Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Civilian Reader @civilianreader.com · 8h

Easy one from where I live: “Toronto”

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 10h

What’s the word where you’re from that, when pronounced exactly as it looks, identifies a tourist immediately?

Reposted by Civilian Reader

Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 11h

I feel like I'm seeing this all the time now: A Reddit post, a YouTube video, etc. lamenting the dire effects of the proliferation of AI (in this case a teacher talking about their students being rendered unable to think and learn) followed directly by an ad for an AI product

Reddit post from a teacher lamenting that AI is making their students unable to learn, followed directly by an ad for Microsoft's AI product

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MiMi Aye @meemalee.bsky.social · 4d

Author and filmmaker Justine Bateman on generative AI

"They're trying to convince people they can't do the things they've been doing easily for years - to write emails, to write a presentation. Your daughter wants you to make up a bedtime story about puppies - to write that for you." We will get to the point, she says with a grim laugh, "that you will essentially become just a skin bag of organs and bones, nothing else. You won't know anything and you will be told repeatedly that you can't do it, which is the opposite of what life has to offer. Capitulating all kinds of decisions like where to go on vacation, what to wear today, who to date, what to eat.
People are already doing this. You won't have to process grief, because you'll have uploaded photos and voice messages from your mother who just died, and then she can talk to you via AI video call every day. One of the ways it's going to destroy humans, long before there's a nuclear disaster, is going to be the emotional hollowing-out of people." - author and filmmaker Justine Bateman from a piece by Emine Saner for the Guardian

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Civilian Reader @civilianreader.com · 15h

Upcoming: CHILDREN OF STRIFE and GREEN CITY WARS by @aptshadow.bsky.social

civilianreader.com/2025/10/08/u...

Really looking forward to both of these - due to be pub'd by @torbooks.bsky.social @torbooksuk.bsky.social & @orbitbooks.bsky.social.

Upcoming: CHILDREN OF STRIFE and GREEN CITY WARS by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Adrian Tchaikovsky has to be one of the hardest-working authors in SFF. Not only that, his novels are consistently excellent and varied — he writes across seemingly all speculative genres, of…

civilianreader.com

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Civilian Reader @civilianreader.com · 15h

Really looking forward to this.

David Swinson @dswinson.bsky.social · 15h

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Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 19h

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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Phil Nobile Jr. @philnobilejr.bsky.social · 1d

You don’t need AI; AI is not “inevitable.” That’s a lie being fed to you by companies who are going to lose a fuckton of money if they don’t convince you that AI is something you can’t live without.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 1d

NVIDIA and OpenAi:

Concerns that their “increasingly complex and interconnected web of business transactions is artificially propping up the trillion-dollar AI boom.“

@bloomberg.com $NVDA 👀
www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

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Civilian Reader @civilianreader.com · 18h

If your business model requires exploitation of others, you don’t have a valid business model.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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Jonathan Coe @jonathancoe.bsky.social · 19h

This morning I turned on my phone only to find that it had changed my user name to Shirley, and when I tried to enter a simple Google query it came out as "Do you like gladiator movies?"

Then I realised it was in Airplane! mode.

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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 21h

Calling English a 'rip-off degree' is one of the most blatant exhibitions of personal barbarism I've ever seen. You've demonstrated nothing but the poverty of your own mind.

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Li Chen @exocomics.com · 18h

candy

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Plashing Vole @plashingvole.bsky.social · 20h

In a woodcut released today the Guild of Thieves and Cutpurses declared that enforcement of regulations against Thieving and Pursecutting would ‘devastate a growth industry’ and damage the economy.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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Jennifer Kretchmer @dreamwisp.bsky.social · 1d

Because it feels relevant as we continue to evaluate the media and our representatives’ statements, my favorite way to identify the active vs. passive voice.

A post by Rebecca Johnson:
“I finally learned how to teach my guys to ID the passive voice. If you can insert "by zombies" after the verb, you have passive voice.”

