EssayWells
@essaywells.bsky.social
Scientist, husband, parent, possibly a little too into Dungeons and Dragons. @essayWells on Twitter (Ex-Twitter?)
Reposted by EssayWells
the unitarian notion of accountability is, in general, very strange as it holds that a single election — the president’s reelect — is more democratically accountable than the rolling process of democratic assent produced by legislative elections and congressional oversight.
December 9, 2025 at 1:57 PM
the unitarian notion of accountability is, in general, very strange as it holds that a single election — the president’s reelect — is more democratically accountable than the rolling process of democratic assent produced by legislative elections and congressional oversight.
Reposted by EssayWells
Wow: Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention (named for Holocaust survivor Raphael Lemkin, who coined term "genocide") calls Clinton's remarks "genocide denial."
"Young people in the US are not stupid or gullible. They simply reject genocide – something the Secretary might consider doing as well."
"Young people in the US are not stupid or gullible. They simply reject genocide – something the Secretary might consider doing as well."
![Statement on Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Genocide Denial at the Israel Hayom Summit
December 9, 2025
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security feels called to point out that former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s recent remarks at the Israel Hayom Summit on 2 December amount to outright genocide denial.
During her remarks, the Secretary correctly noted that the recent deterioration of Israel’s standing among U.S. voters is not a “Republican versus Democrat kind of divide” but rather a generational one. Nevertheless, she incorrectly diagnosed the reasons for the shift as a matter purely of optics, stating that “Israel [has] the worst PR of any group” and accusing social media, particularly TikTok, of presenting “pure propaganda” that American youth are uncritically ingesting.
Secretary Clinton’s framing is not at all an accurate reflection of why Americans are growing more critical of Israel. Young Americans of all political stripes have not fallen prey to propaganda, though that is always a legitimate concern. Rather, they have consumed two years of videos depicting Israel’s genocide against Palestinians that have been uploaded by Palestinian journalists, ordinary people trying to survive in Gaza, IDF soldiers, and ordinary Israelis themselves. There has been no convincing refutation of the sheer amount of raw evidence of genocide coming out of Palestine. Young people in the U.S. are not stupid or gullible. They simply reject genocide – something the Secretary might consider doing as well.
Secretary Clinton appears not to be bothered by the reality of genocidal violence – in fact, she did not mention anything about it. Her concern is, rather, in her words, “the narrative” – the fact that these crimes are no longer hidden and are now being live-streamed and documented in real time, making it harder for her and others to control it. TikTok cannot be blamed for the fact that many members of Gen Z understand that Israel is …](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:pwsjq3xnal6auzgeqho4ecw7/bafkreiafbjju65esvo6htynkkl6or6muv4qqhwo5fghkkbyvclgnxxmchy@jpeg)
December 9, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Wow: Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention (named for Holocaust survivor Raphael Lemkin, who coined term "genocide") calls Clinton's remarks "genocide denial."
"Young people in the US are not stupid or gullible. They simply reject genocide – something the Secretary might consider doing as well."
"Young people in the US are not stupid or gullible. They simply reject genocide – something the Secretary might consider doing as well."
Reposted by EssayWells
1/28 New preprint up, which I think is the best theoretical idea I've ever had. We asked a simple question: what are the costs of investment into non-reproductive somatic cells? Turns out these costs decrease with the *logarithm* of organism size!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
The fitness costs of reproductive specialization scale inversely with organismal size
The evolution of reproductive specialization represents a fundamental innovation in multicellular life, yet the conditions favoring its evolution remain poorly understood. Here, we develop a populatio...
www.biorxiv.org
December 9, 2025 at 7:44 PM
1/28 New preprint up, which I think is the best theoretical idea I've ever had. We asked a simple question: what are the costs of investment into non-reproductive somatic cells? Turns out these costs decrease with the *logarithm* of organism size!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by EssayWells
YOUR STUDENTS ARE NOT YOUR CUSTOMERS.
Get the fuck out of education if that's the way you're talking about them.
Get the fuck out of education if that's the way you're talking about them.
Yes we all agree that this is the reason colleges are in trouble
December 9, 2025 at 5:14 PM
YOUR STUDENTS ARE NOT YOUR CUSTOMERS.
Get the fuck out of education if that's the way you're talking about them.
Get the fuck out of education if that's the way you're talking about them.
Reposted by EssayWells
“These deals are real” is the kind of thing you never need to say when you make real deals.
Brooke Rollins: "These deals are real. No one in the history of our country has ever been able to effectuate deals like this. We won't see the effect until next year."
December 9, 2025 at 9:56 PM
“These deals are real” is the kind of thing you never need to say when you make real deals.
Reposted by EssayWells
It's truly wild to me that this just keeps happening. Coca-Cola runs an AI ad and people overwhelmingly react with disgust. They do it again, and people are disgusted again. Now McDonald's makes an AI ad that's so bad that so many people are furious about it they pull it down.
