Alex Luke

"hand-to-hand combat with antifa every night"

The "AI" research community:

1) Claims to be building "everything machines", doesn't acknowledge that that means what they're doing is untestable (see Gebru & Torres 2024)

firstmonday.org/ojs/index.ph...

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🚨 Update from Yasmin Acar, spokesperson for the Global Sumud Flotilla, speaking from the Alma Freedom ship:

At 150 nautical miles from Gaza, about 20 drones are hovering overhead. Multiple naval vessels have been spotted, with reports of an imminent interception by Israeli vessels.

If this isn't capitalism, why do I and almost everyone I know have to engage in wage labour and purchase commodities to socially reproduce ourselves and the people we love?

You might want people who are sympathetic to democratic norms controlling armed forces though, at some point in the future

I'm starting to think we need to bring back a constructive form of shame, which @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social makes a great case for in this excellent piece:

www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...

Yeah also mine. Also it isn't AI automation removing jobs, it's bosses using AI automation to remove jobs. This is abject servile capitalist shite

Remember that smug meme, "If you ever wondered what you would have done while the Nazis took power, you're doing it now"? It would seem now that most people never thought about that at all

Well said by Karl Jacoby, this has been much on my mind, need to think about the absurd meeting of generals in this light

🔥🔥🔥

The other interesting point that occurs to me (and has been pointed out already) is that by reifying language into a data set it turns from living labour to dead labour

This is a good point. From a critical sociolinguistics perspective, LLMs involve both the formal and real subsumption of language at different points in their formation and use

Well don't I feel stupid

Rest in power

More affluence will not fill the gaping hole in our hearts caused by exploitation, alienation, greed, and consumerism

I always think this when the likes of Jim Chalmers go on about how we need more productivity to improve lifestyles. How much more do we need? Australians enjoy a level of material affluence previously unknown in human history.

AI Overview: "Dental realism"refers to the philosophical debate about whether teeth exist independently of human perception, a concept rooted in metaphysical realism. While realism asserts an objective reality for teeth, idealist philosophies contend that teeth's existence is tied to our consciousness and perception. Philosophers use this idea, for example, to discuss the ethics of tooth extraction, examining whether a procedure impacts a real entity or merely a subjective experience.

When a typo in your Google search leads to new and exciting philosophical positions

Perfect example of how the Neocons paved the way for Trump.

2002: Everyone's favorite Neocon resister Bill Kristol argues that it's "unfair" to worry that the president will use the war on terror to settle scores and fight imaginary enemies

2025: Trump designates Antifa a domestic terrorist org

Yet again, an example of generals fighting the last war

Apparently Nazis hating Charlie Kirk is a thing

Neither corporate nor government: Why university governance needs to be different, and better Marija Taflaga, Francis Markham and Keith Dowding. Preprint, 29 August 2025. https://doi.org/10.25911/MWW4-9781 Abstract Australian universities face a governance crisis rooted in failures of accountability. Unlike parliaments and corporate boards, university councils lack effective mechanisms for principals to discipline agents. In parliaments, voters can replace elected representatives; in corporations, shareholders can vote out directors. Both systems close the delegation–accountability loop, ensuring alignment between principals and outcomes. University councils, however, are self-perpetuating bodies dominated by external appointees, and in recent decades they are typically from corporate backgrounds. As neither producers nor consumers of universities’ core product—knowledge creation and dissemination—they have minimal intrinsic stake in academic outcomes leaving councils detached from the university’s core mission. This misalignment fosters mission drift, weakens oversight, and contributes to repeated scandals. Because councils largely appoint their own successors, they remain insulated from meaningful scrutiny, unlike boards or parliaments where underperformance is sanctioned externally. Restoring accountability requires giving academic staff and students a renewed oversight role, alongside clear safeguards for the public interest. Because academics and students are both producers and consumers of knowledge, they have a direct and enduring stake in its quality. We recommend two mechanisms to do this are: 1. Academic Senates empowered to appoint and review council members, ensuring councils reflect the university’s purpose. 2. Robust Committee Systems that embed staff and student voices in decision-making, reduce information asymmetries, and align incentives with academic purposes.

Australian universities are in a governance crisis. VC pay blowouts, scandals, mission drift — these aren’t random, they’re structural.

This new working paper with @marijataflaga.bsky.social & Keith Dowding digs into why the system is broken, and how to fix it.

doi.org/10.25911/MWW...

A thread:

YouTube video by Centre for Climate Justice Panel 2: Fascism as Capitalist Counter Revolution

A recording of the Long Arc of Fascism panel discussion on "Fascism as Capitalist Counter-Revolution" with Brenna Bhandar, Avery Everhart, Gastón Gordillo and Alberto Toscano, chaired by Naomi Klein (April 19, 2025).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCK1...

I'm finding it really useful and it's got me looking at governance structures and founding legislation for my institution

I started reading this paper on how to reform university governance because it was shared in UTS staff organising circles, and then I realised, hey I know one of the authors from the internet! @francismarkham.bsky.social openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/server/api/c...

I've been slowly making my way through this recently (slowly because I've been so busy - the book itself is easy to read)

Blair joins White House meeting with Trump on post-war Gaza The talks come as Israel prepares to seize Gaza City as a step towards full control of the territory.

The vultures are really gathering around Gaza, with Tony Blair, the official Angel of Death, joining Trump and Jared Kushner at the White House, no doubt to discuss making money out of the ‘Gaza Riviera’. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Union president was all over it, and he made sure it made the paper archive.md/rkq0P

Sydney manufacturer of Israeli F-35 parts damaged in pro-Palestine action SEC Plating's Belmore factory manufactures components of war planes used in Gaza genocide

Some good news for a change

I'll let you know how it goes! I'm speaking with my union branch president about it today