yavuzaffan.bsky.social
@yavuzaffan.bsky.social
Reposted by yavuzaffan.bsky.social
h/t @robertfreundlaw.bsky.social
holy shit, an accurate legal critique of LLMs. LLMs don't reason because they're just stitching together plausible-looking sentences indifferent to the content
holy shit, an accurate legal critique of LLMs. LLMs don't reason because they're just stitching together plausible-looking sentences indifferent to the content
December 3, 2025 at 7:51 PM
h/t @robertfreundlaw.bsky.social
holy shit, an accurate legal critique of LLMs. LLMs don't reason because they're just stitching together plausible-looking sentences indifferent to the content
holy shit, an accurate legal critique of LLMs. LLMs don't reason because they're just stitching together plausible-looking sentences indifferent to the content
Reposted by yavuzaffan.bsky.social
![[Scene is a kitchen - a middle aged woman called JANET is boiling peas at the stove. A younger more colourfully dressed woman named LIZ approached her.]
JANET:
Ugh...
LIZ:
What's up?
JANET:
I am so bored of cooking peas!
LIZ:
Have you tried...
AI peas?
JANET:
AI peas?
LIZ:
They're peas with AI!
[Liz holds up to us a packet of peas labelled: Pea-i AI - Peas with AI].
LIZ:
Al-powered peas harness the potential of your peas
JANET:
What
LIZ [Now a voiceover as we cut to a whizzy technology diagram of peas all connected by meaningless dotted lines]
Why not take your peas to the next level with Al Peas' new Al tools to power your peas?
[Show a techno diagram of a pea with a label reading 'AI' pointing to a random zone in it]
LIZ:
Each pea has Al in a way we haven't quite worked out yet but it's fine
[Show Janet and Liz now in a Matrix-style world of peas]
LIZ:
With Al peas you can supercharge productivity and make AI work for your peas!
JANET:
What
LIZ:
Shut up
LIZ:
Our game-changing Pea-Al gives you the freedom to unlock the potential of the power of the future of your peas workflow
From opening the bag of peas
to boiling the peas
to eating the peas
To spending millions on adding Al to the peas and then having to work out what that even means.
JANET:
Is it really necessary to-
LIZ [Grabbing Janet by the collar]:
THE PEAS HAVE GOT AI, JANET
[Cut to an advert ending screen, with the bag of peas and the slogan:
AI PEAS: Just 'Peas' for god's sake buy the AI peas.
[Ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreiayqa37f7kik7l7s7fbtfp2sir5ckb662ry2lylinyjrfa2rkvvka@jpeg)
Reposted by yavuzaffan.bsky.social
German media is currently awash with stories about barber shops and nail salons being hotspots of money laundering and tax evasion. The framing of the story is profoundly racist and makes these small businesses into scapegoats for Germany fiscal woes.
www.welt.de/wirtschaft/a...
www.welt.de/wirtschaft/a...
Schwarzarbeit: Fahnder nehmen Friseure und Nagelstudios ins Visier - WELT
Die Politik will mit einem neuen Gesetz den Kampf gegen Schwarzarbeit verschärfen. Ins Blickfeld rücken Friseure und Kosmetikstudios. Die Zollgewerkschaft will noch zwei weitere Wirtschaftsbereiche au...
www.welt.de
October 16, 2025 at 3:32 PM
German media is currently awash with stories about barber shops and nail salons being hotspots of money laundering and tax evasion. The framing of the story is profoundly racist and makes these small businesses into scapegoats for Germany fiscal woes.
www.welt.de/wirtschaft/a...
www.welt.de/wirtschaft/a...
Reposted by yavuzaffan.bsky.social
Instead of regurgitating the bromide that LLMs are just "autocomplete on steroids" (even by people who know better), maybe we can actually engage in some public education. The problem with genAI is better expressed through a classic computer science concept, known as SYMBOL GROUNDING. 🧵
August 12, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Instead of regurgitating the bromide that LLMs are just "autocomplete on steroids" (even by people who know better), maybe we can actually engage in some public education. The problem with genAI is better expressed through a classic computer science concept, known as SYMBOL GROUNDING. 🧵
Reposted by yavuzaffan.bsky.social
Al-Sharif killed in what appears to be a targeted Israeli attack on tent housing journalists outside al-Shifa hospital.
Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif killed in Israeli attack in Gaza City
Al-Sharif killed in what appears to be a targeted Israeli attack on tent housing journalists outside al-Shifa hospital.
bit.ly
August 10, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Al-Sharif killed in what appears to be a targeted Israeli attack on tent housing journalists outside al-Shifa hospital.
Reposted by yavuzaffan.bsky.social
This is genuinely western liberalism summed up in a 30 second video. Incredible. Put it in an art gallery.
