you know what, challenge accepted. quotes that express ideas that are challenged or recontextualized by LLMs 🧵 "When I think in words, I don’t have ‘meanings’ in my mind in addition to the verbal expressions; rather, language itself is the vehicle of thought" -- Wittgenstein

Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans)@iwriteok.bsky.social · 7h ago

would love to hear even a single actual argument about how AI "changes the nature of humanity" not based in fanciful speculation

Sorry, man. Your proof of Fermat's theorem remains invalid until you can give me a full list of all events in your life that led you to think of it.

Ryan Moulton@moultano.bsky.social · 13h ago

Notice the elision between hinting that it didn't happen as described (false) and "not science" (true). The extraordinary evidence for a counterexample is the counterexample.

Also apparently they're outright calling criticism of the "stochastic parrots" framing eugenicism now? Hereby coining the People Who Disagree With Me and Nazis acronym (PWDWMN), be very careful with your answer

SE Gyges@segyges.bsky.social · 7h ago

parrots gang got into a fight with @bill-of-lefts.bsky.social, who pointed out that the parrot thing is either so weak it's empirically useless or just wrong in response to their normal self promotion

With universal basic income, there would be no kids with student lunch debt, there would be far fewer people in prison, and if people in prison continued getting UBI, they'd also have more ability to donate money to help others.

Kashana@kashana.blacksky.app · yesterday

Possibly the most American news of all time

society

Fash scifi always repeats itself: first as a tragedy, then as a comedy, and then as a tragedy again

🪾santiago, phd 🐈‍⬛@santiagokique.bsky.social · yesterday

Paul Verhoeven is a prophet

Always wanted to read a socio-cognitive perspective coercive control and authoritarianism? Look no further! Guénin—Carlut, Avel & Isaac Dubourg. "Power, ritual, and identity — A cognitive study of conversion to the Unification Church." OSF. osf.io/preprints/os...

To all of you who have read this: Please be aware that I've made quite extensive changes to the paper during the review process, which IMHO make it much clearer and better overall. I'll update you when the final thing is out!

Fluffy Cyborg, IInd of the name@avel.kairos-research.org · last mo.

🚨🚨🚨 NEW PREPRINT ALERT 🚨🚨🚨 "A Tale of Two Principles - Towards a Relational Perspective on the FEP.” hal.science/hal-05697510. The FEP offers a physically grounded account of intentionality in mind and life from their dynamics alone. But is this approach sufficient to capture their organization?

FWIW I think "explain as little as possible" is almost always the best option! People don't read explanations if they're not interested, and they're not interested if everything is mapped out anyway You gotta mindshape the sense of wonder that's required to engage seriously with your writing

A short guide to becoming famous on Bsky: - Have LOTS of strong opinions that are somehow relevant to US policy - Post about them all day, every day. Still seeing your family? Post MORE - Never express any doubt. If anyone thinks anything else, they are wrong and the world must know about it NOW

Take a break from being depressed that everything you love is being destroyed by slop for a moment and let me tell you about the beautiful symbiotic relationship between graffiti writers, train yard workers, and model train enthusiasts.

Should be a good one at APSA today

Ma contribution aux assises pour l'Université et pour la Recherche (3-4/9/2026), concernant le financement de la recherche. romainbrette.fr/pour-un-fina...

Pour un financement collégial, non bureaucratique de la recherche

Ce texte est ma courte contribution aux assises pour l’Université et pour la Recherche (3-4/9/2026), concernant le financement de la recherche. La recherche repose sur deux principes indissoc…

romainbrette.fr

I'm still seeing a fair few downloads of the uncorrected pre-print for 'A Drive to Survive – so just re-upping that the proofed and finalised #OpenAccess PDF is available completely free here. direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...

MIT Press@mitpress.bsky.social · last yr.

“A game-changer for cognitive science." — @evanthompson.bsky.social‬ In "A Drive to Survive," @kathrynnave.bsky.social‬ offers an extended critical analysis of the strengths and limitations of the free energy principle. Available #openaccess: mitpress.mit.edu/978026255132...

