Duncan Batey
@duncanbatey.bsky.social
is allegedly a gracefully ageing rocker whose life was demolished in a freak meditation accident back when he was a computer scientist
but also very definitely a singer-songwriter and t'ai-chi enthusiast based in Glastonbury, UK
duncanbatey.bandcamp.com
but also very definitely a singer-songwriter and t'ai-chi enthusiast based in Glastonbury, UK
duncanbatey.bandcamp.com
Reposted by Duncan Batey
Note that Google's AI also thinks Zinc is liquid at room temperature.
December 2, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Note that Google's AI also thinks Zinc is liquid at room temperature.
Reposted by Duncan Batey
A beacon at sunrise. Glastonbury Tor this morning.
December 2, 2025 at 9:18 AM
A beacon at sunrise. Glastonbury Tor this morning.
Reposted by Duncan Batey
Reposted by Duncan Batey
I’ll be doing an online (Zoom) version of my tour show this Sunday 7th December at 7pm (GMT). Tickets are limited and my mailing list will have first access so if you’re not on there already please add yourself here: bit.ly/MattGreenMai... Thanks!
December 1, 2025 at 6:59 PM
I’ll be doing an online (Zoom) version of my tour show this Sunday 7th December at 7pm (GMT). Tickets are limited and my mailing list will have first access so if you’re not on there already please add yourself here: bit.ly/MattGreenMai... Thanks!
Reposted by Duncan Batey
Well, I’ll never win a Hugo or a Nebula, but I did finally make the front of Locus, which is no small thing.
Issue 779 Table of Contents, December 2025 locusmag.com/2025/12...
December 1, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Well, I’ll never win a Hugo or a Nebula, but I did finally make the front of Locus, which is no small thing.
Reposted by Duncan Batey
Hey, POETS! **points**
In Anaheim did Worldcon
a special Hugo Award decree
where sci-fi verse
with rhymes diverse
were celebrated as best poetry
(With apologies to Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
Yes, there will be a Hugo for Best Poem in 2026. The press release is out. The LAcon V will be updated later today.
a special Hugo Award decree
where sci-fi verse
with rhymes diverse
were celebrated as best poetry
(With apologies to Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
Yes, there will be a Hugo for Best Poem in 2026. The press release is out. The LAcon V will be updated later today.
December 1, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Hey, POETS! **points**
Reposted by Duncan Batey
I named my fists left and right because frankly I'm not comfortable with naming body parts and fists especially that just seems fraught with psychosexual implications I don't really want to make explicit so in this essay I will
I named my fists Pride and Prejudice, because it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of two fists must be in want of whupping ass
I named my fists Common and Sense because I'm about to bring the Paine
December 1, 2025 at 3:25 PM
I named my fists left and right because frankly I'm not comfortable with naming body parts and fists especially that just seems fraught with psychosexual implications I don't really want to make explicit so in this essay I will
Reposted by Duncan Batey
"AI is the world's greatest tech demo." Something one of my colleagues said today, and it's absolutely on point.
December 1, 2025 at 2:55 PM
"AI is the world's greatest tech demo." Something one of my colleagues said today, and it's absolutely on point.
Reposted by Duncan Batey
For anyone who doesn't know, go to Settings, Accessibility, then switch on the alt text requirement. If I remember right, you have to do it on the web and the app, separately.
Darlings, please remember your alt text! Turn on the setting so you can't post images without it. (It's how I got into the habit.)
It takes an extra 20 seconds to be inclusive. Do the thing.
It takes an extra 20 seconds to be inclusive. Do the thing.
December 1, 2025 at 2:53 PM
For anyone who doesn't know, go to Settings, Accessibility, then switch on the alt text requirement. If I remember right, you have to do it on the web and the app, separately.
Reposted by Duncan Batey
Darlings, please remember your alt text! Turn on the setting so you can't post images without it. (It's how I got into the habit.)
It takes an extra 20 seconds to be inclusive. Do the thing.
It takes an extra 20 seconds to be inclusive. Do the thing.
December 1, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Darlings, please remember your alt text! Turn on the setting so you can't post images without it. (It's how I got into the habit.)
It takes an extra 20 seconds to be inclusive. Do the thing.
