Stuart Semmel
@semmiotic.bsky.social
British history, political thought, history of consciousness, movies, snacks
Pinned
Reposted by Stuart Semmel
Reposted by Stuart Semmel
Wordsworth and Coleridge would’ve tried to launch their own app, but it would be an incredibly embarrassing failure as Wordsworth would never learn how to code and Coleridge would become convinced that a Chatbot was the voice of God.
Byron would’ve been on every social media and dating app, but William Blake would only have been on Bluesky
December 2, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Wordsworth and Coleridge would’ve tried to launch their own app, but it would be an incredibly embarrassing failure as Wordsworth would never learn how to code and Coleridge would become convinced that a Chatbot was the voice of God.
Forget about it, Jake. It’s just groceries.
December 3, 2025 at 4:44 AM
Forget about it, Jake. It’s just groceries.
Reposted by Stuart Semmel
It's wild but not surprising that last week the White House was leaning into "these seditious Democrats dared suggest that troops were receiving illegal orders!!!" and this week they are scrambling to figure out who to blame for issuing illegal orders.
December 3, 2025 at 4:00 AM
It's wild but not surprising that last week the White House was leaning into "these seditious Democrats dared suggest that troops were receiving illegal orders!!!" and this week they are scrambling to figure out who to blame for issuing illegal orders.
No one’s talking about the big Anarcho-Syndicalist Tuesday sales.
December 2, 2025 at 3:21 PM
No one’s talking about the big Anarcho-Syndicalist Tuesday sales.
Reposted by Stuart Semmel
HBOMax has started showing a 'remastered' 4K Mad Men and they’ve messed things up so during Roger’s oyster vomit scene you can now see the crew men with the vomit hose on the right
December 2, 2025 at 11:28 AM
HBOMax has started showing a 'remastered' 4K Mad Men and they’ve messed things up so during Roger’s oyster vomit scene you can now see the crew men with the vomit hose on the right
Reposted by Stuart Semmel
i’m setting you free. i’m releasing you from the discourse
December 2, 2025 at 1:39 AM
i’m setting you free. i’m releasing you from the discourse
Reposted by Stuart Semmel
There seems to be a strain of thought that goes: given that Timothy purchased a sandwich with a faked lunch ticket, faked tickets and sandwiches are interchangeable now—and whoa in the near future the fake ticket printer is going to feed our school, isn’t it!
These aren't just random words you're publishing, and you don't want us to think they are. What do you think you are gaining by making the claim ChatGPT could just as well have written the same paper?
November 30, 2025 at 9:15 PM
There seems to be a strain of thought that goes: given that Timothy purchased a sandwich with a faked lunch ticket, faked tickets and sandwiches are interchangeable now—and whoa in the near future the fake ticket printer is going to feed our school, isn’t it!
Reposted by Stuart Semmel
"oh, don't forget to highlight, in bright red, the two-letter word in the tagline! the two letter word that's kind of the whole point of this clever ad campaign! the two letter word that links this show to the horror movie of the same name!"
"no problem boss. i'm on it"
"no problem boss. i'm on it"
November 29, 2025 at 8:51 PM
"oh, don't forget to highlight, in bright red, the two-letter word in the tagline! the two letter word that's kind of the whole point of this clever ad campaign! the two letter word that links this show to the horror movie of the same name!"
"no problem boss. i'm on it"
"no problem boss. i'm on it"
Reposted by Stuart Semmel
We need a better name for "cyber Monday" mostly because it's not 1996.
November 30, 2025 at 1:44 AM
We need a better name for "cyber Monday" mostly because it's not 1996.
Reposted by Stuart Semmel
When I've asked students in the past to reach out to me if I am mistaken about their potential AI use, literally 0 students have ever pushed back.
November 29, 2025 at 6:46 PM
When I've asked students in the past to reach out to me if I am mistaken about their potential AI use, literally 0 students have ever pushed back.
@nature.com is MISSING VALUE
&runctitional features.
&runctitional features.
Hey @nature.com, have you got an explanation for how the hell THIS happened? & especially why you accepted a paper with such a bizarre piece of genAI slop in it?!
& more to the point, why we should take you seriously at all going forward?
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
& more to the point, why we should take you seriously at all going forward?
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
November 28, 2025 at 11:14 PM
@nature.com is MISSING VALUE
&runctitional features.
&runctitional features.
Reposted by Stuart Semmel
I think about the disappearance of Latin from standard education a lot because I think we may be in the midst of losing more essential forms of knowledge without grasping what we’re losing
November 28, 2025 at 2:48 AM
I think about the disappearance of Latin from standard education a lot because I think we may be in the midst of losing more essential forms of knowledge without grasping what we’re losing
The NYT just noticed. Perfect. No notes.
November 28, 2025 at 5:00 AM
The NYT just noticed. Perfect. No notes.