People hate AI slop!
People hate AI slop!
McDonald's Pulls Down AI-Generated Holiday Ad After Deluge of Mockery
McDonald's Netherlands is catching flak for a stupefying AI-generated video, which was roundly condemned on social media.
futurism.com
December 9, 2025 at 8:29 PM
It's truly wild to me that this just keeps happening. Coca-Cola runs an AI ad and people overwhelmingly react with disgust. They do it again, and people are disgusted again. Now McDonald's makes an AI ad that's so bad that so many people are furious about it they pull it down.
People hate AI slop!
People hate AI slop!
Reposted by EssayWells
Just legal Calvinball. Obviously lawless.
December 6, 2025 at 3:51 AM
Just legal Calvinball. Obviously lawless.
Reposted by EssayWells
Reposted by EssayWells
This is actually a good example of why the customer model is wrong.
I wouldn't have chosen poetry writing, but UNC made me take a class. And it absolutely made me become a much better writer, with an eye to concision and an ear now trained to the rhythm of words. I'm a better historian as a result.
I wouldn't have chosen poetry writing, but UNC made me take a class. And it absolutely made me become a much better writer, with an eye to concision and an ear now trained to the rhythm of words. I'm a better historian as a result.
If you are providing me with an education that is low utility in the world then it’s a disservice. My composition class spent four weeks on poetry. I’m sorry, but that only would’ve been useful if I wanted to be a poet. I don’t need to know iambic pentameter in order to be a victim advocate.
December 9, 2025 at 7:17 PM
This is actually a good example of why the customer model is wrong.
I wouldn't have chosen poetry writing, but UNC made me take a class. And it absolutely made me become a much better writer, with an eye to concision and an ear now trained to the rhythm of words. I'm a better historian as a result.
I wouldn't have chosen poetry writing, but UNC made me take a class. And it absolutely made me become a much better writer, with an eye to concision and an ear now trained to the rhythm of words. I'm a better historian as a result.
Reposted by EssayWells
I think other people have made this point, but: if college is just a vocational school -- if its sole purpose is to "prepare young people for jobs" -- then there's no point in college at all! Just create actual vocational schools.
December 9, 2025 at 8:38 PM
I think other people have made this point, but: if college is just a vocational school -- if its sole purpose is to "prepare young people for jobs" -- then there's no point in college at all! Just create actual vocational schools.
Reposted by EssayWells
Sue, you're shouting at biscuits
I'd pay good money just to see her argument for these biscuits being "biologically male"
December 8, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Sue, you're shouting at biscuits
Reposted by EssayWells
I'd pay good money just to see her argument for these biscuits being "biologically male"
December 8, 2025 at 6:15 PM
I'd pay good money just to see her argument for these biscuits being "biologically male"
Reposted by EssayWells
2014 from me: No, students aren't customers. Because you, the student, are much more important than a financial transaction.
www.chronicle.com/article/facu...
www.chronicle.com/article/facu...
Faculty Members Are Not Cashiers
Why the “customer service” lingo in academe is bad for students.
www.chronicle.com
December 9, 2025 at 8:32 PM
2014 from me: No, students aren't customers. Because you, the student, are much more important than a financial transaction.
www.chronicle.com/article/facu...
www.chronicle.com/article/facu...
Reposted by EssayWells
The newly fascist media understands perfectly well what is play and treats it as such. The problem is people who understandably don’t like this keep expecting the fascists and their media to stop playing in their faces—when that is the entire point.
insane that no reporter ever followed up asking trump about the video he posted where an AI version of himself promised cure-all medbeds to the entire population
December 9, 2025 at 8:20 PM
The newly fascist media understands perfectly well what is play and treats it as such. The problem is people who understandably don’t like this keep expecting the fascists and their media to stop playing in their faces—when that is the entire point.
Reposted by EssayWells
it is actually kind of bananas how unitary executive theorists have taken a straightforward clause requiring the president to "faithfully execute the laws" and transformed it into a grant for the exercise of limitless unenumerated power.
The Take Care Clause was a byproduct of the lessons learned from the Glorious Revolution that the executive should not be able to dispense with the law promulgated by the legislature. It was not a constitutional provision to empower the executive branch— but to constrain it!
December 9, 2025 at 2:20 PM
it is actually kind of bananas how unitary executive theorists have taken a straightforward clause requiring the president to "faithfully execute the laws" and transformed it into a grant for the exercise of limitless unenumerated power.
Reposted by EssayWells
And remember, it's not just the short-term acute illness of COVID. It's also the many many potential long-term health impacts of COVID. And it's only been around 6 years. We still don't know long-term health impacts beyond that time. So many people throwing the precautionary principle out the window
December 9, 2025 at 7:40 PM
And remember, it's not just the short-term acute illness of COVID. It's also the many many potential long-term health impacts of COVID. And it's only been around 6 years. We still don't know long-term health impacts beyond that time. So many people throwing the precautionary principle out the window
Reposted by EssayWells
“You’ll get the hole from a bagel, not Ukraine,” said Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Sergiy Kyslytsya, addressing Russia at a Security Council meeting.
