Morgan
@duckwhatduck.bsky.social
Reposted by Morgan
a society in which there is increasingly no such thing as a reasonably sure-bet career or profession anymore AND which has no UBI and a minimal social support system is not going to remain stable for long, I'd suspect
December 22, 2025 at 4:59 PM
a society in which there is increasingly no such thing as a reasonably sure-bet career or profession anymore AND which has no UBI and a minimal social support system is not going to remain stable for long, I'd suspect
Reposted by Morgan
When we say "no, everything hasn't been digitized," I need you to understand that we really mean is that virtually nothing has been digitized. This is because the realm of primary sources that historians use is incomprehensibly large.
Seems like it's worth posting this one again.
Why Do Historians Still Have To Go To Archives?
Why do historians go to archives? Hasn’t everything already been digitized?
contingentmagazine.org
December 22, 2025 at 1:40 AM
When we say "no, everything hasn't been digitized," I need you to understand that we really mean is that virtually nothing has been digitized. This is because the realm of primary sources that historians use is incomprehensibly large.
boiling it down to this snappy slogan level really distils where I feel absolutely wild looking at lots of both pro- and anti-ai arguments.
A lot of this stuff is in principle super cool! the terrifying problem is the trajectory towards fully automated *capitalism*
A lot of this stuff is in principle super cool! the terrifying problem is the trajectory towards fully automated *capitalism*
personally I can’t believe there’s so many leftists who, when presented the “automated” part of fully automated luxury gay space communism decided it was actually immoral to automate things
December 21, 2025 at 11:50 PM
boiling it down to this snappy slogan level really distils where I feel absolutely wild looking at lots of both pro- and anti-ai arguments.
A lot of this stuff is in principle super cool! the terrifying problem is the trajectory towards fully automated *capitalism*
A lot of this stuff is in principle super cool! the terrifying problem is the trajectory towards fully automated *capitalism*
Reposted by Morgan
AI haters 🤝 AI enjoyers
wishing the google AI summary didn’t exist
wishing the google AI summary didn’t exist
The google AI summary of my most famous piece of writing--a thousand word blog post--misunderstands it on a fundamental level. In doing so, it reproduces the way critical yet lazy scholars misunderstood it, by reading the title and filling in what they thought was the most likely meaning.
Are you citing things you have not read?
Knowing that LLMs are text-generation machines, not text-analysis machines, that's more than a bit irresponsible and suspect.
Knowing that LLMs are text-generation machines, not text-analysis machines, that's more than a bit irresponsible and suspect.
December 21, 2025 at 8:54 AM
AI haters 🤝 AI enjoyers
wishing the google AI summary didn’t exist
wishing the google AI summary didn’t exist
Reposted by Morgan
Except they're trying to sell to the employers, who are focused more on "what do we not want to pay people to do" rather than "what do people not want to do".
December 21, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Except they're trying to sell to the employers, who are focused more on "what do we not want to pay people to do" rather than "what do people not want to do".
Reposted by Morgan
yeah, I think this is also an important thing to keep in mind: what do most people in a given profession LIKE about their jobs? What do they NOT like?
you will not get a good sales response if you focus on replacing the stuff most people actually LIKE doing, instead of the stuff they hate doing
you will not get a good sales response if you focus on replacing the stuff most people actually LIKE doing, instead of the stuff they hate doing
There’s a certain amount of “pick your suffering” going on.
I like the hard work of writing. I do not like the hard work of checking and improving AI output. (It’s not editing. Editing is a conversation with an author — maybe Past Me, but not a machine.)
They might be equal amounts of work, idk.
I like the hard work of writing. I do not like the hard work of checking and improving AI output. (It’s not editing. Editing is a conversation with an author — maybe Past Me, but not a machine.)
They might be equal amounts of work, idk.
December 21, 2025 at 4:34 PM
yeah, I think this is also an important thing to keep in mind: what do most people in a given profession LIKE about their jobs? What do they NOT like?
you will not get a good sales response if you focus on replacing the stuff most people actually LIKE doing, instead of the stuff they hate doing
you will not get a good sales response if you focus on replacing the stuff most people actually LIKE doing, instead of the stuff they hate doing
they keep the writer honest and they give the reader the opportunity to go learn more about the subject than can be contained in one paper.
everyone's a winner.
everyone's a winner.
