Dr Brett H Meyer
@bretthmeyer.bsky.social
We live because everything else does.
—Richard Wagamese
He/him, Professor of ECE, researching hardware-software co-design of machine learning systems; 🇺🇸 in 🇨🇦! Views expressed are my own.
https://rssl.ece.mcgill.ca/
—Richard Wagamese
He/him, Professor of ECE, researching hardware-software co-design of machine learning systems; 🇺🇸 in 🇨🇦! Views expressed are my own.
https://rssl.ece.mcgill.ca/
Pinned
Dr Brett H Meyer
@bretthmeyer.bsky.social
· Nov 11
There’s something delightful about starting over.
Yes, they are harmful— especially in education— precisely because of their utility.
Actually, stochastic parrots...are good! At least as a metaphor for large-language models, and there's no reason to deny their usefulness. Rather the opposite: They are harmful precisely because of their utility. Also included, a face-biting parrot named Chiku.
I really enjoyed writing this one.
I really enjoyed writing this one.
In defense of stochastic parrots
Large-language models are useful and that's the problem
buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com
February 16, 2026 at 12:59 PM
Yes, they are harmful— especially in education— precisely because of their utility.
Reposted by Dr Brett H Meyer
“If you look at major companies and corporations like Microsoft and Google, they are the very entities that are powering genocide, powering war. You start to realize that a lot of the claims around 'AI for good' start to crumble.”
- @abeba.bsky.social
- @abeba.bsky.social
February 14, 2026 at 2:56 PM
“If you look at major companies and corporations like Microsoft and Google, they are the very entities that are powering genocide, powering war. You start to realize that a lot of the claims around 'AI for good' start to crumble.”
- @abeba.bsky.social
- @abeba.bsky.social
Reposted by Dr Brett H Meyer
No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition.
Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Gladys Mae West obituary: mathematician who pioneered GPS technology
She made key contributions to US cold-war science despite facing huge barriers as a Black woman.
www.nature.com
February 6, 2026 at 9:09 AM
No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition.
Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
And not only completing it, but doing so well, producing a durable result worth being proud of. There has always been shortcuts. When the work matters, they’re always a trap.
I understand why people like LLMs because I, too, really want this paper to be done. By which I mean, I want to “stop thinking about it,” but to do so I have to arrive at a point where the thought is *complete* rather than the point at which I am “frustrated by the challenge of completing it.”
February 1, 2026 at 3:07 PM
And not only completing it, but doing so well, producing a durable result worth being proud of. There has always been shortcuts. When the work matters, they’re always a trap.
Reposted by Dr Brett H Meyer
Rhetoric didn’t shoot the guns.
Homan: "I begged for the last two months on TV for the rhetoric to stop. I said in March -- if the rhetoric doesn't stop, there is gonna be bloodshed. And there has been. I wish I wasn't right. I don't want to see anybody die."
January 29, 2026 at 1:40 PM
Rhetoric didn’t shoot the guns.
Reposted by Dr Brett H Meyer
Blistering piece on ed tech in @economist.com.
‘Although ed-tech companies tout huge learning gains, independent research has made clear that technology rarely boosts learning in schools—and often impairs it.’
economist.com/united-state...
‘Although ed-tech companies tout huge learning gains, independent research has made clear that technology rarely boosts learning in schools—and often impairs it.’
economist.com/united-state...
Ed tech is profitable. It is also mostly useless
Independent research identifies few learning gains
economist.com
January 24, 2026 at 2:24 PM
Blistering piece on ed tech in @economist.com.
‘Although ed-tech companies tout huge learning gains, independent research has made clear that technology rarely boosts learning in schools—and often impairs it.’
economist.com/united-state...
‘Although ed-tech companies tout huge learning gains, independent research has made clear that technology rarely boosts learning in schools—and often impairs it.’
economist.com/united-state...
Reposted by Dr Brett H Meyer
Reposted by Dr Brett H Meyer
January 15, 2026 at 1:30 PM
Reposted by Dr Brett H Meyer
can we stop for just a sec?
