Jeff Sharlet
@jeffsharlet.bsky.social
I wrote a book about now, THE UNDERTOW: Scenes from a Slow Civil War, & 2 about how we got here, THE FAMILY & C ST, also a Netflix series. Also THIS BRILLIANT DARKNESS & SWEET HEAVEN WHEN I DIE. Professing @ Dartmouth. That's not my cat.
I feel like we had a frontline and we weren't sure about all our comrades, but still we'd all do our best such as it was -- then the enemy approaches and all the officers are the first to run screaming, or worse, to turn and fire on their own ranks.
I lost it today cos U New Brunswick Admins are telling fac LLMs are fine for writing ‘first drafts’. 💀
bsky.app/profile/wtfi...
bsky.app/profile/wtfi...
THEY ARE TELLING US TO USE THE TEXT-EXTRUDING PLAGIARISM MACHINE TRAINED ON OUR STOLEN BOOKS.
STAND TF UP!
STAND TF UP!
February 13, 2026 at 1:43 AM
I feel like we had a frontline and we weren't sure about all our comrades, but still we'd all do our best such as it was -- then the enemy approaches and all the officers are the first to run screaming, or worse, to turn and fire on their own ranks.
Today, I learned: Open AI fired its head of safety for objecting to porn -- no, wait, excuse me, for "discriminating against men"; Anthropic's head of safety quit to study the poetry his company hoovered up from the world's library; and Trump said to every stinking factory, smoke em if you got em.
February 13, 2026 at 1:36 AM
Today, I learned: Open AI fired its head of safety for objecting to porn -- no, wait, excuse me, for "discriminating against men"; Anthropic's head of safety quit to study the poetry his company hoovered up from the world's library; and Trump said to every stinking factory, smoke em if you got em.
Anthropic head of AI safety quits, warning of "world in peril" & announces plan to study creative writing, as my college charges ahead in deal with Anthropic, which trained its tech on at least 25 books taken without permission from our Creative Writing faculty. www.bbc.com/news/article...
Anthropic AI safety researcher quits with 'world in peril' warning
It comes in the same week an OpenAI researcher resigned amid concerns about its decision to start testing ChatGPT ads.
www.bbc.com
February 13, 2026 at 12:46 AM
Anthropic head of AI safety quits, warning of "world in peril" & announces plan to study creative writing, as my college charges ahead in deal with Anthropic, which trained its tech on at least 25 books taken without permission from our Creative Writing faculty. www.bbc.com/news/article...
Reposted by Jeff Sharlet
Greetings from UW - Madison, where the two biggest initiatives of our university in the last four years have been <checks notes> an initiative to hire 50 faculty “innovators” in AI & the creation of <checks notes> a College of Computing & Artificial Intelligence 🤔
Glad to see a Columbia administrator speaking the plain sense about AI so many college leaders refuse to contend with. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/o...
Opinion | A.I. Companies Are Eating Higher Education
www.nytimes.com
February 13, 2026 at 12:38 AM
Greetings from UW - Madison, where the two biggest initiatives of our university in the last four years have been <checks notes> an initiative to hire 50 faculty “innovators” in AI & the creation of <checks notes> a College of Computing & Artificial Intelligence 🤔
Reposted by Jeff Sharlet
Glad to see a Columbia administrator speaking the plain sense about AI so many college leaders refuse to contend with. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/o...
Opinion | A.I. Companies Are Eating Higher Education
www.nytimes.com
February 12, 2026 at 11:13 PM
Glad to see a Columbia administrator speaking the plain sense about AI so many college leaders refuse to contend with. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/o...
It's not an exaggeration to say this will result in genocidal-scale death. And I don't mean in the distant, speculative future. Just the tens of thousands of pollution deaths in the relative near-term (Free link.) www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/c...
