Tracy King
@tracyking.bsky.social
Author, producer, scicomms, animation. Royal Institution writer-in-residence.
Books:
Learning To Think (Penguin)
The Cost of Trust (Harper Collins)
Tim Minchin's Storm (Orion)
Books:
Learning To Think (Penguin)
The Cost of Trust (Harper Collins)
Tim Minchin's Storm (Orion)
Pinned
Tracy King
@tracyking.bsky.social
· Oct 30
Tracy King announced as Writer in Residence to the CHRISTMAS LECTURES
Critically acclaimed author appointed as Writer in Residence to the 2025 CHRISTMAS LECTURES from the Royal Institution.
www.rigb.org
In lovely science news, it is now official: I am the inaugural Writer in Residence at the Royal Institution to mark 200 years of the Christmas Lectures: www.rigb.org/explore-scie...
Telegraph has chosen The Cost of Trust as one of its best books of 2026. It’s out on Feb 12th, pre-orders really help so do that if you can ❤️
www.telegraph.co.uk/books/non-fi...
www.telegraph.co.uk/books/non-fi...
January 6, 2026 at 2:09 PM
Telegraph has chosen The Cost of Trust as one of its best books of 2026. It’s out on Feb 12th, pre-orders really help so do that if you can ❤️
www.telegraph.co.uk/books/non-fi...
www.telegraph.co.uk/books/non-fi...
Yep. The tech bros grew up with dreams of those nudifying x-ray specs from comic books.
Pervert glasses + AR tech + LLMs that will nudify on request seems a pretty bad, and likely, scenario TBH
Stop. The. Pervert glasses.
We all know this is the next iteration.
We all know this is the next iteration.
January 6, 2026 at 2:02 PM
Yep. The tech bros grew up with dreams of those nudifying x-ray specs from comic books.
I dreamed a cryptic crossword clue, not massively difficult but not bad for a dream. First correct answer gets a prize:
Discount publicity for frost
Discount publicity for frost
January 6, 2026 at 12:56 PM
I dreamed a cryptic crossword clue, not massively difficult but not bad for a dream. First correct answer gets a prize:
Discount publicity for frost
Discount publicity for frost
I highly doubt that semi-fictional 10.8million families mean ‘direct access to govt accounts’ when they poll about ‘news’ consumption anyway. They will mean third party broadcasters and media via X.
If there is an argument then this is the argument. But lol I can’t find where this obviously false stat is coming from. And if the government does believe more than half the families in the UK are using it as their primary news source then woah maybe time to up the scrutiny of it!
January 5, 2026 at 11:03 PM
I highly doubt that semi-fictional 10.8million families mean ‘direct access to govt accounts’ when they poll about ‘news’ consumption anyway. They will mean third party broadcasters and media via X.
That is because the media believe they need X to generate link traffic and engagement
Remember the hysterical tabloid media campaigns about “video nasties” or alcopops? Here’s a machine for your kid to make child pornography on his computer, and…….crickets.
But the scariest was coming across images taken of women in the street, digitally stripped by Grok. Thought you could keep yourself safe by never, ever posting a picture online? Forget it. Anyone with a phone who walks or drives past you can create pornography of you now.
January 5, 2026 at 10:40 PM
That is because the media believe they need X to generate link traffic and engagement
Reposted by Tracy King
Reposted by Tracy King
If there is an argument then this is the argument. But lol I can’t find where this obviously false stat is coming from. And if the government does believe more than half the families in the UK are using it as their primary news source then woah maybe time to up the scrutiny of it!
January 5, 2026 at 8:00 PM
If there is an argument then this is the argument. But lol I can’t find where this obviously false stat is coming from. And if the government does believe more than half the families in the UK are using it as their primary news source then woah maybe time to up the scrutiny of it!
