Liz Renner

AI SLURS

*ahem*

Clanker
Slopper
Token tanker
Thought stopper

working on a new unified theory of american reality i'm calling "everyone is twelve now"

Ah, that time of year again, when the leaves are changing, the nights are drawing in, and the only thing I'm interested in is how many hours until I can have another Lemsip.

As a theoretical cosmologist, I'm frequently asked "what is the benefit of the work you're doing for people's lives?" Nothing I work on makes money or cures disease.

There are a few different answers one can give, at various levels of "convincing" / "actually relevant to why the work is done."

1/🧵

this is the question I want the answer to the most. How much longer will I be cursed to mark AI-generated essays? (please let it not be forever)

Yesterday the Royal Society held a series of panels & keynotes in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Turing Test. The unanimous critical takes on AGI, big tech's power concentration & the call for urgent action left me w hope things might be turning

Watch here m.youtube.com/live/GmnBTCK...

One of the loudest bells tolling for social science right now is that the decade of abundant data on humans is coming to a close. Whether you work on digital trace or surveys, LLM pollution is a serious problem, even while the wide roll out of LLMs creates an urgent need for social science.

Oh no. I think I hate everything

Jane Goodall holding a sign that says “Vote for Nature!” in a group shot

For over 60 years, Jane Goodall was a force for research about our precious planet—and climate change action to protect it—while breaking glass ceilings along the way.

I'll so miss her courage and commitment to help expand what we know about our world and preserve it for the generations to come.

The real generational divide is people who refuse to watch a video if it could be an article versus people who refuse to read an article if it could be a video

a preview of a new plushie! i can’t tell you what it is… it’s a surprise

something very spooky is coming this week 🎃

A lot of people think that every international student admitted means one fewer spot for domestic students, when the opposite is more likely true - the tuition revenue international students bring allows public universities to provide substantial discounts to domestic students, improving access.

The phylogenetic position of the Yunxian cranium elucidates the origin of Homo longi and the Denisovans Diverse forms of Homo coexisted during the Middle Pleistocene. Whether these fossil humans represent different species or clades is debated. The ~1-million-year-old Yunxian 2 fossil from China is impo...

After two days of reading, thinking, and reading again, I think there are two possible ways to interpret the Yunxian cranium (note that @johnhawks.net and others have already shared some great, and often overlapping ideas): (1/4)
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

you probably need to be of a certain vintage to understand the absolute hilarity of ken starr being in the epstein files

It's Don't Argue Inside Your Head With Other People Friday. Today, if you find yourself arguing inside your head w/someone who's not present, or whom it's not safe or not fair for you to argue with, gently move your mind away. Do this as many times as you need.

Gonna be real with you, this feels like an advertisement for spiritual death

AAAAAAAAAAAH

ugh

two sphynx cats wrapped under blankets, looking contented

Toboggan team

People don’t like it when I say it, but the main place you’ll be pressured to participate in fascism is work. Especially if you work in a battleground space like government or academia.

None of your weekend organizing can ever make up for active participation in the fascist project at your day job.

Important to note that, when discussimg the things that protect you— steganographic watermarking, getting your consent to use your data, removing your data from their models— "AI" companies have shifted from saying that they're "impossible" to complaining about the expense & hassle. That is to say…

Update: I can use social media from a browser. My phone display is now grayscale, and there's a quick shortcut to turn it to colour if I want to take a picture or something. It makes a HUGE difference to how much I want to pick up the phone.

Well folks, bye for now! Day 5 is here

Shout out to everyone only now learning that "Albert Einstein was reclusive at the end of his career, shunning public engagements."

Really meant,

"For the last *20 years* of his career, Einstein opposed US racism by only speaking publicly at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

Is it...the humanities?

Welp. I officially Don't Wanna

We must stand resolutely against political assassination and political violence of all kinds, and just as resolutely against everyone who exploits acts of violence as the pretext or excuse for political repression of political opponents.

I read ahead and...shit's getting real

🤫

an important PSA from @atpota.to for moments such as these