Sarah Bagley Hammock
@stereoconstella.bsky.social
Lit and Culture PhD // Nostalgia & Modernism Etc // Stereoconstellation // Neuroqueer Autistic //
weird olfactory insight: freshly cut cucumber skin + chicken cat food = crushed trail-laying ant (ant who leaves pheromone trails). Similar to cut home-grown bolted cilantro, but also different. Very very specific pungency.
July 17, 2025 at 4:57 PM
weird olfactory insight: freshly cut cucumber skin + chicken cat food = crushed trail-laying ant (ant who leaves pheromone trails). Similar to cut home-grown bolted cilantro, but also different. Very very specific pungency.
We do need to talk about autistic empaths more - but I still think the double empathy problem applies. The empathy difference isn't just about understanding feelings, it's about understanding how empathy works. Autistic empathy often still relies more on pattern and analysis than allistic empathy.
I think the "double empathy problem" (where there's a mutual misunderstanding between autistic and nonautistic people when it comes to understanding each other's experiences) misses a whole subset of autistic people...
June 16, 2025 at 1:54 PM
We do need to talk about autistic empaths more - but I still think the double empathy problem applies. The empathy difference isn't just about understanding feelings, it's about understanding how empathy works. Autistic empathy often still relies more on pattern and analysis than allistic empathy.
I think the scarier thing is that a lot of people in the tech biz don't seem to believe humans amount to anything more than complicated AI. They're not rigging the game so they can win, they actually think the rigged game is a true microcosm of reality.
My new piece in @theguardian.com
Techno-optimism is human pessimism.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Techno-optimism is human pessimism.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
AI is ‘beating’ humans at empathy and creativity. But these games are rigged | MJ Crockett
Research pitting people against AI systems gives AI an edge by asking us to perform in machine-like ways
www.theguardian.com
February 27, 2025 at 8:44 PM
I think the scarier thing is that a lot of people in the tech biz don't seem to believe humans amount to anything more than complicated AI. They're not rigging the game so they can win, they actually think the rigged game is a true microcosm of reality.
Reposted by Sarah Bagley Hammock
"We're better than we seem and hurting more than we show."
sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/your-quest...
sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/your-quest...
Your Questions Answered: We're Already in the Aftermath
On Trump and Russia, defeating the mafia state, and more.
sarahkendzior.substack.com
February 27, 2025 at 1:57 AM
"We're better than we seem and hurting more than we show."
sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/your-quest...
sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/your-quest...
Just misheard the words "resume soon" as "stress-mason" and yeah, that's about right. Brick by brick.
February 27, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Just misheard the words "resume soon" as "stress-mason" and yeah, that's about right. Brick by brick.
I teach @alexispauline.bsky.social to fight this and show how to imagine a future where systems support rest/inspiration/love. Recently I see so much more anger from students when they realize how much imagination and hope they've been denied.
I'd point to something deeper I think this thread is touching on: the (US) popular imagination has lost the concept that a system or society can be good, worth representing or defending, the underdog narrative that individuals are good and systems are bad or corrupt runs very deep in US storytelling
First: if it's "easier" to write relatable villains than relatable 'good guys,' that means something and should be considered as an independent question. *Why* have villains become so popular in recent decades? Because they reflect people's lived experiences within a broken system.
February 20, 2025 at 4:35 PM
I teach @alexispauline.bsky.social to fight this and show how to imagine a future where systems support rest/inspiration/love. Recently I see so much more anger from students when they realize how much imagination and hope they've been denied.
Weirdly familiar, to be accusing a specific group of people of being simultaneously overly influential in the economy, and lazy/shiftless. And then use this as a premise to destroy their economic self-sufficiency. Wonder how long until unemployed DEIAs are being rounded up for work camps?
Wrote about the morally vacuous, strategically unsound (and also wrong!) anti-“woke”diagnosis everyone’s still sticking with, even in the midst of civil rights apocalypse.
Wokeness Is Not to Blame for Trump
How a misdiagnosis of the 2024 election has calcified into self-defeating conventional wisdom.
nymag.com
February 19, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Weirdly familiar, to be accusing a specific group of people of being simultaneously overly influential in the economy, and lazy/shiftless. And then use this as a premise to destroy their economic self-sufficiency. Wonder how long until unemployed DEIAs are being rounded up for work camps?
So Dems are delusional about shortcomings of institutional "science", and Rs focused on experience, but w/ delusional ideas for fixing (i.e. Trump).
What about how progressives saw experience accurately like Rs, but w/ non-delusional proposals for repair?
www.politico.com/news/magazin...
