Joanna Bryson
@j2bryson.bsky.social
Professor of Ethics & Technology @ Hertie School, Berlin. Interests: Artificial & Natural Intelligence; Behavioural Ecology; Cooperation; Digital Governance. Social media policy: https://joanna-bryson.blogspot.com/2024/10/guidance-to-my-social-media.html
How did I not know this is where #transhumanism as a term came from? I’m sure I’m showing that I’m not reading my friends enough.
![the galaxy.
The core idea stems back to the 1940s and 1960s when an
tionises,
evolutionary biologist named Julian Huxley joined and ran the British Eugenics Society. The eugenics movement proposed that
mues posthuman hit in their lifet
humans should improve themselves through selective breeding,
1Is developmen
and it flourished in British universities and among the countrys intellectual and upper classes. Huxley himself came from an aris-
mandor cha
gin out of col
tocratic family (his brother Aldous wrote Brave New World), and he believed society's upper crust was genetically superior.
Lower-class people needed to be weeded out like a bad crop and subjected to forced sterilization. "[They] are reproducing too
hoped as
fast," Huxley wrote.
in that 1
When the Nazis latched on to the eugenics movement, Hux-
mentur
ley decided it needed a rebrand. He coined a new term, trans-humanism, in an essay saying that alongside proper breeding, humanity could also "transcend itself" through science and technology.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:tkbweudpy6tvzjqdiza4z3p5/bafkreiaqj6n7hpyg33rx33lywwpseemrl7bjzpsskaagbxrdj3zbizsub4@jpeg)
November 28, 2025 at 6:18 AM
How did I not know this is where #transhumanism as a term came from? I’m sure I’m showing that I’m not reading my friends enough.
Speaking of the OBR , slide from last night
November 26, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Speaking of the OBR , slide from last night
A beautiful Hertie store in Alexander Platz, not far from @hertieschool.bsky.social's present (temporary) accommodation for PhDs and research centres. I think directly across Alexanderstr, assuming the tracks are in the same place as now, but not one of the buildings here survived WWII.
#war
#war
November 17, 2025 at 8:49 AM
A beautiful Hertie store in Alexander Platz, not far from @hertieschool.bsky.social's present (temporary) accommodation for PhDs and research centres. I think directly across Alexanderstr, assuming the tracks are in the same place as now, but not one of the buildings here survived WWII.
#war
#war
Taiwan puts its digital ministry under transportation, because it’s infrastructure.
Audrey Tang at the French Embassy in Berlin. #digitalGovernance
Audrey Tang at the French Embassy in Berlin. #digitalGovernance
November 12, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Taiwan puts its digital ministry under transportation, because it’s infrastructure.
Audrey Tang at the French Embassy in Berlin. #digitalGovernance
Audrey Tang at the French Embassy in Berlin. #digitalGovernance
BTW, not evident from the picture, but the linkedin post at the head of this thread complements @rollingstone.com for accurately describing the #systemsAI #systemsEngineering steps Grok (the corporate entity) took to address the harms.
See slide incl. alt text for Musk's ignorance of how LLM work.
See slide incl. alt text for Musk's ignorance of how LLM work.
![A slide about how large language models work. I'd been drawing this on whiteboards for my students, then made a slide at a consciousness meeting where philosophers were confused why LLM never say they aren't sentient. [I hope it's evident that this is informed conjecture, not verbatim truth.] Thus the 3 people in the history of the Internet who ever wrote "I'm not sentient" are out in the fringes of the data, as is the one person who ever said "Check it out, MechaHitler!" However, Musk's attempt to use a second set of guardrails to push Grok right also pushed it towards the under-informed data fringe with the MechaHitler comment. The bottom of the slide says "False statements are not lies, nor hallucinations; just adequate predictions from an inadequately informed part of the data space."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:tkbweudpy6tvzjqdiza4z3p5/bafkreibmcjvoddrjto47fqgfq3cqsrylrrfyvp7nzks3ldzb3vuhcgqpa4@jpeg)
November 9, 2025 at 11:19 AM
BTW, not evident from the picture, but the linkedin post at the head of this thread complements @rollingstone.com for accurately describing the #systemsAI #systemsEngineering steps Grok (the corporate entity) took to address the harms.