January 8, 2026 at 10:47 PM
can we stop for just a sec?
Reposted by Dr Brett H Meyer
A List of Predictions Made in 1926 About 2026
🧵
🧵
January 1, 2026 at 5:13 PM
A List of Predictions Made in 1926 About 2026
🧵
🧵
Just say no!
"This promise of an AI future, is really just a collective anxiety that wealthy people have about how well they're gonna be able to control us in the future."
- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit.
Incredible words.
Listen to all of it!
- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit.
Incredible words.
Listen to all of it!
December 19, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Just say no!
Reposted by Dr Brett H Meyer
I agree with all this — sick leave is essential to a healthy society. While we’re working on that, though, we need to make it a general norm that if you MUST be around others while sick, you wear a mask (preferably a good one).
3/ Isolation is important but only works if people can afford it. Many people simply can’t stay home when sick. Without meaningful sick pay, asking people to isolate is unrealistic. Better financial support is essential to reduce transmission.
December 16, 2025 at 12:49 PM
I agree with all this — sick leave is essential to a healthy society. While we’re working on that, though, we need to make it a general norm that if you MUST be around others while sick, you wear a mask (preferably a good one).
Reposted by Dr Brett H Meyer
The key phrase in this op-ed: "scarcity breeds ingenuity." What's so remarkable about the human mind is how nimble it is, how capable we are despite *not* having read all the data on the Internet. The brute force methods of today's AI models are offensive to human cognitive elegance.
“Better A.I. would remember what it learns, just as humans do, and squeeze more work from each watt. Tech companies spend billions of dollars running large language models that don’t learn while they run. A tool that does both simultaneously would come closer to approximating the human brain” (Gift)
Opinion | A Bursting Bubble Would Be Great for A.I.
www.nytimes.com
December 5, 2025 at 12:12 PM
The key phrase in this op-ed: "scarcity breeds ingenuity." What's so remarkable about the human mind is how nimble it is, how capable we are despite *not* having read all the data on the Internet. The brute force methods of today's AI models are offensive to human cognitive elegance.
Reposted by Dr Brett H Meyer
I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.
November 28, 2025 at 3:07 PM
I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.
This explains the trouble I had trying to secure RAM for new PCs for home! Whatever I’d selected in PC Part Picker would disappear between adding it to the build and actually going to the website to make the purchase. I had to revise my choice three times in a matter of a few hours. 🤨
The AI bubble is so out of control most RAM manufacturers have stopped manufacturing RAM for pcs and shifted to high bandwidth RAM for AI computing. There's now such a severe shortage that prices have jump 3-4x in just a month and it is impacting the ability to supply PCs and gaming consoles.
November 25, 2025 at 4:37 PM
This explains the trouble I had trying to secure RAM for new PCs for home! Whatever I’d selected in PC Part Picker would disappear between adding it to the build and actually going to the website to make the purchase. I had to revise my choice three times in a matter of a few hours. 🤨
Make an exenniel feel old with three words: 30th anniversary edition.
open.spotify.com/album/6nrppj...
open.spotify.com/album/6nrppj...
Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness (30th Anniversary Edition)
open.spotify.com
November 21, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Make an exenniel feel old with three words: 30th anniversary edition.
open.spotify.com/album/6nrppj...
open.spotify.com/album/6nrppj...
Reposted by Dr Brett H Meyer
New research supporting the radical proposition that trying to learn something works better than not trying.
theconversation.com/learning-wit...
theconversation.com/learning-wit...
Learning with AI falls short compared to old-fashioned web search
Doing the mental work of connecting the dots across multiple web queries appears to help people understand the material better compared to an AI summary.
theconversation.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:29 PM
New research supporting the radical proposition that trying to learn something works better than not trying.
theconversation.com/learning-wit...
theconversation.com/learning-wit...
