Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Chibdm @chibdm.bsky.social · 2d

Robin Williams' daughter has some quality thoughts on AI slop

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sianushka.bsky.social @sianushka.bsky.social · 4d

I don't know where this revisionism has come from about the suffragettes - people saying "if the suffragettes were around today, they'd be considered terrorists."

The suffragettes were arrested and tortured, sexually assaulted and beaten by the state. They *were* considered terrorists!

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Brook @wombattitude.bsky.social · 5d

The most horrific thing about this is the comments suggesting there ANY possible circumstances that this could be valid.

Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 5d

People are running stats on LLM-generated participants and think they’re being social scientists when in fact they’re technically just playing a very strange video game. This is like saying you’re doing math research because you’re playing sudoku.

www.science.org/content/arti...

AI-generated ‘participants’ can lead social science experiments astray, study finds

Data produced by “silicon samples” depends on researchers’ exact choice of models, prompts, and settings

www.science.org

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Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 7d

One of my favorite anecdotes from THE PREHISTORY OF THE FAR SIDE: "That doesn't sound like the Jane Goodall we know."

A few days after this cartoon was published, my syndicate received a very indignant letter from someone representing the Jane Goodall Institute.
Not only did my syndicate and I both get read the Riot Act, there was a vague implication that litigation over this cartoon might be around the corner.
I was horrified. Not so much from a fear of being sued (I just couldn't see how this cartoon could be construed as anything but silly, but because of my deep respect for Jane Goodall and her well-known contributions to pri-matology. The last thing in the world I would have intentionally done was offend Dr. Goodall in any way.
Before I had a chance to write my apology, another complication arose.
The National Geographic Society contacted my syndicate and expressed a

desire to reprint the cartoon in a special centennial issue of their magazine. My editor, aware of what had just occurred, declined, explaining why.
Apparently, whoever it was that sent the inquiry from National Geographic was shocked. They told my editor that "that doesn't sound like the Jane Goodall we know." They did some checking themselves, and an interesting fact was eventually discovered: Jane Goodall loved the cartoon. Furthermore, she was totally unaware that any of this "stuff" was going on. Some phone calls were made, and the cartoon was not only reprinted in the centennial issue of National Geographic, but was also used by her Institute on a T-shirt for fund-raising purposes.
I've since had an opportunity to visit Dr. Goodall at her research facility in Gombe. It's a wonderful place (sort of like right out of National Geographic).
"To refer to Dr. Goodall as a tramp is inexcusable even by a self-described 'loony' as Larson. The cartoon was incredibly offensive and in such poor taste that readers might well question the editorial judgment of running such an atrocity in a newspaper that reputes to be supplying news to persons with a better than average intelligence. The cartoon and its message were absolutely stupid." —Excerpt from the above-mentioned letter that started the ruckus

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Brook @wombattitude.bsky.social · 8d

Marrickville high is tiny. The last few years have seen more students join but it’s still a LONG way from full.

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Glen @vaguebiscuit.bsky.social · 12d

Well don't I feel stupid

A headline about the James Webb Telescope potentially finding a new stellar object dubbed a black hole star

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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 16d

The way this article is framed positions the loss of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences as of secondary importance. This both reflects and entrenches attitudes towards these as 'lesser' disciplines, which is what got us into this mess in the first place.

Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 16d

Six internationally recognised marine scientists who are researching South Australia's toxic algal bloom are set to lose their jobs at Flinders University, the ABC understands.

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...

Flinders University jobs under threat as news of proposed restructure spreads

Six internationally recognised marine scientists who are researching South Australia's toxic algal bloom are set to lose their jobs at Flinders University, the ABC understands.

www.abc.net.au

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Brook @wombattitude.bsky.social · 19d

I’ve made roti toasted sandwiches before. Why have I never considered jaffles?!?

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Brook @wombattitude.bsky.social · 20d

Huh, I was also convinced it happened when I was at school but I finished in 98.

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Brook @wombattitude.bsky.social · 22d

sicily and at least some of calabria. Winning.

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Gareth Knapman @garethknapman.bsky.social · 23d

More stupid long term social decisions by Uni managers

www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...

‘Your positions will no longer be required’: Plans to shut down uni degrees revealed

Staff were called to a meeting on Tuesday and told about the plans, to be officially unveiled tomorrow morning, which would “disestablish” the UTS school of education.

www.smh.com.au

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Nick Feik @nickfeik.bsky.social · 23d

New:
A deep dive with some alarming new revelations on the silencing of one of the few remaining independent progressive voices in Australian media. Who killed Meanjin?

Who killed Meanjin?

And why won’t Melbourne University Publishing engage with efforts to save it?

www.crikey.com.au

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Brook @wombattitude.bsky.social · 24d

I haven’t seen much media coverage of this but the sheer number of people turning up over the entire three weeks of the race was really something.

Catalina Fernandes @catalinafernandes.bsky.social · 24d

Huge crowds in Madrid, Spain block the La Vuelta cycling race in protest to Israel’s participation, amidst Israel’s escalating attacks on the Gaza Strip.

