Bryan Bruns
@bryanbruns.bsky.social
Independent researcher and consulting sociologist: water governance, participatory irrigation management, transforming cooperation, periodic table of interdependence.
Hiker, contra dancer, woodlands caretaker, science fiction reader.
Hiker, contra dancer, woodlands caretaker, science fiction reader.
Exciting
Alpha CubeSat will deploy the first-ever free-flying, retroreflective light sail. Its tiny ChipSat computers also allow Alpha to be the smallest light sail yet. Someday, we may send an entire fleet of these light sails to other stars.
alphacubesat.cornell.edu/lightsail.html
alphacubesat.cornell.edu/lightsail.html
Alpha Cubesat lightsail
alphacubesat.cornell.edu
December 2, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Exciting
Insightful. Not unconditional forgiveness but a request to show what they will do to repair the harm.
Thoughts on how to interact with those, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who have done harm and say that they seek to repent:
benjaminrosenbaum.github.io/blog/archive...
benjaminrosenbaum.github.io/blog/archive...
Benjamin Rosenbaum: In praise of rebuke culture
benjaminrosenbaum.github.io
November 20, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Insightful. Not unconditional forgiveness but a request to show what they will do to repair the harm.
One of my favorite conferences and I'm looking forward to visiting Japan again.
🎉 We're excited to announce that the #ICSD2026 (Jun 1-5, 2026)website is now live! sites.google.com/view/icsd2026
📅 Key dates
Nov 2025: Abstract submission opens
Dec 22, 2025: Submission deadline
Late Feb 2026: Acceptance notifications
Apr 3, 2026: Registration closes
Jun 1, 2026: Conference begins
📅 Key dates
Nov 2025: Abstract submission opens
Dec 22, 2025: Submission deadline
Late Feb 2026: Acceptance notifications
Apr 3, 2026: Registration closes
Jun 1, 2026: Conference begins
ICSD 2026
Welcome TO ICSD 2026
We are delighted to announce that the International Conference on Social Dilemmas will be held in Shimonoseki, Japan, on June 1-5, 2026, at the Shimonoseki Grand Hotel. The confer...
sites.google.com
October 27, 2025 at 1:48 PM
One of my favorite conferences and I'm looking forward to visiting Japan again.
Would you like your guardrails back?
[https://deepai.org/machine-learning-model/text2img]
[https://deepai.org/machine-learning-model/text2img]
October 21, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Would you like your guardrails back?
[https://deepai.org/machine-learning-model/text2img]
[https://deepai.org/machine-learning-model/text2img]
I'm attending No Kings's event, “NO KINGS Greenbelt, Md.” - sign up now to join me! www.mobilize.us/nokings/even...
NO KINGS Greenbelt, Md. · No Kings
**In America, we don’t put up with would-be kings.**
Our peaceful movement is only getting bigger and stronger. “NO KINGS” is more than just a slogan—it’s the foundation our nation was built upon. Bo...
www.mobilize.us
October 17, 2025 at 2:30 PM
I'm attending No Kings's event, “NO KINGS Greenbelt, Md.” - sign up now to join me! www.mobilize.us/nokings/even...
Good analysis of how coordinated opposition can make a difference. Implication is coordination among those who still have autonomy: blue states, district courts, universities with endowments, etc., and the people power of anyone who isn't dependent on pleasing Trump.
So show up for No Kings Day!
So show up for No Kings Day!
October 16, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Good analysis of how coordinated opposition can make a difference. Implication is coordination among those who still have autonomy: blue states, district courts, universities with endowments, etc., and the people power of anyone who isn't dependent on pleasing Trump.
So show up for No Kings Day!
So show up for No Kings Day!
Reposted by Bryan Bruns
Top 10 Rally Reminders for #NoKingsDayOct18th
October 16, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Top 10 Rally Reminders for #NoKingsDayOct18th
Well said! This essay addresses vital issues that need to be discussed. I say that as someone who spent my career in international development, mostly in trying to help smallholder farmers have a say in designing and managing irrigation systems to water their crops.
In any discussion of food and farming, unless your solution can be scaled to feed 8 billion people, you shouldn't be taken seriously. Unfortunately, cottagecore fantasies that would feed only the richest consumers, leaving billions to starve, are all too common.
www.monbiot.com/2023/10/04/t...
www.monbiot.com/2023/10/04/t...
The Cruel Fantasies of Well-Fed People
The astonishing story of how a movement’s quest for rural simplicity drifted into a formula for mass death
www.monbiot.com
October 15, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Well said! This essay addresses vital issues that need to be discussed. I say that as someone who spent my career in international development, mostly in trying to help smallholder farmers have a say in designing and managing irrigation systems to water their crops.