Reposted by Dr Brett H Meyer
It’s widely known (and, I think, pretty uncontroversial) that learning requires effort — specifically, if you don’t have to work at getting the knowledge, it won’t stick.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
November 21, 2025 at 12:49 PM
It’s widely known (and, I think, pretty uncontroversial) that learning requires effort — specifically, if you don’t have to work at getting the knowledge, it won’t stick.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Welp, you can either 1) stop Google from using all your email to train models, or 2) you can use spellcheck.
If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features."
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
November 20, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Welp, you can either 1) stop Google from using all your email to train models, or 2) you can use spellcheck.
Reposted by Dr Brett H Meyer
These are not serious people.
November 19, 2025 at 9:05 AM
These are not serious people.
Reposted by Dr Brett H Meyer
Academia is a really racist and sexist place. Larry Summers, as the president of Harvard, epitomized that racism and sexism but he is not unique. That's why we needed DEI.
November 18, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Academia is a really racist and sexist place. Larry Summers, as the president of Harvard, epitomized that racism and sexism but he is not unique. That's why we needed DEI.
Reposted by Dr Brett H Meyer
I'll believe the Democrats give a fuck and this isn't just about ✨political scandal points✨ when 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 completely denounce and cut all ties with 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 in these chats and start standing ten toes down for the 𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑠 . No matter who it is. No matter what.
November 16, 2025 at 12:39 AM
I'll believe the Democrats give a fuck and this isn't just about ✨political scandal points✨ when 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 completely denounce and cut all ties with 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 in these chats and start standing ten toes down for the 𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑠 . No matter who it is. No matter what.
Reposted by Dr Brett H Meyer
"It's like asbestos" is the perfect analogy.
Useful in some contexts, dangerous and unhealthy in others we won't even know about for decades. *perfect*
Useful in some contexts, dangerous and unhealthy in others we won't even know about for decades. *perfect*
Love to see community action against this AI nonsense! neighborhoodview.org/2025/11/13/d...
November 15, 2025 at 8:08 PM
"It's like asbestos" is the perfect analogy.
Useful in some contexts, dangerous and unhealthy in others we won't even know about for decades. *perfect*
Useful in some contexts, dangerous and unhealthy in others we won't even know about for decades. *perfect*
I’d like the “too close to the sun” package, please! Thank you.
November 14, 2025 at 2:37 AM
I’d like the “too close to the sun” package, please! Thank you.
Reposted by Dr Brett H Meyer
![[Scene is a kitchen - a middle aged woman called JANET is boiling peas at the stove. A younger more colourfully dressed woman named LIZ approached her.]
JANET:
Ugh...
LIZ:
What's up?
JANET:
I am so bored of cooking peas!
LIZ:
Have you tried...
AI peas?
JANET:
AI peas?
LIZ:
They're peas with AI!
[Liz holds up to us a packet of peas labelled: Pea-i AI - Peas with AI].
LIZ:
Al-powered peas harness the potential of your peas
JANET:
What
LIZ [Now a voiceover as we cut to a whizzy technology diagram of peas all connected by meaningless dotted lines]
Why not take your peas to the next level with Al Peas' new Al tools to power your peas?
[Show a techno diagram of a pea with a label reading 'AI' pointing to a random zone in it]
LIZ:
Each pea has Al in a way we haven't quite worked out yet but it's fine
[Show Janet and Liz now in a Matrix-style world of peas]
LIZ:
With Al peas you can supercharge productivity and make AI work for your peas!
JANET:
What
LIZ:
Shut up
LIZ:
Our game-changing Pea-Al gives you the freedom to unlock the potential of the power of the future of your peas workflow
From opening the bag of peas
to boiling the peas
to eating the peas
To spending millions on adding Al to the peas and then having to work out what that even means.
JANET:
Is it really necessary to-
LIZ [Grabbing Janet by the collar]:
THE PEAS HAVE GOT AI, JANET
[Cut to an advert ending screen, with the bag of peas and the slogan:
AI PEAS: Just 'Peas' for god's sake buy the AI peas.
[Ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreiayqa37f7kik7l7s7fbtfp2sir5ckb662ry2lylinyjrfa2rkvvka@jpeg)