Els Torreele
@elstorreele.bsky.social
Interested in Shifting Powers towards Health Equity, Economic Justice, post-Finance Capitalism, Climate Justice, Equitable Access to Medicines and Vaccines, and a better future for all of us. Founding Director of æqua.
Dr. Erica Schwartz becoming the first Black woman to lead the CDC is historic, but representation & accountability must go together. Trust must be earned by defending science, protecting the CDC’s independence, and putting public health above political pressure. I’ll be watching. #DrUB
Terwijl klimaatactivisten voortijdig van hun bed gelicht worden, mogen de goorste fascisten sinds de Drie van Breda openlijk hun feestje vieren. nos.nl/artikel/2625...
Onderzoek: netwerk achter extreemrechtse Save Europe Act wil Europa destabiliseren
Op het Jaarbeursplein in Utrecht vond vandaag de eerste van een reeks extreemrechtse demonstraties van de Save Europe Act (SEA) plaats.
nos.nl
POST EDITORIAL The military’s antidrug campaign accomplished nothing
Opinion | The military’s antidrug campaign accomplished nothing
Trump pushed legal limits with boat strikes, alienating allies, but traffickers adapted.
washingtonpost.com
Matthew Hay Brown@matthewhaybrown.bsky.social · last wk.67 boat strikes 221 people killed EXCLUSIVE: Operation Southern Spear has not reduced the volume, availability, purity or price of cocaine arriving in the U.S., according to an internal DEA assessment and a closed-door Pentagon briefing for senators, and has made enforcement more difficult
📖 "what we risk undermining in this case is our capacity for critical thinking, and the source reliability and transparency on which our collective understanding depends. This comes in addition to LLM enabled mass production of slop, mis- and disinformation.” — Nicole Cruz (2026). 11/🧵
Illusions of Understanding from Outsourcing Thinking to LLMs - Computational Brain & Behavior
Computational Brain & Behavior - Some illusions of understanding are an inevitable part of the research process, while others can be avoided or overcome by careful critical thinking and...
link.springer.com
Why Do We Tolerate Elon Musk’s Racist Commentary? (Gift article)
Opinion | Why Do We Tolerate Elon Musk’s Racist Commentary? (Gift Article)
Why does the owner of X get a pass for what he says and does there?
nytimes.com
"A concentration camp, in its most basic definition, is a place where a targeted civilian population, not necessarily accused of a crime, is detained and at least some of their basic rights are suspended," writes @jwashing.bsky.social. "That’s precisely what’s happening in the United States today."
Don’t call them ICE detention centers. Call them camps | John Washington
I’ve spent a decade reporting on immigration enforcement. The word ‘camp’ best captures the political function of these facilities
theguardian.com
It's depressing that when humans created AI they did so in the form of a sycophantic, over-confident, know-all who is prone to lying, fakes sincerity, presumes a friendship that doesn't exist, and never willingly stops talking.
'The question therefore is no longer only whether Africa can fill more vials, but whether African institutions can help shape the science that comes before manufacturing begins.' www.nature.com/articles/d44...
Africa’s vaccine ambitions must move beyond fill-and-finish
The continent needs more than assembly lines to reduce its dependence on imported vaccines. It must also strengthen the science and systems that come before production.
nature.com
FWIW, Meta was fully aware of how these glasses would primarily be used. The glasses were designed to erase consent, and that is why they exist. Anything that they do that suggests they want to ameliorate this use is an attempt to win the PR battle and manipulate public opinion.
Meta Desperately Trying to Ban Creeps Misusing Its AI "Pervert Glasses"
Meta is vowing to crack down on creeps misusing its Ray Ban smart glasses. Whether it will be enough to regain trust remains to be seen.
futurism.com
Good morning. This is fascism. This is the US Govt creating thought crimes. It’s not about who they are arresting today, it’s about how this vague and threatening pursuit will be used against dissenters. ✨EVERY✨ fascist govt to date, has taken this step. www.state.gov/releases/off...
Remarks at the Opening of the Ministerial on the Resurgence of Political Terrorism - United States Department of State
DEPUTY SECRETARY LANDAU: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the State Department. It’s an honor and a privilege to have you here. For those of us who grew up in the 1970s, the topic that ...
state.gov
More here: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/804175...
Anti-Fascist Economics by Isabella Weber: 9798217154432 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
As inequality, inflation, and overwhelming corporate power threaten democracy, a rising-star economist asks what it would mean to create an anti-fascist economics that guarantees dignity for all....
penguinrandomhouse.com
This was me in 2023, quoted in Nature. Now see how things are going. When will the academic community wake up collectively & notice what is done to our scientific eco system. Resits. Organize. Refuse to play along. Fight slop. Take principled stands. 🖋️ openletter.earth/open-letter-...
