Benjamin Harnett
@benjaminharnett.com
Sometime poet, historian, software engineer, novelist, union man. https://www.benjaminharnett.com https://thehappyvalleynovel.com
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Benjamin Harnett
@benjaminharnett.com
· Jun 20
I interviewed 300 high achievers about their morning routine, and you will never believe, they all have inherited family wealth.
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
honestly proud of this weird title (argument: table of contents)
www.upress.umn.edu/978151790527...
all eyes on grinding out book 3, but until then, HNtMaH is still my favorite baby
www.upress.umn.edu/978151790527...
all eyes on grinding out book 3, but until then, HNtMaH is still my favorite baby
November 26, 2025 at 10:58 PM
honestly proud of this weird title (argument: table of contents)
www.upress.umn.edu/978151790527...
all eyes on grinding out book 3, but until then, HNtMaH is still my favorite baby
www.upress.umn.edu/978151790527...
all eyes on grinding out book 3, but until then, HNtMaH is still my favorite baby
Read my short stories—they're good! You will like them! If you're weird, I mean. And most of you are weird.
bookshop.org/a/88090/9798...
bookshop.org/a/88090/9798...
November 26, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Read my short stories—they're good! You will like them! If you're weird, I mean. And most of you are weird.
bookshop.org/a/88090/9798...
bookshop.org/a/88090/9798...
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
PROMOTE YOUR BOOKS! EVERYONE WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR PUBLISHED BOOKS!
gonna be reposting your books because hoo you made a book!
www.versobooks.com/products/303...
gonna be reposting your books because hoo you made a book!
www.versobooks.com/products/303...
November 26, 2025 at 9:49 PM
PROMOTE YOUR BOOKS! EVERYONE WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR PUBLISHED BOOKS!
gonna be reposting your books because hoo you made a book!
www.versobooks.com/products/303...
gonna be reposting your books because hoo you made a book!
www.versobooks.com/products/303...
You made Flask? You think AI is neat? Shut the fuck up!
I think the default position for someone who does computer stuff for a living about their work and industry should be embarrassment and quiet contemplation. I say this as someone who does computer stuff for a living.
November 26, 2025 at 8:33 PM
You made Flask? You think AI is neat? Shut the fuck up!
I think the default position for someone who does computer stuff for a living about their work and industry should be embarrassment and quiet contemplation. I say this as someone who does computer stuff for a living.
November 26, 2025 at 8:21 PM
I think the default position for someone who does computer stuff for a living about their work and industry should be embarrassment and quiet contemplation. I say this as someone who does computer stuff for a living.
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
0.2% growth in productivity over five years from "AI".
That's your revolution, lads, really?
The sort of blip that could be reversed by a particularly rainy bank holiday.
That's your revolution, lads, really?
The sort of blip that could be reversed by a particularly rainy bank holiday.
Anyway, tech-wise, AI will have a "positive effect on productivity growth", the OBR say, with a 0.2 percentage point impact in five years
November 26, 2025 at 12:27 PM
0.2% growth in productivity over five years from "AI".
That's your revolution, lads, really?
The sort of blip that could be reversed by a particularly rainy bank holiday.
That's your revolution, lads, really?
The sort of blip that could be reversed by a particularly rainy bank holiday.
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
If you want to get woo woo with it too, you can feel the negativity oozing from AI. All it does is take. It’s forcing people into an abusive behavior pattern.
November 26, 2025 at 12:48 PM
If you want to get woo woo with it too, you can feel the negativity oozing from AI. All it does is take. It’s forcing people into an abusive behavior pattern.
“This tech does great on the evals and then falls to shit in the real world, what could it be??????” You are so close dude. So close. But so far.
I think a red flag in all this ai stuff is that when you hear public conversations between ai folks about ai they sound like fucking dumbasses who just took lots of drugs or maybe got hit really hard on the head.
November 26, 2025 at 12:37 PM
“This tech does great on the evals and then falls to shit in the real world, what could it be??????” You are so close dude. So close. But so far.
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
Look, if you see the Antichrist once, you saw the Antichrist. If you see the Antichrist all day long, you're the Antichrist.
November 26, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Look, if you see the Antichrist once, you saw the Antichrist. If you see the Antichrist all day long, you're the Antichrist.
I think a red flag in all this ai stuff is that when you hear public conversations between ai folks about ai they sound like fucking dumbasses who just took lots of drugs or maybe got hit really hard on the head.
November 26, 2025 at 11:53 AM
I think a red flag in all this ai stuff is that when you hear public conversations between ai folks about ai they sound like fucking dumbasses who just took lots of drugs or maybe got hit really hard on the head.
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
ChatGPT is not conscious!! You are, though! (For now — unless you'd like to outsource that too.) Enjoy the beautifully singular experience of possessing a human brain! For fuck's sake!
November 25, 2025 at 10:51 PM
ChatGPT is not conscious!! You are, though! (For now — unless you'd like to outsource that too.) Enjoy the beautifully singular experience of possessing a human brain! For fuck's sake!
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
No email from a library system stirs the imagination like a notice my scan is ready to download through WORLDCAT. The great cat that surrounds the world? That nuzzles the roots of the world-scratching-tree? The great world cat who is and was and shall be? That cat???
November 25, 2025 at 8:19 AM
No email from a library system stirs the imagination like a notice my scan is ready to download through WORLDCAT. The great cat that surrounds the world? That nuzzles the roots of the world-scratching-tree? The great world cat who is and was and shall be? That cat???
