Nostr notes by Lori Emerson

"The funniest possible outcome of the AI mandate era is about ...

2026-06-05T18:10:56Z

"The funniest possible outcome of the AI mandate era is about to be HR departments discovering that 'sincerely held religious belief' under Title VII has a much lower bar than they assumed, and Pope Leo handed every Catholic employee a written excuse" https://www.businessinsider.com/worker-got-religious-exemption-using-ai-at-work-2026-6

HIGHLY RELATABLE (from an article on "Entropy in ...

2026-05-21T15:46:47Z

HIGHLY RELATABLE (from an article on "Entropy in Thermodynamics and in Information Theory") #cybernetics

"Imagine you purchase bread for a sandwich but then discover ...

2026-05-18T00:38:10Z

"Imagine you purchase bread for a sandwich but then discover that your toaster refuses to work because the bread is ‘unauthorised’. You read the toaster’s terms and conditions and find that it had lots of ‘rules’ on what you could or couldn’t do with the toaster, and find you were unaware of these restrictions until now, and you wonder if these are legal. In any case, you do not have your sandwich." https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.18964 #ai

I, for one, welcome the return of cute features like the ...

2026-05-14T21:32:55Z

I, for one, welcome the return of cute features like the SPACE-O-MATIC, CORONAMATIC, and page gage. forgive the language but fuck “smart” and “intelligent.”

“I’ve never been an activist before, but I feel so strongly ...

2026-05-02T22:59:26Z

“I’ve never been an activist before, but I feel so strongly about this...Gen Z is turning against AI; I’m turning against AI. The city is telling us that AI is inevitable, but won’t tell me what devices and applications my children are using.” https://www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2026/05/01/parents-demand-ai-moratorium-in-schools-during-marathon-panel-for-educational-policy-meeting/

the @nprofile…gm5m has been hosting Berlin artist Clemens ...

2026-04-10T01:30:11Z

the nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kyqpq4dpuhykwhqq84nw63y7c4clxsl449gs6hx43rz0jffspgumg4kgsywgm5m (nprofile…gm5m) has been hosting Berlin artist Clemens Schöll for the past month - tonight he installed his incredible “Artist at Work” while talking about “the right to automation”

I had the chance to go on the Boulder Valley Frequency podcast to ...

2026-04-08T20:25:58Z

I had the chance to go on the Boulder Valley Frequency podcast to express my...disgust, I think is the right word, with the contract that CU recently signed with Open AI and with the prospect of integrating ChatGPT throughout higher education #ai https://www.boulderfrequency.com/2600535/episodes/18981131-cancel-it-cu-students-profs-sound-the-alarm-on-ai-deal

Benjamin wrote his "Theses on the Philosophy of History" ...

2026-04-05T17:48:23Z

Benjamin wrote his "Theses on the Philosophy of History" in 1940, shortly before he died by suicide escaping the Nazis. Imagine, now, Hannah Arendt reading this aloud to fellow refugees fleeing the Third Reich on the ship that was smuggling them to the U.S.

and then yet another random dude from the far side of the ...

2026-04-03T14:00:20Z

and then yet another random dude from the far side of the fediverse thought he'd let me know I'm "excessively full of myself" because of an article I posted on AI and data centers. I suppose it's inevitable that one will be reminded every once in awhile of the actually existing foundational simmering resentment toward women. [I deleted the original post because I learned from colleagues that the study the article is about is flawed]

finally, Wendell Berry's standards for technological ...

2026-04-02T16:18:09Z

finally, Wendell Berry's standards for technological innovation--truly as relevant now as they were in 1987 #othernetworks

oh my. Wendell Berry in 1987. " I would hate to think that my ...

2026-03-30T14:54:27Z

oh my. Wendell Berry in 1987. " I would hate to think that my work as a writer could not be done without a direct dependence on strip-mined coal...For the same reason, it matters to me that my writing is done in the daytime, without electric light."

a 1990s-era Earthlink explainer that reminds us of a time when we ...