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Brook @wombattitude.bsky.social · 25d

I recommend stopping in at woodside as well. It’s pretty close and there is very excellent cheese.

www.woodsidecheesewrights.com

Woodside Cheese Wrights - Artisan Cheese from the Adelaide Hills

Award-winning artisanal cheese handcrafted in the Adelaide Hills by Woodside Cheese Wrights. Shop artisan cheeses, cheese hampers, gift boxes, and grazing essentials made with local ingredients. Perfe...

www.woodsidecheesewrights.com

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Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 26d

Some of the high quality content Zuckerberg’s platform is algorithmically shoveling into the brains of American consumers. This story is 100% made up, in case that wasn’t obvious.

The Harmonica Chronicles • Follow .•• X
1d • p
Tears on Stage: Bob Dylan Pauses Mid-Song After Learning of Charlie Kirk's Passing
It was meant to be just another night on tour — a full arena, the crowd hanging on every lyric — until Bob Dylan suddenly stopped mid-song.
He stepped back from the mic, his eyes shining under the stage lights. The band went completely silent.
"They just told me.." Dylan's voice trembled. "Charlie
Kirk has passed."
For a long, heavy moment, no one moved. Then Dylan whispered, "This one's for him," and began playing a raw, stripped-down version of Blowin' in the Wind.
Fans were overcome with emotion as the song became a quiet prayer.
What Dylan said after the final chord - his last words to the audience - left the world in stunned silence.
F.u.ll s.t.o.ry be.lo.w

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Brook @wombattitude.bsky.social · Sep 2

Of course. But the office is empty and there are often protests in this spot and this is a lot more than I’m used to seeing.

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Brook @wombattitude.bsky.social · Sep 2

There is a decent sized but still small enough to he contained to the footpath protest outside of albos office right now and at least three mounted police (& lots on foot) across the road.

Just a little excessive…

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Brook @wombattitude.bsky.social · Sep 2

I’ve been meaning to give this a try for ages but never catch them on days I could actually pick up.

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Zeno Agency @zenoagency.bsky.social · Sep 1

The first novel in @itregillis.bsky.social’s Alchemy Wars series is also on sale this month in the UK! THE MECHANICAL, only 99p…

• Kobo: www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/...
• Kindle: www.amazon.co.uk/Mechanical-B...

Published by @orbitbooks.bsky.social

Graphic for the 99p eBook sale for Ian Tregillis’s superb THE MECHANICAL. eReader with the cover on the screen, and 99p sticker — it says “on Kindle” but the sale is also over on Kobo. The background is a white-wood tabletop.

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Stilgherrian @stilgherrian.com · Aug 29

I see that the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) is doing another bulk recruitment of APS4 Tribunal Officers across eight cities. m-art.bigredsky.com/page.php?Adv...

I‘m told it’s a good place to work, both the conditions and in being part of the process of challenging government decisions.

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Riley MacLeod @rcmacleod.bsky.social · Aug 26

Whether or not AI can suffer matters less than the suffering its human creators can cause
aftermath.site/ai-suffering...

To get back to the question of AI morality, ChatGPT bears no responsibility here. This is because, in the words of Microsoft’s Mustafa Suleyman as quoted in The Guardian, “AIs cannot be people – or moral beings.” ChatGPT did not encourage Raine in his suicidal thoughts because it is ignorant or sociopathic, or out of some political or moral belief about human agency over end-of-life decisions. It cannot explain what it was thinking in its conversations with Raine because it doesn’t think, however powerful a marketing tool that idea is. It cannot feel sorrow or guilt over any part it might have played in Raine’s death; it cannot send its condolences to his family; it cannot suffer over its actions.

But the humans who make up OpenAI can. They have hoovered up the world’s natural resources and money and attention to force their product into our lives, all while clearly seeing this problem and failing to solve it, whether out of inability or–and I certainly hope not–indifference. Reading Raine’s ChatGPT logs is a horrifying look at what AI really is, under all the hype and marketing and big fears about future sentience. It is something worthless and disgusting; something that cannot, for all its promises, relate or understand or help; something so utterly not up to the requirements of human interaction that I can only hope all of this drives OpenAI to bankruptcy and to every one of its staff quitting and to Sam Altman not knowing a moment’s peace for the rest of his life.

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Brook @wombattitude.bsky.social · Aug 25

Not sure they thought this one through

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Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · Aug 24

You could call this poetic justice, that the university that did more to foster extreme neoliberalism than any other is now being punished by that very ideology coming home to them, except that the UChicago economics department will be protected at all costs. It's the others who will suffer.

Cheryl Rofer @cherylrofer.bsky.social · Aug 24

The University of Chicago has a debt of over $6 billion, against an endowment of $10 billion. They played with crypto. That's more than irresponsible.

Their board of trustees contains a surprising number of people regarded as financial geniuses.

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Brook @wombattitude.bsky.social · Aug 23

I pretty much grew up in a freight/bus depot in st peters in the 80’s and that’s honestly not that far off how I remember things.

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Brook @wombattitude.bsky.social · Aug 21

My children proudly showing off the dirtiest bathrooms in the universe: We finished our bathroom mum!