Prof. Dr Beth Singler
@bvlsingler.bsky.social
Anthropologist/Geek thinking about how you think about AI & robots. Assistant Professor in Digital Religions at UZH. Bvlsingler.com. She/her. 🌈 https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mono/10.4324/9781003256113/religion-artificial-intelligence-beth-singler
Pinned
I will never stop banging this drum! 🥁 There 🥁 is 🥁 no 🥁 AI 🥁 in 🥁 the 🥁 predictive 🥁 policing 🥁 in 🥁 Minority 🥁 Report!
Its three psychics in a paddling pool!!
Its three psychics in a paddling pool!!
Excited to speak about religion and AI this morning at Faith Angle Europe 2025. There's a preview of my comments if you zoom in lol!
November 11, 2025 at 7:34 AM
Excited to speak about religion and AI this morning at Faith Angle Europe 2025. There's a preview of my comments if you zoom in lol!
Reposted by Prof. Dr Beth Singler
Authors, Beware! There's a firm called "ClaimsHero" doing aggressive social media outreach claiming to
"help" you file to get $ in the Anthropic class action. In fact, it's a bait-and-switch, they are luring authors to sign up with them, then OPTING THEM OUT of the class action so they'll get zilch.
"help" you file to get $ in the Anthropic class action. In fact, it's a bait-and-switch, they are luring authors to sign up with them, then OPTING THEM OUT of the class action so they'll get zilch.
November 10, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Authors, Beware! There's a firm called "ClaimsHero" doing aggressive social media outreach claiming to
"help" you file to get $ in the Anthropic class action. In fact, it's a bait-and-switch, they are luring authors to sign up with them, then OPTING THEM OUT of the class action so they'll get zilch.
"help" you file to get $ in the Anthropic class action. In fact, it's a bait-and-switch, they are luring authors to sign up with them, then OPTING THEM OUT of the class action so they'll get zilch.
Reposted by Prof. Dr Beth Singler
It really bothers me that even though people keep dying, AI companies will not stop offering AI therapy or “friends”. You simply do not have to have your office product have mental counseling and emotional support as a function. When I buy a stapler I don’t expect it to love me.
November 8, 2025 at 4:50 PM
It really bothers me that even though people keep dying, AI companies will not stop offering AI therapy or “friends”. You simply do not have to have your office product have mental counseling and emotional support as a function. When I buy a stapler I don’t expect it to love me.
Reposted by Prof. Dr Beth Singler
Cosmos-Politanism: Transhumanist Visions of Global Order from the First World War to the Digital Age
Cosmos-Politanism: Transhumanist Visions of Global Order from the First World War to the Digital Age By Duncan Bell, University of Cambridge and Apolline Taillandier, Newnham College Inspired by…
Cosmos-Politanism: Transhumanist Visions of Global Order from the First World War to the Digital Age By Duncan Bell, University of Cambridge and Apolline Taillandier, Newnham College Inspired by…
Cosmos-Politanism: Transhumanist Visions of Global Order from the First World War to the Digital Age
Cosmos-Politanism: Transhumanist Visions of Global Order from the First World War to the Digital Age By Duncan Bell, University of Cambridge and Apolline Taillandier, Newnham College Inspired by developments in artificial intelligence, space engineering, and genetics, discussion of post-human visions of the future is now widespread, especially in the tech world. This reflective essay analyses various ideological configurations of “transhumanism,” a body of thought centred on the pursuit of radical human improvement through technoscientific intervention.
politicalsciencenow.com
November 7, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Cosmos-Politanism: Transhumanist Visions of Global Order from the First World War to the Digital Age
Cosmos-Politanism: Transhumanist Visions of Global Order from the First World War to the Digital Age By Duncan Bell, University of Cambridge and Apolline Taillandier, Newnham College Inspired by…
Cosmos-Politanism: Transhumanist Visions of Global Order from the First World War to the Digital Age By Duncan Bell, University of Cambridge and Apolline Taillandier, Newnham College Inspired by…
Reposted by Prof. Dr Beth Singler
In between #4 and #5 I would add-
4a: Does the world REALLY need another book?
4b: Huh, there are some interesting things here. Someone should write a book about this.
4c: Terror
4d: seemingly endless loop between 4a-4c.
4a: Does the world REALLY need another book?
4b: Huh, there are some interesting things here. Someone should write a book about this.
4c: Terror
4d: seemingly endless loop between 4a-4c.
November 9, 2025 at 11:47 AM
In between #4 and #5 I would add-
4a: Does the world REALLY need another book?
4b: Huh, there are some interesting things here. Someone should write a book about this.