2026-03-27T15:57:17Z

a 1990s-era Earthlink explainer that reminds us of a time when we still had the power (and the ability) to accept - or refuse #othernetworks (pic taken by nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kyqpqyx6qkpy3cd5djnhevkel38e9pq0ewl8jtk24d7mkh0jl44gflh5swc0qyk (nprofile…0qyk))

if anyone is interested, here are some talking points we've ...

2026-03-10T01:53:21Z

if anyone is interested, here are some talking points we've put together on the CU ChatGPT deal so that we can all educate our friends, colleagues, students, staff, admin, etc. #ai https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aOel41-XD_D9DPLMJEUSia6Ej_mmXbfPcM9DG7GIDT8/edit?usp=drive_link

@nprofile…vqqu sorry! You can also order from your favorite ...

2025-11-22T16:16:36Z

In reply to nevent1q…8l8z
_________________________

nprofile1qyt8wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kytcqyruz67cq7vsr0clt8fl5fjsvt4qt57z74ankqphzz8q55sqd7y3jcp8vqqu (nprofile…vqqu) sorry! You can also order from your favorite local bookseller

a Friday surprise! my beloved book, Other Networks: A Radical ...

2025-11-21T20:11:27Z

a Friday surprise! my beloved book, Other Networks: A Radical Technology Sourcebook, is now officially back in print AND ON SALE! #othernetworks if you know folks who have been trying to track down a copy, I'd love it if you'd give this a boost to spread the word https://shop.mexicansummer.com/merch/495898-lori-emerson-other-networks-a-radical-technology-sourcebook

well. now I'm getting reports of student papers “writen” ...

2025-10-28T11:35:33Z

well. now I'm getting reports of student papers “writen” using chatGPT that not only pilfered from my #othernetworks book but claimed it was written by a man with the same last name. it has taken me until now (yes, I am slow to see things sometimes) to understand that the web of 10-15 years ago is definitively dead and that me freely sharing thoughts drafts articles chapters book excerpts on my blog is only feeding the very gen AI that I have come to despise. And so now I am going to go through as many posts/pages as I can and poison my own content with random statements about how genAI is fraudulent is corrupt is destroying the labor market is stealing our students’ futures and more. But I will always share paywalled pdfs with anyone who asks because gate keeping knowledge can’t be the answer--- #ai

21 arguments against AI in education---> ...

2025-10-15T15:45:13Z

21 arguments against AI in education---> https://codeactsineducation.wordpress.com/2024/02/22/ai-in-education-is-a-public-problem/ #ai

I have loved @nprofile…00z7 for a long time and so it made me ...

2025-06-23T20:23:54Z

I have loved nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqj4jz0spltwzazdgsszpc7pc53svrjdw3fh5mxplql4ctv6wmw37sa500z7 (nprofile…00z7) for a long time and so it made me extra happy to talk #othernetworks with nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpq5p2y0usyv6es7k6vhfva8jwl0h9hhudzt83emqlrjl4jcx9ku9jskya5hm (nprofile…a5hm) on his show "Techntonic". airing TODAY at 6pm ET! click the play button at wfmu.org starting at 6pm and see links to the book + listener comments on the episode page: https://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/153378

finally getting into #meshtastic at the Media Archaeology Lab and ...

2025-04-11T23:53:00Z

finally getting into #meshtastic at the Media Archaeology Lab and dang it is just so incredibly cool and simple. end-to-end encryption for chatting using a long range, low power protocol over radio #othernetworks

it seems worth pointing out that one of the key papers that gave ...

2025-03-22T17:01:49Z

it seems worth pointing out that one of the key papers that gave birth to AI, "A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity" (from 1943), in which McCulloch and Pitts model the brain and all its functions as a digital system, is full of errors and was soon found to be a very poor model of how the brain actually works. doesn't that give you pause? #AI

I don't know what took me so long to get here but my new ...

2025-03-15T14:48:08Z

I don't know what took me so long to get here but my new favorite activity is to find every security camera wherever I go and give it the middle finger. very therapeutic, my friends. highly recommended.

