Tristan Beiter
@tristanbeiter.bsky.social
Poet and critic; speculative fiction nerd; he/him; PhD student at the University at Buffalo; Website: https://tristanbeiter.com/
Reposted by Tristan Beiter
This. I have seen the following things advertised as AI:
* A weight sensor
* A physical thermostat
* Markov chains (this especially bothers me because I did a little bit of fun generative art with Markov chains before "Generative" "AI" was a thing)
* Procedural tree generation
* Procedural textures
* A weight sensor
* A physical thermostat
* Markov chains (this especially bothers me because I did a little bit of fun generative art with Markov chains before "Generative" "AI" was a thing)
* Procedural tree generation
* Procedural textures
love that software developers are advertising AI functionality in every single app now and it's up to you to try to figure out if they mean "this has spellcheck" or "everything you create in this app will sync in real-time to sam altman's personal laptop" or something in between
December 23, 2025 at 3:49 PM
This. I have seen the following things advertised as AI:
* A weight sensor
* A physical thermostat
* Markov chains (this especially bothers me because I did a little bit of fun generative art with Markov chains before "Generative" "AI" was a thing)
* Procedural tree generation
* Procedural textures
* A weight sensor
* A physical thermostat
* Markov chains (this especially bothers me because I did a little bit of fun generative art with Markov chains before "Generative" "AI" was a thing)
* Procedural tree generation
* Procedural textures
Reposted by Tristan Beiter
truly amazing how many different professions there are where everyone’s newest persistent headache is “AI zealots high on their own supply”
Met a 40yo gallery-ist at a party in SF. We spent most of the party talking abt the art world, but mostly what she talked abt was how most of her life now is telling AI “artists” that they are not artists, she won’t sell their “work” in her gallery, & that “prompt writer” isn’t an artistic medium.
December 21, 2025 at 3:10 AM
truly amazing how many different professions there are where everyone’s newest persistent headache is “AI zealots high on their own supply”
Reposted by Tristan Beiter
people who are new to academia tend to find its obsession with sources and citations a brake on their "i'm just trying to be CREATIVE, man" mindset. but it turns out the relentless obsession with accuracy, citation, and *provenance* is a load-bearing pillar of the whole enterprise
December 21, 2025 at 6:59 PM
people who are new to academia tend to find its obsession with sources and citations a brake on their "i'm just trying to be CREATIVE, man" mindset. but it turns out the relentless obsession with accuracy, citation, and *provenance* is a load-bearing pillar of the whole enterprise
Reposted by Tristan Beiter
This is specifically about AI use in humanities disciplines within academia, which is clear from context- this crap is extremely harmful in that setting. Inevitably, people show up to be like "AI finds cancer cells tho".
NOT THE SUBJECT, and that conflation has been inflicted upon us intentionally.
NOT THE SUBJECT, and that conflation has been inflicted upon us intentionally.
You absolutely will not convince a bunch of historians and sociologists and whoever else is in this thread that you know more than we do about this and we should use it. I wish you AI enthusiasts would stop wading into our conversations. You have nothing helpful to contribute and are snarky.
December 21, 2025 at 7:09 PM
This is specifically about AI use in humanities disciplines within academia, which is clear from context- this crap is extremely harmful in that setting. Inevitably, people show up to be like "AI finds cancer cells tho".
NOT THE SUBJECT, and that conflation has been inflicted upon us intentionally.
NOT THE SUBJECT, and that conflation has been inflicted upon us intentionally.
Reposted by Tristan Beiter
a lot of times... summary *is* the work. summary isn't just digesting information. it's telling the reader *this* is what's most salient right now, not *that.* I'm going to summarize Marx for you, but I am going to focus on all that stuff about soil exhaustion.
December 21, 2025 at 7:56 PM
a lot of times... summary *is* the work. summary isn't just digesting information. it's telling the reader *this* is what's most salient right now, not *that.* I'm going to summarize Marx for you, but I am going to focus on all that stuff about soil exhaustion.
Reposted by Tristan Beiter
how many times have we seen a revolution in an entire field in the humanities based on a new reading of an old theorist that treats aspects of their work that used to be left out of summaries entirely as their primary contribution?
