Jonathan Hsy 許維成

People posting about how they’ve never seen em dashes used before the rise of ChatGPT are really great at telling folks they’ve never read a book before.

When everyone can hear it, it is no longer a dog whistle

Let's not use "hallucinate" or "lie" when we talk about ChatGPT. It can't make decisions, it doesn't have a conscious thought, it's not having a conversation with you.

It's regurgitating false information based on stolen content without context or nuance.

Throughlines — Race in the premodern classroom Created by field-leading scholars, Throughlines’ pedagogical approaches offer accessible and critical ways to incorporate discussions of race in the premodern studies classroom.

I really needed this today.

Ayanna Thompson sent me a link to this jaw-dropping thing they built with a Mellon grant at @acmrs.bsky.social

You can get lost in it.

A spectacular reminder that digital resources don't have to be about surveillance, coercion, & disciplining the labor force.

Washington Post: “Is fascism bad? The answer may surprise you”

Teen Vogue: “Here are three fun tips you can use this summer to disable an armored personnel carrier”

The other day I asked three different AI to do a straightforward multiplication problem, and they all got it wrong.

I assure you, @historians.org, AI cannot accurately summarize a history text, no matter how simple. And, as you know, most histories aren’t simple!!

RECONSIDER THIS.

This is a must-read.

💯

say it again:

4 million people work in higher ed, the largest employer in 10 states, second largest employer in 10 more, and in 60 of the 100 biggest cities

demolishing higher education is economic sabotage

It's important to note here that we're not just talking about faculty & university staff. 100s of U.S. colleges are in towns or small cities where they form the major industry & lifeblood of the community. Loss of students -> loss of rent $, restaurant $, bars, bookstores, gaming stores...

2025 AAUP Faculty in the South Survey The Georgia conference of the American Association of University Professors [AAUP] and its partners in states across the South have been at the forefront of fighting attacks on higher education. To as...

The 2025 @aaup.org Faculty in the South Survey is live. If you are a professor in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, or Texas it's for you. Ends 8/29 at 5pm Eastern forms.gle/v7T3BH2w9LXs...

This interview is so clear & quietly devastating. Public media as we understand it is over.

This is not about the end of NPR & PBS. They might be able to find ways to continue to make programs. Instead of content, this is about the capacity to broadcast at all - antennae, transmitters, licenses. 🧵

Palestinian children have been killed at a rate of more than one child per hour during Israel's war in Gaza.

“A whole classroom of children killed every day for nearly two years,” UNICEF’s executive director said.

Here are some of their stories: wapo.st/3UCiAjn

Nemesis

How Trump Made One of the Most Controversial Post-9/11 Policies the New Normal Thousands of other people are going to get put into detention of indeterminate length with far less recourse, which could stretch years.

For @slate.com, I wrote about one dimension of the totalizing Trump/Miller immigration crackdown that's not getting enough notice, which is that they're moving to make indefinite detention — with no release dates and few options to get out — a norm

AI integration initiatives are spearheaded by administrations with little input from faculty members and other campus community members, including staff and students. High levels of concern arose around AI and technology procurement, deployment, and use; dehumanized relations; and poor working and learning conditions. Seventy-one percent of respondents said decision-making and AI initiatives are overwhelmingly led by college or university administrations, and many respondents described administrators exerting great effort to introduce AI into research, teaching, policy, and professional development with little meaning­ful input from faculty members, staff, or students. Examples include the development of institutional AI tools, workshops on teaching and detecting plagia­rism, and subscribing to AI tools for students (such as Grammarly, marketed as an “AI writing partner”) without involving faculty members or students in the decision-making process. One respondent noted that “admin doesn’t seem to care about or value faculty input on this or any other topic” and hoped for “more faculty involvement in determining how AI and tech generally are used.”

The @aaup.org report on AI is so hugely important. Among other key takeaways is the fact that most AI programs have been introduced by administrative fiat and by circumventing meaningful faculty, student, & staff consultation.

shorturl.at/InI5Q

Science and Democracy Under Siege Documenting Six Months of the Trump Administration’s Destructive Actions

We are six months into the second Trump administration and the scale and severity of its assault on our nation's science and democracy has been unrelenting.

Today, @ucs.org releases a detailed assessment of the damage so far and where we go from here: www.ucs.org/resources/sc... #ProtectScience

FEMA to send states $608 million to build migrant detention centers FEMA is starting a “detention support grant program” to cover the cost of states building temporary facilities, according to an agency announcement.

