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Benjamin Riley

@benjaminjriley.bsky.social

6K followers 850 following 3.4K posts

Founder of Cognitive Resonance, a new venture dedicated to helping people understand human cognition and generative AI. Advocate for humans.

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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · May 9

In April 2025 I delivered a speech at the ASU+GSV ed-tech conference titled "AI Will Not Revolutionize Education." It touches on human cognition, gen AI, and the nature of scientific and social revolutions. I worked hard at this, I hope you'll watch and share.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0_t...

AI Will Not Revolutionize Education

YouTube video by Cognitive Resonance

www.youtube.com

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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 2h

This is very interesting. And points to an interesting and productive use of LLMs for certain forms of modeling social behavior.

Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 25d

This Atlantic analysis echoes the long convo I had recently with a European researcher who maintains that social media cannot be fixed because the problem lies in its very infrastructure and human nature cannot deal with it. I increasingly think he is correct. arstechnica.com/science/2025...

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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 2h

If someone who was interested in QM and the CI and wanted to learn more about Bohr's views specifically, what might you recommend reading? (This someone is a layman who skips over the complex math equations.)

Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 3h

This is what's so remarkable (for me, infuriating) about boosting AI usage in schools. We are *already* seeing modern society straining under the corrosive effects of social media -- now we want to push related technology down into our schools? A long-term recipe for disaster.

Christopher Mims @mims.bsky.social · 3h

Humans evolved a cognitive 'social proof' system for establishing what's true (if enough of the people around me believe something, I'll go along) and media fragmentation + social media has completely and totally hijacked it

Feels like AI will only make this worse

Lord Businessman II @lordbusinessman.bsky.social · 4h

"no in the future people will cryptographically verify what's true and-" no they will not. People are fucking stupid.

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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 4h

Bryan Stevenson is such a remarkable and admirable American. One wonders what might happen if he ran for high office. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/u...

Civil Rights Lawyer Bryan Stevenson on How America’s Story Should Be Told

www.nytimes.com

Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 5h

I'm finding it surreal that there's broad agreement in the finance community that we are in an AI bubble. Even unapologetic boosters such as Ben Thompson of Stratechery are like, yep, obviously in a bubble. Given that much of the global economy is being propped up by AI, this should be worrying!

Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 6h

Bank of England flags risk of ‘sudden correction’ in tech stocks inflated by AI - on.ft.com/4o3RheA

Bank of England flags risk of ‘sudden correction’ in tech stocks inflated by AI

Financial Policy Committee warns equity prices are at levels comparable with dotcom bubble

on.ft.com

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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 5h

Ah, sorry to learn this. I read a quote recently that all of cognitive science is organized around proving Searle wrong -- whether that is true or not, speaks to his enduring impact on our thinking about thinking.

Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 16h

This is sublime.

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 18h

Kristi Noem confronts enemy combatants in the Portland war zone today.

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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 20h

This is literally the core dramatic premise of the satirical film Mountainhead. "Let's coup it out. Let's coup it just a little bit."

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 1d

“.. On closer inspection, however, it turned out that the image was not a photograph of a real event in Portland, but instead a fabrication created by combining two photographs of scenes that unfolded in South America nearly a decade apart ..”

@theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 1d

@melaniemitchell.bsky.social has a new paper out that touches on this empirically, I'm hoping to write about it this week

Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 1d

Oh man I'm embarrassed, it WAS you! I followed you here after listening. You called it.

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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 1d

Our low-grade civil war is escalating. Citizens are organizing to resist American fascism and regime-loyal forces are prepared to shoot and kill them, or try to.

My despondency fuels my desire to act. Turn out on October 18. There is still time to save this country.

Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 1d

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government’s claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed.
trib.al/9Sxu9IN

Attorney for woman shot by Border Patrol claims officer said 'Do something b-----' before shooting

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government's claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed. A judge ordered Martinez and a co-defendant released pending trial.

trib.al

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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 1d

@jacsonbevens.bsky.social had a draft analyst on his podcast who was like, dude simply cannot change directions. Been troubling me since.

Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 1d

"You're making disgusting, over-processed hot dogs out of the lives of human beings."

Chibdm @chibdm.bsky.social · 1d

Robin Williams' daughter has some quality thoughts on AI slop

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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 3d

This is excellent. In the era of American fascism, no one has disappointed me more than Ezra Klein. Squandering his massive platform to shill for Charlie Kirk and AI. An abundance of shame.

Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 3d

"Democracy depends on all of us, and especially with a broader public platform, drawing the line. It is an obligation we must accept. Who are we to draw the line? We are citizens who demand to live in a democratic Republic," writes @thomaszimmer.bsky.social. democracyamericana.com/posts/c5d024...

Where Is the Line?

On Ezra Klein, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and the struggle to define the boundaries of what is acceptable in America

democracyamericana.com

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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 3d

Yes

Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 3d

So great to be back in America after a few weeks of travel.

