author, The Social Photo (Verso) former: Real Life magazine, Theorizing the Web conference, Snap. currently: have no idea los angeleshttps://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.comhttps://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3mtyrdfldk22ka through-line from social media metrics to prediction markets: the fantasy of simple numbers that make us feel we know an unknowable world [contains quote post or other embedded content]26 Aug 2026 16:36 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtyrdfldk22khttps://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3mtf7sbsbu22vitsatrap.gif18 Aug 2026 22:02 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtf7sbsbu22vhttps://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3mtcltccm422u"this will be a war of all against all that could end humanity. dont worry, the invisible hand of the market will lead to natural equilibrium. but fyi we're selling the weapons" -new Zuck essay17 Aug 2026 20:59 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtcltccm422uhttps://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3msvrtji4oc2za good definition of "slop" might be the degree to which any output can only be judged quantitatively "Friction/scale is coming to replace low/high or pop/rock hierarchies" https://www.its-her-factory.com/2026/08/slop-doom-ism-a-new-era-for-pop-music-criticism/12 Aug 2026 18:42 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3msvrtji4oc2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3msvopk622225AI as having a parasocial relationship to your own self and life [contains quote post or other embedded content]12 Aug 2026 17:46 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3msvopk622225https://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3msvlkn356c2acultural consumption as to-do list. new albums, movies, tabs, even travel and going out as list-making and list-completing [contains quote post or other embedded content]12 Aug 2026 16:50 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3msvlkn356c2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3msj4cjzu4k2zDurkheimian functionalism is alive and well in Silicon Valley [contains quote post or other embedded content]07 Aug 2026 17:45 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3msj4cjzu4k2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3msh245zic22etook me too long to get to Colquhoun’s Narcissus in Bloom (2023). book tore itself apart, which was fitting given the thesis06 Aug 2026 22:00 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3msh245zic22ehttps://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3ms4byiohm22oeveryone calling out any hint of slop seems great! but reducing that to AI-or-not would terribly miss the point people want to use AI as a yes/no proposition to side step the harder task of instead judging if something was made with only efficient and viral intent [contains quote post or other embedded content]02 Aug 2026 15:22 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3ms4byiohm22ohttps://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3mrxkzmovx22eAI is not advanced enough to create content more sloppified than human-made LinkedIn posts https://www.404media.co/linkedin-introduces-a-seems-like-ai-slop-button/31 Jul 2026 18:20 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrxkzmovx22ehttps://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3mr6hsekll22xhttps://www.blackbirdspyplane.com/p/is-ambient-music-evil21 Jul 2026 18:46 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mr6hsekll22xhttps://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3mogiuexo7s22nothing is less "real," authentic," or "in the moment" less than things marketed as such16 Jun 2026 19:11 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mogiuexo7s22https://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3mogijzcj4s22fred never misses https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-texan-ideology-turner16 Jun 2026 19:05 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mogijzcj4s22https://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3mo4zx2vjyk2dentirety of Disclosure Day's plot rests on the assumption that everyone believes TV news and not anything online lol13 Jun 2026 00:50 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mo4zx2vjyk2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3mnzzflumrs25while Pump dot Fun is extreme, i think its a good, if hyperbolic, example of what all gamified platforms are: metrics-saturated platforms like X and Insta but also here are about conforming to *and thus debasing yourself for* what the number counts encourage [contains quote post or other embedded content]11 Jun 2026 20:02 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mnzzflumrs25https://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3mnuthmrijs2xalternate take: using "POV" to caption third-person videos makes total sense when your own point of view and the imagined viewer of your self-as-content are collapsed together https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/magazine/pov-gen-z-linguistics.html09 Jun 2026 18:32 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mnuthmrijs2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3mnqf7jqoe22x"AI is a normal technology, meaning it can be adopted and analyzed using normal business principles; the abnormality is in how we talk about it" https://mattdpearce.substack.com/p/the-logic-of-a-termination08 Jun 2026 00:07 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mnqf7jqoe22xhttps://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3mmz2vs7q7c2eunderrated question is what is the role of media/cultural criticism when meanings and power dynamics arent being hidden? [contains quote post or other embedded content]29 May 2026 17:31 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mmz2vs7q7c2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3mmrlhzquyc2n"When AI hallucinates, it’s going through the same steps as when it’s working properly" on why saying "hallucinates" wrongly humanizes a process that is not at all like a brain malfunctioning: https://elftheory.substack.com/p/why-ai-doesnt-hallucinate26 May 2026 18:06 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mmrlhzquyc2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3mm7tfmryjc2flet's check in on the UpWorthy guy...oh, lol19 May 2026 16:40 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mm7tfmryjc2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3mm5u5fg7xc2ofelt like this too neatly linked the feeling of fakeness to the recent pivot to short form video. all metricized and algorithmic media is deceptive. like, what's the "real" way to post content in a system that links attention to profit?18 May 2026 21:48 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mm5u5fg7xc2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3mklcf3s7c22mnew danah 🎯 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20563051261437487 it's weird we say "social media" to describe broadcast-like influencer-filled platforms and not use it to describe group chats, discords, and other far more "social" places28 Apr 2026 19:17 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mklcf3s7c22mhttps://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3mkfz56edw22ii read a million takes about how cameras lost their relation to truth, and here's yet another news event filled with conspiracies about everything but the footage26 Apr 2026 16:48 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkfz56edw22ihttps://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3mjzjs7ygh22hto me, the more interesting question isnt why highlights are more viewed, of course they are, but what accounts for the enduring popularity of the endlessly long streams the highlights are clipped from? [contains quote post or other embedded content]21 Apr 2026 17:42 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjzjs7ygh22hhttps://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3mguq4im3nc2oalways skeptical of AI apologism that rests on "people want," "humans are inherently" essentialism. as rob notes, the creation of those desires is the whole point here [contains quote post or other embedded content]12 Mar 2026 15:36 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mguq4im3nc2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/nathanjurgenson.com/post/3mfkfum3l6c2eAI slop and nostalgia go so well together because nostalgia itself is the desire to misconstrue the past by smoothing its messy lived reality away into conceptual ideals. nostalgia and AI work in similar ways [contains quote post or other embedded content]23 Feb 2026 19:41 +0000at://did:plc:bdedyoefdrczpepygm4elwlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mfkfum3l6c2e