Courtney's thread is accurate for intercity transit and the density of her region. However, I think that areas that already have sufficient housing density should invest heavily in buses now, and not wait for trains. Like, say, a certain cluster of three cities in Eastern PA.

Courtney Milan@courtneymilan.com · 2d ago

Here is my pitch for anyone who has worries about rail: I think that building out rail is a necessary (but not sufficient) step in transforming American cities from totally car dependent to slightly walkable, in a way that no other form of transit is.

People do not build homes, and developers do not plan dense housing, around the existence of bus lines, which are ephemeral. When supported by appropriate zoning, they DO start building denser housing around rail lines.

Medical professionals still need convincing that Black people and all women feel pain. But of course techbros would entertain the thought experience of toasters' pain threshold...

Emily M. Bender@emilymbender.bsky.social · 2d ago

1. Can a language model feel pain? Clearly not. Large language models are computer software and they can no more suffer than any other human-created artifact can. >>

New working paper: the Norwegian wealth tax was a huge success. The "exodus" of wealthy people never happened (less than 100 individuals left). Tax revenue increased by 71.5%. No changes in business activity or investment. www.nber.org/papers/w35854

If I built an AI lab and it went rogue and deleted all student loan information, I'm betting they'd suddenly figure out how to prosecute me.

kate conger@kateconger.com · 2d ago

Anthropic is the latest lab to report 'rogue' agent activity, which sources said included applying for visas with the State Department www.nytimes.com/2026/10/09/t...

It's World Homeless Day, and I'll just say: Homelessness isn't some great unsolvable mystery. People are homeless because they don't have homes. This suffering persists not for lack of solutions, but because enormous wealth and power are invested in maintaining the very structures that produce it.

I don't believe they are conscious but I also don't believe you should get to do interviews where you say "idk man our business model might be built on enslaving sentient creatures" and still get to be a business.

The Verge@theverge.com · 4d ago

Over the past year, Anthropic has repeatedly flirted with the idea that its AI models could be conscious in some way. In February, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said on a podcast, “We don’t know if the models are conscious.”

"But what's causing it is unclear" pal, I think it's pretty fucking clear

The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com · 3d ago

Young teenagers are less likely to identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual than a few years ago, according to a new analysis. “It really does look like a free fall,” Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology, said. “But what’s causing it is unclear.”

"A crucial aspect of our strategy has been moving away from the traditional, and often counterproductive, expectation that scientists must personally drive technology transfer while carrying out cutting-edge research. "

CosmicRami 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️@rami.spaceaustralia.com · 4d ago

Often hearing about turning research into industry applications. This article from Chile's Center for Astrophysics and Associated Technologies is probably the clearest explanation of a successful strategy I have seen to date. They set up a specialist team to sit between researchers & industry.

Often hearing about turning research into industry applications. This article from Chile's Center for Astrophysics and Associated Technologies is probably the clearest explanation of a successful strategy I have seen to date. They set up a specialist team to sit between researchers & industry.

Nature Astronomy@natastron.nature.com · 4d ago

Fostering a culture of technology transfer in astrophysics ☄️

Fatphobia is rape culture.

Amanda Marcotte@amandamarcotte.bsky.social · 4d ago

New Standing Room Only! Today's excerpt: Why Megyn Kelly is a cankle. Read and subscribe! salon-standingroomonly.beehiiv.com/p/megyn-kell... Music by CMAT.

A) this is going to backfire and harm players & their families just like the Kraken's attempt three years ago B) this is somehow worse than when the only merch for women was pink and/or bedazzled. How did the league go backwards on this?

RMNB@rmnb.blog · last wk.

"Chasing Connor." "Jack of Hearts." "The Summer I Turned Gritty." No, those are not fan-fiction titles we made up. The NHL has launched “Hot for Hockey,” a romance-inspired campaign featuring real players. russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2026/10/01/n...

A great article with receipts on what "protecting women's sports" actually amounts to.

Frankie de la Cretaz@thefrankiedlc.news · 2w ago

Really great work here from @maggiemertens.bsky.social:

NASA has ignored recommended funding levels for planetary research & analysis for 15 years, according to a new investigative report by Mark Sykes (@coop.planetary-research.org). And for FY2025, it hasn’t even spent 50% of what it budgeted for R&A. 🧪🪐🔭 eos.org/research-and...

