deny US citizenship to an Afghan soldier who had worked alongside American forces"
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
"In perceiving and experiencing the world, we ‘smuggle in’ our own fundamental self-survival goals. This is something we share with cats and worms and viruses. Whether this is also something we share with artificial systems is another story."
- @annaciaunica.bsky.social
- @annaciaunica.bsky.social
What if thinking doesn’t begin in the brain, but in the ceaseless labour of our cells? Today’s essay rethinks the question of how we become minds, arguing that cognition begins not in the mind but in the collective processes that keep a body alive @annaciaunica.bsky.social
Why you need your whole body – from head to toes – to think | Aeon Essays
Contemplating the world requires a body, and a body requires an immune system: the rungs of life create the stuff of thought
buff.ly
November 27, 2025 at 12:36 PM
"In perceiving and experiencing the world, we ‘smuggle in’ our own fundamental self-survival goals. This is something we share with cats and worms and viruses. Whether this is also something we share with artificial systems is another story."
- @annaciaunica.bsky.social
- @annaciaunica.bsky.social
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
Gonna be a *lot* of inedible and dangerous dishes and at least one family annihilation as a result of people casually asking chatgpt for a recipe
November 25, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Gonna be a *lot* of inedible and dangerous dishes and at least one family annihilation as a result of people casually asking chatgpt for a recipe
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
i think it's also pretty bad faith to pretend every criticism is invalid because some people are upset this stuff is being forced on them at work while threatening the stability of the entire economy and being used to create the hard right federal government's propaganda machine
November 26, 2025 at 12:35 PM
i think it's also pretty bad faith to pretend every criticism is invalid because some people are upset this stuff is being forced on them at work while threatening the stability of the entire economy and being used to create the hard right federal government's propaganda machine
Reposted by Ryan Hendrickson
What makes my head combust is how many conversations I had with self satisfied American and British and Western European ‘liberals’ etc over the past decade on the global threat posed by Indian fascism, and how easily they all dismissed it. Because it couldn’t possibly impact them, as they saw it
November 25, 2025 at 12:46 PM
What makes my head combust is how many conversations I had with self satisfied American and British and Western European ‘liberals’ etc over the past decade on the global threat posed by Indian fascism, and how easily they all dismissed it. Because it couldn’t possibly impact them, as they saw it