S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
@ashleighweeden.bsky.social
*maybe not here quite so much, as I tend to my grief and growth*
Dr. Weeden. She/Her. Rural Futurist. Feminist. Curious/Furious. Place, power, policy. Obsessed with questions like "why?" and "so what?"
Dr. Weeden. She/Her. Rural Futurist. Feminist. Curious/Furious. Place, power, policy. Obsessed with questions like "why?" and "so what?"
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
We wrote a thing about the chasm between the promises of technology and its so often dreadful real effects. Check it out 👇
For America’s VC-dominated tech industry, AI hype isn’t just a crazy by-product — it’s a structural part of the US economy in which capital tries to write our destinies. We shouldn’t let it.
Don’t Believe the Hype — or Doom — About AI
For America’s VC-dominated tech industry, AI hype isn’t just a crazy by-product — it’s a structural part of the US economy in which capital tries to write our destinies. We shouldn’t let it.
jacobin.com
December 7, 2025 at 2:32 PM
We wrote a thing about the chasm between the promises of technology and its so often dreadful real effects. Check it out 👇
Anybody looking for a Ruralist in Residence?
Applications are open to join us as an Early Career Cdn. Urban Leader or an Urbanist-in-Residence. Visiting experts are practitioners in civil society, the arts, business, media, or govt. & (emerging) leaders in their urban-related sector. Apply by 26/01 https://ow.ly/wU6o50XurfA
December 7, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Anybody looking for a Ruralist in Residence?
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
In case you don't know why Dr Tedds is posting these names and their ages, they were all massacred at École Polytechnique in Montreal OTD in 1989. Why? Because they were women.
Geneviève Bergeron, 21
Hélène Colgan, 23
Nathalie Croteau, 23
Barbara Daigneault, 22
Anne-Marie Edward, 21
Maud Haviernick, 29
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz, 31
Maryse Laganière, 25
Maryse Leclair, 23
Anne-Marie Lemay, 22
Sonia Pelletier, 28
Michèle Richard, 21
Annie St-Arneault, 23
Annie Turcotte, 20
Hélène Colgan, 23
Nathalie Croteau, 23
Barbara Daigneault, 22
Anne-Marie Edward, 21
Maud Haviernick, 29
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz, 31
Maryse Laganière, 25
Maryse Leclair, 23
Anne-Marie Lemay, 22
Sonia Pelletier, 28
Michèle Richard, 21
Annie St-Arneault, 23
Annie Turcotte, 20
December 6, 2025 at 3:10 PM
In case you don't know why Dr Tedds is posting these names and their ages, they were all massacred at École Polytechnique in Montreal OTD in 1989. Why? Because they were women.
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
Progress on combatting intimate-partner violence stalling under new government, advocates fear
By Molly Hayes in @theglobeandmail.com
#GiftLink 🎁
www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/a0344d6...
By Molly Hayes in @theglobeandmail.com
#GiftLink 🎁
www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/a0344d6...
Progress on combatting intimate-partner violence stalling under new government, advocates fear
Thirty-six years after the Polytechnique killings, stats show the biggest threats to women are the men closest to them
www.theglobeandmail.com
December 6, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Progress on combatting intimate-partner violence stalling under new government, advocates fear
By Molly Hayes in @theglobeandmail.com
#GiftLink 🎁
www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/a0344d6...
By Molly Hayes in @theglobeandmail.com
#GiftLink 🎁
www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/a0344d6...
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
A few years ago, Bill Nye the science guy debated creationist Ken Ham about evolution. The last question was "what would change your mind?"
Bill Nye said "Evidence."
Ken Ham said "Nothing can possibly change my mind about this."
I think about that a lot.
Bill Nye said "Evidence."
Ken Ham said "Nothing can possibly change my mind about this."
I think about that a lot.
December 5, 2025 at 1:59 PM
A few years ago, Bill Nye the science guy debated creationist Ken Ham about evolution. The last question was "what would change your mind?"
Bill Nye said "Evidence."
Ken Ham said "Nothing can possibly change my mind about this."
I think about that a lot.
Bill Nye said "Evidence."
Ken Ham said "Nothing can possibly change my mind about this."
I think about that a lot.
*stares in our failure to protect CanadaPost*
The USPS posting a NINE BILLION DOLLAR LOSS!!! sounds terrible. Certainly worse than if you said "USPS costs thirty dollars per person per year" even though that means the same thing and more accurately describes a government service
December 5, 2025 at 2:02 PM
*stares in our failure to protect CanadaPost*
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
"It is stupid and dangerous to do literally anything other than the same things we're doing that never work."
I see this said in so many words every day and the people saying it never seem capable of hearing themselves.
I see this said in so many words every day and the people saying it never seem capable of hearing themselves.
December 5, 2025 at 1:41 PM
"It is stupid and dangerous to do literally anything other than the same things we're doing that never work."
