Sara M. Grimes, PhD

Is the discursive move from "assistants" to "agents" just a way to deflect from the lack of predictability, how poorly instructions are followed, ongoing lack of truly helpful applications? And is it agent like "free agent" or middleman who represents talent for a commission/fee? Either I guess.

The history of Canada in Heritage Minutes - YouTube Heritage Minutes in chronological order by event

I put all the Heritage Minutes in chronological order by event so you don't have to. 🇨🇦

(I was looking for this and couldn't find it, so it became a weird hobby. It genuinely may be of interest only to me.)

www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Call for Papers - The Politics of AI: Governance, Resistance, Alternatives www.criticalinfralab.net/preview/?id=...
We invite proposals for our symposium that offer critical perspectives on AI & environment, AI & society, and the political economy of AI. Please share widely!

Early heads up!

I'm organizing a queer SFF reading/party on Thurs August 14 at 7 PM in collaboration with @townhallseattle.bsky.social and @charliesqueerbooks.bsky.social.

Featuring @annaleen.bsky.social, @andreahairston.bsky.social, Becky Chambers, @ceciliatan.com, me, and one more person TBA.

Me with all the Biden unfitness coverage right now = #tldr = “Too late! Don’t read!”

Happening #LIVE: Panelist Sara Grimes @smgrimes.bsky.social, PhD, describes different types of parasocial play that children experience during online games — and how that gameplay is brought into other areas of their lives. #VideoGames 🎮

Really looking forward to this talk next week!

Ava DuVernay poses on a blue floral carpet at a formal event, wearing a dramatic black-and-white gown with a full skirt and horizontal silver stripes, a white blouse-style bodice with puffed sleeves, a black wide-brimmed hat, and a netted veil. Her hands are on her hips as she stands confidently in front of a floral backdrop and photographers. Overlaid on the image is the book cover for Work! A Queer History of Modeling by Elspeth H. Brown, featuring a black-and-white photo of a poised Black model in a sheer, striped gown with outstretched arms.

Ayo Edebiri stands smiling on a floral blue carpet at a formal event, wearing a striking black-and-white gown with a dramatic deep V neckline and an eye-catching red beaded design that loops around her neck and drapes down the front in a large U-shape. She pairs the look with a black floor-length coat with wide lapels and extended train-like sleeves. Behind her, photographers and onlookers are gathered near a wall of white flowers. Overlaid on the image is the book cover for Good Night the Pleasure Was Ours by David Grubbs, featuring a bold, abstract image of concentric black and red arcs on a white background above a stylized cityscape with train cars.

Cardi B poses on a floral blue carpet at a high-profile event, wearing an opulent green velvet coat dress with intricate textures, beaded details, and ruffled trim in a slightly lighter green. The coat is open at the front to reveal black trousers or a skirt underneath, and she accessorizes with a dramatic afro hairstyle and a white flower brooch. She stands confidently against a backdrop of cameras and floral arrangements. Overlaid on the image is the book cover for Black Gathering: Art, Ecology, Ungiven Life by Sarah Jane Cervenak, featuring a ser ene photo of a Black woman standing in a shallow stream surrounded by lush greenery, wearing a green-and-white patterned dress and casting a fishing line, with forested hills rising in the background.

Chappell Roan poses on a floral-patterned blue carpet at a formal event, wearing a vibrant, hot pink sequined pantsuit with a bold zigzag pattern. The flared pants have dramatic slits at the bottom, and the fitted jacket features a plunging neckline. Her voluminous red hair and theatrical eye makeup complete the striking look. Behind her, other attendees and photographers can be seen. Overlaid on the image is the book cover for The Queer Games Avant-Garde: How LGBTQ Game Makers Are Reimagining the Medium of Video Games by Bonnie Ruberg, featuring bold yellow and pink typography and an illustrated anthropomorphic figure in a dress with a snarling wolf head held aloft, dripping blood, in a surreal, graphic art style.

Who Wore It Better, Met Gala 2025 celebrities or Duke University Press book covers?
Ava DuVernay or Work! by Elspeth H. Brown? #MetGala

Movie you’ve seen more than six times, no Star Wars or Trek or LOTR

Machine's Eye View: Postmodern Data Science and the Politics of Ground Truth - Jathan Sadowski, 2025 This paper advances the critical analysis of machine learning by placing it in direct relation with actuarial science as a way to further draw out their shared ...