See slide incl. alt text for Musk's ignorance of how LLM work.
See slide incl. alt text for Musk's ignorance of how LLM work.
Closeup on the whales. Blue whales have gone from huge to invisible to barely visible following the hunting ban. Humpbacks were always in minority, is that related to why they sing?
November 9, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Closeup on the whales. Blue whales have gone from huge to invisible to barely visible following the hunting ban. Humpbacks were always in minority, is that related to why they sing?
“One of the first public displays of the double helix, at the Royal Society Conversazione in June 1953, was signed by the authors of all three Nature papers1–3,21. In this, the discovery of the structure of DNA was not seen as a race won by Watson and Crick, but as the outcome of a joint effort.”
November 8, 2025 at 2:08 PM
“One of the first public displays of the double helix, at the Royal Society Conversazione in June 1953, was signed by the authors of all three Nature papers1–3,21. In this, the discovery of the structure of DNA was not seen as a race won by Watson and Crick, but as the outcome of a joint effort.”
What, is the full reviewing and editing process fully automated, or do they have a set of "peers" who push the buttons on the reviewing?
Is Editorial Office the name of a bot? Can we call it "EdO"?
Is Editorial Office the name of a bot? Can we call it "EdO"?
November 3, 2025 at 7:36 PM
What, is the full reviewing and editing process fully automated, or do they have a set of "peers" who push the buttons on the reviewing?
Is Editorial Office the name of a bot? Can we call it "EdO"?
Is Editorial Office the name of a bot? Can we call it "EdO"?
The UK's own projections on its productivity are the reverse of predictions about the efficacy of solar. How can it be the people projecting aren't learning? Something way systemic must be making these so bad.
www.theguardian.com/business/202... and www.exponentialview.co/p/the-foreca... are sources
www.theguardian.com/business/202... and www.exponentialview.co/p/the-foreca... are sources
November 1, 2025 at 1:49 AM
The UK's own projections on its productivity are the reverse of predictions about the efficacy of solar. How can it be the people projecting aren't learning? Something way systemic must be making these so bad.
www.theguardian.com/business/202... and www.exponentialview.co/p/the-foreca... are sources
www.theguardian.com/business/202... and www.exponentialview.co/p/the-foreca... are sources
They're simultaneously doing some good, trying to cover some liability, and propping up the bubble holding together the US (& therefore global) stock markets see also my pinned skype here.
October 30, 2025 at 10:49 AM
They're simultaneously doing some good, trying to cover some liability, and propping up the bubble holding together the US (& therefore global) stock markets see also my pinned skype here.
The sentiment behind that original thread makes me insane bsky.app/profile/j2br...
“But renewal becomes impossible if one supposes things to be constant that are not — safety, for example, or money, or power.” James Baldwin.
Cc @mmitchell.bsky.social
“But renewal becomes impossible if one supposes things to be constant that are not — safety, for example, or money, or power.” James Baldwin.
Cc @mmitchell.bsky.social
October 29, 2025 at 7:30 PM
The sentiment behind that original thread makes me insane bsky.app/profile/j2br...
“But renewal becomes impossible if one supposes things to be constant that are not — safety, for example, or money, or power.” James Baldwin.
Cc @mmitchell.bsky.social
“But renewal becomes impossible if one supposes things to be constant that are not — safety, for example, or money, or power.” James Baldwin.