FEMA is preparing to send $608 million to states to construct immigrant detention centers as part of the Trump administration’s push to expand capacity to hold migrants.

! Cool 😎

Public broadcasting is about more than content. It's about an ethos. That there need to be spaces in society that are not soaked in the logic of consumerism and profit. Where people are treated as citizens, valued for humanity and their ideas rather than disposable income. It's simple, but powerful.

Google’s AI Is Destroying Search, the Internet, and Your Brain Google’s AI Overview, which is easy to fool into stating nonsense as fact, is stopping people from finding and supporting small businesses and credible sources.

AI overviews are destroying search, destroying websites, and are easy to game. Really bleak stuff here: www.404media.co/googles-ai-i...

AFP journalists in Gaza at risk of starvation, warns journalists' association 'We have lost journalists in conflicts, we have had wounded, prisoners in our ranks, but none of us can recall seeing colleague die of hunger,' says French news agency's journalists' association - Ana...

"Every time I leave the tent to cover an event, conduct an interview, or document a fact, I don't know if I'll come back alive." www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-ea...

“Without immediate intervention, the last remaining reporters in Gaza are going to die.”

Today, I resigned as Series Editor of the Hagiography beyond Tradition series & member of the Academic Board for the Premodern Health Disease and Disability series at @amsterdamupress.bsky.social with immediate effect. If any other SEs/Board Members wants to talk about my rationale, my DMs are open

“If the universities—or in this case a university press—are not willing to stand up for what is core to their mission, I don’t know what they’re doing. What’s the point?”

I should be at Cambridge, but I’m trapped in Gaza Home Office red tape strands dozens of Palestinian scholarship winners in war zone

Shaimaa has a scholarship to do a PhD on Palestinian literature with me at @uoe-llc.bsky.social, but she's stuck in Gaza because the foreign office won't help. Please share. www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

Sans intervention immédiate, les derniers reporters de Gaza vont mourir 21 juillet 2025 L'AFP travaille avec une pigiste texte, trois photographes et six pigistes vidéo dans la Bande de Gaza depuis le départ de ses journalistes staff courant 2024. Avec quelques autres, ils sont aujourd'hui les seuls à rapporter ce qu'il se passe dans la Bande de Gaza. La presse internationale est interdite d'entrer dans ce territoire depuis près de deux ans. Nous refusons de les voir mourir. L'un deux, Bashar, collabore pour l'AFP depuis 2010, d'abord comme fixeur, ensuite comme photographe pigiste, et depuis 2024 comme principal photographe. Samedi 19 juillet, il est parvenu à poster un message sur Facebook: « Je n'ai plus la force de travailler pour les médias. Mon corps est maigre et je ne peux plus travailler ». Bashar, 30 ans, travaille et vit dans des conditions égales à celles de tous les Gazaouis, allant d'un camp de réfugiés à un autre camp au gré des bombardements israéliens. Depuis plus d'un an il vit dans le dénuement le plus total et travaille en prenant d'énormes risques pour sa vie. L'hygiène est pour lui un problème majeur, avec des périodes de maladies intestinales sévères. Bashar vit depuis février dans les ruines de sa maison de Gaza City avec sa mère, ses quatre frères et sœurs et la famille d'un de ses frères. Leur maison est vide de tout aménagement et confort, à part quelques coussins. Dimanche matin, il a rapporté que son frère aîné était « tombé, à cause de la faim ». Même si ces journalistes reçoivent un salaire mensuel de l'AFP, il n'y a rien à acheter ou alors à des prix totalement exorbitants. Le système bancaire a disparu, et ceux qui pratiquent le change entre les comptes bancaires en ligne et l'argent liquide prennent une commission de près de 40%. L'AFP n'a plus la possibilité d'avoir un véhicule et encore moins de l'essence pour permettre à ses journalistes de se déplacer pour leurs reportages. Circuler en voiture équivaut de toutes les façons à pre…

🚨BREAKING: The last journalists working for AFP in Gaza have said they can no longer work for the news agency.

They are out of energy and they are starving to death.

I have never seen a statement from a news organisation like it.

🧵

Super fun thread!

Elon Musk: We're going to make Baby Grok @XAI, an app dedicated to kid-friendly content https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1946763642231500856

Oh God, he’s gonna make a baby Hitler robot