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
Is this cheese grater conscious? Many users feel they're talking to a real person. Scientists say it's time to consider whether they're onto something.
November 25, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Is this cheese grater conscious? Many users feel they're talking to a real person. Scientists say it's time to consider whether they're onto something.
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.
November 25, 2025 at 4:15 PM
one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
Haven't received as many contributions as usual for this year's lists--could be many things, but one aspect is surely that our ability to get this in front of people is much diminished. If you know folks whose stuff should be on here, please suggest it! contingentmagazine.org/yearly-pub-l...
Publications by Non-Tenure-Track Historians
Since we began publishing in 2019, Contingent has published end-of-year lists of books and articles by non-tenure-track historians released in the past calendar year. To submit something for inclusion...
contingentmagazine.org
November 24, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Haven't received as many contributions as usual for this year's lists--could be many things, but one aspect is surely that our ability to get this in front of people is much diminished. If you know folks whose stuff should be on here, please suggest it! contingentmagazine.org/yearly-pub-l...
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
And engaging in this kind of pedagogy is simply the entry-level version of when scholars do this, which I wrote about here. www.artforum.com/features/gen...
November 24, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
Well this 2,600-year-old clay letter was a journey.
It comes from the archive of a goldsmith named Nabû-zeru-iddin in the heart of ancient Assyria. We’ve got someone left on read, a lawsuit, a mean step-mom, and people who get drunk and steal silver.
It comes from the archive of a goldsmith named Nabû-zeru-iddin in the heart of ancient Assyria. We’ve got someone left on read, a lawsuit, a mean step-mom, and people who get drunk and steal silver.
November 21, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Well this 2,600-year-old clay letter was a journey.
It comes from the archive of a goldsmith named Nabû-zeru-iddin in the heart of ancient Assyria. We’ve got someone left on read, a lawsuit, a mean step-mom, and people who get drunk and steal silver.
It comes from the archive of a goldsmith named Nabû-zeru-iddin in the heart of ancient Assyria. We’ve got someone left on read, a lawsuit, a mean step-mom, and people who get drunk and steal silver.
I am super fun at parties!
Star Wars is not actually a good movie. Sorry.
November 24, 2025 at 9:23 PM
I am super fun at parties!
Star Wars is not actually a good movie. Sorry.
November 24, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Star Wars is not actually a good movie. Sorry.
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
🚨Just learned that @chipublib.bsky.social picked my essay collection Y2K as a best book of 2025!!! Thanks guys!!! chipublib.bibliocommons.com/v2/list/disp...
Our Favorite Books of 2025 — a staff-created list from Chicago Public Library
The Chicago Public Library proudly presents our favorite books of the year.
chipublib.bibliocommons.com
November 24, 2025 at 8:54 PM
🚨Just learned that @chipublib.bsky.social picked my essay collection Y2K as a best book of 2025!!! Thanks guys!!! chipublib.bibliocommons.com/v2/list/disp...
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
lot of people on this website are debating back and forth how "realistic" a general strike is. meanwhile the brave heroes of the GOP house caucus are showing us what praxis looks like
PUNCHBOWL: “.. GOP members messaged us over the weekend saying that they, too, are considering retiring in the middle of the term. Here’s one particularly exercised senior House Republican:
@punchbowlnews.bsky.social
@punchbowlnews.bsky.social
November 24, 2025 at 4:46 PM
lot of people on this website are debating back and forth how "realistic" a general strike is. meanwhile the brave heroes of the GOP house caucus are showing us what praxis looks like
Children pretending their dolls talk is the right description for 90% of the “serious” people producing, hyping, using, and otherwise engaging with this tech.
What if I told you that LLMs aren’t learning and that they don’t deceive or engage in behaviors, and that they have as much agency as different preparations of concrete?
November 24, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Children pretending their dolls talk is the right description for 90% of the “serious” people producing, hyping, using, and otherwise engaging with this tech.
What if I told you that LLMs aren’t learning and that they don’t deceive or engage in behaviors, and that they have as much agency as different preparations of concrete?
November 24, 2025 at 12:26 PM
What if I told you that LLMs aren’t learning and that they don’t deceive or engage in behaviors, and that they have as much agency as different preparations of concrete?
Reposted by Benjamin Harnett
We will defeat the billionaires & their sycophants. We will create an economy that serves our lives & interests. We will consume some of our collective productivity as fewer working hours & we will not let the birth lottery determine our opportunity for safety & security from birth to retirement.
November 24, 2025 at 10:57 AM
We will defeat the billionaires & their sycophants. We will create an economy that serves our lives & interests. We will consume some of our collective productivity as fewer working hours & we will not let the birth lottery determine our opportunity for safety & security from birth to retirement.
Tech does not have to be like this. People in tech who model themselves and draw inspiration from the abomination that Zuckerberg is and built are going down a path that is as destructive as it is evil, and blandly and baldly so.
Meta halted internal research that purportedly showed (young) people who stopped using Facebook became less depressed and anxious, according to an unredacted legal filing released on Friday. www.cnbc.com/2025/11/23/m...
Meta halted internal research suggesting social media harm, court filing alleges
Meta is alleged to have halted internal research suggesting social media harm, according to court documents.
www.cnbc.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Tech does not have to be like this. People in tech who model themselves and draw inspiration from the abomination that Zuckerberg is and built are going down a path that is as destructive as it is evil, and blandly and baldly so.