Jérôme Melançon
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lethejerome.bsky.social
Jérôme Melançon
@lethejerome.bsky.social
1.6K followers 1.7K following 1K posts
Il/lui/him/he. Écrivain (philosophy, poésie, sciences sociales) & writer (same). Translator. Prof @ University of Regina. Looking for new forms and contents. Livres : En d'sous d'la langue (Prise de parole); La politique dans l'adversité (Metispresses).
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lethejerome.bsky.social
Jérôme Melançon @lethejerome.bsky.social · Nov 13
Since we're all (re-)connecting, a bit of an introduction perhaps?

I practice political phenomenology, study the histories that tie into that field, and esp Merleau-Ponty. Here's abook based on my dissertation; I also transcribed and edited his radio interviews.
www.metispresses.ch/en/la-politi...
MētisPresses - La politique dans l’adversité: Merleau-Ponty aux marges de la philosophie
www.metispresses.ch
Reposted by Jérôme Melançon
natacha.bsky.social
A very, very important peer-reviewed empirical study published in the academic journal Pediatrics shows that hormone treatment of young trans people decreases suicidality very significantly.

Doubtless it will be ignored by Simonoff et al, who are not even measuring this in the “Pathways” study.
Changes in Suicidality among Transgender Adolescents Following Hormone Therapy: An Extended Study
To examine changes in suicidality following hormone therapy (HT) among transgender and gender-diverse adolescents and young adults.A retrospective cha…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:05 AM
Reposted by Jérôme Melançon
sonjadrimmer.bsky.social
This is not the way, and @cnygren.bsky.social and I lay out in detail why it isn’t in this essay here. static1.squarespace.com/static/55577...
How We are Not Using Al in the Classroom By Sonja Drimmer & Christopher J. Nygren Premise Prompt engineering is a term that has become commonplace since the widespread availability of generative AI applications like ChatGPT. The idea is that the outputs of the large language models (LLMs) on which these applications are based are only as good as the prompts that are input: vague prompts result in equally vague outputs. And thus was born the race to train for careers in prompt engineering. Unfortunately, the bubble seems to have burst before even the first generation of students was trained for this career outcome. We were given a prompt as an invitation to participate in this newsletter: "How are you using Al in the classroom?" While we have accepted this invitation, we are engaging in the most humanistic act we can imagine-refusing the prompt.
November 24, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Reposted by Jérôme Melançon
hypervisible.blacksky.app
“AI workers said they distrust the models they work on because of a consistent emphasis on rapid turnaround time at the expense of quality.”
Meet the AI workers who tell their friends and family to stay away from AI
When the people making AI seem trustworthy are the ones who trust it the least, it shows that incentives for speed are overtaking safety, experts say
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Reposted by Jérôme Melançon
fayzaa.bsky.social
Tant qu'on ne reviendra pas à la base de la base sur les LLM à savoir: Outil fasciste appartenant à des fascistes qui les ont créé dans une optique fasciste, on ne va pas s'en sortir.
L'approche "c'est pas bon pour la cognition" abdique sur le terrain politique, sincèrement c'est catastrophique,
November 22, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Reposted by Jérôme Melançon
sydney-bauer.com
I ask this because I’ve seen multiple posts about friends just being overwhelmed trying to prepare for TDoR vigils and sermons and the pain that’s just around is heart wrenching to see.
sydney-bauer.com Sydney Bauer @sydney-bauer.com · 5d
Genuine question because I haven’t been plugged in today, has any legacy media done a TDoR story, and have they filtered it through the lens that trans Americans have much less rights or safety than they did one calendar year ago?
November 21, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Reposted by Jérôme Melançon
sydney-bauer.com
Genuine question because I haven’t been plugged in today, has any legacy media done a TDoR story, and have they filtered it through the lens that trans Americans have much less rights or safety than they did one calendar year ago?
November 20, 2025 at 11:45 PM
lethejerome.bsky.social
I dream of LED lights on streetlights only; no LED lights in vehicles, which wouldn't need them anyway if the streets were well-lit.