Cc @mmitchell.bsky.social
they've now made it a thread from their account, but here it is as one
October 27, 2025 at 9:56 AM
they've now made it a thread from their account, but here it is as one
I was giving one of my "DevOps vs AGI" talks the day Jane Goodall died. I rapidly inserted 3 slides at the beginning of my talk, which then bent feminist, to the annoyance of a few...
modding that talk again now, sad to take the opening slides away, but it did run too long
modding that talk again now, sad to take the opening slides away, but it did run too long
October 25, 2025 at 5:31 PM
I was giving one of my "DevOps vs AGI" talks the day Jane Goodall died. I rapidly inserted 3 slides at the beginning of my talk, which then bent feminist, to the annoyance of a few...
modding that talk again now, sad to take the opening slides away, but it did run too long
modding that talk again now, sad to take the opening slides away, but it did run too long
Meanwhile on Xitter
I still go there to read a few people, but the interactions are getting poetic
I still go there to read a few people, but the interactions are getting poetic
October 24, 2025 at 6:18 AM
Meanwhile on Xitter
I still go there to read a few people, but the interactions are getting poetic
I still go there to read a few people, but the interactions are getting poetic
Wow, looks like Germany's new ministry is expecting trouble
October 23, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Wow, looks like Germany's new ministry is expecting trouble
Amazing to have an Estonian ethics professor describing witnessing last weekend’s London digital id protests. Ethics is so amazingly ungrounding you wonder how we achieve anything
October 21, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Amazing to have an Estonian ethics professor describing witnessing last weekend’s London digital id protests. Ethics is so amazingly ungrounding you wonder how we achieve anything
October 21, 2025 at 5:01 AM
Contra NYT. @washingtonpost.com headline. I noticed the NYT pandering to Trump in 2016 and switched subscriptions then.
October 20, 2025 at 5:49 AM
Contra NYT. @washingtonpost.com headline. I noticed the NYT pandering to Trump in 2016 and switched subscriptions then.
Globally, more people trust their own countries AND the EU than the US or China when it comes to regulating AI. And a LOT of people are worried – a plurality of people are equally worried and excited about (presumably gen)AI. www.pewresearch.org/global/2025/... #AIEthics #digitalGovernance
October 19, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Globally, more people trust their own countries AND the EU than the US or China when it comes to regulating AI. And a LOT of people are worried – a plurality of people are equally worried and excited about (presumably gen)AI. www.pewresearch.org/global/2025/... #AIEthics #digitalGovernance
The gender-neutral pronouns of e.g. Estonian keep on giving!
He was elected. He is professor. She is a member of the Woman's Group. She received a masters in philosophy. He defended his doctoral thesis in philosophy...
It's not really #AIBias, it's a mirror on our own. @aylincaliskan.bsky.social
He was elected. He is professor. She is a member of the Woman's Group. She received a masters in philosophy. He defended his doctoral thesis in philosophy...
It's not really #AIBias, it's a mirror on our own. @aylincaliskan.bsky.social
October 18, 2025 at 9:11 AM
The gender-neutral pronouns of e.g. Estonian keep on giving!
He was elected. He is professor. She is a member of the Woman's Group. She received a masters in philosophy. He defended his doctoral thesis in philosophy...
It's not really #AIBias, it's a mirror on our own. @aylincaliskan.bsky.social
He was elected. He is professor. She is a member of the Woman's Group. She received a masters in philosophy. He defended his doctoral thesis in philosophy...
It's not really #AIBias, it's a mirror on our own. @aylincaliskan.bsky.social
Did you see the Thiel article about end times? He thinks it's apocalypitc that he can't hide his money. In general, they want more agency than it's safe to let them have. They are burning down the tree their sitting on the branches sawing them off of.
October 16, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Did you see the Thiel article about end times? He thinks it's apocalypitc that he can't hide his money. In general, they want more agency than it's safe to let them have. They are burning down the tree their sitting on the branches sawing them off of.
The final slide of my 10 minute talk. CC @helenamalikova.bsky.social @helene-rey.bsky.social
October 16, 2025 at 8:11 AM
The final slide of my 10 minute talk. CC @helenamalikova.bsky.social @helene-rey.bsky.social
Slaves should be robots
October 15, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Slaves should be robots