Ted Johnson
@johnsoth.bsky.social
Paranoid Minnesotan, ex-San Franciscan. Distruster of all things new.
Reposted by Ted Johnson
I thought this essay was quite good: henryfudgeofficial.substack.com/p/degeneracy...
Degeneracy is a Symptom
On Conspicuous Despair, the Ponzi stage of being alive, and why your grandparents are wrong about you.
henryfudgeofficial.substack.com
August 7, 2026 at 10:50 PM
I thought this essay was quite good: henryfudgeofficial.substack.com/p/degeneracy...
Reposted by Ted Johnson
Very light on the listener suggestions today. Partyup, DMSR, Ronnie Talk to Russia? Someone proposed "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man," calling it Prince's "accidental Replacements song" ... #mindblown www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwF5...
Replacements - I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man (Prince Cover)
YouTube video by njr300
www.youtube.com
June 5, 2026 at 2:39 PM
Very light on the listener suggestions today. Partyup, DMSR, Ronnie Talk to Russia? Someone proposed "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man," calling it Prince's "accidental Replacements song" ... #mindblown www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwF5...
Reposted by Ted Johnson
a pointless fight in front of a half-demolished house is kind of the perfect metaphor for America
What a national embarrassment! Trump turned the White House into a goddamn UFC arena. The People’s House is now a circus tent for one pathetic clown. 🤡
May 26, 2026 at 10:43 PM
a pointless fight in front of a half-demolished house is kind of the perfect metaphor for America
Reposted by Ted Johnson
Spam is one of those things where you grow up thinking it’s bad and then you see a Hawaiian chef and go what the fuck mom
May 5, 2026 at 8:49 PM
Spam is one of those things where you grow up thinking it’s bad and then you see a Hawaiian chef and go what the fuck mom
Reposted by Ted Johnson
See, this is MEANT to be tongue in cheek, with the treating it seriously being ironic. But the New York Times can’t pull it off because of what they’ve become. The mock-seriousness is too close to how they routinely are.
/1
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/03/u...
/1
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/03/u...
FEMA Official Says He Teleported to Waffle House. Experts Are Dubious.
www.nytimes.com
April 3, 2026 at 6:08 PM
See, this is MEANT to be tongue in cheek, with the treating it seriously being ironic. But the New York Times can’t pull it off because of what they’ve become. The mock-seriousness is too close to how they routinely are.
/1
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/03/u...
/1
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/03/u...
Reposted by Ted Johnson
I guess boycotting Harry Potter feels pretty trivial to me, because I'm an adult. if someone told me I shouldn't eat Gerber's baby food, I'd be like, that is no problem. I'm way ahead of you
March 29, 2026 at 4:55 PM
I guess boycotting Harry Potter feels pretty trivial to me, because I'm an adult. if someone told me I shouldn't eat Gerber's baby food, I'd be like, that is no problem. I'm way ahead of you
Reposted by Ted Johnson
If she's never punished for any of this, who cares what "history" thinks?
History will forget her like it's forgotten so many shitty racist, murderous U.S. officials in the past.
"History" is the secular version of Hell, and just as imaginary.
History will forget her like it's forgotten so many shitty racist, murderous U.S. officials in the past.
"History" is the secular version of Hell, and just as imaginary.
Disgraced Kristi Noem will go down in history as a bigoted cabinet member who oversaw the killing of Americans and the terrorizing of our communities.
March 5, 2026 at 8:07 PM
If she's never punished for any of this, who cares what "history" thinks?
History will forget her like it's forgotten so many shitty racist, murderous U.S. officials in the past.
"History" is the secular version of Hell, and just as imaginary.
History will forget her like it's forgotten so many shitty racist, murderous U.S. officials in the past.
"History" is the secular version of Hell, and just as imaginary.
Reposted by Ted Johnson
As a transplant, something that always struck me about Minnesota, and I hope it’s coming through to the rest of the world now, is how much pride the people who live here have for this place. You definitely do not see that everywhere.
January 23, 2026 at 11:29 PM
As a transplant, something that always struck me about Minnesota, and I hope it’s coming through to the rest of the world now, is how much pride the people who live here have for this place. You definitely do not see that everywhere.
Reposted by Ted Johnson
In solidarity with today's ICE OUT OF MINNESOTA blackout, MinnMax is donating $1 to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota for every share of this Bluesky post for the next hour.