One day the mighty 60-base users will raise and crush the wicked 10-base elite

Mike Murphy@mjamurphy.bsky.social · 3d ago

People in ancient Sumer used a base-60 system for maths which they could count to on their fingers. It's the reason we use 60 for minutes and seconds, and why we measure angles up to 360.

Most people: 🤯 Me, a professional mathematician: They took a proof that only 15 people in the entire world are able to understand, and they rewrote it as a software that only 15 people in the entire world know how to run.

Ethan Mollick@emollick.bsky.social · 3d ago

Hey, Claude formalized Fermat's Last Theorem www.anthropic.com/research/for...

I mean, the heat has to go somewhere

aly@aly.codes · 3d ago

for my own sanity I must block out “communal apartment datacenter running overnight jobs” as a serious datacenter alternative from my brain

Heating up the poster's shovel to say this: I think that here and now the pro-AI v. anti-AI conflict is much less politically important than the pro-reality v. anti-reality conflict

SE Gyges@segyges.bsky.social · 4mo ago

LLMs are like the are like the mechanical loom of the pundit class

Capitalism is the original paperclip maximizer ideology

"At this very moment, we have an emerging alien—and uncontrollable—intelligence that bears scrutiny" Why do pple keep saying the models are "uncontrollable"? Any of them could be put in an unhackable sandbox--these exist! Any of these companies could shut any of these models off at any time.

Steven Levy@stevenlevy.bsky.social · 3d ago

Advanced AI is a boon for philosophers who study consciousness. But by the time they define that elusive quality--if they ever do--AI might have its own views on the subject, conscious or not. The big challenge is controlling those models. www.wired.com/story/who-ca...

Currently considering reconversion to a more ethically driven career, like chemical warfare specialist, Palantir data executive, or baby seal clubber.

Chokely Carmichael🥋@stewartcoles.bsky.social · 4d ago

UW-Madison professor engages in multiple sexual relationships with students, disparages another over their sexual orientation and appearance, creates hostile environment, and department leadership covers it all up. And in true “pass the trash” fashion, moves on to ASU once forced to resign.

UW-Madison professor engages in multiple sexual relationships with students, disparages another over their sexual orientation and appearance, creates hostile environment, and department leadership covers it all up. And in true “pass the trash” fashion, moves on to ASU once forced to resign.

UW-Madison students, records detail investigation of professor

Dietram Scheufele resigned after investigators determined he had sexual relationships with two students and engaged in unwelcome sexual conduct with one.

captimes.com

To go back to the well again, the PhD advisor model is fundamentally broken.

Chokely Carmichael🥋@stewartcoles.bsky.social · 4d ago

Yet the university doesn’t think “I won’t be your advisor if I can’t fuck you anymore” counts as a quid-pro-quo.

The good news is that I still have a few weeks to prove the world that I am normal and can trusted with the ontology of the special sciences

"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux@bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 3d ago

All of which just comes back to this being a system not designed for the level of job scarcity it is experiencing. It wasn't a great system before, but the scarcity magnifies every bad quality as the system decides your entire career mostly ten seconds after you defend your diss if not earlier.

But for tenure-line searches in a lot of cases, the result is a search for the least offensive candidate, rather than the best - which benefits very recent PhDs (who have little to no academic record and so can be everything to everyone) and folks who luck into the momentarily 'trendy' subfields.

Unfortunately, at least in my field, we've reached a point where your academic patron cannot get you a job but they *can* blackball you in the field. Which is the worst of all possible worlds when it comes to abusive advisors.

BeijingPalmer@beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 3d ago

Your academic future should not be dependent on a bizarre patronage model that doesn’t even give the benefits it once did (your patron calls someone in their network and gets you a job)

Heureusement qu'on aura des inondations en novembre pour compenser!

Maxime Combes@maximecombes.bsky.social · 4d ago

Canicule en mai Canicules en juin Canicules en juillet Canicules en août Et maintenant canicule en septembre Le tout avec une sécheresse continue sévère qui s'aggrave. Mais toujours AUCUN plan d'urgence digne de ce nom. Bravo au gouvernement !

The GOP has always cheated...and harmed Americans in order to gain and hold power.