ve, the ghost of info past
@vortexegg.com
Critical cyberoccult investigator. Sociotechnical gremlin. Swarm intelligence egregore. Magitek knight. Combat librarian. Bearer of the cursed knowledge.
Rogue information scientist, researcher, & technologist. MLIS, Computer Science.
Rogue information scientist, researcher, & technologist. MLIS, Computer Science.
Reposted by ve, the ghost of info past
Good news everyone!!! Wild Faith: How the Christian Right is Taking Over America is now out in a lovely affordable paperback, AND it no longer uses my deadname! With some new material too. If you haven't read the book yet, pick it up!!
bookshop.org/p/books/wild...
bookshop.org/p/books/wild...
Wild Faith: How the Christian Right Is Taking Over America
The acclaimed author of Culture Warlords investigates the rise of the Christian Right over the last half-century that lays out the grim vision evangelicals are enforcing on our democracy. "An investi...
bookshop.org
October 28, 2026 at 6:14 PM
Good news everyone!!! Wild Faith: How the Christian Right is Taking Over America is now out in a lovely affordable paperback, AND it no longer uses my deadname! With some new material too. If you haven't read the book yet, pick it up!!
bookshop.org/p/books/wild...
bookshop.org/p/books/wild...
Reposted by ve, the ghost of info past
The point of going to Princeton is that you get the exclusive small classes & analog experience that virtually nobody else can afford & that gives you entry into the world of finance, politics, law that then allows you to impose tech fascism on others. But it's not supposed to be imposed on YOU!
October 28, 2026 at 6:17 PM
The point of going to Princeton is that you get the exclusive small classes & analog experience that virtually nobody else can afford & that gives you entry into the world of finance, politics, law that then allows you to impose tech fascism on others. But it's not supposed to be imposed on YOU!
Reposted by ve, the ghost of info past
It strikes me for all of the mocking AI accelerationists do that AI skeptics are technological primitivists, I think this is reversed. All of the social and political forces arranged around the production of AI are championing the destruction of the technological society for an irrational order.
October 28, 2026 at 5:42 PM
It strikes me for all of the mocking AI accelerationists do that AI skeptics are technological primitivists, I think this is reversed. All of the social and political forces arranged around the production of AI are championing the destruction of the technological society for an irrational order.
Reposted by ve, the ghost of info past
Also - this guy was not some random software bro who had no idea about laws. He is a Harvard law grad. They were just high enough on their own supply that they felt the rules did not apply.
After we published this @mollykraskin.bsky.social story, I heard from several readers to the effect of “Why does this matter? Obviously these people don’t care if what they do is legal.” This is understandable, but the premise is wrong. They care a lot, which is one of the story’s main findings.
A 28-Year-Old DOGE Operative Gutted USAID. HR Had No Record of Him Working There
Despite the agency's human resources department saying he hadn’t even been onboarded, Jeremy Lewin oversaw the destruction of USAID. It’s not clear he had the legal authority to do so.
www.wired.com
October 28, 2026 at 1:22 PM
Also - this guy was not some random software bro who had no idea about laws. He is a Harvard law grad. They were just high enough on their own supply that they felt the rules did not apply.
Reposted by ve, the ghost of info past
I firmly believe that trying to differentiate between the categories of "grifter" and "true believer" is a fool's errand. Belief, true belief, is something people socially perform as part of the act of the believing of it; and socially performing belief trumps any individual valence toward it.
October 28, 2026 at 5:30 PM
I firmly believe that trying to differentiate between the categories of "grifter" and "true believer" is a fool's errand. Belief, true belief, is something people socially perform as part of the act of the believing of it; and socially performing belief trumps any individual valence toward it.
Reposted by ve, the ghost of info past
They have convinced themselves that they can enjoy all the benefits of living in a high-education technological society without needing the highly educated workers any more.
The point is that powerful people are publicly demonstrating that knowing things about the actual world is now for suckers; partly because this helps pitch AI products, and partly because disinformation is the new source of power and empirical evidence is a liability under fascism.
October 28, 2026 at 5:21 PM
They have convinced themselves that they can enjoy all the benefits of living in a high-education technological society without needing the highly educated workers any more.
Reposted by ve, the ghost of info past
My only disagreement is that Kennedy is a very competent eugenicist. www.statnews.com/2026/10/28/a...
October 28, 2026 at 4:36 PM
My only disagreement is that Kennedy is a very competent eugenicist. www.statnews.com/2026/10/28/a...
Reposted by ve, the ghost of info past
Watching the riveting Gibney doc on Musk again, and it's staggering how many people have remained on Twitter after Musk bought it with the express purpose of dismantling democracy and silencing dissent. Trump will be gone and we'll still have Elon. We really are doomed if people don't wake up.