I'm thrilled that this huge paper is now out — Machine's Eye View: Postmodern Data Science and the Politics of Ground Truth

I advance a critical theory of the epistemic politics of machine learning by tying it postmodernism and actuarial data science journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

A film that takes place where you’re from

Abstract for a paper entitled "Transfeminist AI Governance". The abstract reads: "This paper re-imagines the governance of artificial intelligence (AI) through a transfeminist lens, focusing on challenges of power, participation, and injustice, and on opportunities for advancing equity, community-based resistance, and transformative change. AI governance is a field of research and practice seeking to maximize benefits and minimize harms caused by AI systems. Unfortunately, AI governance practices are frequently ineffective at preventing AI systems from harming people and the environment, with historically marginalized groups such as trans people being particularly vulnerable to harm. Building upon trans and feminist theories of ethics, I introduce an approach to transfeminist AI governance. Applying a transfeminist lens in combination with a critical self-reflexivity methodology, I retroactively reinterpret findings from three empirical studies of AI governance practices in Canada and globally. In three reflections on my findings, I show that large-scale AI governance systems structurally prioritize the needs of industry over marginalized communities. As a result, AI governance is limited by power imbalances and exclusionary norms. My reflections reveal that re-grounding AI governance in transfeminist ethical principles can support AI governance researchers, practitioners, and organizers in addressing those limitations."

Why is AI governance so often ineffective at preventing AI from harming people and the planet? My new paper Transfeminist AI Governance addresses this question, now out in this month's issue of First Monday: firstmonday.org/ojs/index.ph...

Inspired by @mark-carney.bsky.social and Canadians everywhere. We’re all fighting back on our home ice!

Yet another shell game of fictitious capital and speculative valuation by one of the biggest con men out there. The chapter of my new book on Innovation is all about how financial engineering is the real core competency of Silicon Valley.

Surveilling the scene.

Same

Drawing of a woman running through a field about to throw a punch. Caption: I would like for things to spiral into control every once in a while.

Happy Tuesday!

All the Little Monsters - David A. Robertson - Paperback With humour, warmth and heartbreaking honesty, award-winning author David A. Robertson explores the struggles and small victories of living with chronic anxi...

It's #BellLetsTalk today. Normalizing and talking about mental health illness. Yesterday, we launched All the Little Monsters, my memoir about mental health. Today, let's continue the conversation.

www.harpercollins.ca/978144347240...

I wrote a love letter to my mom and about her struggle with dementia

www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738849...

Are Cell Phones Really Destroying Kids’ Mental Health? Jonathan Haidt once heralded an “ultrasocial” world. Now he’s one of social media’s most prominent critics.

I wrote about all the ways Jonathan Haidt gets it wrong and how early Haidt would not have been happy with later Haidt.

newrepublic.com/article/1903...

Thank you Aviv!

THANK YOU!!!

Corrected s3 to s2

This week, instead of doing the one million things I “urgently” need to do at work & home, I’m laid up with shingles (!) binge watching Silo s2 to keep my mind off the unbearable horrible pain. Worst. Please send recommendations for what to watch next. (Thinking of making this my email autoreply)

The Death of Canada’s Artificial Intelligence and Data Act: What Happened, and What’s Next for AI Regulation in Canada? | Montreal AI Ethics Institute ✍️ Op-Ed by Blair Attard-Frost, a PhD Candidate at the University of Toronto. She researches and teaches about the governance of AI systems in Canada and globally. Canada is currently experiencing a…

I wrote an anti-eulogy for the death of Canada's undemocratic AI legislation.

This case is a unique major failure of national AI policy that's worth studying closely even if you're not in Canada.

montrealethics.ai/the-death-of...

We live in the ✨ world of tomorrow ✨

This is an old comic. Nowadays sharks don’t use Instagram at all because it’s owned by a boot-licking, right-wing man-child.

A cluster of old growth evergreen trees, mostly Hemlock, their branches laden with freshly fallen snow. Snowflakes gently fall in the foreground.

The Winter Wonderland is back, just in time for tonight’s festivities. Wishing you all a lovely and relaxing week. And a very Merry Christmas to those who celebrate. Joyeux Noël les amis!!

Why the latest CDC teen mental health report is a politically inconvenient bombshell for crusading California pols The report reveals that teens’ use of social media is more complicated than the simplistic campaigns to restrict access recognize.

New CDC data again shows that “Linking smartphones and social media to youth well-being distracts us from the real difficulties faced by young people”

Exactly.

Excellent summary of why in the San Francisco Chronicle by Mike Males.

www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/open...