commamonger 😷 (analogue writing assistant)
@commamonger.bsky.social
Made in Scotland, from molecules. I write, I nitpick others' writing. Once a scientist, will always look good in a white coat.
Also run @theskylark.bsky.social
Also run @theskylark.bsky.social
Pinned
"And for what? For a little bit of money?
...There's more to life than a little money, you know.
...Don't ya know that?
...And here ya are, and it's a beautiful day.
Well... I just don't understand it."
...There's more to life than a little money, you know.
...Don't ya know that?
...And here ya are, and it's a beautiful day.
Well... I just don't understand it."
Reposted by commamonger 😷 (analogue writing assistant)
“Young people are quickly becoming so dependent on A.I. that they are losing the ability to think for themselves. And rather than rallying resistance, academic administrators are aiding and abetting a hostile takeover of higher education.”
Opinion | How A.I. Companies Are Preying on College Students
www.nytimes.com
February 12, 2026 at 8:24 PM
“Young people are quickly becoming so dependent on A.I. that they are losing the ability to think for themselves. And rather than rallying resistance, academic administrators are aiding and abetting a hostile takeover of higher education.”
For any fans of this bunch, all three are blethering on Radio 2 right now.
Watched The Ballad of Wallis Island last night, what a great film. Sweet, funny, moving. And cardigans.
February 12, 2026 at 8:21 PM
For any fans of this bunch, all three are blethering on Radio 2 right now.
Reposted by commamonger 😷 (analogue writing assistant)
It's everywhere, man
youtu.be/mEVl0NS0vu8
(via @metafilter.bsky.social)
(Also the filmmakers say no "AI" was actually used in the short)
youtu.be/mEVl0NS0vu8
(via @metafilter.bsky.social)
(Also the filmmakers say no "AI" was actually used in the short)
That's AI (2026) - Short Film
YouTube video by maximise
youtu.be
February 12, 2026 at 6:57 PM
It's everywhere, man
youtu.be/mEVl0NS0vu8
(via @metafilter.bsky.social)
(Also the filmmakers say no "AI" was actually used in the short)
youtu.be/mEVl0NS0vu8
(via @metafilter.bsky.social)
(Also the filmmakers say no "AI" was actually used in the short)
Reposted by commamonger 😷 (analogue writing assistant)
This is a peer reviewed study and it’s great news
A new study has shown that miscarriage or induced abortion is NOT a potential risk factor for breast cancer, contrary to continued anti-choice propaganda. Even several abortions or miscarriages does not increase risk. The study used high-quality Finnish registry data.
Prior abortion or miscarriage not linked to increased risk of pre- or postmenopausal breast cancer
A prior abortion or miscarriage was not linked with an increased risk of developing pre- or postmenopausal breast cancer in a study published in Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica.
www.news-medical.net
February 12, 2026 at 6:58 PM
This is a peer reviewed study and it’s great news
Reposted by commamonger 😷 (analogue writing assistant)
Whistle down the wind - the lane to the barn.
#Landscape
#Landscape
February 12, 2026 at 6:25 PM
Whistle down the wind - the lane to the barn.
#Landscape
#Landscape
Reposted by commamonger 😷 (analogue writing assistant)
Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin
February 12, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin
Reposted by commamonger 😷 (analogue writing assistant)
Reposted by commamonger 😷 (analogue writing assistant)
Going to start referring to reading as getting "mind-cucked", saying that letting another man put thoughts into your head is beta behaviour. This is going to make me seventeen grand a month on patreon, and lead to at least one regime change.
February 12, 2026 at 3:24 PM
Going to start referring to reading as getting "mind-cucked", saying that letting another man put thoughts into your head is beta behaviour. This is going to make me seventeen grand a month on patreon, and lead to at least one regime change.
Next week: 'I landed up in A&E for the first time in years. Were the seats always so small and uncomfortable?'
February 12, 2026 at 2:48 PM
Next week: 'I landed up in A&E for the first time in years. Were the seats always so small and uncomfortable?'
Reposted by commamonger 😷 (analogue writing assistant)
What a shame everyone can't wait to give up reading and writing. Also moving, that other great protector against dementia.
Reading and writing can lower dementia risk by almost 40%, study finds
Cognitive health in later life is ‘strongly influenced’ by lifelong exposure to intellectually stimulating environments, say researchers
www.theguardian.com
February 11, 2026 at 10:57 PM
What a shame everyone can't wait to give up reading and writing. Also moving, that other great protector against dementia.
