RE: https://flipboard.com/@blackpressmedia/saanich-jruah1srz/-/a-JlnhE42ySCq5Rgq5OjU9vA%3Aa%3A3177150469-%2F0 Why do we continue to tolerate systems that permit drivers to cause injury, death, and destruction?

“A fake theory is worse than admitting that we don’t have a theory.” #LLMs don't reason because a statistical model cannot reason. "It’s wishful [thinking] all the way down." https://www.quantamagazine.org/is-ai-reasoning-right-for-the-wrong-reasons-20260731/ #AI

Is AI Reasoning Right for the Wrong Reasons? | Quanta Magazine

The idea that artificial intelligence can “reason” is more intuitive than ever. But intuitions can be wrong, and the science is far from settled.

quantamagazine.org

#ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Heatwave #Heatwaves

RE: https://flipboard.com/@cbcnews/montreal-efbss3oiz/-/a-qdNQEhvnT8GodI7imoIMLw%3Aa%3A107108217-%2F0 Why do we continue to tolerate the injury, death, and destruction caused by drivers of personal vehicles?

As wildfires burn across Canada, the Carney government is plowing ahead with plans to list a West Coast tar sands pipeline as a "project of national interest." Use @350canada's online tool to flood the public consultation before September 18! https://win.newmode.net/350org/wcp #CdnPoli […]

RE: https://flipboard.com/@cbcnews/canada-1akomc2pz/-/a-qEgPyvxvQwikZE7xeIAdfw%3Aa%3A107108217-%2F0 Why do we continue to tolerate events such as these?

RE: https://flipboard.com/@cbcnews/toronto-qajtcaoiz/-/a-3_npqQHnSTalwlgOyY90eQ%3Aa%3A107108217-%2F0 "When standards are introduced, you start actually seeing the number of fires go down."

New paper thread! "Rings in the Sky: Orbital Data Centres and Potential Impacts to Astronomy and the Sky" by A. Boley, me, and @hannorein. Submitted, and posted to the arxiv preprint server. What would the sky look like if companies actually launch the tens of thousands up to one million "AI […]

Like, d'uh. "Social media algorithms expose many adolescents to self-harm content" https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-social-media-algorithms-expose-adolescents.html

Social media algorithms expose many adolescents to self-harm content, study finds

Digital technologies have profoundly transformed how adolescents acquire information and interact with each other outside school. Numerous preteens and teenagers worldwide access social media platforms daily to read posts, view images, watch videos, post content and communicate with their friends.

medicalxpress.com

Adoption of LLMs will cause scientists to “do more, less well — rather than the same amount, better” https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-02397-5

Scientists using LLMs will ‘do more, less well’, modelling study predicts

Nature, Published online: 31 July 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02397-5 Research suggests that the combination of incentives to publish and the use of large language models will lead to more papers, but they will be less refined.

nature.com

"When exam results came in, they bore little resemblance to past results, especially at the top." My opinion is that education needs to take place in person, with skilled and trained educators, and with suitable accommodations. Testing, when necessary, requires a fair process with […]

#Niagara region keeps electing genuinely awful right wing politicians. The MP for #NiagaraFalls #NiagaraOnTheLake, Tony Baldinelli, voted to oppose funding for #ClimateChange adaptation. Voting record […] [Original post on scribili.masto.host]

"I would 100 percent taste the forbidden fish sauce. I would do it for science. My wife would kill me if I'm not already dead. I will. If there was a way, if I would be able to fly out there, I would do it, and write a whole report about it because I think that would be a pinnacle achievement […]

RE: https://flipboard.com/@cbcnews/toronto-qajtcaoiz/-/a-L0Giu9Z4SwSwRnQkeCc-Vg%3Aa%3A107108217-%2F0 Obviously, the problem is too many personal vehicles. A liveable future cannot include them.

Our measurements reveal an average brightness seven times brighter than mitigation targets cited in FCC filings and peak values over 200 times brighter than the International Astronomical Union’s recommended threshold (V magnitude 7). https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/ae8333

RE: https://flipboard.com/@cbcnews/toronto-qajtcaoiz/-/a-EdU_s9TkRLClXmFWXA1gzg%3Aa%3A107108217-%2F0 Why do we maintain systems that allow this to happen?

This episode of Ideas is excellent and needs to be widely shared and listened to (or read on the web page). #AI companies are a modern empire, bent on taking over the world. We need to stop them. We can stop them. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/karen-hao-empire-of-ai-9.7142134 #Canada

RE: https://aus.social/@peemee/117023429361281273 #Billionaires

I'm happy to cheer if and when "#DarkMatter" is actually confirmed. However, adding a new unconfirmed model on top of another unconfirmed model is a bit much. "Dark matter is usually described as an invisible substance that responds only to gravity. But scientists are now exploring a more […]

"I can't help but really cringe at the way he handles ethical objections, though I suppose thinking deeply on morality is not a requirement for donning aforementioned Big Boy Engineering Pants."* Ethics and morality are precisely what Big Boy Engineering Pants are important for. It is […]

Sanity prevails in #LangfordBC! "Goodmanson said it all clearly shows that single-driver vehicles are not the best way to move people around in Langford, or the capital region as a whole." […]

RE: https://flipboard.com/@blackpressmedia/saanich-jruah1srz/-/a-7rQVMOYtRbeG7wkEd6nrWg%3Aa%3A3177150469-%2F0 This is an appalling ad in the guise of a ‘column’ by the BC fossil gas industry. The way to make energy more affordable, and to reduce the future harm from #ClimateChange, is to ban […]

The blue footed booby is valued 🙂

Today’s #woodturning projects.

RE: https://flipboard.com/@cbcnews/toronto-qajtcaoiz/-/a-ynCHCne8Q7y6uHsfFEWrJw%3Aa%3A107108217-%2F0 Eliminate #FossilFuels from your homes now #Saskatchewan.

Means testing is slower, more expensive, more demeaning, and less effective than just giving stuff to everybody who asks for it.

RE: https://respublicae.eu/@CarolineLucas/117013570271476658 There’s nothing pragmatic about expanding #Canada’s tar sands. Such expansion will make #ClimateChange worse for Canadians and the rest of humanity.

Help #Canadian MP @leahgazan.bsky.social launch an official parliamentary petition (e-7522) that calls on the federal government to put people and the planet ahead of fossil fuel profits, and stop fast-tracking catastrophic #fossilfuel projects. Link below. #climatecrisis #cdnpoli […]

RE: https://urbanists.social/@straphanger/117003948657099015 $44,444,444.44 each!

Africa is smashing all the solar records. The continent installed more grid-connected solar in the first half of 2026 than in all of 2025, and with projects under construction the year could finish at triple the previous record. That’s just official figures too - they don’t account for all the […]