Sunil
@sdvr.bsky.social
Erstwhile researcher in human computer interaction/tech, accessible environments, sociology, politics, transport/urbanism and rare diseases: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=oSEzsOoAAAAJ&hl=en
Reposted by Sunil
This is a really clear and impressive bit of communication. I'm somewhat baffled that it's needed - by the fact that Frontier AI research is so disconnected from real life as to need the concept of "to a man with a hammer, everything looking like a nail" explaining - but Toner does it v well
November 29, 2025 at 6:56 AM
This is a really clear and impressive bit of communication. I'm somewhat baffled that it's needed - by the fact that Frontier AI research is so disconnected from real life as to need the concept of "to a man with a hammer, everything looking like a nail" explaining - but Toner does it v well
Reposted by Sunil
what I find fascinating is how Toner gets there and how she unpacks it. For anyone working in foresight, the idea that future events can't be controlled or predicted is obvious, but it's clearly not obvious at all to her audience or to her community of practice. To put it another way, life is messy
November 29, 2025 at 6:43 AM
what I find fascinating is how Toner gets there and how she unpacks it. For anyone working in foresight, the idea that future events can't be controlled or predicted is obvious, but it's clearly not obvious at all to her audience or to her community of practice. To put it another way, life is messy
Reposted by Sunil
The part that's most interesting to me is where she uses an eg from fluid mechanics to bring to light the concept that the future is not certain and progress isn't linear - that contradictory events can take place at the same time. Any sociotechnical researcher will say "Well duh" about this but...
November 29, 2025 at 6:37 AM
The part that's most interesting to me is where she uses an eg from fluid mechanics to bring to light the concept that the future is not certain and progress isn't linear - that contradictory events can take place at the same time. Any sociotechnical researcher will say "Well duh" about this but...
Reposted by Sunil
The blog by Helen Toner is good and worth reading, but Rachel's analysis of the disconnected universe from which it originates is spot on.
This blog post by Helen Toner (well-known by some for a stint on the OpenAI board) is *really really* interesting because it is the first thing I've read by someone in Frontier AI that starts to get to grips with sociotechnical concerns open.substack.com/pub/helenton...
Taking Jaggedness Seriously
Why we should expect AI capabilities to keep being extremely uneven, and why that matters
open.substack.com
November 29, 2025 at 7:01 AM
The blog by Helen Toner is good and worth reading, but Rachel's analysis of the disconnected universe from which it originates is spot on.
Sigh. No, major streaming music provider, I not wish to have a massive promoted advert for something in the middle of my ap home screen on a *paid* plan.
The enshittification is impossible to ignore now.
The enshittification is impossible to ignore now.
November 29, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Sigh. No, major streaming music provider, I not wish to have a massive promoted advert for something in the middle of my ap home screen on a *paid* plan.
The enshittification is impossible to ignore now.
The enshittification is impossible to ignore now.
Reposted by Sunil
Does anyone want a survivorship bias shortbread
November 29, 2025 at 4:50 AM
Does anyone want a survivorship bias shortbread
I’ve seen examples of this every organisation I’ve worked for, in every sector, across both countries I’ve lived and worked in…
In which @richardpope.org shares a very personal example of the problems GDS Local could help local council's to solve. richardpope.org/2025/11/26/a...
Aerated concrete and EHCPs
I was up until midnight last night trying to battle a local …
richardpope.org
November 29, 2025 at 9:50 AM
I’ve seen examples of this every organisation I’ve worked for, in every sector, across both countries I’ve lived and worked in…
This.
User needs first
Service design second
Operating model third
Technology fourth
This order is still reversed way too often.
Service design second
Operating model third
Technology fourth
This order is still reversed way too often.
November 29, 2025 at 9:47 AM
This.
Eating my feelings via mince pies and (extortionate) baileys cream.
November 27, 2025 at 10:41 PM
Eating my feelings via mince pies and (extortionate) baileys cream.
Ugh. That’s both really annoying and really demotivating. Sigh.
November 27, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Ugh. That’s both really annoying and really demotivating. Sigh.
This is glorious
They're also responsible for one of the best emails I've ever received, when the college office sent out a plea for sightings of Professor Biscuit while conveniently forgetting to mention that he was a cat...(I won't comment on how often a similar email might have gone out about human Professors...)
November 21, 2025 at 6:54 PM
This is glorious
Reposted by Sunil
Honestly though imagine saying to your grandad who landed at Normandy that you can have swastikas on ships now.
November 20, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Honestly though imagine saying to your grandad who landed at Normandy that you can have swastikas on ships now.
