Curtis
@soccurt.bsky.social
Overly caffeinated sociology prof in SW Ontario, and probably having another cup of coffee way too late at night. Politics: liberal socialism, limitarianism, electrify everything, Green/Bean New Deal. Posts my own and do not reflect my employer. He/him. 🏳️🌈
Reposted by Curtis
The culture of nostalgia reaches its obvious endgame
Meta has patented AI that can run a dead person's account, continuing to post and chat on their behalf
It can message and video call by replicating a user's online behavior using their past data
It can message and video call by replicating a user's online behavior using their past data
February 17, 2026 at 3:09 PM
The culture of nostalgia reaches its obvious endgame
Reposted by Curtis
i suspect we all know whose side we're on here
February 17, 2026 at 4:01 AM
i suspect we all know whose side we're on here
Reposted by Curtis
They’re doing parody now
February 16, 2026 at 9:05 PM
They’re doing parody now
At some point, you accrue so much wealth that you start thinking and acting like "L'État, c'est moi."
It's kind of funny how Hayek's (mostly correct) argument against central planning because concentrating that much economic power in one place inevitably lead to totalitarian behavior is also a pretty strong argument against like, extreme concentrations of wealth and market power
pretty stunning chart
February 16, 2026 at 8:56 PM
At some point, you accrue so much wealth that you start thinking and acting like "L'État, c'est moi."
Reposted by Curtis
Fun fact: when I run DEI workshops about trans stuff (it happens occasionally) one of my strategies is to start by getting people to talk about cyclists and their experiences. This usually works to build empathy, but occasionally it turns out that people actually hate cyclists more than trans people
you'd think the worst thing about cycling would be all the people trying to kill you, but it's actually all the insufferable men who insist on telling you that if you don't ride the way they think you should ride then you're no better than a car driver who hits pedestrians
February 16, 2026 at 4:36 AM
Fun fact: when I run DEI workshops about trans stuff (it happens occasionally) one of my strategies is to start by getting people to talk about cyclists and their experiences. This usually works to build empathy, but occasionally it turns out that people actually hate cyclists more than trans people
Just finished reading Attensity! As someone who’s been interested in the effects of technology on cognition and attention, and what they mean for politics, this was a deeply unsatisfying book. The collective authors do not have a good grasp of what they want their politics to be.
February 16, 2026 at 2:52 AM
Just finished reading Attensity! As someone who’s been interested in the effects of technology on cognition and attention, and what they mean for politics, this was a deeply unsatisfying book. The collective authors do not have a good grasp of what they want their politics to be.
@brunoleipold.com's book was an interesting intellectual history of how Marx developed his ideas in dialogue with republicanism. Particularly lucid analysis of the connection between domination and exploitation in chapter 5.
February 15, 2026 at 8:54 PM
@brunoleipold.com's book was an interesting intellectual history of how Marx developed his ideas in dialogue with republicanism. Particularly lucid analysis of the connection between domination and exploitation in chapter 5.
Linda came to my college years ago to give a talk on her earlier book with Neil, The Trouble With Billionaires. Looking forward to reading their newest book "Cancelling Billionaires before they Cancel Us."
Great! A WEALTH TAX aimed exclusively at the super-rich could raise billions. And, no, they can't just leave -- not without paying a hefty EXIT TAX. So let's do this.
So, I only finished the preface of this book and I am already locked in, @lindamcquaig.bsky.social
February 15, 2026 at 8:32 PM
Linda came to my college years ago to give a talk on her earlier book with Neil, The Trouble With Billionaires. Looking forward to reading their newest book "Cancelling Billionaires before they Cancel Us."
Reposted by Curtis
Actually whiteness has become a central category for him. We are well beyond the substitution of culture for race.
1/3 What Musk is really referring to here is, of course “race” - that construct that served to define the hierarchies of wealth & power structured by modern colonialism. Like other far right racists though, he uses the word “culture” as a seemingly less pernicious synonym.
