Ian Wells

Winter break is when academics finally do all the things they confidently said "I'll do next week" in October.

#academia #academia #philsky #philbluesky #cogsci #science #academic

Truth Social post from DJT

Imagine if the British Head of State had said this about two British citizens who had been murdered by their son. We might have problems, but I’d like to think the vast majority of Britains would understand this is deeply unpleasant

Britain is officially the number one immigrant destination in Europe Germany, now centre of Europe's anti-immigration fightback, took 1.22m, followed by Spain (1.1m), Italy (378,000) and France (295,000).

I wonder how many of the commenters on this story registered which political party was in power in 2023 ? ‘Critical Thinking’ requires an understand of context !! Amazingly, if you read far enough the Mail admit who was ‘responsible’ www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

EU says it will ‘make sure’ Elon Musk’s X pays €120M fine Commission also says it will remain on X for now to “get in touch” with citizens.

It will be very interesting to see if this fine is ever collected. It’s very nice to ‘say’ that X have been fined €120m, but it’s a whole other thing to actual get the money from Elon !!!!!

www.politico.eu/article/eu-c...

Yet more for my 'Must read' list !!!!!

This ought to be compulsory reading for HE managers. Gen AI might not always be the answer !

‘My enemy’s enemy is my friend’ was never truer !

Sad to see a great British institution under attack, and the British ‘Establishment’ either silent, or actively cheering on its demise. We should cherish the BBC

I’m not sure I’ll ever top this !!!

.. and yet Universities seem more likely to see Gen AI as a potential cost saving, rather than an existential threat !

.. feel free to insert your Tech Bro of choice into the above

Too much social media gives AI chatbots ‘brain rot’ Large language models fed low-quality data skip steps in their reasoning process.

So, Elon won’t want his Grok AI looking at X too much, but he’ll happily promote as much human use as possible ? www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Perfectly timed for this afternoon’s lecture !!!

Study finds no link between mRNA COVID vaccines early in pregnancy and birth defects

Large study finds no link between mRNA COVID vaccines early in pregnancy and birth defects www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/stu... via @cidrap.bsky.social

People Who Say They’re Experiencing AI Psychosis Beg the FTC for Help The Federal Trade Commission received 200 complaints mentioning ChatGPT between November 2022 and August 2025. Several attributed delusions, paranoia, and spiritual crises to the chatbot.

Yet more on ‘AI psychosis’ ! Seems that this ought, at the very least, to temper the head-long rush towards ‘AI with everything’ www.wired.com/story/ftc-co...

Why do people keep writing things that I need to read !!!!

As another 20+ year ‘veteran’, I worry about anyone who doesn’t get nervous. I see it as a sign that we still care !!

In Bihar villages, children are learning to fight fake news. Study shows classrooms help More than 13,500 adolescents across 583 villages participated in the experiment, discovering how to engage their families in conversations about truth and myth.

This study of misinformation training in India sounds fascinating. Yet another for the ‘Must read’ list ! theprint.in/feature/biha...

Can AI chatbots trigger psychosis? What the science says Chatbots can reinforce delusional beliefs, and, in rare cases, users have experienced psychotic episodes.

The relationship between AI chatbots and mental health is surely something that Psychologists should be heavily focused on ???

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

They Helped Topple Roe v. Wade. Now Their Sights Are Set on Britain.

It’s a bit disturbing that this story doesn’t seem to have made the British Press ! www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/w...

Another year of teaching well underway !!!!

Comfortable Fictions: The Myth of Multiple Intelligences Why moral certainty keeps bad ideas alive in our schools

For anyone interested in the world of 'Multiple Intelligences', this is a great piece of writing. It's very disturbing to hear the father of multiple intelligences say that he's right, even if the evidence contradicts him !!! carlhendrick.substack.com/p/comfortabl...

The ‘sour grapes’ of conspiracy theories: how does the emotion of ressentiment predict conspiracy beliefs? - Acta Politica This research examines how negative emotions affect the degree to which people endorse conspiracy theories. Conspiracy beliefs typically flourish in contemporary politics that evoke negative emotions. In the present article, we hypothesized that citizens in ressentiment, a particular emotional state salient in contemporary grievance politics, is a key underpinning of why people believe in conspiracy theories. Ressentiment is a multi-layered emotion, within which perceptions of unfairness, bitterness, and feelings of (suppressed) anger are central. Across three studies, we examined the role of ressentiment in predicting belief in conspiracy theories. Study 1 (United Kingdom, N = 300) and Study 2 (United States, N = 300) revealed a positive relationship between ressentiment, measured through a validated scale, and belief in conspiracy theories. This relationship was mediated by rejection of the status quo. In Study 3 (United States, N = 300, pre-registered), we used a vignette describing a fictitious country to experimentally show that evoking ressentiment (vs. control condition) significantly increased belief in conspiracy theories. Taken together, these findings reveal that ressentiment is central for understanding the emotional roots of believing in conspiracy theories.

Really looking forward to reading all of this paper. Seems like a useful additional factor in understanding conspiracy belief link.springer.com/article/10.1...

OpenAI Agrees to Use Computer Chips from AMD

Genuine question for the Economists out there : Is this a financial bubble fuelled by a small number of very large companies making huge investments in each other ?? Are any AI companies anywhere near making sustainable profits ???

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/t...

‘My son genuinely believed it was real’: Parents are letting little kids play with AI. Are they wrong? Some believe AI can spark their child’s imagination through personalized stories and generative images. Scientists are wary of its affect on creativity

Definitely one for an 'in-class' discussion. Be being worried about Gen AI 'friends' for children just me having a 'moral panic' ?? www.theguardian.com/technology/n...

Inside the everyday Facebook networks where far-right ideas grow The Guardian spent a year studying an online community trading in anti-immigration sentiment and misinformation. Experts say such spaces can play a role in radicalisation

As a non-user it’s easy to forget the power of Facebook in the spread of disinformation www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...

Excellent resource for anyone (like me !!) who is going to need to address Autism and Tylenol/Paracetemol in their teaching this week ! www.bmj.com/content/bmj/...

Great turn out for the celebration of 50 years of Clinical Psychology at the University of East London

The ideal thing to put on the side of a bus

Yet another one for the ‘must read’ pile