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j2bryson.bsky.social
Joanna Bryson
@j2bryson.bsky.social
9.1K followers 650 following 5.9K posts

Professor of Ethics & Technology @ Hertie School, Berlin. Interests: Artificial & Natural Intelligence; Behavioural Ecology; Cooperation; Digital Governance. Social media policy: https://joanna-bryson.blogspot.com/2024/10/guidance-to-my-social-media.html .. more

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Joanna Joy Bryson is professor at Hertie School in Berlin. She works on Artificial Intelligence, ethics and collaborative cognition. She has been a British citizen since 2007.

Source: Wikipedia
Computer science 31%
Neuroscience 25%
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j2bryson.bsky.social
Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · Feb 19
thread. correct numbers and data backing them come later, but this is the thrust.
j2bryson.bsky.social Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · Feb 5
One thing I learned last week was that if you don’t count the BS market capitalisation bubble of 7 “AI” firms, the US economy as measured by the s&p 500 didn’t go up 13% last year; it went down 7%.

The EU may be a larger economy already. We need to get our own O2 mask on, then start helping others.
garymarcus.bsky.social Gary Marcus @garymarcus.bsky.social · Feb 5
Guess why there was no reporting of AI revenue?

j2bryson.bsky.social
Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · 7h
What I saw reminded me more of my sole trip so far to IL—Jerusalem in ~2015. An entirely evident low-grade war to push out history—& in IL a people. Or 1992 St Petersburg, where museums were rapidly being updated to reflect Russian Orthodoxy instead of communism’s atheism, using US evangelical $$.

j2bryson.bsky.social
Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · 7h
One of the reasons I wanted to go to #hongKong so accepted the opportunity is because I’d read there’d been no wahabist-style purge of china’s long history there. I’d expected it to be more like Italy, with many historic alters, and maybe it would have been if I’d managed to go hiking. 1/2
j2bryson.bsky.social Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · 8h
Dangerous but common greed is why we pay for government — to protect ourselves from practices we know are harmful. But China’s government is trying to use this tragedy to stamp out a recognisable, safe and sustainable indicator that #hongkong holds of their shared history. The bamboo didn’t burn.

j2bryson.bsky.social
Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · 8h
Dangerous but common greed is why we pay for government — to protect ourselves from practices we know are harmful. But China’s government is trying to use this tragedy to stamp out a recognisable, safe and sustainable indicator that #hongkong holds of their shared history. The bamboo didn’t burn.

Reposted by Joanna Bryson, Anna O. Law, Scott L. Greer , and 9 more

heidikitrosser.bsky.social
Heidi Kitrosser @heidikitrosser.bsky.social · 10h
You've heard of the Friday night news dump. Here's the Friday night of Thanksgiving wknd dump. For special circumstances, like when the faculty assembly votes 595-4 against paying to end a shakedown and you do it anyway. Link to agreement here: bulkmail.northwestern.edu/trk/click?re...
mattheweadie.bsky.social Matthew Eadie @mattheweadie.bsky.social · 10h
BREAKING: Northwestern University has agreed to pay the U.S. Treasury $75 million, over the course of three years as part of an agreement with the federal government to restore funding and end investigations into the university

Full statement from NU below:

Reposted by Joanna Bryson, Greg Linden

bencollins.bsky.social
Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 18h
Here's a note I sent to our members about what we did with their money, and why we expect the Onion to outgrow the Washington Post.

We keep doing weird, hard shit — taunting ICE, yelling at Congress for not taunting ICE, buying bad websites — when nobody else does.

