Colin
@celsmooth.bsky.social
Assistant clinical professor of STEM Ed. Parent to two young children. Walker in woods. Usually in Philly these days (he/his)
at this point: carbon removal is, at best, essentially a research project. renewable expansion is a policy project
Bill McKibben@billmckibben.bsky.social · yesterdayAt the moment we have no real idea how to scale up carbon removal--it's a hair on the mole of the ugly backside of the global hydrocarbon industry But we do know how to scale up solar panels and wind turbines and batteries. So that's our job billmckibben.substack.com/p/facts-on-t...
I need some real solidarity. On Friday, I published this article about why Zuckerberg should resign. It’s being throttled on Meta products and I’ve had several attempts to hijack my fb acct. Please repost this article, esp on your Meta accounts. #ZuckMustGo www.theguardian.com/technology/c...
It’s time for Mark Zuckerberg to resign from Meta | Joan Donovan
The CEO is the throughline in a history of billion-dollar blunders that have caused real harm, culminating in last week’s settlement
theguardian.com
There is no such thing as unskilled labor. Happy Labor Day to everyone - especially immigrants - who work long, hard hours under every kind of weather, circumstance, and threat, so that we can all have food, shelter, and clothing.
United Farm Workers@ufw.bsky.social · last yr.Picking radishes is no easy task. Efrén spends 8-10 hrs/day on his knees, picking and sorting the radishes into small bunches to fill dozens of crates a day in CA's Ventura County. He's proud to have worked in America's fields for 49 years. #WeFeedYou
#NSF set to fund lowest grant count since early 1980s The self-inflicted wounding will not stop until morale improves. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Exclusive: NSF set to issue lowest number of new grants in four decades
The US science-funding agency is withholding $1 billion of its budget so that the money can go to a special White House project.
nature.com
(NBC News) — It is now the least rewarding time to be a worker in the U.S. economy since the government started keeping track. @nbcnews.com www.nbcnews.com/business/eco...
The NIH Director confirms they are giving away biomedical research money used to develop treatments and cures for infectious diseases such as influenza, malaria, tuberculosis, HIV, Ebola, and other dangerous pathogens, to the Department of Defense. Outrageous.
as @hypervisible.blacksky.app says, AI’s most central use case is doing away with consent.
rom comrade@savasavasava.myatproto.social · 2d agodigital blackface continues.
No good bob
Ben Williamson@benpatrickwill.bsky.social · 4d agoEdu research is in serious danger of capture by genAI companies. They have research infrastructure most departments can't even imagine. But if you work with OpenAI or Anthropic et al? You're not just doing snazzy science but helping them capture the sector www.edtechinnovationhub.com/news/codepat...
Edu research is in serious danger of capture by genAI companies. They have research infrastructure most departments can't even imagine. But if you work with OpenAI or Anthropic et al? You're not just doing snazzy science but helping them capture the sector www.edtechinnovationhub.com/news/codepat...
CodePath and Anthropic team up to open source AI's impact on students | ETIH EdTech News — EdTech Innovation Hub
CodePath and Anthropic have announced a Knowledge Network to share live research findings on how AI tools affect student outcomes across thousands of students. Edtech news from ETIH on AI in education...
edtechinnovationhub.com
Silicon Valley's effort to destroy democracy is the biggest story of our political moment. Beware of those who have nothing to say about it.
Transferring vast sums of money to a so-called "department of war" to do infectious-disease related work doesn't exactly assuage anyone's fears about bioweapons now does it?
Nature [Unofficial]@nature.com.web.brid.gy · 4d ago
Demands a collective response and we aren't able to produce this at the moment.
Imagine thinking Denethor is the hero of LOTR. It’s actually pretty fitting, as their whole message to us is “Go and die in whatever way seems best to you.”
Fred Hampton said, “We have to educate the people as to who their enemy really is and it ain’t us.” Again, knowing who to be mad at is part of the work.