What about how progressives saw experience accurately like Rs, but w/ non-delusional proposals for repair?
www.politico.com/news/magazin...
Voters Were Right About the Economy. The Data Was Wrong.
Here’s why unemployment is higher, wages are lower and growth less robust than government statistics suggest.
www.politico.com
February 13, 2025 at 12:42 PM
So Dems are delusional about shortcomings of institutional "science", and Rs focused on experience, but w/ delusional ideas for fixing (i.e. Trump).
What about how progressives saw experience accurately like Rs, but w/ non-delusional proposals for repair?
www.politico.com/news/magazin...
What about how progressives saw experience accurately like Rs, but w/ non-delusional proposals for repair?
www.politico.com/news/magazin...
Reposted by Sarah Bagley Hammock
this really is the absolute apex of “move fast and break things” - except the thing in question is the entire United States government
and we are in the process of learning what a catastrophic mistake the entire ideology was from the start
and we are in the process of learning what a catastrophic mistake the entire ideology was from the start
New: We spoke to government IT employees/contractors about DOGE. Their warnings were dire. The people who maintain the systems that keep the country working are terrified. "This is the largest data breach and the largest IT security breach in our country’s history—at least that’s publicly known."
The Government’s Computing Experts Say They Are Terrified
Four IT professionals lay out just how destructive Elon Musk’s incursion into the U.S. government could be.
www.theatlantic.com
February 7, 2025 at 4:09 PM
this really is the absolute apex of “move fast and break things” - except the thing in question is the entire United States government
and we are in the process of learning what a catastrophic mistake the entire ideology was from the start
and we are in the process of learning what a catastrophic mistake the entire ideology was from the start
Years ago in my SF class, a student reported on international restrictions on AI (he was curious about about lethal self-guided UAVs). He found that AI guidelines are to do no harm UNLESS demanded by nations for defense, or companies for profit.
I am 100% unsurprised by this news.
I am 100% unsurprised by this news.
February 5, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Years ago in my SF class, a student reported on international restrictions on AI (he was curious about about lethal self-guided UAVs). He found that AI guidelines are to do no harm UNLESS demanded by nations for defense, or companies for profit.
I am 100% unsurprised by this news.
I am 100% unsurprised by this news.
Reposted by Sarah Bagley Hammock
THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION IS A DEPARTMENT CREATED BY STATUTE; IT CANNOT BE ELIMINATED BY EXECUTIVE ORDER! EXECUTIVE ORDERS CANNOT REPEAL STATUTES! JUST LIKE DEPARTMENTS CANNOT BE CREATED BY EXECUTIVE ORDER!
she shouts into the void
she shouts into the void
BREAKING: The White House is preparing an executive order to eliminate the Department of Education, two sources familiar with the plans tell NBC News.
White House preparing executive order to abolish the Department of Education
The planned order follows years of campaign promises from President Donald Trump to abolish the federal Education Department.
www.nbcnews.com
February 4, 2025 at 8:07 PM
THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION IS A DEPARTMENT CREATED BY STATUTE; IT CANNOT BE ELIMINATED BY EXECUTIVE ORDER! EXECUTIVE ORDERS CANNOT REPEAL STATUTES! JUST LIKE DEPARTMENTS CANNOT BE CREATED BY EXECUTIVE ORDER!
she shouts into the void
she shouts into the void
On caring for the "other" in yourself, if you're a people-pleaser or an overfunctioner:
It's essential to be very precise about your thinking on this.
A lot of people formulate it like: you can care for other people, right? And yourself is a person, right? So just care for yourself!
1/
It's essential to be very precise about your thinking on this.
A lot of people formulate it like: you can care for other people, right? And yourself is a person, right? So just care for yourself!
1/
February 4, 2025 at 4:06 PM
On caring for the "other" in yourself, if you're a people-pleaser or an overfunctioner:
It's essential to be very precise about your thinking on this.
A lot of people formulate it like: you can care for other people, right? And yourself is a person, right? So just care for yourself!
1/
It's essential to be very precise about your thinking on this.
A lot of people formulate it like: you can care for other people, right? And yourself is a person, right? So just care for yourself!
1/
Roleplaying this shift is one of the few things I'm pushing on my kid, past her comfort zone.
Realizing you can use your voice and body despite/through the fear of getting in trouble or being embarrassed is an essential life skill that is forcibly taken from most of us in early childhood.
Realizing you can use your voice and body despite/through the fear of getting in trouble or being embarrassed is an essential life skill that is forcibly taken from most of us in early childhood.