Our members keep getting papers.
Hey there Onion members, This is Ben Collins, CEO of America’s Finest News Source™. I am writing today, as we have arrived at a precipice in American life, to thank you. Our government is employing masked oafs to kidnap our neighbors, ziptie our children, and play Call of Duty: Burger King Edition in several American cities. The White House, otherwise occupied with taping an episode of HGTV’s “Help I Wrecked My House,” is hellbent on politically mandated starvation of the indigent. Worst of all, America’s airwaves have been taken over by dull throbbing moans only recently identified by scientists as something known as “Morgan Wallen.” In short, it is not a good time out there, and our captured media has been too scared to call that out. But, because of you, none of that is true at The Onion. For reasons we don’t like or understand, our work has become increasingly important. You and your contribution over the last year have allowed The Onion to thrive in this precarious moment — to take risks and to say sentences mere moments before those thoughts become criminalized. We need your help in the next year to bolster that fight as things get precipitously worse. Because of your support, The Onion is now the 11th-most distributed newspaper in the United States, sandwiched between The Boston Globe and The Chicago Tribune. In the next year, our goal is to crack the top 10, and to surpass the circulation of the propaganda project of a notorious space pervert, Jeff Bezos and The Washington Post. We’re confident we can reach this goal with your help. Unlike other publications, which all appear to have a fetish for caving to an increasingly maniacal and unpopular authoritarian government, The Onion remains unafraid to print the truth, straightforwardly and without favor. Due to your patronage in the last year, we have: Published 13 newspapers since the relaunch of our print edition in September of 2024. Over the summer, by popular demand, we increased the size of the paper by half. Took out a full-page advertisement in the New York Times “calling upon lawmakers in Congress to sit back and do absolutely nothing,” then sent this op-ed to every member of the House and Senate and all 54,000 of our subscribers. Thankfully, they took our advice, and now people are starving. Drove the Onion Newsvan in front of protests and ICE detention centers, blaring headlines about ICE’s one true love: teargassing elementary schools. Released Jeffrey Epstein: Bad Pedophile in over 40 cities across North America and later on YouTube, and let independent theatres keep the ticket sales. It’s still unclear if we can write this off. And, a year ago this week, we successfully bid on InfoWars at a bankruptcy auction, before the judgment was overturned by a judge for — and I’m paraphrasing here — being too cool. Yes, despite a legal bill that rivals the GDP of West Virginia, we are continuing work to acquire InfoWars and evolve it into an galactically sized depot of lies, scams, and miracle cures for all of the world’s awesome new and untracked illnesses. The Supreme Court — yes, this Supreme Court — denied Alex Jones’ appeal just last month, a last gasp at evading justice, and we’re hoping this clears a path to reinventing the dumbest site on the internet very soon. So ahead of this holiday season, please consider subscribing to The Onion for yourself, your friends, your parents, or your infant. People love getting something great in the mail every month amidst their requisite bills and death threats. Look, we’re an independent company, we don’t use AI to write headlines and make art, and we’re one of roughly three publications who are up for the fight. Unlike other places, The Onion is quadrupling down on being a pain in the ass, politically. Are you? If so, I hope you’ll continue to be an Onion member, get the paper, and help us deliver ulcers to those who deserve it. Thank you, and Tu Stultus Es, Ben Collins CEO | The Onion

Reposted by Joanna Bryson

isdglobal.org
Institute for Strategic Dialogue @isdglobal.org · 19h
Online hate shaped the unrest in the Southern Syrian city of Suweyda. ISD’s new analysis shows how misleading content and anti-Druze rhetoric—over 34K posts btwn March and Sept 2025—spiked with conflict, linking online discourse to offline violence. Read the report below.
How violence in southern Syria fuelled anti-Druze hate and online misinformation
Violence targeting groups in Syria including the Druze community and others is driving a tide of online hate and misinformation.
www.isdglobal.org

j2bryson.bsky.social
Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · 19h
A lot of animals are conscious if you mean "have explicit memory of the type humans describe as conscious." Only humans are known to have language, which is also interesting but I think likely getting understood and could be replicated here or elsewhere joanna-bryson.blogspot.com/2015/07/my-t...
My theory of the origins of human uniqueness
artificial and natural intelligence, including politics, policy, ethics and security
joanna-bryson.blogspot.com

j2bryson.bsky.social
Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · 20h
Finally reading that was literally on my todo list for 20 November (flight to Hong Kong) but I wound up writing all three talks right up to the last minute because so many other things happened the previous week... some day soon I'll read it!