October 28, 2026 at 4:12 PM
Watching the riveting Gibney doc on Musk again, and it's staggering how many people have remained on Twitter after Musk bought it with the express purpose of dismantling democracy and silencing dissent. Trump will be gone and we'll still have Elon. We really are doomed if people don't wake up.
The Marissa Mayer using AI to tell her things about her child makes perfect sense as being another example of the public performance of no longer needing to bother knowing anything about reality as a means of demonstrating social value and to hock disinformation products in a post-information age.
AI execs may be too out of touch to build for the general public
AI execs may be too out of touch to build for the general public
Tech leaders are flaunting how out of touch they are when they brag about using AI to connect with their families.
techcrunch.com
October 28, 2026 at 4:03 PM
The Marissa Mayer using AI to tell her things about her child makes perfect sense as being another example of the public performance of no longer needing to bother knowing anything about reality as a means of demonstrating social value and to hock disinformation products in a post-information age.
Reposted by ve, the ghost of info past
“Most of the web no longer exists to be consumed by people. The knowledge commons, increasingly, is an all-you-can-eat buffet for machine ingestion,” write Public Knowledge’s Lisa Macpherson and Creative Commons’ Anna Tumadóttir.
Creating a New Internet Bargain to Preserve Fair Use and Protect the Commons
Public Knowledge’s Lisa Macpherson and Creative Commons’ Anna Tumadóttir say AI broke the open web’s bargain and propose principles to protect the commons.
www.techpolicy.press
October 28, 2026 at 3:31 PM
“Most of the web no longer exists to be consumed by people. The knowledge commons, increasingly, is an all-you-can-eat buffet for machine ingestion,” write Public Knowledge’s Lisa Macpherson and Creative Commons’ Anna Tumadóttir.
Reposted by ve, the ghost of info past
bUt It'S sO gOoD fOr rEsEaRcH
A good thread that highlights the ways AI can be used to shape the information environment in specific directions.
Confirmed it for myself, for what it's worth:
Confirmed it for myself, for what it's worth:
October 28, 2026 at 1:36 PM
bUt It'S sO gOoD fOr rEsEaRcH
Reposted by ve, the ghost of info past
AI's function as a propaganda engine has always been a core use case and is one of the reasons why AI companies want total information control
October 28, 2026 at 3:27 PM
AI's function as a propaganda engine has always been a core use case and is one of the reasons why AI companies want total information control
Reposted by ve, the ghost of info past
Yes yes yes. We need non-profit archives, search engines, and digital tools to ensure information is accessible. Librarians, information science departments, etc are absolutely the people who can do this well and we should make that possible.
Search engines should be publicly owned and operated by libraries—with budgets and staff corresponding to the need.
Search engines should be publicly owned, obviously. “Oh but that opens the door to political interference.” At which point we loop back to the previous post.
October 28, 2026 at 3:24 PM
Yes yes yes. We need non-profit archives, search engines, and digital tools to ensure information is accessible. Librarians, information science departments, etc are absolutely the people who can do this well and we should make that possible.
Reposted by ve, the ghost of info past
Search engines should be publicly owned and operated by libraries—with budgets and staff corresponding to the need.
Search engines should be publicly owned, obviously. “Oh but that opens the door to political interference.” At which point we loop back to the previous post.
October 28, 2026 at 3:15 PM
Search engines should be publicly owned and operated by libraries—with budgets and staff corresponding to the need.
Reposted by ve, the ghost of info past
NEW: Court records in the prosecution of 15 Minnesota residents reveal a sweeping spying operation against left-wing activists that involves ~120 HSI agents, putting it in the realm of notorious anti-left campaigns like COINTELPRO of the Cold War era. @awinston.bsky.social reports:
ICE Is Running One of the Largest Anti-Left Surveillance Operations in US History
ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations is engaged in far-reaching spying against left-wing activists that rivals the FBI and CIA crackdowns on the Civil Rights and anti-war movements.
www.wired.com
October 28, 2026 at 11:05 AM
NEW: Court records in the prosecution of 15 Minnesota residents reveal a sweeping spying operation against left-wing activists that involves ~120 HSI agents, putting it in the realm of notorious anti-left campaigns like COINTELPRO of the Cold War era. @awinston.bsky.social reports:
I wonder if they’ll claim this was an “AI safety” issue like they did with removing Indivisible’s page.
Hey Meta 👋 We are currently hosting a get-out-the-vote rally in Osceola County, home to a large Puerto Rican community, and our #LatinosConAngie Instagram page was suddenly taken down while we were actively posting content from the event.
