Shirley Siluk

Shirley Siluk

@ebishirl.bsky.social

Writer/editor and former journalist. Author of "News Speak: How Language Can Manipulate Meaning in What We Read, Watch and Listen to" and "Prove It!: Fact-Finding Secrets of a Fanatical Online Researcher."

3.4K followers7.2K following982 posts

Shirley Siluk reposted

Merriam-Webster
@merriam-webster.com

We acknowledge that no one has the bandwidth for this, but if it helps: -It’s ‘sleight of hand’ -It’s ‘bated breath’ -It’s ‘lo and behold’ -It's 'buck naked' -It’s ‘brass tacks’ -It’s ‘free rein’ -It’s ‘toe the line'

Shirley Siluk reposted

Writing Disrupted
@writingdisrupted.bsky.social

The 2006 movie Idiocracy was promoted with the tagline, "The Future is a No Brainer." Generative AI is helping to pave the way for that future: greenforlife-eivwu.wordpress.com/2026/10/21/t...

greenforlife-eivwu.wordpress.com‘The Future is a No Brainer’: GenAI paves the wayFans of the 2006 Mike Judge film Idiocracy like to point out how prescient the movie was. Twenty years after its release, the film often feels like it foresaw today’s world of ignorant and self-des…

Shirley Siluk reposted

Writing Disrupted
@writingdisrupted.bsky.social

Just published my summary of discussions from last night's People's AI Assembly in New York: greenforlife-eivwu.wordpress.com/2026/10/20/m...

greenforlife-eivwu.wordpress.comMamdani, Klein, Roy, and more challenge tech’s ‘inevitability’ at People’s AI AssemblyThe livestream of last night’s People’s AI Assembly in New York started off with a few hiccups—a delayed start and early audio issues—but anyone who stayed to the end will have found the event rich…

Shirley Siluk reposted

Writing Disrupted
@writingdisrupted.bsky.social

Replying to @writingdisrupted.bsky.social

The whole piece is a must-read. And, as a footnote to the essay adds, "Part of this essay will be delivered as a lecture at The People’s AI Assembly on 19 October in New York City." That's tonight. You can sign up to join the livestream here: actionnetwork.org/forms/ai-now...

actionnetwork.orgJoin the People's AI Assembly in New York City on October 19This is a special event co-hosted by AI Now Institute and More Perfect Union.
Shirley Siluk
@ebishirl.bsky.social

Still a bit of time to sign up for tonight's livestream of the People's AI Assembly, organized by the AI Now Institute and the More Perfect Union. Featuring Bhairavi Desai, Ilana Glazer, Lorena Gonzalez, Karen Hao, Lina Khan, Naomi Klein, Grandell “Bird” Logan, KeShaun Pearson, and more.

Writing Disrupted@writingdisrupted.bsky.social

Don't miss tonight's livestream of the People's AI Assembly, which is scheduled to include a lecture by Arundhati Roy: greenforlife-eivwu.wordpress.com/2026/10/19/a...

greenforlife-eivwu.wordpress.comSummary of Arundhati Roy's essay on generative AI.Arundhati Roy, the author of The God of Small Things, minces no words about the implications of generative AI in this powerful Oct. 15, 2026, essay published in Equator: “AI is colonisation o…
Shirley Siluk
@ebishirl.bsky.social

Looks like I'm going to have to start adding a footnote to every one of my WordPress posts: "I used Bob, my 2018 Lenovo YOGA 730, to produce this story." (Note to publishers collaborating with tech bros: Stop anthropomorphizing algorithms, you credulous weirdos.)

This post is unavailable.
Shirley Siluk
@ebishirl.bsky.social

Breaking through a world of slop with carefully crafted and thoughtfully edited writing in which every word matters.

Writing Disrupted@writingdisrupted.bsky.social

My thoughts here: greenforlife-eivwu.wordpress.com/2026/09/21/h...

greenforlife-eivwu.wordpress.comHow to fight the ‘Anslopocene’Ketan Joshi writes about climate matters for his Greensky feed, as well as for other outlets. But considering the outsized climate impacts of the AI bubble, he inevitably has lots to say about data…
Shirley Siluk
@ebishirl.bsky.social

I love @ketanjoshi.co's recipe for counteracting the "Anslopocene."

Writing Disrupted@writingdisrupted.bsky.social

Kudos to @ketanjoshi.co for a great take on how careful, deliberative writing and editing are a much-needed antidote to what he calls the "Anslopocene": lnkd.in/p/eYwCgTrx

lnkd.inOne strange way I've noticed my writing reflexively shift in the Anslopocene is that I've become obsessed with mercilessly editing myself. People are just hurling 5,000 word essays into comm...One strange way I've noticed my writing reflexively shift in the Anslopocene is that I've become obsessed with mercilessly editing myself. People are just hurling 5,000 word essays into comment sect...
Shirley Siluk
@ebishirl.bsky.social

What a fascinating story - definitely worth reading from start to finish.

