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gabriel burrow

@gabrielburrow.bsky.social

200 followers 200 following 88 posts

PhD in contemporary literature at Birkbeck, UoL (SF modelling; political movements; utopia). Part-time Research Lead for TEAM LEWIS global creative. Editor at MOSF Journal of Science Fiction. Tired. gabrielburrow.com

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gabriel burrow @gabrielburrow.bsky.social · 7d

If your models could solve real-world problems with sufficient compute - and it's a scarce resource - why would you squander it on people generating and sharing silly videos?

A) Because they're not actually very good at solving real-world problems

B) You're morally bankrupt

C) Both

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gabriel burrow @gabrielburrow.bsky.social · 7d

Sam Altman last week: Unless we bring more AI-ready compute online, we might have to choose between curing cancer and free global education

Sam Altman this week: We've launched an AI brainrot engine lol

gizmodo.com/openai-offic...

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gabriel burrow @gabrielburrow.bsky.social · 15d

Cyberspace but it's just really big Mr Beast videos

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gabriel burrow @gabrielburrow.bsky.social · 15d

As Mark Zuckerberg continues to humiliate himself trying to capture the AR and VR space, I figured it was worth taking the pulse of the "metaverse".

tl;dr: It’s sub-par escapism for people experiencing a sub-par way of living—cyberpunk with the knobs turned down.

gabrielburrow.com/2025/09/22/m...

Metaverse or Torment Nexus?

There’s a common joke within science fiction circles derived from a Tweet by author Alex Blechman (2021). It reads, “Sci-Fi Author: In my book I invented the Torment Nexus as a cautionary tale. Tec…

gabrielburrow.com

gabriel burrow @gabrielburrow.bsky.social · Aug 18

The violent criminality...

gabriel burrow @gabrielburrow.bsky.social · Aug 6

S-tier Meg episode

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gabriel burrow @gabrielburrow.bsky.social · Jun 27

Your dad doomscrolling LinkedIn at Glastonbury

gabriel burrow @gabrielburrow.bsky.social · Jun 13

Was great to catch up with Birkbeck colleagues at this year's CACC conference.

So many cool projects underway (mushrooms, Cornish knockers, human compost, a breast cancer memoir, Silicon Valley theology, etc.)

Being a humanities researcher in the UK often feels pretty bleak. But not yesterday!

gabriel burrow @gabrielburrow.bsky.social · Jun 11

Ok, it's not shit with randoms once you get to the later night lords...

Reposted by gabriel burrow

☀️ Starshine @starshine.bsky.social · Jun 8

me and 2000 Patriots on our way to go secure home depot

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Reposted by gabriel burrow

Jon @thelitcritguy.bsky.social · Jun 4

Not many places would let me quote both Huey Newton and Marx

www.currentaffairs.org/news/andor-s...

Andor Shows Us What Popular Culture Could Be

In an era of banal, homogenous mass media, Andor refuses easy optimism and shows us that building a better world is a hard, necessary task. It’s exactly the imaginative pop culture we need.

www.currentaffairs.org

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gabriel burrow @gabrielburrow.bsky.social · Jun 5

The annoying part is this will become Elon's go-to excuse for SpaceX failing to achieve its various unrealistic goals (Mars etc.)

gabriel burrow @gabrielburrow.bsky.social · Jun 5

😞

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gabriel burrow @gabrielburrow.bsky.social · May 30

You're spot on about its coherent and seductive qualities though. A tough - but necessary - read.

gabriel burrow @gabrielburrow.bsky.social · May 30

The critique of profit-only tech and the Dot-com bubble ("Lost in Toyland" etc.) is bearable... Then he gets onto what he wants to replace it with and it's *deranged*.

gabriel burrow @gabrielburrow.bsky.social · May 30

🌌 Our latest issue of JOSF is LIVE 🌌

Lots of cool stuff in there, including an essay on science fictional librarians from fellow editor John J. Doherty.

I didn't work on this one – getting stuck into our forthcoming VR special issue. Watch this (virtual) space.
publish.lib.umd.edu/index.php/sc...

gabriel burrow @gabrielburrow.bsky.social · May 28

Best torso in the game.

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gabriel burrow @gabrielburrow.bsky.social · May 27

Spicy paper reveal:

gabriel burrow @gabrielburrow.bsky.social · May 16

"In the clown nursery it's always time to dance."

HEADACHE - "THE HEAD HURTS BUT THE HEART KNOWS THE TRUTH"

Lyric sheet for "THE HEAD HURTS BUT THE HEART KNOWS THE TRUTH"

gabriel burrow @gabrielburrow.bsky.social · May 16

Looking forward to this! I'll be talking about the aesthetics of digital activism in contemporary science fiction.

Ali Rıza Taşkale @alirizataskale.bsky.social · May 16

I’m organizing an international workshop next week at Roskilde University: Speculating the Future: Fictional Worlds and Financial Realities. We’ll explore how speculative fiction helps us understand speculative finance & future-making. The keynote will be delivered by Sherryl Vint from UC Riverside.

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gabriel burrow @gabrielburrow.bsky.social · May 11

While novels are not instruction manuals, are you at all receptive to them operating on the level of cognitive map or model (i.e. presenting a miniature world that reflects complex systems)?

I see that as distinct from the technocratic "how to" readings that KSR admittedly courts in Ministry.

Reposted by gabriel burrow

Adam Becker @adambecker.bsky.social · May 10

My new book #MoreEverythingForever is out now in the UK too! If you're tired of Silicon Valley billionaires forcing their awful ideas on the rest of us, this one is for you. www.hachette.co.uk/titles/adam-...

More Everything Forever

'Disconcerting . . . a disturbing and important book' NEW SCIENTIST The bad science and sinister ideas behind Silicon Valley's foolish obsession with immo...

www.hachette.co.uk

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gabriel burrow @gabrielburrow.bsky.social · May 10

Pretty sure Star Trek is about how cool it would be to send Katy Perry to space!!!

gabriel burrow @gabrielburrow.bsky.social · May 10

Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos did a Star Trek cameo without a critical bone in his body...

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gabriel burrow @gabrielburrow.bsky.social · May 1