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David Vail

@davidvailphd

Historian of Environment, Agriculture, Science, Medicine. New Project: Vulnerable Harvests: Emergency Conservation in the Cold War Great Plains (Nebraska Press). My posts and views are my own.

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19.09.2023
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Latest posts by David Vail @davidvailphd

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09.03.2026 02:57 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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When DOGE Unleashed ChatGPT on the Humanities
08.03.2026 00:38 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Overview of the events happening at the Greenhouse Center for Environmental Humanities during March 2026. For more information about the center, visit the website https://www.uis.no/en/greenhouse. For information about the book talk series, see also https://newnatures.org/greenhouse/

Overview of the events happening at the Greenhouse Center for Environmental Humanities during March 2026. For more information about the center, visit the website https://www.uis.no/en/greenhouse. For information about the book talk series, see also https://newnatures.org/greenhouse/

Spring has started to sprout and the @greenhouseuis.net is looking forward to full month with events on everything from climate justice in education over the sea urchins on the menu to the architecture of low-voltage cabins.

🌿

#envhum

02.03.2026 14:27 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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NSF officials break silence on how AI and quantum now drive agency grantmaking Leaders acknowledge White House role in controversial moves

When the NSF was founded in 1950, it was after 5 years of debate and resistance that the agency would be too independent of congressional/presidential oversight...

www.science.org/content/arti...

27.02.2026 14:03 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

So like early Skynet?

27.02.2026 04:08 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Birds Aren’t Just Declining. They’re Declining Faster, a New Study Finds.

"...any metric of agricultural intensity was always the best predictor of acceleration of the decline.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/c...

26.02.2026 20:44 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Proud PITCH lead in front of an engine with yellow sign and a banner Carbon Culture

Proud PITCH lead in front of an engine with yellow sign and a banner Carbon Culture

Woman in front of exhibition sign: Carbon Culture. We are dependent!

Woman in front of exhibition sign: Carbon Culture. We are dependent!

Man looking up at a locomotive back with yellow fuel canister with sign in it.

Man looking up at a locomotive back with yellow fuel canister with sign in it.

Official opening of the PITCH project intervention β€œCarbon Culture. Museum of the Fossil Fuel Age” at the German Museum of Technology in Berlin tonight.

Special congrats go to curators Nora Thorade & Eike Heine who have done a fantastic job.

24.02.2026 17:04 πŸ‘ 19 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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a group of cartoon bears standing in a forest ALT: a group of cartoon bears standing in a forest
24.02.2026 03:16 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Someone asked me last week what I thought the worst thing about AI products in higher ed was - I replied that they eroded and destroyed the social compact of trust and expertise between teacher and student.

23.02.2026 15:58 πŸ‘ 20 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Nebraska lawmakers propose cutting $5M from state Cultural Endowment Fund β€’ Nebraska Examiner For the first time, Nebraska lawmakers are slated to remove state tax dollars from a unique endowment fund supporting arts and humanities in the state.

If this passes, it will be a broken promise (even if less than originally planned) that will be hard to forgive. The arts and humanities are the lifeblood of our state. This is poisonous. And the rationales for going forward with this are equally in bad faith. I'm sad for our state.

24.02.2026 01:54 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Carbon cultures of progress in history of technology museums The way we narrate our industrial heritage and make its energy reliance visible or invisible matters. In this article, we examine how history of technology museums cultivate narratives of progress ...

New article: Carbon cultures of progress in history of technology museums, by me & Nora Thorade.
We examine how #histtech #museums narrate our industrial heritage and make its energy reliance visible or invisible.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
#envhist #petrocultures

23.02.2026 12:45 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

Humanities Here. Some questions about A.I.: Aren't the short-term risks and hazards too dangerous for very, very maybe positives? How many learning and job casualties are acceptable? Why give our freedom to know over to a machine that steals and flattens for profit?

21.02.2026 16:45 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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"I made a lot of money by stealing the work of other people. How should I share my wealth?"

16.02.2026 00:08 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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"The computer has begun to be an instrument for the destruction of history. When society legitimates only those 'data' that are in 'one standard format' and that 'can easily be told to a machine,' then history, memory itself, is annihilated." (Weizenbaum, Computer Power & Human Reason, 1976)

14.02.2026 14:40 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

It is so important to keep hammering in this point. People always ask me why I would have to go visit archives - why not just look at a scan? Because they haven’t been scanned! And they are never going to be! There are millions & millions of pieces of paper in every archive.

12.02.2026 17:27 πŸ‘ 184 πŸ” 54 πŸ’¬ 8 πŸ“Œ 4
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Opinion | A.I. Companies Are Eating Higher Education
13.02.2026 10:11 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Tomorrow, if you can make it. Kearney Public Library.

11.02.2026 00:46 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
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Our Censors, Ourselves: Commercial Content Moderation | Los Angeles Review of Books David C. Brock considers two recent books about largely unseen workforce moderating the tech giants.

On "wishful worries" and other myths of technology (β€œWhen someone says β€˜algorithm,’ start searching for the people.”)

@dcbrock.bsky.social's 2019 essay is worth a re-read

lareviewofbooks.org/article/our-...

08.02.2026 15:15 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

We need an additional "I might be a robot" button for websites.

02.02.2026 23:10 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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I am running a course on the Histories of Energy Transitions this spring, starting 2 March!

The course is fully online and asynchronous and it is open to students at ECIU universities as well as anyone enrolled at Norwegian universities.

#energyhistory

For more information, see below ‡

02.02.2026 10:42 πŸ‘ 16 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
Establishing a secure connection ...

We have an online information meeting about our new Masters in Public Environmental Humanities program TODAY (Jan 27) at 14:00 Central European time. If you are interested in finding out more, register to attend the meeting (near bottom of this page): www.uis.no/en/studies/t...
#envhist #envhum

27.01.2026 07:03 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Book title about both books: "Unnecessary"

26.01.2026 22:17 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Coming up in about 20 min!
Hope to see many of you there for the live talk and discussion.

26.01.2026 14:38 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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25.01.2026 15:35 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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UNK history professor discussing farm-based conservation efforts at upcoming event - UNK NEWS "Trees of defense" represented a significant embrace of alternative agricultural strategies.
24.01.2026 21:42 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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I will be sharing some of my latest research on the history of shelterbelts and conservation in the Great Plains on Februrary 11 (12pm) at Kearney Public Library. And, I'll bring some items to showcase too! Everyone is welcome. Hope to see you.

14.01.2026 13:54 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Wow!!! Love it!! A beautiful build!

29.12.2025 20:16 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Same!!! But after some reordering...I think I found a spot...

22.12.2025 12:41 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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I have completed one of my favorite LEGO builds of all time: The U.S.S. Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) with accompanying Onizuka Shuttlecraft! Star Trek: The Next Generation is my favorite crew. Boldly Go! @finnarne.me @dollyjorgensen.bsky.social

22.12.2025 03:30 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
Hands holding a copy of "README: A Bookish History of Computing from Electronic Brains to Everything Machines" by W. Patrick McCray.

Hands holding a copy of "README: A Bookish History of Computing from Electronic Brains to Everything Machines" by W. Patrick McCray.

"A wonderfully readable look at the interface between book history & computer history." β€” @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social

In "README," historian @patrickmccray.bsky.socials uses the oldest literary technologyβ€”booksβ€”to explain how computers became popular. Available now: mitpress.mit.edu/978026255348...

20.12.2025 22:40 πŸ‘ 39 πŸ” 13 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1