Trump Administration Erases the Government’s Power to Fight Climate Change
www.nytimes.com
February 12, 2026 at 10:50 PM
It's not an exaggeration to say this will result in genocidal-scale death. And I don't mean in the distant, speculative future. Just the tens of thousands of pollution deaths in the relative near-term (Free link.) www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/c...
The universe offers signs
totally enthralled by this oven mitt with an onion sitting on it at LAX with the words “2. Keep important medications with you” over it. I took dozens of photos
February 12, 2026 at 10:42 PM
The universe offers signs
Only source this troll can cite is a book called Born Fighting. He can't remember, but it's by former Dem Sen Jim Webb. I spent a lot of time traveling around w/ Webb for a profile. He was no progressive, but in terms of fighting I think back then he'd have knocked this sallow toad on his warty ass.
Trump nominated a legit white nationalist to a top post at the State Department. I asked him some basic questions about his belief in the “erasure of white culture”. Watch this embarrassing, fumbling answer. Like he has never before been asked to explain his views.
February 12, 2026 at 10:36 PM
Only source this troll can cite is a book called Born Fighting. He can't remember, but it's by former Dem Sen Jim Webb. I spent a lot of time traveling around w/ Webb for a profile. He was no progressive, but in terms of fighting I think back then he'd have knocked this sallow toad on his warty ass.
Reposted by Jeff Sharlet
Why are all the US media using words like "revoke" and repeal"? They mean nothing in this context. Why not "refuse to accept", "deny", or "lie about"?
The Trump administration on Thursday will revoke a scientific finding that long has been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change, the White House announced. https://to.pbs.org/4610Jci
WATCH LIVE: Trump, Zeldin to announce end of scientific basis for U.S. action on climate change
The Trump administration on Thursday will revoke a scientific finding that long has been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change, the White Hous...
to.pbs.org
February 12, 2026 at 10:31 PM
Why are all the US media using words like "revoke" and repeal"? They mean nothing in this context. Why not "refuse to accept", "deny", or "lie about"?
Reposted by Jeff Sharlet
My apologies, Charles Darwin. I wasn’t familiar with your Hater Game
Found an additional graphic that gets even more of these quotes together.
I've kept "I hate myself, I hate clover, and I hate bees" pinned above my desk since I first started studying evolutionary biology as an undergraduate. So relatable to get extremely frustrated with your study system.
I've kept "I hate myself, I hate clover, and I hate bees" pinned above my desk since I first started studying evolutionary biology as an undergraduate. So relatable to get extremely frustrated with your study system.
February 12, 2026 at 10:18 PM
My apologies, Charles Darwin. I wasn’t familiar with your Hater Game
Reposted by Jeff Sharlet
I called up one of the White House's "special government employees" involved in the Fulton County FBI raid.
I ended up on the phone for almost two hours hearing about the "deep state" "cabal," "Satanists," poison soda, and the "pure evil" of "gay pride." talkingpointsmemo.com/news/meet-th...
I ended up on the phone for almost two hours hearing about the "deep state" "cabal," "Satanists," poison soda, and the "pure evil" of "gay pride." talkingpointsmemo.com/news/meet-th...
February 11, 2026 at 11:53 PM
I called up one of the White House's "special government employees" involved in the Fulton County FBI raid.
I ended up on the phone for almost two hours hearing about the "deep state" "cabal," "Satanists," poison soda, and the "pure evil" of "gay pride." talkingpointsmemo.com/news/meet-th...
I ended up on the phone for almost two hours hearing about the "deep state" "cabal," "Satanists," poison soda, and the "pure evil" of "gay pride." talkingpointsmemo.com/news/meet-th...
Direct parallel to denialism around fascism. Too many tell themselves “we’re winning”—as if acknowledging scale of fascism’s assault means submitting to it, or as if democracy is a pep rally. It’s a struggle, we’re not winning, but we can, so let’s fight harder—against the anti-human in govt & tech.
