Eric Hayot
@ehayot.bsky.social
Teacher (Penn State), writer of books about China and the West, literary worlds, academic style, history of the humanities. New project on the end of aesthetic history.
Arsenal fan, occasional Cassandra.
Arsenal fan, occasional Cassandra.
"...to help turn your humanity into your hu-brand-ity" is really amazing.
December 31, 2025 at 4:28 PM
"...to help turn your humanity into your hu-brand-ity" is really amazing.
Reposted by Eric Hayot
and most importantly and most proudly this year, to the teachers, leaders, makers, and haters leading an organized critique and refusal of AI, especially my cohort @ehayot.bsky.social and Krista Muratore, against-a-i.com
AGAINST AI -
against-a-i.com
December 31, 2025 at 1:14 PM
and most importantly and most proudly this year, to the teachers, leaders, makers, and haters leading an organized critique and refusal of AI, especially my cohort @ehayot.bsky.social and Krista Muratore, against-a-i.com
Where are your "skills" now that you need them, Liam???? WHERE?????
December 30, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Where are your "skills" now that you need them, Liam???? WHERE?????
You're right--I think I was misdescribing your position in the skeets above.
December 30, 2025 at 5:06 PM
You're right--I think I was misdescribing your position in the skeets above.
But based on the responses so far the most likely form of reaction seems to be a new understanding of the role EdTech is playing in this whole fight, and an interest in responding to that.
December 30, 2025 at 5:05 PM
But based on the responses so far the most likely form of reaction seems to be a new understanding of the role EdTech is playing in this whole fight, and an interest in responding to that.
We'll see! My feeling is that many of my colleagues don't believe enough in organizing/unionizing to actually DO it, so maybe this pushes some folks from a generic and useless "belief" into action.
December 30, 2025 at 5:03 PM
We'll see! My feeling is that many of my colleagues don't believe enough in organizing/unionizing to actually DO it, so maybe this pushes some folks from a generic and useless "belief" into action.
I think it's much narrower than you're making it out to be. But it's also written the way it is to appeal to ALL our colleagues (inclduign people who respond to varying kinds/levels/types of rhetoric). And Matt and I have also different rhetorical relns to those communities, too.
December 30, 2025 at 4:56 PM
I think it's much narrower than you're making it out to be. But it's also written the way it is to appeal to ALL our colleagues (inclduign people who respond to varying kinds/levels/types of rhetoric). And Matt and I have also different rhetorical relns to those communities, too.
But it's not "life itself": it's civil society. And it's not a moral claim but a historical claim--that something called "the humanities" has actually (in exiting history) served as a wedge for a larger attack on civil society (which includes corporate DEI, but also the VRA, AADA etc.). ...
December 30, 2025 at 4:54 PM
But it's not "life itself": it's civil society. And it's not a moral claim but a historical claim--that something called "the humanities" has actually (in exiting history) served as a wedge for a larger attack on civil society (which includes corporate DEI, but also the VRA, AADA etc.). ...
...then that's what it is. And we don't disagree along the lines that you lay out here. (END, sorry this is interminable)
December 30, 2025 at 4:51 PM
...then that's what it is. And we don't disagree along the lines that you lay out here. (END, sorry this is interminable)
... and that it's turning folks into aggressive/bad readers. If you think of the goal of that piece as: how can Matt and I write something that helps people (1) understand the institutional/political structure of their professional situation and (2) find paths to action rather than despair...
December 30, 2025 at 4:51 PM
... and that it's turning folks into aggressive/bad readers. If you think of the goal of that piece as: how can Matt and I write something that helps people (1) understand the institutional/political structure of their professional situation and (2) find paths to action rather than despair...
Anyway. I think that one of the effects of the current situation for all of us is that we're being pushed into sides (pro-AI, anti-AI, pro-humanities/anti-humanities) that are dividing people who otherwise like and support each other and are on the same side about 95% of the world. ...
December 30, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Anyway. I think that one of the effects of the current situation for all of us is that we're being pushed into sides (pro-AI, anti-AI, pro-humanities/anti-humanities) that are dividing people who otherwise like and support each other and are on the same side about 95% of the world. ...
...and on a quick reread I don't see much in there that you can cite to make it that. You can pick on the "we are all humanists now" but unless you insist on reading that literally (in which case it's false) then, it's a rhetorical claim, doing a certain kind of work, in a piece aiming to persuade.