CNN @cnn.com · 4d

Adults and children alike were pulled from their Chicago apartments, crying and screaming, during a large overnight raid that has left tenants and neighbors shaken. https://cnn.it/4pPCXIt

37 people arrested and American kids separated from parents after ICE raid at Chicago apartments | CNN

Adults and children alike were pulled from their Chicago apartments, crying and screaming, during a large overnight raid that has left tenants and neighbors shaken.

www.cnn.com

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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 6d

Thank you for sharing it, Alberto!

Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 9d

I continue to watch @nhannahjones.bsky.social in awe. This paragraph, whew. Charlie Kirk was a bigot. The national delusion to the contrary is indicative of how rapidly we are unraveling.

From Nikole Hannah-Jones's article on Charlie Kirk:

"Oklahoma, of course, is a deeply red state. But in the wake of Kirk’s death, individuals and institutions across the nation moved not just to condemn his killing and political violence, but to venerate him. It was unsettling to many to see politicians from across the political spectrum speak with reverence about a man who espoused the racist Great Replacement Theory, which argues that white Americans are being systematically replaced by multiculturalism and by brown and Black immigrants; who continuously claimed that “there’s a war on white people in this country; who said it was “a fact” that “prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people”; who gave a platform to people who believe in eugenics and race science; who contended that Black people commit more crime than white people and that the blame lies in a Black culture that accepts that Black men “impregnate women and they don’t stay around”; who referred to a transgender athlete as an “abomination” and called “the transgender thing” a “throbbing middle finger to God”; and who declared that Islam, the world’s second-largest religion, “is not compatible with Western civilization” and that it is a sword being used “to slit the throat of America.”"

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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 15d

I get it. I relish that the predominant posture here is AI hater, but it can be a bit much.

Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 15d

YOU are getting attacked as an AI shill?!?

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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 19d

Oh god, another story about AlphaSch...wait, this one actually doesn't fall for the hype and nonsense? And quotes @audreywatters.bsky.social? Good reporting here!

(MrBeast my god)

sfstandard.com/2025/09/19/a...

It’s the city’s new most expensive private school — and AI is the teacher

At Alpha School, students do only two hours of academic work a day, and MrBeast is supposedly a consultant.

sfstandard.com

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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 19d

Catholicism. I'm looking into it.

National Catholic Reporter @ncronline.bsky.social · 19d

Pope Leo XIV said a proposal to create an AI-version of him so people could have a virtual audience with the pope pretty much horrified him.

Pope nixes 'virtual pope' idea, explains concerns about AI

Pope Leo XIV said a proposal to create an AI-version of him so people could have a virtual audience with the pope pretty much horrified him.

bit.ly

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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 19d

"Trump is already unpopular. He is getting more unpopular. His actions are unpopular. It is the elites, the big diversified corporations and monopolies who have tossed aside most rapidly Americans’ instinctive disdain for kings and dictators."

Mark your calendar, October 18. NO KINGS!

Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 19d

A Few Thoughts on KimmelGeddon talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-few...

A Few Thoughts on KimmelGeddon

Let me start by noting the obvious: What we saw yesterday with...

talkingpointsmemo.com

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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 20d

This is 90 seconds of pure porn for me. The best part is Zuckerberg and this dude trying to blame the WiFi as the AI totally fails.

Shacknews @shacknews.com · 20d

LiveAI demo fails on the first prompt at Meta Connect 2025. #Meta #AI #LiveAI

Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 20d

This is necessary reading, but focus on this: RESIST THE BEGINNINGS. I swear there is still time to defeat American Fascism but it requires getting involved, right now. Pace yourself, but join the fight. At least once a month, make one major act of defiance. We can win back our country.

Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 20d

From Milton Mayer's "They Thought They Were Free"

I first read it in November and I'm rereading it now. It crushing feeling the exact same things as this academic did. It's the same process.

A series of four images with black text on a white background, containing a long reflective passage about how authoritarianism and oppression gradually take hold unnoticed.

First image: The text explains how small, seemingly inconsequential steps—each justified or regretted—prevent people from recognizing the larger process until it’s too late, comparing it to a farmer not noticing corn growing until it towers overhead.

Second image: A colleague explains how each act is only slightly worse than the last, leading people to wait for a shocking turning point that never comes. Fear, uncertainty, and the desire not to stand alone stop people from resisting. Outsiders seem content, and those who sense danger are dismissed as alarmists.

Third image: The text describes how, eventually, a small personal incident shatters self-deception, revealing that everything has changed—society, spirit, and morality. People accept things once unthinkable. Life feels normal on the surface, but principles have eroded. When realization comes, it’s too late—people are compromised by inaction.

Fourth image: The writer notes how friends drift away, meetings shrink, and isolation grows, weakening resistance further. The long-awaited great occasion for mass opposition never arrives. Instead, oppression progresses step by step, each act numbing people to the next. The example is given of Nazi Germany, where atrocities escalated gradually, making it harder to resist at each stage.

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