A tumblr respond from mightymur:
“The final, brilliant word on passive voice.
"She was killed [by zombies.]"<--passive
"Zombies killed [by zombies] her." <-- active”

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Civilian Reader @civilianreader.com · 1d

His coverage of Google, Apple, et al, is really good. (Don’t think AI plays a big role in this book, though.)

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Civilian Reader @civilianreader.com · 1d

Also out today is the excellent third novel in @shannonbowring.bsky.social’s Dalton series! Very highly recommended.

www.europaeditions.com/book/9798889...

In a Distant Valley - Shannon Bowring

Both a love letter and a window into the rural places that have shaped many, In a Distant Valley sets the stage for a final act to play out across a deep winter in snowy Maine.

www.europaeditions.com

Civilian Reader @civilianreader.com · 1d

Fair. But it is a good examination of how the major tech companies gradually enshittified themselves. Well-written, not too long, but also nicely detailed.

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Richard Kadrey @richardkadrey.bsky.social · 1d

My new book, THE FLESH KING is out today and available everywhere your get your books. But I’d feel like an ass if I didn’t mention new books by two of my favorite writers: THE ESSENTIAL HORROR OF JOE R. LANSDALE and SHADOW TICKET by Thomas Pynchon. Why not go nuts and get all three?

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Tachyon Publications @tachyonpub.bsky.social · 1d

It's a #BOOKBIRTHDAY!

Celebrate the publication of THE ESSENTIAL #HORROR OF @JOELANSDALE!

buff.ly/nNt8da5

“Lansdale is a legend, and this collection is proof positive of that.” @chuckwendig.bsky.social

@joe-hill.bsky.social @cgolden.bsky.social @davemckean.bsky.social

Cover art by Dave McKean
Design by Elizabeth Story

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Civilian Reader @civilianreader.com · 1d

Right?

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Civilian Reader @civilianreader.com · 1d

UK edition published back in June, by @viperbooks.bsky.social…

viperbooks.co.uk/work/the-rush/

The Rush - Viper

viperbooks.co.uk

Civilian Reader @civilianreader.com · 1d

Also out today, the North American edition of THE RUSH by @bethlewis.bsky.social, which I’ve been very much looking forward to.

Published by Pegasus Books:

www.pegasusbooks.com/books/the-ru...

The Rush

www.pegasusbooks.com

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Civilian Reader @civilianreader.com · 1d

UK edition is out Oct. 14th, via @versobooks.bsky.social

www.versobooks.com/en-ca/produc...

Enshittification

*** Longlisted for the Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year 2025 ***Misogyny, conspiratorialism, surveillance, manipulation, fraud, and AI slop are drowning the internet. For the mo...

www.versobooks.com

Civilian Reader @civilianreader.com · 1d

ENSHITTIFICATION, the excellent new book by Cory Doctorow is out today — definitely recommend this one. (Hopefully I’ll get me review written soon…)

Published by @fsgbooks.bsky.social.

us.macmillan.com/books/978037...

Enshittification

Enshittification: it’s not just you—the internet sucks now. Here’s why, and here’s how we can disenshittify it.We’re living through the Enshittocen...

us.macmillan.com

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Civilian Reader @civilianreader.com · 1d

MISUNDERSTOOD, a new memoir by Allen Iverson is out today, published by Gallery/ @simonschusterca.bsky.social.

Looking forward to reading this.

www.simonandschuster.com/books/Misund...

Misunderstood

A compelling and candid memoir from Allen Iverson, the NBA’s most misunderstood Hall of Famer, detailing his tough childhood in Virginia, his entry...

www.simonandschuster.com

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Natalie Zed 🍁 @nataliezed.bsky.social · 1d

Getting to show you all this cover and announce that VILLAIN is officially coming out in May of next year is such a joy and a relief i don't even know how to express it.
www.harpercollins.com/products/vil...

the cover for a book entitled Villain by Natalie Zina Walschots. the cover is a bright magenta with dark blue and teal lettering for the title, and the author's name is in yellow. there is an image of the silhouette of a woman carrying a cane, surrounded by the silhouettes of five superheroes.

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