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Ira Allen @rhetlab.bsky.social · Sep 5

Thinking about the crisis of meaning imposed on us all with the RhetAI Coalition here. Hope it can be useful!

rhetaicoalition.substack.com/p/ai-revolut...

AI Revolution as Crisis of Meaning, and More

AI continues to be deeply panickable because it disrupts human meaning-making.

rhetaicoalition.substack.com

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Reposted by Ira Allen

Elisabeth R. Anker @libankerdc.bsky.social · Jul 31

subvariety sarah @scgriffith.bsky.social · Jul 31

it's actually worse than it sounds because not only does the informant get their complaint sent to the previously strictly internal OERC, if you combine this with another provision they actually get the instructor in trouble with the feds. it's a government informant system

subvariety sarah @scgriffith.bsky.social · Jul 30

hoo boy. my first thought is that this in effect means that at brown, you can now complain about your enemies internally and have that automatically get shot up to the government. it's informing with plausible deniability

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Prof. Eliot Jacobson @climatecasino.net · Jul 28

Here's an update on the accelerating decline of global sea-ice extent. This graphic shows the 3-year running average, Jan. 1, 1991 - July 27, 2025, as well as a quadratic trend line.

What is the future of global sea-ice? The climate 8-ball says: "F&%kery ahead!"

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Reposted by Ira Allen

SEIU California @seiuca.org · Jul 12

A worker was killed. Dozens detained.

Dr. Jonathan Caravello, A CSU faculty member and US citizen, was brutalized & disappeared by ICE for observing.

Trump’s ICE thugs are escalating terror in our communities. Release them ALL.

seiuca.org/press-releas...

SEIU California | SEIU California Demands Release of CSU Faculty Member Brutalized By ICE

SEIU California members call for the immediate release of our brother Jonathan Caravello, PhD, a U.S. citizen and union member, who was brutally assaulted and detained by federal agents as he…

seiuca.org

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Leigh M. Johnson @drleighmjohnson.bsky.social · Jun 13

This is going to be a busy weekend. Probably not a bad idea to figure out how much panic you should bring with you into it!

Check out the new @hotelbarpodcast.bsky.social episode, where we talk to @rhetlab.bsky.social about whether or not it's time to panic NOW.

hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/pani...

Episode 186: Panic Now? (with Ira Allen) - Hotel Bar Podcast

The rise of AI, the decay of democracy, colonial legacies, climate disaster, Is it time to panic now?

hotelbarpodcast.com

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Ira Allen @rhetlab.bsky.social · Apr 23

For me, it's watching this hack bend with what he sees as the wind in real time. Hard to believe that guy having a platform *isn't* some kinda psyop, given his gleefully incoherent stumping for whatever seems likely to advance the cause of Matt Yglesias.

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Ira Allen @rhetlab.bsky.social · Feb 12

I'm not pithy like that.

(No but for real, I like writing to try to figure something out; short form always makes me feel constrained and irritable and I end up being more of an asshole than I want to be. But sincerely, thank you!)

Ira Allen @rhetlab.bsky.social · Feb 12

Love that mantra--gonna take it on myself. Thanks, Seth!!

Reposted by Ira Allen

Seth Kahn (he/him) @badpacifist.bsky.social · Feb 4

@rhetlab.bsky.social's book _Panic Now_ has forced me to revise a mantra I've held dear for decades. New version: "The urge to freak out and the urge to organize are the same urge."

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Brandon Haffner @thebrandonhaff.bsky.social · Dec 31

Bring in the New Year with fresh panic!

Panic Now?: Tools For Humanizing by @rhetlab.bsky.social has undone and remade my thinking about our world’s crises. You should read this. From @utpress.bsky.social.

“Panic is not a replacement for loving the world, but a way into doing so very differently."

A photo of the book Panic Now?: Tools for Humanizing by Ira J. Allen

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Ira Allen @rhetlab.bsky.social · Jan 4

Thanks a lot, Brandon!!

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Jeremy David Engels @jeremydavidengels.bsky.social · Dec 19

Why practice mindfulness? A primary reason is for direct insight into paticcasamuppada, interdependent coarising — as Stephen Batchelor translates it, “contingency.” An infinity of things that had to happen just as they did for this moment to exist. To see this is to see reality in a new way.

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Ira Allen @rhetlab.bsky.social · Dec 19

Can't see why you tag this "blame the voters." If a political party spends Billions with a B and consistently loses vote share, all while real wages decline and that party fails to deliver publicly desired goods or even "democracy" in a substantive sense, why would you blame anyone but the party?

Reposted by Ira Allen

Kevin Bruyneel @kbruyneel.bsky.social · Dec 18

The climate crisis through the lens of non-renewals of home insurance - the map tells the tale.

Don't believe the science? Tell that to your home insurer.

To quote Prof. Ira Allen @rhetlab.bsky.social from his new book, yes, "Panic Now."

