Edward Russell
@ehrusselljr.bsky.social
Classical programmer. Flâneur photographer. Once synchronicity researcher. Now octogenarian, and still wondering ... "at the existence of the world" 🎶
Pinned
Weathered speed limit sign on the Cape May Canal approaching Lewes Ferry, frequently ignored.
Reposted by Edward Russell
Reposted by Edward Russell
Funny thing though: Musk and the other tech lords are still saying such things, and the media credulity has not lessened one whit. And they are richer than ever.
December 27, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Funny thing though: Musk and the other tech lords are still saying such things, and the media credulity has not lessened one whit. And they are richer than ever.
Reposted by Edward Russell
I seem to have a memory of having a lovely Christmas dinner yesterday with my family, but I forgot to take a photo for social media. Does that mean it didn't really happen?
December 26, 2025 at 10:38 AM
I seem to have a memory of having a lovely Christmas dinner yesterday with my family, but I forgot to take a photo for social media. Does that mean it didn't really happen?
Reposted by Edward Russell
'We don’t really know how AI reaches its conclusions – even the programmers admit as much. Nor can we verify its reasoning against clear, objective criteria. So when we follow AI’s advice, we are not guided by reason. We are back in the realm of faith.'
Our king, priest and feudal lord – how AI is taking us back to the dark ages | Joseph de Weck
Since the Enlightenment, we’ve been making our own decisions. But now AI may be about to change that, says Joseph de Weck, a fellow with the Foreign Policy Research Institute
www.theguardian.com
December 26, 2025 at 8:55 AM
'We don’t really know how AI reaches its conclusions – even the programmers admit as much. Nor can we verify its reasoning against clear, objective criteria. So when we follow AI’s advice, we are not guided by reason. We are back in the realm of faith.'
Reposted by Edward Russell
Our souls are like those orphans whose unwedded mothers die in bearing them
December 23, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Our souls are like those orphans whose unwedded mothers die in bearing them
Reposted by Edward Russell
An aerial view of Christmas in central London.
December 23, 2025 at 7:57 AM
An aerial view of Christmas in central London.
Reposted by Edward Russell
Thinking lots about baking lately. Wittgenstein apparently once wrote that ‘Raisins may be the best part of a cake; but a bag of raisins is not better than a cake.’ @nigelwarburton.bsky.social calls this Wittgenstein's 'critique of pure raisin', which rather made my day. @wiglet1981.bsky.social
December 22, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Thinking lots about baking lately. Wittgenstein apparently once wrote that ‘Raisins may be the best part of a cake; but a bag of raisins is not better than a cake.’ @nigelwarburton.bsky.social calls this Wittgenstein's 'critique of pure raisin', which rather made my day. @wiglet1981.bsky.social
Answer to Jung....
Some beautiful books for lovers of history of science as lateChristmas gift suggestions! #histsci #books #goodreads
thonyc.wordpress.com/2025/12/19/a...
thonyc.wordpress.com/2025/12/19/a...
A Christmas gift from the Gnomes of Ball Mansions.
Philip Ball is one of the best English science writers and with certainty one of the most if not the most prolific. He churns out books and article, with radio programs thrown in along the way, at …
thonyc.wordpress.com
December 20, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Answer to Jung....
Reposted by Edward Russell
What if thinking doesn’t begin in the brain, but in the ceaseless labour of our cells? Today’s essay rethinks the question of how we become minds, arguing that cognition begins not in the mind but in the collective processes that keep a body alive @annaciaunica.bsky.social
Why you need your whole body – from head to toes – to think | Aeon Essays
Contemplating the world requires a body, and a body requires an immune system: the rungs of life create the stuff of thought
buff.ly
November 27, 2025 at 11:00 AM
What if thinking doesn’t begin in the brain, but in the ceaseless labour of our cells? Today’s essay rethinks the question of how we become minds, arguing that cognition begins not in the mind but in the collective processes that keep a body alive @annaciaunica.bsky.social
Reposted by Edward Russell
Some of the longest-lived organisms on Earth aren’t whales, trees or corals, but microbes buried deep in the earth. This eye-opening essay examines the slowest lives on Earth, asking what such lives mean for how we define life itself @karenlloyd.bsky.social
The discovery of aeonophiles expands our definition of life | Aeon Essays
The discovery of organisms that have been alive for many thousands of years requires a revolution in how we understand life
buff.ly
December 18, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Some of the longest-lived organisms on Earth aren’t whales, trees or corals, but microbes buried deep in the earth. This eye-opening essay examines the slowest lives on Earth, asking what such lives mean for how we define life itself @karenlloyd.bsky.social
Reposted by Edward Russell
Hm, maybe I should try that. I'm also an Erasmus fan. In Praise of Folly is a text for our times.