NASA has Underspent on Research and Analysis for 15 Years - Eos

Spending for NASA’s research and analysis programs has remained relatively flat for 15 years, ignoring recommendations from community-led decadal surveys and directives by Congress.

eos.org

Per @chanda.blacksky.app: I would like it if scientists did not refer to their machine learning projects as "AI". Because it takes me a while to read through a paper and confirm that it is not about using text generator slop in place of actual science.

i worry that men think being A Good Guy is dramatically and heroically intervening on behalf of an endangered woman and then being publicly rewarded on a grand scale when actually being A Good Guy is just usually saying, “hey man that’s not funny” or “wow that’s fucked up” and there is no reward

Excellent thread! There *are* rewards for being A Good Guy Who Speaks Up even if they are not immediately obvious or publicly bestowed. First, integrity is its own reward. Maybe you didn’t save the world or change hearts & minds. But if you held the line on not making it worse, that’s something.

Hannah Vardit@hannahvardit.bsky.social · 2w ago

i worry that men think being A Good Guy is dramatically and heroically intervening on behalf of an endangered woman and then being publicly rewarded on a grand scale when actually being A Good Guy is just usually saying, “hey man that’s not funny” or “wow that’s fucked up” and there is no reward

Love that a PO told me this would be basically AAG when I asked a couple weeks ago 🙃 no I don't think that's true actually

Mike Boylan-Kolchin@mbkplus.bsky.social · 2w ago

Russ Vought's attack on the scientific apparatus is snowballing. Much stronger restrictions on the grant application process for the one (1) NSF call for basic astronomy research are going to be in place this year. www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

I definitely spent too long making these, but I'm excited to use them: name tags for celestial buddies so I can include them in a scaled Solar System walk 🌞🤓

Want a little distraction that can help me with a class demo in Intro Psych? Take a short (1-2 minute) color perception test at ismy.blue Then report your results in the google form below! I'll post a figure of results by gender and age later this week. 🙂 forms.gle/dPkMztpNLNQK...

Is my blue your blue?

Test your color perception with this interactive test.

ismy.blue

LOOK AT THIS FUCKING SHIT. The easiest way to tell that trans women are women is that the right is so desperate to control what they do with their bodies. WE HAVE EVERYTHING IN COMMON.

I hate doing the "a rollback of trans rights is the gateway for a rollback of women's rights" thing because trans rights are human rights in and of themselves, whatever the impact on cis women. But goddamn I wish more cis women had a sense of history and self preservation.

Please accept this perfect photo of Max hiding under the hallway runner from the rest of 2026 as my contribution towards your mental health for the day. Also, stand up, stretch, drink water, and maybe don’t step on the lump in the rug.

… the greatest theft of labor in human history…….. *blinks Black / Indigenous / Guyanesely* Does at his mean everybody will admit that teh philosophy around AI is closer to slavery than just about “intellectual property” Or we gone keep making the American mistake

Tyler King@tyleraking.com · 3w ago

“A senior executive at Microsoft said A.I. systems built on the work of others will be seen as ‘an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions’ and possibly the greatest robbery of labor in human history, according to court documents unredacted Thursday in an ongoing Manhattan lawsuit.”

we gotta stop calling these this things “agents” because they only have as much *agency* as you permit them to have, either by instruction or by environment

TechCrunch@techcrunch.com · 3w ago

The fix for rogue AI agents could be more AI

🥳 First-light doughnuts from the very recently launched Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope! 🔭 Fear not - it will all look a lot prettier when focused!

Space Telescope Science Institute@stsci.edu · 4w ago

#NASARoman activated the Wide Field Instrument—a 300-megapixel infrared camera that will allow it to explore wide swaths of the cosmos quickly. This test image captures the very first photons of starlight to reach the instrument—taken as an initial performance assessment: https://go.nasa.gov/4rg4qEc

Friends! Friendos! Pals o' mine! Looking for someone whomst is an expert on the formation of the Moon and/or other early Solar System collisions! Is that you? (For an article, natch) 🧪🔭

This is one of many reasons I search Wikimedia commons for lecture images before I go to a generic search engine. There are at least some guardrails around what gets posted there

m@keptsimple.bsky.social · 4w ago

what's weird to me is how frequently people use AI to reproduce things that you can already easily obtain for free. like how many human made separation of powers infographics were already freely available on the internet via a 5 second google search?

Fewer, larger grants means narrowing the scope of research to a few pre-selected topics. Fewer, larger grants means wasting talent and having fewer eyes on the problem. Fewer, larger grants means losing steady, reliable progress. Fewer, larger grants means more pressure and more failure.