Marc Steinberg

What a waste of an hour I’ll never get back. SOTU seems basically a fail right? 10 minutes clapping for hockey can’t be a good use of time, no?

Reminding us too what critique should not be - too easily digested

For Another Buddhism, Against Byung-Chul Han - Notes - e-flux Alex Taek-Gwang Lee reviews The Philosophy of Zen Buddhism by Byung-Chul Han.

Bracing critique of Byung Chul Han's Orientalist framing of Zen Buddhism - to which I'd add that Japanese Zen itself is a response by the 1930s Kyoto school to Heidegger: offering itself as a useful mirror to the "West" in Japan’s own imperial project

www.e-flux.com/notes/678345...

Yes and was about to be promoted to innovation minister in Japan before the optics became too bad

The Dark Enlightenment and the Return of Political Theology in Russia and the United States – Riddle Russia Maria Engström examines the Dark Enlightenment in Russia and the US: a philosophical doctrine that reintegrates metaphysical elements into political thought and promotes a new authoritarian world orde...

This is actually a decent, accessible, and--most importantly--coherent primer on what the Dark Enlightenment is and how it's infiltrated contemporary politics. Most of this is contingent, however, on Thiel and Trump maintaining influence and power. cc: @aelkus.bsky.social
ridl.io/the-dark-enl...

Or tech, here, though I’d think of him as academia

Joi Ito occupies a pretty big slice of the academia connection

Thanks so much! I appreciate your kind words and for teaching my media mix book. It was hard work but also such enjoyable archival work to do. Hopefully it comes through. So glad it’s readable too :)

So satisfying to find niche screencaps for lecture. 🤌

Today we read Marc Steinberg's @msteinbrg.bsky.social excellent translation of Ōtsuka Eiji's "World and Variation: The Reproduction and Consumption of Narrative" in Mechademia Second Arc 5, no. 1 (2010).

📖🔗 www.researchgate.net/publication/...

Thanks for assigning this! It was a pleasure to translate. Otsuka is also writing about the longer history of this in wartime Japan. It’s been interesting to see his shift. Thanks again!

It was Mad King Don day but Carney stole the limelight

Fascinating new book on academic stardom by the always smart @melstanfill.bsky.social !

Ah thanks for this piece! I hadn’t come across it. What do you think of the continuing cycles of battle royale now? Just watching Last samurai standing and wondering if the social critique of the genre has evaporated into formula - or does the critical function remain?

Thanks Brett, so right about this. Don’t you have an article on Uno?

I can’t remember whether I said the writing of Hiroki Azuma and other thinkers from the aughts that I wrote about weren’t just relevant to the United States, but China and Korea as well.
Well, if I didn’t, then I’m saying that now.

Hi Bluesky

Didn’t realize I wasn’t following you! You can dm me or maybe email is better if longer

I look forward to reading! Also sent to Luca Caminati who teaches a “Fake Docs!” Class that this topic could fit in - I imagine

Congrats on this, look forward to reading. And great idea for a special issue!

It's November, 2179 and Americans of all stripes are lining up to cast their vote. Republicans are running an AI of Donald Trump, powered by the data center that now constitutes all of Iowa. Democrats are running a semi-intelligent strain of slime mold that has taken the vague form of Gavin Newsom.

Screenshot from The Hottest August by Brett Story

Today's a big day for professional announcements for me. @jcmsjournal.bsky.social published its Spring issue, which includes an open access InFocus coedited by Leo Goldsmith and I. I'm so excited about the topic, SCI FI DOC, which I think is woefully understudied.

quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jcms/infoc...

Make Social Media Social Again: How Platform Interoperability Can Fix Social Media and Future‐Proof Democracy This essay argues that social media document (rather than fuel) the decline of political democracy while helping revive organizational democracy, including through ‘decentralized autonomous organizat...

A thoughtful piece on social media and sociality... by JP Verne:

Make Social Media Social Again: How Platform Interoperability Can Fix Social Media and Future‐Proof Democracy - Vergne - Journal of Management Studies - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Ha meant to say Warner Bros! Weird typo or brain misfire

This really is a Netflix world. Finalizing my Netflix Effect syllabus at present and the title of the course has renewed relevance

Comfort and Indifference English sub-titled version of a film showing facts and opinions that lead to the Québec referendum on independence in 1980, with the participation of a historical character: Machiavelli.

What madness. For a the different perspectives on the 1980 referendum I remember this NFB film Comfort and Indifference www.nfb.ca/film/comfort...

Helen, that is so kind and generous of you to say. Coming from you these words mean so much!! Since I didn't know about Usenet and much else, I was mentored on your and Jonathan's Anime Encyclopedia - alongside Tom Lamarre and Livia Monnet and others.... thank you again for these moving words

So nice of you to say Helen your support means so much to Aurélie! Also you received many shout outs in the dissertation and presentation. And yes the book will bring the research to so many in the community!

Congratulations Aurélie, so proud of you for this achievement and your amazing work!! Next step: the book version!

I am SO HAPPY to announce that this morning I defended my dissertation "Of Tentacles and Men: How anime shaped the internet as we know it"🥹🥹 I got no revisions and an OUTSTANDING (💅) grade for the presentation wowowow it has been such a journey, thank you to everyone!! 👩🏻‍🎓🎓🫶🥹❤️‍🔥✨✨✨

Technoecologies - Daniel Cardoso Llach - The Mississippi Colossus Boxtown is a neighborhood in South Memphis established in 1863 by emancipated former slaves. Since 2024, it is also the home to one of the world’s largest supercomputers, property of Elon Musk’s artif...

Today in E-flux, a piece I wrote on the spatial and environmental politics of AI in the United States. In great company as part of the Technoecologies series curated by Nathalie Bredella and Grayson Bailey. www.e-flux.com/architecture...