(of course also, fewer vehicles etc. but whichever vehicles are still there, transit, emergency, etc, will still need good visibility)
aidanmoher.com Aidan Moher @aidanmoher.com · 7d
I wish we, like, regulated shit nowadays. Between car bloat, blinding headlines, and neighbourhoods packed with rental suites but no on-property parking, driving is an absolute nightmare now.
Nearly all drivers say vehicles' lights are too bright in study
The study, commissioned by the Department for Transport, was completed by Berkshire's TRL.
www.bbc.com
November 19, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Reposted by Jérôme Melançon
nicolaz.bsky.social
For the Disability community, losing Alice Wong is like losing Ursula Le Guin or Octavia Butler. She was a powerhouse, a pioneer, and a mentor to many. She taught me so much. And always reminded me what we were fighting towards, as well as against. I miss her clarity, bravery, and joy.
Alice Wong
Alice Wong had an outsized impact on Disability justice. As a community organiser, activist, mentor, and co-conspirator, as writer, editor, and friend, she is irreplaceable.
nicolagriffith.com
November 16, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Reposted by Jérôme Melançon
personalvivi.bsky.social
Once again, I have to point out how obviously inorganic the entire anti-trans backlash is. A handful of billionaires are astroturfing the whole thing with enormous amounts of cash.
sheg7.bsky.social She Guevara @sheg7.bsky.social · 10d
They're actively paying people to complain now...
November 16, 2025 at 2:43 AM
Reposted by Jérôme Melançon
andreawoo.bsky.social
Health Canada convened an independent expert advisory group in 2020 to provide guidance on safer supply. Health Canada heavily redacted its final report, but unredacted version obtained by CBC shows the expert group said drug crisis is driven by prohibition and recommended expansion of safer supply
Screen shot of findings by Health Canada Expert Advisory Group on Safer Supply: - Canada's overdose crisis is driven by prohibition, and an illegal market - Prescribed medications like Dilaudid do not meet the needs of all drug users Screen shot of recommendations by Health Canada Expert Advisory Group on Safer Supply: - Expand access to more prescription opioids and stimulants - Consider legal and regulated compassion clubs and retail stores
November 16, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Reposted by Jérôme Melançon
tatianatrifan.bsky.social
"Alice Wong, ‘luminary’ writer and disability rights activist, dies aged 51
Daughter of immigrants advocated for people with disabilities to have full autonomy over their lives"

