Brian P
@brianpatton.bsky.social
Scientist based in Scotland. Photography, sci-fi and who knows what else may make an appearance here.
Reposted by Brian P
It’s not necessary to keep highlighting the qualities of exceptional immigrants as a reason for them to be treated well by their governments. We don’t have to be on our best behaviour to receive a basic level of human decency: that‘s why they’re called “human rights”, and not “human privileges”.
December 12, 2025 at 11:33 PM
It’s not necessary to keep highlighting the qualities of exceptional immigrants as a reason for them to be treated well by their governments. We don’t have to be on our best behaviour to receive a basic level of human decency: that‘s why they’re called “human rights”, and not “human privileges”.
Reposted by Brian P
Since 1948, in the wake of horrific atrocities, the world has marked December 10 as Human Rights Day.
It recognises the moment when countries united to adopt the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Here's how Keir Starmer is celebrating Human Rights Day 2025:
www.theguardian.com/law/2025/dec...
It recognises the moment when countries united to adopt the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Here's how Keir Starmer is celebrating Human Rights Day 2025:
www.theguardian.com/law/2025/dec...
Starmer urges Europe’s leaders to curb ECHR to halt rise of far right
Exclusive: PM calls for members of European convention on human rights to allow tougher action to protect borders
www.theguardian.com
December 10, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Since 1948, in the wake of horrific atrocities, the world has marked December 10 as Human Rights Day.
It recognises the moment when countries united to adopt the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Here's how Keir Starmer is celebrating Human Rights Day 2025:
www.theguardian.com/law/2025/dec...
It recognises the moment when countries united to adopt the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Here's how Keir Starmer is celebrating Human Rights Day 2025:
www.theguardian.com/law/2025/dec...
Reposted by Brian P
In Greek we say "my tongue has grown hair from repeating this" but I'll keep doing it: guardrails are literally a lie.
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
3/n
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
3/n
cool pincer movement if you truly grasp:
AI & any concept relating to it like so-called guardrails are a scam in the deepest sense like a perpetual motion machine or a quija board — and not only a scam like a pyramid scheme which is a possible way to make money if you are first in first out
🧵
1/n
AI & any concept relating to it like so-called guardrails are a scam in the deepest sense like a perpetual motion machine or a quija board — and not only a scam like a pyramid scheme which is a possible way to make money if you are first in first out
🧵
1/n
"Powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4o model by default...tests repeatedly showed that the AI toy dropped its guardrails the longer a conversation went on, until hitting rock bottom on incredibly disturbing topics."
December 5, 2025 at 6:24 AM
In Greek we say "my tongue has grown hair from repeating this" but I'll keep doing it: guardrails are literally a lie.
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
3/n
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
3/n
Institutionally racist bodies use racist-by-design tools (note that they asked for the thresholds to be tweaked for more "investigative leads") Corrupt and immoral: www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
UK police forces lobbied to use biased facial recognition technology
Exclusive: System more likely to suggest incorrect matches for images of women and Black people
www.theguardian.com
December 10, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Institutionally racist bodies use racist-by-design tools (note that they asked for the thresholds to be tweaked for more "investigative leads") Corrupt and immoral: www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Reposted by Brian P
Fuck Keir Starmer's spokesman, and fuck the cowards running the Labour party.
Asked repeatedly about Donald Trump calling Sadiq Khan "disgusting" and suggesting that he was only elected because of immigrants, Keir Starmer's spokesman says only that the PM has a "strong relationship" with the President which has "yielded positive results for this country"
December 9, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Fuck Keir Starmer's spokesman, and fuck the cowards running the Labour party.
Reposted by Brian P
This has been the project!! This has been what the right wing media has been doing for *decades* - constructing a set of rules around racism that it's actually impossible for white middle-class racists to have ever crossed, and in fact you're the real racist for accusing them.
Nigel Farage won't apologise for his history of racism because "if he apologised, he would be turning to his own support base and saying, ‘You’re all guilty too,'" a Reform source tells the Times.
So essentially he was a racist and he believes his supporters are racists too
So essentially he was a racist and he believes his supporters are racists too
December 8, 2025 at 8:56 AM
This has been the project!! This has been what the right wing media has been doing for *decades* - constructing a set of rules around racism that it's actually impossible for white middle-class racists to have ever crossed, and in fact you're the real racist for accusing them.
