Sixty years ago, Jennie Lee's vision created The Open University 🎓 Welcoming all backgrounds, millions have started life-changing journeys. #OUfamily #TheOpenUniversity #OU60 💙

I know I wrote it, but I truly think this should be a massive story The Secretary of Defense told an AI company to remove its bot's moral guardrails so it can operate surveillance and lethal weapons autonomously When warned that could endanger our own troops, he didn't care

I read this and I am glad I’m not an academic any more. It feels like the entire nature of academia, a community, curiosity, inquiry, all of that has been replaced by a drive for productivity, strength, impact. Quality is no longer usefulness, it is a constantly shifting set of metrics.

This.👇👏 How can we have a sense of achievement, of fulfillment, without working for it? We cannot self-actualize for free.

This looks like an *AMAZING* event! First, COGS and Sussex does outstanding cog sci work. Second, Andy Clark's ideas have blown my mind, positively, on many occasions. I rate his work extremely highly. Third, workshops are awesome to develop good research communities. (And I hate conferences).

Maybe I am naive, but “AI-fueled growth” puzzles me. Generally automation doesn’t do growth — especially when you are already hyperscale. It may cut costs, usually by transferring them, e.g., to consumers. But… growth? Someone will have to explain that to me. It sounds all hopey-wishy.

Dude who wrote about how "the left is missing out on AI" is on here. Do you see who they are funded by? The biggest EA funders, the longtermist institutes we've been writing about and documenting, including FLI where Muskrat is still an advisor.

PUT IT BACK. PEBBLE IS NOT FRIEND.

Specifically on this point of next-token prediction, as someone who’s studied this with eye-tracking, people are *not* next-token readers. They skim text. Eyes saccade. Even 1970s AI folks knew this, and old reading systems like DeJong’s FRUMP explored much more plausible mechanisms of reading.

Ooh, while I’m at it, though, I should also tell you all that @nimbuspub.bsky.social is publishing a 10th Anniversary Edition of 100 Things You Don’t Know About Nova Scotia in April! And just to show how long ago it’s really been since my very first book was published, here’s an old interview!

Today's winner of the internet 🏆🏆🏆

In its more horrific method of retribution, the mob will sometimes dress victims as mimes, place them in glass boxes, and let them perish slowly in full view of the public.

The self-own here is staggeringly remarkable. You genuinely have to know nothing you are talking about to say something like this.

Part of me says, well, duh! Another part says even this is missing the point, which is that this is simply an intrinsic property of a language model. The maths talk is all “it’s not our fault”, when it definitely is their fault. They knew this all along. They just didn’t care.

Obvious caveats apply for something off Reddit, but this is at least a plausible thing to happen. I have a feeling we’ll see more, better documented cases that executives want to keep quiet bubble out if the business press over the next year.

I wish I could be this optimistic. I am not. Big tech is now more or less imperialist, in the sense that it transitioned from enabling innovation to wholesale acquisition of other sectors of the economy. It is *entirely* monopolistic, and, simply, does not tolerate competition.

The list of things council is considering cutting in order to keep taxes “flat” is insane. (From Sam Austin’s website). Call your councillor and tell them you won’t support them if they support these cuts.

Preparations in hand for another batch of gluten free beer. It will be DARK. Brew day will be tomorrow.

Late-stage capitalism in an era of mass surveillance means a competing doorbell-camera company ALREADY has a parody ad up of that wretched Ring Super Bowl ad -- and, ngl, it's pretty good: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROFb... (h/t @melanie-ensign.bsky.social)

"The true genius is a mind of large general powers, accidentally determined to some particular direction." ~ Samuel Johnson

"“Of course, people go, ‘Wow, a ticket for killing somebody.’ It’s like, ‘Yeah, but it’s not murder. So quit clutching your pearls.’ ” - a retired police officer. Wow. signalhfx.ca/halifax-pede...

#bioinformatics #statistics #memes #bluesci

This black-and-white warbler worked on swallowing this bug for quite a while. #BirdOfTheDay #Birds&Bugs #birds #birdphotography #nature #naturephotography

Air Canada I understand we’re approaching Valentine’s Day but I simply don’t think an airline should advertise its sales with “fares worth falling for”

Don’t you think he looks tired?

For 150 years, Africville, sitting right next to Halifax, was a thriving Black Canadian community. Halifax refused to provide city services, and eventually forced residents to move as they bulldozed their homes. This is the story of that community. 🧵1/12

It might just be me, but this sounds suspiciously like the bros are about rediscover support vector machines.

It wasn't the best sun halo yesterday, but good enough for a show.

Would be interesting to compare the results on more recent models - but this problem won’t go away. LLMs are always going to be extrapolating from what has already, and often, been thought, which is why they aren’t windows to the future but anchors to the past.

The Globalization of Canadian Rage www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/o...

We need a law demanding all SUVs be painted fluorescent orange. Otherwise we might not see them.

Other work of the Ladybird artists. A February Day Artist: Rowland Hilder

Ye gods I loathe the whole robot rights thing.

For #WoodpeckerWednesday here's a downy woodpecker from my last hike out. A pileated woodpecker and a hairy woodpecker were also close by, hanging around.

Reminding you all, especially psychologists, of this as I think many keep forgetting we're duty-bound as academics to push back against the illogics of AI in all contexts...

Ahem. Waves at Halifax council and points👇

Absolute genius engagement strategy.

See, yet again, generative AI folks miss the point — creativity is work. Creating the diagrams is part of creating the ideas. Imagine this: if you wanted to impress someone with a memorable dinner, would you just order pizza to be delivered and serve it from the box?

Something feels very off here. You don’t *interview* chatbots, you *test* them.

This is excellent, and it’s how learning should work. Practical, professional, mentoring, and not a hair of a chatbot in sight.

Just out—a piece I wrote a piece for the APS Observer (@psychscience.bsky.social) in which I share recommendations and resources for running a research lab at a small, liberal arts college. I hope it helps others in the same boat! www.psychologicalscience.org/publications...

Lovely tracking the snowshoe bunny prints yesterday. All the beans. So adorable.

I think this deserves nuance. “High technology” that is pushed, it is often awful. Sure. But I have seen amazing examples of technology which work. One of my favourites was a virtual simulated polarizing microscope that learners could explore at home. 1/

You’d have to be a complete fool to think AI would actually meet levels of decades of human expertise. I mean, imagine I went to a politician and just said: look, your job is easy, all you need to do is cut taxes for rich folks. That’s it, end of —

OMFG Apple, what TF are you doing to my beloved Pages?? How do I stop you from forcing AI on me???

This is a really good article on why we can’t/don’t/refuse to make evidence-based decisions any more.