Wordle 1,622 2/6
⬜🟨🟨⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬜🟨🟨⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
November 28, 2025 at 3:13 AM
Wordle 1,622 2/6
⬜🟨🟨⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬜🟨🟨⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Reposted by Stuart Semmel
Everyone (esp media) pay attention. In 2021 almost every Republican attacked the Biden administration and State dept for being too slow in approving Afghanistan special visas as Afghanistan fell.
Now they are attacking Biden for doing what they asked him to do.
Now they are attacking Biden for doing what they asked him to do.
November 27, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Everyone (esp media) pay attention. In 2021 almost every Republican attacked the Biden administration and State dept for being too slow in approving Afghanistan special visas as Afghanistan fell.
Now they are attacking Biden for doing what they asked him to do.
Now they are attacking Biden for doing what they asked him to do.
I maintain that this extinguished three-wick candle looks like Homer Simpson whistling (or pursing his lips). Is it just me?
November 26, 2025 at 7:34 PM
I maintain that this extinguished three-wick candle looks like Homer Simpson whistling (or pursing his lips). Is it just me?
Looking through my old Beli reviews. Proud of this one.
November 26, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Looking through my old Beli reviews. Proud of this one.
Reposted by Stuart Semmel
Are stuffed animals conscious? Many children hold tea parties with them like real people
November 25, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Are stuffed animals conscious? Many children hold tea parties with them like real people
Reposted by Stuart Semmel
Anyhow, as many, many people have pointed out, OpenAI loses money on every customer, even the paying ones, and will never stop. There are no economies of scale.
November 25, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Anyhow, as many, many people have pointed out, OpenAI loses money on every customer, even the paying ones, and will never stop. There are no economies of scale.
Reposted by Stuart Semmel
Wta? Mind you I got an AI summary that insisted people who had been awarded PhDs were more likely to get Alzheimer’s. Perplexed, I looked up the original. It defined PHD as primary headache disorder. The AI took the statistically more likely abbreviation and came up with its idiotic response. Sigh!
August 6, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Wta? Mind you I got an AI summary that insisted people who had been awarded PhDs were more likely to get Alzheimer’s. Perplexed, I looked up the original. It defined PHD as primary headache disorder. The AI took the statistically more likely abbreviation and came up with its idiotic response. Sigh!
Reposted by Stuart Semmel
My god, what is happening to science? www.sciencedirect.com
This is so deeply upsetting and troubling!
What can we do as scientist to resist AI slop polluting, and ultimately destructing, our fields of study?
Please join me in telling @sciencedirect.bsky.social that we do not want this!
This is so deeply upsetting and troubling!
What can we do as scientist to resist AI slop polluting, and ultimately destructing, our fields of study?
Please join me in telling @sciencedirect.bsky.social that we do not want this!
August 4, 2025 at 10:52 PM
My god, what is happening to science? www.sciencedirect.com
This is so deeply upsetting and troubling!
What can we do as scientist to resist AI slop polluting, and ultimately destructing, our fields of study?
Please join me in telling @sciencedirect.bsky.social that we do not want this!
This is so deeply upsetting and troubling!
What can we do as scientist to resist AI slop polluting, and ultimately destructing, our fields of study?
Please join me in telling @sciencedirect.bsky.social that we do not want this!
Reposted by Stuart Semmel
Even in more quantifiable fields (like biochemistry), this brute force approach cannot succeed even with the best curated data. Given the ubiquitous use of p<0.05 as statically significant, 5% of all published hypotheses should have been rejected instead of accepted given the data. This would be bad
November 25, 2025 at 3:53 AM
Even in more quantifiable fields (like biochemistry), this brute force approach cannot succeed even with the best curated data. Given the ubiquitous use of p<0.05 as statically significant, 5% of all published hypotheses should have been rejected instead of accepted given the data. This would be bad
Reposted by Stuart Semmel
A new kind of rapid Chotining. Please appreciate the alt-text.
November 25, 2025 at 1:09 AM
A new kind of rapid Chotining. Please appreciate the alt-text.
Reposted by Stuart Semmel
This reminds me of a Radio 4 doc I once made in which we asked Clegg, Cameron, Osborne & D. Miliband if they'd taken cocaine in their youth. The answers from the first three were elegantly constructed: references to the important of politicians being allowed a private past etc.
Miliband said: 'No'.
Miliband said: 'No'.
“I would never ever do it in a hurtful or insulting way”
Nigel Farage responds to allegations of racist behaviour from when he was a teenager at school
@itvnewspolitics.bsky.social
Nigel Farage responds to allegations of racist behaviour from when he was a teenager at school
@itvnewspolitics.bsky.social
November 24, 2025 at 6:40 PM
This reminds me of a Radio 4 doc I once made in which we asked Clegg, Cameron, Osborne & D. Miliband if they'd taken cocaine in their youth. The answers from the first three were elegantly constructed: references to the important of politicians being allowed a private past etc.
Miliband said: 'No'.
Miliband said: 'No'.