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• Post #4317143

  Listen! My lab's radio show this month features the extraordinary Dr. Naim Aburradi. He and his friends have risked their safety to document life in Gaza, with a 360-degree camera, before and since the ongoing genocide: https://lookslikenew.net/podcast/how-can-vr-tell-the-story-of-genocide/ Gaza is so, so much more than a headline and a plume of smoke.

• Post #4317142

  Humanity without superiority—or, why it is a lost cause to ground our value in what seems to make us unique or better: https://nathanschneider.info/2026/06/humanity-without-superiority/

• Post #4317141

  The value of human beings does not have to depend on what supposedly makes us better or even distinct (from machines, from animals). It's a path we've gone down before, and it doesn't lead to good places: https://nathanschneider.info/2026/06/humanity-without-superiority/

• Post #4317140

  Are you building a cooperative newsroom or media project? Apply to be part of Start.coop's Accelerator for Worker-Friendly Media, including financial and technical support, plus a week with my lab here in Boulder. Learn more here: https://www.start.coop/accelerator

• Post #4317139

  Technology as "an all-purpose agent of change": https://nathanschneider.info/2026/07/technology-as-an-all-purpose-agent-of-change/

• Post #4317138

  These pair well, unfortunately

• Post #4317137

  Is the glut of publications created by the publish-or-perish academic job market also a sort of slop? Markets were the original AIs, remember, and they are already destroying the world (as well as doing some neat tricks).

• Post #4317136

  For the past two years, my lab has been exploring how to create online spaces designed for a basic human activity: conflict. See what we've learned on August 12, when we release our new zine, Conflict Systems, at the Metagov Seminar: https://luma.com/vqlxb7dy

• Post #4317135

  Just posted an addendum to my proposal for an academic AI co-op, with some thoughts that have come up from others in discussions, such as - Student voice from the start - Liability for model behavior - Permissioned access for researchers https://nathanschneider.info/2026/06/an-inference-cooperative-for-academic-ai/

• Post #4317134

  "What are apps worth anymore?" An introduction to a couple of my recent experiments, and why they do and don't matter: https://nathanschneider.info/2026/07/what-are-apps-worth-anymore/

• Post #4317133

  @alwirtes Totally—all the apps I've been making are PWAs, and that makes everything easier.

• Post #4317132

  If someone sends you raw AI outputs in the middle of a conversation instead of thinking for themselves, you could reply with this little protocol: https://medlab.host/protocol-droid/#protocols/ai-supported-conversation

• Post #4317131

  What comes after Luddism? In a special free issue of the mighty co-op Flaming Hydra, I probe the limits of centering resistence to big tech around the lore of the Luddites: https://flaminghydra.com/issue-617/#beyond-luddism

• Post #2035827

  Media makers, spiritual innovators, activists—especially in Colorado: Please consider applying for our Center for Media, Religion, and Culture's $25,000 Liberatory Media Residency for next academic year. https://www.colorado.edu/cmrc/2026/04/17/open-call-liberatory-media-residency

• Post #1883715

  Billionaire-proof open social media is now mission-critical infrastructure for the future of democracy.

• Post #1553996

  Lovely profile of our Colorado Drivers Cooperative rideshare: https://denverite.com/2026/04/21/denver-startup-rideshare-drivers-cooperative/ We can do it, Colorado. Let's make this work.

• Post #1114770

  It kills me that an xopp file with a handwritten version of an essay is 900 times the size of a .txt file of the same.

• Post #1114769

  At #SocialCoop, we've been having a mighty debate about whether experiment with ATProto infrastructure. For fellow members, I've just created a sense check around a potential direction for a proposal: https://www.loomio.com/d/IF5MGpyU/would-social-coop-want-to-experiment-with-running-a-bluesky-pds-/36

• Post #1114768

  Everytime the gov't does something crazy the Times watches the markets, expecting them to agree it is crazy. But the markets have learned to crave instability. Every disruption is an opportunity. Suffering is an externality. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/09/business/iran-war-markets-stocks-bonds.html

• Post #1080786

  Now out at America—an essay I've been working on on-and-off for almost a decade. It became about what life with AI is doing to the practice of asking questions. "With what we ask, we shape ourselves and each other." https://www.americamagazine.org/features/2025/08/06/artificial-intelligence-prompt-questions/

• Post #991473

  Great @Rudy Fraser writeup from @New_Public on how Blacksky is the most exciting thing going in decentralized social right now. 🔭🖤🚀 Social media’s next evolution: decentralized, open-source, and scalable https://newpublic.substack.com/p/how-blacksky-grew-to-millions-of

• Post #961161

  Our Center for Media, Religion, and Culture's next conference is on the radical arts of gathering. Join us—along with Fred Moten, Stefano Harney, and more speakers TBA. The call for abstracts is out, due May 1: https://www.colorado.edu/cmrc/2026/03/26/why-we-come-together-media-religion-and-community

• Post #961160

  Academics: what is your annual quota for peer reviewing papers, and what proportion of invitations do you reject? I honestly have no idea what is normal or expected.

• Post #961159

  Drones, blockchains, and climate: The nation-state is not that old, and probably not long for this world. https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/a-shakeup-is-coming-for-the-nation-state

• Post #929080

  Any favorite easy-ish OSS stacks for managing and running local LLMs? I've been using LM Studio, but is there a better Ollama frontend I should be using instead?

• Post #929074

  I'm thrilled to announce, especially on the occasion of the #Fediforum, that @medlab is launching an Open Social Incubator. Our mission is to support a cohort of community builders who could use extra support in getting to know and learning to use open social tools. Participants will receive $3,500, hands-on support, and a peer community. Please spread the word! Learn more here: https://www.colorado.edu/lab/medlab/2024/09/11/open-call-join-open-social-incubator

• Post #856485

  Upcoming report launch on "member-owned social spaces in local communities and neighbourhood renewal": https://airtable.com/appjkcMPBl4LcoiIX/pagWcBQ8z9HRIBaQe/form?mc_cid=33c56c2acd

• Post #856484

  My latest piece in America Magazine lays bare the extent to which US government policy seems to be going in outright opposition to decades of Catholic teaching—particularly on climate, war, and civil discourse. Catholics, we cannot participate in this: https://www.americamagazine.org/short-take/2026/03/19/government-trump-america-catholic-church/

• Post #856483

  Please share this primer on open protocols with your favorite government officials. https://protocolized.summerofprotocols.com/p/a-government-guide-to-open-protocols

• Post #856482

  Great stuff from @loriemerson on our fight against CU's OpenAI deal: https://www.axios.com/local/boulder/2026/03/23/cu-boulder-professors-concerns-openai-chatgpt-deal