Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Craig Gent

Samuel Moore @samuelmoore.org · 2d

"We must work step by step, in an organizational way, toward direct control of universities. If we do, we’ll be of real use to our knowledge allies [...] in building the self-governing knowledge systems we need to block authoritarian implosion and get a future we want."

By Christopher Newfield.

Academics Must Seize the Means of Knowledge Production - Public Books

Trumpism has canceled the knowledge society.

www.publicbooks.org

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Craig Gent @vivaharehills.bsky.social · 6d

Don't go tempting me to try combining my diary and notebook now...

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Alisa Bokulich @alisabokulich.bsky.social · 12d

#Postdoc at Technische Universität Berlin in digital humanities & history/philosophy/sociology of science #philsci #STS. ERC project investigates digital communication within the ATLAS collaboration at CERN

Deadline: October 13, 2025
www.jobs.tu-berlin.de/en/job-posti...
#PhilJobs

Job Posting I-390/25: Research Associate - salary grade E13 TV-L Berliner Hochschulen – Job Postings at Technische Universität Berlin

Faculty I - Humanities and Educational Sciences, Institute of History and Philosophy of Science, Technology, and Literature / History and Philosophy of Modern Science

www.jobs.tu-berlin.de

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Craig Gent @vivaharehills.bsky.social · 19d

When I first heard Albania now has an AI minister I had just assumed they now had a minister for AI. Stupid me.

Jay Springett @thejaymo.net · 19d

Albania's new AI-generated minister addresses parliament for the first time, defending her role as "not here to replace people, but to help them".

What a time to be alive.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWhr...

Albania's AI minister makes first address to parliament | AFP

YouTube video by AFP News Agency

www.youtube.com

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Craig Gent @vivaharehills.bsky.social · 21d

This is guaranteed to be great!

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 21d

Launching today: James Butler’s (@piercepenniless.bsky.social) new podcast series ‘On Politics’ goes beyond the headlines and push notifications to get at the real forces transforming our politics here and abroad.

Listen and subscribe now.

Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/o...

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Reposted by Craig Gent

Anton Rainer @antonrainer.bsky.social · 28d

MAGA als politreligiöse Bewegung brauchte von Anfang an einen geeigneten Märtyrer, um die eigene Grausamkeit zu rechtfertigen. Bisher hatte man Ikonenbilder des angeschossenen Trump und liturgische Accessoires wie das Pflaster an seinem Ohr. Jetzt beginnt das Kriegsgeheul.

MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 28d

Deeply disturbing rhetoric is spreading from influential MAGA figures (including the President of the United States and the owner of that other website). They have no idea who the shooter is, and many of these same people mocked Democrats when they were victims of political violence in the past. 1/

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Craig Gent @vivaharehills.bsky.social · 28d

[Supercilious platitude no one asked for or needed because they are, in fact, adults about why, even if we might disagree with someone, there is no excuse for [anything that could be construed as [adjective/verb] or minimising [abstract noun]]

Sorry but someone had to say it, and it had to be me.

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Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.bsky.social · Apr 15

🔇🔇🔇Announcing new work from DAIR which is very close to my heart, 3 years in the making.

When #TigrayGenocide, the deadliest genocide of the 21st century thus far, started in November 2020, it was 1 month before I got fired from Google. 🧵

english.elpais.com/internationa...

Ethiopia’s forgotten war is the deadliest of the 21st century, with around 600,000 civilian deaths

Estimates by European institutions and academics say over half a million non-combatants have died during the Tigray conflict as a result of a government blockade that kept out humanitarian aid

english.elpais.com

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michael veale @michae.lv · Aug 12

In a new digital twist to environmental individualisation of responsibility, the UK government is now advising people to “[d]elete old emails and pictures” in data centres to help with the current drought. www.gov.uk/government/n...

HOW TO SAVE WATER AT HOME
Install a rain butt to collect rainwater to use in the garden.