Reposted by Sunil
It's worth noting that there's already substantial heterogeneity in the polling industry in terms if capacity and capability to mitigate the threat of AI to online surveys.
AI presents a fundamental threat to our ability to use polls to assess public opinion. Bad actors who are able to infiltrate panels can flip close election polls for less than the cost of a Starbucks coffee. Models will also infer and confirm hypotheses in experiments. Current quality checks fail
November 18, 2025 at 10:00 PM
It's worth noting that there's already substantial heterogeneity in the polling industry in terms if capacity and capability to mitigate the threat of AI to online surveys.
Reposted by Sunil
AI presents a fundamental threat to our ability to use polls to assess public opinion. Bad actors who are able to infiltrate panels can flip close election polls for less than the cost of a Starbucks coffee. Models will also infer and confirm hypotheses in experiments. Current quality checks fail
November 18, 2025 at 9:23 PM
AI presents a fundamental threat to our ability to use polls to assess public opinion. Bad actors who are able to infiltrate panels can flip close election polls for less than the cost of a Starbucks coffee. Models will also infer and confirm hypotheses in experiments. Current quality checks fail
“The coming crisis of empirical online survey research”
Seriously, this is Not Good News for all the qualitative research undertaken on platforms like mechanical Turk. Back to pen-and-paper in-the-field surveys perhaps…?
Seriously, this is Not Good News for all the qualitative research undertaken on platforms like mechanical Turk. Back to pen-and-paper in-the-field surveys perhaps…?
This is terrifying.
"[AI agents] can... infer a researcher's latent hypotheses and produce data that artificially confirms them."
...
"We can no longer trust that survey responses are coming from real people" [email protected]
"[AI agents] can... infer a researcher's latent hypotheses and produce data that artificially confirms them."
...
"We can no longer trust that survey responses are coming from real people" [email protected]
November 18, 2025 at 10:40 PM
“The coming crisis of empirical online survey research”
Seriously, this is Not Good News for all the qualitative research undertaken on platforms like mechanical Turk. Back to pen-and-paper in-the-field surveys perhaps…?
Seriously, this is Not Good News for all the qualitative research undertaken on platforms like mechanical Turk. Back to pen-and-paper in-the-field surveys perhaps…?
I didn’t think that adulthood would involve spending my lunch break ringing my local council’s outsourced waste team to chase them about a missed bin collection, after the online ticket I submitted was wrongly closed.
Bin is still full and awaiting collection…
Bin is still full and awaiting collection…
November 14, 2025 at 1:13 PM
I didn’t think that adulthood would involve spending my lunch break ringing my local council’s outsourced waste team to chase them about a missed bin collection, after the online ticket I submitted was wrongly closed.
Bin is still full and awaiting collection…
Bin is still full and awaiting collection…
Reposted by Sunil
Holy shit, just learned about the typewriter art of Montserrat Alberich Escardívol, a Catalan typist. Using an extra wide typewriter and 180 color ribbons, she built up elaborate images from simple characters like 'm' and '.' and ';'. Here is her typewritten painting of the Cathedral of Barcelona.
November 12, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Holy shit, just learned about the typewriter art of Montserrat Alberich Escardívol, a Catalan typist. Using an extra wide typewriter and 180 color ribbons, she built up elaborate images from simple characters like 'm' and '.' and ';'. Here is her typewritten painting of the Cathedral of Barcelona.
Reposted by Sunil
Looking forward to this coming Saturday night when I’ll be at Middlesbrough Town Hall to help The Young Uns celebrate their 20th anniversary, along with Janice Burns and Jon Doran.
November 12, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Looking forward to this coming Saturday night when I’ll be at Middlesbrough Town Hall to help The Young Uns celebrate their 20th anniversary, along with Janice Burns and Jon Doran.
I‘m seeing a disturbing trend on local Facebook groups of people replying with AI/LLM responses to requests for advice on really serious issues.
First, the OPs could have done that themselves.
Second, the stakes of the queries are very high.
Finally, the generic advice is sometimes very wrong.
First, the OPs could have done that themselves.
Second, the stakes of the queries are very high.
Finally, the generic advice is sometimes very wrong.
November 12, 2025 at 8:16 AM
I‘m seeing a disturbing trend on local Facebook groups of people replying with AI/LLM responses to requests for advice on really serious issues.
First, the OPs could have done that themselves.
Second, the stakes of the queries are very high.
Finally, the generic advice is sometimes very wrong.
First, the OPs could have done that themselves.
Second, the stakes of the queries are very high.
Finally, the generic advice is sometimes very wrong.
