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Damon Beres

@damonberes.com

30K followers 580 following 920 posts

Senior editor at The Atlantic, focused on tech // SIGNAL: Damon.63 📨 dberes at the atlantic dot com ✴️ damonberes.com

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Damon Beres @damonberes.com · Nov 11

I want to start posting here more, to the extent I post anything at all these days. I'm a senior editor at @theatlantic.bsky.social overseeing technology coverage; I'll share gift links here with my thoughts and additional context to help you see the great stuff we're publishing. 👋🏻

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Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 1d

Obsessed with this portion of @alibreland.bsky.social’s latest, on “heritage Americans,” not just because it’s snappy, but because it reveals much about the nature of the ideology these people have: superior, unwavering, fundamentally rooted in historic unreality www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

When I called Engel to ask him about all of this, he told me that he does not believe that genetics are “the chief explanation” for how Anglo-Protestant ideals are transferred from generation to generation—but added that “there is an ethnic or racial correlation” between who embodies such ideals and who doesn’t. Our conversation was polite, but strange at times. I mentioned that as a half-Iranian American who was born and raised in the U.S., I share more in common ideologically with the Anglo-Protestant Founders of the United States than I do with Middle Eastern theocrats. “I would also contend that there is something deep inside of you that is attracted to or finds familiar portions of Iranian history,” he said, as though I am genetically predisposed to find the conquests of Darius the Great uniquely moving. I don’t, and told him as much. “I’m not contending that you can’t take someone and raise him within a certain cultural environment and he begins to adopt the taste and all that,” Engel responded. “But I do contend that if you bring in massive groups of people over time, it’s going to, in a few generations, be a lot culturally different than it would otherwise have been if you never had done that.”

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Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 1d

“social-media clips showing masked federal agents kicking down doors, raiding Home Depot parking lots, and pulling people from their car have kept up the appearance of an ever-expanding campaign. ICE’s own data show that the agency’s buildup stalled over the summer.” @nickmiroff.bsky.social

As Money Rushed In, ICE’s Rapid Expansion Stalled Out

Immigration arrests have declined and jail overcrowding is worse despite billions in new funds.

www.theatlantic.com

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Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 1d

The man behind the $1 million AI ad campaign that everyone hates assures us that he loves all of the vandalism, actually. @matteowong.bsky.social

A Walk With New York’s Most Hated Tech Founder

Avi Schiffman says he’s enjoying the angry reaction to the Friend AI pendant. Is he serious?

www.theatlantic.com

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Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 1d

enjoy

A Walk With New York’s Most Hated Tech Founder

Avi Schiffman says he’s enjoying the angry reaction to the Friend AI pendant. Is he serious?

www.theatlantic.com

Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 1d

Watch this space

Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 1d

Wow we have a story for you coming up in, like, five minutes

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Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 1d

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Reposted by Damon Beres

Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 28d

Outstanding essay by my colleague Gisela Salim-Peyer

Authoritarianism Feels Surprisingly Normal—Until It Doesn’t

Life in Venezuela was deceptively mundane. Then everything collapsed.

www.theatlantic.com

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Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 4d

this would have worked on me

Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 5d

listen they're all good but phantom thread at number 8 .....

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Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 6d

Bought two of these 🤙

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 6d

We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

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Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 11d

Love Letterboxd

Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 12d

“Swift has pulled off something that’s never quite been done before. The closest comparison might be to show tunes—but for a one-woman play that’s gone 19 years without a curtain call.”
@skornhaber.bsky.social

How Did Taylor Swift Convince the World That She’s Relatable?

The tidiest explanation for the pop star’s success is that she befriended an underestimated audience of girls and young women. That’s only part of the story.

www.theatlantic.com

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Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 12d

I've been hearing a lot of talk about AirPods recently which led me to this 2018 @ibogost.bsky.social piece which contains an *incredible* lede and is, beyond that, very good and insightful, one might even say prescient

Apple's Airpods Are an Omen

The company’s slick, wireless earbuds work great, but they foreshadow startling changes to the social fabric.

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted by Damon Beres

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 13d

Kimmel’s defiant return highlights one of the most disturbing dynamics of Trump II, that so many people in positions of leadership are chickenshit frauds who would rather fold in advance than put up anything resembling a fight www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Kimmel’s refusal to capitulate stands out because so many other well-situated people—those with the resources, platform, and power to stand up to the president, including, initially, the leaders of ABC—have surrendered, withdrawn, or become Trump sycophants themselves. One by one, American leaders supposedly committed to principles of free speech, due process, democracy, and equality have abandoned those ideals when menaced by the Trump administration. These cascading acts of cowardice from the people best positioned to resist Trump’s authoritarian power grabs have made Trump seem exponentially more powerful than he actually is, sapping strength from others who might have discovered the courage to stand up. Defending democracy requires a collective refusal to acquiesce to lawless behavior from many different sectors of society. All of these powerful people trying to save their own skin have effectively multiplied Trump’s attacks on constitutional government, by enhancing a false sense of inevitability and invincibility.

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Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 12d

CHICKENSHIT 👊
@adamserwer.bsky.social

Lower Than Cowards

The surrender of America’s elites

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted by Damon Beres

Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 13d

very alarmed that this is getting more relevant by the week www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

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Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 12d

two more days of vacation...

Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 12d

yes

Adam Sternbergh @sternbergh.bsky.social · 13d

excited NYC has finally added a new fifth season, right after summer and right before fall, called wet dishrag

Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 13d

AMAZING

Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 13d

I'm astonished that a preteen knows what Adbusters is

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Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 13d

Well, *I'm* not stating anything

Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 13d

“Twenty-first-century authoritarianism keeps the public content with abundant calories and dazzling entertainment. Its dominant emotions aren’t euphoria and rage, but indifference and cynicism.”

America’s Zombie Democracy

Its trappings remain, but authoritarianism and AI are hollowing out our humanity.

www.theatlantic.com

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Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 13d

three days left of vacation ...

Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 13d

lolll