October 28, 2026 at 2:42 PM
I wonder if they’ll claim this was an “AI safety” issue like they did with removing Indivisible’s page.
Reposted by ve, the ghost of info past
Meta strongly appears to be an enemy of democracy in the US. Proceed accordingly.
If you're a politician, activist, or organization on the left, you HAVE to build your presence off of Meta and X - which basically means here and Mastodon. Bring your audience over as much as possible. It's critical.
If you're a politician, activist, or organization on the left, you HAVE to build your presence off of Meta and X - which basically means here and Mastodon. Bring your audience over as much as possible. It's critical.
Hey Meta 👋 We are currently hosting a get-out-the-vote rally in Osceola County, home to a large Puerto Rican community, and our #LatinosConAngie Instagram page was suddenly taken down while we were actively posting content from the event.
October 28, 2026 at 1:18 AM
Meta strongly appears to be an enemy of democracy in the US. Proceed accordingly.
If you're a politician, activist, or organization on the left, you HAVE to build your presence off of Meta and X - which basically means here and Mastodon. Bring your audience over as much as possible. It's critical.
If you're a politician, activist, or organization on the left, you HAVE to build your presence off of Meta and X - which basically means here and Mastodon. Bring your audience over as much as possible. It's critical.
Reposted by ve, the ghost of info past
Y’know, today is just the perfect day to preorder Vaporware, Inc.: How Silicon Valley Sells the Future to Control the Present.
bookshop.org/p/books/vapo...
bookshop.org/p/books/vapo...
Vaporware, Inc.: How Silicon Valley Sells the Future to Control the Present
For thirty years, techno-optimists have promised dramatic technological innovation as long as we--the public, journalists, regulators, and policymakers--keep out of the way. The results have been grea...
bookshop.org
October 28, 2026 at 1:19 PM
Y’know, today is just the perfect day to preorder Vaporware, Inc.: How Silicon Valley Sells the Future to Control the Present.
bookshop.org/p/books/vapo...
bookshop.org/p/books/vapo...
Reposted by ve, the ghost of info past
This should be further evidence that the AI provider has control over, and should bear full responsibility for, whatever output the AI produces.
October 28, 2026 at 1:57 PM
This should be further evidence that the AI provider has control over, and should bear full responsibility for, whatever output the AI produces.
Reposted by ve, the ghost of info past
Reposted by ve, the ghost of info past
it's actually worse - it will tell you who won *any other presidential election* other than 2020
October 28, 2026 at 1:15 PM
it's actually worse - it will tell you who won *any other presidential election* other than 2020
Reposted by ve, the ghost of info past
When someone is already an actual government official or someone running credibly for office, the rules of engagement are different. The advice is not "ignore your opponent," it's *ignore their messaging.* You want to suppress their propaganda, not their image. You want to *attack* their image.
October 28, 2026 at 2:45 AM
When someone is already an actual government official or someone running credibly for office, the rules of engagement are different. The advice is not "ignore your opponent," it's *ignore their messaging.* You want to suppress their propaganda, not their image. You want to *attack* their image.
Reposted by ve, the ghost of info past
The gravest, worst sin is giving the enemy reach by directly quoting them or spreading their content in a way that's legible to the algorithm. The thing that's been catastrophic over the years has been the left helping build right-wing media figures by getting rage baited by these people.
October 28, 2026 at 2:45 AM
The gravest, worst sin is giving the enemy reach by directly quoting them or spreading their content in a way that's legible to the algorithm. The thing that's been catastrophic over the years has been the left helping build right-wing media figures by getting rage baited by these people.
Reposted by ve, the ghost of info past
I feel like it's worth expanding with a bit of nuance on this tactical idea because there's levels and layers to this. For example: it doesn't matter as much what you do on bluesky because frankly bluesky doesn't matter. Janonismo has to be understood tactically through a material lens.
Brazilians recommending not to amplify right-wing talking points by dunking and quoting, as a winning strategy
Next day, my tl is full of people dunking on rfk jr
I literally would not have seen the bigotry if it wasn't for y'all repeating it. That's exactly what the Brazilians were on about!
Next day, my tl is full of people dunking on rfk jr
I literally would not have seen the bigotry if it wasn't for y'all repeating it. That's exactly what the Brazilians were on about!
October 28, 2026 at 2:45 AM
I feel like it's worth expanding with a bit of nuance on this tactical idea because there's levels and layers to this. For example: it doesn't matter as much what you do on bluesky because frankly bluesky doesn't matter. Janonismo has to be understood tactically through a material lens.