Yet we will learn nothing from this. I am old enough to have no illusions:)

Joel S.@joelhs.bsky.social · last mo.

It's tragically appropriate that we spent a whole generation telling students that the humanities were moribund, and they should all study STEM, only for the greatest innovations in STEM to prove why the humanities were so essential all along.

Parents would rather destroy the privacy of the entire population, than talk to their children

“Disclosing the use of AI” sounds to me just like “disclosing plagiarism”. If you plagiarize, you are out. There is no discussion. Same rule should be applied to the use of genAI. But for some people don’t find this obvious.

however much you hate billionaires is not enough

New paper alert! I´m glad to share with you the result of my collaboration with data scientist and philosopher Jens Ulrik Hansen (Roskilde University). Here, we aim to bring clarity to a somewhat overhyped concept of "synthetic data", using the relational view on data. #synthetic #data #philosophy

On the Conceptualization of Synthetic Data: Why Not All Synthetic Data are Useful and Some are - Minds and Machines

Synthetic data are increasingly used across the sciences and industry and are widely regarded as a solution to data problems such as privacy, bias mitigation, and data insufficiency. At the same time, the “promises” of synthetic data have faced substantial scholarly critique. We argue that much of the disagreement surrounding the usefulness of synthetic data stems from a lack of clarity about what synthetic data actually are and what they can do. In this paper, we examine several conceptualizations of synthetic data and propose a refined concept of synthesized data that more accurately captures the phenomenon commonly referred to as synthetic data. We argue that synthetic data cannot be conceptualized in contrast with other types of data. Moreover, there is no meaningful difference between synthetic data and data. We further prove this argument through an Iceberg model of the process of data synthetization and utilization, which addresses the “submerged” data risks such as bias, privacy, and validity, thus ensuring the usefulness of synthesized data. Our approach is grounded in a relational view of data, which links their intended purpose with their method of generation. We further elaborate this connection through concrete examples. In conclusion, we demonstrate the complexity of synthesized data in relation to their utility, which often remains hidden in current discourse on synthetic data.

doi.org

Being raised in Russia, I of course had a number of traumatic reading experiences as a child. I will give you a classic: Turgenev’s “Mumu” is about a deaf peasant who is forced to drown his dog in a lake. Read in school, of course. One doesn’t really recover from this.

Anne Thériault@annetheriault.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Was chatting about this during an interview with an author, but it was interesting enough that I’d like to open up the question to all of you: what’s the first literary/fictional death that made an impression on you as a kid? Mine has to be poor old Mary Lennox’s family in The Secret Garden.

Not to be dramatic but I feel like living past 2019 was a mistake. Covid, the Ukraine war, Gaza genocide, and now seeing everyone around me using ChatGPT (or whatever) for everything — I’ve learned enough about this world and about people. I have to leave the society or I won’t make it, I feel.

Published version: www.digitalcultureandeducation.com/volume-162-p...

Against the Uncritical Adoption of ‘AI’ Technologies in Academia — Digital Culture & Education (ISSN: 1836-8301)

Written by: Olivia Guest, Marcela Suarez, Barbara C. N. Müller, Edwin van Meerkerk, Arnoud Oude Groote Beverborg, Ronald de Haan, Andrea Reyes Elizondo, Mark Blokpoel, Natalia Scharfenberg, Annelies ...

digitalcultureandeducation.com

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ@olivia.science · 11mo ago

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia: doi.org/10.5281/zeno... We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity. 1/n

And the year after that will be even hotter because we are not only doing nothing about fixing it, we are actively making it worse. Poor next generations.

POLITICO Europe@politico.eu · 4mo ago

Europe saw one of its warmest years on record in 2025, scientists found in a report published today. A major El Niño event is likely to send global temperatures soaring even higher.

In the book, I explain what everyone needs to know about military operations and the conduct of war. It is not an academic book but rather an easily accessible introduction for everyone who is concerned about what's going on in the world and wants a deeper understanding of the military mechanics.

Anders Puck Nielsen@anderspucknielsen.dk · 4mo ago

The international version of my book, The Logic of War, is finally available in bookstores worldwide, such as Amazon. This means you can now get it globally without paying high shipping fees.

