Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
@maggy.kia.net
Former refugee. Abolitionist. Old-school net.person. UW MA Cultural Studies. UCSD PhD (in progress) Comm/STS. Surveillance, unbelonging & mediation of displacement. Unprecedentedness and crisis. Critical Data, AI, DH, maps, archives. She/They/Any
Pinned
Pinned 🧵 -- a Critical AI reading list I'm building in conjuction with a course I'm teaching this summer. I'll be adding to this during the summer, both scholarly works and non-academic public writings, beginning with the Brian Merchant article in the post below:
I'm building a list of sources, in the meantime. @bcmerchant.bsky.social's "Blood in the Machine" is in my Top 5. I'm happy to take other suggestions, and I'll be publishing the reading list. 4/4
Final reading list for my AI course follows, week by week. UC summer sessions are 5 weeks, compressed from the 10 week regular quarter (already short). So, teaching Comm/Media undergrads an upper division class on this, during the summer of the constantly moving AI needle was… a challenge. Still:
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
Right-wing paramilitary rounding people up by race at government behest. No amount of quibbling over due process or "policing standards" or whether or a person is "legal" can address this, much less begin to heal it. It must be stopped, and those responsible must face consequences.
More than 400 people, including hundreds of citizens, were “sorted” at gun point into racial and ethnic groups by 200 ICE agents who fired flash-bang grenades into cars with people inside, pointed guns at children & demanded their zip tied parents not comfort them. apple.news/Ausdx6kWtT0e...
Idaho families sue over immigration raid that swept up hundreds, including U.S. citizens — NBC News
About 400 people, including children and U.S. citizens, were detained for four hours while they were denied food and water in the raid, according to the lawsuit.
apple.news
February 12, 2026 at 3:33 AM
Right-wing paramilitary rounding people up by race at government behest. No amount of quibbling over due process or "policing standards" or whether or a person is "legal" can address this, much less begin to heal it. It must be stopped, and those responsible must face consequences.
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
Tech executives have finally amassed their ultimate, long dreamed-of power: to summarily fire anyone who speaks ill of their desire to have sex with robots
OpenAI fired one of its top safety execs, on the grounds of sexual discrimination, after she voiced opposition to the controversial rollout of AI erotica in its ChatGPT product.
OpenAI told her the term was related to her sexual discrimination against a male colleague.
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/open...
OpenAI told her the term was related to her sexual discrimination against a male colleague.
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/open...
Exclusive | OpenAI Executive Who Opposed ‘Adult Mode’ Fired for Sexual Discrimination
Ryan Beiermeister, who served as the vice president leading OpenAI’s product policy team, had raised concerns about the upcoming launch of erotic content.
www.wsj.com
February 11, 2026 at 10:28 PM
Tech executives have finally amassed their ultimate, long dreamed-of power: to summarily fire anyone who speaks ill of their desire to have sex with robots
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
I don't fear AI doing my job better than me. I fear my boss ignorantly believing that AI can do my job better than I can. *That* seems like the real problem. Managers will decimate the economy for no good reason other than they can.
February 11, 2026 at 10:18 PM
I don't fear AI doing my job better than me. I fear my boss ignorantly believing that AI can do my job better than I can. *That* seems like the real problem. Managers will decimate the economy for no good reason other than they can.
I saw this take before I had to run and teach today, so I've had 4 hrs to build a head of steam about it. Still, I'm gonna try to be nice. All due respect, I expect better from people who have all the resources in the world to research a thing AND a giant megaphone with which to share knowledge. 1/
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 10:19 PM
I saw this take before I had to run and teach today, so I've had 4 hrs to build a head of steam about it. Still, I'm gonna try to be nice. All due respect, I expect better from people who have all the resources in the world to research a thing AND a giant megaphone with which to share knowledge. 1/
How I wish they cared even a tenth as much about products people are actually using (and that need the support!)
Microsoft, Google, Meta and Amazon paying influencers $400k-$600k to post months of AI hype content. Absolutely busted, failed industry, embarrassing era
www.cnbc.com/2026/02/06/g...
www.cnbc.com/2026/02/06/g...