January 23, 2026 at 4:01 PM
In solidarity with today's ICE OUT OF MINNESOTA blackout, MinnMax is donating $1 to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota for every share of this Bluesky post for the next hour.
Reposted by Ted Johnson
There isn’t a single 🇺🇸 institution that represents urban residents & cities proportionally in America. Not one. The idea that rural areas & voters are being ignored is farcical.
~<Every single institution> we have is counter-majoritarian:
- A hyper-gerrymanded House
- A hyper-malapportioned Senate with staggered elections
- FPTP SMDs in a continent-wide country with our urban/rural population distribution
- The EC
Stop it. We need <checks on counter-majoritarianism>
- A hyper-gerrymanded House
- A hyper-malapportioned Senate with staggered elections
- FPTP SMDs in a continent-wide country with our urban/rural population distribution
- The EC
Stop it. We need <checks on counter-majoritarianism>
Chief Justice John Roberts touted the independence of the federal judiciary as a “counter-majoritarian check” and urged Americans rattled by partisan politics to keep faith with the Constitution. https://cnn.it/3LsloyF
January 16, 2026 at 4:01 PM
There isn’t a single 🇺🇸 institution that represents urban residents & cities proportionally in America. Not one. The idea that rural areas & voters are being ignored is farcical.
Reposted by Ted Johnson
This is the only correct position, and the inevitable response from knee-jerk centrist reactionaries of "it won't work" is not a valid objection. Every member of Congress has a duty to say that what Noem has been doing is not acceptable.
I am impeaching Secretary Kristi Noem, who is an incompetent leader and a disgrace to our democracy.
She wreaked havoc in the Chicagoland area and has brought her reign of terror to Minneapolis. One of her rogue ICE agents shot and killed an innocent woman today. It must come to an end.
She wreaked havoc in the Chicagoland area and has brought her reign of terror to Minneapolis. One of her rogue ICE agents shot and killed an innocent woman today. It must come to an end.
January 8, 2026 at 1:28 AM
This is the only correct position, and the inevitable response from knee-jerk centrist reactionaries of "it won't work" is not a valid objection. Every member of Congress has a duty to say that what Noem has been doing is not acceptable.
Reposted by Ted Johnson
Thoughts on Marshmallow?
January 7, 2026 at 1:05 AM
Thoughts on Marshmallow?
Reposted by Ted Johnson
the idea that we will ever devise a technology that can automatically sort true statements from false ones and factual ones from “hallucinations” is a lead-to-gold fantasy
December 9, 2025 at 12:55 PM
the idea that we will ever devise a technology that can automatically sort true statements from false ones and factual ones from “hallucinations” is a lead-to-gold fantasy
Reposted by Ted Johnson
Again: the Purpose of LLM- type "AI" bullshit engines is not to tell you the truth or to lie to you, but to tell you something you are statistically determined to be more likely to accept, irrespective of facts— which makes them perfect for accelerating dis- & misinformation & persuasive propaganda…
AI dialogues shifted political support by 2 to 3 points in trials, eclipsing standard ads. Roughly one-third of this effect persisted for a month. However, models optimized for persuasion proved more factually error-prone.
#MLSky
#MLSky
AI chatbots can persuade voters to change their minds
Conversations with AI can sway people’s political views. Concerningly, a chatbot’s facts are not always accurate, especially when it supports right-wing positions.
www.nature.com
December 5, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Again: the Purpose of LLM- type "AI" bullshit engines is not to tell you the truth or to lie to you, but to tell you something you are statistically determined to be more likely to accept, irrespective of facts— which makes them perfect for accelerating dis- & misinformation & persuasive propaganda…
Reposted by Ted Johnson
Shocking how fast the average American adopted the politics of schizophrenic John 3:16 van owners
December 4, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Shocking how fast the average American adopted the politics of schizophrenic John 3:16 van owners
Reposted by Ted Johnson
The death of browsing is part of the reason art is the way it is now. Our opinions are largely fed to us by algorithms. Spending a spare 15 minutes wandering around a bookstore or comic shop or video rental place was how you found stuff you wouldn't ordinarily pick up and thereby expanded your taste
Bookselling is like the most "people go to the store and buy what looks cool to them without a particular agenda" type business left, and your purchases have a huge influence on what is ordered, what is displayed, and what is recommended.
