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Reposted by Paul Goldberg

Tom Flood @tomflood.bsky.social · 1d

when you put off everything til tomorrow it really frees up your day nicely.

Paul Goldberg @paulwgoldberg.bsky.social · 1d

11: Thou shalt not wait until thy referee assignment task is overdue, then take a closer look at the paper thou wast assigned, and discover that thou hast a conflict of interest.

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Reposted by Paul Goldberg

Wonkhe @wonkhe.bsky.social · 3d

Last week on Wonkhe: Students are reaching out to AI tools and chatbots for support. For Kieran Phelan, it’s time to start thinking about the risks

Higher education needs a plan in place for student “pastoral” use of AI

Students are reaching out to AI tools and chatbots for support. For Kieran Phelan, it’s time to start thinking about the risks Students are reaching out to AI tools and chatbots for support. For Kieran...

buff.ly

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Reposted by Paul Goldberg

Stephen Collins @stephencollins.bsky.social · 5d

[Scene is ANCIENT GREECE - where SOCRATES and PLATO and others are sitting round, thinking]

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SOCRATES:
Plato..

PLATO:
Yes Socrates?

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SOCRATES:
Can you tell me, are you human?

PLATO:
Why… yes, Socrates

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SOCRATES:
And would you agree, Plato, that a human knows what a chariot is?

PLATO:
Um, yep

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SOCRATES:
So you can tell me, then

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[Socrates produces a papyrus, showing a drawing of the corner of a chariot wheel]

SOCRATES:
*Is that a chariot*?

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PLATO:
Well
that’s more just a bit of wheel

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SOCRATES:
So not a *chariot*.

PLATO:
No.

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SOCRATES:
[Producing another papyrus with the full drawing of the chariot, chopped into boxes]

So if a man were challenged to “tap the boxes containing chariots to prove you’re human” when he was just trying to check his ClubCard points... *where could he tap*?

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PLATO:
Well you can’t tap any of them really

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SOCRATES:
So are we not human?

PLATO:
‘Spose not.

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[Bleak pause]

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PLATO:
I’ll get the hemlock

SOCRATES:
Yeah

[ends]

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Paul Goldberg @paulwgoldberg.bsky.social · 5d

I can confirm this, in the context of recruiting postdoctoral researchers. Partly a brexit "benefit" but not exclusively that. And as for NHS fees, some people would probably be better-off getting private health insurance instead, but they're made to pay NHS fees.

Research Professional News @resprofnews.bsky.social · 5d

Rocketing visa costs have forced UK research-intensive universities to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds extra to recruit international staff over the last two years—with costs at individual institutions reaching as high as £2 million a year.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

Reposted by Paul Goldberg

Craig Nicholson @clanicholson.bsky.social · 9d

Free to read: EU funding for basic research ‘heading for disaster’ warns Leru secretary-general

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-euro...

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Paul Goldberg @paulwgoldberg.bsky.social · 10d

OK, they're being *told* they can go bust, but we can hope that if a uni really came close to going bust, govt would still bail it out. (But it would be painful for anyone who worked there)

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Paul Goldberg @paulwgoldberg.bsky.social · 10d

I don't think you can make the "racist" charge stick. It's indirect discrimination, maybe, but not direct

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Paul Goldberg @paulwgoldberg.bsky.social · 13d

That's a reminder that it's always better to predict "X will happen in Y years" than "X won't happen". In the latter case there's a risk of being proved wrong, in the former case the worst-case is you say you were off by a few years. Best yet is just "X will happen (no deadline)"

Paul Goldberg @paulwgoldberg.bsky.social · 13d

An interesting article, especially for those of us who work in economic theory! Includes a reminder that there are many fields of maths, and someone can be good at some and bad at others.

Tim Harford @timharford.ft.com · 13d

Does economics use too much maths - or the wrong kind of maths? on.ft.com/3IqOgGb

The wrong kind of maths

[FREE TO READ] Why the mathematics used in economics for decades needs a rethink

on.ft.com

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Reposted by Paul Goldberg

Anuj Dawar अनुज दावर انُج داور @anujdawar.bsky.social · 14d

Cambridge University is recruiting for a new faculty position in the area of Algorithms and Complexity:
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/univers...