I see this said in so many words every day and the people saying it never seem capable of hearing themselves.
I see this said in so many words every day and the people saying it never seem capable of hearing themselves.
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
AI Is Not Inevitable
join AAUP for a conversation with educators, educator unions, and the Collaborative Research Center for Resilience
zoom.us/webinar/regi...
join AAUP for a conversation with educators, educator unions, and the Collaborative Research Center for Resilience
zoom.us/webinar/regi...
December 5, 2025 at 1:18 PM
AI Is Not Inevitable
join AAUP for a conversation with educators, educator unions, and the Collaborative Research Center for Resilience
zoom.us/webinar/regi...
join AAUP for a conversation with educators, educator unions, and the Collaborative Research Center for Resilience
zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
Or better yet: make GenAI about an assault on civics. Because if you are selling a product that necessarily attempts to con one person into believing they are engaging with another person when they are not, you’re not just ruining education. You’re dismantling society’s foundations in social trust.
December 4, 2025 at 11:37 PM
Or better yet: make GenAI about an assault on civics. Because if you are selling a product that necessarily attempts to con one person into believing they are engaging with another person when they are not, you’re not just ruining education. You’re dismantling society’s foundations in social trust.
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
Framing GenAI as a battle between teachers and students is a red herring. Students and educators are on the same side. The real opposition are the data extraction firms and brokerages and their allies among the managerial class.
December 4, 2025 at 11:28 PM
Framing GenAI as a battle between teachers and students is a red herring. Students and educators are on the same side. The real opposition are the data extraction firms and brokerages and their allies among the managerial class.
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
My latest -- the bigger story about the Canadian-built armoured vehicle purchase by ICE is actually how the war abroad and the war at home are, primarily, economic wars.
noraloreto.substack.com/p/canadian-b...
noraloreto.substack.com/p/canadian-b...
Canadian-built machines of war
“As we move from fighting the war to fighting the peace, I think we really have to see this as an opportunity for an economic renaissance" - Chrystia Freeland
noraloreto.substack.com
December 4, 2025 at 8:45 PM
My latest -- the bigger story about the Canadian-built armoured vehicle purchase by ICE is actually how the war abroad and the war at home are, primarily, economic wars.
noraloreto.substack.com/p/canadian-b...
noraloreto.substack.com/p/canadian-b...
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
Still waiting for a godlike AI superintelligence to solve climate change.
Meanwhile, Chevron's soon reaching FID on a 2.5 to 5 gigawatt fossil-fuelled power station being built exclusively for data centres.
(while climate-tech folks dismiss this as a meaningless rounding-error nothing-burger)
Meanwhile, Chevron's soon reaching FID on a 2.5 to 5 gigawatt fossil-fuelled power station being built exclusively for data centres.
(while climate-tech folks dismiss this as a meaningless rounding-error nothing-burger)
Chevron updates timeline for gas-fired power plant project
Chevron's first facility, to be based in West Texas, could come online in 2027, executives say
www.upstreamonline.com
December 4, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Still waiting for a godlike AI superintelligence to solve climate change.
Meanwhile, Chevron's soon reaching FID on a 2.5 to 5 gigawatt fossil-fuelled power station being built exclusively for data centres.
(while climate-tech folks dismiss this as a meaningless rounding-error nothing-burger)
Meanwhile, Chevron's soon reaching FID on a 2.5 to 5 gigawatt fossil-fuelled power station being built exclusively for data centres.
(while climate-tech folks dismiss this as a meaningless rounding-error nothing-burger)
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
Like I've said before, if you have any doubts about climate change, just go to a super-boring insurance conference and listen to the super-boring panels where they dryly talk about the growing threat of disasters so catastrophic and unpredictable in scope they simply cannot be insured at any price.
Wild how the Fed chair saying that *entire regions of the United States* won’t be able to get a mortgage in the next decade barely registered as a news event
June 18, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Like I've said before, if you have any doubts about climate change, just go to a super-boring insurance conference and listen to the super-boring panels where they dryly talk about the growing threat of disasters so catastrophic and unpredictable in scope they simply cannot be insured at any price.
