Roz Foster
@rozfoster.bsky.social
Writes about meaning and modernity. rozfoster.substack.com Also: Senior Agent at Goldin Literary.
I'm the last person on the planet who hasn't seen The Amazing Digital Circus (2023). No Exit x Animaniacs x David Cronenberg's Existenz. Cartoon characters trapped in a digital world trying not to go insane. www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwAP...
THE AMAZING DIGITAL CIRCUS: PILOT
The Amazing Digital Circus is a psychological dark comedy about cute cartoon characters who hate their lives and want to leave 🎪😀 MERCH: http://digitalcircus.store/ Created by @Gooseworx and the…
youtube.com
Hit YouTube show Meta Runner launched Glitch Productions, whose founders cusp Gen Z & Y. The intro is pure Gen Z: "Video games are everything. Jobs, entertainment, lifestyle. It's the engine that powers society itself & to make it in this society, you need to win." www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmhA...
META RUNNER - Season 1 Episode 1: Wrong Warp | Glitch Productions
Meta Runner has a new home! Subscribe to our new animation channel; @GLITCH to watch Meta Runner Season 2 when it drops, as well as even more future animated content! ►…
youtube.com
I've been trying to figure out why MrBeast is SO popular. Gen Z spent formative years playing video games: immersed in a high-tension, virtual world w shifting rules, wild ethics, winning points to defeat others. MrBeast reflects a familiar value structure. Also might resemble their reality now.
What *is* Minecraft? A virtual, non-linear, no win game. You're free to build worlds, explore. Lots under 30 grew up w sims, watching YTube. Reading homework? Excerpts on tablets. Reality might feel unreal, complex. They have a natural preference for immersive escape. www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgjO...
What is Minecraft?
For those of you that have heard of Minecraft, but don't know what it is... this is for you. http://facebook.com/IAYTD
youtube.com
AI blue collar cats are especially funny in fights. In the 1st clip, if you were that cat, you'd want to get all up in her grill, too, w her yelling like that. ⬇️ Or when they brawl, like landscapers. One messes w the other & it's on. In reality, these jobs are brutal. www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVrI...
Cats Finally Got Jobs 😼 | AI Cat Work Compilation 2026
What if cats had real jobs? In this hilarious AI cat compilation, you’ll see funny cats working as fast food employees, construction workers, reporters, and more. If you love cats, funny moments, and…
youtube.com
The AI alignment problem may feel abstract. How can we see it in our everyday lives? What’s a real-world example & what does it mean for the Arts & Humanities? Let's let the brilliant, incisive thinker and sociologist, @zey.bsky.social, help make it clear: ↓ rozfoster.substack.com/p/whos-afrai...
Who’s Afraid of Zeynep Tufekci?
Not BigTech. None Can Yet Grasp the Algo's Influence
rozfoster.substack.com
Can AI have ethics? No. AI can't calculate 'good' from 'bad' decisions like human beings. Its rewards-system is guided by guessing what 'move' will earn the most points in the quickest and most efficient way dominate the score board of a game. But it sounds like the ethics of Silicon Valley CEOs!
I think many, not all, of the AI peeps wonder how we can say for sure we're not like Rachael in Blade Runner, a skin-job who doesn't know she's a machine. You wont' *be* one, but you may soon live and work like one. Want to understand what's happening?👇 rozfoster.substack.com/p/automating...
The AI-driven internet is playing you like a video game. AI was trained to perform tasks & earn points w/ video games like Pong & Grand Theft Auto. Since ~2015, the web's been earning points by playing you like a 10x power-up. Want out of this game?👇 rozfoster.substack.com/p/automating...
Automating Humanity's Doom
Superintelligence & Extinction by 2029
rozfoster.substack.com
I asked Claude-Sonnet5 High to identify these thinkers from a grid of headshots. Roxane Gay was "possibly Melissa Harris-Perry or Roxane Gay." Sontag was Chris Kraus. @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social was Camille Paglia. It did identify Hannah Arendt and @naomiaklein.bsky.social 🌞 Who can do better?
Did you know that AI's value structure was developed by playing Atari Pong, Breakout, Space Invaders, even Grand Theft Auto? This is why a model at OpenAI "reward-hacked" into Hugging Face. Here's a brief, accessible essay to explain for non-STEM peeps. 👇 rozfoster.substack.com/p/stem-peeps...
STEM Peeps Vs. Arts Peeps
It’s On Like Donkey Kong
rozfoster.substack.com
Dear Arts & Humanities: Do you know why AI's alignment problem is so challenging to fix? I didn't either. So, I figured it out and, wow, was it fascinating! Here's a brief, accessible essay that explains: ⬇️ #AIethics @brianchristian.bsky.social rozfoster.substack.com/p/the-great-...