This is one of the reasons I remain horrified by seeing @historians.org suggest "ways to use gAI" that included this:
December 21, 2025 at 7:54 PM
how many times have we seen a revolution in an entire field in the humanities based on a new reading of an old theorist that treats aspects of their work that used to be left out of summaries entirely as their primary contribution?
Reposted by Tristan Beiter
I keep wanting to say something, and I keep not knowing what to say.
The trans community does not harm cis people by existing. They are just trying to live their lives, same as anyone else. That life doesn't look exactly like mine; my life doesn't match anyone else's. That's okay.
The trans community does not harm cis people by existing. They are just trying to live their lives, same as anyone else. That life doesn't look exactly like mine; my life doesn't match anyone else's. That's okay.
December 19, 2025 at 10:57 PM
I keep wanting to say something, and I keep not knowing what to say.
The trans community does not harm cis people by existing. They are just trying to live their lives, same as anyone else. That life doesn't look exactly like mine; my life doesn't match anyone else's. That's okay.
The trans community does not harm cis people by existing. They are just trying to live their lives, same as anyone else. That life doesn't look exactly like mine; my life doesn't match anyone else's. That's okay.
Reposted by Tristan Beiter
If we could just take a fucking breath and admit "our kids are people, we don't get to decide who they are," and stop using "BUT THE CHILDREN" as a reason to attack trans people, and autistic people, and whoever else we've decided not to like, that would be cool.
December 19, 2025 at 11:01 PM
If we could just take a fucking breath and admit "our kids are people, we don't get to decide who they are," and stop using "BUT THE CHILDREN" as a reason to attack trans people, and autistic people, and whoever else we've decided not to like, that would be cool.
Reposted by Tristan Beiter
The most charitable way I can interpret the LLM announcement here is:
utterly baffling.
The least charitable way would turn the air blue with profanity.
utterly baffling.
The least charitable way would turn the air blue with profanity.
Another Nebula Awards nomination cycle is in full swing, and the addition of poetry and comics, along with the presence of LLMs in industry, required careful consideration.
Read on, and vote well!
We trust our voters & look forward to what they choose to celebrate.
www.sfwa.org/2025/12/19/p...
Read on, and vote well!
We trust our voters & look forward to what they choose to celebrate.
www.sfwa.org/2025/12/19/p...
December 19, 2025 at 8:56 PM
The most charitable way I can interpret the LLM announcement here is:
utterly baffling.
The least charitable way would turn the air blue with profanity.
utterly baffling.
The least charitable way would turn the air blue with profanity.
Reposted by Tristan Beiter
Vajra Chandrasekera, author of "Rakesfall" and winner of the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize 2025 shares a nifty piece of advice for speculative fiction writers.
🔮 - #SouthAsian #SpeculativeFiction
🔮 - #SouthAsian #SpeculativeFiction
December 19, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Vajra Chandrasekera, author of "Rakesfall" and winner of the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize 2025 shares a nifty piece of advice for speculative fiction writers.
🔮 - #SouthAsian #SpeculativeFiction
🔮 - #SouthAsian #SpeculativeFiction
Reposted by Tristan Beiter
I hate AI so much but I’m genuinely worried about how we prove a thing is AI. There is no ethical use of AI and even more, no ethical use of AI detectors. Everything is awful here.
December 19, 2025 at 8:17 PM
I hate AI so much but I’m genuinely worried about how we prove a thing is AI. There is no ethical use of AI and even more, no ethical use of AI detectors. Everything is awful here.
Eligibility post time! I have only one eligible poem this year, eligible for the Rhysling (Short), the Nebula for Poetry, and the Special Hugo for Best Poem! Published by Cartridge Lit, it dialogues with *Outer Wilds* and questions of meaning and futurity. I'd be honored if you considered it! 1/2
December 19, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Eligibility post time! I have only one eligible poem this year, eligible for the Rhysling (Short), the Nebula for Poetry, and the Special Hugo for Best Poem! Published by Cartridge Lit, it dialogues with *Outer Wilds* and questions of meaning and futurity. I'd be honored if you considered it! 1/2
Reposted by Tristan Beiter
Do not cite an academic paper unless you’ve read it
AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals
Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.
