Jon Coburn
@joncoburn.bsky.social
Mediocre historian. University of Lincoln, UK
'Not Just a Housewife: Women Strike for Peace and the Cold War Women's Peace Movement' out October 2025
| Histories of activism | protest suicide | information literacy
'Not Just a Housewife: Women Strike for Peace and the Cold War Women's Peace Movement' out October 2025
| Histories of activism | protest suicide | information literacy
Reposted by Jon Coburn
I agree that it’s high fucking time that we stopped acting like we need to grovel and constantly justify the existence of some of our most incredibly elemental and ancient human pursuits.
Are the humanities the only disciplines whose classes begin with modules speaking to the importance of studying the humanities? "Why study the humanities?" and "Why the humanities are important" must be cliches.
January 28, 2026 at 1:34 AM
I agree that it’s high fucking time that we stopped acting like we need to grovel and constantly justify the existence of some of our most incredibly elemental and ancient human pursuits.
Reposted by Jon Coburn
"On Holocaust Memorial Day we need more history, not just more memory" bit.ly/4t6wPx6
Dr Andy Pearce, Director of @uclholocaust.bsky.social, writes today on the RHS blog.
#Skystorians
Dr Andy Pearce, Director of @uclholocaust.bsky.social, writes today on the RHS blog.
#Skystorians
January 27, 2026 at 8:19 AM
"On Holocaust Memorial Day we need more history, not just more memory" bit.ly/4t6wPx6
Dr Andy Pearce, Director of @uclholocaust.bsky.social, writes today on the RHS blog.
#Skystorians
Dr Andy Pearce, Director of @uclholocaust.bsky.social, writes today on the RHS blog.
#Skystorians
Why is he giving future Raiders this information though?
Bear Grylls: ‘I’ve bought an apocalypse-proof boat, with an array of weaponry’
Bear Grylls: ‘I’ve bought an apocalypse-proof boat, with an array of weaponry’
The adventurer on his family’s escape vessel, his crush on the Princess of Wales, and a disgusting toenail habit
www.theguardian.com
January 24, 2026 at 12:25 PM
Why is he giving future Raiders this information though?
Reposted by Jon Coburn
Board of Peace - Season 1
January 24, 2026 at 7:45 AM
Board of Peace - Season 1
…..eh?
New - Nigel Farage has been found by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards to have made 17 standards breaches, adding up to over £380,000 in late declarations.
He’s apologised, so no further investigation (which seems unusual for a breach this large)
He’s apologised, so no further investigation (which seems unusual for a breach this large)
January 21, 2026 at 9:39 AM
…..eh?
Reposted by Jon Coburn
Coretta Scott King was Martin Luther King's political as well as romantic partner. More of an activist than him when they met, she was the "family leader" on peace and anti-colonialism, publicly out against the war on Vietnam years before him. She offers us much for the struggle today.
8 ways to be like King for the struggle today—Coretta Scott King, that is
—by @jeannetheoharis.bsky.social @inthesetimes.com with incredible art by Howard Barry
inthesetimes.com/article/mlk-...
—by @jeannetheoharis.bsky.social @inthesetimes.com with incredible art by Howard Barry
inthesetimes.com/article/mlk-...
“Always More Than a Label”: 8 Ways to Be Like King for the Struggle Today—Coretta Scott King, That Is
Investigative reporting about corporate malfeasance and government wrongdoing, analysis of national and world affairs, and cultural criticism that matters.
inthesetimes.com
January 20, 2026 at 1:27 PM
Coretta Scott King was Martin Luther King's political as well as romantic partner. More of an activist than him when they met, she was the "family leader" on peace and anti-colonialism, publicly out against the war on Vietnam years before him. She offers us much for the struggle today.
Reposted by Jon Coburn
A huge chunk of our political class has "book-you-see-in-an-airport" brain.
Just no interest in rigour.
Just no interest in rigour.