Google and Microsoft offer lucrative deals to promote AI, but even $500,000 won't sway some creators
Tech companies including Google and Microsoft are paying influencers hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote AI products.
www.cnbc.com
February 11, 2026 at 8:03 PM
How I wish they cared even a tenth as much about products people are actually using (and that need the support!)
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
Obviously the closing point about how gamification makes the divide between work and the rest of life slippery is the big important takeaway here, but also, lol, lmao, i simply love to read about the gamer's grotesque urge.
February 11, 2026 at 7:04 PM
Obviously the closing point about how gamification makes the divide between work and the rest of life slippery is the big important takeaway here, but also, lol, lmao, i simply love to read about the gamer's grotesque urge.
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
Please note that she's READING this. She PREPARED this as a rebuttal for questions about Epstein. She planned this, had someone write it down, and read it.
Bondi crashes out over Epstein: "The Dow is over 50,000 dollars! I don't know why you're laughing. You're a great stock trader as I hear, Raskin. The Dow is over 50,000 right now. The S&P at almost 7,000, and the Nasdaq smashing records. That's what we should be talking about."
February 11, 2026 at 4:43 PM
Please note that she's READING this. She PREPARED this as a rebuttal for questions about Epstein. She planned this, had someone write it down, and read it.
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
India has announced perhaps the strictest rules in the world on AI-generated content
www.linkedin.com/posts/restof...
www.linkedin.com/posts/restof...
February 11, 2026 at 7:04 PM
India has announced perhaps the strictest rules in the world on AI-generated content
www.linkedin.com/posts/restof...
www.linkedin.com/posts/restof...
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
As the study and this column note, the study focuses on syllabi from one "large, selective public research university in Texas." Seems misleading to generalize about "instructors" or to not acknowledge roles that administrative, regional, and federal pressures may contribute to syllabi policies.
How instructors describe AI use in their syllabus policies is changing, focusing more on AI’s impact on learning. Earlier, course syllabi were more likely to include only language stating that any AI use is a violation of academic-integrity policies. https://chroni.cl/4ky7CYC
Are Instructors Warming to AI? A Study Says Yes.
A review of thousands of syllabi over five years shows a growing acceptance of the tool.
www.chronicle.com
February 10, 2026 at 6:40 PM
As the study and this column note, the study focuses on syllabi from one "large, selective public research university in Texas." Seems misleading to generalize about "instructors" or to not acknowledge roles that administrative, regional, and federal pressures may contribute to syllabi policies.
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
Everyone needs to understand this. They just SAID the trains were running on time, but they also controlled the news, and social media didn't exist.
The trains didn't actually run on time under Mussolini.
Among the many fascist lies a big one everybody seems to fall for is "at least they run a tight ship." They don't. They rely on intimidation, fear and demand loyalty. They have no skills.
Among the many fascist lies a big one everybody seems to fall for is "at least they run a tight ship." They don't. They rely on intimidation, fear and demand loyalty. They have no skills.
February 11, 2026 at 4:13 PM
Everyone needs to understand this. They just SAID the trains were running on time, but they also controlled the news, and social media didn't exist.
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
This article immediately labels @emilymbender.bsky.social and I as "curmudgeons" because we don't think that the spicy auto complete has a concept of the self.
Experiments conducted with the A.I. system Claude are producing fascinating results—and raising questions about the nature of selfhood. Gideon Lewis-Kraus reports from inside the company that designed it, Anthropic. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/rOfXjg
February 11, 2026 at 3:01 PM
This article immediately labels @emilymbender.bsky.social and I as "curmudgeons" because we don't think that the spicy auto complete has a concept of the self.
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
Look, I’m a giant, MASSIVE nerd who wants to live in Iain Banks’ Culture as much as the next post-scarcity guy, but our current fill in the blank machines bear about as much relationship to intelligence as a duck does to a stealth bomber.
All of this is so incredibly stupid.
All of this is so incredibly stupid.
