Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Marco Bertamini

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · Sep 6

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia:
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n

Abstract: Under the banner of progress, products have been uncritically adopted or
even imposed on users — in past centuries with tobacco and combustion engines, and in
the 21st with social media. For these collective blunders, we now regret our involvement or
apathy as scientists, and society struggles to put the genie back in the bottle. Currently, we
are similarly entangled with artificial intelligence (AI) technology. For example, software updates are rolled out seamlessly and non-consensually, Microsoft Office is bundled with chatbots, and we, our students, and our employers have had no say, as it is not
considered a valid position to reject AI technologies in our teaching and research. This
is why in June 2025, we co-authored an Open Letter calling on our employers to reverse
and rethink their stance on uncritically adopting AI technologies. In this position piece,
we expound on why universities must take their role seriously toa) counter the technology
industry’s marketing, hype, and harm; and to b) safeguard higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, and scientific integrity. We include pointers to
relevant work to further inform our colleagues.

Figure 1. A cartoon set theoretic view on various terms (see Table 1) used when discussing the superset AI
(black outline, hatched background): LLMs are in orange; ANNs are in magenta; generative models are
in blue; and finally, chatbots are in green. Where these intersect, the colours reflect that, e.g. generative adversarial network (GAN) and Boltzmann machine (BM) models are in the purple subset because they are
both generative and ANNs. In the case of proprietary closed source models, e.g. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and
Apple’s Siri, we cannot verify their implementation and so academics can only make educated guesses (cf.
Dingemanse 2025). Undefined terms used above: BERT (Devlin et al. 2019); AlexNet (Krizhevsky et al.
2017); A.L.I.C.E. (Wallace 2009); ELIZA (Weizenbaum 1966); Jabberwacky (Twist 2003); linear discriminant analysis (LDA); quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA).

Table 1. Below some of the typical terminological disarray is untangled. Importantly, none of these terms
are orthogonal nor do they exclusively pick out the types of products we may wish to critique or proscribe.

Protecting the Ecosystem of Human Knowledge: Five Principles

96 1.6K 3.1K

Marco Bertamini @marco-be.bsky.social · Sep 1

Bartolomeo Colleoni, a 15th century condottiero, was said to boast about having three testes, but it may just be a story linked to the three balls on the coat of arm. His statue (by Andrea del Verrocchio) is in Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo, one of the most beautiful places in Venice.

5

Marco Bertamini @marco-be.bsky.social · Aug 18

Exited to be in Tübingen for this symposium with an amazing group of vision scientists: summerschool.lizhaoping.org

1 4

Reposted by Marco Bertamini

Rycar @rycar.bsky.social · Jul 21

"And even when they built computers to do some thinking for them, they designed them not so much for wisdom as for friendliness. So they were doomed."

Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions (1973)

2 10 24

Reposted by Marco Bertamini

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · Jun 27

If thousands of us stand up and say "I support #PalestineAction", what is the government going to do? Lock us all up for "terrorism" offences?
This is where we show them how solidarity works.
My latest with the great @doubledown.news

Double Down News @doubledown.news · Jun 27

Sharing This Video Could Get You 14 Years in Prison @georgemonbiot.bsky.social

Sharing This Video Could Get You 14 Years in Prison

This NEW Law is TERRIFYING & Will SILENCE Us All

www.doubledown.news

64 520 1.1K

Reposted by Marco Bertamini

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · May 28

Our letter condemning the genocide in #Gaza and calling for an immediate ceasefire. A great crime is being committed, and we cannot stand by.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

Zadie Smith and Ian McEwan among 380 writers and groups to call Gaza war ‘genocide’

Letter also signed by Hanif Kureishi and Russell T Davies urges ceasefire and unrestricted distribution of aid

www.theguardian.com

28 350 1K

Reposted by Marco Bertamini

Gabriel Zucman @gabrielzucman.bsky.social · May 23

A long long time ago, in a far away galaxy... the US used to tax the rich

120 2.1K 4.5K

Marco Bertamini @marco-be.bsky.social · May 2

I'm very honoured to have given the Geoffrey J Burton memorial lecture on the topic 'On the appearance of shapes in the visual periphery'. Unfortunately this is the only picture I have.

1

Reposted by Marco Bertamini

theava-uk.bsky.social @theava-uk.bsky.social · Apr 28

Our final keynote of the day is from Prof Marco Bertamini (Uni of Padova) on the phenomenal appearance of shapes in the visual periphery #AVA

1 4

Reposted by Marco Bertamini

George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · Apr 15

I see it. I have lived it. 83 years ago, the U.S. government turned upon a group of its own citizens and residents and sent them to internment camps without due process. I was there among them. American fascism is back. It is here. It is now.

A tweet by Sarah Longwell (@SarahLongwell25
) reads: "He’s threatening media companies who are critical of him. He’s talking about sending Americans to foreign prisons. He’s signing executive orders to investigate former staff members who spoke out against him. Don’t you see what’s happening here?"

970 15K 46K

Marco Bertamini @marco-be.bsky.social · Apr 6

PhD position opening in Padova. It is a multidisciplinary project in Experimental Aesthetics and Psychology of Art.
www.bertamini.org/lab/MIRACLE....

www.bertamini.org

6 4

Reposted by Marco Bertamini

Andy Tseng @andytseng.bsky.social · Mar 20

The looming shutdown of the Department of Education is about control, not reform. As @teacherscollege.bsky.social faculty warn, dismantling education stifles critical thinking and undermines democracy. When politics dictate learning, society pays the price. #AcademicFreedom #EducationMatters #USPol

Ansley Erickson @ansleyerickson.bsky.social · Mar 19

#edusky colleagues, higher ed or K-12, please share. We are at Columbia, but we know that this struggle matters for education across the lifespan.