The Public Domain Review@publicdomainrev.bsky.social

1943–5, with the help of Warner Bros.' finest, the U.S. Army produced a series of 27 propaganda cartoons depicting the calamitous adventures of Private Snafu. @Mark_D_Kaufman explores how one film inadvertently let slip one of the war's greatest secrets: publicdomainreview.org/essay/i...

Shirley Siluk
@ebishirl.bsky.social

AI's not the main topic of this research, but it comes up. Fortunately, the study finds that most people don't consider AI chatbots to be a top source of news.

Writing Disrupted@writingdisrupted.bsky.social

Research from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism finds that people are adopting a more diverse and layered view of news to "navigate an increasingly complex information environment”: greenforlife-eivwu.wordpress.com/2026/09/16/i...

greenforlife-eivwu.wordpress.comIdeas about what news is become more diverseWriting and reporting have been radically disrupted in recent years, with so-called AI being one—but not the only—factor. New research from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism finds t…
Shirley Siluk
@ebishirl.bsky.social

This is the article on AI I've been waiting a long time to read. I won't do it the disservice of providing a summary of excerpts - you really have to read the whole thing yourself. But I WILL provide a few especially pointed quotes that really resonated with me:

Eryk Salvaggio@eryk.bsky.social

“Nobody is losing control of an emerging intelligence. They’re redirecting their own agency to the thing they are building.” It’s a myth, a self-affirming form of sense making: they take the action to build it, but insist on describing it as if they are passive witnesses to an inevitable force.

mail.cyberneticforests.comThe System From NowhereWhen Accountability Goes Rogue 💡I recently spoke with Dr. Zena Assaad for her podcast, Responsible Bytes. Video is above, below is an essay adapted from the conversation. "The system from nowhere" i...
View full thread
Shirley Siluk
@ebishirl.bsky.social

This is the article on AI I've been waiting a long time to read. I won't do it the disservice of providing a summary of excerpts - you really have to read the whole thing yourself. But I WILL provide a few especially pointed quotes that really resonated with me:

Eryk Salvaggio@eryk.bsky.social

“Nobody is losing control of an emerging intelligence. They’re redirecting their own agency to the thing they are building.” It’s a myth, a self-affirming form of sense making: they take the action to build it, but insist on describing it as if they are passive witnesses to an inevitable force.

mail.cyberneticforests.comThe System From NowhereWhen Accountability Goes Rogue 💡I recently spoke with Dr. Zena Assaad for her podcast, Responsible Bytes. Video is above, below is an essay adapted from the conversation. "The system from nowhere" i...
Shirley Siluk
@ebishirl.bsky.social

On the whole "went rogue" coverage: "OpenAI developers optimized an LLM specifically for cybersecurity and coding and then ran it without security guardrails. So they trained a model to find exploits and then acted surprised that it found them."

Shirley Siluk
@ebishirl.bsky.social

"The “system from nowhere” framing overemphasizes the agency of the model... It muddies the line of accountability that leads to the people making choices about how models are built and deployed. It centers the model as if it "acts" and "learns" and "decides" without them..."

Shirley Siluk
@ebishirl.bsky.social

LOL... perfect response!

benjamin@benjamino.bsky.social

Hobbes and Shamshiri: In our podcast we invented If Books Could Kill as a cautionary tale Carroll: At long last, I have created the reading pile from classic podcast If Books Could Kill

Shirley Siluk
@ebishirl.bsky.social

I loved Emily Wilson's translation, LOVED Nolan's Odyssey and am thoroughly enjoying @gregpak.net's play-by-play of reading Wilson. Good fun! And spot-on analysis!

Greg Pak@gregpak.net

Okay, Emily Wilson, you pulled me in! I'm reading your translation of the ODYSSEY, first time I've read this poem since college. Let's see how it goes...

Shirley Siluk reposted

Sherrilyn Ifill
@sifill.bsky.social

Feeling overwhelmed with all of this. LISTEN. Another Louisiana resident (Marshawn is the only name we have) testifies against the state’s racial gerrymander, speaking truth to power up and down the hearing room and predicts how this story will end. Speak your truth, fight and believe.

Shirley Siluk
@ebishirl.bsky.social

The "give-up machine" is such a great description of generative AI chatbots... most of all because it's true, as this recent study found: arxiv.org/abs/2604.04721

arxiv.orgAI Assistance Reduces Persistence and Hurts Independent PerformancePeople often optimize for long-term goals in collaboration: A mentor or companion doesn't just answer questions, but also scaffolds learning, tracks progress, and prioritizes the other person's growth...
Der Geisterfresser@lighter.bsky.social

Its kinda funny how the dumbest "idea guys" all decided to stop being idea guys when the give-up machine showed up and let them all use it for ideas instead

Shirley Siluk
@ebishirl.bsky.social

The study says about AI users: "People do not merely become worse at tasks, but they also stop trying. If such effects accumulate over months and years of AI use, we may end up creating a generation of learners who have lost the disposition to struggle productively without technological support."