Rebecca Solnit+

One factor in getting people to come to dinner where I live is parking and traff

One factor in getting people to come to dinner where I live is parking and traffic (though I'm also reasonably well-served by public transit, but that doesnt' work for everyone). Getting around in the Bay Area was a lot easier before Silicon Valley metastasized throughout the region.

It is shiny and gold like the Olympic medal he also extracted from its female wi

It is shiny and gold like the Olympic medal he also extracted from its female winner, so there's that. Also when you're insatiable and also the most powerful person in the world you have to come up with things to hanker after, I guess? But also Obama, of course.

Pacificated is a great word.

Pacificated is a great word.

In San Francisco we're voting on whether to keep a former beachfront road a publ

In San Francisco we're voting on whether to keep a former beachfront road a public park or reopen it to cars. One of the arguments against the latter is that the Pacific is going to eat it anyway. Sand dunes keep eating the southbound stretch that is still open, too. Also, cool video.

Oh you're counting the second one. I was counting the first.

Oh you're counting the second one. I was counting the first.

Thank you! And I think there's a whole new wave of revolt. Less knitting but mor

Thank you! And I think there's a whole new wave of revolt. Less knitting but more smashing Flock cameras and banning phones in schools.

Not saying it's not intentional either.

Not saying it's not intentional either.

And on and on.....

And on and on.....

Meanwhile, back where we started. I said this morning: Notable that Anthropic is

Meanwhile, back where we started. I said this morning: Notable that Anthropic is more interested in protecting Claude from humans than humans from Claude. Not just Anthropic. The misdirection of empathy says a lot.

Say more, please!

Say more, please!

Sleep deprivation is widely recognized as a technique of cult indoctrination; ke

Sleep deprivation is widely recognized as a technique of cult indoctrination; keeping people too busy and fatigued to truly think for themselves or consider outside perspectives is very effective. Not saying that's intentional in Silicon Valley, but it ends up working that way.

Speaking of the humanities, this just out. I taught at Stanford 2017-19, and my

Speaking of the humanities, this just out. I taught at Stanford 2017-19, and my students told me there was an atmosphere there of "why would you major in anything but computer science?" There are many good answers to that; see above.

I shared the Futurism article in response to this thread, and then thought I wou

I shared the Futurism article in response to this thread, and then thought I would expand on it.

That anecdote about the telephone came from looking at every page of the San Fra

That anecdote about the telephone came from looking at every page of the San Francisco Chronicle from circa mid-1876 to 1878, looking for an account of a fire I did not find, which for me is a reminder of how automated searches can only find what you're looking for, not what you're not.

I quoted Clarke in my book River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technolo

I quoted Clarke in my book River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West. And maybe this is about how the humanities matter, in that they let us understand and contextualize in ways tech does not.

Arthur C. Clarke said long ago, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indisti

Arthur C. Clarke said long ago, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

It's such a degraded and reductive notion of what consciousness is, what being a

It's such a degraded and reductive notion of what consciousness is, what being alive is, what humanity is, tailored to their skillset and toolbox. Serious scholars of consciousness often seem to conclude that consciousness is inherently embodied.

The list of ways they don't care is long. This just in.

The list of ways they don't care is long. This just in.

As someone waiting for Anthropic to pay up for stealing a dozen or so of my book

As someone waiting for Anthropic to pay up for stealing a dozen or so of my books to train its beast, I'm pretty clear on their absolute disregard for us. Another Futurism piece....

AI workers seem to fall into insular cultishness and this piece below says it's

AI workers seem to fall into insular cultishness and this piece below says it's gotten to an extreme at Anthropic. I suspect their notions of consciousness are mechanistic, whether it's about us or their machines.

Notable that Anthropic is more interested in protecting Claude from humans than

Notable that Anthropic is more interested in protecting Claude from humans than humans from Claude.

For Anand's fantastic new book The Man in the Mirror, going deep into the lives

For Anand's fantastic new book The Man in the Mirror, going deep into the lives of not just Jordan Neely and his killer, Daniel Penny, but a whole cavalcade of New Yorkers all around them, lawyers, mental health administrators, homeless rights advocates....

I know there are Black, Latino, and Indigenous parts of rural America, know a qu

I know there are Black, Latino, and Indigenous parts of rural America, know a queer farm family, but you know what I'm saying.

Also I'm a straight white person so I feel safer in rural America than a lot of

Also I'm a straight white person so I feel safer in rural America than a lot of people I know do. I remember a story from the 1990s about a Black climbing guide terrorized out of Joshua Tree, among the many. Remember why there was a Green Book and this Jewish guidebook before it.