Banning social media for kids may be good or bad but that guy is a comically obvious bullshit artist with entire books full of trite lessons extrapolated from anecdotes that are themselves barely half-true.
January 14, 2026 at 4:00 PM
A huge chunk of our political class has "book-you-see-in-an-airport" brain.
Just no interest in rigour.
Just no interest in rigour.
Reposted by Jon Coburn
Friends, Claudette Colvin—the 15-year-old who refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus in March 1955 & joined the federal case against bus segregation that went to the Supreme Court — died today at age 86. But there are lots of myths and mis-impressions about her. A short corrective thread:
January 14, 2026 at 1:27 AM
Friends, Claudette Colvin—the 15-year-old who refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus in March 1955 & joined the federal case against bus segregation that went to the Supreme Court — died today at age 86. But there are lots of myths and mis-impressions about her. A short corrective thread:
Reposted by Jon Coburn
Reason 3: Cursive forms vary enormously by period, and the idea that being able to read the cursive you learn in 3rd grade would also enable you to interpret a 17th century alchemist’s handwriting is honestly kind of ludicrous
January 2, 2026 at 12:39 PM
Reason 3: Cursive forms vary enormously by period, and the idea that being able to read the cursive you learn in 3rd grade would also enable you to interpret a 17th century alchemist’s handwriting is honestly kind of ludicrous
Reposted by Jon Coburn
Reason 2: There is a literacy crisis already! People can’t read generally, not just the Magna Carta
January 2, 2026 at 12:36 PM
Reason 2: There is a literacy crisis already! People can’t read generally, not just the Magna Carta
Reposted by Jon Coburn
Reason 1: Most historical documents are not written in English, and if they are written in English it would like not be an English easily recognized by a 21st century teen, regardless of cursive fluency
January 2, 2026 at 12:35 PM
Reason 1: Most historical documents are not written in English, and if they are written in English it would like not be an English easily recognized by a 21st century teen, regardless of cursive fluency
Right now: Stop what you’re doing, speak to your mum, tell her you love her.
You will never have as much time or as many opportunities to do so as you think you will.
You will never have as much time or as many opportunities to do so as you think you will.
December 31, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Right now: Stop what you’re doing, speak to your mum, tell her you love her.
You will never have as much time or as many opportunities to do so as you think you will.
You will never have as much time or as many opportunities to do so as you think you will.
Reposted by Jon Coburn
“This article urges a fresh view on [AI large language model] hallucinations by arguing that, rather than being errors in any conventional sense, they are evidence of a probabilistic system incapable of dealing with questions of knowledge.”
Rethinking Error: “Hallucinations” and Epistemological Indifference | Critical AI | Duke University Press
read.dukeupress.edu
December 30, 2025 at 2:39 PM
“This article urges a fresh view on [AI large language model] hallucinations by arguing that, rather than being errors in any conventional sense, they are evidence of a probabilistic system incapable of dealing with questions of knowledge.”
Reposted by Jon Coburn
THIS THIS THIS. ALL OF THIS
THIS is why faculty resist technological strategies for teaching. There is no engaging with Edtech without this context
THIS is why faculty resist technological strategies for teaching. There is no engaging with Edtech without this context
December 30, 2025 at 1:50 AM
THIS THIS THIS. ALL OF THIS
THIS is why faculty resist technological strategies for teaching. There is no engaging with Edtech without this context
THIS is why faculty resist technological strategies for teaching. There is no engaging with Edtech without this context
Merry Christmas to all except this POS
December 25, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Merry Christmas to all except this POS
Reposted by Jon Coburn
This and the discussion about how academics can now just read AI summaries of things really drives home how much these guys always confuse the product for the goal. You don't do a coloring sheet because you want to have a colored sheet at the end!!! The coloring is the point!!!
December 21, 2025 at 11:39 PM
This and the discussion about how academics can now just read AI summaries of things really drives home how much these guys always confuse the product for the goal. You don't do a coloring sheet because you want to have a colored sheet at the end!!! The coloring is the point!!!
