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Michael Richardson @richardsonma.bsky.social · Aug 28

Longtime listener, first time caller.

Mél is a wonderful interlocutor, which made this an absolute privilege.

Mél Hogan / The Data Fix @melhogan.bsky.social · Aug 25

New:

The Data Fix with Dr. Mél Hogan - Ep. 68 Witnessing, with Michael Richardson ‪🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
shows.acast.com/the-data-fix...

@richardsonma.bsky.social

Witnessing, with Michael Richardson | The Data Fix with Dr. Mél Hogan

shows.acast.com

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Michael Richardson @richardsonma.bsky.social · Aug 18

I loved doing this with the brilliant Mél... hop in and have a listen once it's out next week!

Mél Hogan / The Data Fix @melhogan.bsky.social · Aug 18

Please subscribe to The Data Fix podcast so you don't miss an episode!

thedatafix.net

Next up, ‪the amazing @richardsonma.bsky.social (Aug 25) -- on witnessing AI and algorithms.

After this episode, I will take a break to get relocated, but plan to be back at it in October! Stay tuned!

The Data Fix with Dr. Mél Hogan

a lefty pod about perpetual tech promises

thedatafix.net

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Michael Richardson @richardsonma.bsky.social · Jul 19

This is a bloody good read

Brandy Jensen @brandyjensen.bsky.social · Jul 18

for Bills Week I decided to read the new 1000 page Buckley biography

William F. Buckley's Bill Never Came Due | Defector

Perhaps the highest praise I can offer a book that took 27 years to complete and runs over 1,000 pages is that I can see why, and that it doesn’t feel like it. Sam Tanenhaus’s extremely long and anxio...

defector.com

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Reposted by Michael Richardson

Luke Stark @lukestark.bsky.social · Jul 17

My university has announced a fund to essentially poach doctoral students from US institutions. DM me if you do work on the history/social impacts of AI and are interested in being poached 😂

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Reposted by Michael Richardson

Joseph Shoer @jpshoer.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · Jul 17

Terrific essay from @mmasnick.bsky.social

I wish more of the business community would recognize this
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/17/fascism-for-first-time-founders/

Fascism For First Time Founders

Over the last year or so I’ve seen a disturbing tendency in tech/startup/VC worlds to buy into the neoreactionary view that for startups to be successful they need to get on board the Trump t…

www.techdirt.com

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Michael Richardson @richardsonma.bsky.social · Jul 17

Sounds depressing, I’ll add it to the list

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Michael Richardson @richardsonma.bsky.social · Jul 16

I think this is the best thing I’ve read about journalism, AI and the business models of media companies. Must read for anyone who cares about this stuff, which really should be everyone.

Michael Richardson @richardsonma.bsky.social · Jul 16

Nailing it.

“It is the only “business model” that we have and that I am certain works: We trade good, accurate, interesting, human articles for money and attention. The risks of offloading that trust to an AI in a careless way is the biggest possible risk factor that we could have as a business.”

404 Media @404media.co · Jul 14

The Media's Pivot to AI Is Not Real and Not Going to Work

🔗 www.404media.co/the-medias-p...

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Michael Richardson @richardsonma.bsky.social · Jul 16

Nailing it.

“It is the only “business model” that we have and that I am certain works: We trade good, accurate, interesting, human articles for money and attention. The risks of offloading that trust to an AI in a careless way is the biggest possible risk factor that we could have as a business.”

404 Media @404media.co · Jul 14

The Media's Pivot to AI Is Not Real and Not Going to Work

🔗 www.404media.co/the-medias-p...

The Media's Pivot to AI Is Not Real and Not Going to Work

AI is not going to save media companies, and forcing journalists to use AI is not a business model.

www.404media.co

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Michael Richardson @richardsonma.bsky.social · Jul 15

My legendary friend and colleague wrote for @crikey.com.au about the Gaza sized hole in Australian universities and what the draconian demands of special envoy Segal would mean for learning, teaching and being in the university. It is fire and you should read it.

www.crikey.com.au/2025/07/15/i...

How to silence academic speech on Palestine

Jillian Segal’s proposal seeks to mobilise the IHRA definition of antisemitism and would have far-reaching implications for students and staff across Australian universities.

www.crikey.com.au

Michael Richardson @richardsonma.bsky.social · Jul 15

Congrats! Incredible opportunity

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Reposted by Michael Richardson

Carolyn Pedwell @carolynpedwell.bsky.social · Jul 14

Final registration call for the @britishacademy.bsky.social funded symposium, 'Speculative Machines and Us: Histories and Futures of AI', @lancasteruni.bsky.social on 17 July! 💥🤖 FULL PROGRAMME, ABSTRACTS AND BIOS here: wp.lancs.ac.uk/sciencestudi...
Register now here: wp.lancs.ac.uk/sciencestudi...

Speculative Machines and Us: Histories and Futures of AI

We warmly invite colleagues to join us for an in-person one-day symposium on Thursday 17th July 2025. To join, please register using the link below. The event is organised by the Centre for Science…

wp.lancs.ac.uk

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Reposted by Michael Richardson

Spencer Ackerman @attackerman.bsky.social · Jul 13

Mass extraordinary rendition.

And we know with certainty from the War on Terror that those certifications against persecution and torture are pro forma and are better understood as a document colluding to such treatment.

