Shannon Vallor | Lightnews

Pookleblinky @pookleblinky.bsky.social · 10h

At the current rate, by the end of the year the UK will go through over 50 prime ministers, each one worse than the last, until the last one is literally just Gollum devouring raw fish in an abandoned coal mine under Wales. He will also be in the Epstein files.

Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 19h

I have a cat who routinely sticks her whole face in my water glass and now I have a dog who can already leap vertically 4x her height

Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 20h

I am resigned to never again enjoy a snack in my home in peace

Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 20h

omg her face Robin

Jacqueline Antonovich @jackiantonovich.bsky.social · 1d

This really is the epitome of trending Bluesky topics. Something British, sportsball, "political outrage" (can't phrase it better than that), something artsy fartsy, NERDS!)

A screenshot of a “Trending” panel with an upward arrow icon. It lists five items in order: 1) Morgan McSweeney, 2) Super Bowl, 3) Political Outrage, 4) Noir Films, and 5) Star Trek.

Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 1d

Same - it was Y1 philosophy that humbled me too, and it took a couple of years to get past the sting and fall back in love with it.

Eileen Clancy 🧿 @clancyny.bsky.social · 1d

Halt and Catch Fire Syllabus by @ashleyblewer.com
Incredible!

HALT AND CATCH FIRE SYLLABUS
#01 #02 #03 #04 #05 #06 #07 #08 #09 #10 #.
#12 #13 #14 #15

image of Cameron at a desk thinking hard

README
This site features a curriculum developed around
the television series, Halt and Catch Fire
(2014-2017), a fictional narrative about people
working in tech during the 1980s-1990s.
The intent is for this website to be used by
self-forming small groups that want to create a
"watching club" (like a book club) and discuss
aspects of technology history that are featured
in this series.
There are 15 classes, for a "semester-long"
[truncated]

Massimo (mirror) @rainmaker1973-m.bsky.social · 1d

Bottom view of a cat that has fallen asleep on a glass table.

Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 1d

After getting through high school on zero effort, showing up to 7am AP classes on a pot of diner coffee after being out all night, my first semester of college was like the Road Runner hitting the canyon wall painted as a tunnel. Took a year to pick myself up and learn to actually work

Kingfisher & Wombat @tkingfisher.com · 2d

Alright, where are my gifted kids at? You were smart and you never had to study and then you went to college and suddenly had to learn a new skillset overnight, that everybody else had years to learn, or flame out spectacularly?

That’s what talent is like.

Auferre 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @auferre.bsky.social · 2d

In my experience, talent is a *detriment* to learning.

I didn't have to practice early on so I *didn't know how*. I didn't start to learn how to practice until my 30s! (When much of my life was taken up with parenting, so I didn't have time!)

I didn't start to improve as a musician until my 40s!

Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 1d

Thread

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 2d

An observation I've been thinking about:

Around 2020, we were told that US political & corporate elites had been gripped by "wokeness" & thus become obsessed with climate change & diversity. This wokeness was alleged to be so severe & monomaniacal that it threatened the entire culture & economy.

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 2d

An observation I've been thinking about:

Around 2020, we were told that US political & corporate elites had been gripped by "wokeness" & thus become obsessed with climate change & diversity. This wokeness was alleged to be so severe & monomaniacal that it threatened the entire culture & economy.

Kingfisher & Wombat @tkingfisher.com · 2d

Alright, where are my gifted kids at? You were smart and you never had to study and then you went to college and suddenly had to learn a new skillset overnight, that everybody else had years to learn, or flame out spectacularly?

That’s what talent is like.

Auferre 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @auferre.bsky.social · 2d

In my experience, talent is a *detriment* to learning.

I didn't have to practice early on so I *didn't know how*. I didn't start to learn how to practice until my 30s! (When much of my life was taken up with parenting, so I didn't have time!)

I didn't start to improve as a musician until my 40s!

C. L. Polk @clpolk.com · 2d

I'm going to say this again in case you haven't heard this one: I was a talented writer and it did *nothing whatsoever* because I hadn't put in the work, and I put in the work for ten years (subtracting the bit where I had to quit for my mental health) to write Witchmark

talent alone could *never*

Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 2d

right??

Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 2d

There’s so much I have to say about this, much of which is in my book. But the lack of critical questioning and the last two sentences of this article encapsulate everything wrong with tech journalism:

“Like it or not, however, we’re strapped in for the ride. At least Anthropic has a plan”

The Only Thing Standing Between Humanity and AI Apocalypse Is … Claude?

As AI systems grow more powerful, Anthropic’s resident philosopher says the startup is betting Claude itself can learn the wisdom needed to avoid disaster.

www.wired.com

Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 2d

That’s why I’m most worried about this effect on public understanding, given the rapid substitution of LLMs for vetted, current research, or even popular science magazines, which used to be the curious layperson’s go-to source. Most laypeople will now just ask AI, without sophisticated prompting.

Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 2d

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.