August 8, 2025 at 11:54 AM
This is genuinely western liberalism summed up in a 30 second video. Incredible. Put it in an art gallery.
Reposted by yavuzaffan.bsky.social
Aid groups report that Israel is refusing to allow any olives or other “fruits or vegetables with pits or seeds that could be planted” into Gaza. They will only allow in pitted olives.
Israel’s new measures do nothing to stop the starvation crisis in Gaza, say aid workers
Humanitarian workers say airdrops and corridors to allow trucks into region have done little to stop the rising death toll
www.theguardian.com
July 30, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Aid groups report that Israel is refusing to allow any olives or other “fruits or vegetables with pits or seeds that could be planted” into Gaza. They will only allow in pitted olives.
Reposted by yavuzaffan.bsky.social
It's really weird to demand accountability from a NYC mayoral candidate for a deadly NYC shooting rather than the current NYC mayor, an ex-cop who campaigned on a "tough on crime" platform and promptly got indicted for crimes
July 31, 2025 at 4:53 PM
It's really weird to demand accountability from a NYC mayoral candidate for a deadly NYC shooting rather than the current NYC mayor, an ex-cop who campaigned on a "tough on crime" platform and promptly got indicted for crimes
Reposted by yavuzaffan.bsky.social
An eloquent image:
Setting aside the content under the tarp for a moment, teens were asked to make art expressing what it is like to be a teen, and the end result was a mural wrapped in a tarp by adults.
I bet a lot of teens would find this expressive of their experience.
Setting aside the content under the tarp for a moment, teens were asked to make art expressing what it is like to be a teen, and the end result was a mural wrapped in a tarp by adults.
I bet a lot of teens would find this expressive of their experience.
July 29, 2025 at 1:26 PM
An eloquent image:
Setting aside the content under the tarp for a moment, teens were asked to make art expressing what it is like to be a teen, and the end result was a mural wrapped in a tarp by adults.
I bet a lot of teens would find this expressive of their experience.
Setting aside the content under the tarp for a moment, teens were asked to make art expressing what it is like to be a teen, and the end result was a mural wrapped in a tarp by adults.
I bet a lot of teens would find this expressive of their experience.
Reposted by yavuzaffan.bsky.social
Glad my graduate alma mater cut 60 degree programs in subjects that require people to think so that they could offer this. Looking forward to living in a world full of Prompt Engineers.
July 23, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Glad my graduate alma mater cut 60 degree programs in subjects that require people to think so that they could offer this. Looking forward to living in a world full of Prompt Engineers.
Reposted by yavuzaffan.bsky.social
No, a LOT of them think that. Science may be one of the most social forms of knowledge production we have. Arguably it’s at least as social as creative writing. Actual scientists will tell you this. Yet, millions of people think they can do science alone with an LLM.
I just now realized that some guys think that fancy predictive text can make new scientific discoveries but that doesn’t even make sense.
July 21, 2025 at 3:37 PM
No, a LOT of them think that. Science may be one of the most social forms of knowledge production we have. Arguably it’s at least as social as creative writing. Actual scientists will tell you this. Yet, millions of people think they can do science alone with an LLM.
Reposted by yavuzaffan.bsky.social
You can’t stay indifferent when your love is this deep.
This isn’t just a story about #mountains — it’s about what lives within them: the forests, waters, glaciers, and the people who protect them.
#Kyrgyzstan’s #Ala-Archa National Park Under Siege
thediplomat.com/2025/06/dest...
This isn’t just a story about #mountains — it’s about what lives within them: the forests, waters, glaciers, and the people who protect them.
#Kyrgyzstan’s #Ala-Archa National Park Under Siege
thediplomat.com/2025/06/dest...
Destruction in Paradise: Kyrgyzstan’s Ala-Archa National Park Under Siege
The construction of A-frame houses, cafes, roads, and funiculars in Ala-Archa National Park appears to violate multiple Kyrgyz laws protecting natural areas.
thediplomat.com
June 6, 2025 at 6:26 PM
You can’t stay indifferent when your love is this deep.
This isn’t just a story about #mountains — it’s about what lives within them: the forests, waters, glaciers, and the people who protect them.
#Kyrgyzstan’s #Ala-Archa National Park Under Siege
thediplomat.com/2025/06/dest...
This isn’t just a story about #mountains — it’s about what lives within them: the forests, waters, glaciers, and the people who protect them.
#Kyrgyzstan’s #Ala-Archa National Park Under Siege
thediplomat.com/2025/06/dest...
Reposted by yavuzaffan.bsky.social
There are whole movies that don’t have the twists and turns of this paragraph.
May 26, 2025 at 8:14 PM
There are whole movies that don’t have the twists and turns of this paragraph.