February 15, 2026 at 8:28 PM
Actually whiteness has become a central category for him. We are well beyond the substitution of culture for race.
Reposted by Curtis
i think you can judge how free - or not - our political media is by the fact that elon musk literally did a sieg heil (twice) at a rally and it’s still seen as uncouth and overly partisan (in legacy media) to describe his politics as straightforwardly white supremacist.
February 15, 2026 at 8:28 PM
i think you can judge how free - or not - our political media is by the fact that elon musk literally did a sieg heil (twice) at a rally and it’s still seen as uncouth and overly partisan (in legacy media) to describe his politics as straightforwardly white supremacist.
Reposted by Curtis
Many people in South Africa, where Elon is from, died to create a genuinely multiracial polity. They were killed by people who thought like Elon.
The people who thought like Elon also lost. Seems their “common culture” of white supremacy wasn’t enough.
bsky.app/profile/alan...
The people who thought like Elon also lost. Seems their “common culture” of white supremacy wasn’t enough.
bsky.app/profile/alan...
1/3 What Musk is really referring to here is, of course “race” - that construct that served to define the hierarchies of wealth & power structured by modern colonialism. Like other far right racists though, he uses the word “culture” as a seemingly less pernicious synonym.
February 15, 2026 at 4:20 PM
Many people in South Africa, where Elon is from, died to create a genuinely multiracial polity. They were killed by people who thought like Elon.
The people who thought like Elon also lost. Seems their “common culture” of white supremacy wasn’t enough.
bsky.app/profile/alan...
The people who thought like Elon also lost. Seems their “common culture” of white supremacy wasn’t enough.
bsky.app/profile/alan...
"What is American culture, Mr. Musk?"
*Elon, dreaming wistfully of apartheid* "Oh, you know what it is."
*Elon, dreaming wistfully of apartheid* "Oh, you know what it is."
it's very strange to me to see guys like this blathering about how america has no common culture. america has so much common culture. we are drowning in american culture. what are they talking about. it's like he saw quesabirria once and thought "this is the end of the republic." psychotic
1/3 What Musk is really referring to here is, of course “race” - that construct that served to define the hierarchies of wealth & power structured by modern colonialism. Like other far right racists though, he uses the word “culture” as a seemingly less pernicious synonym.
February 15, 2026 at 4:19 PM
"What is American culture, Mr. Musk?"
*Elon, dreaming wistfully of apartheid* "Oh, you know what it is."
*Elon, dreaming wistfully of apartheid* "Oh, you know what it is."
Ghost of Weber: Sports may be one of the few areas where we resist the disenchantment of modernity.
Ghost of Durkheim: Indeed my good man, and where collective effervescence still thrives.
Our various overlords: Yes, but what if it wasn't?
Ghost of Durkheim: Indeed my good man, and where collective effervescence still thrives.
Our various overlords: Yes, but what if it wasn't?
‘We control one of the handful of commodities keeping the entire cable television industry alive so our plan is to do everything possible to destroy its value.’
![Adam Silver: "There's no doubt that AI will have the same impact on sports... how we're going to be able to [hyper-personalize] our telecasts... We're about to witness probably the most significant change, certainly in my lifetime, in how sports are presented." 🏀📺🎙️ #NBA](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:tgw3d4hvw3x5ijrxax7lg26u/bafkreih2lyjgxff6fhw7fzuaylomh2gygwheuxkubtf7hbinuqfia4ecle@jpeg)
February 15, 2026 at 12:50 PM
Ghost of Weber: Sports may be one of the few areas where we resist the disenchantment of modernity.
Ghost of Durkheim: Indeed my good man, and where collective effervescence still thrives.
Our various overlords: Yes, but what if it wasn't?
Ghost of Durkheim: Indeed my good man, and where collective effervescence still thrives.
Our various overlords: Yes, but what if it wasn't?