I understand why people are exhausted by AI hype, and why those of us squarely in the corner of "human dignity uber alles" see AI doomerism as self-serving hype, but I *really* think people on the left broadly need to start thinking seriously about the possibiltiy of the hype being...true.
February 11, 2026 at 10:32 PM
Direct parallel to denialism around fascism. Too many tell themselves “we’re winning”—as if acknowledging scale of fascism’s assault means submitting to it, or as if democracy is a pep rally. It’s a struggle, we’re not winning, but we can, so let’s fight harder—against the anti-human in govt & tech.
Reposted by Jeff Sharlet
Excellent @washingtonpost.com piece on the signs that global warming is accelerating by @shannonosaka.bsky.social and @johnmuyskens.bsky.social, featuring @hausfath.bsky.social @rarohde.bsky.social @cjsmith.eu
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
February 11, 2026 at 10:26 PM
Excellent @washingtonpost.com piece on the signs that global warming is accelerating by @shannonosaka.bsky.social and @johnmuyskens.bsky.social, featuring @hausfath.bsky.social @rarohde.bsky.social @cjsmith.eu
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
Especially bad news for Atlantans, but also bad news for all of us and democracy. As more and more cities become increasingly unreported, ordinary corruption has an ever more open field into which to cohere into local authoritarianisms, rippling out and up.
Even more bad news for Atlanta local journalism: @atlpresscollective.com, which has extensively covered "Cop City", ICE, and Flock cameras, and a finalist for the @inn.org Insight Award for Visual Journalism, announced today that they have run out of cash to stay open beyond the end of March.
More bad news for Atlanta local journalism: Mariann Martin, Co-founder, Operations and Editorial Director of @canopyatl.bsky.social, announced her departure from the newsroom yesterday.
The award-winning nonprofit and Press Forward grantee has not published a single story since Dec. 2025.
The award-winning nonprofit and Press Forward grantee has not published a single story since Dec. 2025.
February 11, 2026 at 10:26 PM
Especially bad news for Atlantans, but also bad news for all of us and democracy. As more and more cities become increasingly unreported, ordinary corruption has an ever more open field into which to cohere into local authoritarianisms, rippling out and up.
Couple of years ago I bought a book by the Tennessee photographer Baldwin Lee. Marveled at a few pages, put it on shelf to linger w/ later, only now remembered it. And... these are photos of the Black American South, yes. & they are photographs of EVERYTHING. A few here: www.baldwinlee.com/work/vol1
I — BALDWIN LEE
www.baldwinlee.com
February 11, 2026 at 3:49 PM
Couple of years ago I bought a book by the Tennessee photographer Baldwin Lee. Marveled at a few pages, put it on shelf to linger w/ later, only now remembered it. And... these are photos of the Black American South, yes. & they are photographs of EVERYTHING. A few here: www.baldwinlee.com/work/vol1
Reposted by Jeff Sharlet
1. Internal documents reveal that Freedom 250, which purports to celebrate the nation's 250th anniversary, is a vehicle to promote Trump and "America First" propaganda, including election conspiracies
Major corporations like Mastercard and Deloitte and spending million to bankroll this effort
Major corporations like Mastercard and Deloitte and spending million to bankroll this effort
Major corporations bankroll "America First" propaganda
Mastercard, Deloitte, and ExxonMobil are spending millions to promote events supporting Trump and his divisive political agenda.
popular.info
February 11, 2026 at 2:38 PM
1. Internal documents reveal that Freedom 250, which purports to celebrate the nation's 250th anniversary, is a vehicle to promote Trump and "America First" propaganda, including election conspiracies
Major corporations like Mastercard and Deloitte and spending million to bankroll this effort
Major corporations like Mastercard and Deloitte and spending million to bankroll this effort
Reposted by Jeff Sharlet
These men are a threat to the long term survival of all life on earth
Burgum: "CO2 was never a pollutant. When we breathe, we emit CO2. Plants need CO2 to survive and grow. They thrive with more CO2. So the whole endangerment thing opens up an opportunity for the revival of clean, beautiful, American coal."