"Ho called her friend a “luminary of the disability justice movement”
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Alice Wong, ‘luminary’ writer and disability rights activist, dies aged 51
Daughter of immigrants advocated for people with disabilities to have full autonomy over their lives
www.theguardian.com
November 16, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Reposted by Jérôme Melançon
thrasherxy.bsky.social
“Don’t let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.”
Black text on a yellow background - This is Alice's friend Sandy Ho, posting. Per Alice's wishes, this message is being shared at the time of her passing. Hi everyone, it looks like I ran out of time. I have so many dreams that I wanted to fulfill and plans to create new stories for you. There are a few in progress that might come to fruition in a few years if things work out. I did not ever imagine I would live to this age and end up a writer, editor, activist, and more. As a kid riddled with insecurity and internalized ableism, I could not see a path forward. It was thanks to friendships and some great teachers who believed in me that I was able to fight my way out of miserable situations into a place where I finally felt comfortable in my skin. We need more stories about us and our culture. You all, we all, deserve the everything and more in such a hostile, ableist environment. Our wisdom is incisive and unflinching. I'm honored to be your ancestor and believe disabled oracles like us will light the way to the future. Don't let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.
November 15, 2025 at 6:15 AM
Reposted by Jérôme Melançon
thrasherxy.bsky.social
Our beloved Alice Wong has joined the ancestors. It was one of the great honors of my life to call Alice my friend, co-author & co-conspirator. She was a true genius, a force of nature the likes of which the world has never seen before. I love you, Alice, and am equal parts grateful and devastated
Steven and Alice smiling and holding each other’s books
November 15, 2025 at 6:09 AM
Reposted by Jérôme Melançon
hagenblix.bsky.social
Language models are models of a corpus, not cognition
hagenblix.bsky.social Hagen Blix @hagenblix.bsky.social · 14d
I do, of course, have a paragraph from "Why We Fear AI" for this
An LLM is an abstraction over the status quo (or rather, the text of the status quo) that has, at its core, no other aim than producing more text that is just like the text already in existence. One result is that the dominant ideas, the dominant textual patterns of our time, are recast as “intelligence” per se. We might call the complex mass of concepts and ideas, the channels into which ideas flow often and easily, or the boundaries of what is reasonable to debate in so-called “polite society”—the dominant ideology of an age. An age’s dominant ideology tends to presuppose that the power of that age is natural; the hallmark of ideology, in this sense, is that it is easy to recognize only when it’s past its time. We may no longer think that an almighty god appointed a king to rule us, that women are naturally unfit to vote, or that sex outside of a heterosexual marriage is immoral. But at various times, to think otherwise (to think of replacing the monarchy with a republic, to affirm that women are people, or being in favor of sexual or gay liberation) was the far more difficult, even dangerous thought—if not to have, then at the very least to put in writing. Ideology, of course, is never complete, other thoughts are always possible. But ideology is easy to think, it’s what our thoughts are already marinated in. And hence, ideology will be dominant in the textual patterns of an age. Seen in this light, what is called “intelligence” in a language model, is really that—ideology as a thing that can pretend to be a person.
November 15, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Reposted by Jérôme Melançon
sarahjeong.bsky.social
how did i go so long not knowing we were literally teaching people to read wrong. i knew something wasn't right but jesus christ www.apmreports.org/episode/2019...
How a flawed idea is teaching millions of kids to be poor readers
For decades, schools have taught children the strategies of struggling readers, using a theory about reading that cognitive scientists have repeatedly debunked. And many teachers and parents don't kno...
www.apmreports.org
November 11, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Reposted by Jérôme Melançon
josie.zone
To explain: "Kabbalah" is a term referring to a wide array of mystic practices and texts in Judaism, but antisemites have LONG used it as an example of Judaic secretiveness and evil

Ergo describing some evil secret group as a "cabal"

Anyway, now you know
November 14, 2025 at 10:40 AM
lethejerome.bsky.social
On the academic means of production - which is all the worse for free and open means of production existing and simply not being used because this is, in the end, also a status economy.

Great thread and great-looking articles!
danbrockington.bsky.social Dan Brockington @danbrockington.bsky.social · 13d
We identify a four-fold drain. We lose Money that could be far better spent. We lose Time, and our priorities are distorted, diverting attention from good science. We lose Trust, from the poor science resulting. And Control, over quality and our publishing data.
a statue of a man in a blue and white outfit is falling into a hole in the ice
ALT: a statue of a man in a blue and white outfit is falling into a hole in the ice
media.tenor.com
November 14, 2025 at 1:19 PM
lethejerome.bsky.social
La gauche, la gauche, c'pas des raisons pour être à gauche
pivot.quebec Pivot @pivot.quebec · 11d
OPINION | « L'ex-directeur de cabinet de Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois qui a quitté le navire en même temps que son chef, trouve que son ancien parti s’adresse trop à la gauche et pas assez aux citoyens - pour ce que ça peut vouloir dire. »

Judith Lefebvre 👇
Réponse à Renaud Poirier St-Pierre : gagner oui, mais pour qui et pour quoi? – Pivot
Les laissé·es pour compte, les pauvres et les victimes de la haine ont besoin d’une gauche digne et intègre, et non de professionnel·les des relations publiques.
pivot.quebec
November 14, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Reposted by Jérôme Melançon
lmbaechlin.bsky.social
I'm particularly proud to share this video explainer! We've been hard at work trying to explain Canadian pipelines for MONTHS and it's finally out in the world.

Check it out now, on YouTube and TikTok.
thenarwhal.ca The Narwhal @thenarwhal.ca · 12d
Why are we hearing about building more pipelines? Do they make sense for Canada's economy? And what about our emissions goals?

