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Matthew Kirschenbaum

@mkirschenbaum.bsky.social

Critical tech and literary/cultural AI. Also cats, letterpress printing, and tabletop gaming. Professor of English at UVA (Commonwealth chair upon approval). Speaking for myself as a private citizen here. Being rude will get you blocked.

12,400 Followers  |  870 Following  |  6,031 Posts  |  Joined: 13.06.2023
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Posts by Matthew Kirschenbaum (@mkirschenbaum.bsky.social)

Preview
ICE Moves Minneapolis Fleet to Williamsport Detention Warehouse As ICE builds out a detention infrastructure across the mid-Atlantic, equipment from its Minneapolis operation is heading to Maryland.

Roughly 100 ICE vehicles are on their way to a warehouse in Western Maryland, as signs mount of an impending operation here.

28.02.2026 17:52 β€” πŸ‘ 704    πŸ” 526    πŸ’¬ 38    πŸ“Œ 89

OG

01.03.2026 22:40 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Source describes the failed Pentagon-Anthropic talks: through the end, the Pentagon wanted to use Anthropic's AI to analyze bulk data collected about Americans (Ross Andersen/The Atlantic)

Main Link | Techmeme Permalink

01.03.2026 16:35 β€” πŸ‘ 592    πŸ” 246    πŸ’¬ 14    πŸ“Œ 50

We’re surrendering?

01.03.2026 17:10 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

The Department of Education has hung a massive banner honoring a racist college dropout who built a lucrative career out of targeting professors for harassment

01.03.2026 15:25 β€” πŸ‘ 5410    πŸ” 1652    πŸ’¬ 197    πŸ“Œ 69

Benjamin and I have had a solid backchannel exchange in which we’ve acknowledged we probably agree on a lot more than not, including the toxicity of certain strands of critical AI discourse.

01.03.2026 00:33 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

Reader, he blocked me.

28.02.2026 23:54 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

You’re not going to follow me anymore?! That goes hard bro.

28.02.2026 23:23 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Post image 28.02.2026 23:08 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

You’re still misreading my point willfully or otherwise, so have a nice day and Wahoowa?

28.02.2026 21:23 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Have you been following what’s been happening in Iran in recent months/yrs? Obviously what comes after is a big unknown and not necessarily to the good, on the other hand I’ve seen enough reasonably well informed Iran watchers, some of them actually Iranian, who might agree w/ the β€œon balance” part.

28.02.2026 20:56 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Right, good chat, thank you.

28.02.2026 20:49 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

(Helpful readers’ note: everything here from β€œwhen Iraq fell” on forward is the β€œactually terrible and dangerous” part of what I wrote.)

28.02.2026 20:47 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Sorry, can you repeat that, I think there was a sonic boom from my point so completely whizzing by your head.

28.02.2026 20:44 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

My positions on AI are fairly dire as you know, but I’m increasingly exhausted by the spiteful little nastiness that comes out of some corners of the β€œcritical AI” community and if one’s rejoinder to *that* is sorry for being nasty while the bullshit machines destroy the planet, well I swear to god.

28.02.2026 20:24 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

Also, no one has an obligation to predictability. I hope this does not require further explanation.

28.02.2026 19:46 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I’ve been here for a while, but thank you. And in my experience (here), β€œpointed”questions are rarely as interesting as their posers probably think.

28.02.2026 19:44 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

One wonders if any good faith exchange ever begins with β€œDo you really think.”

28.02.2026 19:32 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

I am blind with rage. How DARE these people yell β€œelection interference” & β€œdisinformation” when they made the lives of the researchers studying mis/disinfo HELL, to say nothing of the coordinated harassment of @ninajankowicz.com who warned all these fuckers about this very thing for years.

28.02.2026 17:28 β€” πŸ‘ 69    πŸ” 15    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 0

Woke breeding grounds for me and not for thee

28.02.2026 04:57 β€” πŸ‘ 13    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Hegseth says Pentagon cutting ties with top universities, calling them "woke breeding grounds" Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Friday that the Pentagon would be canceling troops' attendance at some of the nation's top universities.

Hegseth has degrees from <checks notes> Princeton and Harvard. www.cbsnews.com/news/hegseth...

28.02.2026 04:56 β€” πŸ‘ 13    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 2
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This is Trump's former AI adviser

28.02.2026 02:12 β€” πŸ‘ 2873    πŸ” 909    πŸ’¬ 60    πŸ“Œ 50

So look, a β€œtasting menu” is not a starter, an entree, and a dessert. That’s the early bird pre-fixe your Uncle Louis eats (he always goes for the skirt steak). A tasting menu should be like a tour of the kitchen, or ABBA’s greatest hits, or that movie on the island with the cheeseburger. Amirite

28.02.2026 00:20 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Do I have to choose one?

27.02.2026 23:31 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

There was an opportunity to force Hegseth out after Signalgate. It was squandered.

There was an opportunity to force RFK Jr. out after his catastrophic mishandling of the CDC. It was squandered.

There was an opportunity to force Noem out after Minneapolis. It was squandered.

See the pattern?

27.02.2026 23:28 β€” πŸ‘ 24    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Look at this beauty! Francis Tresham's 1829, first and greatest of the 18XX railway games, first edition (third printing), from 1974. This is one of the 'proto-Euros', games that anticipate elements of the German game renaissance of the 1980s despite being released years, sometimes decades earlier.

27.02.2026 18:52 β€” πŸ‘ 72    πŸ” 7    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 1
Screenshot of a Dan Moynihan post: β€œWe've got beyond the practice of agents wearing masks to outright deception and abuses of trust. The lesson they are teaching the public is to not trust their government.”

Screenshot of a Dan Moynihan post: β€œWe've got beyond the practice of agents wearing masks to outright deception and abuses of trust. The lesson they are teaching the public is to not trust their government.”

Not until perhaps the last sentence is it entirely clear that this is about federal agents and not software agents.

27.02.2026 01:27 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 1
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πŸŽ™οΈ πŸŽ‰ Excited to announce that my book PREDICTED: How AI Is Restructuring Social Life is available for pre-order with UC Press: lnkd.in/evTZVN4b. MASSIVE THANKS to Michelle Lipinski and Julian Nowogrodzki as well as Eric Klinenberg, Lucy Suchman, Allison Pugh, and Craig Calhoun for their reviews πŸ™

23.02.2026 14:04 β€” πŸ‘ 14    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Update: They passed it. We witnessed and walked out.

26.02.2026 18:24 β€” πŸ‘ 84    πŸ” 50    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 2

Are yonks from Yonkers?

26.02.2026 21:39 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0