Hard disagree here. Fine, "superintelligence" isn't a useful term. But it's even less useful to label an autonomous, potentially self-improving program that can destroy critical infrastructure or wage war with the same tag applied to spam filters, lossless image resizers, and navigation apps.

Nature@nature.com · last wk.

Researchers were using the term superintelligence to refer to hypothetical, highly capable technologies long before Donald Trump's executive order go.nature.com/4AVz4qM

Rough Draft vs Final Draft

A challenge to everyone who uses the term NIMBY to describe the motivations of people resisting a development they don't want: use "not in my community" instead. It's a hell of a lot truer to the reality of so-called nimbyism ... and a lot harder to disparage.

Loving the new word "funga". Flora and fauna name the plants and animals of a place or time: flora of Maine, Pleistocene fauna. They are lovely, evocative because rooted in poetry & myth. Fungi had no such word, perhaps because they're hidden, mysterious, somehow deeply earthy and other-wordly.

"An amphibian’s contentment depends on the comfort of their skin... What better way to keep a salamander from drying out than to make moisture pleasurable?" Loved this @brandonkeim.bsky.social meditation on what it's like to be a sally, an exercise in empathy. baynature.org/magazine/win...

Being a Salamander

On a humid spring night last April, I went for a walk in Garber Park, a hillsideforest on the eastern edge of Berkeley.

baynature.org

"Conversations about gain-of-function research have become so politicized that calls for greater oversight are painted as attacks on science itself. But nothing would cost science more than another pandemic traced to a laboratory or merely suspected of coming from one."

Opinion | How to Stop a Lab Leak From Starting the Next Pandemic

More than six years after the emergence of Covid-19, no one is keeping track of the risky virus experiments that are capable of starting a pandemic.

nytimes.com

I set out to write a story about the practical ills of salmon farming (and I did), but also found an even bigger story kinda hidden in plain sight: How humanity is speedrunning the domestication of hundreds of aquatic species, and what it means for them.

When I visited DC for a chapter in Meet the Neighbors about wildlife hospitals and animals as community members, I took this photo by the reflecting pool. It seemed symbolic, in a good way. Those were better times.

The Daily Beast@thedailybeast.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Two more dead ducks have been found near Donald Trump’s Reflecting Pool.

So pleased to have had, along with Fred Koontz, the honor of talking w/ @brandonkeim.bsky.social via @panworks.bsky.social about his latest book on our wild animal neighbors. Brandon's writing consistently illuminates issues of animals' wellbeing and animal #ethics. #nature #wildlife #multispecies

PAN Works@panworks.bsky.social · 5mo ago

medium.com/p/6d0a8e5adb... What do we owe wild neighbours? In a recent PAN Thinks episode, I sit down with Brandon Keim, author of Meet the Neighbors, alongside Barbara King and Fred Koontz, to explore what the science of animal cognition means for how we live alongside other species.

"And what might a bumblebee dream of? The moments of their life, perhaps: the flowers they have visited, their taste and smell. The paths they followed to get there. Other bees they have known." This @brandonkeim.bsky.social essay, originally published in @nautil.us, is an absolute beauty

Planting Seeds for Bumblebee Dreams - bioGraphic

Sowing flowers in spring may have a surprising effect on the inner lives of bees.

biographic.com

Author @brandonkeim.bsky.social joined @libbyapp.com's Joe Skelley to talk about MEET THE NEIGHBORS, which was the recent Libby Reads pick. Watch the video here! youtu.be/YlI4ASGuNRc?...

AMA with "Meet the Neighbors" author Brandon Keim: Libby Reads

YouTube video by LibbyApp

youtu.be

A 🧵on #conservation and humane treatment of one of the world's most overlooked, underdog pet #animals... 🧪🌎🦑 When I first met Crab Con founder Mary Akers in 2024, I was floored by what she told me... www.nytimes.com/2026/03/26/m...

My second brand new Terra Affirma comics poem is no longer paywalled! Hope you check it out and consider subscribing ♥️ sarahmgilman.substack.com/p/the-harrier

The Harrier

When storm takes form

sarahmgilman.substack.com

What a beautiful essay by @brandonkeim.bsky.social in @nautil.us on dreaming bumblebees and asters. It is a balm for the heavy heart. The perfect autumn read. (And such masterful writing!) nautil.us/the-dreams-o...

The Dreams of a Bumblebee in Autumn

The Dreams of a Bumblebee in Autumn: Yes, bees dream. We can even imagine what.

nautil.us

"The protocol taught us that technology can be based on human values like ethics and morality. It showed that voluntary compliance works when all parties benefit." On robots.txt. www.heise.de/en/backgroun...