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
We explore what technology has to do with knowledge and power, and we'll see how capitalism, class, and class power shape both the actual tools called AI and the nightmares people have about it. And of course, we try to find, among the many nightmares, inspiration for a better future. 4/4
July 8, 2025 at 11:26 PM
We explore what technology has to do with knowledge and power, and we'll see how capitalism, class, and class power shape both the actual tools called AI and the nightmares people have about it. And of course, we try to find, among the many nightmares, inspiration for a better future. 4/4
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
Drawing on our technical backgrounds as cognitive scientists and AI researchers, we argue that we need to understand class and capitalism to understand what's going on. Join us as we explore automated bureaucracies, technologies that steal knowledge and skills, and tools that appear autonomous 3/4
July 8, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Drawing on our technical backgrounds as cognitive scientists and AI researchers, we argue that we need to understand class and capitalism to understand what's going on. Join us as we explore automated bureaucracies, technologies that steal knowledge and skills, and tools that appear autonomous 3/4
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
Companies are forcing AI into everything, and everywhere there is talk of its "promises and perils". From AI abundance to AI doom, it's unclear what is sales pitch and what is warning. Hype and scaremongering are getting mixed up and tangled, and it's hard to make sense of it all. 2/4
July 8, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Companies are forcing AI into everything, and everywhere there is talk of its "promises and perils". From AI abundance to AI doom, it's unclear what is sales pitch and what is warning. Hype and scaremongering are getting mixed up and tangled, and it's hard to make sense of it all. 2/4
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
We wrote a book about AI, Class, and Capitalism!
*Why We Fear AI* argues that, fundamentally, AI is a tool of class war from above, a tool for surveillance, labor control, and wage depression. Get it from your local bookstore if you can!
A quick 🧵1/4
*Why We Fear AI* argues that, fundamentally, AI is a tool of class war from above, a tool for surveillance, labor control, and wage depression. Get it from your local bookstore if you can!
A quick 🧵1/4
Why We Fear AI: On the Interpretation of Nightmares
On the Interpretation of Nightmares
bookshop.org
July 8, 2025 at 11:26 PM
We wrote a book about AI, Class, and Capitalism!
*Why We Fear AI* argues that, fundamentally, AI is a tool of class war from above, a tool for surveillance, labor control, and wage depression. Get it from your local bookstore if you can!
A quick 🧵1/4
*Why We Fear AI* argues that, fundamentally, AI is a tool of class war from above, a tool for surveillance, labor control, and wage depression. Get it from your local bookstore if you can!
A quick 🧵1/4
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
This is so true and is part of why works like, say, Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead, or the novels of Jesmyn Ward or the late Daniel Woodrell have struck me so powerfully—they not only depict but value whole rural, working class worlds that most art, including most country music, overlooks entirely
I think we lost it in editing but I talked about that very thing. Real rural life is virtually invisible — no art for dollar stores and meth clinics. And its racial diversity is erased. Actual rural people, especially poor ones, cannot access its aesthetic power
This is really important, because it is also about who can access the rural aesthetic. It's not always rural residents!
December 3, 2025 at 2:03 PM
This is so true and is part of why works like, say, Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead, or the novels of Jesmyn Ward or the late Daniel Woodrell have struck me so powerfully—they not only depict but value whole rural, working class worlds that most art, including most country music, overlooks entirely
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
Please compare and contrast the Critical AI Literacies framework offered by @olivia.science @marentierra.bsky.social @irisvanrooij.bsky.social with the OECD/Euro Commission/Code.org AILit framework.
Do you have any doubt which one will leave students better prepared for the future?
Do you have any doubt which one will leave students better prepared for the future?
December 2, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Please compare and contrast the Critical AI Literacies framework offered by @olivia.science @marentierra.bsky.social @irisvanrooij.bsky.social with the OECD/Euro Commission/Code.org AILit framework.
Do you have any doubt which one will leave students better prepared for the future?
Do you have any doubt which one will leave students better prepared for the future?
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
Pre-print for the Critical AI Literacies here:
zenodo.org/records/1778...
zenodo.org/records/1778...
Towards Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacies
Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacies (CAILs) is the collection of ways of thinking about and relating to so-called artificial intelligence (AI) that rejects dominant frames presented by the tec...
zenodo.org
December 2, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Pre-print for the Critical AI Literacies here:
zenodo.org/records/1778...
zenodo.org/records/1778...
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
What the fuck are we even doing?
December 2, 2025 at 3:55 PM
What the fuck are we even doing?
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
The most precious commodity you have is your attention. You don’t have to waste it on poor-faith debates or arguments with strangers if you don’t think they’ll be productive. You can prioritize the things that matter to you and make your life richer.
November 30, 2025 at 8:00 PM
The most precious commodity you have is your attention. You don’t have to waste it on poor-faith debates or arguments with strangers if you don’t think they’ll be productive. You can prioritize the things that matter to you and make your life richer.
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
I feel like one of the most underrated explanations for what's happening right now in global politics is that almost everyone has lost their minds.
November 30, 2025 at 2:59 AM
I feel like one of the most underrated explanations for what's happening right now in global politics is that almost everyone has lost their minds.
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
The main thing I’ve taken away from a pipeline (which will probably never get built) dominating the discourse again, in a year that was supposed to be all about Canada doing things differently from in the past, is that federal politics is a flat circle.
November 28, 2025 at 2:13 AM
The main thing I’ve taken away from a pipeline (which will probably never get built) dominating the discourse again, in a year that was supposed to be all about Canada doing things differently from in the past, is that federal politics is a flat circle.