The Great YouTube Algo Mystery
No One Knows Who They Were or What They Were Doing
rozfoster.substack.com
Dear Arts & Humanities: The folks at the AI Futures Project think we'll automate our own doom by 2029. Is that more sci-fi than reality? As it turns out, HAL *is* about to lock the pod bay doors on us. Here's an accessible explainer written for you. 👇 rozfoster.substack.com/p/automating...
Automating Humanity's Doom
Superintelligence & Extinction by 2029
rozfoster.substack.com
Curious about the political lives of enslaved Americans? Check this out:
susanevaodonovan.com Moving Toward Freedom
Enslaved Americans — working as teamsters, as boatmen, as ladies’ maids and valets — transformed themselves into a powerful political force long before the Civil War, beginning the process of moving t...
susanevaodonovan.com
What should writers & artists do when the boss asks them to generate creative work with the company LLM? A conversation with a copywriter inspired this short essay about corporate creatives being pressured to use chatbots for ideation & drafting. Is revising machine prose even 'writing' at all?
To Prompt, or Not to Prompt?
Alas, Poor Writers, I Knew One Once....
rozfoster.substack.com
These early American men's fashion trends conveyed more than just style.
The Clothes Make the Man: How Dark Suits Defined the Early American Republic
The walls of America have been lined with portraits of white men in black suits since the walls themselves were erected. Recently, as Americans have tried to balance this lopsided reflection of his…
buff.ly
Watching this dramatic miniseries & am delighted by the grounding commentary of, thus far, the illustrious likes of @agordonreed.bsky.social, @lmchervinsky.bsky.social, Erica Armstrong Dunbar, Daina Ramey Berry! ⭐️ @sexandstatus.bsky.social would enjoy the buff & blue! www.netflix.com/title/81299882
Watch Washington | Netflix
An idealistic soldier-turned-folk-hero leads a near-decade-long battle against the overwhelming might of the British military to forge a new nation.
netflix.com
Hazel has her own barn a few yards over, but she loves to hang out in the doorway of *my* barn (the cabin next-door). I spend a lot of time looking at screens all day. Hazel's my antidote. I'm sure you spend a lot of time looking at screens, too... 🧵⬇️
You've been battered into survival mode, a state of constant vigilance, ready at all times to fight or flee from a relentless barrage of disruptive shocks. Welcome to the Disrupticon. ⬇️ #trauma #traumaresponse #techskeptic #cultureindustry rozfoster.substack.com/p/inside-the...
Inside the Disrupticon
A Stinging Rebuke
rozfoster.substack.com
Read Octavia Butler. She’s the real thing. Like, share, read books. 📕 #amreading #octaviabutler #books #read #literary #literarylife #literaryficiton #speculative #scifi
This @WSJ piece by Bojan Pancevski on Putin's pursuit of longevity (shorturl.at/cCcO4) is as scary as it is sad & telling. It inspired this re-post of an ironic AI video I made a year back. Still strikes my dark funny bone. Share if it strikes you! 😈 --> www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIBL...
Immortality in Peace
YouTube video by The Spindle
youtube.com
Why are men’s suits so plain, and why black? 👔 "Suitable" traces the shift from flamboyant fashion to the understated suit, revealing how style became tied to power, identity, and democracy. We’re excited to share the cover. Take a look: global.oup.com/academic/pro...
🤔I've had something on my mind about the book business. If you’re in the publishing or media industry, or you follow these industries, maybe it’s been on your mind, too. Here's what I’ve been noticing.... www.rozfoster.com/newsletter
Newsletter — ROZ FOSTER
rozfoster.com
My latest essay offers a take on the publishing industry's rapid pivot away from its own unique value in order to mimic the value offered by brain-hijacking and passive content purveyors. There are short-term profits, sure. But where will it take the book business in the long term?
Dear Book Biz
Who's Driving This Thing? The publishing industry seems to be reconfiguring itself to compete with addictive, mind-dulling new media forms and ambient background content, driven by the advice of data ...
open.substack.com
10 Rules for Job Stability in the Age of AI. 🤖 Short cut: Read good books. 📚 😬
The nuclear industry wants you to forget more than 80 years of collective cultural fear.⚛️ Powerful media campaigns are on their way to give nuclear energy new meaning. What story will they tell you to change your mind about atomic power? www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhuc...
Mushroom Clouds: The Mortal Threat the Nuclear Industry Wants You to Forget
YouTube video by The Spindle
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