Ali Alkhatib

anthropologist [no longer] yelling at engineers. feral.

website: https://al2.in
pronouns: he/him
signal: @ali.01

Last Notes

2026-05-21 21:45:18 UTC

i wrote a post: "Weeds tend not to grow where they can't take root"
i've been thinking about the work we're doing at varying levels to organize against AI, and maybe i've also been in the headspace of gardening and getting rid of weeds. i can't shake the feeling that AI takes up space opportunistically where people's needs are not being met. a little like weeds.
https://ali-alkhatib.com/blog/weeding-out-ai

2025-12-12 04:07:39 UTC

just re-upping this post
https://ali-alkhatib.com/blog/destroy-ai
https://masto.al2.in/system/media_attachments/files/115/704/620/766/708/432/original/82cde9a48b47deb0.jpeg

2025-09-28 23:02:23 UTC

hey, i'm gonna say more tomorrow, but i'm starting a reading group for "AI skeptics" - it's called "AI Skeptics Reading Group"
i am not great at names; please suggest alternatives if you're creative.
i'll be sending an email tomorrow, but here are a few things to get you started

2025-07-02 14:41:25 UTC

👀 videos coming out of detroit, of people ramming ICE/police cars and causing mayhem for the cops while they're raiding homes to abduct people.

2025-06-27 20:02:34 UTC

i don't know how so many people can see what israel is doing to palestinians and just go about their day. how so many people don't do anything to stop it. it's beyond my comprehension.

2025-06-10 19:44:48 UTC

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i mean this earnestly. i know of some papers in the archival record pointing in this direction, but my secondhand experience is that people trying to publish sabotage/destruction papers, workshop proposals, etc... tend to hit a wall. why is that?

2025-06-10 19:43:17 UTC

is destroying waymo cars recognized in the HCI community as a totally legitimate form of human-computer interaction?

2025-06-10 17:04:09 UTC

hey, i have a stupid latex/beamer question for anyone:
there's no very trivial, easy way to say "hey take whatever this text is and make it whatever size you need to make it to fill the slide", right?

2025-03-24 23:17:07 UTC

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When I first read this, I needed to take a break for a little while.
"The big question Palestinian households debate", he said.
https://masto.al2.in/system/media_attachments/files/114/219/955/495/459/397/original/3b60eaa526c997d3.jpeg

2025-03-24 23:16:00 UTC

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You can read the reflections in their original format, and sign up for the reading group, here:
https://buttondown.com/al2/

2025-03-24 23:15:36 UTC

Finishing "If I Must Die" this week:
1. Al-Aqsa Flood, Day 20
2. What It's Like When Israel Bombs Your Building
3. Israel's Claims of "Terrorist Activity" In a Children's Hospital Were Lies
4. Drenched
5. On the Resilience of the Palestinian Community
6. I Teach English Poetry
https://masto.al2.in/@ali/113980523566907649

2025-01-22 15:07:15 UTC

in light of the news of the united states committing $500bn in funding to AI infra, i want to once again point out this post, "defining AI", and another one
https://masto.al2.in/@ali/113607441380526970
https://masto.al2.in/system/media_attachments/files/113/872/629/394/605/013/original/95440e60e8ad3f15.png

2024-09-19 00:33:09 UTC

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to unpack: KOSA is a gift to the project 2025 freaks who want to use ill-conceived kid-safety legislation to shut down any resources for gender identity across the board - not just for youths, for everyone. they'll say it's sexually explicit and aimed at kids and demand it gets taken down per KOSA. they've talked about this; they've said this is a boon for them.
KOSA is a terribly flawed approach for giving kids the interpersonal safety they need to come forward about abuse they've experienced.

2024-09-18 22:27:01 UTC

not this fucking shit again
https://mastodon.social/@verge/113160880215577118

2024-09-03 21:16:20 UTC

is there any way to begin to comprehend the widespread damage tech companies have done to the art community, or the psychological damage tech companies have done to writers and artists over the past several years; or are we exclusively going to try to reason around with the tedious, shuffling logics of copyrights and intellectual property?