Because you forgot how to be human or forgot to value human contact or because y

Because you forgot how to be human or forgot to value human contact or because you bought the sales pitch that it's all replaceable and we are just like machines and they are just like us?

p.s. Wrote a while back: Once again a small-town white American narrative is bei

p.s. Wrote a while back: Once again a small-town white American narrative is being treated as though it’s about all of us or all of us who count, as though Los Angeles and New York City, both of which have larger populations than many American states, are not America.

Pro-rape parties want the assaults to continue and the victim to be further terr

Pro-rape parties want the assaults to continue and the victim to be further terrorized and that's not even unusual, I regret to say, but it would be super-nice if Letitia James would investigate and prosecute whoever's doing this.

Nevertheless this is not an oppositional thing: I spend as much time as I can ou

Nevertheless this is not an oppositional thing: I spend as much time as I can outdoors in what gets called nature, whether it's the Sierra Nevada or just Ocean Beach here in San Francisco. I like lots of things about rural life. But I believe those who say they feel safer/more welcome in cities.

To me it is more natural to live in a human-scale place, as in one where I can d

To me it is more natural to live in a human-scale place, as in one where I can do a lot of what I do by foot or bike. I've lived for long stretches in rural New Mexico, and every single practical errand began with getting in the car, because groceries, etc. were twenty miles away.

I think it's "benevolent to whom?" He assumes that he and the dictators would ge

I think it's "benevolent to whom?" He assumes that he and the dictators would get along great, either because he's powerful or because they have the same agenda.

But also a lot of nonwhite, non-straight, and nonChristian people will say they

But also a lot of nonwhite, non-straight, and nonChristian people will say they moved to a city to feel safe and accepted, and that's just a reality. No one said all rural people are haters, but that doesn't mean none of them are.

Lots of fun country songs about how small-town people are all up in each other's

Lots of fun country songs about how small-town people are all up in each other's business. Hank Williams's "Mind Your Own Business" and this come to mind.

My city has several thousand acres of parkland and is surrounded on three sides

My city has several thousand acres of parkland and is surrounded on three sides by water, w/ the world's largest wilderness, the Pacific Ocean, and our air quality is far, far better than the Central Valley's agricultural expanses. We have privacy and solitude indoors, coyotes and hawks outdoors.

Not that I'm for collective punishment of Jews either, just to be clear. But the

Not that I'm for collective punishment of Jews either, just to be clear. But the sweeping generalizations that sweep past reality itself are depressingly typical.

Tech overlord Changpeng Zhao proving my point about efficiency, courtesy of @gil

Tech overlord Changpeng Zhao proving my point about efficiency, courtesy of @gilduran.com .

Thanks for pointing that out: he apparently assumes he's smarter than his wife,

Thanks for pointing that out: he apparently assumes he's smarter than his wife, when the reality is she values and understands something he doesn't.

I should add that talking about what he wants is maybe a mistake; he seems too o

I should add that talking about what he wants is maybe a mistake; he seems too out of touch for that; he's just mindlessly, heartlessly doing what the tech industry instructs him to do according to the priorities it has installed.

I would guess he doesn't even know what he wants; he just obeys the agenda of hi

I would guess he doesn't even know what he wants; he just obeys the agenda of his profession: never do yourself what a machine can do for you, make convenience and efficiency your gods (but what the hell is he going to do that is better than spending time with a baby?).

A quick search of the Gutenberg Nineteen Eighty-Four does not turn up that quote

A quick search of the Gutenberg Nineteen Eighty-Four does not turn up that quote. Are you sure it's real? Winston does say 'If you can FEEL that staying human is worth while, even when it can't have any result whatever, you've beaten them.'

Another iteration of the tyranny of the quantifiable: you can figure out how to

Another iteration of the tyranny of the quantifiable: you can figure out how to make convenience, efficiency, easiness profitable and quantifiable, but humanity is a more elusive phenomenon, one it takes humanity to recognize and value.

The rhetoric of tech in a nutshell: I value convenience, efficiency, ease first

The rhetoric of tech in a nutshell: I value convenience, efficiency, ease first and also have no capacity to recognize humanity, my own or others, but feel qualified to run the world. Someone send an army of divorce lawyers; after all this guy already wants to disconnect.

The enthusiasm for making epic policy pronouncements/ universal condemnations wi

The enthusiasm for making epic policy pronouncements/ universal condemnations without bothering to have facts first -- like the fact that about 25% of Israelis aren't Jewish, and a fair bit of that 25% is Palestinian -- is positively Trumpian.

I carried a pod in Invasion of the Bodysnatchers.

I carried a pod in Invasion of the Bodysnatchers.

I was just counting the six major headlines, but the subsidiary stories make it

I was just counting the six major headlines, but the subsidiary stories make it nine.

