“Dysphoria Mundi” Call for papers deadline extended — many folks who follow me or someone who has reshared this may be interested: addressing “World Models” from critical perspectives in cognitive sciences, ecological concerns, creative practice, and more. www.biblhertz.it/3792468/2606...

Starmer maintained the fiction that he saved a morally and politically bankrupt Labour Party. None of which is true. The landslide won less popular share of the vote than Corbyn's Labour. Membership halved under Starmer and if he hadn't resigned he would have completely ruined it

“It is a tragedy of today’s politics that, for too many, working-class defiance finds its outlet in racist organisations and reactionary parties, and that the left’s neglect of class politics… has left it with little moral standing to challenge that”: observer.co.uk/news/columni...

Though it hasn’t become a national issue, there have in recent weeks been arson attacks of mosques, street attacks on those perceived to be Muslim, and now this. An issue that needs to be taken seriously. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Obviously there should be an election by members for a new leader of the Labour Party, rather than a 'coronation'. Coronations are for Kings and Queens. It is vital for a debate on policy and future direction.

This one goes into the critical AI slidedeck

Training AI on logic puzzles may lead to some strange behavior in the real world. aifails.substack.com/p/museum-gua...

Leaders are not everything, and policies matter. Nevertheless leadership with policies does matter. Starmer, never particularly popular, is now very unpopular. The question is can Labour now lead a radical alliance to deliver what people need and see off far right populism.

One of the things I research is the cooperation of cultural institutions like museums in pitching tech products--specifically AI--to the public. This is advertising for the capacity of AI to educate and thus to reshape education itself as a project better left to private tech companies. 1/n

Is anyone really talking about avoiding a third World War? It's such a dangerous media and political consensus that increasingly assumes it's inevitable. Historically, failing profits have led to war. Let's not repeat that tragedy.

Former Tory supporter Al Carns is, it seems, the new saviour of the Labour Party, the country and more. Probably the right's main hope in the inevitable forthcoming Labour leadership election

The papal encyclical letter goes beyond a religious document and diagnoses a failure in AI governance that the scientific community should heed, says Paolo Benanti go.nature.com/4xHsXFd

Since brains do what they do powerfully and extremely efficiently in terms of energy use and space occupation it is not hard to conclude that vast data centers consuming colossal energy might be a bit of a dead end.

Daniel Dennett's influence on modern philosophy cannot be overstated. Today, in his honour, Lisa Bortolotti presents a special issue of Philosophical Psychology dedicated to the legacy of his philosophy. #philsky imperfectcognitions....

Cooperation between the left and centre-left will be needed to block a populist rightwing / fascist government in the UK. While Burnham is not perfect it is essential he win in Makerfield. In future the Tories may well do a deal with Reform. Labour and the Greens should make an agreement

If leading AI companies are indeed approaching the point of recursive self-improvement, a coordinated, verifiable, and universally applied pause is probably the only responsible solution to mitigate several major AI risks; at least until safety guarantees are developed and demonstrated. (1/2)

Hegseth sees DDay as a story about invaders who must be stopped.

powerful new book delivery. lfg

“In a time when hours matter, we’re delayed by weeks.” www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Where does the “it’s not x, it’s y” come from? It’s not only training data: LLMs are trained to use language to arrive at “answers.” Whatever we’re incentivizing and disincentivizing in our use of language when we resist “sounding like AI” has big implications for students, and for human thought.

Live-read of the Magnifica Humanitas part two: This section starts by covering truth, work and freedom (and unspoken: communication). Figured it will probably need its own thread. www.vatican.va/content/leo-...

The AI-generated podcast paper is out! I generaetd podcasts from four different source documents and an PDF using NotebookLM and found that in every case it translated cultural contexts to a standard, white, American language and context. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Laptop students typed almost word 4 word, capturing more total content but processing almost none of it as they went while handwriting students physically couldn't write fast enough to transcribe a lecture in real time forcing them to decide what actually mattered www.frontiersin.org/journals/psy...

Nature research paper: Sleep chart of biological ageing clocks in middle and late life go.nature.com/4dsX62Z

The debate in the UK Labour Party has to be fundamentally about politics: both policy and restoring democracy in the Party itself. It is Tony Benn's legacy that there can even be a leadership election. Individual skills also matter, and Burnham has those, and could at least hold the Party together

Passed through Euston Station yesterday. There was much flag waving: Union flags, St George, Iranian. Plus chanting and beer drinking. Lots of police, some confused tourists. A woman wore a Union flag hat with 'It's in my DNA' written on it...

