Calum Alasdair Young
@calumalasdairyoung.bsky.social
Lecturer in EU law at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. Interests include: law; the EU; politics, domestic and European; D&D; card games; boardgames.
Reposted by Calum Alasdair Young
This is a huge part of why so many people think we're in the middle of a widespread "anti-woke backlash": Small movements opposed to social progress are collected into trend stories by conservative media. Far larger movements that want more diversity are ignored or cast as threats.
"Woke is ruining D&D". Meanwhile Dimension 20, one of the wokest real play shows around, just sold out Madison Square Garden and the Hollywood Bowl for live shows and brings armies of new players to RPGs.
November 30, 2025 at 3:38 PM
This is a huge part of why so many people think we're in the middle of a widespread "anti-woke backlash": Small movements opposed to social progress are collected into trend stories by conservative media. Far larger movements that want more diversity are ignored or cast as threats.
Reposted by Calum Alasdair Young
I don't understand how anyone can watch how blatantly Grok is manipulated to answer the way ownership desires it to and then act like the other LLM chatbots couldn't possibly be similarly but less obviously compromised to produce responses in whatever way corporate interests and priorities dictate.
November 23, 2025 at 7:13 PM
I don't understand how anyone can watch how blatantly Grok is manipulated to answer the way ownership desires it to and then act like the other LLM chatbots couldn't possibly be similarly but less obviously compromised to produce responses in whatever way corporate interests and priorities dictate.
Reposted by Calum Alasdair Young
That American politics went off the rails after Barack Obama and British ethnonationalism has reared its head after Rishi Sunak is the real tell about how committed some people are to integration and post racial politics.
A country where Sadiq Khan can lead London, Humza Yousaf can lead Scotland, and Rishi Sunak can lead Britain is a country where the racists had *lost*. So much of this vicious bile has come directly after that and almost no one seems to draw the connection
November 19, 2025 at 5:02 PM
That American politics went off the rails after Barack Obama and British ethnonationalism has reared its head after Rishi Sunak is the real tell about how committed some people are to integration and post racial politics.
Reposted by Calum Alasdair Young
If you have a product that people love and want to use... you do not have to do that. Like, when the iPhone came out, your Mac wasn't constantly saying to you, 'Hey, have you tried sending emails on your iPhone???'
November 18, 2025 at 6:40 PM
If you have a product that people love and want to use... you do not have to do that. Like, when the iPhone came out, your Mac wasn't constantly saying to you, 'Hey, have you tried sending emails on your iPhone???'
Reposted by Calum Alasdair Young
This this this. This is what I've been saying all along about the biggest problem with AI
It's a useful reminder that sometimes tech can make a task more efficient for one side (applying for jobs), and more efficient for the other side (writing job adverts), and yet make the system as a whole completely inefficient.
November 14, 2025 at 11:11 AM
This this this. This is what I've been saying all along about the biggest problem with AI
Reposted by Calum Alasdair Young
I’m sorry but this whole Noah Smith Heathrow situation is so fucking funny. Centrist thought leader with PhD from University of Michigan struggles to navigate basic airport transfer, blames it on the relative economic decline of Western Europe
November 11, 2025 at 7:54 PM
I’m sorry but this whole Noah Smith Heathrow situation is so fucking funny. Centrist thought leader with PhD from University of Michigan struggles to navigate basic airport transfer, blames it on the relative economic decline of Western Europe
Reposted by Calum Alasdair Young
The Anglo consensus of the first half of 2010s was that where continental Europeans were endemically subject to crises and demagoguery, "we" were distinctly were more enlightened. Cameron's Britain. Obama's America. Ponderous essays about Magna Carta and the "golden thread".
How wrong it all was.
How wrong it all was.
I fear we are seeing in the UK what has become abundantly clear in the US: for all their power and privilege, elites and institutions are absolute cowards in the face of right-wing authoritarianism. Weak, weak, weak, as Tony Blair once said
November 10, 2025 at 5:28 PM
The Anglo consensus of the first half of 2010s was that where continental Europeans were endemically subject to crises and demagoguery, "we" were distinctly were more enlightened. Cameron's Britain. Obama's America. Ponderous essays about Magna Carta and the "golden thread".
