Björn Heile

@bjornheile.bsky.social

1.2K followers 1.1K following 780 posts

Berlin-born and Glasgow-based academic, primarily interested in weird music. Oh, and I'm associate editor of Contemporary Music Review.
Professional profile: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/cca/staff/bjornheile

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Art 68%

Computer science 8%

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Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · Nov 14

This is kind of my introductory post. It's great to meet so many people over here again. I'm not a direct refugee from Twitter/X: I have left that years ago but went to Mastodon. That's still great but rather quiet.
As you may know, I'm primarily interested in #music, particularly #modernist.

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 20h

Wee bike trip to #LochLomond.

View North across Loch Lomond from Firkin Point in the sunshine, with snow-capped peaks in the distance.

View south across Ben Lomond from the Western shore, north of Inverbeg, with sun mirrored in the water across tree branches in foreground.

Snow-capped Ben Lomond in the sunshine, seen across Loch Lomond from Inverbeg.

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 1d

Good morning! #LochLong

The Brack and Ben Donich seen across Loch Long. Snow on the peaks in the early morning sunshine, mirrored in the water.

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 1d

If only we had a lawyer at the head of the government... - oh!

Reposted by Jeremy S. Pal, Björn Heile

Eric @nemchocke.bsky.social · 1d

Here it is, your moment of zen.

Counselor: These feelings of "everything sucks," how long have you had them?

Butt-head: Uhh, since everything started to suck, I guess.

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 2d

And nativism is the most primitive of their forms.

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 3d

Certainly more incisive insight than 'softer tone'. (Yes, he didn't shout at people like Vance, but the message is deeply reactionary and neo-imperialist, and the 'softer tone' is conditional on agreeing with him.)

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 3d

Funny how voters allegedly think all the bollocks that Cummings believes in.

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 4d

It's a level of risk we'd never accept in any other area. Would anyone give permission for a nuclear plant on that basis? It's just because it seems abstract.

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 4d

If they don't know whether AI is conscious or not, should they be allowed to develop it? This seems irresponsible since they evidently don't know what they're doing and because, if AI really were conscious, it would have rights. Does Amodei want to grant AI rights? If not, he'd have to stop.

John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · 4d

I'm pretty sure I know. They aren't. We're not going to really be able to make a lot of progress in dealing with the implications of this tech unless and until we get rid of all this "woo-woo" talk about LLMs. Anthropic pushing this line is PR, unserious.

Reposted by Tuomas Mattila, Janet Murray, R. M. Wilson , and 3 more Tuomas Mattila, Janet Murray, R. M. Wilson, Björn Heile, Seth Frey, Búi K. Petersen

John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · 4d

Reposted by Mike Rowe, Björn Heile

Parody Nigel Farage @parodypm.bsky.social · 5d

Jim Ratcliffe has my full support. Anyone who lies about population figures, claims £120m in public money for his own company after paying no UK tax at all, while immigrants pay at least £15bn is my kind of guy!

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 5d

I don't know why vox pops are even allowed. They are fraudulent, manipulative and do not reveal any genuine information.

Reposted by Martin Paul Eve, Katrina Navickas, Björn Heile

Dave Andress @davidandress.bsky.social · 7d

So, the boss of REF2029 has just quit...

Statement from Steven Hill on REF leadership transition – REF 2029

2029.ref.ac.uk

Reposted by Richard McElreath, Mel Bartley, John R. Hutchinson , and 12 more Richard McElreath, Mel Bartley, John R. Hutchinson, Steve Peers, Peter Campbell, Peter Holmes, Michelle Everson, Göran Bolin, Jussi T. Eronen, Bessma Momani, Henry Farrell, David Murakami Wood, Björn Heile, Christina Pagel, Steven H. Seggie

Ed Wilson @eddwilson.bsky.social · 7d

"Switzerland’s military has terminated its contract with Palantir… following a security audit… concluded that U.S. intelligence agencies could potentially access sensitive Swiss defense data… significant reputational warning for the data analytics firm"

www.newscase.com/palantirs-sw...

#R4Today

Palantir's Swiss Exit Highlights Global Data Sovereignty Challenge | NewsCase

Switzerland's military has terminated its contract with Palantir Technologies Inc. following a security audit. The review concluded that U.S. intelligence ag

www.newscase.com

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 7d

Not that Farage has ever had a workplace or one he attended regularly.

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 8d

Maybe not, but treating the devolved parliaments as weather vanes that only matter as a test of public opinion, doesn't either.

Reposted by Björn Heile

Andrew Stronach @aistronach.bsky.social · 9d

OK. Brace yourself for the most delicious ancient Egyptian hippo. Just lovely. Quite old. sainsburycentre.ac.uk/art-and-obje...

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 9d

I was gonna say there is never a lack of these people! People fell over one another to become Tory leader, after all.

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 12d

I'm sure if the UK had illegally hung on to the island for longer, that otherwise inevitable conflict would never have arisen in the first place.

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 12d

Which reminds me of this delightful film, which I'm pretty sure Ligeti would have appreciated too.
www.imdb.com/title/tt1883...

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (2014) ⭐ 6.9 | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy

1h 41m | PG-13

www.imdb.com

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 12d

I'm kind of reminded of the Panama Papers. 1. Lift the stone, 2. stare in disgust at all the creepy crawlies doing unmentionable things, 3. drop the stone back in place quickly.

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 12d

These drugs actually existed.

Reposted by Mark Petticrew, Patrick Dunleavy, Björn Heile , and 1 more Mark Petticrew, Patrick Dunleavy, Björn Heile, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò

Center for Climate Integrity @climateintegrity.org · 13d

Big Oil "purchased solar and EV patents to ensure others couldn’t use them, solicited control of renewable markets and then abandoned them, and funded powerful institutions to promote false solutions, all while using trade groups to downplay the harms of fossil fuels, according to the complaint." 😠

A Secret Oil Cartel Might Have Killed Our Clean-Energy Future

In a landmark antitrust case, Michigan alleges oil companies colluded to “capture and kill” clean-energy and electric-vehicle efforts.

www.levernews.com

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 15d

Yes, I think he is more deeply 'intellectually' (if that's the word) committed to the ideology of 'local people vs. global elites' than Farage or Tice. That candidates are parachuted in by a centralised party financed by non-dom super-rich doesn't quite fit the picture.

Reposted by Björn Heile, Ernesto Castañeda

Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 15d

Regularisation policies have been shown, repeatedly, to tackle exploitation and boost domestic economies. While Labour makes it harder for migrants to be recognised, policies like Spain's are better for everyone. Tougher immigration policies are counterproductive
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...