Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Jan Dutkiewicz

Andrea Reyes E (she/her) @altibel.bsky.social · 14h

LMAO - so this "amazing new technology: is gonna be used for ads, porn, surveillance, and giving the illusion of efficiency (so greedy bosses fire half of their employees), while burning the planet? It definitely makes sense that universities are pushing it into every ffing task 🫠 #ResistAI

Matt Burgess (WIRED) @mattburgess1.bsky.social · 18h

Oh good, ChatGPT is getting "erotica for verified adults" later this year

We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues. We realize this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems, but given the seriousness of the issue we wanted to get this right.

Now that we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues and have new tools, we are going to be able to safely relax the restrictions in most cases.

In a few weeks, we plan to put out a new version of ChatGPT that allows people to have a personality that behaves more like what people liked about 4o (we hope it will be better!). If you want your ChatGPT to respond in a very human-like way, or use a ton of emoji, or act like a friend, ChatGPT should do it (but only if you want it, not because we are usage-maxxing).

In December, as we roll out age-gating more fully and as part of our “treat adult users like adults” principle, we will allow even more, like erotica for verified adults.

3 17 69

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 1d

literally just wrote an article about this, big guy.

soy is currently at 5-year lows.

bsky.app/profile/jand...

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 4d

"How much soy we produce shouldn’t be a barometer for how well our agriculture sector is doing, but for how unsustainable it is."

I wrote for @newrepublic.com that the trade war with China shows we grow too many crops to feed not people but factory-farmed animals.
newrepublic.com/article/2014...

Trump’s Tariffs Should Force a Reckoning With America’s Soy Industry

The industry became the world’s second largest not because of human demand for soy, but to feed China’s pigs.

newrepublic.com

1

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 1d

it's all fungible in the market.

1 1

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 1d

silken tofu ricotta is the way. this but with silken. trust me.
www.loveandlemons.com/vegan-ricott...

Vegan Ricotta - Love and Lemons

This vegan ricotta recipe is rich, creamy, and easy to make! Use this delicious plant-based cheese in lasagna, stuffed shells, and more.

www.loveandlemons.com

2 4

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 1d

soy's cheap tho.

4 3 32

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 1d

as if often the case, the culture war and political economy tell very different stories, including about soy boys.

3

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 1d

thanks. i appreciate it.

Reposted by Jan Dutkiewicz

Dillon Mahmoudi @marxist.af · 1d

On tariffs, soy, & harm to US farmers: "... we should take this moment to reflect on why we use so much American farmland to feed pigs both at home and in China, giving fuel to an environmentally destructive industry."

Incredible piece by @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social

newrepublic.com/article/2014...

Trump’s Tariffs Should Force a Reckoning With America’s Soy Industry

The industry became the world’s second-largest not because of human demand for soy, but to feed China’s pigs.

newrepublic.com

2 3 7

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 1d

I see CBS is already "reporting" on a Free Press story that's got the same frame as any NY Post hit piece. RIP CBS 1927-2025. You made is 98 years, kid.

4 9

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 1d

Sitting over here eating a Beyond burger, drinking a Soylent, and laughing at the amount of bad research coming out on food processing.

Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 1d

tldr on the latest ultraprocessed foods experiment -- turns out a diet with "elevated levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, refined grains, added sugars, & dairy products & lower amounts of fiber" can lead to bad outcomes. Sorry but this is not a shocking finding about the harms of food processing!

Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 2d

Another RCT on ultra-processed vs minimally processed foods came out! The headline from this one -- despite matching diets for calories, the UPF diet impaired cardiometabolic and male reproductive health, independent of caloric intake! But let's read closer... 1/
www.cell.com/cell-metabol...

1 12

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 3d

China is by far the world's biggest importer of soy, but the EU's soy market isn't trivial. How do you think they're feeding the tens of millions of chickens on all of those new factory farms spreading like a cancer across the Polish countryside? Soy from Brazil.

2 2 9

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 3d

One thing I didn't have space to mention here in any detail but that's also an important part of the story is the EU. The EU, for all their talk of terroir and etc. is a factory farming powerhouse and they import 90+% of their soy because of both land concerns and the GMO ban (most feed soy is GMO).

3 1 16

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 3d

Is it because reporters writing these stories don't know? Maybe sometimes. Other times not. And in those cases? Don't want readers to feel squeamish? Don't want to make farmers look bad because of who they sell to? But surely the public should be made aware of the basics of ag in stories about ag.

4

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 3d

Consider these sources all failing to draw the link between soy, animal feed, and factory farms. All it takes is one sentence, maybe even one clause.
www.economist.com/united-state...
www.foxbusiness.com/economy/amer...
abcnews.go.com/Politics/soy...

2 5

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 3d

Most people don't know much about ag commodity chains. That why, for instance, stories about the Colorado River's low levels need to mention that most water goes to animal feed like alfalfa. That's also why if you're talking about the global soy trade, you need to mention factory farms.

1 3 12

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 3d

deleted for good measure after checking internet archive.

1

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 3d

I wrote this article because so much media coverage of the soy trade drama focuses on farmers and not the political economy of ag. If a story covers rare earth it will explain its uses. Why is the same not standard for soy or alfalfa? Need to make the connection for readers.
bsky.app/profile/jand...

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 4d

"How much soy we produce shouldn’t be a barometer for how well our agriculture sector is doing, but for how unsustainable it is."

I wrote for @newrepublic.com that the trade war with China shows we grow too many crops to feed not people but factory-farmed animals.
newrepublic.com/article/2014...

Trump’s Tariffs Should Force a Reckoning With America’s Soy Industry

The industry became the world’s second largest not because of human demand for soy, but to feed China’s pigs.

newrepublic.com

1 10 19

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 3d

Deleted post using a Guardian article as an example because either they updated it or I made an honest but dumb reading mistake.

5

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 3d

No. And I'm not in the business of talking trash about The Guardian, so either they updated it or I made an honest but dumb mistake. Might delete thread.

1

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 3d

too many soystats on the brain.

1

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 3d

as the lord (as it were) is my witness that wasn't there when i read - i even did a ctrl+f for pigs and chickens and livestock when deciding to use this as my example. and in any case, see my tweet about this from a few days ago - i can post way more stories.

2 2

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 3d

yeah or soy sauce or whatever. or they simply don't put the pieces together at all.

1 1

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 3d

Virtually every piece on rare earth clearly explains its uses; pieces on softwood lumber disputes explain impact on things like housing costs. Why is the same basic practice not applied to soy/alfalfa/etc.? Why are we so scared of naming animal ag as central to the global political economy of ag?

3

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 3d

I don't want to throw The Guardian under the bus - they are quite good on ag and enviro issues - but this is exemplary of coverage of food/ag/commodities that misses basic things like drivers of demand. If you write that "China isn't buying x," you need to explain why they want x in the first place.

1 1 7

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 4d

Thank you

1