www.rollingstone.com
December 19, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Do not cite an academic paper unless you’ve read it
Reposted by Tristan Beiter
I think this post nails the actual problem, for researchers at least—AI hallucinations would simply not be a problem in academic work if we’d not normalized citation-as-signaling rather than actual engagement—you can only cite a fake paper if you’re not in the habit of reading the papers you cite
Do not cite an academic paper unless you’ve read it
AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals
Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.
www.rollingstone.com
December 19, 2025 at 7:01 PM
I think this post nails the actual problem, for researchers at least—AI hallucinations would simply not be a problem in academic work if we’d not normalized citation-as-signaling rather than actual engagement—you can only cite a fake paper if you’re not in the habit of reading the papers you cite
Reposted by Tristan Beiter
For civilians: an academic dept typically has to out maneuver other depts to get a tenure line! I tell grad students applying to red state jobs to indicate that they are familiar with & would be happy spending a decade or more there. A single sentence has moved them to the top of a pile. 1/
December 17, 2025 at 5:37 PM
For civilians: an academic dept typically has to out maneuver other depts to get a tenure line! I tell grad students applying to red state jobs to indicate that they are familiar with & would be happy spending a decade or more there. A single sentence has moved them to the top of a pile. 1/
Reposted by Tristan Beiter
ai detection is, itself, a bullshit ai product. it is attempting to statistically classify language and draw a non-statistical conclusion about who wrote it and how.
“More than 40% of surveyed 6th- to 12th-grade teachers used AI detection tools during the last school year, according to a nationally representative poll by the Center for Democracy and Technology…”
Teachers are using software to see if students used AI. What happens when it's wrong?
School districts from Utah to Ohio to Alabama are spending thousands of dollars on these tools, despite research showing the technology is far from reliable.
www.kgou.org
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 PM
ai detection is, itself, a bullshit ai product. it is attempting to statistically classify language and draw a non-statistical conclusion about who wrote it and how.
Highly recommended! I'm always excited to see a new poem by R.B. Lemberg!
My anti-GenAI prose poem, "The Ghosts of me are in your machine," is up at @strangehorizons.bsky.social
Thanks to @cafenowhere.bsky.social for editing, and @bogiperson.bsky.social for being the first reader for this.
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/po...
Thanks to @cafenowhere.bsky.social for editing, and @bogiperson.bsky.social for being the first reader for this.
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/po...
The ghosts of me are in your machine
My obsidian shadows knifed the moon, drank moonblood until my wandering mouth filled to bursting
strangehorizons.com
December 15, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Highly recommended! I'm always excited to see a new poem by R.B. Lemberg!
Reposted by Tristan Beiter
A brief perusal of the subliterate gachaslop aimed at kids today partially explains this, but also, Catcher in the Rye is about an unlikable, traumatized dork from an era that is now passed; that distance actually makes it more useful to today's unlikable, traumatized dorks, not less.
my teen's school still assigns whole books, thankfully, but I'm regularly surprised how little the reading list hasn't changed from when I was in HS. Some stuff still hits—Of Mice and Men and Their Eyes Were Watching God, recently—but Catcher in the Rye in 2025? Why?
Kids Rarely Read Whole Books Anymore. Even in English Class.
www.nytimes.com
December 13, 2025 at 4:59 PM
A brief perusal of the subliterate gachaslop aimed at kids today partially explains this, but also, Catcher in the Rye is about an unlikable, traumatized dork from an era that is now passed; that distance actually makes it more useful to today's unlikable, traumatized dorks, not less.
Reposted by Tristan Beiter
There is always something to be done, and that something makes a difference.
That is what optimism is: choosing to believe that you can continue to make a difference, and doing so, as much as you can.
That is what optimism is: choosing to believe that you can continue to make a difference, and doing so, as much as you can.
December 13, 2025 at 5:28 PM
There is always something to be done, and that something makes a difference.
That is what optimism is: choosing to believe that you can continue to make a difference, and doing so, as much as you can.
That is what optimism is: choosing to believe that you can continue to make a difference, and doing so, as much as you can.
Reposted by Tristan Beiter
The basic premise underlying this thread is that you can’t realistically be optimistic about bad things, and there are two things wrong with this.
First, the premise that it’s important to be realistic; and second, the idea that recognizing the truth leaves no room for optimism.
First, the premise that it’s important to be realistic; and second, the idea that recognizing the truth leaves no room for optimism.
