Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Kara Patterson 🇨🇦

Polling Canada @canadianpolling.bsky.social · 13h

"Donald Trump's comments about Canada becoming the US' 51st state have strengthened my Canadian pride and my belief that Canada must maintain its independence"

🟢 Agree: 72%
🟡 Neutral: 19%
⚫️ Disagree: 9%

Read it here: open.substack.com/pub/canadian...

Canadians Firmly Reject Idea of American Statehood

Support for American statehood remains low across all age groups, even in more conservative provinces like Alberta

open.substack.com

3 6 36

Reposted by Kara Patterson 🇨🇦

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 13h

From the tech bro gospel: “someone was going to coarsen society and further immiserate people, it may as well be me.”

"We're already at the point where we can't tell what's real and what's not online, and OpenAI and other tech companies will have to solve around that," said the former OpenAI engineer, using tech lingo for finding a solution to a problem. "But that's not an argument for not trying to dominate this market. You can't stop progress. If OpenAI didn't release Sora, someone else would have."

In fact, Meta is also trying to, with its recent introduction of Vibes, a platform where people can make and share short AI-generated deepfakes. In July, Google introduced Veo 3, an AI video tool. But it wasn't until OpenAI's release of the Sora app that personalized AI slop really took off.

4 34 100

Reposted by Kara Patterson 🇨🇦

Nicole Chung @nicolechung.bsky.social · 1d

I’m not autistic, just a parent to an autistic kid w/ fairly significant support needs, but I personally find it very frustrating to see so many people fixated on preventing, reducing, or “curing” autism and neurodiversity instead of talking about inclusion + getting folks whatever support they need

9 120 1.1K

Reposted by Kara Patterson 🇨🇦

Prof Anna Watts @profannawatts.bsky.social · 1d

Lol the Nobels can't even acknowledge women's contribution to discovery. But sure let's acknowledge The Machines.

Headline from an article in Nature this week that states "Prizes must recognize machine contributions to discovery. The future of science will be written by humans and machines together. Awards should reflect that reality."

85 770 3.4K

Reposted by Kara Patterson 🇨🇦

Kayla B @queenofthesouth.bsky.social · 1d

Needing multiple streams of income to stay afloat is a societal failure not a personal one. You should be able to afford a comfortable lifestyle with one job. You are not lazy.

76 1.3K 4.6K

Reposted by Kara Patterson 🇨🇦

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 2d

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

nyti.ms

140 1.8K 4.6K

Reposted by Kara Patterson 🇨🇦

Mariah McCourt @monsterteatime.bsky.social · 2d

When I struggled with something writing-wise I take a walk. And 100% of the time I end up figuring out the solution. I would never, ever, ever, ask a machine to do that for me. Wtf.

ouinne @ouinne.bsky.social · 2d

The only correct take on a fundamentally anti-human technology.

Screenshot of David Simon interview
SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

8 39 280

Reposted by Kara Patterson 🇨🇦

Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 2d

A new study shows that receiving an updated COVID vaccine reduced people’s risk of severe disease and death in all age groups, regardless of immunity from prior infection or vaccination

Annual COVID Vaccines Save Lives, New Study Shows

A new study shows that receiving an updated COVID vaccine reduced people’s risk of severe disease and death in all age groups, regardless of immunity from prior infection or vaccination

www.scientificamerican.com

19 280 650

Reposted by Kara Patterson 🇨🇦

Pride in Patient Engagement in Research @piper-uhn.bsky.social · 2d

Our Keynote Panel - moderated by Angela M. Cheung with panelists Alexandra Rendely, Rebecca Lewkowicz, and Susie Goulding explored "The Important Role of People with Lived Experience in Long-COVID Care and Research".

#PiPERResearchDay2025

1 1

Reposted by Kara Patterson 🇨🇦

ashley fairbanks @ziibiing.com · 2d

-my followers paid for my dad’s cancer treatment and gave him the funds he needed to take time off during chemo and radiation

-i got a book deal with Penguin Random House and they gave me another

-i’ve raised over $200,000 for direct actions, Indigenous orgs, arts orgs i care about

-i have a job?

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 3d

Has anything great happened in your life because of social media?

7 12 300

Reposted by Kara Patterson 🇨🇦

Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 2d

Canadians: The federal government is seeking public input on how AI should be developed and used in business, research, and the military.

If this scares the shit out of you, please let them know:

Help define the next chapter of Canada's AI leadership

Current status: Open from October 1 to October 31, 2025 Canada helped invent modern AI. To stay a leader—and protect our digital sovereignty—we're running a 30-day national sprint to shape a renewed...

ised-isde.canada.ca

640 640

Kara Patterson 🇨🇦 @karakpatterson.bsky.social · 2d

A great and informative video from @kurzgesagt.org

The term “confidently incorrect” sums up the problem with AI slop nicely.

I also like the position that AI can be a useful tool but the “integrity and creativity is still ours”

Christopher Mims @mims.bsky.social · 2d

This is a REALLY good video that gets into the *specifics* of how AI is degrading our information environment and putting truth further out of reach for the average person / the population as a whole

🎃 🧟 Prof. Dr Beth Singler 👻 🎃 @bvlsingler.bsky.social · 2d

I walked into the lounge last night to find my teenage son watching this. We have long admired @kurzgesagt.org and found their videos to be extremely illuminating. But this one in particular I think is so important right now!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zfN...

1

Reposted by Kara Patterson 🇨🇦

Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 2d

So the business model is dependent on theft.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

23 110 390

Reposted by Kara Patterson 🇨🇦

Jennifer Kretchmer @dreamwisp.bsky.social · 3d

Because it feels relevant as we continue to evaluate the media and our representatives’ statements, my favorite way to identify the active vs. passive voice.

