Baratunde

@baratunde.com

27070 Followers 225 Following

host, writer, & speaker exploring interdependence across our relationships with nature, each other, and technology. Latest project is the YouTube podcast "Life With Machines." Other work includes: PBS's America Outdoors, and How To Citizen podcast

Illustration of a dark, Gothic-style mansion under a stormy night sky, lit by multiple bolts of lightning. The building has tall spires, glowing windows in orange, green, and blue, and a circular illuminated symbol above the entrance. A tattered arched banner at the top reads “LIGHTHAVEN MANOR.” Text in the lower half says “SECRETLY DEVELOPING AI TO SAVE HUMANITY FROM AI.” In the top left corner is the Life with Machines logo. Small caption text near the bottom left reads “Concept by @baratunde Image by ChatGPT & Unacknowledged Human Artists.”
Cartoon drawing: A young woman in futuristic VR gear labeled with a letter 'A' asks an elderly man sitting in an armchair, 'Grandpa, is it true that when you were young you used to think?' The man looks serious and slightly sad. A small Life With Machines logo appears between them. Caption at bottom left: 'Concept by @baratunde. Image by ChatGPT & Unacknowledged Human Artists.'
A distressed man (actor Charlton Heston) with wide eyes and an open mouth looks shocked. The meme text reads: “AI’S SECRET INGREDIENT” at the top and “IS PEOPLE” at the bottom, referencing Soylent Green while highlighting the hidden human labor behind artificial intelligence systems.
LA times cover: Camp Pendleton marines deployed to LA
Lock screen of an iPhone displaying a scenic lake surrounded by lush green pine-covered mountains under a partly cloudy sky. The water sparkles with sunlight reflections, and a line of partially submerged branches stretches across the lake. At the top, a notification banner reads: “Something went wrong. Please try again.” The time shown is 20:20, and the phone has 5G signal with a battery charge of 66%. A rainbow-colored vignette borders the screen. Flashlight and camera icons are visible at the bottom.
Baratunde Thurston speaks with emotion, wearing a denim jacket and gesturing with his hand. He is seated in front of blurred greenery. Overlaid quote reads: “We’re doing it again. Dehumanization as an intentional strategy of economic growth. We look at humans and see data to extract. Those doing the exploitation have to dehumanize themselves, severing their connection to what’s right in order to pursue what’s profitable. And we are invoking a new population of beings that aren’t human and can’t resist (at least not yet).” Text at the bottom highlights “Baratunde Thurston” and “lifewithmachines.media.”
Baratunde sitting in his Tesla model y for the last time sharing his excitement to be free of Elon Musk. Later in the video he briefly joins a No Kings protest
Video opens with Baratunde straight to camera in a room with wood ceiling visible. Most of video is Tanya Torp speaking straight to a web cam about the Step by Step program. She’s seated with beautiful art behind her. Video is interspersed with photos of the young moms in the program she’s talking about
self-shot video by Ena Esco and the team showing a mix of straight to camera shots, scenes from the library filled with vibrant active people, podcast equipment, happy faces. This is what democracy looks like.
A stock market summary screen showing significant declines. The Dow Jones is down 2,231 points to 38,314.86, the NASDAQ is down 962.82 points to 15,587.79, the S&P 500 is down 322.44 points to 5,074.08, and Apple Inc. (AAPL) is down 14.81 points to 188.38. A CNBC news headline below reports: “Dow drops 2,200 points Friday, S&P 500 loses 10% in 2 days as Trump’s tariff market rout deepens.”
A surreal scene of a giant wedge of Swiss cheese crushing a heavily damaged Tesla Cybertruck on a city street, with the Wisconsin State Capitol building visible in the background.
Image shows Big Bird from Sesame Street standing awkwardly among a group of serious-looking Imperial officers and Darth Vader from Star Wars in a hallway on the Death Star. The humorous caption reads, “When you’re accidentally included in a war plan group chat.”
CNN broadcast screenshot showing Marco Rubio at a podium with U.S. and Jamaican flags behind him. The chyron reads “SECY. RUBIO SPEAKS AS NEW GROUP CHAT MESSAGES ARE PUBLISHED” and labels him as “Secretary of State.” The location is Kingston, Jamaica. A promo for “The Arena with Kate Bolduan” appears on the right.
A bold billboard advertisement for “Drake The Lawyer” with a purple gradient background reads, “INJURED? SQUABBLE UP.” The sign includes the website “DrakeTheLawyer.com” and labels him as an “Injury Attorney.” Below the billboard, a Denny’s restaurant sign is visible, promoting “mimosas, beer & wine.” A gas station and other signage appear in the background under a clear blue sky.
Screenshot of note with this text: This budget capitulation is an unsurprising problem. What Schumer and the party miss is that these times demand fight energy and vision. Chuck has neither. He feels and looks like a loser. People want to win. At a minimum they want to be part of an effort to win. This budget fight to me is not about legal arguments. It’s about energy. And Chuck has none. He shoulda been gone. We won’t just lose government institutions, global trust, and lives to this authoritarian fire. We will lose this version of the Democratic Party. And we should. So we can build up something new and actually useful. Give me literally any federal worker over Schumer
From New York Times app: photo of Elon musk doing Nazi salute at podium with US presidential seal. Error message overlaid says “something went wrong.”
Screenshot of New York Times homepage mark zuckergerg announcing end of fact checking at meta
Food spread on kitchen island of green square tiles.
Brown liquid in coupe glasses with tan foam on top resting on counter outside
Baratunde takes selfie in front of “Blue Sky Bar” at Denver International Airport. Humans seated around counter talking and impinging
Serve Robotics delivery robot on sidewalk
Photo of Collins Lake in Cleveland, New Mexico. Clear blue sky. Low mountains in background. Lake in foreground reflecting sky. Dandelions on grass in closer foreground