My very controversial opinion is that nobody should be allowed to do this in a democracy and in fact if people are allowed to do this you don't actually live in a democracy
New York Magazine@nymag.com · 5d agoElon Musk is expected to spend upward of $100 million to boost Republicans in the the midterm elections.
I can't believe that the response being offered to the fascists trying to steal an election is that people have to turn out in historic numbers to prevent this. Do people not hear how bonkers this sounds???
it's genuinely deranged how democrats let him run again after this like it was nbd
Just to stress the point. The Paris Agreement's goal of reaching net zero in 'the second half of this century', would now need to be reaching net zero by 2031.
Michael Mazengarb@michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 7d agoWhen the Paris Agreement goals was negotiated in 2016, targets were set based on what was feasible at the time. A stark takeaway from today's UNEP 'overshoot' report is that we fucked it up. We didn't do the things we needed to do. We wasted a decade and the consequences are coming.
We have a decade of research that says this is a bad idea. Beyond that, we have a decade of research that says this will absolutely fuck over marginalized folks.
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 7d ago“OpenAI said today that it is integrating ChatGPT Health with Epic’s electronic health record (EHR) system, which holds data for over 325 million patients, to let clinicians import patient data and use AI to ask questions.”
This is cool!! Not perfect. How I love raising my kid in NYC. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/01/n...
A.I. Is to Be Banned in N.Y.C. Elementary and Middle Schools (Gift Article)
A new policy to be announced by the Department of Education bars younger students from using A.I., but stops short of a moratorium.
nytimes.com
"'The fact that this policy exists at all is due to the enormous work of parents across the city who spoke out against the overreach of A.I. into their kids’ classroom,” @kellyclancy.bsky.social said."
A.I. Is to Be Banned in N.Y.C. Elementary and Middle Schools
A new policy to be announced by the Department of Education bars younger students from using A.I., but stops short of a moratorium.
nytimes.com
This is actually heartbreaking. This museum is my favorite place in the entire city and inspired me as a child and as an adult. There’s gotta be a way to save it. www.inquirer.com/education/ac...
The Academy of Natural Sciences is closing its museum after nearly two centuries
The closure does not affect the rest of the institution, which builds and maintains the collections and conducts research through departments such as the Patrick Center for Environmental Research.
inquirer.com
If all the media were as committed to uncovering the truth about issues driving planetary collapse, we'd be in a FAR better place.
George Monbiot@georgemonbiot.bsky.social · last wk.It's not often you can pinpoint real, positive change a journalist has caused. But as Turkmeni sources state, @dpcarrington.bsky.social's persistent and probing coverage of this issue has been critical to a change of policy, with massive implications. Big congrats www.theguardian.com/environment/...
I mean all the lies and delusion aside, It’s the 6 fingered soldier for me. Not only is this president a blight on humanity, but so is the incessant, callous use of AI. It’s disgusting to say the least.
to keep functioning a society must discourage baldfaced lying, especially by authorities
Parker Molloy@parkermolloy.com · last wk.This is should be a big scandal that he and his supporters get absolutely hounded over. But I'm guessing that this week will still be like... 90% Hasan Piker nonsense vs. 10% substance in the Michigan senate race www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
In case you wanted more evidence that the Washington Post ceased to be a "news" organization the moment it became Jeff Bezos' little side project.
Ugh, ending this story with a soundbite from a superintendent running an experiment with chatbots on his district’s children is a choice to reproduce AI hype. Do better, NPR!
🔊 Listen Now: How schools are handling AI, screen time and slashes to the Department of Education
Weekend Edition Sunday on NPR One | 5:03
one.npr.org
LLMs exist, and they aren't going away, not yet at least, and academia will have no influence on that, whatsoever. But. LLM's work, if they work, as a shortcut for routine tasks and business language use. A SHORTCUT. Handing them to an undergrad is absurd. They don't know the destination, let alone