In my self-defense classes I focus on how most people are socially conditioned to follow the norms of a civilized, polite society — and there is a MENTAL SHIFT required to use violence to defend from violence.
I'm reminded of this while watching our elected officials dithering and delaying. 1/
I'm reminded of this while watching our elected officials dithering and delaying. 1/
February 1, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Roleplaying this shift is one of the few things I'm pushing on my kid, past her comfort zone.
Realizing you can use your voice and body despite/through the fear of getting in trouble or being embarrassed is an essential life skill that is forcibly taken from most of us in early childhood.
Realizing you can use your voice and body despite/through the fear of getting in trouble or being embarrassed is an essential life skill that is forcibly taken from most of us in early childhood.
It's a weird time to have a PhD in nostalgia and love.
January 30, 2025 at 8:55 PM
It's a weird time to have a PhD in nostalgia and love.
Bacon the owlet - adorable
Bakin' the owlet - surrealistically epicurean, or high
Bakin' Bacon the owlet - kinda sadistic
bacon bakin' the owlet - surrealistically ultra-luxe epicurean
Bakin' the owlet - surrealistically epicurean, or high
Bakin' Bacon the owlet - kinda sadistic
bacon bakin' the owlet - surrealistically ultra-luxe epicurean
January 26, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Bacon the owlet - adorable
Bakin' the owlet - surrealistically epicurean, or high
Bakin' Bacon the owlet - kinda sadistic
bacon bakin' the owlet - surrealistically ultra-luxe epicurean
Bakin' the owlet - surrealistically epicurean, or high
Bakin' Bacon the owlet - kinda sadistic
bacon bakin' the owlet - surrealistically ultra-luxe epicurean
I'm an overfunctioner. One tool I've been using to work on this is envisioning myself as an Other who I can care for. Right now this persona is Her - because it's the she/her corners of myself that have most felt the need to serve and self-efface to survive.
January 23, 2025 at 2:41 PM
I'm an overfunctioner. One tool I've been using to work on this is envisioning myself as an Other who I can care for. Right now this persona is Her - because it's the she/her corners of myself that have most felt the need to serve and self-efface to survive.
Reposted by Sarah Bagley Hammock
The price of bread keeps rising and they came for the circuses.
January 19, 2025 at 5:04 AM
The price of bread keeps rising and they came for the circuses.
Kid: why can't boys have babies?
Me: It's not about boys, it's about uteruses. A person needs a working uterus to have a baby.
K: Oh! So a girl with a penis and no uterus can't have a baby, but a boy with a working uterus can have a baby!
M: Yep!
K: *beams* I get it!
Yes you do, kiddo.
Me: It's not about boys, it's about uteruses. A person needs a working uterus to have a baby.
K: Oh! So a girl with a penis and no uterus can't have a baby, but a boy with a working uterus can have a baby!
M: Yep!
K: *beams* I get it!
Yes you do, kiddo.
November 30, 2024 at 8:39 PM
Kid: why can't boys have babies?
Me: It's not about boys, it's about uteruses. A person needs a working uterus to have a baby.
K: Oh! So a girl with a penis and no uterus can't have a baby, but a boy with a working uterus can have a baby!
M: Yep!
K: *beams* I get it!
Yes you do, kiddo.
Me: It's not about boys, it's about uteruses. A person needs a working uterus to have a baby.
K: Oh! So a girl with a penis and no uterus can't have a baby, but a boy with a working uterus can have a baby!
M: Yep!
K: *beams* I get it!
Yes you do, kiddo.
Most rules for classic board games don't cover whether you may forfeit a turn to avoid harming an opponent. Because obvs a) the only way to win is harming opponents, and b) it's fun to hamper others' progress.
November 29, 2024 at 5:40 PM
Most rules for classic board games don't cover whether you may forfeit a turn to avoid harming an opponent. Because obvs a) the only way to win is harming opponents, and b) it's fun to hamper others' progress.
So much of what I saved or prepared for my kid is what I needed as a child, not what she needs. Weird how I thought I'd fill this absence by giving it to her, not by giving it to myself.
Welp, off to enjoy this library book in the cozy hidey-hole in the attic. Someone's gotta do it.
Welp, off to enjoy this library book in the cozy hidey-hole in the attic. Someone's gotta do it.
November 17, 2024 at 1:53 PM
So much of what I saved or prepared for my kid is what I needed as a child, not what she needs. Weird how I thought I'd fill this absence by giving it to her, not by giving it to myself.
Welp, off to enjoy this library book in the cozy hidey-hole in the attic. Someone's gotta do it.
Welp, off to enjoy this library book in the cozy hidey-hole in the attic. Someone's gotta do it.