February 11, 2026 at 3:31 PM
These men are a threat to the long term survival of all life on earth
Reposted by Jeff Sharlet
When I worked at Microsoft they said we had to use Copilot five times a day and noncompliance would show up in our reviews.
So, every morning I’d ask it questions about puppies and clouds until I hit my quota and get to work.
Leadership was thrilled at how we integrated AI into our operations 😂
So, every morning I’d ask it questions about puppies and clouds until I hit my quota and get to work.
Leadership was thrilled at how we integrated AI into our operations 😂
February 11, 2026 at 3:27 PM
When I worked at Microsoft they said we had to use Copilot five times a day and noncompliance would show up in our reviews.
So, every morning I’d ask it questions about puppies and clouds until I hit my quota and get to work.
Leadership was thrilled at how we integrated AI into our operations 😂
So, every morning I’d ask it questions about puppies and clouds until I hit my quota and get to work.
Leadership was thrilled at how we integrated AI into our operations 😂
Keep track of the escalations. The 21-yr-old who's been posting openly white-supremacist, antisemitic graphics for Dept. of Labor just got a giant promotion to run social media for DHS's 222,000 employees. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/11/u...
Homeland Security Hires Labor Dept. Aide Whose Posts Raised Alarms
www.nytimes.com
February 11, 2026 at 3:31 PM
Keep track of the escalations. The 21-yr-old who's been posting openly white-supremacist, antisemitic graphics for Dept. of Labor just got a giant promotion to run social media for DHS's 222,000 employees. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/11/u...
This piece of paper was, I kid you not, once held up to the camera on a television news broadcast as part of a traffic report, as they had been unable to get a cameraperson to the scene of the highway closure.
February 11, 2026 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Jeff Sharlet
The struggle against AI while employers force it on us is stress no one needs.
Amazing how people will pivot from "Be innovative, find creative solutions," to "Use the plagiarism bot that hallucinates, and you don't need to learn to code."
There are use cases, but damn, chill.
Amazing how people will pivot from "Be innovative, find creative solutions," to "Use the plagiarism bot that hallucinates, and you don't need to learn to code."
There are use cases, but damn, chill.
February 11, 2026 at 3:05 PM
The struggle against AI while employers force it on us is stress no one needs.
Amazing how people will pivot from "Be innovative, find creative solutions," to "Use the plagiarism bot that hallucinates, and you don't need to learn to code."
There are use cases, but damn, chill.
Amazing how people will pivot from "Be innovative, find creative solutions," to "Use the plagiarism bot that hallucinates, and you don't need to learn to code."
There are use cases, but damn, chill.
Future-forward! "Fine, as long as you edit," said the professor on his way to the unemployment office.
My kid dropped a humanities class right after the prof said using AI was “fine, as long as you edit.” Mentioned that her son agreed with my kid who pointed out the many problems with it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .
February 11, 2026 at 3:07 PM
Future-forward! "Fine, as long as you edit," said the professor on his way to the unemployment office.
"This is what the bear probably looked like--except real." If I was choosing videos for a space probe to other galaxies, I'd include this & the St. Louis February news. I think that might be it. In a million yrs, aliens wld look at earth, by then a lifeless cinder, & mourn our genius.
another entry in the "what WAS journalism" pantheon, this one always held a special place in my heart:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5C2...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5C2...
WJW Fox 8 Cleveland does a ridiculous story on a bear in a lady's backyard
YouTube video by downtownmcs
www.youtube.com
February 11, 2026 at 3:05 PM
"This is what the bear probably looked like--except real." If I was choosing videos for a space probe to other galaxies, I'd include this & the St. Louis February news. I think that might be it. In a million yrs, aliens wld look at earth, by then a lifeless cinder, & mourn our genius.