John Warner
@biblioracle.bsky.social
Writer, speaker, consultant. Chicago Tribune columnist, blogging at Inside Higher Ed. Coming soon, More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI. Previously: Why They Can't Write and The Writer's Practice. biblioracle.substack.com
I wish I could take this seriously, but LLMs, unlike pigs in factory farms, are non-biological entities, and I think this distinction very much matters if we're talking about the problem of "suffering." This isn't just an "alien" version of suffering.
December 8, 2025 at 8:39 PM
I wish I could take this seriously, but LLMs, unlike pigs in factory farms, are non-biological entities, and I think this distinction very much matters if we're talking about the problem of "suffering." This isn't just an "alien" version of suffering.
I dunno. I find it completely tenable to continue to dismiss any claims of consciousness for large language models.
December 8, 2025 at 8:28 PM
I dunno. I find it completely tenable to continue to dismiss any claims of consciousness for large language models.
One guess which book this is for.
December 7, 2025 at 7:38 PM
One guess which book this is for.
Really pleased to be added to this panel at this week's NCTE conference alongside @vauhinivara.bsky.social talking about the future of teaching English in a world with AI. s1.goeshow.com/ncte/annual/...
November 17, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Really pleased to be added to this panel at this week's NCTE conference alongside @vauhinivara.bsky.social talking about the future of teaching English in a world with AI. s1.goeshow.com/ncte/annual/...
From the Chronicle daily briefing, Vanderbilt and Wash U. continue to show themselves as authoritarianism curious.
October 21, 2025 at 12:07 PM
From the Chronicle daily briefing, Vanderbilt and Wash U. continue to show themselves as authoritarianism curious.
This is truly grotesque. Teachers should not be using this stuff. If a school was pushing it on teachers who work with kids I care about, I'd make a big effing stink until they stopped. We have to not give into this.
October 12, 2025 at 2:49 PM
This is truly grotesque. Teachers should not be using this stuff. If a school was pushing it on teachers who work with kids I care about, I'd make a big effing stink until they stopped. We have to not give into this.
University of Texas leaping to the top of the rankings of higher ed institutions most eager to cozy up to the authoritarian, taking over the top spot from previous leader, Columbia University. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...
October 2, 2025 at 5:41 PM
University of Texas leaping to the top of the rankings of higher ed institutions most eager to cozy up to the authoritarian, taking over the top spot from previous leader, Columbia University. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...
September 30, 2025 at 2:13 PM
In less the 3 hours (7pm eastern) I'll be doing a Q&A with @erinbartram.bsky.social at the Mark Twain House & Museum that you can watch virtually by accessing this link and signing up. You can come in person too, but you need to be in Hartford. ci.ovationtix.com/35359/perfor...
September 19, 2025 at 8:20 PM
In less the 3 hours (7pm eastern) I'll be doing a Q&A with @erinbartram.bsky.social at the Mark Twain House & Museum that you can watch virtually by accessing this link and signing up. You can come in person too, but you need to be in Hartford. ci.ovationtix.com/35359/perfor...
Every single instance on this list under "Schools and Universities" and "Legislators and government officials" is straight up censorship, not an example of cancel culture. A 1A organization like @thefireorg.bsky.social shouldn't be afraid of saying so. www.thefire.org/news/we-are-...
September 13, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Every single instance on this list under "Schools and Universities" and "Legislators and government officials" is straight up censorship, not an example of cancel culture. A 1A organization like @thefireorg.bsky.social shouldn't be afraid of saying so. www.thefire.org/news/we-are-...
The Times headline writers penchant for euphemism isn't confined to Trump. The Trump orbit gets a little soft-pedaling too. A lech is gross or unseemly. Epstein was a criminal sex trafficker.
September 9, 2025 at 5:46 PM
The Times headline writers penchant for euphemism isn't confined to Trump. The Trump orbit gets a little soft-pedaling too. A lech is gross or unseemly. Epstein was a criminal sex trafficker.
This sort of faux naivete is beneath a thinking person in today’s age. It doesn’t shock me that the milksop NYT opinion page would publish it, but people who care about democracy should reject it. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/o...
September 2, 2025 at 12:28 PM
This sort of faux naivete is beneath a thinking person in today’s age. It doesn’t shock me that the milksop NYT opinion page would publish it, but people who care about democracy should reject it. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/o...
This is not a wholly satisfactory definition of learning and deciding to reduce learning to this closes us off from important aspects of learning. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/o...
August 27, 2025 at 1:49 AM
This is not a wholly satisfactory definition of learning and deciding to reduce learning to this closes us off from important aspects of learning. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/o...
Uneasy mix? Do they workshop these euphemisms or does it just come naturally?
August 22, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Uneasy mix? Do they workshop these euphemisms or does it just come naturally?
If anyone doubts that I've been decrying the problem of making schooling transactional for a long time, I just stumbled over this column from 2016 when looking for something else. www.insidehighered.com/blogs/just-v...
August 22, 2025 at 1:09 PM
If anyone doubts that I've been decrying the problem of making schooling transactional for a long time, I just stumbled over this column from 2016 when looking for something else. www.insidehighered.com/blogs/just-v...
This exchange reveals the absurdity of the dance these two are performing. Vanderbilt press release uses Trumpian language to tout what they're doing, but the chancellor backs off it when directly asked. They seem to be kidding themselves while asking the rest of us to play dumb to what's up.
August 21, 2025 at 1:09 PM
This exchange reveals the absurdity of the dance these two are performing. Vanderbilt press release uses Trumpian language to tout what they're doing, but the chancellor backs off it when directly asked. They seem to be kidding themselves while asking the rest of us to play dumb to what's up.
You can't separate reading from writing. www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/john-...
August 19, 2025 at 2:08 PM
You can't separate reading from writing. www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/john-...
Thanks to @andrewduval.bsky.social for these much improved graphics. www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/john-...
August 19, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Thanks to @andrewduval.bsky.social for these much improved graphics. www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/john-...
This is going to be really fun. I'll be in conversation with @erinbartram.bsky.social at the Mark Twain House, September 19th at 7pm. Both in-person and streaming. marktwainhouse.org/event/more-t...
August 18, 2025 at 7:38 PM
This is going to be really fun. I'll be in conversation with @erinbartram.bsky.social at the Mark Twain House, September 19th at 7pm. Both in-person and streaming. marktwainhouse.org/event/more-t...
Playing around with some graphics.
August 16, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Playing around with some graphics.
These are the apparent motives. By currying favor with the authoritarian the somewhat less elite Wash U. and Vanderbilt U. will leapfrog the previous top schools for prestige. There is no way to frame this other than as collaborators in an authoritarian push.
August 12, 2025 at 12:46 PM
These are the apparent motives. By currying favor with the authoritarian the somewhat less elite Wash U. and Vanderbilt U. will leapfrog the previous top schools for prestige. There is no way to frame this other than as collaborators in an authoritarian push.
The chancellors of Wash U. and Vanderbilt signal their desire to create the dictator-friendly version of a collective university organization. Welcome to Hungary, idiots.
August 12, 2025 at 12:44 PM
The chancellors of Wash U. and Vanderbilt signal their desire to create the dictator-friendly version of a collective university organization. Welcome to Hungary, idiots.