Joseph Howley

me: "AI" as a public or public-facing technology is primarily oriented toward the performance of plausibility and the post hoc rationalization/justification of a priori assumptions on the part of the user or audience.

cs people: nuh uh!!!

Sign the Petition Keep the Classical Languages Major at the University of Iowa

Hi friends. As I previously noted, the U. of Iowa is planning to get rid of African American studies; Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies, & the Classical Languages major—along with others. If you wish, please sign the classics petition: www.change.org/p/keep-the-c.... I will add more as I find out.

IDF spent all that money on bespoke AI systems they could point to and say “computer told us to blow up this school” but the pentagon realized they could just use something off the shelf

WSJ reporting that the U.S. used Claude for the air strikes in Iran. Centcom has been using Claude "for intelligence assessments, target identification and simulating battle scenarios" www.wsj.com/livecoverage...

Post See new posts Conversation Laura Rozen @lrozen · 2h From US admin official background briefing recording listening to, seriously question if US negotiators understood what Iranians were proposing. One official keeps saying acronym for “IAEA” wrong. They seem astonished Iran would not agree to the US supplying them nuclear fuel Laura Rozen @lrozen · 2h They took as suspicious proposals that Iran saw as concessionary. Laura Rozen @lrozen · 2h Explains why Oman FM tried to come to DC to explain what US negotiators may not have fully understood Laura Rozen @lrozen Am not saying what Iran proposed would have been enough, I dont know, but it seems US negotiators did not have the expert guidance to understand it correctly

On top of all the reporting that this war of aggression was planned well in advance, it seems that the reporting also indicates that the US political leadership are quite literally too stupid to understand basic diplomacy. I mean literally not smart enough.

This War Will Destabilize The Entire Mideast Region And Set Off A Global Shockwave Of Anti-Americanism vs. No It Won’t George W. Bush may think that a war against Iraq is the solution to our problems, but the reality is, it will only serve to create far more.

This turns 23 next month theonion.com/this-war-wil...

Yeeesssss!!!! (This will always be the defining image for me of the “evidence” against Columbia students)

Weird moment to be in an international airport

template comic from "get your war on", but there are no characters or dialog

Every single outlet that uncritically recites Israel's self-designation of "preemptive strikes" should be permanently shut down for good. Straight up. Definitionally no such thing as a "preemptive" attack when the country being attacked had no plan nor indication of planning to attack first.

The attractiveness of agentic AIs is a symptom of a decades-long trend in higher education. “Univiristies…by and large adopted a transactive model of education,” Kirschenbaum said. “Students see their diploma as a credential. They pay tuition and at the end of four years, sometimes five years, they receive the credential and, in theory at least, that is then the springboard to economic stability and prosperity.”

the AIs are attractive because of what education has become in the US

Sixty years on, a Star Trek writer is still creating strange new worlds Diane Duane’s early days writing fan fiction have led to a remarkable career as a novelist, comic writer and screen writer.

Sixty years on, a Star Trek writer is still creating strange new worlds. Diane Duane’s early days writing fan fiction have led to a remarkable career as a novelist, comic writer and screen writer.

The British Museum and Palestine: On Misinformation, Zionist Lobbying, Cultural Erasure, and Complicity in Genocide by Archaeologists Against Apartheid Cover Image: Gold plaque (pendant) representing the Canaanite goddess ‘Astarte’ (repoussé), and other gold and jewellery from Palestine ( 16th c. BCE…

If you want some clarity on recent changes to references to “Palestine” at the British Museum, here is a timeline of events and analysis everydayorientalism.wordpress.com/2026/02/25/t...

Actually, the left is winning the AI debate But it does need to get organized.

“In fact, the left appears to be so successfully engaged in matters related to AI that one can’t help but wonder if allegations about its supposed ignorance of the technology are motivated by a desire to change the very terms of the debate.” - @bcmerchant.bsky.social

🔔🔔🔔

we don't even know how to reticulate splines anymore

These are “low enrollment” majors but the classes are regularly at capacity. They changed the funding structure a few years ago here, switching the allocation from course enrollments to majors then blamed these departments for a structural, top-down change. This is entirely a political choice.

Thinking about @adriandaub.bsky.social ’s “What Tech Calls Thinking” and about how Brown has a famously flexible curriculum but I guess most students don’t learn about what horses do until maybe your junior or senior year

Letter | No, Mellon Is Not Part of Some Woke Conspiracy Tyler Austin Harper mischaracterizes good grantmaking, writes Michael S. Roth.

THE PRESIDENT OF WESLEYAN ATE TYLER AUSTIN HARPER UP LOL

“Harper follows in the grand tradition of Senator Jesse Helms in mocking areas of research he expects will be unpopular with the general public.”

www.chronicle.com/blogs/letter...

Hey: fuck off

What’s most important is that we allow institutions to thoroughly purge anyone with documented Epstein connections and not have any conversations about any relationships with other prospective or actual donors that might reflect similar poor judgment. Best we treat this as entirely unique!

Justice Department Sues University of California Over Antisemitism

Well, the DOJ has done it: they have filed a lawsuit against the University of California over antisemitism.

The complaint contains some falsehoods. But as someone who teaches and writes about Title VII, I'm equally struck by what the complaint doesn't say.

A few thoughts— 🧵

It is key to note that this corruption & incompetence may have directly cost the life of Prof. Nuno F.G. Loureiro, murdered by the same gunman 2 days later in MA. This isn't just about a waste of gov resources; a quicker response might have saved this brilliant scientist, dad, & husband's life.

Hey Washington DC this is too cold

It’s so inevitable that we have to mandate everyone use it and it’s going to make so much money that we have to subsidize it and the human labor it’s going to replace is so worthless we shouldn’t pay anyone to train it but everyone should pay a lot for the product once it’s trained and

At US Commission on Civil Rights hearing, Jewish students warn against politicizing campus antisemitism - Jewish Telegraphic Agency The hearing last week was the first in an independent government investigation into campus antisemitism.

Jewish students who are facing actual antisemitism on campus, and who testified about it, overwhelmingly feel that the Trump administration's cynical use of antisemitism to attack higher education is making them less safe: www.jta.org/2026/02/23/u...

hotel mathes, fleischmanns, new york, 1978

hotel mathes, fleischmanns, new york, 1978

It sounds great, I hope every university leader announces that it’s the future and encourages its classroom use regardless of the context

The Epstein files document what many women researchers have long experienced but rarely seen laid bare so starkly: exclusion operating behind closed doors, shaping who gets funded, invited, mentored, and taken seriously. How many of these networks, norms, and gatekeepers remain in place?

A week ago, we had an open conversation amongst senior academics in leadership roles and their use of LLMs (in both their leadership capacities and individually). Small group, not representative, but it already taught me a great deal about the diversity of perspectives (& their consequences). 1/

and that, my fellow academics, is one reason not to hire war criminals: so they can't show up years post (their) war arguing in favor of the scaffolding behind their own atrocities with the imprimatur and status of your university