Reposted by Jon Coburn
AI is often sold as 'do something you already know how to do more efficiently' but is often bought as 'do something you don't know how to do with no idea if you are doing it efficiently at all'
December 21, 2025 at 9:33 PM
AI is often sold as 'do something you already know how to do more efficiently' but is often bought as 'do something you don't know how to do with no idea if you are doing it efficiently at all'
Reposted by Jon Coburn
What historians (and other scholars do) is create knowledge. We should use that phrase more and talk about what it means. I think we don't, and it's part of why AI enthusiasts are confused when we don't readily agree that our work can be replicated/replaced by their products.
December 21, 2025 at 8:39 PM
What historians (and other scholars do) is create knowledge. We should use that phrase more and talk about what it means. I think we don't, and it's part of why AI enthusiasts are confused when we don't readily agree that our work can be replicated/replaced by their products.
Reposted by Jon Coburn
This is why actual knowledge - not just Jeopardy-style recitation of flashcard facts - is collaborative. If I need to understand something so far outside of my realm of expertise that I can’t get far enough reading solo, I figure out who’d know more, and have *gasp* a conversation…with a human being
December 21, 2025 at 11:30 PM
This is why actual knowledge - not just Jeopardy-style recitation of flashcard facts - is collaborative. If I need to understand something so far outside of my realm of expertise that I can’t get far enough reading solo, I figure out who’d know more, and have *gasp* a conversation…with a human being
Reposted by Jon Coburn
The “AI” has not read the book. Even if the book was in its training data, it has just absorbed it as a set of statistics. It will juggle you a “summary” that might or might not relate to the conclusions of the actual text. The only way you’ll know is to read it yourself.
This is one of the reasons I remain horrified by seeing @historians.org suggest "ways to use gAI" that included this:
December 22, 2025 at 7:21 AM
The “AI” has not read the book. Even if the book was in its training data, it has just absorbed it as a set of statistics. It will juggle you a “summary” that might or might not relate to the conclusions of the actual text. The only way you’ll know is to read it yourself.
Reposted by Jon Coburn
So the “figure out how to use it lest you be left behind” replies about ‘AI’ that have been popping up here strike me as inauthentic but also kind of funny because they grant the point that rather than an automation panacea these technologies are quite difficult to figure out how to use effectively
December 21, 2025 at 3:32 PM
So the “figure out how to use it lest you be left behind” replies about ‘AI’ that have been popping up here strike me as inauthentic but also kind of funny because they grant the point that rather than an automation panacea these technologies are quite difficult to figure out how to use effectively
Reposted by Jon Coburn
The point is not to put more fact shaped things in your head than anyone else. It’s to understand the ones that are there on a deep and meaningful level.
December 21, 2025 at 8:48 PM
The point is not to put more fact shaped things in your head than anyone else. It’s to understand the ones that are there on a deep and meaningful level.
Reposted by Jon Coburn
The only semi-reasonable use-cases I have heard are for basically busy work, that people don't want to do and have to do for societal or work culture reasons, & those things should be abolished instead of finding these convoluted ways around doing it.
But if you don't like research - don't do a phd?
But if you don't like research - don't do a phd?
December 21, 2025 at 9:36 PM
The only semi-reasonable use-cases I have heard are for basically busy work, that people don't want to do and have to do for societal or work culture reasons, & those things should be abolished instead of finding these convoluted ways around doing it.
But if you don't like research - don't do a phd?
But if you don't like research - don't do a phd?
Reposted by Jon Coburn
get that either. Abstracts exist! Keywords exist! There's an entire field of library science to help us find what we need, and the things we don't know we need! not to mention the people that we are learning from, the apprenticeship of talking to advisors and other professors and other students!
December 21, 2025 at 9:25 PM
get that either. Abstracts exist! Keywords exist! There's an entire field of library science to help us find what we need, and the things we don't know we need! not to mention the people that we are learning from, the apprenticeship of talking to advisors and other professors and other students!