ICE memo outlines plan to deport migrants to countries where they are not citizens

The dramatic shift in policy could result in thousands of immigrants being deported to places where they lack family ties or even a common language.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Michael Richardson @richardsonma.bsky.social · Jul 13

missing from this otherwise insightful account of the extremely online young men of the American far right is the tech platforms that host this garbage, there’s just this tendency to take social media as given but these platforms could be reined in or shut down

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/o...

Opinion | Trolling Democracy

The rise of a toxic online politics.

www.nytimes.com

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Michael Richardson @richardsonma.bsky.social · Jul 13

This is the entire OpenAI business model

Mike Ginn @shutupmikeginn.bsky.social · Jul 13

feel like Adobe is kind of like the cigarette companies in the 1960s, going after kids. they give cheap licenses to schools to hook young losers such as myself. now i'm an adult stuck paying $90 a month because i never learned any of the other softwares

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Michael Richardson @richardsonma.bsky.social · Jul 11

I think this really nails it. I also think that a huge problem is that the general / universal versions like ChatGPT tend to be conflated with more specialised applications where the pro/con arguments and lines of critique look very different.

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Reposted by Michael Richardson

Not (A.) I. @aerialeverything.cryptoanarchy.network · Jul 10

The intent behind this project makes me think of viral AI-gen image of girl holding puppy in a dingy during Hurricane Helene, legitimized for being "emblematic of people's trauma." Thru AI there's an active shift from evidentiary images towards a designed emblematic.
www.404media.co/the-un-made-...

The UN Made AI-Generated Refugees

The AIs are designed to teach people about atrocities in Sudan.

www.404media.co

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Michael Richardson @richardsonma.bsky.social · Jul 10

I've written a lot about the need to extend witnessing beyond the human, but this ain't it. We need to attend more closely to the abundance of very human testimony about war and suffering, to listen and act in response, not look for ways to dehumanise the survivors of dehumanising violence.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · Jul 10

There’s so much wrong here, but in particular it’s noted in the article that the creator of this project met with a bunch of stakeholders who told him the idea was shit, and he did it anyway.

The UN Made AI-Generated Refugees

The AIs are designed to teach people about atrocities in Sudan.

www.404media.co

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Reposted by Michael Richardson

Tim Dunlop @timdunlop.bsky.social · Jul 10

If you want to know how political realignment is achieved and how the centre-left is moved inexorably to the right, this is it.

Paul Karp @paulkarp.bsky.social · Jul 10

Antisemitism envoy calls for powers to strip universities of funding
www.afr.com//politics/fe...

Antisemitism envoy calls for powers to strip universities of funding

Academics and protesters to be targeted by tougher penalties for hate speech in new plan to combat antisemitism.

www.afr.com

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Reposted by Michael Richardson

Daniel Angus @antmandan.bsky.social · Jul 10

The Albanese govt is seemingly backing a plan that could withhold uni and arts funding if they're seen to not tackle antisemitism. But what counts as "failure"? This sets a dangerous precedent, threatening academic independence, and informed and open debate.
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07...

Antisemitism plan would strip funding from unis, arts events who fail to fight Jewish hate

Powers to strip funding from public institutions who fail on antisemitism, a review of Australia's hate speech laws, and visa screening for antisemitic views are among the recommendations of a wide-ra...

www.abc.net.au

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Michael Richardson @richardsonma.bsky.social · Jul 9

I can’t count the number of conversations with students, friends, and academics where people dismissed at the idea that mass data collection was a huge risk to people’s lives and especially the most vulnerable

www.404media.co/ice-is-searc...

ICE Is Searching a Massive Insurance and Medical Bill Database to Find Deportation Targets

The database, called ISO ClaimSearch, is nearly all encompassing and contains details on more than 1.8 billion insurance claims and 58 million medical bills.

www.404media.co

Reposted by Michael Richardson

Big Data Kane @cmwitko.bsky.social · Jul 8

Non-academics: if you see an interesting academic paper on here and you can’t access it due to a paywall just email the author and (depending on the state of their inbox 😜) they will generally be thrilled you are interested in their work and send you a copy.

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Michael Richardson @richardsonma.bsky.social · Jul 7

It's in a fab special issue on "New Worlds of Logistical Labour" edited by legends Tom Barnes, @laurenkatekelly.bsky.social and @blueskychris.bsky.social and in the open access journal Work, Organisation, Labour & Globalisation.

Michael Richardson @richardsonma.bsky.social · Jul 7

New article from me and Zoe Horn. "Digital twins and logistical labour: Models, plans and the inversion of the ‘real’," in which we show how operative, virtual replicas of material environments are beginning to subordinate the real within a logistical paradigm

www.scienceopen.com/hosted-docum...

Digital twins and logistical labour: Models, plans and the inversion of the ‘real’

<p xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" class="first" dir="auto" id="d24518e99">This article argues that digital twins constitute new computational techniques for the mobi...

www.scienceopen.com

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Michael Richardson @richardsonma.bsky.social · Jun 24

Eliminate the humans so we can all get “popped up into some kind of sugar cube for a billion simulated years of bliss, but it's only six hours in clock time”

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · Jun 24

Kinda wild how quickly people’s genocide fantasies became mainstreamed.

Can AI Be Humanity’s "Worthy Successor"?

Is humanity ready to pass the torch to superintelligent AI? Dive into the concept of a "worthy successor" and what it means for our future.

spectrum.ieee.org

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Michael Richardson @richardsonma.bsky.social · Jun 22

Or the violation of international law, which is actually more important to the rest of the world

Ruth Ben-Ghiat @ruthbenghiat.bsky.social · Jun 22

Why are no headlines focusing on the unconstitutional and dictatorial nature of this action?