Reposted by commamonger 😷 (analogue writing assistant)
Speaking of camouflage, check out this idiot.
February 12, 2026 at 12:17 PM
Speaking of camouflage, check out this idiot.
Reposted by commamonger 😷 (analogue writing assistant)
Ill be clear about why I am so angry and critical about it: Im seeing a good portion of my students who have imbibed the notion that they dont have to read, think or write for themselves because ChatGPT/CoPilot will do their thinking for them, and its terrifying. It should scare all of us.
February 12, 2026 at 1:21 PM
Ill be clear about why I am so angry and critical about it: Im seeing a good portion of my students who have imbibed the notion that they dont have to read, think or write for themselves because ChatGPT/CoPilot will do their thinking for them, and its terrifying. It should scare all of us.
Reposted by commamonger 😷 (analogue writing assistant)
no, it simply isnt.
People are talking about capital using gAI as an excuse to conduct mass lay-offs, about students losing learning because theyre being lied to about gAI in education, about the mass theft of the work of artists and authors to train LLMs, about CSAM and nonconsensual sexual images.
People are talking about capital using gAI as an excuse to conduct mass lay-offs, about students losing learning because theyre being lied to about gAI in education, about the mass theft of the work of artists and authors to train LLMs, about CSAM and nonconsensual sexual images.
The predominent anti-AI position on bsky is that AI is useless, fake, shit and basically the same as NFTs, destined to collapse in months once everyone sees how poor it is. So anyone who suggests that it could improve or be useful to any boss in any situation in the future must be evil.
February 12, 2026 at 1:19 PM
no, it simply isnt.
People are talking about capital using gAI as an excuse to conduct mass lay-offs, about students losing learning because theyre being lied to about gAI in education, about the mass theft of the work of artists and authors to train LLMs, about CSAM and nonconsensual sexual images.
People are talking about capital using gAI as an excuse to conduct mass lay-offs, about students losing learning because theyre being lied to about gAI in education, about the mass theft of the work of artists and authors to train LLMs, about CSAM and nonconsensual sexual images.
Reposted by commamonger 😷 (analogue writing assistant)
Because of this story I can never give signed books to charity and if I buy one which turns out to have an inscription I feel bad for the signatory
February 12, 2026 at 12:45 PM
Because of this story I can never give signed books to charity and if I buy one which turns out to have an inscription I feel bad for the signatory
Reposted by commamonger 😷 (analogue writing assistant)
TV. They've just reinvented TV.
February 12, 2026 at 11:13 AM
TV. They've just reinvented TV.
Reposted by commamonger 😷 (analogue writing assistant)
I am, once again, asking for your palaeographical support (especially from #C18 Francophone friends). Any thoughts on the two words underlined in yellow? Merci!
![J'y ai quelque titre 1°. par tous les ouvrages que j'ai publiés, [????] écrits dans la vue d’être utile 2°. par le tableau que j'ai publié de la situation des anglois dans Les Indes Orientales, ouvrage qui a exigé des rechercher prodigieus et entrainé beaucoup de [frais?].](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:wcu4e3v45agqytvhfjk2od4d/bafkreiebhfiqjcjiud5n2sy4zvwmounkfqylgifyabslljgzpde23lbl4y@jpeg)
February 12, 2026 at 11:03 AM
I am, once again, asking for your palaeographical support (especially from #C18 Francophone friends). Any thoughts on the two words underlined in yellow? Merci!
Reposted by commamonger 😷 (analogue writing assistant)
You WILL enjoy this. Stewart Lee and I discussing language and the week’s politics. #StrongMessageHere . On #BBCSounds, Apple Podcast app, Spotify, and all the others too.
February 12, 2026 at 10:45 AM
You WILL enjoy this. Stewart Lee and I discussing language and the week’s politics. #StrongMessageHere . On #BBCSounds, Apple Podcast app, Spotify, and all the others too.
Reposted by commamonger 😷 (analogue writing assistant)
Obviously zero reflection in any of this on how operating the largest empire in human history may have turned us into a multicultural nation. We are here because you were there. #Empireland
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
PM asks Sir Jim Ratcliffe to apologise for saying UK 'colonised by immigrants'
Sir Keir Starmer says comments by the businessman and Manchester United co-owner are
www.bbc.co.uk
February 12, 2026 at 8:13 AM
Obviously zero reflection in any of this on how operating the largest empire in human history may have turned us into a multicultural nation. We are here because you were there. #Empireland
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
I wanted to write forever and have struggled and wrestled with it for at least thirty years: the struggle is the WHOLE POINT. Without hard thinking, your brain is not forced to adapt to the effort and come back stronger, thinking deeper, more laterally, making leaps your old brain couldn't dream of.
