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Maura Doherty, Ph.D.

@molowell.bsky.social

Historian. Textile industry. History of capitalism. Women and work. Immigration. Time. Teleology. Epistemology. Knowledge. Discourse. Misinformation. Ai. Microhistory. Heritage. Memory. Expert on the city of Lowell Massachusetts.

522 Posts562 Follower417 Folgt
Maura Doherty, Ph.D.@molowell.bsky.social · 2d ago

Teaching so-called "critical ai" to students, especially to those under 18, is not really possible since they are not experts in any field and will be unable to determine the veracity of synthetic texts beyond simple mistakes.

Anna E. Cook@annaecook.com · 2d ago

They also talk a lot about how it’s hard to assess if software, whether AI related or not, actually solves the problem it promises it does unless you’re a specialist in that field. Which again, I’ve said. If you wanna know if AI is good, ask it something you’re an expert in and see what it says.

Dr. Lucky Tran@luckytran.com · 3d ago

I worked for New York’s largest medical center at the start of the pandemic. There were morgue trucks on the streets. They set up emergency medical tents in Central Park. Healthcare worker colleagues died. It is horrific that RFK Jr is on national TV lying that ICUs were empty.

Sonja Drimmer@sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 5d ago

First, this is fantastic. Second, it gives the lie to the idea that people need to “learn” how to use AI given that it’s become compulsory. What lurks behind the notion that people need tutorials in it is that AI “education” is just a how-to in avoiding its hazards. The real education is this ⬇️

jessamyn@librarian.bsky.social · 5d ago

I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful

An aircraft passenger oxygen mask: a drop down passenger mask with air bag and yellow plastic mouth and nose cover, oxygen tube has been cut; Demonstration model used by flight attendant crew for passenger instruction. Has text on the side indicating that it's non-functional.
Timnit Gebru@timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 7d ago

"As Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei Asia found in a recent investigation, just five US tech giants — Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Oracle — are hiding an estimated $1.65 trillion in debt that doesn’t appear on balance sheets. futurism.com/artificial-i...

AI Companies Are Trying to Hide a Staggering Amount of Debt

AI companies are pouring tens of billions of dollars into enormous data centers. They're being built on top of a mountain of hidden debt.

futurism.com

Faith Rogow@insightersed.bsky.social · 6d ago

This can't be repeated enough, especially for educators. Meta has just ensured that information it provides is unreliable. Pass it on. 🍎📚🗺️🧪#civics #AcademicSky #sschat

Judd Legum@juddlegum.bsky.social · 6d ago

Meta is spending $600 billion+ to build out its AI model. That model is being aggressively integrated into platforms used by 3.9 billion people. This week, Meta announced its AI will be trained on content from Newsmax, the far-right website with a history of promoting pro-Trump conspiracy theories.

Ben Gross@bhgross144.bsky.social · last wk.

Also, it's not like this is the first time a tech company sought to "disruptively scan all the world's books." (Read Deanna Marcum & @rschon.bsky.social's Along Came #Google to see how that turned out: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...) #BookHistory #libraries #digitization 🗃️📜

Ben Gross@bhgross144.bsky.social · last wk.

For those seeking another reason to oppose #Anthropic (or #AI more broadly): "Anthropic described the project as 'our effort to disruptively scan all the world’s books' in an internal memo, which noted 'we do not want it to be known that we are pursuing this project'." #booksky #speccolls 🗃️📜📚

Rachel Gunter, Ph.D. 🗃️@phdrachel.bsky.social · 7d ago

Please give this page a follow! It's a public history project by debbielinsleyliles.bsky.social mapping the migration of enslaved people into TX in the 19th century. & if you know anything about the Civil War, you know that's a lot of enslaved people especially from 1860-65, as slavery spread west 🗃️

enslavedtexas.bsky.social@enslavedtexas.bsky.social · 7d ago

Working hard creating an interactive map of Texas that visualizes the forced migration of enslaved people into Texas from 1800 to 1865. Check us out at enslavedtexas.org We are about halfway in this initial stage, so visit us often for updates! debbie@enslavedtexas.org

Dr. Lindsay Stallones Marshall (she/her)@lindstorian.bsky.social · last wk.

Yes. Not just medical texts, either. It’s horrifying to think about the effect of dumping even more of the old, racist histories I study into a program that uses them as input to predict text for user prompts.

Arrianna Marie Planey, PhD MA@arrianna-planey.bsky.social · last wk.

The increased reliance on print texts from the "pre-LLM era" for model training is objectively NOT good for health/medical topics, BTW. It would be better to have vetted and trustworthy "AI"-free contemporary scholarship now, rather than rely on rapidly out-of-date "pre-LLM era" input data.

Maura Doherty, Ph.D.@molowell.bsky.social · last wk.

For my colleagues interested in Epistemology and a deep understanding of the epistemic threat posed by Gen ai:

Blayne Haggart@bhaggart.bsky.social · last wk.

This is an epistemological change on the level of science supplanting religion as the dominant form of knowledge. GenAI is making people dumber by the standard of scientific knowledge. But it’s also creating a new standard of oracular knowledge with techbros as the new priests. From 2024.

John Garrison Marks@johngmarks.com · 2w ago

Some abolitionists once played up an antislavery version of George Washington to try to end slavery. Now the Trump administration is doing it to deny slavery mattered at all. I wrote about the new exhibit at the President’s House in Philly for @theatlantic.com. www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

Washington, the Useful Abolitionist

In Philadelphia, the Trump administration downplays the importance of slavery to understanding the first president.

theatlantic.com

Maura Doherty, Ph.D.@molowell.bsky.social · 2w ago

Nixonmaxxing could have benefits IF they look at his progressive record which included creating the Environmental Protection Agency, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species, cancer & science research, appointed Earl Warren to S. Court, detante w/ Soviets & China, Affirmative Action & support of the ERA.

The Wall Street Journal@wsj.com · 2w ago

The kids are “Nixonmaxxing”: More than half-a-century after Watergate, conservative youth are discovering the aesthetic, and adopting the attitude, of the late president. 🔗 www.wsj.com/politics/ric...