We mapped 800,000 kilometres of pipelines in Canada and tried to get to the bottom of these questions in our latest explainer video. #cdnpoli

thenarwhal.ca/video-pipeli...
Pipelines in Canada, explained | The Narwhal
Why are we hearing about building more pipelines? Do they make sense for Canada's economy? And what about our emissions goals? We mapped 800,000 kilometres of pipelines in Canada and tried to get to t...
thenarwhal.ca
November 13, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Reposted by Jérôme Melançon
jenniferkoshan.bsky.social
On this 1st day of Trans Awareness week, here is a list of resources from our faculty providing legal analysis of anti-trans laws/policies (looking at you AB & SK). These resources are produced by allies, and it is also crucial to listen to voices from trans communities:
egale.ca/egale-in-act...
Trans Awareness Week 2025 - Egale Canada
Every March 31st, the trans community and allies come together to observe Trans Day Of Visibility (TDOV)
egale.ca
November 13, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Reposted by Jérôme Melançon
parismarx.com
The International Criminal Court is ditching Microsoft Office, saying it’s too dependent on US tech, in favor of Open Desk, a German open source alternative.

The move comes after Microsoft revoked ICC head Karim Khan’s email access when he was sanctioned by the US for the warrant against Netanyahu.
International Criminal Court to ditch Microsoft Office for European open source alternative | Euractiv
The court will move its internal work environment to Open Desk, a German-developed open source software
www.euractiv.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Reposted by Jérôme Melançon
aburass.bsky.social
Israel has destroyed more than 1,500 buildings in areas beyond the "yellow line" since the ceasefire started. Textbook ethnic cleansing.
A map of the Gaza Strip and the "yellow line", as delineated in the October 10 ceasefire agreement.
November 12, 2025 at 3:12 PM
lethejerome.bsky.social
I think I'm in Regina?
November 11, 2025 at 5:29 PM
lethejerome.bsky.social
If you can avoid flying through Toronto Pearson, do it.

They are delaying or canceling flights at the departing city. I'm stuck in Québec City not knowing when I'll get to go home - and there are very few flights to Regina.

The airline is not covering any costs. I can't imagine the airport will.
November 11, 2025 at 2:28 AM
Reposted by Jérôme Melançon
moriartylab.bsky.social
Canadian COVID Forecast Nov 8 - Nov 21, 2025

CANADA

VERY HIGH [no change]

About 1 of every 118 people is infected.

Compared to lowest point of pandemic in Canada:

-Infections: 7.6 x higher
-Long COVID: 6.0 x higher
-Hospitalizations: 10.4 x higher
-Deaths: 12.2 x higher
This image describes the Canadian COVID Forecast for the fourteen-day period between Nov 8 - Nov 21, 2025, which is produced by COVID-19 Resources Canada. Canada’s COVID Forecast outlook is VERY HIGH [no change] with a COVID INDEX SCORE of 10.1 About 1 of every 118 people is infected. Estimated infections this week: 583,200-806,200 What these numbers mean: MODERATE 1-5, HIGH 5-10, VERY HIGH 10-15, SEVERE >15 COMPARED TO THE LOWEST POINT IN THE COVID PANDEMIC IN CANADA How much higher are key indicators compared to the lowest point in the COVID pandemic in Canada? Waste water, infections: HIGH; 7.6X higher Long COVID: HIGH; 6.0X higher Hospitalizations: VERY HIGH; 10.4X higher Deaths: VERY HIGH; 12.2X higher HOW TO HELP: EVERYONE: UPDATE vaccines every 6 months WEAR N95-type masks AVOID indoor social gatherings AVOID crowded non-essential places Who is HIGH RISK? People 60 and older, babies < 1 year, pregnant ALL AGES: immunocompromised OR medically at-risk OR no vaccine or infection in the last 6 months Recommendations are based on the COVID-19 Risk Index from the Peterborough ON Public Health Unit COVID-19 Resources Canada is a grassroots organization of volunteer scientists supporting Canadian COVID responses. Sources, data and methods for the COVID Index are available at www.Covid19Resources.ca
November 10, 2025 at 10:58 PM