Taraxacum Runcation
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taraxaruncation.bsky.social
Taraxacum Runcation
@taraxaruncation.bsky.social
He/him🌻🌱🇬🇧🐸

mastodon.social/@TaraxaRuncation
Moved from twitter.com/TaraxaRuncation - no longer post

Used to perform physical Taraxacum runcation in my garden, but now I'm more enlightened.

#BloomScrolling #SlavaUkraini #Tinzo #BookClubRadio
Reposted by Taraxacum Runcation
This Brazilian woman hates AI
December 30, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Reposted by Taraxacum Runcation
One of the best podcast episodes of 2025

Disrupted Science podcast
Episode with @olivia.science and @irisvanrooij.bsky.social

open.spotify.com/episode/082h...
December 30, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Reposted by Taraxacum Runcation
I lost patience with the credulous way fantastical pronouncements by "AI experts" tend to be received in the media (and how they seem to be fooling themselves).
www.newscientist.com/article/mg26...
The dangers of so-called AI experts believing their own hype
Beware the tech leaders making grandiose statements about artificial intelligence. They have lost sight of reality, says Philip Ball
www.newscientist.com
December 22, 2025 at 7:12 PM
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"We can and should reject that AI output is ‘good enough,’ not only because it is not good, but also because there is inherent value in thinking for ourselves.”

zenodo.org/records/1706...

39/🧵
Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia
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 col...
zenodo.org
September 19, 2025 at 11:51 PM
Reposted by Taraxacum Runcation
We do not have to offer and I believe indeed should not offer any benefit of the doubt: Anything sold as "AI" should be presumed ineffective, exploitative, environmentally ruinous, bigotry-amplifying and otherwise until proven otherwise.

/fin
December 19, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Reposted by Taraxacum Runcation
If protein folding models, based on supervised learning w/carefully constructed datasets have proven useful to biologists and go under the same name ("AI") as the synthetic text extruding machines that are despoiling our info ecosystem, it is harder to critize the latter with one's full chest.

>>
December 19, 2025 at 9:41 AM
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One of the many problems with the term "AI" is that it doens't refer to a coherent set of technologies, rather lumping together different types of automation.

>>
December 19, 2025 at 9:11 AM
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But let's turn that around: Anyone who wants to call what they are doing "AI" should be accountable for making clear why their product (or research) isn't in fact slop. That's on them. The rest of us do not need to hold space for that.

>>
December 19, 2025 at 9:42 AM
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The name "Popular Science" doesn't mean we shift our coverage depending on public opinion. It means we cover relevant subjects that are rigorously researched, reliable, and grounded in reality.

And trans lives are grounded in reality.

We see y'all. No matter what.

www.popsci.com/science/tran...
First-of-a-kind study shows encouraging data for trans kids who socially transition
Ninety-four percent of participants in a new study stood firm in their trans identity after five years, and "detransitioning" is rare.
www.popsci.com
December 18, 2025 at 5:16 PM
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My latest —
Flaming out
Trump may beckon darkness, but he can never extinguish the light.
www.thehandbasket.co
December 16, 2025 at 12:35 AM
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I appreciate the “x people you follow also follow this account” feature, but I also kinda want a “x people you follow have blocked this account” feature, too, for a more comprehensive vibe check.
December 14, 2025 at 7:43 AM
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Sorry for using comics and art to vent and cope with the world changing around me. I will return to drawing whimsical and silly frog wizards and adventures.
December 11, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Trump condom LOL
The ultimate in birth control
🤢😂
December 12, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Reposted by Taraxacum Runcation
#Oddsock Today would like everyone in the UK to know whilst deaf children get access to sign language through LAs. We don't universally give sign language training to PARENTS and often they pay out of pocket to communicate with kids.

Oddsock feels this is stupid and unfair.
December 11, 2025 at 6:57 PM
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ChatGPT sends a Roomba into the past to kill Sarah Conner because her son reminds humans how to make toast
December 9, 2025 at 3:43 PM
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One problem with all the “AGI” discourse is that “AGI” isn’t actually defined.

Someone tried recently … and predictably it didn’t go well. Join us for the next Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 livestream, in which @alexhanna.bsky.social and I dig into the attempt:

Monday, December 8, noon Pacific
dair_institute - Twitch
Twitch account for The Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR).
twitch.tv
December 6, 2025 at 1:26 AM
Reposted by Taraxacum Runcation
"They're trying to change our habits, because all of the projections rely on people becoming truly dependent on the technology. Whether or not it's actually a good thing for society isn't considered to be a factor."
Analysis: OpenAI is a loss-making machine, how can it survive?
Don't call it a bubble! Loss-making monster OpenAI is on the hook for $1.4 trillion (with a T) in compute commitments. How can this go on?
www.windowscentral.com
November 29, 2025 at 11:30 PM
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On ChatGPTs and the larger world of LLMs, this paragraph (and article) is on point.

"... according to its true believers, is that it is never in its final form..."

Hence, keep sending money. Hundreds of billions, please.

www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
November 30, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Reposted by Taraxacum Runcation
I understood (albeit disliked) the bank bailouts of 2008 because even though I am not a banker, I recognize the need for a functioning banking system for society.

I do not see the same need to bail out AI companies- the world will exist without the pre-written emails and fake videos 🤷🏻‍♂️
No bailouts. The US should extort these companies when the crash happens so they get minimal compensation in return for nationalizing the entire panopticon industry and then destroying it once harvested for socially useful parts. It won’t happen but it should
when its definitely not a hostage situation
November 25, 2025 at 7:28 PM
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The link for my etsy shop is here. Discount code & photos in the post below👇🏼: www.etsy.com/uk/shop/silv...
November 22, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Reposted by Taraxacum Runcation
Independent SAGE is mentioned in the report of module 2 of the UK Covid Inquiry.

"Much comment and expertise existed in the public domain, with
Independent SAGE (see below) being one of the most visible commentators."
1/4
November 20, 2025 at 4:42 PM
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At least the 2008 crash was about a bet that housing would never decline. The next one will be about betting that six companies who sell each other magic beans would never decline
November 17, 2025 at 8:08 PM
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I'm taking🌲etsy orders for just a few more days:
🌿Real flowers cast in silver+ tiny hand-sculpted silver wren necklaces
💐Victorian ink bottle kits to improve mental health
🗓️A very few calendars*
🪸Ltd ed'n art prints of my photos*
*Looking at them's likely to ⬇️⬇️ anxiety:
www.etsy.com/uk/shop/silv...
November 16, 2025 at 11:37 AM