Of course. But you can't be optimistic about an oncoming catastrophe.
And we won't keep the global average temperature sise to 2.5C by 2100 - nothing like
Pliocene conditions are projected to begin to emerge in places as soon as the 2030s
And we won't keep the global average temperature sise to 2.5C by 2100 - nothing like
Pliocene conditions are projected to begin to emerge in places as soon as the 2030s
December 13, 2025 at 5:17 PM
The basic premise underlying this thread is that you can’t realistically be optimistic about bad things, and there are two things wrong with this.
First, the premise that it’s important to be realistic; and second, the idea that recognizing the truth leaves no room for optimism.
First, the premise that it’s important to be realistic; and second, the idea that recognizing the truth leaves no room for optimism.
It was so bad! I know someone who *still* cannot multiply numbers in their head because the Bad At Math demeaning in grade 3 put a huge mental block on even trying to learn arithmetic. And this is someone who, with enough time to do arithmetic or a 4-function calculator, crushed algebra and calculus
I do think that some people who didn’t experience being Bad at Math in the 2000s and 2010s are probably really underrating how demeaning that experience was at the time
speaking on the basis of being a humanities type who struggled with math (until I learned to program later on) who felt that society was giving me a constant message in the 2000s that I was a worthless parasite who would die in a ditch on that basis alone
December 10, 2025 at 3:54 AM
It was so bad! I know someone who *still* cannot multiply numbers in their head because the Bad At Math demeaning in grade 3 put a huge mental block on even trying to learn arithmetic. And this is someone who, with enough time to do arithmetic or a 4-function calculator, crushed algebra and calculus
Reposted by Tristan Beiter
There are ample numbers of arrogant bastards interested in the humanities, but trying to make any kind of living in the humanities tends to be an extremely humbling experience in a way that has been far less the case (until, like, last year) for “studying compsci and getting a job in tech”
December 10, 2025 at 12:15 AM
There are ample numbers of arrogant bastards interested in the humanities, but trying to make any kind of living in the humanities tends to be an extremely humbling experience in a way that has been far less the case (until, like, last year) for “studying compsci and getting a job in tech”
Reposted by Tristan Beiter
I think the toxic current correlation between “studied STEM” and “techbro sociopathy” isn’t really about the subject matter itself but is about how our culture has spent 25 years constantly blowing smoke up the asses of guys who are even passably competent at Computer or Quant
there is not any particularly strong evidence that study of the humanities make people good people. the elites of many brutal empires were extremely well-read!
December 10, 2025 at 12:15 AM
I think the toxic current correlation between “studied STEM” and “techbro sociopathy” isn’t really about the subject matter itself but is about how our culture has spent 25 years constantly blowing smoke up the asses of guys who are even passably competent at Computer or Quant
Reposted by Tristan Beiter
This is actually a good example of why the customer model is wrong.
I wouldn't have chosen poetry writing, but UNC made me take a class. And it absolutely made me become a much better writer, with an eye to concision and an ear now trained to the rhythm of words. I'm a better historian as a result.
I wouldn't have chosen poetry writing, but UNC made me take a class. And it absolutely made me become a much better writer, with an eye to concision and an ear now trained to the rhythm of words. I'm a better historian as a result.
If you are providing me with an education that is low utility in the world then it’s a disservice. My composition class spent four weeks on poetry. I’m sorry, but that only would’ve been useful if I wanted to be a poet. I don’t need to know iambic pentameter in order to be a victim advocate.
December 9, 2025 at 7:17 PM
This is actually a good example of why the customer model is wrong.
I wouldn't have chosen poetry writing, but UNC made me take a class. And it absolutely made me become a much better writer, with an eye to concision and an ear now trained to the rhythm of words. I'm a better historian as a result.
I wouldn't have chosen poetry writing, but UNC made me take a class. And it absolutely made me become a much better writer, with an eye to concision and an ear now trained to the rhythm of words. I'm a better historian as a result.
Reposted by Tristan Beiter
Of the grand order of folio leviathans, the Sperm Whale and the Right Whale are by far the most noteworthy.
December 8, 2025 at 5:47 AM
Of the grand order of folio leviathans, the Sperm Whale and the Right Whale are by far the most noteworthy.