James Endres Howell

https://fediscience.org/@jameshowell

Teaching Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology in Society, large university USA, SEIU local 668. Opinions mine. #Teaching with #Emacs.

Born 326 ppm CO₂ Unix Epoch 21,450,000 he/him

#Evolution #Science in #Humanities #Scicomm #Biochemistry #MolecularBiology #Microbiology #CellBiology #Academia #HigherEd #Education #Unions #LaborRights #Solidarity #PSFA #SEIU #Debian #GNU #Linux #GNULinux #FreeSoftware #LibreSoftware #FLOSS #FOSS #GrapheneOS #OrgMode #EmacsLisp #antifa #noai #nobot #fuckai

blog: https://jamesendreshowell.com/
Codeberg: https://codeberg.org/jamesendreshowell
PeerTube: https://fediverse.tv/a/jamesendreshowell/video-channels

Public Key

npub1selld64yjlhcl2n9kafzlqn0z9kt2swqyy8xh8tk4dgy9hf82ququ2cs58

NIP-05 Address

jameshowell_at_fediscience.org@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsgvllka2jf0mu04fjmw530sfh3zm94g8qzzrntn4m2k5zzm5n4qwqpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsu3lg5n

Publishing to

nostr.now

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1selld64yjlhcl2n9kafzlqn0z9kt2swqyy8xh8tk4dgy9hf82ququ2cs58

Show more details

Published at

2026-10-27T20:16:22Z

Kind type

0 Metadata

Event JSON

{ "id": "8262cacb6d70484571927d98a006143af52a5cfc722e570bca83323a79ab2844", "pubkey": "867ff6eaa497ef8faa65b7522f826f116cb541c0210e6b9d76ab5042dd275038", "created_at": 1793132182, "kind": 0, "tags": [ [ "t", "linux" ], [ "t", "solidarity" ], [ "t", "FreeSoftware" ], [ "t", "antifa" ], [ "t", "science" ], [ "t", "foss" ], [ "t", "scicomm" ], [ "t", "nobot" ], [ "t", "debian" ], [ "t", "academia" ], [ "t", "gnu" ], [ "t", "education" ], [ "t", "floss" ], [ "t", "GNUlinux" ], [ "t", "microbiology" ], [ "t", "unions" ], [ "t", "emacs" ], [ "t", "teaching" ], [ "t", "libresoftware" ], [ "t", "evolution" ], [ "t", "grapheneos" ], [ "t", "orgmode" ], [ "t", "humanities" ], [ "t", "highered" ], [ "t", "biochemistry" ], [ "t", "CellBiology" ], [ "t", "MolecularBiology" ], [ "t", "emacslisp" ], [ "t", "seiu" ], [ "t", "noai" ], [ "t", "laborrights" ], [ "t", "fuckai" ], [ "t", "psfa" ], [ "proxy", "https://fediscience.org/users/jameshowell", "activitypub" ], [ "L", "pink.momostr" ], [ "l", "pink.momostr.activitypub:https://fediscience.org/users/jameshowell", "pink.momostr" ], [ "-" ] ], "content": "{\"name\":\"James Endres Howell\",\"about\":\"Teaching Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology in Society, large university USA, SEIU local 668. Opinions mine. #Teaching with #Emacs. \\n\\nBorn 326 ppm CO₂ Unix Epoch 21,450,000 he/him\\n\\n#Evolution #Science in #Humanities #Scicomm #Biochemistry #MolecularBiology #Microbiology #CellBiology #Academia #HigherEd #Education #Unions #LaborRights #Solidarity #PSFA #SEIU #Debian #GNU #Linux #GNULinux #FreeSoftware #LibreSoftware #FLOSS #FOSS #GrapheneOS #OrgMode #EmacsLisp #antifa #noai #nobot #fuckai\\n\\nblog: https://jamesendreshowell.com/\\nCodeberg: https://codeberg.org/jamesendreshowell\\nPeerTube: https://fediverse.tv/a/jamesendreshowell/video-channels\\n\",\"website\":\"https://fediscience.org/@jameshowell\",\"picture\":\"https://fediscience.org/system/accounts/avatars/113/935/719/164/228/431/original/483e21920d3b2ad0.jpg\",\"banner\":\"https://fediscience.org/system/accounts/headers/113/935/719/164/228/431/original/f9b4e9c6f1aabd7a.png\",\"nip05\":\"jameshowell_at_fediscience.org@momostr.pink\"}", "sig": "19bdaa0d9771660c7d9ad62d09c7789b4f889ccbc058ad5007cadbacd49cebb5a6ee6046c604f3813822e6ad85b5bfbcca1a98c1493a96b72609a626d1717ac4" }

Last Notes

2025-08-23 15:01:58 UTC

- reply

I have never worried about the #Singularity because in the late nineties, on two separate occasions, I spoke at length with two (then and still today) fairly well-known Ayatollahs of the movement.
They both made certain to mention that they thought I was smart—perhaps even approaching as smart as they thought they were!—and so they were candid and enthusiastic with me. Neither had studied biology (ahem ahem obviously), and both genuinely were eager to share ideas with a PhD student in molecular biology.
When I pointed out that exponential growth always, but always, leads to system collapse in nature; when I pointed out that in a universe finite in space and time, this is the rigidly necessary requirement of arithmetic, they both responded nonverbally: with a dismissive wave of the hand.
In short, the entire movement is based on the belief that Technology is Magic.
At the time I had not reached the level of cynicism to see where it would go in thirty years.