This is heartbreaking. So many people don’t get the support they need.
www.theguardian.com/news/2025/no...
www.theguardian.com/news/2025/no...
When I met Craig he was 13 and homeless. I still thought his life might turn around. I was tragically wrong
The long read: I knew he was running away from something. It wasn’t until many years later that I discovered the truth
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 11:54 PM
This is heartbreaking. So many people don’t get the support they need.
www.theguardian.com/news/2025/no...
www.theguardian.com/news/2025/no...
Sometimes what is needed to de-stress is to rock out to some late 90s post-punk courtesy of Idlewild.
Out of respect to fellow tram passengers, I’m not doing the random screams…
open.spotify.com/track/2AOf5b...
Out of respect to fellow tram passengers, I’m not doing the random screams…
open.spotify.com/track/2AOf5b...
Everyone Says You're so Fragile
open.spotify.com
November 11, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Sometimes what is needed to de-stress is to rock out to some late 90s post-punk courtesy of Idlewild.
Out of respect to fellow tram passengers, I’m not doing the random screams…
open.spotify.com/track/2AOf5b...
Out of respect to fellow tram passengers, I’m not doing the random screams…
open.spotify.com/track/2AOf5b...
In Germany, I regularly bought packs of oat, spelt, barley and wheat flakes for cereal, in even very small supermarkets. In the UK, only Holland and Barrett seemed to stock them but now seemingly discontinued.
Anyone know alternatives? cc @annettedittert.bsky.social @hhesterm.bsky.social
Anyone know alternatives? cc @annettedittert.bsky.social @hhesterm.bsky.social
November 10, 2025 at 10:53 PM
In Germany, I regularly bought packs of oat, spelt, barley and wheat flakes for cereal, in even very small supermarkets. In the UK, only Holland and Barrett seemed to stock them but now seemingly discontinued.
Anyone know alternatives? cc @annettedittert.bsky.social @hhesterm.bsky.social
Anyone know alternatives? cc @annettedittert.bsky.social @hhesterm.bsky.social
Reposted by Sunil
Huh? How do you do a "balancing" program when one candidate did an insurgency trying to overturn the election and the other...didn't?
Would Prescott have been satisfied with an hour of people telling BBC journalists why they didn't try and stoke a riot to overturn Trump's second win?
Would Prescott have been satisfied with an hour of people telling BBC journalists why they didn't try and stoke a riot to overturn Trump's second win?
Michael Prescott was ‘“shocked” that after an hour-long Panorama documentary dealing with Trump and the January 6 insurgency, there was no “similar, balancing” programme about Kamala Harris.’
More read about the machinations between the BBC resignations, the more worrying it becomes
More read about the machinations between the BBC resignations, the more worrying it becomes
The departure of Tim Davie and Deborah Turness means the BBC is leaderless when it needs leadership more than ever. Where are the people at the head of the BBC standing up for it?
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
November 9, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Huh? How do you do a "balancing" program when one candidate did an insurgency trying to overturn the election and the other...didn't?
Would Prescott have been satisfied with an hour of people telling BBC journalists why they didn't try and stoke a riot to overturn Trump's second win?
Would Prescott have been satisfied with an hour of people telling BBC journalists why they didn't try and stoke a riot to overturn Trump's second win?
One for @terry.tgld.me
Hoping this helps our colleagues across the industry
November 5, 2025 at 10:56 PM
One for @terry.tgld.me
As someone whose PhD partly built on STS ideas, there are interesting research avenues thinking about these ‘invisible’ internet infrastructures - their place undergirding so many services; their taken-for-grantedness; the socio-technical networks of how they came to be cc @ctimmermann.bsky.social
The Major AWS Outage of October 20, 2025
A single configuration update inside Amazon Web Services’ us-east-1 region triggered a chain reaction.
📖 Read the full analysis on Substack:
open.substack.com/pub/arover/p...
#AWS #CloudInfrastructure #CyberResilience #CloudComputing #TechMindHub
A single configuration update inside Amazon Web Services’ us-east-1 region triggered a chain reaction.
📖 Read the full analysis on Substack:
open.substack.com/pub/arover/p...
#AWS #CloudInfrastructure #CyberResilience #CloudComputing #TechMindHub
The Major AWS Outage of October 20, 2025
Causes, Consequences, and Hidden Lessons of Global Infrastructure
open.substack.com
October 21, 2025 at 11:42 AM
As someone whose PhD partly built on STS ideas, there are interesting research avenues thinking about these ‘invisible’ internet infrastructures - their place undergirding so many services; their taken-for-grantedness; the socio-technical networks of how they came to be cc @ctimmermann.bsky.social