I really wish I could donate to ActBlue or DNC and get on a list so that I don’t get any more texts from Democratic candidates and groups asking for money.
September 29, 2025 at 7:05 PM
I really wish I could donate to ActBlue or DNC and get on a list so that I don’t get any more texts from Democratic candidates and groups asking for money.
Reposted by Bryan Bruns
BREAKING: Prince George's County, the DC suburb of about 1 million people, is moving to suspend all data center permits while a task force completes a review of the projects and their impacts.
September 16, 2025 at 3:37 PM
BREAKING: Prince George's County, the DC suburb of about 1 million people, is moving to suspend all data center permits while a task force completes a review of the projects and their impacts.
Reposted by Bryan Bruns
Please comment on the proposed changes to Roadless Rules in National Forests - see below.
The Roadless Rule does a huge amount to protect wild areas against wildfires, the vast majority of which begin near roads. It's super easy to leave a comment urging them to keep the Roadless Rule and protect against fires. Comments like this make a big impact! www.regulations.gov/commenton/FS...
September 6, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Please comment on the proposed changes to Roadless Rules in National Forests - see below.
Reposted by Bryan Bruns
For Immediate Release: 50501 Joins Free DC’s National March this Saturday; Mobilized for next No Kings on October 18th.
Join us in DC this weekend, and in communities across the country in October. See you in the streets 📣
#nokings
Join us in DC this weekend, and in communities across the country in October. See you in the streets 📣
#nokings
September 4, 2025 at 10:23 PM
For Immediate Release: 50501 Joins Free DC’s National March this Saturday; Mobilized for next No Kings on October 18th.
Join us in DC this weekend, and in communities across the country in October. See you in the streets 📣
#nokings
Join us in DC this weekend, and in communities across the country in October. See you in the streets 📣
#nokings
Reposted by Bryan Bruns
Dan Froomkin of Press Watch: “The top story of the moment is the one story that our most influential newsrooms won’t touch: That the United State has become an authoritarian state.” [presswatchers.org]
We have become an authoritarian state, and our top newsrooms are in denial | Press Watch
The frog in the proverbial pot is dead.
presswatchers.org
August 26, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Dan Froomkin of Press Watch: “The top story of the moment is the one story that our most influential newsrooms won’t touch: That the United State has become an authoritarian state.” [presswatchers.org]
Reposted by Bryan Bruns
Every news broadcast should run the facts split-screen in real time while Trump spews his lies.
Nice work, @msnbc.com — every network had time to prepare because they knew what was coming.
Nice work, @msnbc.com — every network had time to prepare because they knew what was coming.
August 11, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Every news broadcast should run the facts split-screen in real time while Trump spews his lies.
Nice work, @msnbc.com — every network had time to prepare because they knew what was coming.
Nice work, @msnbc.com — every network had time to prepare because they knew what was coming.
Reposted by Bryan Bruns
Linking to this Scientific American interview again: www.scientificamerican.com/article/were...
We’re Light-Years Away from True Artificial Intelligence, Says Murderbot Author Martha Wells
Today’s large language models are hardly related to the kinds of machine intelligence we see in science fiction, according to Martha Wells, author of the Murderbot Diaries series
www.scientificamerican.com
July 22, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Linking to this Scientific American interview again: www.scientificamerican.com/article/were...
It’s happening before our eyes, and can feel overwhelming (which seems like the intention). The recent polls showing support for immigrants and immigration point to one of the areas where pushing back might make a big difference, especially if Trump would dump Stephen Miller.
It's when you assemble the whole picture that you have to raise the question if the intention is to destroy this country and whether this country is in fact being destroyed.
Please Shout Fire. This Theater Is Burning
The United States is being destroyed from within, and mainstream journalism isn't making that clear. When I was a kid, there was a popular phrase--"what if they had a war and no one came?" What if we ...
www.meditationsinanemergency.com
July 14, 2025 at 1:38 AM
It’s happening before our eyes, and can feel overwhelming (which seems like the intention). The recent polls showing support for immigrants and immigration point to one of the areas where pushing back might make a big difference, especially if Trump would dump Stephen Miller.
Reposted by Bryan Bruns
In 2011, FEMA's National Flood Insurance map was updated to include Camp Mystic in a "Special Flood Hazard Area." Camp Mystic fought that designation, getting 15 of the buildings removed in 2013, and 15 more in 2019–20.
You can change the map, but that doesn't change reality.