j2bryson.bsky.social
Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · 21h
nope, never seen one in the wild, at least not since a small child being pointed it out by my mother.

j2bryson.bsky.social
Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · 21h
We're super resistant to demystifying our lives, which this book is reminding me what a problem that is even among a lot of the super smart and powerful. We can have the answers in front of our faces, and yet refuse to see. bsky.app/profile/j2br...
j2bryson.bsky.social Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · 1d
How did I not know this is where #transhumanism as a term came from? I’m sure I’m showing that I’m not reading my friends enough.
the galaxy. The core idea stems back to the 1940s and 1960s when an tionises, evolutionary biologist named Julian Huxley joined and ran the British Eugenics Society. The eugenics movement proposed that mues posthuman hit in their lifet humans should improve themselves through selective breeding, 1Is developmen and it flourished in British universities and among the countrys intellectual and upper classes. Huxley himself came from an aris- mandor cha gin out of col tocratic family (his brother Aldous wrote Brave New World), and he believed society's upper crust was genetically superior. Lower-class people needed to be weeded out like a bad crop and subjected to forced sterilization. "[They] are reproducing too hoped as fast," Huxley wrote. in that 1 When the Nazis latched on to the eugenics movement, Hux- mentur ley decided it needed a rebrand. He coined a new term, trans-humanism, in an essay saying that alongside proper breeding, humanity could also "transcend itself" through science and technology. supremacy. IF AI, ChatGPT and the race that will change: the world SOR PARMY OLSON Bestselling author of We Are Anonymous

j2bryson.bsky.social
Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · 21h
By biochemists? And consciousness (life choosing actions through abstraction it can de/re-reference for communication and agile planning) isn't THAT unlikely after that. Assuming we can get over our excitement about our own phenomenology, which again makes sense in light of evolution.

j2bryson.bsky.social
Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · 21h
"Three core mysteries exist: that there is something rather than nothing, that life exists, and that conscious life exists." – from @brlsi.bsky.social about Raymond Tallis' talk. Surely only the first one is hard? An algorithm that self perpetuates is quite likely to emerge & well understood right?

j2bryson.bsky.social
Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · 1d
@soundbookpro.bsky.social

Reposted by Joanna Bryson

thequietus.com
The Quietus @thequietus.com · 1d
The Quietus would not exist were it not for our subscribers. We're not doing a Black Friday sale as we can't afford to, but if you subscribe today, you'll be helping actual humans share their joy in music with independent editorial that's guaranteed AI-slop-free:

thequietus.com/subscribers/

j2bryson.bsky.social
Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · 1d
Time to airbus spacex. :-( I’m honestly not sure democratic governments can still do high-risk work, but if all incumbents always lose in a highly polarised era, they might as well try.

j2bryson.bsky.social
Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · 1d
That page doesn’t mention eugenics? @rebeccasear.bsky.social is it true that the first head of UNESCO was a eugenicist who openly rebranded post Hitler?

Reposted by Joanna Bryson

cruickshank.bsky.social
Michael Cruickshank @cruickshank.bsky.social · 1d
I thought for a second that the ESA's budget was now higher than that of NASA, until I realised it was a three-year budget. Still, a very welcome move for European space sovereignty.
www.esa.int/About_Us/Cor...
ESA Member States commit to largest contributions at Ministerial
The largest contributions in the history of the European Space Agency, €22.1 bn, have been approved at its Council meeting at Ministerial level in Bremen, ...
www.esa.int

j2bryson.bsky.social
Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · 1d
It wouldn’t be the only oversimplification in the book, but the book doesn’t seem terrible.