4c: Terror
4d: seemingly endless loop between 4a-4c.
4a: Does the world REALLY need another book?
4b: Huh, there are some interesting things here. Someone should write a book about this.
4c: Terror
4d: seemingly endless loop between 4a-4c.
Reposted by Prof. Dr Beth Singler
The discovery of DNA seems to have been a collaborative effort from a mixed gender group, by any reasonable account. But it has been forced into the Great Man narrative, where it doesn’t fit at all. Like Bletchley Park and so many other stories.
November 9, 2025 at 10:02 AM
The discovery of DNA seems to have been a collaborative effort from a mixed gender group, by any reasonable account. But it has been forced into the Great Man narrative, where it doesn’t fit at all. Like Bletchley Park and so many other stories.
Reposted by Prof. Dr Beth Singler
Six people died from tampered Tylenol and the company pulled 30 million bottles off the market. ChatGPT is accused of urging seven people towards suicide, and OpenAI just assures us they’re still working out the kinks. Billions in investment, zero accountability.
OpenAI faces 7 lawsuits claiming ChatGPT drove people to suicide, delusions
OpenAI is facing seven lawsuits claiming ChatGPT drove people to suicide and harmful delusions even when they had no prior mental health issues.
apnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Six people died from tampered Tylenol and the company pulled 30 million bottles off the market. ChatGPT is accused of urging seven people towards suicide, and OpenAI just assures us they’re still working out the kinks. Billions in investment, zero accountability.
Reposted by Prof. Dr Beth Singler
We really are living in the timeline that spawns Weyland-Yutani and not the one that creates Starfleet.
November 8, 2025 at 11:45 AM
We really are living in the timeline that spawns Weyland-Yutani and not the one that creates Starfleet.
Reposted by Prof. Dr Beth Singler
OVER A MILLION USERS
DISCUSS SUICIDE WITH CHATGPT
EVERY *WEEK*
what the fuck are we DOING here
DISCUSS SUICIDE WITH CHATGPT
EVERY *WEEK*
what the fuck are we DOING here
Panera’s moderately caffeinated lemonade was loosely associated with 2 deaths before it was taken off market.
This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
I fully believe in the corporate death penalty and believe we would be a better world if OpenAI lost its corporate charter and was forcibly dissolved.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
November 7, 2025 at 10:59 PM
OVER A MILLION USERS
DISCUSS SUICIDE WITH CHATGPT
EVERY *WEEK*
what the fuck are we DOING here
DISCUSS SUICIDE WITH CHATGPT
EVERY *WEEK*
what the fuck are we DOING here
Reposted by Prof. Dr Beth Singler
The diagram for what Palantir does is like if Richard Scarry got super paranoid and did an Apocalypse picture book
November 7, 2025 at 8:14 PM
The diagram for what Palantir does is like if Richard Scarry got super paranoid and did an Apocalypse picture book
UPDATED: Academic Publications - bvlsingler.com/academic-pub...
Academic Publications
Forthcoming “‘Specialists without Spirit’: GenAI Professors, Epistemic Networks, and Religious Education”, forthcoming in a special issue of Journal for Pedagogy and Theolog…
bvlsingler.com
November 7, 2025 at 12:58 PM
UPDATED: Academic Publications - bvlsingler.com/academic-pub...
Reposted by Prof. Dr Beth Singler
me at the end of class: here's a little speculative exercises; imagine you wake up from cryosleep in 2085. what's the kind of tech-society r/ship you'd like to see around you?
students: no AI
I honestly think students' views are missing from the 'should AI be integrated in classrooms' discussion
students: no AI
I honestly think students' views are missing from the 'should AI be integrated in classrooms' discussion
November 6, 2025 at 6:32 AM
me at the end of class: here's a little speculative exercises; imagine you wake up from cryosleep in 2085. what's the kind of tech-society r/ship you'd like to see around you?
students: no AI
I honestly think students' views are missing from the 'should AI be integrated in classrooms' discussion
students: no AI
I honestly think students' views are missing from the 'should AI be integrated in classrooms' discussion
Reposted by Prof. Dr Beth Singler
this is the craziest thing I've read in a long time???? Meta projected that 10% of its revenue last year, $16 billion, came from scams. Meta intentionally charges the scammers MORE and knows that people who click on scams are more likely to see more of them www.reuters.com/investigatio...
November 7, 2025 at 5:13 AM
this is the craziest thing I've read in a long time???? Meta projected that 10% of its revenue last year, $16 billion, came from scams. Meta intentionally charges the scammers MORE and knows that people who click on scams are more likely to see more of them www.reuters.com/investigatio...