Open Letter: Stop the Uncritical Adoption of AI Technologies in Academia
openletter.earth
Iris van Rooij 💭@irisvanrooij.bsky.social · 3y ago"LLMs are too ethically murky to include in scientific publishing. A main concern lies in the way LLMs work: by trawling Internet content without concern for bias, consent or copyright, says Iris van Rooij, a cognitive scientist at Radboud University …” www.nature.com/articles/d41... 1/2
"i am still here" is just an example of what this plan from mr. rubio does. it happened in those years of the operation condor, now they want a remake, for the technofascism demands it www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDun...
I'M STILL HERE | Official Trailer (2025)
YouTube video by Sony Pictures Classics
youtube.com
Het gevaar komt van én rechts, én midden. én links. Iedereen probeert op ondemocratische wijze zijn/haar ideologie als een religie aan anderen op te leggen, waarbij geen rekening wordt gehouden met de gevolgen voor anderen noch de samenleving, noch het land. . www.trouw.nl/binnenland/e...
Experts waarschuwen: ‘mogelijkheid’ dat Nederland langzaam richting een autocratie verschuift
Nederland wordt vatbaar voor alleenheersers als politici niet zuiniger omspringen met democratische waarden. Dat schrijven experts van Democratie Monitor.
trouw.nl
The revelations came out in a federal court case brought by Democratic states challenging ICE's access to Medicaid data to aid in deportation efforts. n.pr/4f9OdMn
ICE shared Medicaid data it wasn't supposed to have with Palantir
The revelations came out in a federal court case brought by Democratic states challenging ICE's access to Medicaid data to aid in deportation efforts.
n.pr
Trump is not only using the presidency to make decisions that boost his portfolio. His media company is also planning to sell insider access to his market-moving Truth Social posts. I'd say this is a conflict of interest but it should be clear by now that Trump isn't conflicted about any of this.
Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 3w agoWhat a graphic. @cnn.com $NVDA $TSLA $AEO
A reminder: The US, by being the largest historical CO₂ emitter, has caused $10 trillion in global climate damage since 1990. A quarter of this impact is felt domestically, but it disproportionately affects poorer countries.
US has caused $10tn worth of climate damage since 1990, research finds
US, top carbon emitter in history, has ‘a lot of responsibility’ for causing ‘substantial’ harm globally, scientist says
theguardian.com
📣 It's been three years since the EU and Tunisia signed a Memorandum of Understanding, largely motivated by seeking Tunisia’s cooperation in migration control. This partnership has fueled and normalized serious human rights violations. Read more: https://bit.ly/4fn1BeZ
I have been expressing desire for an app that alerts me to the presence of pervert glasses in my vicinity. It exists and it's called Nearby Glasses! Immediate download.
A new app alerts you if someone nearby is wearing smart glasses | TechCrunch
A hobbyist developer's new app, which can detect nearby smart glasses, comes amid resistance to always-on recording and listening devices that invade people's privacy.
techcrunch.com
Shaming and stigmatization is goated when enforcing basic social norms is the vibe. These glasses are by and for perverts
The Backlash Is So Strong That People With "Pervert Glasses" Are Afraid to Use Them in Public
Meta's camera-equipped "AI Glasses" are so divisive that some adopters are reportedly leaving their expensive smart glasses at home.
futurism.com
79% of young people worry about online misinformation and still scroll 2.5 hrs/day. That IS the design: outrage keeps you watching, watching sells ads. You are the product. www.research-live.com/article/news... #TheSocialDilemma
Social media use withstands misinformation fears | News | Research live
High levels of concern among younger adults about misinformation on social media are not leading to reductions in use of the platforms, according to data from IPA Touchpoints.
research-live.com
NEW: @katemac.bsky.social & I: "Heat waves tend to attract less attention than the charismatic megafauna of climate disasters—floods, storms, wildfires—in part because they cause less property damage & thus less obviously financially costly" phenomenalworld.org/analysis/glo... Graphic @TheEconomist
Turning risky debt into safe assets by putting it in a pot and then selling off different tranches of it. Now where have I heard that story before? www.bloomberg.com/opinion/news...
We are too - @elstorreele.bsky.social & I have been doing what we can to raise awareness. www.bmj.com/content/391/...
Who are the winners and losers of the UK-US pharma deal—it depends which side you believe
Behind the UK’s “landmark” pharma deal with the US lies a costly surrender, with higher drug prices, weaker safeguards, and vague promises of investment, write Els Torreele and Martin McKee When the...
bmj.com