“Our land and sovereignty are not for sale. This isn’t a Christmas market or some shady bazaar.”
“Our land and sovereignty are not for sale. This isn’t a Christmas market or some shady bazaar.”
December 9, 2025 at 7:52 PM
“You’ll get the hole from a bagel, not Ukraine,” said Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Sergiy Kyslytsya, addressing Russia at a Security Council meeting.
“Our land and sovereignty are not for sale. This isn’t a Christmas market or some shady bazaar.”
“Our land and sovereignty are not for sale. This isn’t a Christmas market or some shady bazaar.”
Reposted by EssayWells
Reposted by EssayWells
Home Office Ministers state publicly, on the record, that they are deliberately making life worse for older people and people with disabilities who depend on care services, but it's worth it because it reduces net migration.
December 9, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Home Office Ministers state publicly, on the record, that they are deliberately making life worse for older people and people with disabilities who depend on care services, but it's worth it because it reduces net migration.
Reposted by EssayWells
Hey everyone, it's time to play "guess the year we knew COVID was airborne"!
(answer in link: wayback.archive-it.org/17275/202203...)
(answer in link: wayback.archive-it.org/17275/202203...)
December 9, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Hey everyone, it's time to play "guess the year we knew COVID was airborne"!
(answer in link: wayback.archive-it.org/17275/202203...)
(answer in link: wayback.archive-it.org/17275/202203...)
Reposted by EssayWells
Pictured: a prior generation's cookie-cutter housing
December 9, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Pictured: a prior generation's cookie-cutter housing
Reposted by EssayWells
Oh look this one's fun.
It's from the Canadian Medical Protective Association - this is the body that ends up holding the bag for legal bills for malpractice.
It went up in 2020, but they've since taken it off their public page for some reason 🤔
web.archive.org/web/20201205...
It's from the Canadian Medical Protective Association - this is the body that ends up holding the bag for legal bills for malpractice.
It went up in 2020, but they've since taken it off their public page for some reason 🤔
web.archive.org/web/20201205...
December 9, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Oh look this one's fun.
It's from the Canadian Medical Protective Association - this is the body that ends up holding the bag for legal bills for malpractice.
It went up in 2020, but they've since taken it off their public page for some reason 🤔
web.archive.org/web/20201205...
It's from the Canadian Medical Protective Association - this is the body that ends up holding the bag for legal bills for malpractice.
It went up in 2020, but they've since taken it off their public page for some reason 🤔
web.archive.org/web/20201205...
Reposted by EssayWells
It's been effective for me in talking to kids and students -- they think it works, that it knows what it's doing, and pointing out simply and cleanly that it doesn't do what it says it does is easy and effective. Then you can move onto deeper arguments.
There’s this idea that I’ve been pondering for a bit that’s probably yet another Everyone Will Yell At Me thing, but… I don’t think that pointing out that AI is full of inaccuracies is an effective tactic at getting people not to use it. It’s based on cultural context that not everyone shares…
December 9, 2025 at 2:18 PM
It's been effective for me in talking to kids and students -- they think it works, that it knows what it's doing, and pointing out simply and cleanly that it doesn't do what it says it does is easy and effective. Then you can move onto deeper arguments.
Reposted by EssayWells
My 7th grader's teacher did a really engaging presentation about how inaccurate it was and my son (who I have been evangelizing for ages about how terrible it is) came home saying "AI sucks and it's gonna make you fail" and NOW we start on "it's also unethical and not fun and makes you dumb."
December 9, 2025 at 2:22 PM
My 7th grader's teacher did a really engaging presentation about how inaccurate it was and my son (who I have been evangelizing for ages about how terrible it is) came home saying "AI sucks and it's gonna make you fail" and NOW we start on "it's also unethical and not fun and makes you dumb."
Reposted by EssayWells
Has anyone figured out exactly which editor at NY Mag took Nuzzi's vacuous slop and made it readable? The more of her writing comes out, the more heroic that person appears in retrospect.
“I look down at the crashing swell. Alone at the after-party, a kind of honeymoon in hell. I am on the list, a bit of grave misfortune. I am in the New York Post, even worse. The ink is black, the pages yellow. Everything, some kind of lie. What of doubt? Scientists cannot see the soul.”
Sentences From American Canto That Sent Me To The Hospital
I reviewed Olivia Nuzzi's American Canto for Slate. There's far less RFK Jr. in it than you'd expect.
substack.com
December 9, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Has anyone figured out exactly which editor at NY Mag took Nuzzi's vacuous slop and made it readable? The more of her writing comes out, the more heroic that person appears in retrospect.