Iris's reflection on tech work and embodiment is interesting and well worth a read. Suspect the dynamics that she identifies--the objective and subjective feelings of needing to do too much with too little time--is a demand driver of disembodiment in our larger society, too.
A new article, and this one's definitely one of my weirder ones: it's about how much of the tech industry seems to show symptoms of gender dysphoria.
Carbon Dysphoria | deadSimpleTech
And now the punchline: this depersonalisation, the weird relationship to their bodily existence, inability to enjoy things and an internal void that people constantly try and fill with what they're to...
deadsimpletech.com
February 15, 2026 at 12:30 PM
Iris's reflection on tech work and embodiment is interesting and well worth a read. Suspect the dynamics that she identifies--the objective and subjective feelings of needing to do too much with too little time--is a demand driver of disembodiment in our larger society, too.
Second Elizabeth's recommendation. It's the most stunning work of ethnography I've ever read.
A book I highly recommend on electronic slot machines—which fully convinced me they should be illegal for how they systematically mislead our brains—is Natasha Dow Schüll‘s ADDICTION BY DESIGN
Gamified online gambling seems much worse, & is becoming much more ubiquitous
It will immiserate so many
Gamified online gambling seems much worse, & is becoming much more ubiquitous
It will immiserate so many
I see no reason not to look at the online gambling and prediction market craze as a new opioids crisis.
It will wreak havoc on lower-income Americans and leave a trail of destruction and despair in its wake.
The companies are just Purdue Pharma 2.0
www.liberalcurrents.com/from-pill-mi...
It will wreak havoc on lower-income Americans and leave a trail of destruction and despair in its wake.
The companies are just Purdue Pharma 2.0
www.liberalcurrents.com/from-pill-mi...
February 14, 2026 at 10:49 PM
Second Elizabeth's recommendation. It's the most stunning work of ethnography I've ever read.
Starting a counter-hegemonic movement of foods and snacks based on beans. Yes, there's protein, but it's also a Trojan horse for dietary fiber and The Bean New Deal.
February 14, 2026 at 8:59 PM
Starting a counter-hegemonic movement of foods and snacks based on beans. Yes, there's protein, but it's also a Trojan horse for dietary fiber and The Bean New Deal.
New book day. Picked up Furious Minds on the recommendation of @mattpolprof.bsky.social or @1t2ls.bsky.social (maybe both).
(And no points for noticing the irony of posting an attention manifesto on social media.)
(And no points for noticing the irony of posting an attention manifesto on social media.)
February 14, 2026 at 6:19 PM
New book day. Picked up Furious Minds on the recommendation of @mattpolprof.bsky.social or @1t2ls.bsky.social (maybe both).
(And no points for noticing the irony of posting an attention manifesto on social media.)
(And no points for noticing the irony of posting an attention manifesto on social media.)
Realizing I don't own a copy of The Communist Manifesto and also realizing this lack is unlikely to be fixed by actually existing communism (little free libraries in my neighbourhood).
February 14, 2026 at 1:37 PM
Realizing I don't own a copy of The Communist Manifesto and also realizing this lack is unlikely to be fixed by actually existing communism (little free libraries in my neighbourhood).
Dreaming of spring and future garden plants.
February 14, 2026 at 12:40 AM
Dreaming of spring and future garden plants.
Reposted by Curtis
you missed the best one
February 12, 2026 at 4:21 PM
you missed the best one
I don't need to listen to true crime podcasts as such, because I'm getting plenty of lurid stories of criming from Maintenance Phase and @ifbookspod.bsky.social.
February 13, 2026 at 2:31 PM
I don't need to listen to true crime podcasts as such, because I'm getting plenty of lurid stories of criming from Maintenance Phase and @ifbookspod.bsky.social.
Reposted by Curtis
Reposted by Curtis
Which way western man?
February 13, 2026 at 10:32 AM
Which way western man?
The romance of celebrating Valentine's Day two days early. 🥰
February 13, 2026 at 3:00 AM
The romance of celebrating Valentine's Day two days early. 🥰