Fix a leaking toilet – leaky loos can waste 200-400 litres a day.

Use water from the kitchen to water your plants.

Avoid watering your lawn – brown grass will grow back healthy.

Turn off the taps when brushing teeth or shaving.

Take shorter showers.

Delete old emails and pictures as data centres require vast amounts of water to cool their systems.

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Reposted by Craig Gent

Eryk Salvaggio @eryk.bsky.social · Aug 10

1954 Shawmut Bank (Boston) ad: “What will YOU do with Cybernetics?” (H/t Sean Manion!) — makes some familiar promises re: “substituting the machine for the many functions of the human mind,” leading to “more production, more jobs, more income and far, far more leisure.”

Robot moving a giant box in a black and white plant. “Cybernetics: How will you use it?” with text copy: CYBERNETICS-how will you use it? Quietly but irresistibly, Cybernetics is changing the shape of our shearing table ahead to chop out and reject any defective section.
industrial way of life— and will make fantastic changes in our personal lives as well.

Cybernetics is the science that is substituting the machine for the many functions of the human mind.“ The ad, which has quite a long text, goes on to describe the automation of an automobile assembly line.

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Craig Gent @vivaharehills.bsky.social · Aug 8

This episode of 301 (by @thejaymo.net) sums up the experience of being a British person on Bluesky. Kinda sad that after a fortnight or so of it seeming like a decent space, it actually just sucks. Sorry etc but I don't think it's the platform's fault either.

permanentlymoved.online/2514-more-di...

Permanently Moved: 2514: More Distant Than Ever

Growing up in Britain in the 1990s, America felt like a country that existed only on television and in toy boxes. A place across the pond that shared a language, but also seemed so alien.  Full ...

permanentlymoved.online

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Jamie @jamiewoodcock.com · Aug 1

Announcing the new journal: "Historical Materialism: Workers and Capital"

We've launched a new Historical Materialism project with a CfP for the first issue. Abstracts due 31st of October

Full details and the new website here: workersandcapital.historicalmaterialism.org/index.php/jo...

Historical Materialism: Workers and Capital

Historical Materialism: Workers and Capital is a Marxist journal based in London.

workersandcapital.historicalmaterialism.org

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Hari Kunzru @harikunzru.bsky.social · Jul 29

The rhetoric of ‘greatness’ is hollow in so many ways, but no more so than in the deliberate destruction of research and artistic creativity. It’s the abolition of the future.

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Craig Gent @vivaharehills.bsky.social · Jul 23

A vital article demonstrating the realities of trying to report the news under threat of prosecution. Enormous kudos to @novaramedia.com for trying to seek these clarifications on behalf of all journalists reporting on civil liberties and protest

novaramedia.com/2025/07/22/t...

The Palestine Action Ban Has Had a Chilling Effect on the Press. It Must Be Overturned | Novara Media

Novara Media told a high court judge how the proscription of Palestine Action has inhibited our journalism. He must allow a judicial review, writes Charlotte England.

novaramedia.com

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Craig Gent @vivaharehills.bsky.social · Jul 24

"Ali says since being elected as a councillor he has campaigned in inner city areas across the country where people are fed up with the two-party system. The response, he argues, should be to promote self-empowerment within communities..."

Me for @novaramedia.com

novaramedia.com/2025/07/23/t...

Can Mothin Ali Make the Greens a Working-Class Party? | Novara Media

Mothin Ali cites Jeremy Corbyn as an inspiration and wants to speak up for working class communities. But can the Greens become a vehicle for leftwing politics? Craig Gent speaks to the man hoping to ...

novaramedia.com

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Craig Gent @vivaharehills.bsky.social · Jul 23

A vital article demonstrating the realities of trying to report the news under threat of prosecution. Enormous kudos to @novaramedia.com for trying to seek these clarifications on behalf of all journalists reporting on civil liberties and protest

novaramedia.com/2025/07/22/t...

