annaleen

annaleen, 11 days ago to random

I love reading abstracts for scientific papers that assume I am part of a group of a few dozen experts who will be UTTERLY SCANDALIZED by a very minor discovery that overturns a very minor hypothesis and ultimately does not affect the larger claims in this particular field.

annaleen, 12 days ago to random

Hey Portland friends! I'll be Powells Books on 6/4 at 7pm, talking about my new book "Stories Are Weapons" with the one and only Dave Miller, host of OPR's "Think Out Loud." Hope to see you there!!

https://www.powells.com/book/stories-are-weapons-9780393881516/1-3

This is a flyer with red and cream lettering on a blue background. It says "Stories Are Weapons," and then has a quote from Astra Taylor, author of "The Age of Insecurity." The quote reads: "Illuminating and energizing ... shows how we can come together to tell different stories -- stories to shed light in the darkness, make sense amid chaos, and forge hope and community instead of fear and isolation."

tilde, 12 days ago to random

Reading Scatter, Adapt, and Remember back to back with Four Lost Cities, @annaleen comes off as something of a luxury travel writer whose destinations just happen not to exist any more. It's as if they started with an obsessive need to understand how cities and societies fall apart… and so naturally went on a wold tour of climate scientists, historians, and archeological sites. The books are just kinda an inevitable side effect which occur naturally when a science (fact & fiction) writer and journalist tracks down a thought which they simply cannot get out of their head any other way.

annaleen, 15 days ago to random

Had a huge and delicious birthday dinner comprised mostly of pasta and dessert. Then had a nice walk and signed a petition to bring more public transit to San Francisco. Now I'm re-watching Le Dune Deux. This post brought to you by early 00s "this was my dinner" microblogging aesthetics.

annaleen, 15 days ago to random

If you pre-order my new book Stories Are Weapons now, you'll win one of these amazing patches! Just fill out this form with your proof-of-purchase! Wooo!! ✨ https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScI6EFpIxdE9_mD8ayQW6xxTHQnfAXdWoWHrn-cOSZ2npAS1g/viewform?usp=sf_link

This is a little blue poster showing the cover of Stories Are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind, next to the words "Coming June 4 - Preorder now!"
This is a blue card with a quote on it. "A brilliant historical deep-dive...This will change the way you understand America." -- Molly Crabapple, author of Drawing Blood
This is a blue card with a quote on it. "Annalee Newitz's thoroughly researched and masterfully crafted book gives us something hopeful--a way to disarm the narratives that have been used against us and reclaim better ones." --Ed Yong, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, An Immense World

annaleen, 16 days ago to random

I'm enjoying the giant laser in the sky tonight. It's coherent light weather in #sfba #sanfrancisco

evacide, 18 days ago to random

"You are absolutely not going to like what I have to say about this thing you have invited me to keynote about" is my whole vibe.

annaleen, 18 days ago to random

I asked my media studies students to look at the New York Times' op-ed page to determine what the paper's Overton Window is. Most thought it was fairly liberal, but others thought it was just kind of silly. One commented simply, "These are really absurd topics for articles."

poritzj, 19 days ago to random

I just pre-ordered "Stories Are Weapons", because I've really enjoyed and learned from every other thing @annaleen has written.

(The bookshop in the small town in Italy where I live is getting used to my usual orders ... and the prices are reasonable, delivery times are good -- take that, oligopsony-wielding plutocrat trying to expand your empire to Italy!)

annaleen, 19 days ago (edited 19 days ago) to random

In my latest newsletter, I teach you three easy ways to identify psyops in the wild. https://buttondown.email/thehypothesis/archive/how-to-recognize-a-psyop-in-three-easy-steps/

annaleen, 20 days ago to random

I am now going to eat the fuck out of this oatmeal raisin scone and nobody can stop me.

smusma, 21 days ago to random

@annaleen hi. Are you offering signed copies of your upcoming book "Stories Are Weapons"? What independent bookstore do you recommend?

annaleen, 21 days ago to random

You have a little under two months left before the deadline to enter the Grist short story contest, focused on hopeful stories about a sustainable future. I'm a judge, along with Omar El Akkad. Cash prizes! https://grist.org/climate-fiction/imagine-2200-contest-submissions/

squishymage42, 24 days ago to Podcast

Been catching up on @ouropinions this week on my commute. I love their discussion of fascism and book bans. It's a real good listen. Read banned books!

I also really enjoyed their discussion of AI with @emilymbender who is one of the coolest UW Linguistics professors. I loved her point that the real test we should have for automation is whether it does the specific task we want it to, not whether it has some "general intelligence" that comes out of racist pseudo-science.

#podcast #books

annaleen, 24 days ago to random

Two black cats cuddling with their toy in a giant plush bed. Hope you are safe and warm wherever you are.

skarthik, 25 days ago to Neuroscience

Great write-up by @annaleen on the modern history of the pseudoscience of "brainwashing" and how it has been (/tried to be) used for mostly nefarious ends.

We can say this "psychopolitics" is part and parcel of what the great political scientist Richard Hofstadter termed the "paranoid style in American politics".

Awesome to see a mention of Liang Qichao and how his term "xinao" (wash-brain) which meant modernization was usurped and became a negative connotation. He was one of the great early reformers who wanted to modernize Chinese philosophy by seeking a radical break from Confucianism. Pankaj Mishra's "From the ruins of empire" does a great job of his intellectual response to western imperialism in remaking Asia.

First time also hearing/reading about "stochastic terrorism".

(H/T: @DrYohanJohn )

https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/04/12/1090726/brainwashing-mind-control-history-operation-midnight-climax/

#Brainwashing #Pseudoscience #Neuroscience #History #MindControl #LiangQichao #AmericanPolitics #ConspiracyTheories

annaleen, 26 days ago to random

"The world-building power of sci-fi storytelling that [Paul Linebarger] championed can be adapted for very different purposes, as a weapon of mass disinformation." From my latest article in The Atlantic ... https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/04/science-fiction-conspiracy-theory-psyops/678195/