Reposted by Brian P
Horrific and disgusting. British citizens - this is being done in your name, especially those of you who continue to defend the horrors being proposed and perpetuated by Labour.
When will it be enough for you all?
When will it be enough for you all?
The Home Office hopes the deportation of UK-born children will be seamless', a minister has said
Labour minister wants 'seamless' deportation of UK-born children
www.thenational.scot
December 6, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Horrific and disgusting. British citizens - this is being done in your name, especially those of you who continue to defend the horrors being proposed and perpetuated by Labour.
When will it be enough for you all?
When will it be enough for you all?
Reposted by Brian P
December 4, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Reposted by Brian P
cool pincer movement if you truly grasp:
AI & any concept relating to it like so-called guardrails are a scam in the deepest sense like a perpetual motion machine or a quija board — and not only a scam like a pyramid scheme which is a possible way to make money if you are first in first out
🧵
1/n
AI & any concept relating to it like so-called guardrails are a scam in the deepest sense like a perpetual motion machine or a quija board — and not only a scam like a pyramid scheme which is a possible way to make money if you are first in first out
🧵
1/n
"Powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4o model by default...tests repeatedly showed that the AI toy dropped its guardrails the longer a conversation went on, until hitting rock bottom on incredibly disturbing topics."
AI-Powered Stuffed Animal Pulled From Market After Disturbing Interactions With Children
FoloToy says it's suspended sales of its AI-powered teddy bear after researchers found it gave wildly inappropriate and dangerous answers.
futurism.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:51 AM
cool pincer movement if you truly grasp:
AI & any concept relating to it like so-called guardrails are a scam in the deepest sense like a perpetual motion machine or a quija board — and not only a scam like a pyramid scheme which is a possible way to make money if you are first in first out
🧵
1/n
AI & any concept relating to it like so-called guardrails are a scam in the deepest sense like a perpetual motion machine or a quija board — and not only a scam like a pyramid scheme which is a possible way to make money if you are first in first out
🧵
1/n
Reposted by Brian P
imagine, right, you're applying for a UK visa. our wages suck, bills are high, layoffs are ten a penny, & you find out you're down up to £20k minimum right from the off, alongside thousands and thousands in visa fees. who would find that remotely appealing? this is how you collapse entire industries
a family of four on a five year visa route needs to pay close to twenty grand in surcharges, in addition to visa fees, upfront at time of application. the new Labour ILR rules means that family will pay close to *forty grand* in health surcharges, on top of visa fees. just incredibly stupid stuff
December 5, 2025 at 9:19 AM
imagine, right, you're applying for a UK visa. our wages suck, bills are high, layoffs are ten a penny, & you find out you're down up to £20k minimum right from the off, alongside thousands and thousands in visa fees. who would find that remotely appealing? this is how you collapse entire industries
Reposted by Brian P
Everyone’s talking about whether Farage was racist to schoolchildren as a boy when he was racist to schoolchildren THIS WEEK. All the kids who are of reading age can read what he says about them.
John Swinney has responded to Nigel Farage's attack on Glasgow schoolchildren, calling it 'quite simply racist'
John Swinney responds to Nigel Farage's 'racist' attack on Glasgow schoolchildren
www.thenational.scot
December 5, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Everyone’s talking about whether Farage was racist to schoolchildren as a boy when he was racist to schoolchildren THIS WEEK. All the kids who are of reading age can read what he says about them.
Reposted by Brian P
I think it's worth noticing how completely major media institutions have just gone along with the project of sacrificing the national economy on the altar of "some people in marginal constituencies don't like hearing foreign accents when they go out"
"Why do we put hurdles in the way of the people that are actually going to drive our economy? It makes zero sense."
Prof Sir Paul Nurse, Nobel prize winning scientist, says the UK's scientific future is being put at risk
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Prof Sir Paul Nurse, Nobel prize winning scientist, says the UK's scientific future is being put at risk
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Top UK scientist says research visa restrictions endanger economy
Prof Sir Paul Nurse says the UK is
www.bbc.co.uk
December 5, 2025 at 8:21 AM
I think it's worth noticing how completely major media institutions have just gone along with the project of sacrificing the national economy on the altar of "some people in marginal constituencies don't like hearing foreign accents when they go out"
Reposted by Brian P
If anyone cares at all, EV battery recycling is now hitting 99% recovery for important metals
Please remind me again what the recycle rate for fossil fuels is
interestingengineering.com/energy/recyc...