‪and again. "Whenever equality becomes a mundane fact in ...

2025-03-04T22:56:36Z

‪and again. "Whenever equality becomes a mundane fact in itself, without any gauge by which it may be measured or explained, then there is one chance in a hundred that it will be simply recognized as a working principle of a political organization in which otherwise unequal people have equal rights; there are ninety-nine chances that it will be mistaken for an innate quality of every individual, who is 'normal' if he is like everybody else and 'abnormal' if he happens to be different." --Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951) #Arendt #totalitarianism

📡 at very long last, today is the big day! my beloved book, ...

2025-02-18T18:03:01Z

📡 at very long last, today is the big day! my beloved book, OTHER NETWORKS: A RADICAL TECHNOLOGY SOURCEBOOK, is officially available for pre-order!

This a speculative index of communications networks, a love letter to experimental art & technology, & a liberatory guide for escaping the corporate present. Many of you know that, for years, I have been compiling and cataloguing a history of communications networks, one full of alternatives to the monolithic, surveilled internet as we now know it. The result is this compendium of possibilities that existed before or outside of the internet and a tribute to their experimental use by artists, covering everything from pirate radio to barbed wire telegraph, from synthesizers that transmitted over the telephone to encoded messages bounced off the surface of the moon.

Because of the hard work and creative genius of Mark Iosifescu, Jesse Pollock, and everyone at Anthology Editions; Robert Beatty who made the breathtaking cover and section designs; and Ella Gold for book design, OTHER NETWORKS is also a feat of beautiful design. And as if that weren't enough, the talented nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqrk488dhu0000vhqf0ax0fd0vdqsy8jyh94ytr6jzqqvlnfaevmyqmfgd46 (nprofile…gd46) wrote the Foreword and the legendary nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqln29u0z2d7wqladpqg4gqseg58vuwszr4u3a7c25xvup5py9l4equpprnp (nprofile…prnp) wrote the epilogue. So, so many people to thank, including many of YOU, for making this happen! https://shop.mexicansummer.com/merch/495898-lori-emerson-other-networks-a-radical-technology-sourcebook

this is what happens when artists take classes in media theory: ...

2025-02-14T03:04:50Z

this is what happens when artists take classes in media theory: they make incredible ceramic tiles of the first page of McLuhan's "The Medium is the Message" and Heidegger's "The Question Concerning Technology"! I mean really, people. Look at these things 😍

if you have clarity on this, I would be so grateful to hear from ...

2024-02-19T23:55:19Z

if you have clarity on this, I would be so grateful to hear from you: one of the few parameters (partly to save my sanity) of #othernetworks is that networks should not have been "on" the internet. I've taken this to mean it didn't use TCP/IP and of course now I'm on the home-stretch of this book, I worry that's incoherent. but, to counter myself and to ask YOU: computer conferences/message boards/discussion forums did for a time operate outside the internet? they did not necessarily use TCP/IP?

@npub1xpg…apfc thanks for sharing this really interesting ...

2023-08-06T15:38:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…aa3g
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npub1xpgperec0pgyzhj0umj49xee3ux6wgll7rc44pqzmm89wrxs5xps74apfc (npub1xpg…apfc) thanks for sharing this really interesting project! your visualizations are especially intriguing and beautiful. our projects are definitely related but I think the difference is that the nodes of your networks are people, or people are the primary movers of the information being networked whereas in my project the transmission medium is primary (even if they're vocal cords or drums)

@npub1xpg…apfc nothing written up that's publicly available ...

2023-08-05T23:24:06Z

In reply to nevent1q…wvhl
_________________________

npub1xpgperec0pgyzhj0umj49xee3ux6wgll7rc44pqzmm89wrxs5xps74apfc (npub1xpg…apfc) nothing written up that's publicly available but generally, knowing that I can't include everything, the criteria have been: two or more nodes; any transmission medium; any topology; must be able to be used for human communication that can be construed as language (so that excludes systems for monitoring, surveillance etc.); and is interesting, unusual, forgotten, and/or important. I think that's just about it!