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Thomas Zimmer
@thomaszimmer.bsky.social
Historian at Georgetown - Democracy and Its Discontents - Newsletter: Democracy Americana thomaszimmer.substack.com/ - Podcast: Is This Democracy podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/is-this-democracy
13.5k followers431 following3.8k posts
TZthomaszimmer.bsky.social

It’s quite terrifying how profoundly mindless these tech bro pseudo-prophets are - apparently incapable of understanding the world around them beyond the silliest level of superficiality, and yet enabled to have an outsized influence on the lives of future generations.

Screenshot of a tweet from Sam Altman @sama: “i was hoping that the oppenheimer movie would inspire a generation of kids to be physicists but it really missed the mark on that.

let's get that movie made!

(i think the social network managed to do this for startup founders.)”
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Nnoel.minc.how

This whole argument is weird because I felt the film painted physics as a very exciting field. Maybe even to a fault. I can't imagine someone thinking that because a film had nuance and portrays the complexities of humans, it's discouraging people from exploring physics.

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BTgaudipern.bsky.social

No, no... I'm still processing how they imagined Oppenheimer would be a 'feel good, get the kids in tech' story. This isn't like Turing. There's no angle here that isn't "Hey, we made a weapon of mass destruction." I need to know what Sam thought that pitch sounded like. I need him to say it.

0
HMhoracemajeur.bsky.social

They reference famous stories to wrap themselves in heroic mythology, while actually identifying with the villains. It's not much different from their "joking" views on race/gender/class.

0
Rrecombobulating.bsky.social

Privilege allows people to see critical thinking as an identity and something they inherently are, rather than a practice that takes constant effort.

1
tweetfollower.bsky.social

The defunding of the humanities continues to take its toll on humanity.

0

I was hoping "The Wolf of Wall Street..."

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CLclpolk.com

If this screen shot hadn’t had context explaining otherwise I would have thought this was the most epic shitpost I’d seen in ages

0

There would be more physicists if wealthy “innovators” like sam altman funded companies employing physicists to do basic research long-term (like Bell Labs et al used to), rather than siphoning them into bullshit software startups producing nothing of value.

2
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TZ
Thomas Zimmer
@thomaszimmer.bsky.social
Historian at Georgetown - Democracy and Its Discontents - Newsletter: Democracy Americana thomaszimmer.substack.com/ - Podcast: Is This Democracy podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/is-this-democracy
13.5k followers431 following3.8k posts