You can change the map, but that doesn't change reality.
FEMA removed dozens of Camp Mystic buildings from 100-year flood map before expansion, records show
Federal regulators repeatedly granted appeals to remove Camp Mystic’s buildings from their 100-year flood map, as the camp operated and expanded in a dangerous flood plain in the years before rushing ...
apnews.com
July 13, 2025 at 3:25 AM
In 2011, FEMA's National Flood Insurance map was updated to include Camp Mystic in a "Special Flood Hazard Area." Camp Mystic fought that designation, getting 15 of the buildings removed in 2013, and 15 more in 2019–20.
You can change the map, but that doesn't change reality.
You can change the map, but that doesn't change reality.
Good to know
Firefox also has the built-in "copy clean link" feature in the right-click menu
I saw an infographic a couple years ago about how to remove source identifiers from links and why it's important, but I can't find it again and too many people I know are sending me links with them so here's an infographic straight from the oven
July 12, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Good to know
Reposted by Bryan Bruns
Skip the editorial by the director of Trump's Office of Science and Technology Policy on "sound science."
Read the letter by John Holdren instead: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Read the letter by John Holdren instead: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
July 10, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Skip the editorial by the director of Trump's Office of Science and Technology Policy on "sound science."
Read the letter by John Holdren instead: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Read the letter by John Holdren instead: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Bryan Bruns
I don’t think anyone is prepared for what they just did w/ ICE.
This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined.
It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.
This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined.
It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.
July 3, 2025 at 6:58 PM
I don’t think anyone is prepared for what they just did w/ ICE.
This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined.
It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.
This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined.
It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.
Reposted by Bryan Bruns
this is a very good thread
July 3, 2025 at 5:16 PM
this is a very good thread
Well said, though what’s happened is terribly wrong, and I wish UVA’s President, Board of Visitors, and state leaders had strongly maintained a principled stand opposing the Trump administration’s bullying and abuse of federal power.
(I grew up in Charlottesville.)
(I grew up in Charlottesville.)
“The University is the first institution to lose their president as a result of dramatic and unprecedented federal intervention. But we will not be the last”
EDITORIAL: Federal overreach will not end with President Ryan
The University is the first institution to lose their president as a result of dramatic and unprecedented federal intervention. But we will not be the last.
www.cavalierdaily.com
June 29, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Well said, though what’s happened is terribly wrong, and I wish UVA’s President, Board of Visitors, and state leaders had strongly maintained a principled stand opposing the Trump administration’s bullying and abuse of federal power.
(I grew up in Charlottesville.)
(I grew up in Charlottesville.)
Reposted by Bryan Bruns
Beloit, WI revitalized its waterfront and chose this way to celebrate it: by bringing to life Georges Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte."
June 25, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Beloit, WI revitalized its waterfront and chose this way to celebrate it: by bringing to life Georges Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte."
Reposted by Bryan Bruns
50501 Movement upholds a strict and unwavering commitment to nonviolence. We do not condone, support, or tolerate any form of violence, threats, or the destruction of property—whether public or private.
Our mission is rooted in integrity, accountability, and nonviolent action.
Our mission is rooted in integrity, accountability, and nonviolent action.
May 23, 2025 at 12:55 AM
50501 Movement upholds a strict and unwavering commitment to nonviolence. We do not condone, support, or tolerate any form of violence, threats, or the destruction of property—whether public or private.
Our mission is rooted in integrity, accountability, and nonviolent action.
Our mission is rooted in integrity, accountability, and nonviolent action.
Google’s AI transformation into evil exploitative monopoly.
“AI Overviews, and especially AI Mode, are the logical outcome of Google's years-long transformation from an indexer of information to an insular web portal built on scraping content from around the web.”
arstechnica.com/google/2025/...
“AI Overviews, and especially AI Mode, are the logical outcome of Google's years-long transformation from an indexer of information to an insular web portal built on scraping content from around the web.”
arstechnica.com/google/2025/...
Zero-click searches: Google’s AI tools are the culmination of its hubris
Google’s first year with AI search was a wild ride. It will get wilder.
arstechnica.com
May 20, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Google’s AI transformation into evil exploitative monopoly.
“AI Overviews, and especially AI Mode, are the logical outcome of Google's years-long transformation from an indexer of information to an insular web portal built on scraping content from around the web.”
arstechnica.com/google/2025/...
“AI Overviews, and especially AI Mode, are the logical outcome of Google's years-long transformation from an indexer of information to an insular web portal built on scraping content from around the web.”
arstechnica.com/google/2025/...