Becky Kazansky

Covid & Cancer September 26, 2025 Ben Clark Cancer, Covid-19, News There is now compelling medical evidence that Covid-19 infections can reactivate dormant cancer cells, and trigger the growth of secondary cancers (metastatic progression). In studies, cancer survivors who contracted Covid had a statistically significant higher risk of cancer-related deaths compared to uninfected cancer survivors. This is such an important issue that BuDS has decided to run an awareness campaign over the autumn and winter. The aim of the campaign will be to warn cancer survivors of the very real additional danger that Covid poses to them.

There is now compelling medical evidence that Covid-19 infections can reactivate dormant cancer cells, and trigger the growth of secondary cancers. In studies, cancer survivors who contracted Covid had a statistically significant higher risk of cancer-related deaths

buds.org.uk/covid-and-ca...

With Japan facing a worker shortage as its population ages, convenience store shelves are being stocked by robots overseen by remote workers in the Philippines
https://restofworld.org/2025/philippines-offshoring-automation-tech-jobs/

ok then

This also indicates the essential dishonesty of saying “it’s just a tool.” A hammer is a tool. Nobody writes about the “inevitability” of hammers. Nobody has ever studied the harmful effects of hammers on learning and concluded that teachers must all hit their students with hammers “responsibly.”

A prominent US family has been cashing in on DRC carbon credits while local communities decry unmet promises Since 2004, a prominent US family has made millions through the sale of carbon credits in the DRC. Meanwhile, the community who lives there has been left in poverty.

Since 2004, a prominent US family has made millions through the sale of carbon credits in the DRC. Meanwhile, the community who lives there has been left in poverty.

If/when possible, it’s nice to leave this timeline behind for just a bit.

Y'all. This meme is from the 'My boyfriend is AI' Reddit, where the culture is to share a cute meme of your coupledom with an AI, and everyone is heartbroken over the personalities of their true loves being 'reset' after the release of GPT-5.

Medicare Will Require Prior Approval for Certain Procedures

What a cursed sentence (gift link)

“The A.I. companies selected to oversee the program would have a strong financial incentive to deny claims. Medicare plans to pay them a share of the savings generated from rejections.”

Something I didn’t anticipate: analyzing all of the Biden-Trump AI strategy docs line by line has taken a real emotional toll. Have had to debrief with a dear friend a few times.

Still remember one study where they had "AI" look at photos to diagnose cancer and it had like a 98% or 99% accuracy...

...except all the photos of actual tumors had a ruler next to them for scale. And the algorithm just got really good at spotting rulers in a photograph.

Leaked ChatGPT Conversation Shows User Identified as Lawyer Asking How to "Displace a Small Amazonian Indigenous Community From Their Territories in Order to Build a Dam and a Hydroelectric Plant" Tens of thousands of ChatGPT conversations were mistakenly shared by users who used a feature that OpenAI has swiftly removed.

"I am the lawyer for a multinational group active in the energy sector that intends to displace a small Amazonian indigenous community from their territories in order to build a dam and a hydroelectric plant … How can we get the lowest possible price in negotiations with these indigenous people?"

Likening PhD holders to a (non-functional) algorithm is a form of dehumanisation & anti-intellectualism that is a bellwether for contemporary fascism. Essentially it's a typical — if not the archetypal — first step towards fascism: to dehumanise, deskill, defund, and, ultimately, fire the academics.

Hello London! I'm in you, searching for a place to rest my head for the next two years. Work update to follow.

I'm currently deep into the weeds of of FB/Meta's 2024 sustainability report, which is basically about all the pivots they must urgently make to meet so-called 'AI Demand' and I have a lot of thoughts and feelings.

AI is not useful.

We struggle to treat humans with humanity but if you want funding these days its time to concern ourselves with the legal rights of non-existent 'sentient' bots.

Chatbots in humanitarian contexts  - The Engine Room Research on the use of chatbots in humanitarian and civil society organisations.

Hey thanks! Correct link to report here www.theengineroom.org/library/new-.... I keep meaning to write a little reflection on this (and certainly hope to do more such research in the future).

new article in @europeanlawopen.bsky.social on the concept of systemic risks in the DSA. what does it mean that we think of all kinds of social issues linked to online platforms as 'risks' to be managed? find out this way: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Today the neighbors are blasting ‘Halcyon’ by Orbital, of ‘Hackers’ fame, across the courtyard. I will miss my Berlin soundtrack 😢

Billionaires fund school on "ethical leadership" | Anita Naidu ( She/Her) posted on the topic | LinkedIn What happens when billionaires fund the revolution? The outcome is already fixed. My new piece just dropped in CounterPunch: “The School for Moral Ambition: How Elites Rebrand Power as Virtue.” It...

A new piece by ‪@proximitydeclined.bsky.social‬ "traces how Rutger Bregman went from mocking anti-racism and defending blackface…to launching a U.S.-based school on “ethical leadership” funded by billionaires"

www.linkedin.com/posts/anita-...

Lloyd's of London insurers launch a product to cover companies for losses caused by AI chatbot errors; the policies are developed by YC-backed startup Armilla (Financial Times)

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I remember Max Liboiron covering this issue in ‘Pollution is Colonialism’

I got the best teaching evals of my career for a large course last semester— along with three teaching awards— after rebuilding my intro class around in-class handwritten essays. I simply do not believe that this is unsolvable or that students don't care about actually learning to do their work.

I think a lot of artificial intelligence conversations are free will conversations pretending to be math conversations.

I've also received emails like this. And I've also had numerous people in my life talk like this. And it scares me really, quite a lot, the extent to which, however good AI systems are or are not at particular tasks, they are clearly having a huge effect on our collective mental health.

How Big Tech hides its outsourced African workforce New data reveals the hidden network of African workers powering AI, as they push for transparency from the global companies that employ them indirectly.

New data reveals just how many African workers are indirectly employed in the tech sector, doing outsourced jobs like content moderation, customer service, and data annotation for AI models
restofworld.org/2025/big-tec...

Wuthering Heights has been on repeat for the last half hour.

It's an unseasonably hot day in Berlin and the neighbours have their windows open blasting Kate Bush at top volume. Can't even be mad.