Natalie Bennett @nataliegreenpeer.bsky.social · 2d

Neat demonstration of how artificial so-called intelligence is taking us backwards.

"ChatGPT produced content most consistent with the 1960s and DALL-E 3 in the late 1980s and early '90s."

#AI - see @shannonvallor.bsky.social's work for important thinking on this
phys.org/news/2026-02...

New study uses Neanderthals to demonstrate gap between generative AI and scholarly knowledge

Technological advances over the past four decades have turned mobile devices and computers into the world's largest library, where information is just a tap away. Phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatche...

phys.org

Natalie Bennett @nataliegreenpeer.bsky.social · 2d

Neat demonstration of how artificial so-called intelligence is taking us backwards.

"ChatGPT produced content most consistent with the 1960s and DALL-E 3 in the late 1980s and early '90s."

#AI - see @shannonvallor.bsky.social's work for important thinking on this
phys.org/news/2026-02...

New study uses Neanderthals to demonstrate gap between generative AI and scholarly knowledge

Technological advances over the past four decades have turned mobile devices and computers into the world's largest library, where information is just a tap away. Phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatche...

phys.org

Poll Tracker 📊 @polltracker.bsky.social · 3d

Trump job approval rating by news platform

🟢 Twitter/X: +9
🔴 Facebook: -7
🔴 Cable TV: -10
🔴 Podcasts/YouTube: -14
🔴 Local TV: -17
🔴 Instagram: -21
🔴 Broadcast TV: -28
🔴 TikTok: -28
🔴 Newspapers/news sites: -33
🔴 Reddit: -40

www.theargumentmag.com/p/twitter-is...

Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 3d

I struggle to find a more logical explanation

Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 3d

Are we in hell?

Dan Greene @dmgreene.bsky.social · 3d

There's something very important in this from @alondra.bsky.social about how a government of bosses understands its relationship to AI: as a means to avoid preexisting, even nominal, deference to popular deliberation or expert consultation. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The Trump administration is engaged in norm destruction -breaking expectations about transparent governance and public oversight while installing new assumptions about how technological development should be directed. What it has advanced is not the absence of Al regulation but its rearrangement, often by caprice: intensive state intervention operating through industrial policy, trade restric-tions, immigration controls, equity stakes in private firms (selected by the state), the redirection of research funding, and the strategic preemption of state authority.
Many of these actions face legal challenge, and some may not survive judicial review.
But the pattern itself-the systematic preference for executive discretion over deliberative process-reveals an approach to governance that will shape Al policy regardless of how individual cases are de-cided. This is not deregulation. Not in the least. It is hyper-regulation by other means.

Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 3d

Are we in hell?

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 4d

"That is a truly fascist idea, the idea of outsourcing thinking....power is in our ability to think with each other"

Klein on the "AI for climate" crap and how to weave a better story:

www.themaybe.org/reframing-im...

@naomiaklein.bsky.social
@themaybe.org
@alixdunn.com

Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 4d

Good news - we have a new ERC-funded 4-year PhD Studentship at the University of Edinburgh, based in Philosophy and our Centre @technomoralfutures.bsky.social, supervised by Dr Emily Sullivan; the project applies philosophy of science to assessing ML's epistemic & social value. Apply by 16 March!

ERC PhD studentship: The Ethics and Philosophy of Science of Machine Learning | Scholarships and Student Funding | Student Administration

This is a four-year ERC funded PhD studentship (starting in September 2026).

registryservices.ed.ac.uk

Lennart Jonasson @lennson.bsky.social · 4d

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 4d

Using tech to manufacture BS anti-vax claims

Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 4d

Such a terrible day for journalism.

And for democracy, for it does in fact die in darkness.

Where are the wealthy defenders of a free and open society, charging in to fund real reporting in America? [sound of crickets]

nitasha tiku @nitasha.bsky.social · 5d

My story on Elon Musk cutting safeguards at xAI is on the front page of today's @washingtonpost.com. I’m also among 100’s of reporters laid off. I absolutely loved my job my brilliant coworkers & the thrill of reporting @ the center of forces upending the world: AI & Silicon Valley’s political power

cover of The Washington Post on Wednesday Feb 4, 2026. Headline on bottom, right: Musk wanted to hook users; his chatbot got more sexual

Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 4d

Your work is vital, and I am so angry about this. For you, but even more so for the rest of us that need your reporting.

Daksh 🌅 @daxx.bsky.social · 4d

As of 2025, the US has taken a U-turn on climate progress, and it is only going to get worse.

nitasha tiku @nitasha.bsky.social · 5d

My story on Elon Musk cutting safeguards at xAI is on the front page of today's @washingtonpost.com. I’m also among 100’s of reporters laid off. I absolutely loved my job my brilliant coworkers & the thrill of reporting @ the center of forces upending the world: AI & Silicon Valley’s political power

andy™ @andylevy.net · 5d

ohhh ‘democracy dies in darkness’ was aspirational

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