Hear hear! Writing books (and other texts) is about the process, not the product. It's about the rewarding experience of understanding a complex issue by thinking it through and translating this process into string of prose to share it with others.
I certainly don't dismiss all of this. Especially for some jobs. And even given that its message is "Buy our products". But: "If you’ve always wanted to write a book but couldn’t find the time or struggled with the writing, you can work with AI to get it done." So...
fortune.com/2026/02/11/s...
fortune.com/2026/02/11/s...
February 12, 2026 at 11:00 AM
I wanted to write forever and have struggled and wrestled with it for at least thirty years: the struggle is the WHOLE POINT. Without hard thinking, your brain is not forced to adapt to the effort and come back stronger, thinking deeper, more laterally, making leaps your old brain couldn't dream of.
Reposted by commamonger 😷 (analogue writing assistant)
Meanwhile, so much speculative capital is now directed toward the need for LLMs to be right, that it's literally distorting the global economy, and threatening to accelerate climate collapse.
NOTHING LLMs could possibly do justifies that. It's raving insanity.
NOTHING LLMs could possibly do justifies that. It's raving insanity.
February 12, 2026 at 10:32 AM
Meanwhile, so much speculative capital is now directed toward the need for LLMs to be right, that it's literally distorting the global economy, and threatening to accelerate climate collapse.
NOTHING LLMs could possibly do justifies that. It's raving insanity.
NOTHING LLMs could possibly do justifies that. It's raving insanity.
Reposted by commamonger 😷 (analogue writing assistant)
People who think LLMs can successfully parse complex human interactions are *simply wrong*.
And it turns out that people who think LLMs can successfully do some kinds of narrow technical work are also wrong...
And it turns out that people who think LLMs can successfully do some kinds of narrow technical work are also wrong...
As AI enters the operating room, reports arise of botched surgeries and misidentified body parts
Medical device makers have been rushing to add AI to their products. While proponents say the new technology will revolutionize medicine, regulators are receiving a rising number of claims of patient ...
www.reuters.com
February 12, 2026 at 10:30 AM
People who think LLMs can successfully parse complex human interactions are *simply wrong*.
And it turns out that people who think LLMs can successfully do some kinds of narrow technical work are also wrong...
And it turns out that people who think LLMs can successfully do some kinds of narrow technical work are also wrong...
Reposted by commamonger 😷 (analogue writing assistant)
I guess the point here is that, outside of a narrow range of technical applications, LLMs are *absolutely terrible* at producing the reliable outputs that would be necessary to think of them as successfully "automating a process". And it's on those areas where they're worst that the hype focuses.
I think the correct take is that (1) LLMs are normal automation technology. They eliminate some jobs that can be automated, create other jobs managing the automation processes, and increase the productivity of workers who gain mastery of the tools; and… 1/2
I understand why people are exhausted by AI hype, and why those of us squarely in the corner of "human dignity uber alles" see AI doomerism as self-serving hype, but I *really* think people on the left broadly need to start thinking seriously about the possibiltiy of the hype being...true.
February 12, 2026 at 10:28 AM
I guess the point here is that, outside of a narrow range of technical applications, LLMs are *absolutely terrible* at producing the reliable outputs that would be necessary to think of them as successfully "automating a process". And it's on those areas where they're worst that the hype focuses.
Reposted by commamonger 😷 (analogue writing assistant)
Always dress smartly before settling down to write.
Getty Ms. 114; Livre des faits de Jacques de Lalaing; c.1530 CE; Flanders, Belgium; f.10r @gettymuseum.bsky.social
Getty Ms. 114; Livre des faits de Jacques de Lalaing; c.1530 CE; Flanders, Belgium; f.10r @gettymuseum.bsky.social
February 11, 2026 at 9:44 PM
Always dress smartly before settling down to write.
Getty Ms. 114; Livre des faits de Jacques de Lalaing; c.1530 CE; Flanders, Belgium; f.10r @gettymuseum.bsky.social
Getty Ms. 114; Livre des faits de Jacques de Lalaing; c.1530 CE; Flanders, Belgium; f.10r @gettymuseum.bsky.social