Reposted by Prof. Dr Beth Singler
You (a fool): The LLM is an all-knowing oracle, on its way to godlike intelligence
Me (dumber): The LLM is Indra’s Net, each fundamentally empty token a multifaceted jewel in whose surfaces the reflections of every other jewel arise in mutual interdependence
The LLM: You can eat that rock
Me (dumber): The LLM is Indra’s Net, each fundamentally empty token a multifaceted jewel in whose surfaces the reflections of every other jewel arise in mutual interdependence
The LLM: You can eat that rock
August 16, 2025 at 3:38 PM
You (a fool): The LLM is an all-knowing oracle, on its way to godlike intelligence
Me (dumber): The LLM is Indra’s Net, each fundamentally empty token a multifaceted jewel in whose surfaces the reflections of every other jewel arise in mutual interdependence
The LLM: You can eat that rock
Me (dumber): The LLM is Indra’s Net, each fundamentally empty token a multifaceted jewel in whose surfaces the reflections of every other jewel arise in mutual interdependence
The LLM: You can eat that rock
Reposted by Prof. Dr Beth Singler
Reposted by Prof. Dr Beth Singler
There are no words for how evil this is
November 7, 2025 at 1:36 AM
There are no words for how evil this is
Reposted by Prof. Dr Beth Singler
November 6, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Reposted by Prof. Dr Beth Singler
"We've all starting talking like robots"
Speak for yourself. Some of us are not "we," because we don't use the giant environment-destroying rape culture theft machine.
Speak for yourself. Some of us are not "we," because we don't use the giant environment-destroying rape culture theft machine.
Finally one thing they are, due to being statistical models of text, these neural networks and other large language models are indeed designed to do: milquetoastify boringify language.
LLMs steal and drain off human creativity originality verve by merely copying.
english.elpais.com/technology/2...
LLMs steal and drain off human creativity originality verve by merely copying.
english.elpais.com/technology/2...
The ChatGPT effect: We’ve all started talking like robots
The use of artificial intelligence is leading to a flattening of our language that is evident in the emails we write and the texts we compose. Studies have already confirmed this. Robotic verbiage era...
english.elpais.com
November 5, 2025 at 12:32 PM
"We've all starting talking like robots"
Speak for yourself. Some of us are not "we," because we don't use the giant environment-destroying rape culture theft machine.
Speak for yourself. Some of us are not "we," because we don't use the giant environment-destroying rape culture theft machine.
Reposted by Prof. Dr Beth Singler
Finally one thing they are, due to being statistical models of text, these neural networks and other large language models are indeed designed to do: milquetoastify boringify language.
LLMs steal and drain off human creativity originality verve by merely copying.
english.elpais.com/technology/2...
LLMs steal and drain off human creativity originality verve by merely copying.
english.elpais.com/technology/2...
The ChatGPT effect: We’ve all started talking like robots
The use of artificial intelligence is leading to a flattening of our language that is evident in the emails we write and the texts we compose. Studies have already confirmed this. Robotic verbiage era...
english.elpais.com
November 5, 2025 at 6:58 AM
Finally one thing they are, due to being statistical models of text, these neural networks and other large language models are indeed designed to do: milquetoastify boringify language.
LLMs steal and drain off human creativity originality verve by merely copying.
english.elpais.com/technology/2...
LLMs steal and drain off human creativity originality verve by merely copying.
english.elpais.com/technology/2...
I strongly recommend my old PhD supervisor's 2013 book on Festinger's research, which was initially inspired by me giving him a copy of Lurie's Imaginary Friends that I found in a secondhand bookstore :) link.springer.com/book/10.1057...
November 5, 2025 at 11:32 AM
I strongly recommend my old PhD supervisor's 2013 book on Festinger's research, which was initially inspired by me giving him a copy of Lurie's Imaginary Friends that I found in a secondhand bookstore :) link.springer.com/book/10.1057...
Reposted by Prof. Dr Beth Singler
And this is why the corporate class shut down Teen Vogue.
WOW. 81% of women 18-29 voted for Mamdani, 80% for Sherril, and 78% for Spanberger.
Gen Z women aren't playing around.
Gen Z women aren't playing around.
November 5, 2025 at 4:16 AM
And this is why the corporate class shut down Teen Vogue.
Reposted by Prof. Dr Beth Singler
Trump will deny it’s a referendum on him. But it’s a referendum on him and his disgraceful regime that couldn’t care less about the needs of people.
November 5, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Trump will deny it’s a referendum on him. But it’s a referendum on him and his disgraceful regime that couldn’t care less about the needs of people.