To celebrate today’s news, a portrait of Erasmus (1466-1536); translator, scholar, humanist and fierce defender of reasoned debate. He insisted on arguing in Latin because the act of stopping and translating one’s thoughts was an impediment to publishing anything intemperate or ill-considered.
December 17, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Hm, maybe I should try that. I'm also an Erasmus fan. In Praise of Folly is a text for our times.
Reposted by Edward Russell
We need an extension of Clarke's Law third law along the lines of.
"Any technology can be perceived as sufficiently advanced and thus indistinguishable from magic if we just give it a new pseudoscientific name."
Exposome is just one of many such terms.
"Any technology can be perceived as sufficiently advanced and thus indistinguishable from magic if we just give it a new pseudoscientific name."
Exposome is just one of many such terms.
December 17, 2025 at 10:52 AM
We need an extension of Clarke's Law third law along the lines of.
"Any technology can be perceived as sufficiently advanced and thus indistinguishable from magic if we just give it a new pseudoscientific name."
Exposome is just one of many such terms.
"Any technology can be perceived as sufficiently advanced and thus indistinguishable from magic if we just give it a new pseudoscientific name."
Exposome is just one of many such terms.
Reposted by Edward Russell
What a desk!
#writingdesk
BnF MS Français 17211; Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, French translation by Claude de Seyssel, volume 1; early 16th century; f.1r @gallicabnf.bsky.social
#writingdesk
BnF MS Français 17211; Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, French translation by Claude de Seyssel, volume 1; early 16th century; f.1r @gallicabnf.bsky.social
December 14, 2025 at 4:10 PM
What a desk!
#writingdesk
BnF MS Français 17211; Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, French translation by Claude de Seyssel, volume 1; early 16th century; f.1r @gallicabnf.bsky.social
#writingdesk
BnF MS Français 17211; Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, French translation by Claude de Seyssel, volume 1; early 16th century; f.1r @gallicabnf.bsky.social
Reposted by Edward Russell
it is by no means uncommon to see the needles in the compasses, at intervals, go round and round
December 15, 2025 at 7:47 AM
it is by no means uncommon to see the needles in the compasses, at intervals, go round and round
Reposted by Edward Russell
Interesting perspective on scientific writing in generative AI era: when an idea arrives from a model and not a source, then we lose the attribution, as well as the context, limitations, and the commentary of the original paper. The future looks grim 🧪
Proud of this new piece 🚨 in @NatMachIntell, with S. Porsdam Mann, @JulianJKoplin & @HaotianYuan0630 - who is still in high school! ➡️ "LLMs in Scholarly Writing Pose a Provenance Problem" - when LLM's 'fill in the gaps' in your thinking with another's uncredited ideas. Preview/link ⬇️.
December 15, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Interesting perspective on scientific writing in generative AI era: when an idea arrives from a model and not a source, then we lose the attribution, as well as the context, limitations, and the commentary of the original paper. The future looks grim 🧪
Reposted by Edward Russell
"Having an AI do it and fail half the time isn't exactly a winning alternative”
Why AI boom is crumbling
“Tests found that AI agents failed to complete tasks up to 70% of the time, making them almost entirely redundant as a workforce replacement tool…Having an AI do it and fail half the time isn't exactly a winning alternative”. www.extremetech.com/computing/mi...
“Tests found that AI agents failed to complete tasks up to 70% of the time, making them almost entirely redundant as a workforce replacement tool…Having an AI do it and fail half the time isn't exactly a winning alternative”. www.extremetech.com/computing/mi...
Microsoft Scales Back AI Goals Because Almost Nobody Is Using Copilot
Google's Gemini is on pace to push Copilot into third place.
www.extremetech.com
December 15, 2025 at 11:04 AM
"Having an AI do it and fail half the time isn't exactly a winning alternative”
Reposted by Edward Russell
New results are in from the huge, underground LZ experiment: We really, really, really have not found dark matter.
