Damien Pfister

Something about the way LLMs build in the idea that to find something out, you shouldn't read an already existing text that other people have also read (ew!); you should get fresh text generated just for you. Each time, new disposable text.

🇩🇰 Denmark just flipped the script on AI deepfakes:under a bold new law citizens now own the copyright to their own face, voice, and body That means no more fake videos or cloned voices without consent—and platforms that don’t remove them can face serious penalties
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

I’m not saying anything novel, but I wake up every morning, struck anew with the realization that the worst possible behaviors are incentivized, the virtues I uphold have no market value, the most tragicomically incompetent ppl are in charge, + we’re gleefully flooding ourselves with toxic sludge.

The future of education is being built by people who skimmed Dewey’s Experience and Education—the title only— and then go on to install LED swings and ball pits and call it curriculum.

DOGE Developed Error-Prone AI Tool to “Munch” Veterans Affairs Contracts We obtained records showing how a Department of Government Efficiency staffer with no medical experience used artificial intelligence to identify which VA contracts to kill. “AI is absolutely the wron...

New: A DOGE staffer developed an AI tool to review Veterans Affairs contracts.

But there was a slight hitch.

It hallucinated the size of those deals.

For example, it concluded that more than a thousand contracts were each worth $34M, when in fact some were for as little as $35,000.

“I can't climb in Ciara, I have to money but I love everyone who climbs into the machine which is my life.”

The roots of reactionary tech oligarchy and the need for radical democratic alternatives Abstract. The aim for this commentary is two-fold: first, we seek to outline how decades of liberal “post-democratic” hegemony—prevalent across liberal dem

'This moment urgently calls for bold, critical research and alliances across academia, journalism, and civil society and for those with privileged access to public discourse to take responsibility'

@jfarkas.bsky.social and I on the rise of reactionary tech oligarchy
academic.oup.com/ccc/article/...

🚨 I'm happy to see this published. My analysis of Trump's alt-media strategy in the 2024 election challenges purely technological & economic explanations of the right's online success.

Mostly writing this here to
keep track of claims, succinctly. Curious if this resonates/tells a compelling story. In that spirit…

Some points about crypto, a.i., and the motivations for bringing about recession/depression/economic apocalypse:

Caddie Alford–Witnessing Corecore as an Epideictic Call to Care This text is published as part of a special b2o issue titled “Critique as Care”, edited by Norberto Gomez, Frankie Mastrangelo, Jonathan Nichols, and Paul Robertson, and published in honor of our b2o ...

Honored to be in this b2o “Critique as Care” special issue. 1. It’s b2o + 2. it’s in memoriam of my late colleague David Golumbia. This is a rhetorical studies piece on TikTok’s corecore + LIVE. Come for the contributions; stay for the vulnerable end. #TeamRhetoric
www.boundary2.org/2025/05/cadd...

Its the ease with which universities have suddenly the money to pay for AI subscriptions, AI professorships, AI workshops, AI everything while they reassure us that "there is no money" to pay grad students and precarious faculty living wages.

Donald Trump’s nonstop news-making can be exhausting, making it harder for people to scrutinize his presidential actions Overwhelming people with a deluge of announcements makes it difficult to easily track and understand what is happening in the White House.

The communication strategy is the message. The message is to dominate. I explain: theconversation.com/donald-trump...

Gov-tech as capture: public infrastructures under data capitalism This paper examines the U.S. ‘gov-tech' market, focusing on firms that partner with government agencies to redesign digital public infrastructures. Through interviews with founders and chief techno...

I have a new article @icsjournal.bsky.social on the ways gov-tech firms try to reshape public services—turning public data into private assets and redefining state capacity—and use capture, rather than surveillance, as a guiding principle.

www.tandfonline.com/eprint/EBNZK...

I loved this conversation with @thebigrhet.bsky.social for their Keystone Perspectives collection. We talk all things my book--Entitled Opinions--along with ongoing questions and pedagogical implications, co-directing the AI Futures Lab, and forthcoming work.

tinyurl.com/4z674spz

#TeamRhetoric

Finland ends homelessness and provides shelter for all in need - scoop.me In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Why? The country applies the "Housing First" concept agains homelessness.

“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back into a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.”

Hang this in the Louvre

“The US of AI,” public draft of a talk given yesterday at Princeton.

drive.google.com/file/d/1O2qk...

Why does 25% AfD among young men spark a thousand "what is going on with young men?" posts yet Die Linke 34% among young women generates...nothing at all?

Yes, young men voting for the radical right is an important phenomenon. But so is young women going rad left *at even higher rates*.

If you are at an event where someone on stage gives a Hitler salute and that person is not dragged off by security and kicked out, you are at a Nazi rally.

Donald Trump Brings Back “Degenerate Art” The president’s obsession with cultural control is evidence of a continued fascist creep, and not just another joke exercise in narcissism.

"Just as Hitler drew upon all of the creative energies of 🇩🇪 culture to evil result, so too could only the 🇺🇸 produce a Trump — a carnival barker + medicine man, shock jock + pornographer, reality show star and pro-wrestler. The Nazis traded in German kitsch, and so MAGA will trade in Americana."

Outstanding Academic Titles 2024: Technology, AI, and Social Media - Choice 360 Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles recognize the best new books in 2024. Check out this selection of books on tech, social media, and more.

@choicereviews.bsky.social named Entitled Opinions 1 of 5 Outstanding Academic Titles 2024 in Technology, AI, and Social Media!
www.choice360.org/libtech-insi...

Entitled Opinions A landmark rhetorical theory of the formation and functioning of opinions in social media contextsEntitled Opinions: Doxa After Digitality offers a rhetorica...

Promo code NCA2024 for Entitled Opinions = only $20! I recommend this book for interdisciplinary thinkers who enjoy stylized writing + have maybe noticed that opinions....are a lil' different since ubiquitous social media in western contexts...
#TeamRhetoric

www.uapress.ua.edu/978081736141...

I approve this message!

"AI summaries do very little to help us learn how to listen. Skim and speed-read, no physical discomfort of sitting through a tedious conversation... the summary of the meeting so you don’t have to go, and in the process, you don’t have to engage with the mess that is a bigger set of relations."

Excited to head down to VCU tomorrow for a talk through their Humanities Research Center. In conversation with @caddiealford.bsky.social, free event, at a great venue that I am sure is snow and slush free! Come out, Richmond!

Cover image for book Algorithmic Worldmaking: The Rhetorical Craft of Networked Order by Jeremy David Johnson. To its right, text reads: "Algorithmic Worldmaking is an ambitious and imaginative research project that explores the impact of algorithms on cultural life. It is well done and compellingly written." -E. Johanna Hartelius, author of The Gifting Logos: Expertise in the Digital Commons

My book is now out in the wild! I wish the timing of its release could have been different--things feel so dire right now--but, honestly, what I've written is more relevant than ever. I'd be honored if you'd snag a copy and/or request one for your library 🙂
www.uapress.ua.edu/978081732221...

A Sense of Direction: Rhetoric, Energy, and Infrastructure This article argues for a sense of proprioception as a conceptual frame for how energy materializations tangle with digital infrastructure, suggesting terms through which rhetoricians might advance...

My first solo-authored article is up now in RSQ! This piece was a dream to work on. I'm so humbled by the generosity of the RSQ reviewers and editors, and even more sure that my crackerjack home team of friends + colleagues is the best in the game. Check it out! bit.ly/hhopkinsrsq

the irony of all these cuts to grant funding is that if they go through, the humanities will be the only programs universities will be able to afford to run