Researchers working with the A.I. system Claude have come to understand that the model’s selfhood, like our own, is a matter of both neurons and narratives. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/kEX1vV
February 11, 2026 at 6:00 AM
Look, I’m a giant, MASSIVE nerd who wants to live in Iain Banks’ Culture as much as the next post-scarcity guy, but our current fill in the blank machines bear about as much relationship to intelligence as a duck does to a stealth bomber.
All of this is so incredibly stupid.
All of this is so incredibly stupid.
I knew the NYC mayor came from strong artistic and revolutionary bones. But I've only been focusing on him and his campaign and work; for whatever reason, it never dawned on me that his mother is Mira Nair. Mira Nair, FFS! Mississippi Masala was such an important moment in my young adulthood.
Cannot believe that I got to profile an extraordinary filmmaker, who happens to be the mother of NYC’s new mayor, and think about intersections of art and politics, and how familial love might produce a buffer against the corrosive politics and cynicism of our time. My story about Mira Nair:
What Mira Nair Taught Zohran Mamdani
The mayor’s famous filmmaker mother reveals the origins of his ferocious ambition.
www.vulture.com
February 11, 2026 at 6:06 AM
I knew the NYC mayor came from strong artistic and revolutionary bones. But I've only been focusing on him and his campaign and work; for whatever reason, it never dawned on me that his mother is Mira Nair. Mira Nair, FFS! Mississippi Masala was such an important moment in my young adulthood.
THANK YOU!!
Good News: Paulina Borsook's "Cyberselish" will be reissued by Tin House books with a new introduction by....me!
I'll post the link when it's ready for pre-orders.
Never underestimate the power of a humble BlueSky thread!
I'll post the link when it's ready for pre-orders.
Never underestimate the power of a humble BlueSky thread!
1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it).
But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that
But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that
February 11, 2026 at 12:28 AM
THANK YOU!!
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
Run girl
He's armed and obsessive
He's armed and obsessive
new most bizarre moment of the Olympics just dropped
Norwegian biathlete wins bronze medal, then, totally unprompted, reveal he cheated on his GF, she left him, and he wants to apologize publicly hoping she takes him back
www.vg.no/sport/i/vr5g...
Norwegian biathlete wins bronze medal, then, totally unprompted, reveal he cheated on his GF, she left him, and he wants to apologize publicly hoping she takes him back
www.vg.no/sport/i/vr5g...
February 10, 2026 at 6:07 PM
Run girl
He's armed and obsessive
He's armed and obsessive
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
In today’s #404DeepDive, @jasonkoebler.bsky.social gets into Ring’s new feature Search Party which was advertised at the Super Bowl which essentially turns the entire neighborhood into a security dragnet.
Read more: www.404media.co/with-ring-am...
Read more: www.404media.co/with-ring-am...
February 10, 2026 at 7:09 PM
In today’s #404DeepDive, @jasonkoebler.bsky.social gets into Ring’s new feature Search Party which was advertised at the Super Bowl which essentially turns the entire neighborhood into a security dragnet.
Read more: www.404media.co/with-ring-am...
Read more: www.404media.co/with-ring-am...
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
Ring's Super Bowl ad showed how tech companies make dragnets part of daily life. As ICE collaborates with Amazon, bringing AI into Ring's vast camera network will only bolster federal agencies' ability to track and target communities under surveillance.
#AmazonRing #ICE
mashable.com/article/ring...
#AmazonRing #ICE
mashable.com/article/ring...
February 10, 2026 at 6:10 PM
Ring's Super Bowl ad showed how tech companies make dragnets part of daily life. As ICE collaborates with Amazon, bringing AI into Ring's vast camera network will only bolster federal agencies' ability to track and target communities under surveillance.
#AmazonRing #ICE
mashable.com/article/ring...
#AmazonRing #ICE
mashable.com/article/ring...
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
My demands are exceedingly reasonable.
No politician who ever votes for $1 of ICE funding under any conditions will ever have my vote.
cc
@vanhollen.senate.gov
@alsobrooks.senate.gov
@raskin.house.gov
No politician who ever votes for $1 of ICE funding under any conditions will ever have my vote.
cc
@vanhollen.senate.gov
@alsobrooks.senate.gov
@raskin.house.gov
Our DHS reform demands are exceedingly reasonable.
