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No One Upstairs

@nooneupstairs.bsky.social

scientist, professor, average guitar player, barely practicing game master.

208 Posts45 Follower622 Folgt
Emily M. Bender@emilymbender.bsky.social · 3d ago

Software engineering could and should be done with the same care as any other type of engineering. This is a post in honor of Margaret Hamilton (and also a subtweet of all vibe-coders everywhere).

Screencap "“I fought to bring the software legitimacy so that it — and those building it — would be given its due respect, and thus I began to use the term ‘software engineering’ to distinguish it from hardware and other kinds of engineering, yet treat each type of engineering as part of the overall systems engineering process,” Hamilton told El Pais in 2018. “When I first started using this phrase, it was considered to be quite amusing. It was an ongoing joke for a long time. They liked to kid me about my radical ideas. Software eventually and necessarily gained the same respect as any other discipline.”" Source: https://news.mit.edu/2026/margaret-hamilton-computing-pioneer-dies-1007
Robert "The Bobby Yaga" McNees@mcnees.bsky.social · 3d ago

Very sad to hear that Margaret Hamilton has passed away. Here's a short thread about her role in the Apollo mission, and her lesser-known work on the simulations that led to the discovery of Chaos Theory. 🧪 👩‍🔬 ⚛️

Margaret Hamilton, computing pioneer who led software development for the Apollo program, dies at 90

Margaret H. Hamilton, a profoundly influential computer scientist best known for leading the software engineering team at MIT’s Instrumentation Lab during NASA’s Apollo program, died at age 90.

news.mit.edu

Robert "The Bobby Yaga" McNees@mcnees.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Margaret Hamilton, a pioneer of software engineering who led NASA's in-flight software team for the Apollo mission, was born #OTD in 1936. 🧪 🔭 👩‍🔬 Image: NASA

A black and white photo of Margaret Hamilton standing next to a stack of printouts, the code that she and her team wrote for the Apollo Lunar Module. She is wearing a short, striped dress and sandals. Hamilton has long hair past her shoulders and wears glasses. She is looking at the stack of code, which is taller than her, smiling and steadying it with her hands.
No One Upstairs@nooneupstairs.bsky.social · 2w ago

Yes, to all the thread. But government assessment of universities would need to change away from for-profit, quantity & IF. Many times, the rules for assessment are made by academics who enjoy the status quo, and so we continue with these problems.

Mark A. Hanson@hansonmark.bsky.social · 2w ago

There is one regulatory mechanism that can make this happen: funder and university action. Funders and universities require the research they fund to be published. Great, keep doing that. Just require it to be in non-profit journals. Keep walking and talking with me here... 👣 9/n

Robert "The Bobby Yaga" McNees@mcnees.bsky.social · 3w ago

Happy 118th birthday, spacetime. 🧪 🔭 ⚛️ Hermann Minkowski addressed the 80th Assembly of German Natural Scientists and Physicians #OTD in 1908, offering a radical four-dimensional reformulation of Einstein's theory of special relativity. Here is how he opened his address.

"The views of space and time which I wish to lay before you have sprung from the soil of experimental physics, and therein lies their strength. They are radical. Henceforth space by itself, and time by itself, are doomed to fade away into mere shadows, and only a kind of union of the two will preserve an independent reality." - Hermann Minkowski, 1908
Emily Higgs Kopin (spooky)@ehkopin.bsky.social · last mo.

Corollary: if someone is “brilliant” but an asshole to women and junior colleagues, they are not brilliant. They are bad at their job and should be treated as such

pam lach@plach.bsky.social · last mo.

Wouldn’t it be nice if, instead of all of us having to warn a new faculty member to steer clear of the abusive senior colleague who exploits/extracts other people’s labor, we could change the rewards system that enabled him (yes I’m talking about a white dude) thru endowed chairs + directorships

Adam K. Dubé@edtechprof.bsky.social · last mo.

Horrible take. As a postdoc at U of Toronto, we unionized. Before, some post docs got $70k/yr, some $20k/yr. After, $50k minimum. Profs thought it was ok to pay a PhD well below poverty rates; sure, you lack funds, but you still get the labour Can’t be a mentor and a master.

Inside Higher Ed @insidehighered.com · last mo.

Opinion | Postdocs Aren’t Burger Flippers: Why Unionization Is a Bad Idea Unionization disrupts the bespoke mentor-mentee relationships that are central to the advancement of science. By Evan D. Morris: https://bit.ly/3Sus7fa #EDUSky #AcademicSky #HigherEd

A drawing of a god-like hand, inspired by Michelangelo's painting in the Sistine Chapel, pointing to a sign, "Talk to the Union Rep: Local 1508."
Ben Williamson@benpatrickwill.bsky.social · 2mo ago

What's most upsetting me as a journal editor is that many papers we receive where AI use is disclosed for editing and language refinement actually appear to have been ruined rather than improved by AI. We get what seem like promising underpinning studies, but totally obscured by over-complex text.

Ursula Dorada@sulamoon.bsky.social · 2mo ago

IA não democratiza o conhecimento. Ela vende o mesmo, na versão que ela quer deixar disponível pra vc, passando pela censura que está imposta a vc. Vc mesmo? Vc não aprendeu nada. Como isso democratiza algo? Democratizar é te dar o conhecimento técnico de como fazer. Essa é a parte cara.