Please remind me again what the recycle rate for fossil fuels is
interestingengineering.com/energy/recyc...
New recycling tech recovers nearly pure nickel and cobalt from old EV batteries
Researchers have developed an eco-friendly recycling tech that extracts 99 percent pure nickel and cobalt from waste batteries.
interestingengineering.com
December 5, 2025 at 12:17 AM
If anyone cares at all, EV battery recycling is now hitting 99% recovery for important metals
Please remind me again what the recycle rate for fossil fuels is
interestingengineering.com/energy/recyc...
Please remind me again what the recycle rate for fossil fuels is
interestingengineering.com/energy/recyc...
Reposted by Brian P
"According to our analysis, reasoning models use, on average, 100 times more energy than models with no reasoning capabilities (or with reasoning turned off)"
Good new analysis of how 'reasoning' mode in chatbots consumes a fairly massive amount more energy than normal mode
Good new analysis of how 'reasoning' mode in chatbots consumes a fairly massive amount more energy than normal mode
AI Energy Score v2: Refreshed Leaderboard, now with Reasoning 🧠
A Blog post by Sasha Luccioni on Hugging Face
huggingface.co
December 5, 2025 at 5:00 AM
"According to our analysis, reasoning models use, on average, 100 times more energy than models with no reasoning capabilities (or with reasoning turned off)"
Good new analysis of how 'reasoning' mode in chatbots consumes a fairly massive amount more energy than normal mode
Good new analysis of how 'reasoning' mode in chatbots consumes a fairly massive amount more energy than normal mode
All the experts (as opposed to the marketing bods) are clear that these use cases cannot be "guard-railed" out. Just ban the tech. It's exploitative, climate-destroying, plagiaristic, mental-health damaging nonsense.
it's wild how the positive use cases are like "save 5 minutes reading a long doc" and "write a generic email faster" and the negative use cases are "get encouraged to dive deeper in psychosis, misogyny, or suicidal thoughts" and we're still on the fence about overall value
New from 404 Media: ChatGPT told a violent stalker to continue running his misogynistic and threat-filled podcast despite the “haters,” and to visit more gyms to find women. The man stalked women in multiple states, including touching and following from work
www.404media.co/chatgpt-spot...
www.404media.co/chatgpt-spot...
December 4, 2025 at 1:54 PM
All the experts (as opposed to the marketing bods) are clear that these use cases cannot be "guard-railed" out. Just ban the tech. It's exploitative, climate-destroying, plagiaristic, mental-health damaging nonsense.
Reposted by Brian P
We are delighted to announce the Strathclyde Optical Microscopy Course 2026 (SOMC26), taking place in Glasgow from 21st July – 30th July 2026!
Please find more details at shorturl.at/xmUiZ and apply at shorturl.at/MxTlI. Deadline 16 January 2026.
Please find more details at shorturl.at/xmUiZ and apply at shorturl.at/MxTlI. Deadline 16 January 2026.
November 5, 2025 at 3:40 PM
We are delighted to announce the Strathclyde Optical Microscopy Course 2026 (SOMC26), taking place in Glasgow from 21st July – 30th July 2026!
Please find more details at shorturl.at/xmUiZ and apply at shorturl.at/MxTlI. Deadline 16 January 2026.
Please find more details at shorturl.at/xmUiZ and apply at shorturl.at/MxTlI. Deadline 16 January 2026.
Reposted by Brian P
Reform in Scotland have pushed islamophobia during a by-election, advocated concentration camps for asylum seekers, and now a blatantly racist attack on Glasgow's schoolchildren.
Everyone who believes in equality, human rights and democracy must recognise this threat for what it is: fascism.
Everyone who believes in equality, human rights and democracy must recognise this threat for what it is: fascism.
Nigel Farage has been slated for a 'repulsive' and 'deeply racist' attack on Glasgow schoolchildren as part of his Scottish campaign
'Deeply racist': Fury as Nigel Farage launches 'vile' attack on Glasgow pupils
www.thenational.scot
December 4, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Reform in Scotland have pushed islamophobia during a by-election, advocated concentration camps for asylum seekers, and now a blatantly racist attack on Glasgow's schoolchildren.