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Insurers Are Dropping Homeowners as Climate Shocks Worsen

Without insurance, it’s impossible to get a mortgage; without a mortgage, most Americans can’t buy a home.

www.nytimes.com

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Ira Allen @rhetlab.bsky.social · Dec 15

Truly excited and honored to announce that my new crypto, dronecoin, soft launched last week and the buzz has been incredible

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Julian Cribb @juliancribb.bsky.social · Dec 10

"There is no plan to stabilize the climate" - James Hansen's shocking statement.
www.collapse2050.com/6-gut-wrench...

6 Gut Wrenching Quotes from James Hansen's Climate Justice Paper

Climate Change at the International Court of Justice

www.collapse2050.com

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Ira Allen @rhetlab.bsky.social · Dec 8

Tell ya one thing for sure, though: I have no use for all the insta-experts popping up w their hot takes on an extremely complicated situation they seem not even to have bothered reading the briefing about to fill in backstory, takes aligning perfectly w one or another non-Syrian political faction.

Ira Allen @rhetlab.bsky.social · Dec 8

Lived in Beirut for 3 yrs of the Syrian civil war (14-17). Watching Atassi's film, Our Terrible Country, open there remains one of the most affecting collective experiences I've had. I wrote an article about the film/revolution/proxy war.

And I am *very* puzzled by this week's events.

Glenn L @glennvy.bsky.social · Dec 8

Assad has left Damascus

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has boarded a plane and left Damascus to an unknown destination, Reuters news agency has just reported quoting two senior Syrian officers. www.bbc.com/news/live/cw...

Syria rebellion: Anti-government forces say they are in Damascus

Reports from Syria say President Bashar al-Assad has left the country as anti-government forces enter the capital.

www.bbc.com

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Ira Allen @rhetlab.bsky.social · Dec 8

Anybody know how much THIS SPECIFIC investigation is costing vs avg cost per murder? How about per rape investigation?

Tell me again how cops are public service.

Read the book Starting Somewhere @jphillll.bsky.social · Dec 7

“This isn’t ‘Blue Bloods.’ We’re not going to solve this in 60 minutes. We’re painstakingly going through every bit of evidence that we can come across,” Kenny said.”

www.cnn.com/2024/12/07/u...

NYPD divers search Central Park waters for gun used to kill UnitedHealthcare CEO, source says | CNN

NYPD divers were searching a body of water in New York’s Central Park on Saturday for the firearm used in the fatal shooting of a health care executive in Manhattan, a law enforcement official told CN...

www.cnn.com

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Ira Allen @rhetlab.bsky.social · Dec 8

Broke: ppl working from home being more productive and converting office space into residential to solve the housing crisis

Woke: sacrificing productivity via RTO to artificially prop up commercial real estate and restrict housing supply, but with living room wallpaper and couches at the office

Zack Bornstein @zackbornstein.bsky.social · Dec 7

lmao what kind of wiley e coyote ass painted tunnel on a wall scheme is this

Reposted by Ira Allen

Owen Jones @owenjones.bsky.social · Dec 5

No genocide has been so confessed to as it actually happened.

No genocide has been so evidenced by both victims and perpetrators as it actually happened.

This devastating report underlines why every facilitator, every cheerleader, of Israel's genocide must be held to account.

Amnesty International UK @amnestyuk.bsky.social · Dec 5

1/5 A groundbreaking Amnesty report published today concludes Israeli authorities are committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. www.amnesty.org.uk/genocide-rep...

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Anna Mills @annamillsoer.bsky.social · Dec 7

Trying out a new general approach to building skepticism of AI outputs while supporting existing learning goals. Contradictory Chatbot gives three mutually incompatible answers to every question. What if students ask it subject-matter questions and reflect on the options? bit.ly/Contradictor...

Contradictory Chatbot

bit.ly

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Ira Allen @rhetlab.bsky.social · Dec 7

Ha, interesting approach! Would be worth asking students to tease out what doxa, what unspoken assumptions about how the world is, *must be made* and (contrastingly) *are merely likely* for each of the three outputs.

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Ira Allen @rhetlab.bsky.social · Dec 7

It is, ultimately, heartbreaking that so many smart, kind, sincere people start out critical and, in "making it," are turned into complete idiots.

Anyway, here's a little dose of reality about the climate collapse, contra the hope peddlers: www.nature.com/articles/s41....

The first ice-free day in the Arctic Ocean could occur before 2030 - Nature Communications

The first day with no sea ice in the Arctic will be a visible sign of climate change. This work reveals that this could occur before 2030 already and becomes more likely as the world warms. As the ice...

www.nature.com

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James Mackay @jamesmackaycyp.bsky.social · Dec 6

"AI is an automated amplifier of social norms and assumptions"

- well put by Selena Savić, speaking at "Rethinking the Inevitability of AI" conference today. Such a productive series of talks.

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