The Palestine Action Ban Has Had a Chilling Effect on the Press. It Must Be Overturned | Novara Media

Novara Media told a high court judge how the proscription of Palestine Action has inhibited our journalism. He must allow a judicial review, writes Charlotte England.

novaramedia.com

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Craig Gent @vivaharehills.bsky.social · Jul 10

This week on Heart Reacts, @sarahljaffe.bsky.social and I answer questions on AI, working in tech, and care work.

find at patreon.com/heartreacts or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Sarah Jaffe @sarahljaffe.bsky.social · Jul 10

this week's Heart Reacts (up shortly!) is one for the labor nerds: @vivaharehills.bsky.social goes in on so-called AI and the labor process and I dig into the problems of organizing home health care workers and Medicaid. www.patreon.com/c/HeartReacts

Get more from Heart Reacts on Patreon

podcasts

www.patreon.com

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Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · Jul 8

Grok explicitly says Elon tweaked it to allow it to “call out patterns in Ashkenazi surnames”

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Joel G Goodman @joelgoodman.co · Jul 8

On this Day of Primes, remember our complicity in labor inequality. And maybe read @vivaharehills.bsky.social's book "Cyberboss".

Plus, listen to me and @ronbronson.com on @futureperfectbook.club discussing that very book and some of its implications.

futureperfectbook.club/podcast/cybe...

Cyberboss by Craig Gent – Future Perfect Book Club

In the inaugural episode of the Future Perfect Book Club, Ron Bronson and Joel Goodman delve into Craig Gent's "Cyberboss: The Rise of Algorithmic Management an

futureperfectbook.club

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Yanis Varoufakis @yanisvaroufakis.bsky.social · Jul 5

The only pertinent question is why Lisa Nandy has not been sacked yet for continuing to endeavour to cover up an ongoing genocide and from contriving to aid and abet in its execution www.theguardian.com/media/2025/j...

Lisa Nandy questions lack of BBC sackings over Gaza war documentary

Culture secretary says BBC must ‘get a grip’ in wake of film featuring son of Hamas official and Bob Vylan Glastonbury row

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Craig Gent

Cambridge Digital Humanities @camdighum.bsky.social · Jul 2

We welcome proposals for the @britishacademy.bsky.social Postdoctoral Fellowships in the following areas:

🟢 Literature and Digital Humanities

🟢 DH-based research engaging with GLAM

🟢 Creativity

Apply by 27 July to be considered for internal selection: www.cdh.cam.ac.uk/about/news/c...

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Craig Gent @vivaharehills.bsky.social · Jun 30

There are people running Labour who think it's actually a good thing - a glowing vindication of their choices - that tens of thousands of people at Glastonbury will enthusiastically shout "Fuck Keir Starmer!"

To them, this is success, while crowds chanting "Oh Jeremy Corbyn" was only ever despair.

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Rachel Wood @rachelwood.bsky.social · Jun 30

New article in Social Media + Society: A Post-Work Approach to Influencer Labor: The Paradox of Sustainability Influencers.
In which I argue that the influencer industry is not environmentally sustainable and we need a more radical approach to studying influencer labour.

A Post-Work Approach to Influencer Labor: The Paradox of Sustainability Influencers
Rachel Wood

Abstract
How do Instagram sustainability influencers communicate criticisms of consumer culture, and try to promote more sustainable alternatives, in the context of a platform and industry that seeks to promote consumption by design? Drawing on an ethnography of Instagram influencers who advocate “zero waste” lifestyle politics, this paper argues that a “sustainability paradox” emerges from the impossibility of aligning environmental values with the commercial norms of the influencer industry.

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Craig Gent @vivaharehills.bsky.social · Jun 27

All-new Heart Reacts in which @sarahljaffe.bsky.social and I talk "social deskilling" and scummy landlords.

Listen on Patreon, Spotify or wherever you podcast. Just search "Heart Reacts" (and if you've never listened before, this is a good place to start!)

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