Everyone who believes in equality, human rights and democracy must recognise this threat for what it is: fascism.
Everyone who believes in equality, human rights and democracy must recognise this threat for what it is: fascism.
Reposted by Brian P
We need to stop caving to awful people and we need a government who aren’t part of the problem but actually do the moral leadership thing
December 4, 2025 at 9:50 AM
We need to stop caving to awful people and we need a government who aren’t part of the problem but actually do the moral leadership thing
Reposted by Brian P
Couldn’t really be more starkly apparent that the choice is now Billionaires or Democracy, IMO. We can have one or the other but not both, as this system is currently constituted.
December 4, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Couldn’t really be more starkly apparent that the choice is now Billionaires or Democracy, IMO. We can have one or the other but not both, as this system is currently constituted.
Reposted by Brian P
This is *exactly* the same phrasing as the management used @qmul.bsky.social.
This is work that has been withdrawn as part of legal industrial action. Management is demanding staff undoes their own industrial action and performs the work they have not been paid for, on top of their existing work.
This is work that has been withdrawn as part of legal industrial action. Management is demanding staff undoes their own industrial action and performs the work they have not been paid for, on top of their existing work.
December 3, 2025 at 7:11 PM
This is *exactly* the same phrasing as the management used @qmul.bsky.social.
This is work that has been withdrawn as part of legal industrial action. Management is demanding staff undoes their own industrial action and performs the work they have not been paid for, on top of their existing work.
This is work that has been withdrawn as part of legal industrial action. Management is demanding staff undoes their own industrial action and performs the work they have not been paid for, on top of their existing work.
Reposted by Brian P
One thing I always want to ask these masculinity entrepreneurs is why men can’t look to women as role models, and can’t see in women models of human virtue and thriving that are worth emulating. After all, women look to men for these all the time.
Sure, Galloway is better than Peterson
But he still believes the natural order of things requires men to be supreme. Men must protect, provide and procreate. It's dressed in progressive language, but it's fundamentally a patriarchal box to trap men in
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
But he still believes the natural order of things requires men to be supreme. Men must protect, provide and procreate. It's dressed in progressive language, but it's fundamentally a patriarchal box to trap men in
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Scott Galloway on the masculinity crisis: ‘I worry we are evolving a new breed of asexual, asocial males’
When his book Notes on Being a Man was released last month, it raced to the top of the bestseller lists. The US author, tech entrepreneur and podcaster explains his theories on dating, crying – and th...
www.theguardian.com
December 3, 2025 at 5:28 PM
One thing I always want to ask these masculinity entrepreneurs is why men can’t look to women as role models, and can’t see in women models of human virtue and thriving that are worth emulating. After all, women look to men for these all the time.
Reposted by Brian P
It's worth remembering that the government could stop the exclusion of trans people from public life any time they want.
December 3, 2025 at 10:58 AM
It's worth remembering that the government could stop the exclusion of trans people from public life any time they want.
Reposted by Brian P
Absolute fucking cowards. Nothing in the Supreme Court ruling comprehensively established that it is unlawful to ever include us. You could fight that case and win if you were willing to take a risk for us.
December 3, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Absolute fucking cowards. Nothing in the Supreme Court ruling comprehensively established that it is unlawful to ever include us. You could fight that case and win if you were willing to take a risk for us.
Reposted by Brian P
Jesus Christ www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Women’s Institute will no longer accept trans women as members from April
Exclusive: CEO says decision taken with ‘utmost regret and sadness’ after supreme court ruling on definition of a woman
www.theguardian.com
December 3, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Jesus Christ www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Reposted by Brian P
But Labour MPs can’t put on hi-vis and a hard hat to visit for a photo opp, so they don’t count this as work and they don’t count these as jobs with saving
Every sympathy for University of Essex (and pressures facing them) but this is very bad news for Southend.
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Essex university to cut 400 jobs as overseas student numbers plummet
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Essex university to cut 400 jobs as overseas student numbers plummet
Essex university to cut 400 jobs as overseas student numbers plummet
Roles to be lost are part of wave of redundancy programmes across UK’s higher education sector
giftarticle.ft.com
December 3, 2025 at 9:48 AM
But Labour MPs can’t put on hi-vis and a hard hat to visit for a photo opp, so they don’t count this as work and they don’t count these as jobs with saving