I actually don't think students should be asked only or chiefly to read things on subjects they already "relate to." Surely the algorithm is taking care of that already

I used to have imposter’s syndrome but then I met enough academics

sums up the past few forevers

I’m like a birder for words, a worder

"criticizing AI use in journalism or other creative industries is classist" NO IT IS NOT there is a class that benefits enormously from cognitive surrender, epistemic warfare, and the enclosure of all hitherto produced culture and it is NOT THE WORKING CLASS

another day guarding the river you can't go into twice. everyone keeps asking me if they can go into the river again. buddy, you aren't the same man.

me after trying to teach undergrads about de morgan’s laws

(shouting) YOUR SILENCE IS DEAFENING!

in Tools for Conviviality, Illich discusses a new type of monopoly, “the dominance of one kind of product rather than the dominance of one brand” (p52) his example was cars monopolizing traffic either by foot or by bicycle, add public transit to the mix too

David Ho@davidho.bsky.social · 4d ago

Is everyone aware of the General Motors streetcar conspiracy? In the mid-20th century, auto and oil interests bought up electric streetcar systems across the US and systematically replaced them with bus routes and paved roads, funneling commuters toward private cars.

AI companies are trying to do this, but with human knowledge. It's why they're destroying the books. Wipe out our ability to think for ourselves, then own the means of thinking.

David Ho@davidho.bsky.social · 4d ago

Is everyone aware of the General Motors streetcar conspiracy? In the mid-20th century, auto and oil interests bought up electric streetcar systems across the US and systematically replaced them with bus routes and paved roads, funneling commuters toward private cars.

Super useful. I figure a lot of us here in the Sky know this stuff already, but it might be handy to hand to parents, grandparents and pals who are less technically minded. www.librarian.net/NoToAI/

Imagine thinking the first victim of AI has yet to pass... It's people of colour, women, people in the global south, the planet... How embarrassing!

The Irish Times@irishtimes.com · 5d ago

David McWilliams: The first victim of AI is the economy. Welcome to the 2030s

I'd be happy to give High-level Academic Advise on AI in research, but this call makes clear that genuine advice is not welcome. Yet, advice is much needed! Even EU president promotes hype & pseudoscientific claims. See e.g. open letter by experts last year www.iccl.ie/press-releas...

Scientists call on the President of the European Commission to retract AI hype statement - Irish Council for Civil Liberties

Experts in AI call on the President of the European Commission to retract unscientific AI hype statement she made in the budget speech.

iccl.ie

Ajuna Soerjadi 🌸@ethicsofai.bsky.social · last wk.

So let me get this straight. They want expert scientific advice on AI -So far so good - to unlock the full potential of AI-driven science, accelerate breakthroughs and to consolidate the uptake of AI in science?? research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/news/all-res...

most of the letters on keyboard are fluff designed to install more break points so we have to buy more keyboards

I love the odyssey because one time I also got lost on my way home

tapping the big sign that says LUDDITES WERE RIGHT again

Carl T. Bergstrom@carlbergstrom.com · 2w ago

13. Hence our dismal conclusion: rather than finding that LLMs free us to do a better job of what we were doing before they came along, they shift scientific incentives (and the playing field of academic competition) in ways that compel us to do more and more, faster and faster, less and less well.

Children’s Representations of Possibility: Uncertainty About “What” Is Easier Than Uncertainty About “Where”

Children’s Representations of Possibility: Uncertainty About “What” Is Easier Than Uncertainty About “Where”

Abstract. Young children struggle in situations involving mere possibility, such as when a target object could be in one of two possible locations. This difficulty is often interpreted as a general…

direct.mit.edu

Fodor if he was a catty sex columnist

A question: does anyone know about communities or groups for scientists who are committed to writing without the use of LLMs / genAI?

the existence of watermelon implies the existence of... oh wait I forgot about hume's dictum

For the next 3 months, the neoluddite group's gonna be meeting to discuss The Technological Society by Jacques Ellul! you can see our schedule & further readings here: victorgom.es/neoluddite

hate being casually impinged upon

The AI industry “designs its tech and sells it as a tool for automating knowledge work... it’s degrading the work opportunities that exist right now — taking knowledge workers out of full-time employment into gig-work" - @karenhao.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

Karen Hao: AI Doesn't Have to Be Built This Way

The author of Empire of AI argues artificial intelligence can be developed without concentrating power, exploiting workers or consuming vast amounts of resources.

bloomberg.com

People act like aphantasics are so mysterious, but in my view they just lack imagination

Yeah anyone recording you without your knowledge or consent is not your friend and framing them as such is an attempt at manufacturing consent for a suite of behaviors and a technosocial paradigm these people Know is wrong and are trying to justify to themselves. This is predator behavior.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 2w ago

Definitionally, these are not “friends.”

guess he has that in common with most universities

Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities (Gift Article)

Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.

nytimes.com

we created a robot that punches us in the face to answer the age old question: why are you hitting yourself?

1. We—@eduede.bsky.social, @mjcrockett.bsky.social, Kevin Gross, and I—have a new preprint on the arXiv today, based on ideas that emerged during an @sfiscience.bsky.social workshop in November 2024: The unintended consequences of large language models as a labor-augmenting technology in science.

The unintended consequences of large language models as a labor-augmenting technology in science

As a labor-augmenting technology, large language models (LLMs) have the potential to accelerate scientific activity across the research pipeline. But even if LLMs perform on par with human experts at ...

arxiv.org

can anyone think of an example of copredication with an irregular polyseme?

"AI electricity+water usage is no worse than golf courses or the beef industry" - cool, but we should reform or abolish other large-scale energy/water intensive industries, too. Also, last I checked, golf/beef weren't pushing for building out nuclear+gas-powered plants to meet exploding demand...