A Statement from Teachers College Faculty on the Attack on American Education

docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Brownstone buildings at Teachers College looking west toward Riverside Church.
Creative Commons photo by Bohao Zhao

3 6

Reposted by Marco Bertamini

Dr. Roberta Ross-Fisher @robertarossfisher.bsky.social · Mar 10

The so-called school choice and voucher systems were set up to further starve down already cash-strapped public schools. The goal: To widen the chasm between the rich and the poor. #AcademicSky #EduSky

Jess Piper @piperformissouri.bsky.social · Mar 10

The Arizona school voucher scheme has blown a massive hole in the state budget. In 2025, vouchers for private schools will be responsible for a $1.4 billion state budget deficit and for a funding loss of 300K per school in the state.

Vouchers are a scam.

www.propublica.org/article/ariz...

School Vouchers Were Supposed to Save Taxpayer Money. Instead They Blew a Massive Hole in Arizona’s Budget.

Arizona, the model for voucher programs across the country, has spent so much money paying private schoolers’ tuition that it’s now facing hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state program...

www.propublica.org

5 10

Marco Bertamini @marco-be.bsky.social · Feb 15

Demand that Sky stops buying ads and funding hate on GB News. Join @GoodLawProject now to increase the pressure: goodlaw.social/c9g8

Sky must stop funding hate speech

CW: Homophobia, hate speech Sky launched its programme for Pride 2024 with a ringing declaration the company was “proud to celebrate LGBTQ+ stories”. But while it was posting shiny videos claiming to ...

goodlaw.social

Reposted by Marco Bertamini

Brian Nosek @briannosek.bsky.social · Feb 12

Stand Up for Science rallies will be held in DC and state capitals on March 7th. Share with friends. Sign-up here to get email updates with details: www.eventbrite.com/e/stand-up-f...

STAND UP FOR SCIENCE 2025 - DC and NATIONWIDE

Stand up for science with us on March 7th, 2025, because science is for everyone! More info at www.standupforscience2025.org

www.eventbrite.com

150 2.9K 8.1K

Marco Bertamini @marco-be.bsky.social · Feb 5

Applied Vision Association meeting in Liverpool on the 28th of April www.theava.net/meetings.php...

The AVA - Promoting Vision Research and its Applications

www.theava.net

4 4

Reposted by Marco Bertamini

Marco Gandolfo @marco-gandolfo.bsky.social · Jan 25

A PhD position is open in @peelen.bsky.social Lab at the Donders Institute - please spread the word and consider applying if you are interested about how imagery and perception relate to each other www.ru.nl/en/working-a... - plus we are fun people to work with ! :)

PhD Position: Neural Mechanisms of Imagery and Perception at the Donders Centre for Cognition | Radboud University

Do you want to work as a PhD Position: Neural Mechanisms of Imagery and Perception at the Donders Centre for Cognition at the Faculty of Social Sciences? Check our vacancy!

www.ru.nl

1 35 46

Marco Bertamini @marco-be.bsky.social · Jan 13

Systems Vision Science Summer School & Symposium:
Aug. 11-22, 2025 Tübingen, Germany

The Third edition of Systems Vision Science (SVS) summer school is designed for everyone interested in gaining a systems level understanding of biological vision.
summerschool.lizhaoping.org/application

Application - Summer School

summerschool.lizhaoping.org

1 4

Marco Bertamini @marco-be.bsky.social · Dec 2

Prof Dorothy Bishop resigns from Royal Society over Elon Musk’s continuing fellowship. Fellowship is "a contradiction of all the values" of UK’s national academy of sciences

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Oxford scientist resigns from Royal Society over Elon Musk’s continuing fellowship

Prof Dorothy Bishop said fellowship was ‘a contradiction of all the values’ of UK’s national academy of sciences

www.theguardian.com

1

Marco Bertamini @marco-be.bsky.social · Sep 26

This may be of interest mainly to those in Italy, however on Monday (Sept 30) we inaugurate a new Centre for the Study of Perception and Art (CARPE)
www.dpg.unipd.it/en/carpe

CARPE

“Centre for the Study of Perception and Art” (CArPe) Welcome to the home page of the Centre for the Study of Perception and Art (CArPe)

www.dpg.unipd.it

1

Marco Bertamini @marco-be.bsky.social · Sep 24

Great idea, thanks Rebecca!

2

Reposted by Marco Bertamini

Dr. Rebecca Hirst @hirstrj.bsky.social · Sep 24

Testing if this works...

Trying to make a starter pack for researchers in #perception science

Please share ! Will be adding more folks as I learn how #academicsky works !

go.bsky.app/V99fSBK

41 61 110

Marco Bertamini @marco-be.bsky.social · Sep 13

archive.org/details/psyc...

The psychology of perspective and Renaissance art : Kubovy, Michael : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

xiv, 192 p. : 27 cm

archive.org

1 1

Marco Bertamini @marco-be.bsky.social · Sep 5

zotero would be my recommendation.
Certainly avoid mendeley at all costs, because than you would become just a prisoner of Elsevier and their data mining, proprietary control etc.

3

Marco Bertamini @marco-be.bsky.social · Aug 29

The 10th annual workshop on Visual Preference (VPDVP) took place in Rome (June 14-15). The videos of the talks are now available: www.bertamini.org/lab/vpdvp.html

Visual Properties Driving Visual Preference

www.bertamini.org

1