Obituary: Farewell to robots.txt (1994-2025)

The voluntary compliance protocol that civilized the internet has departed, bids Henning Fries farewell.

heise.de

Please join me at the Vine Virtual Book Club to discuss my book, 2025: The Year of Topsy, on Sunday, October 26, at Noon (LA) or 3 pm (NY) or 7 pm (London). Please register to confirm your attendance and receive a free PDF of my book. vinesanctuary.org/vine-book-cl...

Worth hearing again. Or for the first time:

Charlie Chaplin - Final Speech from The Great Dictator

YouTube video by Charlie Chaplin

youtu.be

Worth hearing again. Or for the first time:

Charlie Chaplin - Final Speech from The Great Dictator

YouTube video by Charlie Chaplin

youtu.be

In which I look at animal research for The New York Times and find some surprising answers.

Opinion | Can Trump End This Impossibly Cruel Practice?

nytimes.com

Recent interview on Knowing Animals w @joshmilburn.bsky.social. We discuss my new paper on children's moral circles, coauthored w @juliamarshall.bsky.social @karrineldner.bsky.social @luciuscaviola.bsky.social Podcast: knowinganimals.libsyn.com/episode-240-... Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Knowing Animals: Episode 240: Children's moral circles with Matti Wilks

Dr Matti Wilks is a social and developmental psychologist who is a reader in psychology at the University of Edinburgh. Her work explores people’s moral motivation and actions. This includes lots of w...

knowinganimals.libsyn.com

Josh Milburn@joshmilburn.bsky.social · last yr.

On the latest episode of Knowing Animals, I speak to @mattiwilks.bsky.social of the University of Edinburgh about her work on children's conceptions of the moral circle. The podcast is available for free below or in all the usual podcast places. Tune in! knowinganimals.libsyn.com/episode-240-...

"I stopped eating meat some 50 years ago," wrote Jane Goodall, "when I looked at the pork chop on my plate and thought: this represents fear, pain, death." Best as I can tell, not one obituary or article on her passing mentions this fact. It's worth knowing. news.janegoodall.org/2017/04/28/w...

"By focusing on abstract, far-future scenarios, [proponents of AI accelerationism] ignore tangible harms caused by technology in the present, including algorithmic bias, worker exploitation, and systemic discrimination." www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The paradox of AI accelerationism and the promise of public interest AI

Over the past 3 years, the idea that artificial intelligence (AI) development should be accelerated without restraint to drive radical societal change—a phenomenon known as AI accelerationism—has gain...

science.org

"I stopped eating meat some 50 years ago," wrote Jane Goodall, "when I looked at the pork chop on my plate and thought: this represents fear, pain, death." Best as I can tell, not one obituary or article on her passing mentions this fact. It's worth knowing. news.janegoodall.org/2017/04/28/w...

#AI is transforming the lives of animals at speed, but these huge impacts are going unchecked. Isabella Logothetis, Spencer Jury @birchlse.bsky.social @lsephilosophy.bsky.social argue more must be done to make sure AI works for, not against the interests of other species @lseeuroppblog.bsky.social.

Should you let AI train your dog? The lawless world of AI and animals

Artificial intelligence could transform our relationships with animals, but more must be done to make sure AI works for the interests of other species.

blogs.lse.ac.uk

Here we propose adding an 11th criterion to UNESCO’s framework to protect animal cultures—habitat protection alone isn’t enough. Excited to collaborate with philosophers @merikatariina.bsky.social & @birchlse.bsky.social on this! Message me for access ;-) www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Protecting animal cultures as World Heritage - Nature Sustainability

It is becoming increasingly clear that animal cultures have intrinsic, irreplaceable value, and yet they are not adequately protected by preserving habitat. The time has come for UNESCO to explicitly protect non-human cultural heritage alongside human heritage.

nature.com

A fun study on territorial, often-solitary wall lizards becoming more gregarious and easygoing in the cities where they thrive. Social tolerance begets success 🦎✌🏽 By @averymaune.bsky.social et al. in @royalsocietypublishing.org: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

People who know reptiles well say they don't only experience fleeting pains and pleasures, but also lasting emotional states: happiness & sadness, or at least good & bad moods. But how do you show this in a scientific way? My latest for @nytimes.com on a clever @coldbloodedcog.bsky.social study:

Do Reptiles Have Moods, Too?

nytimes.com