I decided to donate to her campaign.

I decided to donate to her campaign.

I am a connector of dots, a tracer of patterns, by nature.

I am a connector of dots, a tracer of patterns, by nature.

I do this periodically with Guardian front pages, but this is the first one that

I do this periodically with Guardian front pages, but this is the first one that's 100% (arguably some of it tangential, but still....and yeah, I count every Trump and Hegseth headline as relating to violence against women).

Check all boxes relating to violence against women.

Check all boxes relating to violence against women.

Always striking how hard they'll work on things like special effects and set des

Always striking how hard they'll work on things like special effects and set design without bothering to do any research on or give much thought to the actual topic (so that often the script and direction feel like the weakest part of a film whose craftspeople came through).

Also that 'embarrassed' thing seems like a crummy mischaracterization that doesn

Also that 'embarrassed' thing seems like a crummy mischaracterization that doesn't address having a concussion and other injuries and presumably trauma.

She was knocked unconscious, battered, raped, while fixing a campaign sign. Ther

She was knocked unconscious, battered, raped, while fixing a campaign sign. There's a climate factor: she did the work on her signs late at night because of the extreme heat.

But also she was trying to be a citizen, a voice, a participant in public life,

But also she was trying to be a citizen, a voice, a participant in public life, a person with agency, and a man turned her into an unconscious object to be abused at will. He violently denied her rights, her voice, her humanity even as she was trying to be all those things.

Just the fact that many infrastructures --domestic violence shelters, for ex.--

Just the fact that many infrastructures --domestic violence shelters, for ex.-- exist because of the pervasiveness of violence against women: I hope that someday we have become a society that looks back in shock at how normal it was.

Because of concerted effort there to intimidate the Constitution?

Because of concerted effort there to intimidate the Constitution?

I hope you didn't make this a thing with Americans of no particular gender mad a

I hope you didn't make this a thing with Americans of no particular gender mad at Americans whose identifiers are wealth and power, when it's very much about gender, and most of the fury I've seen is female (and too much obliviousness male).

The world does not consent (but Sam Altman does not believe consent is required)

The world does not consent (but Sam Altman does not believe consent is required). But the world would consent to many bad things happening to Sam Altman and OpenAI.

Domestic abuse is so widespread an issue that a major employer is incorporating

Domestic abuse is so widespread an issue that a major employer is incorporating employees' need to deal with it into their employee benefits. Union rep: "said domestic violence and abuse affected the lives of at least one in five women, and he urged other employers to introduce similar support."

It's shocking this is not shocking: "The UK’s largest private-sector employer is

It's shocking this is not shocking: "The UK’s largest private-sector employer is offering up to three days of paid leave which can be taken flexibly for activities such as attending court hearings, arranging emergency accommodation, changing locks, securing childcare or separating finances."

Meanwhile:

Meanwhile:

Latest AI safety guy to quit and issue a dire warning about the risks and the fe

Latest AI safety guy to quit and issue a dire warning about the risks and the fecklessness of those in charge:

Maybe they could go windsurfing together?

Maybe they could go windsurfing together?

Wrote a thing Monday. Got held back and is a weekend read at the Guardian today.

Wrote a thing Monday. Got held back and is a weekend read at the Guardian today. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

An honor to witness your courage and perseverance in this moment.

An honor to witness your courage and perseverance in this moment.

And by a current Cornell student: "This putrid treatment of women did not origin

And by a current Cornell student: "This putrid treatment of women did not originate in this house. It is a culture created over years of “tradition,” and it is what fraternities are built to produce, no matter what we say about the usual exceptions to the rule."

Here's an excellent piece by a former prosecutor and d.a. on how the "the Tompki

Here's an excellent piece by a former prosecutor and d.a. on how the "the Tompkins County DA’s office failed Jane Doe, the accused and the community in its handling of this case, then and now" and just extremely did not bother.

Be the iceberg you want to see in the world.

Be the iceberg you want to see in the world.

It would be a front for their own power and control, of course.

It would be a front for their own power and control, of course.

Big fan of this book (obviously): www.sonorajha.com/how-to-raise...

Big fan of this book (obviously): www.sonorajha.com/how-to-raise...

I'm glad you survived and I'm glad you can tell the story. And though he might s

I'm glad you survived and I'm glad you can tell the story. And though he might still be around, something in his soul died and rotted and reduced his humanity and he probably never knew it because self-awareness is not a hobby of rapists.

Would like to note here they are more interested in human rights for their produ

Would like to note here they are more interested in human rights for their product than for women.

“paving the way for an artificial sense of unity among Jewish people from all o

“paving the way for an artificial sense of unity among Jewish people from all over the globe," because, say, being Jewish didn't give them a sense of unity? Kind of like being Muslim or Catholic or Hindu might? Jesus (who was Jewish) wept.