"cite your sources" is how you keep yourself accountable to others. "cite your sources" is what enables people to run down the origins of myths and bullshit passing themselves off as "common knowledge." "cite your sources" KEEP US ALL HONEST
December 21, 2025 at 7:09 PM
they keep the writer honest and they give the reader the opportunity to go learn more about the subject than can be contained in one paper.
everyone's a winner.
everyone's a winner.
I'm assuming this is not referring to The Machine Stops, because a. it's novella-length and b. it was first published far enough before the 1990s to be very noticeable, but also, yeah, The Machine Stops, E.M. Forster, 1909.
I swear that there was at least one SF novel out there where humanity forgets about the engineering and ins and outs of their technology because their advanced tech could do it for them and it was a warning, published or reprinted in the 1990s.
Anybody remember the book's name & author?
Anybody remember the book's name & author?
So the “figure out how to use it lest you be left behind” replies about ‘AI’ that have been popping up here strike me as inauthentic but also kind of funny because they grant the point that rather than an automation panacea these technologies are quite difficult to figure out how to use effectively
December 21, 2025 at 6:14 PM
I'm assuming this is not referring to The Machine Stops, because a. it's novella-length and b. it was first published far enough before the 1990s to be very noticeable, but also, yeah, The Machine Stops, E.M. Forster, 1909.
Reposted by Morgan
HEY did YOU know that the ONLY way to improve your mental health this stressful holiday season is to read at LEAST 3 hours of fanfiction smut per day? This is a REAL science fact, provided to you by a LICENSED PROFESSIONAL.
December 16, 2025 at 10:14 PM
HEY did YOU know that the ONLY way to improve your mental health this stressful holiday season is to read at LEAST 3 hours of fanfiction smut per day? This is a REAL science fact, provided to you by a LICENSED PROFESSIONAL.
Reposted by Morgan
Unfriendly reminders r.e. the news:
- ambulatory wheelchair users exist
- you can't tell if someone's disabled by looking at them
- binders and information about safe binding should be accessible for everyone who needs/wants them
- gender reassignment is still in fact a protected characteristic
- ambulatory wheelchair users exist
- you can't tell if someone's disabled by looking at them
- binders and information about safe binding should be accessible for everyone who needs/wants them
- gender reassignment is still in fact a protected characteristic
December 19, 2025 at 8:07 AM
Unfriendly reminders r.e. the news:
- ambulatory wheelchair users exist
- you can't tell if someone's disabled by looking at them
- binders and information about safe binding should be accessible for everyone who needs/wants them
- gender reassignment is still in fact a protected characteristic
- ambulatory wheelchair users exist
- you can't tell if someone's disabled by looking at them
- binders and information about safe binding should be accessible for everyone who needs/wants them
- gender reassignment is still in fact a protected characteristic
Reposted by Morgan
Coming around to the idea that we should bring back 'sex change' as a term.
I've loved changing my sex. I love that I'm still changing it.
The still unknown capacity for the human body to change and grow is a miracle.
I've loved changing my sex. I love that I'm still changing it.
The still unknown capacity for the human body to change and grow is a miracle.
December 18, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Coming around to the idea that we should bring back 'sex change' as a term.
I've loved changing my sex. I love that I'm still changing it.
The still unknown capacity for the human body to change and grow is a miracle.
I've loved changing my sex. I love that I'm still changing it.
The still unknown capacity for the human body to change and grow is a miracle.
the best you can say about it is that it doesn't seem to be actively trying to make things worse
and that puts it head and shoulders above every other recent comparable document
...hooray
and that puts it head and shoulders above every other recent comparable document
...hooray
It is a sign of how fundamentally abused and traumatised trans communities are in the UK that many folks are responding to Levy with relief and cautious welcome.
It could have been a lot worse.
But it fundamentally fails to deliver meaningful improvements to trans healthcare. 1/4
It could have been a lot worse.
But it fundamentally fails to deliver meaningful improvements to trans healthcare. 1/4
December 18, 2025 at 3:13 PM
the best you can say about it is that it doesn't seem to be actively trying to make things worse
and that puts it head and shoulders above every other recent comparable document
...hooray
and that puts it head and shoulders above every other recent comparable document
...hooray
Reposted by Morgan
Remember when HS2 to Leeds was cancelled by the NIC's shitty maths and fundamental lack of expertise, and Leeds was thrown the bone of "you'll get trams" and I said those would never be delivered?
Yeah, as I was saying...
