New blog post (it's been a while): Make Meta-Analysis Great Again.
This is a serious proposal. Please amplify to whoever might be interested, especially if they have money.
steamtraen.blogspot.com/2026/04/make...
In this episode, Nate speaks with primatologist and author @christinewebb.bsky.social about human exceptionalism – the deeply embedded belief that humans are separate from and superior to the rest of nature.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/213-...
Screenshot of the "Does that use a lot of energy?" online app
Hannah Ritchie has built a fun little tool where you can compare energy usage of various products and activities.
This is super helpful imho, because it's so hard to develop intuitions even just about the scales involved here.
hannahritchie.substack.com/p/does-that-...
This is basically my villain origin story.
"How old are you?" (unique responses)
I loved the book, but am having trouble reconciling its main ideas with how Nick discusses AI here, especially the final section on the ‘singularity’. Feels like he’s arguing for some form of human exceptionalism? youtu.be/5cBS6COzLN4?.... I wonder if his thinking has now shifted?
Kendzior HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT (2020) four pages of text on Trump, Epstein, Michael Cohen, death threats to rape victims
Kendzior HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT (2020) four pages of text on Trump, Epstein, Michael Cohen, death threats to rape victims
Kendzior HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT (2020) four pages of text on Trump, Epstein, Michael Cohen, death threats to rape victims
Kendzior HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT (2020) four pages of text on Trump, Epstein, Michael Cohen, death threats to rape victims
On Trump, Epstein, and their social circle of pedophiles. From HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT, written in 2019, before Epstein was indicted.
"The story of Jeffrey Epstein is one that will define our era..."
us.macmillan.com/books/978125...
"Scientific literacy has long been a cornerstone of higher education but the open research movement has redefined what it means to be literate as a researcher" with @flavioazevedo.bsky.social & @drcpennington.bsky.social
www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/if-p...
“A striking feature of recent reporting is how much attention is given to preventing and detecting cheating with AI detectors, bans on AI use and invigilated exams, presented as the “only way” forward. Detection is not assurance, and it never was.”
www.linkedin.com/pulse/real-c...
just finished this today - thoroughly enjoyed, thanks for the nudge! Lots of similarities I thought to 'The Experience Machine' by Andy Clarke, 'Edge of Sentience' by Jonathan Birch and 'Being You' by Anil Seth. All worth a look!
AI may densify learning activities & (quietly) reshape expectations of speed, scope, polish etc. Students might feel more capable & productive with AI, take on more work & experience cognitive overload disguised as 'efficiency'. AI literacy may need to include workload literacy & judgment.
partly this was motivated by the issue of 'perverse incentives'. The sectors seen cases where when presented with '24hr exams' (implemented to give flexibility to choose when to complete an exam, that should take 2 hrs), students spent the entire 24hrs on the exam believing more must be better 🤦♂️
really interesting. particularly the suggestions for how 'AI Practice' can help (i.e., pauses, sequencing and grounding). Am interested in how this might translate to the student experience in higher education.
Yep agreed. Plus a more stable back 4 and a goal keeper who doesn’t throw it in his own net is a huge bonus!
Still not having him 😉
4 sparrows in a tree looking into a window
Working on a lecture, whilst being watched…
Excellent piece on smart glasses and education - hard not to feel that the sector is far from ready in responding to the widespread adoption of such tech nationalcentreforai.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2026/01/2...
Love United Hate Glazer
#GlazersOut 🟩🟨
2nd trip to OT for the nephews ❤️
“Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic and made way for parks, people-streets and bike-lanes.”
Better for the climate, better for health, better for livability and quality of life.
Common sense.
Such a no-brainer, it’s remarkable that more cities HAVEN’T done the same.
Am generally supportive of a ban (am not sure we need to 'wait for evidence', and a year seems arbitrary), but only if it comes with much stricter regulation for everyone, given its negative effects don't harm just children.
I added this to my ‘To Read’ pile in June but just have not got around to it 🤦♂️ thanks for the nudge!
Thanks for sharing, hadn’t seen this but it looks very interesting!
Yes I think I’ve seen something similar with reference to math questions. It gets the right answer, you then ask how it did it and it makes up a process that wouldn’t have got the answer correct. I may be misrepresenting that, sorry!
You may have read them already but I found Andy Clarke (The Experience Machine), Blaise Aguera y Arcas (What is Intelligence?) and Nicholas Humphrey (Sentience) excellent on these topics.
I saw a paper (which I now can’t find!) about the distinction between a models sometimes very certain response when asked about confidence in its answer and the actual ‘under the hood’ reasoning suggesting it wasn’t ‘certain’ at all during inference. Got me thinking about ‘choice blindness’ etc
Oh I agree completely. Do you think it’s helpful to think of LLMs with this framework? E.g., The responses it gives are those of an interpreter that creates a coherent narrative to explain actions (weights?) initiated elsewhere in the brain (neural network?).
Or to @catblanketflower.yuwakisa.com example. The language centre tells ‘us’ the topic must be stressful (post hoc) because another part of the brain registers a change in heart rate, blood flow etc?
I’ve not fully thought any of this through deeply but am drawn to ideas from post hoc rationalisation, choice blindness, split brain patients etc to try to understand modern LLMs I.e., an interpreter that creates a coherent narrative to explain actions initiated elsewhere