Reposted by Tracy King
HMG apparently
"I stayed on Twitter through Nazi-ism and the owner causing 600,000 Africans to die so if you think a bit of child pornography is going to get me to leave you are barking up the wrong tree my friend"
Some people apparently
Some people apparently
January 5, 2026 at 4:26 PM
HMG apparently
Nothing to do with free speech. She might argue ‘freedom to choose privately-owned broadcast platform’ but there is zero evidence that “providing a counter-narrative” on X is effective, and she should be explicit about what narrative she wishes the Government to sit in the room with.
The government minister says she believes in using X "because of freedom of speech". (There are many platforms - 4chan, Stormfront - which it does not use).
The government is being asked to
(i) uphold the law
(ii) undertake a good faith review of its own guidelines for govt communications
The government is being asked to
(i) uphold the law
(ii) undertake a good faith review of its own guidelines for govt communications
January 5, 2026 at 4:24 PM
Nothing to do with free speech. She might argue ‘freedom to choose privately-owned broadcast platform’ but there is zero evidence that “providing a counter-narrative” on X is effective, and she should be explicit about what narrative she wishes the Government to sit in the room with.
Reposted by Tracy King
i want to stress again that every time i try to explain this shit to normal people i sound like i have to be institutionalized
January 5, 2026 at 12:16 AM
i want to stress again that every time i try to explain this shit to normal people i sound like i have to be institutionalized
If bluesky had polls I’d do one to see whose side you are all on
When I was 9 we had to write limericks in class and I wrote:
The was a young man from Carlisle
Who every day ran a mile
He ran down a crack
Had an asthma attack
And had to swallow the Nile
My best friend said “water doesn’t help asthma” and I told her to shut up.
The was a young man from Carlisle
Who every day ran a mile
He ran down a crack
Had an asthma attack
And had to swallow the Nile
My best friend said “water doesn’t help asthma” and I told her to shut up.
January 4, 2026 at 11:31 AM
If bluesky had polls I’d do one to see whose side you are all on
Reposted by Tracy King
London writers please boost: our workshop is always open to new members and anyone who would like help getting their novel over the line please get in touch
We are big believers in following through on new year's resolutions, so if you have a novel/some short stories you are looking for a workshop to take to the next level please get in touch! Www.blackheathwriters.com
December 29, 2025 at 9:36 AM
London writers please boost: our workshop is always open to new members and anyone who would like help getting their novel over the line please get in touch
When I was 9 we had to write limericks in class and I wrote:
The was a young man from Carlisle
Who every day ran a mile
He ran down a crack
Had an asthma attack
And had to swallow the Nile
My best friend said “water doesn’t help asthma” and I told her to shut up.
The was a young man from Carlisle
Who every day ran a mile
He ran down a crack
Had an asthma attack
And had to swallow the Nile
My best friend said “water doesn’t help asthma” and I told her to shut up.
January 3, 2026 at 4:26 PM
When I was 9 we had to write limericks in class and I wrote:
The was a young man from Carlisle
Who every day ran a mile
He ran down a crack
Had an asthma attack
And had to swallow the Nile
My best friend said “water doesn’t help asthma” and I told her to shut up.
The was a young man from Carlisle
Who every day ran a mile
He ran down a crack
Had an asthma attack
And had to swallow the Nile
My best friend said “water doesn’t help asthma” and I told her to shut up.
AC Grayling’s biography of Descartes; still going with Bonfire of the Vanities (loving it); might make a start on Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock though I fear it may be terrifyingly prescient
What's everyone reading this weekend?
January 3, 2026 at 3:23 PM
AC Grayling’s biography of Descartes; still going with Bonfire of the Vanities (loving it); might make a start on Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock though I fear it may be terrifyingly prescient
I recommend reading The Cost of Trust (Feb 12th) for a deep dive into why and how a powerful man wasn’t stopped. Different man, different crimes, but power is power. Cover-ups are more banal than you think.
Epstein disclosures raise key question: why wasn’t he stopped earlier?
