A banner (a black rectangle with the MITP colophon and "In Brief" in the bottom left corner) for "In Brief," a new Q&A series by the MIT Press. Below that, the jacket cover for Peter Kaufman's book "The Moving Image: A User's Manual" alongside a photo of the author.

"We’ve been developing forgeries and fakes for years – in hieroglyphs and runes, letters and telegrams, faxes, emails, drawings, paintings, pictures, and tweets and posts. We’re attached to all of that, charlatans that we are." — @pbkauf.bsky.social

Read on: mailchi.mp/mit/mitp-rea...

Opinion | A.I. Companies Are Eating Higher Education

Just Out: My @nytimes.com op ed on how AI companies are eating higher education. As educators, we have a duty to defend — and advance — human intelligence.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/o...

The Last Intellectual | Michael Casper Years after defending his dissertation, perhaps unable to adapt or evolve, he appeared stuck in an eternal limbo that would give any student the night sweats. On the other hand, John seemed an extreme...

A brilliant essay on what graduate historical research can be. Reminds me of the late great Adam McKeown and what might have been. Luckily the title is hyperbolic. The Last Intellectual www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...

Press Release re Columbia's History Lab Launches Largest-Ever AI Archive9_26_25 Columbia University's History Lab Unveils Revolutionary AI-Powered Archive of 5 Million Declassified Documents First conversational AI interface for exploring decades of CIA, State Department, and int...

We’re democratizing access to the raw stuff of history—records once hidden in government offices. We are also sharing the code so anyone can use the same tools to create their own AI archives. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

a nuclear explosion with a huge mushroom cloud coming out of it . ALT: a nuclear explosion with a huge mushroom cloud coming out of it .

Curious about nuclear weapons, covert ops, or govt surveillance?
Now you can ask questions in plain English —no need to guess the "key words."

Columbia’s History Lab just launched History Lab AI — the world’s largest AI-powered archive. It's built on top of +5M declassified govt docs, and was unveiled just now at the Federal Depository Library Conference.
Explore: lab.history.columbia.edu/history-lab-...

I'm having a hard time deciding: Is the problem that some of our young people might be taking humanitities courses, or is it that they are spending thousands of hours playing first-person shooter games?

Columbia students showing what real leadership looks like. They are displaying more maturity than many professors. www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2025/04...

yes, me too

A receivership would have meant replacing the chair of Middle East, South Asian, and African Studies with someone who would not answer to its faculty. In a real receivership, faculty are deemed incompetent to govern themselves and are not allowed to vote on personnel and other important decisions.

Thank you for asking! Appointing someone to rethink our regional and global centers – much as other universities have been doing since the end of the Cold War – is not a “receivership.”

Can I come out now?www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/opinion/colum...

I thought his case was really bad. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/o...

Yes, faculty could do this, but it would be dumb: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/o...

Opinion | If You’re Boycotting Columbia, Your Priorities Are All Wrong (Gift Article) Where were these voices when the university was under assault from the Trump administration?

I disagree: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/o...

From 2010 to 2016 (latest data I have ), NIH research contributed to EVERY drug approved by the FDA

A friend drove two hours today for her breast cancer chemotherapy only to learn it was canceled due to NIH cuts. Clinical trial ended midstream. No treatment, no restart, no plan, no information. Her bro-in-law's chemo was also canceled.

This moment in our country's history is depressing, but it's also illuminating. We're finding out, in real time, whom among those in power will hedge their bets, trade complicity for personal preservation, and retreat into cowardice in the hopes they'll be spared.

And we will remember their names.

Meta pirated at least 101 of my books and articles, and tens of millions of others And they knew perfectly well what they were doing

Meta pirated at least 101 of my books and articles, and tens of millions of others.
open.substack.com/pub/garymarc...

MAGA Brocasters Grow Suspicious of the Jews Joe Rogan and Theo Von, big-league hosts who elevated Trump, now playing footsie with antisemites.

No one could have predicted that this would happen.

www.thebulwark.com/p/maga-broca...

Among the material devastation to everyday people, Senate Dems have now blown a hole in their ability to work with the House.

We had an agreed upon plan, House took immense risk, then Senate turned around midway and destroyed it w/ a fear-based, inexplicable abdication.

They own what happens next.

The Cruiser USS Columbia didn't back down even after taking heavy damage, and neither will we. @columbiauniversity.bsky.social is firing back—defending academic freedom, open inquiry, and the pursuit of knowledge. Who else will join the fight?

have been wondering a lot at what point we have to conclude that Americans don’t care about our Republic as much as South Koreans, or today Hungarians — big dif being that Koreans rushed at once into the streets en masse & resisted the troops, whereas Orban has got away with it for a long time

The CFPB has survived, so far. For military history buffs, it's a bit like the Battle of Coral Sea. WE HAVE TO START CELEBRATING VICTORIES, even partial victories www.nytimes.com/2025/03/15/b...

My colleagues at Columbia and I are waiting for more of our friends to start showing some solidarity. That does not mean attacking our administration, based on partial or incorrect information. It means organizing and lobbying to support us. Thank you @ryanenos.bsky.social for stepping up.

Damn right. People doing nothing to help and can’t even get their facts straight: “Columbia University has been given the names of other individuals who have engaged in pro-Hamas activity, and they are refusing to help DHS identify those individuals on campus.” (WH statement)

Look, folks, this is it. The entire ballgame. Either we're a Republic of laws & the Constitution, or we have a dictator. This is fascism, & the impeachment vote should be happening today. Every single university president in the country should be out, in front of microphones, condemning this.

We at Columbia -- where layoffs and lab closures have already begun -- are wondering when we will hear some, any, message of support from other universitities.

There is a lot of misinformation about what is happening at Columbia. But I agree that everyone who cares about the First Amendment needs to tell their own institution's leaders, scholarly societies, and elected representatives to show solidarity and resist.

Who could have seen this coming, RFK, who?