It takes an extra 20 seconds to be inclusive. Do the thing.
Reposted by Duncan Batey
On to A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett: eccentric super-analyser detective and increasingly long-suffering super-memoriser assistant investigate more bizarre crime in their Roman-like Empire whose organic tech is derived from the blood of the very Leviathans of the deep threatening it.
December 1, 2025 at 2:05 PM
On to A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett: eccentric super-analyser detective and increasingly long-suffering super-memoriser assistant investigate more bizarre crime in their Roman-like Empire whose organic tech is derived from the blood of the very Leviathans of the deep threatening it.
Reposted by Duncan Batey
Here's an idea: rather than burning a trillion on AI, why don't we spend it on teen scientists instead, since they apparently deliver faster than the machine?
Remarkable story of a Georgia high school team who used CRISPR to make a rapid diagnostic test strip for Lyme disease, speeding dx from 2 weeks to days
www.cbsnews.com/news/teens-m...
www.cbsnews.com/news/teens-m...
Teens may have come up with a new way to detect, treat Lyme disease using CRISPR gene editing
To compete at iGEM, a sort of science Olympics, teens at a Georgia high school set their sights on finding a better way to detect and treat Lyme disease. Their approach uses CRISPR gene editing.
www.cbsnews.com
December 1, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Here's an idea: rather than burning a trillion on AI, why don't we spend it on teen scientists instead, since they apparently deliver faster than the machine?
Reposted by Duncan Batey
It's Monday again and today I'm still reading "Menace of the Monster" edited by Mike Ashley
What book(s) are you reading this week?
💙📚 #BookSky #AmReading #MondayReads #TBR
alt text in images please
What book(s) are you reading this week?
💙📚 #BookSky #AmReading #MondayReads #TBR
alt text in images please
December 1, 2025 at 5:52 AM
It's Monday again and today I'm still reading "Menace of the Monster" edited by Mike Ashley
What book(s) are you reading this week?
💙📚 #BookSky #AmReading #MondayReads #TBR
alt text in images please
What book(s) are you reading this week?
💙📚 #BookSky #AmReading #MondayReads #TBR
alt text in images please
Reposted by Duncan Batey
It's 'Stormy Avalon' today to start December with.
December 1, 2025 at 9:33 AM
It's 'Stormy Avalon' today to start December with.
Reposted by Duncan Batey
Open Channel D! Solo and Kuryakin are back...
@talkingpicturestv.bsky.social
scifibulletin.com/2025/12/01/t...
@talkingpicturestv.bsky.social
scifibulletin.com/2025/12/01/t...
Open Channel D: the Return of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The United Network Command for Law and Enforcement is reopening its doors in the UK. While the 1983 reunion movie has been playing on Legend for some time, the original series is getting a full scr…
scifibulletin.com
December 1, 2025 at 9:43 AM
Open Channel D! Solo and Kuryakin are back...
@talkingpicturestv.bsky.social
scifibulletin.com/2025/12/01/t...
@talkingpicturestv.bsky.social
scifibulletin.com/2025/12/01/t...
Reposted by Duncan Batey
I'm off on tour today for 7 shows supporting the brilliant @theagilmore.bsky.social !
So of course I've just made a big list of music and video projects my hilarious brain thinks are possible to complete while I'm away. Should I chuck 5 novels in my car too, just in case I run out of things to do?
So of course I've just made a big list of music and video projects my hilarious brain thinks are possible to complete while I'm away. Should I chuck 5 novels in my car too, just in case I run out of things to do?
December 1, 2025 at 12:06 PM
I'm off on tour today for 7 shows supporting the brilliant @theagilmore.bsky.social !
So of course I've just made a big list of music and video projects my hilarious brain thinks are possible to complete while I'm away. Should I chuck 5 novels in my car too, just in case I run out of things to do?
So of course I've just made a big list of music and video projects my hilarious brain thinks are possible to complete while I'm away. Should I chuck 5 novels in my car too, just in case I run out of things to do?
Reposted by Duncan Batey
Can I
turn the stars
into a symphony,
step across the dark,
build a bridge
with wild grace,
willing hope
from every constellation,
from every root,
just to see what happens
when
the sun sings
to the moon,
and orbits
of hearts
collide—
am I brave it
for all that,
in this messy
universe?