University Assistant/Associate Professor in Algorithms and Complexity

The Department of Computer Science and Technology is seeking to recruit a new faculty member at the Assistant Professor/Associate Professor level who will contribute to research and teaching in

www.cam.ac.uk

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Reposted by Paul Goldberg

Private Eye Magazine @privateeyenews.bsky.social · 14d

AI companionship

From the new Private Eye, out now.

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Reposted by Paul Goldberg

Dulwich Quantum Computing @dulwichquantum.bsky.social · 16d

Imagine doing all this and then finding out on Wikipedia that the travelling salesman problem is NP-hard and thus nobody believes that it can actually be efficiently solved on a quantum computer.

Dulwich Quantum Computing @dulwichquantum.bsky.social · 16d

Stephen Colbert explains why the simplest way of finding the shortest path between 22 cities involves
1. flying to the Moon
2. mining some Helium-3
3. bringing it back to the Earth and pouring it in your quantum computer.

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Paul Goldberg @paulwgoldberg.bsky.social · 18d

Setting aside the prestige thing, I imagine they have limited space at the venue? I haven't checked, but could be a fine excuse to reject some submissions that were in principle acceptable.

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Paul Goldberg @paulwgoldberg.bsky.social · 18d

OTOH, this is exactly what makes it desirable to get your work into NeurIPS. Scarcity, allied with having won a contest rather than just receiving a "pass" from some reviewers, makes acceptance prestigious. BTW I submitted 2 papers that were rejected.

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Paul Goldberg @paulwgoldberg.bsky.social · 18d

If the planters were moved slightly more distant from the main road, maybe parking in the LTN stub would work fine? It could be a win-win: new parking space, but side streets stay free of through traffic.

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Paul Goldberg @paulwgoldberg.bsky.social · 19d

I am sceptical about the merits of this. The university risks getting addicted to a facility that gives unreliable information and is based in the USA, at a time when US politics are troubled and unreliable.

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Paul Goldberg @paulwgoldberg.bsky.social · Aug 31

Most of them are practicing legalistic shenanigans that run counter to the intent of the law. A bit like Jacob Rees-Mogg and his merry men manipulating the system to secure the hardest brexit possible. Sorry, but I'm not impressed.

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Paul Goldberg @paulwgoldberg.bsky.social · Aug 30

But, what is "class"? I'm unhappy with the phrases "working class" and "middle class". Is class something you inherit from your parents? Are we allowed to change our class?

Reposted by Paul Goldberg

Jay Garmon @jaygarmon.bsky.social · Aug 29

Sand batteries are literally just silos of sand that retain heat exceptionally well -- so well that they can be tied to heat exchange systems to serve as proxy *electrical* batteries. Finland's new model can store enough power (100 MWh) to heat an entire town for a week.
newatlas.com/energy/large...

The world's largest sand battery just went live in Finland

Finland has inaugurated an industrial-scale sand battery this week in the southern town of Pornainen, where it'll take over heating duties from an old woodchip power plant for the municipality. It's s...

newatlas.com

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Paul Goldberg @paulwgoldberg.bsky.social · Aug 19

You're too kind!

Paul Goldberg @paulwgoldberg.bsky.social · Aug 19

Job advert, #hiring :
1-year postdoc research position, CS Dept, Oxford University
Keywords: game theory, optimisation, machine learning

Project details and further links:
www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/paul....

Research project OGTML, Paul Goldberg

Paul Goldberg's home page.

www.cs.ox.ac.uk

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Paul Goldberg @paulwgoldberg.bsky.social · Aug 18

Yes, OK, very clever. But old Europe is getting a reminder that it should raise its game and stop spending all its money on welfare and state pensions.

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Paul Goldberg @paulwgoldberg.bsky.social · Aug 18

New Yorker cartoon, dated August 18, 1975. The caption reads "You can be glad you're having problems, Harkness. A man without problems is usually dead."

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Paul Goldberg @paulwgoldberg.bsky.social · Aug 17

Good to hear, I hope they overcome problem 1 and contribute materiel.