LZ is so sensitive that it can see neutrinos! But still no sign of the hypothetical WIMP dark matter it was designed to detect. 🔭🧪
sanfordlab.org/news/lz-sets...
LZ is so sensitive that it can see neutrinos! But still no sign of the hypothetical WIMP dark matter it was designed to detect. 🔭🧪
sanfordlab.org/news/lz-sets...
December 12, 2025 at 5:25 PM
New results are in from the huge, underground LZ experiment: We really, really, really have not found dark matter.
LZ is so sensitive that it can see neutrinos! But still no sign of the hypothetical WIMP dark matter it was designed to detect. 🔭🧪
sanfordlab.org/news/lz-sets...
LZ is so sensitive that it can see neutrinos! But still no sign of the hypothetical WIMP dark matter it was designed to detect. 🔭🧪
sanfordlab.org/news/lz-sets...
Reposted by Edward Russell
My end-of-year leader for 2025 is about the need to defend science against the encroaching darkness, not just because it is the best way to make sense of the world, but also because it is an endless source of wonder and whimsy www.newscientist.com/article/mg26...
Science still produced many wonders in 2025 despite being under siege
Though there were setbacks on climate change and funding for science this year, there was still plenty of amazing discoveries to marvel at
www.newscientist.com
December 11, 2025 at 9:47 AM
My end-of-year leader for 2025 is about the need to defend science against the encroaching darkness, not just because it is the best way to make sense of the world, but also because it is an endless source of wonder and whimsy www.newscientist.com/article/mg26...
Reposted by Edward Russell
I’ve never actually heard Ted talk
December 9, 2025 at 5:34 AM
I’ve never actually heard Ted talk
Reposted by Edward Russell
Wow, this is a very impressive embryo model. "What sets the model described in this study apart from other embryo models is its ability to continuously mimic primate development from pre-implantation through to late gastrulation." (Nice, @amartinezarias.bsky.social!)
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Primate embryo model leaps across developmental boundaries
A stem-cell-based monkey embryo model that self-organizes into a comprehensive body plan could lead the way to more-sophisticated models of early human development.
www.nature.com
December 8, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Wow, this is a very impressive embryo model. "What sets the model described in this study apart from other embryo models is its ability to continuously mimic primate development from pre-implantation through to late gastrulation." (Nice, @amartinezarias.bsky.social!)
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Edward Russell
A glimpse of beauty within Sherborne Abbey.
December 7, 2025 at 1:45 AM
A glimpse of beauty within Sherborne Abbey.
Reposted by Edward Russell
The Nobel Prize committee should announce the World Cup winner tomorrow
December 6, 2025 at 4:29 AM
The Nobel Prize committee should announce the World Cup winner tomorrow
Reposted by Edward Russell
'The Open Window.' (1907) Much like his friend Vilhelm Hammershøi, Carl Holsøe is celebrated for his depictions of sparse interiors, which convey stillness and introspection.
November 30, 2025 at 10:07 AM
'The Open Window.' (1907) Much like his friend Vilhelm Hammershøi, Carl Holsøe is celebrated for his depictions of sparse interiors, which convey stillness and introspection.
Reposted by Edward Russell
Reposted by Edward Russell
Some #astrobiology reading for a Saturday morning: I really enjoyed this pop sci BBC article on finding biology like mould and frogs (!) adapting to life in radioactive Chernobyl by increasing melanin, i.e. what shields human skin from UV rays 🧪🔭 ”Life, uh, finds a way”
www.bbc.com/future/artic...
www.bbc.com/future/artic...
The mysterious black fungus from Chernobyl that may eat radiation
Mould found at the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster appears to be feeding off the radiation. Could we use it to shield space travellers from cosmic rays?
www.bbc.com
November 29, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Some #astrobiology reading for a Saturday morning: I really enjoyed this pop sci BBC article on finding biology like mould and frogs (!) adapting to life in radioactive Chernobyl by increasing melanin, i.e. what shields human skin from UV rays 🧪🔭 ”Life, uh, finds a way”
www.bbc.com/future/artic...
www.bbc.com/future/artic...