A post by Rebecca Johnson:
“I finally learned how to teach my guys to ID the passive voice. If you can insert "by zombies" after the verb, you have passive voice.”

A tumblr respond from mightymur:
“The final, brilliant word on passive voice.
"She was killed [by zombies.]"<--passive
"Zombies killed [by zombies] her." <-- active”

720 1.9K

Reposted by Kara Patterson 🇨🇦

pieist.xenoplasm.com @pieist.xenoplasm.com · 4d

Why bother to read something nobody could be bothered to write?

20 290

Reposted by Kara Patterson 🇨🇦

Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · 3d

ideally, the only places i want to be in AI are spaces for resistance, refusal and community organising

in reality, i find myself in spaces where AI governance, regulatory or institutional/scientific decisions are made where either i my input is paid lip service or entirely ignored

4 14 73

Reposted by Kara Patterson 🇨🇦

David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 3d

This is true for students too. Yes there are many factors impacting student reading, but working 30+ hours a week to be able to afford college is definitely one of them.

Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 4d

I see pieces like this a lot, often w/ a spin of lamenting cultural degeneration, but reading is a LABOR issue, it’s declined because so many people are working overtime or two jobs & employers expect after hours work. France has Earth’s highest reading rate b/c long lunch breaks & labor protections

After Dinner Conversation® @afterdinnerconversation.com · 4d

6 87 350

Kara Patterson 🇨🇦 @karakpatterson.bsky.social · 3d

This piece makes several excellent points but this quote summed it up very well …

“You’re not making art, you’re making disgusting, over-processed hotdogs out of the lives of human beings, out of the history of art and music…”

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 4d

Robin Williams’ daughter Zelda hits out at AI-generated videos of her dead father: ‘Stop doing this to him’

Film-maker tells the public to stop sending her videos, saying: ‘You’re not making art, you’re making disgusting, over-processed hotdogs out of the lives of human beings’ Zelda Williams, the daughter of the late actor and comedian Robin Williams, has spoken out against AI-generated content featuring her father. “Please, just stop sending me AI videos of Dad,” Zelda wrote in an Instagram story on Monday. “Stop believing I wanna see it or that I’ll understand, I don’t and I won’t. If you’re just trying to troll me, I’ve seen way worse, I’ll restrict and move on. But please, if you’ve got any decency, just stop doing this to him and to me, to everyone even, full stop. It’s dumb, it’s a waste of time and energy, and believe me, it’s NOT what he’d want. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

1

Reposted by Kara Patterson 🇨🇦

Andy Brockman @andybrockman.bsky.social · Sep 19

Everybody makes money out of academic authors except the authors...News.

Wiley is the latest academic publisher to reach a multi-million deal to allow access to its content to AI developers, with no opt out, let alone payment, for the authors who created that content.

Wiley set to earn $44m from AI rights deals, confirms “no opt-out" for authors

The US publisher is the latest to capitalise on deals to give tech firms access to its authors’ content to train their Large Language Models (LLMs).

www.thebookseller.com

1 92 100

Reposted by Kara Patterson 🇨🇦

Andrew Tobolowsky @andytobo.bsky.social · 4d

My university has something called the "raft debate" where professors defend their disciplines. I've been chosen to represent the humanities and they asked me to make a promo video. You know what I had to do.

2 17 89

Reposted by Kara Patterson 🇨🇦

Timothy Caulfield @caulfieldtim.bsky.social · 4d

Junk science + AI + political agendas = knowledge crisis.

Are We Facing a New Dark Age for Public Health Data? www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/ment...

Huge issue: "AI can produce compelling 'scientific' papers featuring plausible data and convincing figures."

Are We Facing a New Dark Age for Public Health Data?

The quality of scientific research is facing the twin threats of AI-generated data fabrication and the loss of long-standing, trusted, public domain datasets.

www.psychologytoday.com

1 10 22

Reposted by Kara Patterson 🇨🇦

DocAtCDI @docatcdi.com · 5d

How to cook the correct amount of pasta:

1. Pour out how much you think you need.

2. Wrong.

3 14 80

Reposted by Kara Patterson 🇨🇦

Colleen Chanel (Colleen Toscano) @colleenchanel.bsky.social · 7d

This petition calls on Ottawa to enforce the Canada Health Act, attach strict transparency rules to federal transfers, and stop provinces from hiding the true costs of privatization.
Sign protect health care, education, and infrastructure from costly privatization.
www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en...

www.ourcommons.ca

2 17 21

Kara Patterson 🇨🇦 @karakpatterson.bsky.social · 6d

“A university, in other words, does not exclusively benefit students. It is a locus of civic uplift and transformation. That we ever came to understand the gifts of higher education as unaffordable liabilities is absurd.”

Nathan K. Hensley @nathankhensley.bsky.social · 6d

yet another way that the war on academic knowledge is a war on the past & a violent thinning out of historical experience — you’re taking years & often decades of slow-building expertise (& the investments that made it possible) and just tossing it in the bin

Rob Hawkes @robbhawkes.bsky.social · 7d

As more of my valued colleagues face the threat of redundancy, here’s a quick reminder that it takes years and years of public investment to train an academic. Cutting someone with this wealth of experience loose isn’t “saving” anything. It is a massive waste of our collective resources.

1 2

Reposted by Kara Patterson 🇨🇦

Dr Paul Dorfman @drpauldorfman.bsky.social · 7d

#Solar becomes main source of electricity in the #EU for first time. More than half of the EU’s #electricity in the second quarter of 2025 came from #RenewableEnergy
www.independent.co.uk/tech/solar-p...

Solar becomes main source of electricity in the EU for first time

More than half of the EU’s electricity in the second quarter of 2025 came from renewable energy

www.independent.co.uk

24 460 1.2K