We're asking ICE to do nothing more than follow the standards that the vast majority of law enforcement agencies already follow.
Republicans, the ball is in your court. The clock is ticking.
We're asking ICE to do nothing more than follow the standards that the vast majority of law enforcement agencies already follow.
Republicans, the ball is in your court. The clock is ticking.
February 10, 2026 at 5:08 PM
My demands are exceedingly reasonable.
No politician who ever votes for $1 of ICE funding under any conditions will ever have my vote.
cc
@vanhollen.senate.gov
@alsobrooks.senate.gov
@raskin.house.gov
No politician who ever votes for $1 of ICE funding under any conditions will ever have my vote.
cc
@vanhollen.senate.gov
@alsobrooks.senate.gov
@raskin.house.gov
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
Gotta be some folks who follow me. I can vouch for the crew at Politechs.
If anyone has a grade 1-5 teacher in your network who is a Luddite or AI Hater and who would be willing to be interviewed for Season 2 of the podcast, please put them in touch! Our DMs are open. The guest can be anonymous, as we know that it can be dangerous to speak out against AI in these times. 😞
February 10, 2026 at 4:11 PM
Gotta be some folks who follow me. I can vouch for the crew at Politechs.
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
✊🏼
An immigration court dropped its case against Turkish graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk, a little less than a year after federal agents arrested her on a street near Tufts University
Immigration Court Drops Case Against Tufts Student Rumeysa Ozturk
The Turkish national had been arrested by plainclothes federal officers outside her apartment.
on.wsj.com
February 10, 2026 at 1:21 AM
✊🏼
This is an atrocious move that leads directly to silencing dissent, and worse. Don't fall for it.
In the name of protecting minors, we curtail adults’ ability to speak freely, remain anonymous, and access spaces that were never designed for children in the first place. All accounts on Discord will have a ‘teen-appropriate experience by default starting in March. www.theverge.com/tech/875309/...
Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month
Age verification for all.
www.theverge.com
February 10, 2026 at 1:13 AM
This is an atrocious move that leads directly to silencing dissent, and worse. Don't fall for it.
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
fellow engineers,
you really need to start asking yourself some questions when building something:
1. how will the police use what i'm making?
2. what kinds of people are the police going to use it against?
3. how many people will be harmed in silence before we find out?
you really need to start asking yourself some questions when building something:
1. how will the police use what i'm making?
2. what kinds of people are the police going to use it against?
3. how many people will be harmed in silence before we find out?
January 19, 2024 at 9:25 PM
fellow engineers,
you really need to start asking yourself some questions when building something:
1. how will the police use what i'm making?
2. what kinds of people are the police going to use it against?
3. how many people will be harmed in silence before we find out?
you really need to start asking yourself some questions when building something:
1. how will the police use what i'm making?
2. what kinds of people are the police going to use it against?
3. how many people will be harmed in silence before we find out?
This is brilliant, thank you so much, many things here I didn't know. 💕🧵👇
First shot: sugarcane
The backbone of Puerto Rico's agricultural economy since colonial times
Still used to make rum of course!
The backbone of Puerto Rico's agricultural economy since colonial times
Still used to make rum of course!
February 9, 2026 at 5:06 AM
This is brilliant, thank you so much, many things here I didn't know. 💕🧵👇
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
Please please watch tomorrow night on PBS. Most people have no idea what librarians are dealing with. Some heavy hitters in our field are in this movie. @librarianjones.com @sassylibrarian.bsky.social @becalzada.bsky.social
Watch THE LIBRARIANS, Feb 9, on PBS Independent Lens. Check local listings. @thelibrariansfilm.bsky.social
Bernard Malamud Quote: “There are no wrong books. What’s wrong is the fear of them.”
“There are no wrong books. What’s wrong is the fear of them.” — Quote by Bernard Malamud
quotefancy.com
February 8, 2026 at 8:22 PM
Please please watch tomorrow night on PBS. Most people have no idea what librarians are dealing with. Some heavy hitters in our field are in this movie. @librarianjones.com @sassylibrarian.bsky.social @becalzada.bsky.social