Reposted by Joanna Bryson

bvlsingler.bsky.social
Prof. Dr Beth Singler @bvlsingler.bsky.social · 1d
Hmmm well... Some disagree tbh

j2bryson.bsky.social
Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · 1d
How did I not know this is where #transhumanism as a term came from? I’m sure I’m showing that I’m not reading my friends enough.
the galaxy. The core idea stems back to the 1940s and 1960s when an tionises, evolutionary biologist named Julian Huxley joined and ran the British Eugenics Society. The eugenics movement proposed that mues posthuman hit in their lifet humans should improve themselves through selective breeding, 1Is developmen and it flourished in British universities and among the countrys intellectual and upper classes. Huxley himself came from an aris- mandor cha gin out of col tocratic family (his brother Aldous wrote Brave New World), and he believed society's upper crust was genetically superior. Lower-class people needed to be weeded out like a bad crop and subjected to forced sterilization. "[They] are reproducing too hoped as fast," Huxley wrote. in that 1 When the Nazis latched on to the eugenics movement, Hux- mentur ley decided it needed a rebrand. He coined a new term, trans-humanism, in an essay saying that alongside proper breeding, humanity could also "transcend itself" through science and technology. supremacy. IF AI, ChatGPT and the race that will change: the world SOR PARMY OLSON Bestselling author of We Are Anonymous

Reposted by Joanna Bryson, Ruth Mace, Stephen D. Murphy

alanrogers.bsky.social
Alan Rogers @alanrogers.bsky.social · 1d
I taught (and co-taught) a course on human population genetics from 2000-2024. Having retired, I'm now making all the course materials public: github.com/alanrogers/p... #popgen #evbio
GitHub - alanrogers/popgen: A course on population genetics
A course on population genetics. Contribute to alanrogers/popgen development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com

Reposted by Joanna Bryson, Stephan Lewandowsky, David Lazer , and 3 more

frapierri.bsky.social
Francesco Pierri @frapierri.bsky.social · 1d
Happy to announce the 2nd edition of our Summer School in Computational Social Science that will take place in the beautiful Villa del Grumello on Lake Como between June 22-26, 2026!

*** DEADLINE FOR APPLICATION: February 15, 2026 (firm deadline) ***

More details here:
css2.lakecomoschool.org

j2bryson.bsky.social
Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · 1d
I personally only read non-algorithmic feeds, and I learn a lot that way, but no one sees me like they did before twitter let you get lazy and use AI. AI recommenders often tend to leave out the interesting, uncategorisable posts and posters. (Though I don't think that's what's up with LinkedIn.)

j2bryson.bsky.social
Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · 1d
Interesting lunch with a Hong Kong University journalism adjunct (formerly UNDP) talking about how journalism keeps flourishing despite loss of ad revenue, government prosecution, & algorithmic suppression. This post has very few views, is it because I mention grok? www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
#genai #aiethics #agi #superintelligence #llm #grok | Joanna Bryson
Are LLM people? No. Tobias Schlicht's 3rd picture here is of a newish slide I'm particularly pleased with, explaining how LLM work, why you only get text completions via LLM that sound human / "sentie...
www.linkedin.com

Reposted by Joanna Bryson

j2bryson.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Joanna Bryson, blathering @j2bryson.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 2d
#GiftArticle. I’m sure there are people this endangers (I never localise my posts or photos) but I also strongly agree we need focus on our neighbourhoods. #aiethics #techethics #digitalgovernance
https://wapo.st/4p6KTUQ

j2bryson.bsky.social
Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · 2d
Where did you live?? Berlin avacados are better than Edinburgh bath Princeton Chicago boston = anywhere I’ve lived before.

j2bryson.bsky.social
Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · 2d
Speaking of the OBR , slide from last night

j2bryson.bsky.social
Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · 2d
I admit I have 2x that space, but less than half what I had in New Jersey, but I feel richer for having a big city outside, quality of life. Obviously it was a choice to move here. Arguably the musician has to live in a capital (if she “has” to be a musician) but she too willingly left the US.

j2bryson.bsky.social
Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · 2d
These aren’t rat holes and both the women I know raising kids in that space are well known professionals. One a musician, one an academic.

j2bryson.bsky.social
Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · 2d
I know the recommendations, and also I know my friends. But maybe you are surprised about ordinary home sizes in Germany? Obviously Berlin and Vienna are a bit tighter than the rest of their respective countries.