Yeah, as I was saying...
December 18, 2025 at 1:25 AM
Remember when HS2 to Leeds was cancelled by the NIC's shitty maths and fundamental lack of expertise, and Leeds was thrown the bone of "you'll get trams" and I said those would never be delivered?
Yeah, as I was saying...
Yeah, as I was saying...
Reposted by Morgan
This time of year we're thinking of the time Saint Nicholas allegedly punched Arius right in the face during the Council of Nicaea. Merry Christmas.
December 12, 2025 at 2:34 PM
This time of year we're thinking of the time Saint Nicholas allegedly punched Arius right in the face during the Council of Nicaea. Merry Christmas.
Reposted by Morgan
Don't steal pies this Christmas.
December 16, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Don't steal pies this Christmas.
Reposted by Morgan
Home Office Ministers state publicly, on the record, that they are deliberately making life worse for older people and people with disabilities who depend on care services, but it's worth it because it reduces net migration.
December 9, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Home Office Ministers state publicly, on the record, that they are deliberately making life worse for older people and people with disabilities who depend on care services, but it's worth it because it reduces net migration.
Reposted by Morgan
I really don’t get this line of reasoning… to curb the far right we must… buckle to their demands???
On Human Rights Day 2025, Keir Starmer is calling to get rid of the European Convention on Human Rights with Mette Frederiksen, Giorgia Meloni, and several other European leaders.
Starmer urges Europe’s leaders to curb ECHR to halt rise of far right
Exclusive: PM calls for members of European convention on human rights to allow tougher action to protect borders
www.theguardian.com
December 10, 2025 at 9:02 AM
I really don’t get this line of reasoning… to curb the far right we must… buckle to their demands???
Reposted by Morgan
Reposted by Morgan
The Nobel Prize committee should announce the World Cup winner tomorrow
December 6, 2025 at 4:29 AM
The Nobel Prize committee should announce the World Cup winner tomorrow
They fundamentally do not understand that if you want a space that encourages the people in it to flourish, you get that by actively focussing your energy on what you do for the people inside the space. Putting barbed wire around a field is just not the same thing as planting seeds in it.
Note how these awful people are getting exactly the exclusions of children that they demanded and *that still isn’t enough for them*: they demand everyone be delighted about it and kiss their arses for being brilliant.
December 4, 2025 at 12:56 PM
They fundamentally do not understand that if you want a space that encourages the people in it to flourish, you get that by actively focussing your energy on what you do for the people inside the space. Putting barbed wire around a field is just not the same thing as planting seeds in it.
Reposted by Morgan
It will never fail to somewhat appall me that the reaction of many people to "mental health issues are rising and poorly are increasingly seeking support for them" is, axiomatically, "wow we need to reduce those diagnoses". A crisis can't be a crisis if you throw out most of the numbers!
December 4, 2025 at 8:37 AM
It will never fail to somewhat appall me that the reaction of many people to "mental health issues are rising and poorly are increasingly seeking support for them" is, axiomatically, "wow we need to reduce those diagnoses". A crisis can't be a crisis if you throw out most of the numbers!
Reposted by Morgan
A Labour government passed the Equality Act. A Labour government was in power when the Supreme Court interpreted it to not mean what ministers at the time were clear it was intended to mean. The Labour government response should have been to legislate to fix it. Not doing so was a cowardly betrayal.
December 3, 2025 at 11:23 AM
A Labour government passed the Equality Act. A Labour government was in power when the Supreme Court interpreted it to not mean what ministers at the time were clear it was intended to mean. The Labour government response should have been to legislate to fix it. Not doing so was a cowardly betrayal.
Reposted by Morgan
Hope is here.
Help us beat Reform in May. Donate today ⤵️
Help us beat Reform in May. Donate today ⤵️
November 28, 2025 at 7:31 AM
Hope is here.
Help us beat Reform in May. Donate today ⤵️
Help us beat Reform in May. Donate today ⤵️
definitely appropriate to be reading @garethdennis.uk's book in the luggage rack of a delayed CrossCountry train (which is the one after the one we were trying to catch an hour earlier and which was too short to physically contain everyone trying to get onto it)...
November 14, 2025 at 4:01 PM
definitely appropriate to be reading @garethdennis.uk's book in the luggage rack of a delayed CrossCountry train (which is the one after the one we were trying to catch an hour earlier and which was too short to physically contain everyone trying to get onto it)...