According to a report from the Pentagon's inspector general, it has quietly dismantled a legally required civilian harm mitigation and response (CHMR) program, designed to handle training and procedures crit... TAT: [Foreign policy | Weakening civil rights | Hollowing state | Undermining democracy]

Half of laboratory mice are not what scientists think they are go.nature.com/437pTDZ

More than 140,000 fake citations across four research repositories were identified in papers and preprints published in 2025 alone go.nature.com/49Ppzxo

The UK Labour Party and Streeting. Who would have thought things might actually get worse. The leadership election process is of course fixed to deny members a free choice and keep out socialists. Nevertheless there will be a 'centre-left' candidate so the far right candidate probably won't make it.

very important piece

the biggest tech companies in the world are endorsing a new bill that would shove AI onto kids in school www.404media.co/literacy-in-...

“The AI & Big Tech industries’ will to power is among the proximate causes of the US’s accelerating descent into autocracy. “AI” is both the motivation and the instrument of authoritarian consolidation.”

“We need to have the courage and vision to support the Jewish community without destroying a fundamental and necessary right. Jews will be harmed too… if the right to protest is further eroded.” Jo Glanville on the calls to ban pro-Palestinian marches: www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/05/bann...

I wrote about Edgar’s play last week: observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

And I’m off, to take part later today in a discussion of David Edgar’s *Destiny*, his 1976 play about the rise of the far right, on its 50th anniversary, and whether it remains relevant today. It is at the Cockpit theatre in north London: www.thecockpit.org.uk/show/david_e...

Is the UK left about to be defeated for a second time (Corbyn's Labour now the Greens) on grounds of alleged 'antisemitism'? Sections of the media, BBC and establishment are so terrified of the Greens (ironically with a Jewish leader) they seem prepared to embrace the far right populism of Reform

Only a rise from $100 to $600 is a 500% rise, not a 600% rise. And when you drop the price back down from $600 to $100 that’s not a 600% reduction, that’s an 83.3% reduction

I’m glad to share my new book on organisms, biology and Kant: When Metaphysics meets Biology. Kantian approaches to Concept of Organism. (Routledge) The book is open access so you can download the pdf, read, share #philsci #evobio #philbio #histbio #kant www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mon...

Some good news. “A vaccine during pregnancy which protects newborns against nasty chest infections (RSV) is cutting hospital admissions of babies by more than 80%, UK health officials say.”

Microsoft and other US tech companies successfully lobbied the EU to hide the environmental toll of their data centers, Investigate Europe reports in collaboration with Tech Policy Press and other media partners.

Starmer will no doubt go very soon. Reading between the lines he appears to have made two serious errors: 1. To appoint Mandelson 2. To announce the appointment before the vetting. It's all on him it seems.

BBC editorial staff should re-read their immigration review The corporation struggles to cover well stuff that is not politically contested or controversial It should cover controversial issues but it risks reinforcing major public misperceptions on key issues www.bbc.co.uk/news/enterta...

We are staring into the abyss of nuclear war. And allied to a US President who is floundering and appears unhinged.

This was unjustified against Gaza and is unjustified now. Noone believes - and Israel is not even claiming - that Israel is trying to minimise casualties (or eg that Hezbollah weapons were in those hospitals). It's an illegal invasion of Lebanon, and a series of war crimes.

“Pilot schools in China are already using AI to grade children’s artwork, monitor their facial expressions during lectures, and screen them for psychological problems — and the Ministry of Education (MOE) wants schools across the country to follow suit.” www.chinatalk.media/p/chinas-ai-...

That one person can drag us into a war without consulting or even notifying Congress beforehand, or our allies, or coherently explain to the American people why this is necessary, is absolutely bonkers. Reminder that Congress has the power to stop this.

💫 I’m giving two talks in Lisbon next week 💥 Wednesday 8 April at 14.30 at the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal on "Staying With the Fragments" ✨ Thurs 9 June “Toppling the Nonhuman" at the Iconoclash 2.0 conference See some of you there! 🇵🇹

The other day I pass a woman vaping furiously as she nears the entrance to the gym.