Wrote about Cuomo during the NYC primary: www.meditationsinanemergency.com/on-fe

Wrote about Cuomo during the NYC primary: www.meditationsinanemergency.com/on-feminism-...

Mamdani brought up the issue in one of their debates.

Mamdani brought up the issue in one of their debates.

Oh and I forgot to mention: thanks to an abusive NY attorney general, Letitia Ja

Oh and I forgot to mention: thanks to an abusive NY attorney general, Letitia James was in office in time to go after an abusive NY governor. Cuomo used state money to persecute the women who testified against him.

Goes great with reports of serial sexual harrassment/ abuse of women in AI subcu

Goes great with reports of serial sexual harrassment/ abuse of women in AI subculture; "we're concerned about human rights for our machines, not for YOU."

p.p.s. LETITIA James and my kingdom for a horse and an edit feature.

p.p.s. LETITIA James and my kingdom for a horse and an edit feature.

p.p.s. Misremembered the outcome of James's prosecution of Trump (there were so

p.p.s. Misremembered the outcome of James's prosecution of Trump (there were so many prosecutions of him): that wasn't the one where the Supreme Court meddled; it's the one where the appeals court voided the fine.

p.s. Should note re Spitzer: you can debate the sex-work question but there was

p.s. Should note re Spitzer: you can debate the sex-work question but there was lying, money laundering, blackmail-ability, and Mrs. Spitzer forced to do one of the most degrading stand-by-your-man appearances I can recall.

but the women coming to her aid initially got their jobs when men who abused wom

but the women coming to her aid initially got their jobs when men who abused women were forced to leave, thank you feminism. And yeah, I keep receipts.

who include the local district attorney who after failing to open an investigati

who include the local district attorney who after failing to open an investigation or ask real questions who was whining about how he's the victim. So the victim in the Cornell case was forced to leave college when some of her persecutors got to stay

as a guy with a history of horrific violence against women, which is how Letic

as a guy with a history of horrific violence against women, which is how Leticia James got the job. Leticia James, who successfully prosecuted Trump until the Supreme Court stepped in, will go after the frat boys and their allies,

in the same state where Governor Eliot Spitzer was forced to resign in 2008 beca

in the same state where Governor Eliot Spitzer was forced to resign in 2008 because of his involvement as a client of a prostitution ring, which is also the state whose attorney general Eric Schneiderman was forced to resign after being exposed, thank you Ronan Farrow,

It's good news that NY Governor Kathy Hochul has appointed Leticia James special

It's good news that NY Governor Kathy Hochul has appointed Leticia James special prosecutor in this case, and here remember that Hochul became governor because Governor Andrew Cuomo was forced to resign in disgrace because of his serial sexual harassment...

Some years back had a weird time with academics who were a lot more tolerant tha

Some years back had a weird time with academics who were a lot more tolerant than I was of a work fudging the historical record/manipulating primary materials to make the story tidier.

It also seems clear that he and his department put very little effort into figur

It also seems clear that he and his department put very little effort into figuring out what happened since their line is "they did not serve us all the info on a silver platter while we sat quietly by."

I mean "we elected a climate destroying Constitution-shredding human-rights-abus

I mean "we elected a climate destroying Constitution-shredding human-rights-abusing fascist/white supremacist because people said mean things about men on the internet and it's their fault."

What a damn "she made me do it" line of reasoning. Just like the left is respons

What a damn "she made me do it" line of reasoning. Just like the left is responsible for everything the right does, so women are responsible for everything men do because they're apparently not responsible for themselves.

And that a certain kind of person, or rather lots of them, likes to hate on wome

And that a certain kind of person, or rather lots of them, likes to hate on women, and the media likes to play up stories in which women commit violent crimes, in part because they're relatively unusual.

No, you creep. Men kill their whole families all the time; it it's so constant a

No, you creep. Men kill their whole families all the time; it it's so constant and normalized it doesn't even get much attention. In this case everyone on the jury but one jerk found her not guilty. "Incidents where a man kills multiple family members occur about once every five days in the U.S."

I'd be grateful if someone with legal chops would dissect his statement, which s

I'd be grateful if someone with legal chops would dissect his statement, which seems to be mostly about throwing the victim under any buses he can find.

There's misogynist horror in the news all the time.

There's misogynist horror in the news all the time.

That's by Artemisia Gentileschi, the great baroque painter/rape survivor. People

That's by Artemisia Gentileschi, the great baroque painter/rape survivor. People who have been addressing violence against women for a long time do not enjoy hearing the non-solutions of those who have decided to think about it this week.