December 30, 2025 at 4:47 PM
...and on a quick reread I don't see much in there that you can cite to make it that. You can pick on the "we are all humanists now" but unless you insist on reading that literally (in which case it's false) then, it's a rhetorical claim, doing a certain kind of work, in a piece aiming to persuade.
...the case that humanities scholarship has a special role in this fight. Some people might think so; I don't, but it doesn't really matter in any case. I think you're misreading the piece as an expression of the thing that you've been arguing against for a decade. But it's not that...
December 30, 2025 at 4:45 PM
...the case that humanities scholarship has a special role in this fight. Some people might think so; I don't, but it doesn't really matter in any case. I think you're misreading the piece as an expression of the thing that you've been arguing against for a decade. But it's not that...
...to defend our institutions (as expressions of social goods, b/c public and open; this is a political belief) against OTHER institutions that have/express/organize other values. Again, this is a place for us to act and change. It has NOTHING to do with scholarship. Nothing in the piece makes...
December 30, 2025 at 4:44 PM
...to defend our institutions (as expressions of social goods, b/c public and open; this is a political belief) against OTHER institutions that have/express/organize other values. Again, this is a place for us to act and change. It has NOTHING to do with scholarship. Nothing in the piece makes...
That's why that second half is about EdTech (not AI; I am hostile to Gen LLMs not b/c they are "AI" but b/c they belong to the general EdTech project of primitive accumulation/destruction that aim to turn public goods into private ones). Those of us taking our courses off Canvas are acting ...
December 30, 2025 at 4:43 PM
That's why that second half is about EdTech (not AI; I am hostile to Gen LLMs not b/c they are "AI" but b/c they belong to the general EdTech project of primitive accumulation/destruction that aim to turn public goods into private ones). Those of us taking our courses off Canvas are acting ...
...but rather that they have been politicized, and that the correct responses are therefore political (organization, unions).
PART 2: the other thing the piece was trying to do was to give people a way to act to defend public education in their actual classrooms, in their role as teachers.
PART 2: the other thing the piece was trying to do was to give people a way to act to defend public education in their actual classrooms, in their role as teachers.
December 30, 2025 at 4:42 PM
...but rather that they have been politicized, and that the correct responses are therefore political (organization, unions).
PART 2: the other thing the piece was trying to do was to give people a way to act to defend public education in their actual classrooms, in their role as teachers.
PART 2: the other thing the piece was trying to do was to give people a way to act to defend public education in their actual classrooms, in their role as teachers.
Goal of the piece was to give faculty in the humanities ways to respond to this political situation in appropriate fields (unions, professional organizations, banding together with K-12, sciences, etc.) so that they can act POLITICALLY. The point is not at all that the humanities are political...
December 30, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Goal of the piece was to give faculty in the humanities ways to respond to this political situation in appropriate fields (unions, professional organizations, banding together with K-12, sciences, etc.) so that they can act POLITICALLY. The point is not at all that the humanities are political...
It's about the position of the humanities in political conflict today, the role they have played as a wedge to unlock the larger project of dismantling civil society/public education. And the argument of the first half is, the wedge is open, now the larger stakes of the political fight are clear.
December 30, 2025 at 4:39 PM
It's about the position of the humanities in political conflict today, the role they have played as a wedge to unlock the larger project of dismantling civil society/public education. And the argument of the first half is, the wedge is open, now the larger stakes of the political fight are clear.
I dunno, Aaron, I feel like this is a real misreading of the piece (since as you know I agree with you, or at least am near you, wrt some of your arguments here re reason/knowledge). Without repeating everything I don't think the piece is a defense of the humanities b/c they're politically good.
December 30, 2025 at 4:38 PM
I dunno, Aaron, I feel like this is a real misreading of the piece (since as you know I agree with you, or at least am near you, wrt some of your arguments here re reason/knowledge). Without repeating everything I don't think the piece is a defense of the humanities b/c they're politically good.
I'm not sure how we came up with that either but I recognize some of me in the rhythm and you especially in the final clauses... It was a total pleasure to write together and to find ways to say and mean together more than what I could have said or meant alone.
December 30, 2025 at 3:49 AM
I'm not sure how we came up with that either but I recognize some of me in the rhythm and you especially in the final clauses... It was a total pleasure to write together and to find ways to say and mean together more than what I could have said or meant alone.