Reposted by yavuzaffan.bsky.social
I don’t mean to gainsay an eminent economist and a fellow countryman, but US did not become powerful because of its science. It deliberately developed its scientific infrastructure because and after it became rich and powerful. JB Conant said it best in 1948.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
May 23, 2025 at 4:04 AM
I don’t mean to gainsay an eminent economist and a fellow countryman, but US did not become powerful because of its science. It deliberately developed its scientific infrastructure because and after it became rich and powerful. JB Conant said it best in 1948.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by yavuzaffan.bsky.social
And now it’s China’s turn because you start doing science proper once you become an affluent nation. This was a great opening vignette in James Delbourgo’s essay on teaching global history of science.
history.rutgers.edu/images/docum...
history.rutgers.edu/images/docum...
history.rutgers.edu
May 23, 2025 at 4:08 AM
And now it’s China’s turn because you start doing science proper once you become an affluent nation. This was a great opening vignette in James Delbourgo’s essay on teaching global history of science.
history.rutgers.edu/images/docum...
history.rutgers.edu/images/docum...
Reposted by yavuzaffan.bsky.social
If this dynamic is correct, then a nation in the process impoverishment will lose science. Decline, I find, is a good word. And I think that’s what’s happening in the US. It is turning towards a kind of science that befits a poor nation — more engineering and practice than science.
May 23, 2025 at 4:08 AM
If this dynamic is correct, then a nation in the process impoverishment will lose science. Decline, I find, is a good word. And I think that’s what’s happening in the US. It is turning towards a kind of science that befits a poor nation — more engineering and practice than science.
Reposted by yavuzaffan.bsky.social
I believe US is no longer wealthy enough to sustain basic science. Its elite schools will need to focus on generating profit for the top dogs in two ways: 1. Only training profit-generating workers, 2. Turning into for-profit corporations to put more money into the pockets of the top dogs.
May 23, 2025 at 4:16 AM
I believe US is no longer wealthy enough to sustain basic science. Its elite schools will need to focus on generating profit for the top dogs in two ways: 1. Only training profit-generating workers, 2. Turning into for-profit corporations to put more money into the pockets of the top dogs.
Reposted by yavuzaffan.bsky.social
I also find that this shock that we are all experiencing in higher ed is just an after-effect of the economic realities of this country — it really is a developing country where the top 1% skews the GDP per capita and masks the fairly serious poverty of the rest.
May 23, 2025 at 4:16 AM
I also find that this shock that we are all experiencing in higher ed is just an after-effect of the economic realities of this country — it really is a developing country where the top 1% skews the GDP per capita and masks the fairly serious poverty of the rest.
Reposted by yavuzaffan.bsky.social
So…about AI’s energy use…
“…to create a five-second video, a newer AI model uses ‘about 3.4 million joules, more than 700 times the energy required to generate a high-quality image’. That's the equivalent of running a microwave for over an hour.”
“…to create a five-second video, a newer AI model uses ‘about 3.4 million joules, more than 700 times the energy required to generate a high-quality image’. That's the equivalent of running a microwave for over an hour.”
Report: Creating a 5-second AI video is like running a microwave for an hour
That's a long time in the microwave.
mashable.com
May 22, 2025 at 5:04 PM
So…about AI’s energy use…
“…to create a five-second video, a newer AI model uses ‘about 3.4 million joules, more than 700 times the energy required to generate a high-quality image’. That's the equivalent of running a microwave for over an hour.”
“…to create a five-second video, a newer AI model uses ‘about 3.4 million joules, more than 700 times the energy required to generate a high-quality image’. That's the equivalent of running a microwave for over an hour.”
Reposted by yavuzaffan.bsky.social
Add to this that the approved house budget raises the endowment tax from 1.4% to 20%
Harvard today, your institution tomorrow.
It's all part of the Project 2025 plan to destroy high education in America.
All leading US universities depend on federal funding and tuition dollars from international students. They severely curtailed the former. Now they're eliminating the latter.
It's all part of the Project 2025 plan to destroy high education in America.
All leading US universities depend on federal funding and tuition dollars from international students. They severely curtailed the former. Now they're eliminating the latter.
May 22, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Add to this that the approved house budget raises the endowment tax from 1.4% to 20%
Reposted by yavuzaffan.bsky.social
It's great that Harvard wrote a letter but please remember that they have *already* complied with the trump administration by removing the directors of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and severing a formal relationship with a Palestinian university. Actions speak louder than letters.
April 14, 2025 at 5:59 PM
It's great that Harvard wrote a letter but please remember that they have *already* complied with the trump administration by removing the directors of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and severing a formal relationship with a Palestinian university. Actions speak louder than letters.