Epstein disclosures raise key question: why wasn’t he stopped earlier?
New documents reveal numerous missed opportunities as experts and victims condemn US authorities’ failures
www.theguardian.com
January 3, 2026 at 3:02 PM
I recommend reading The Cost of Trust (Feb 12th) for a deep dive into why and how a powerful man wasn’t stopped. Different man, different crimes, but power is power. Cover-ups are more banal than you think.
The Slopsand Effect
January 3, 2026 at 1:18 PM
The Slopsand Effect
The Slopsand Effect
January 3, 2026 at 1:17 PM
The Slopsand Effect
Reposted by Tracy King
Threads continues to be ire-enducing
January 2, 2026 at 10:34 PM
Threads continues to be ire-enducing
Reposted by Tracy King
Judge Judy lest ye be Judged Judy.
January 2, 2026 at 8:55 PM
Judge Judy lest ye be Judged Judy.
Reposted by Tracy King
there are endless headlines about "grok apologizes" or "grok says it will be fixed" after it generated CSAM using pictures of minors and zero headlines about "grok being shut down" or "musk and xAI in big legal trouble" and I think something fundamental has broken here
January 2, 2026 at 6:59 PM
there are endless headlines about "grok apologizes" or "grok says it will be fixed" after it generated CSAM using pictures of minors and zero headlines about "grok being shut down" or "musk and xAI in big legal trouble" and I think something fundamental has broken here
Reposted by Tracy King
For connoisseurs of utterly mental extensions on mundane houses (via reddit)
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/1...
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/1...
January 2, 2026 at 5:34 PM
For connoisseurs of utterly mental extensions on mundane houses (via reddit)
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/1...
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/1...
Reposted by Tracy King
It would be good for 20-30 countries to pursue this in the next few weeks
The French authorities will investigate the proliferation of sexually explicit deepfakes generated by Grok artificial intelligence on the Twitter platform, the Paris prosecutor's office told @politico.com
www.politico.eu/article/la-j...
www.politico.eu/article/la-j...
La justice étend son enquête sur X aux deepfakes de femmes déshabillées par l’IA Grok
Les députés Arthur Delaporte et Eric Bothorel ont effectué des signalements après que des milliers d’images générées ont été générées par l’IA et publiées sur X à la demande d’utilisateurs.…
www.politico.eu
January 2, 2026 at 5:18 PM
It would be good for 20-30 countries to pursue this in the next few weeks
New Year’s Eve, I bought two drinks (a pint of lager and a glass of prosecco), £16.50. Half an hour later Dan went and bought the exact same round and was charged £19.
It's becoming commonplace (though frankly still unacceptable) for London pubs to ding us for a "service charge" for handing our drinks over the counter, but I'm sorry to say I've just paid it in a coffeeshop
January 2, 2026 at 2:51 PM
New Year’s Eve, I bought two drinks (a pint of lager and a glass of prosecco), £16.50. Half an hour later Dan went and bought the exact same round and was charged £19.
I will die on this hill. If you think an (undefined) genre is lesser so that at its finest it can only achieve a middling ranking, make a new ranking system. Blue dots for ‘comfort TV’, gold stars for Orson Welles, whatever. I’ve not seen the show, but I’m dying on a hill for it.
The headline writer and the reviewer will most likely be two different people, but if ‘comfort TV at its finest’ is only three stars then by definition comfort TV can’t achieve higher than three stars so shouldn’t be rated on the same star system. Star systems are stupid anyway.
January 1, 2026 at 5:43 PM
I will die on this hill. If you think an (undefined) genre is lesser so that at its finest it can only achieve a middling ranking, make a new ranking system. Blue dots for ‘comfort TV’, gold stars for Orson Welles, whatever. I’ve not seen the show, but I’m dying on a hill for it.
“Comfort TV at its finest. Three stars”
January 1, 2026 at 5:19 PM
“Comfort TV at its finest. Three stars”