November 29, 2025 at 6:44 PM
The death of browsing is part of the reason art is the way it is now. Our opinions are largely fed to us by algorithms. Spending a spare 15 minutes wandering around a bookstore or comic shop or video rental place was how you found stuff you wouldn't ordinarily pick up and thereby expanded your taste
Reposted by Ted Johnson
The last of the original Garbage Pail Kids has died in custody
November 27, 2025 at 3:02 AM
The last of the original Garbage Pail Kids has died in custody
Reposted by Ted Johnson
This has been bothering me a lot lately, but on a broader scope. People are afraid to be original. Critiques are all the same, jokes are copy/pasted, opinions use a handful of buzzwords that don't actually describe anything. It's like drowning in a sea of masks that all wear the same face.
One of the producers on Guilty Gear Strive said it was basically impossible to source player feedback on balance changes online because nobody had original opinions and would just parrot what the most popular content creators said and so they had to rely on data and I think about that every day.
November 23, 2025 at 5:49 AM
This has been bothering me a lot lately, but on a broader scope. People are afraid to be original. Critiques are all the same, jokes are copy/pasted, opinions use a handful of buzzwords that don't actually describe anything. It's like drowning in a sea of masks that all wear the same face.
"We have chili??" is not exactly what you want to hear when you order chili.
November 13, 2025 at 11:02 PM
"We have chili??" is not exactly what you want to hear when you order chili.
Reposted by Ted Johnson
Once you start thinking of AI as a war on humanity, on human thought, on human inquiry, on human labor, on nuance and critical thinking, it slots in pretty seamlessly with the right wing ideological project, oligarchical political projects, big tech's political projects, etc
November 6, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Once you start thinking of AI as a war on humanity, on human thought, on human inquiry, on human labor, on nuance and critical thinking, it slots in pretty seamlessly with the right wing ideological project, oligarchical political projects, big tech's political projects, etc
Reposted by Ted Johnson
Oh my god end in-game interviews
November 2, 2025 at 1:24 AM
Oh my god end in-game interviews
Reposted by Ted Johnson
i will note again that there is a really unhealthy, unpleasant and strong current of consumerism that runs through the left in a way that genuinely didn’t used to be true
The responses this post is getting, combined with the animating grievances of large swathes of politics, has convinced me we need a kind of society wide PSA about how Buying Things Is Optional.
You don’t think video games should cost $100? Don’t buy the videogame. Buying Things Is Optional.
You don’t think video games should cost $100? Don’t buy the videogame. Buying Things Is Optional.
AAA video games should cost $100 on launch. this would still be extremely cheap for the amount of time and enjoyment you get out of them! But an audience of whiny babies has kept them literally at the same price for *two decades* despite both general inflation *and* sector-specific costs rising
October 23, 2025 at 7:21 PM
i will note again that there is a really unhealthy, unpleasant and strong current of consumerism that runs through the left in a way that genuinely didn’t used to be true
Reposted by Ted Johnson
These are murders, pure and simple. There is no other way to conceive of them morally or legally. It's no different than if he had 27 people brought into a room, handed a machine gun to a subordinate, and ordered that they be shot down in front of him.
October 14, 2025 at 8:01 PM
These are murders, pure and simple. There is no other way to conceive of them morally or legally. It's no different than if he had 27 people brought into a room, handed a machine gun to a subordinate, and ordered that they be shot down in front of him.
Reposted by Ted Johnson
That (NPR!) journalists think AI is a creative engine that can finesse iconic productions is not just context for the crap quality of writing in media but alarmingly the inability among a class of supposedly professional scrutinizers to distinguish between art and slop, good and bad, truth and lie
October 9, 2025 at 6:38 PM
That (NPR!) journalists think AI is a creative engine that can finesse iconic productions is not just context for the crap quality of writing in media but alarmingly the inability among a class of supposedly professional scrutinizers to distinguish between art and slop, good and bad, truth and lie
Reposted by Ted Johnson
Want 2 free tickets to see Prince protégé Judith Hill this Sunday at the Dakota? Hit repost for a chance to win!
October 7, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Want 2 free tickets to see Prince protégé Judith Hill this Sunday at the Dakota? Hit repost for a chance to win!