#TinyPoem
turn the stars
into a symphony,
step across the dark,
build a bridge
with wild grace,
willing hope
from every constellation,
from every root,
just to see what happens
when
the sun sings
to the moon,
and orbits
of hearts
collide—
am I brave it
for all that,
in this messy
universe?
#TinyPoem
December 1, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Can I
turn the stars
into a symphony,
step across the dark,
build a bridge
with wild grace,
willing hope
from every constellation,
from every root,
just to see what happens
when
the sun sings
to the moon,
and orbits
of hearts
collide—
am I brave it
for all that,
in this messy
universe?
#TinyPoem
turn the stars
into a symphony,
step across the dark,
build a bridge
with wild grace,
willing hope
from every constellation,
from every root,
just to see what happens
when
the sun sings
to the moon,
and orbits
of hearts
collide—
am I brave it
for all that,
in this messy
universe?
#TinyPoem
Reposted by Duncan Batey
*looks to camera*
Three years into the generative-AI wave, demand for the technology seems surprisingly flimsy
Investors expect AI use to soar. That’s not happening
Recent surveys point to flatlining business adoption
econ.st
December 1, 2025 at 12:06 PM
*looks to camera*
Reposted by Duncan Batey
Happy Smol Paul Day to all who celebrate 🐈⬛🎉
Do take the time to watch all of these - they had me in fits of giggles.
Do take the time to watch all of these - they had me in fits of giggles.
And now for some of my very favourite Smol Paul moments in no particular order, starting with the first ever yeet
November 30, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Happy Smol Paul Day to all who celebrate 🐈⬛🎉
Do take the time to watch all of these - they had me in fits of giggles.
Do take the time to watch all of these - they had me in fits of giggles.
Reposted by Duncan Batey
The moon on the Christmas tree in Glastonbury this evening.
November 30, 2025 at 5:46 PM
The moon on the Christmas tree in Glastonbury this evening.
Reposted by Duncan Batey
This thread is simply amazing, please share
Thread. In March 2024 I devoured @mjohnharrison.bsky.social’s Wish I Was Here in one sitting. Unfortunately Gennaro devoured some, too. Today its carcass called to me from the bookcase while I was looking for materials to splice with some midcentury domestic paraphernalia. This is the epilogue. 1/
November 30, 2025 at 4:08 PM
This thread is simply amazing, please share
Reposted by Duncan Batey
Using AI to make movies is contentious. Using AI to review films, however, is obnoxious. An AI can't tell you how the film made it feel: it can only regurgitate what others have already said about it. That's not a review, that's a literature survey.
www.the-independent.com/arts-enterta...
www.the-independent.com/arts-enterta...
Film critics are great – and awful – because they’re human. AI critics are nothing
Artificial intelligence has given rise to a new breed of movie pundit – one that gloms onto consensus opinion and regurgitates rote praise. Xan Brooks looks out at this new frontier of film criticism ...
www.the-independent.com
November 30, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Using AI to make movies is contentious. Using AI to review films, however, is obnoxious. An AI can't tell you how the film made it feel: it can only regurgitate what others have already said about it. That's not a review, that's a literature survey.
www.the-independent.com/arts-enterta...
www.the-independent.com/arts-enterta...
Reposted by Duncan Batey
It’s my last show of the tour tonight! If you’re anywhere near Brighton come along and have a laugh! 7pm start at @forgecomedyclub.bsky.social. See you there! forgecomedyclub.co.uk
November 30, 2025 at 12:42 PM
It’s my last show of the tour tonight! If you’re anywhere near Brighton come along and have a laugh! 7pm start at @forgecomedyclub.bsky.social. See you there! forgecomedyclub.co.uk
Reposted by Duncan Batey
Datacenters in space are a terrible, horrible, no good idea.
Datacenters in space are a terrible, horrible, no good idea.
There is a rush for AI companies to team up with space launch/satellite companies to build datacenters in space. TL;DR: It's not going to work.
taranis.ie
November 30, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Datacenters in space are a terrible, horrible, no good idea.