All my life, I have always read slowly. Tried an audiobook once but my mind kept wandering from it. Heard about immersive (book + audio) reading, but didn’t want to pay twice for one book. This week I think I have found a perfect focus combo: non-fiction audiobook while walking in the city.

The pace of enshittification of this platform due to AI is truly astounding

Magnus 🌱@haffisnatten.bsky.social · 4mo ago

"Bluesky is made with AI, the engineers and even some non-engineers use Claude code" We can tell..

Hungary, you did it!! 👏👏👏

The way I “feel” about AI is that it shouldn’t be anywhere near a classroom. It’s not a tool, it’s betrayal of to the coming generations.

Randi Weingarten 🖇️📚✊🇺🇸@rweingarten.bsky.social · 4mo ago

No matter how you feel about AI, its use is growing more widespread and it's important that educators understand how they could integrate it as a tool in their classrooms. Hear from three educators who have been experimenting with AI in this American Educator article ⬇️ aft.org/ae/spring202...

All I can say is that starting a war is easy. Finishing it — much much harder, almost impossible. In February, it has been four years since the 3-day “operation” in Ukraine began.

Another group of people I might never understand no matter how I try: those believing the question of whether AI has consciousness is the most pressing problem in the world at the moment. It’s not even in my top 100 of currently pressing issues. Just why? Why do they care about that of all things?

Rapidly losing my social circle to AI (meaning, LLM-based chatbots). I just can’t understand the allure. Why are people so drawn to such mediocre tech? For me, in terms of need and convenience, it’s similar to home assistants and fitness wearables. Never had them, never missed on anything.

Putin suddenly caring about international law after the death of Khamenei is the funniest thing.

Have there always been that many apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic survival films and series launching at the same time? Isn’t it a bit strange?

Considering the recent revelations, shouldn’t we work harder toward ensuring human children’s rights first? Maybe chill a little bit on the AI. It’s like these people live outside of context.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 6mo ago

“She compares her work to the efforts of a parent raising a child. She’s training Claude to detect the difference between right and wrong while imbuing it with unique personality traits.”

And rather than taking any accountability and genuinely regretting their actions, they are complaining non-stop about being caught red-handed. Truly ridiculous.

Ekaterina (Katja) Pashevich@cosmickate.bsky.social · 6mo ago

For the last few days thinking a lot about how hard it seems to be for so many people not to do crimes. They almost describe it as some kind of disability and appeal to our sympathy. They just can’t help themselves! Poor things.

For the last few days thinking a lot about how hard it seems to be for so many people not to do crimes. They almost describe it as some kind of disability and appeal to our sympathy. They just can’t help themselves! Poor things.

Luckily, I got to escape from this to Scandinavia where women are generally perceived as equal humans. But my experience with this in Russia was nauseating. Some of my male teachers at the university truly had no shame.

Karen K. Ho@karenho.bsky.social · 6mo ago

the Epstein files are really devastating because they remind me of how many girls and women miss out on professional opportunities, mentorship and careers because of how many powerful, rich and influential men only view girls and women — and interactions with them — through the lens of sex

About Washington Post today. When the first war in Ukraine began in 2014, Putin shifted owners and editors in the leading news organizations. Then the journalists were either pressured to write propaganda or were laid off. Eight years later -- the full-scale invasion became possible.

At some point (when I got 30) I abandoned any attempts to “save” my parents from themselves. And then (I realize it now) I also gave up on saving anybody. I still sometimes get the urge to help, to educate, to save. But increasingly I realize this is futile. Maybe making own mistakes is the way.

I am super grateful and happy to share with you what the incredible @mariaressa.bsky.social has to say about #PROPHECY: “Oxford philosopher Carissa Veliz traces the invisible forces that are insidiously manipulating us, stealing our data—and our agency. 1/

I have a theory that such views might have to do with deeply ingrained self-hatred. In a way how grandiose narcissists are extremely insecure people on the inside.

Faine Greenwood@faineg.bsky.social · 6mo ago

why do these rich men hate humanity (and crucially, themselves) so much

Why are we wasting mornings on work?

The stupidity of today’s online discourse around Moltbot is so next level that I am staying away from reading, commenting, and posting about it. I just can’t.

I don't think people appreciate enough the fact that, at a time where global warming was approaching an inflection point yet renewable energy was finally becoming economically viable, we decided to squander that opportunity because literal death cultists decided we needed Infinite Bullshit Machines.