How wrong it all was.
How wrong it all was.
Reposted by Calum Alasdair Young
Imagine an EU-wide government shut down in its 6th week leading to serious disruption of air traffic. We would not hear the end of it in Anglophone media.
Look forward to more grand declations about how Europeans must emulate an America whose government is in the sixth week of shutdown and now can't provide safe air travel
✈️ FAA Ops Summary - 09/0300 ✈️
____________________________________________________________________
ADDITI0NAL STAFFING TRIGGERS ISSUED. LGA GROUND DELAY PROGRAM TIMED
OUT. DFW, IAH AND HOU GROUND DELAY PROGRAMS WERE CA... More info in image.
FAA Details. #AvGeek
____________________________________________________________________
ADDITI0NAL STAFFING TRIGGERS ISSUED. LGA GROUND DELAY PROGRAM TIMED
OUT. DFW, IAH AND HOU GROUND DELAY PROGRAMS WERE CA... More info in image.
FAA Details. #AvGeek
November 9, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Imagine an EU-wide government shut down in its 6th week leading to serious disruption of air traffic. We would not hear the end of it in Anglophone media.
So having quit Arena just before my beloved Red was in every top deck (Bloomburrow), I have been dragged back by the powered Cube. Turns out Boros on the play is good, who knew. #mtgarena
November 9, 2025 at 3:52 PM
So having quit Arena just before my beloved Red was in every top deck (Bloomburrow), I have been dragged back by the powered Cube. Turns out Boros on the play is good, who knew. #mtgarena
Reposted by Calum Alasdair Young
I've been getting back into the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series after many years, and the most relatable part is how everyday objects like doors and elevators have been imbued with artificial intelligence and it just makes them obnoxious and frustrating to use and everyone hates it.
November 1, 2025 at 8:55 PM
I've been getting back into the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series after many years, and the most relatable part is how everyday objects like doors and elevators have been imbued with artificial intelligence and it just makes them obnoxious and frustrating to use and everyone hates it.
Reposted by Calum Alasdair Young
“We are told that AI is inevitable, that we must adapt or be left behind. But universities are not tech companies. Our role is to foster critical thinking, not to follow industry trends uncritically.”
‘Study after study shows that students want to develop these critical thinking skills, are not lazy, and large numbers of them would be in favor of banning ChatGPT and similar tools in universities’, says @olivia.science www.ru.nl/en/research/...
‘Opposing the inevitability of AI at universities is possible and necessary’ | Radboud University
Since the widespread release of ChatGPT in December of 2022, AI has taken over much of the world by storm – including academia. Most of this happened with very little pushback, despite a myriad of iss...
www.ru.nl
November 1, 2025 at 10:45 PM
“We are told that AI is inevitable, that we must adapt or be left behind. But universities are not tech companies. Our role is to foster critical thinking, not to follow industry trends uncritically.”
Reposted by Calum Alasdair Young
“Why has virtually every country in the world seen an abrupt rise in extremist politics, especially on the far-right, starting at approximately the same date the iPhone was released”
The most important question in politics but maybe not a hard one
The most important question in politics but maybe not a hard one
October 30, 2025 at 2:56 PM
“Why has virtually every country in the world seen an abrupt rise in extremist politics, especially on the far-right, starting at approximately the same date the iPhone was released”
The most important question in politics but maybe not a hard one
The most important question in politics but maybe not a hard one
Reposted by Calum Alasdair Young
Results for Dutch elections are trickling in. As expected, some surprises.
My thoughts:
Is this the end of populism in The Netherlands? No.
Freedom Party (PVV) has lost seats, but the far right vote has splintered. Big wins for JA21, a PVV-light party: 30% of PVV voters in 2023 now voted for JA21
My thoughts:
Is this the end of populism in The Netherlands? No.
Freedom Party (PVV) has lost seats, but the far right vote has splintered. Big wins for JA21, a PVV-light party: 30% of PVV voters in 2023 now voted for JA21
October 30, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Results for Dutch elections are trickling in. As expected, some surprises.
My thoughts:
Is this the end of populism in The Netherlands? No.
Freedom Party (PVV) has lost seats, but the far right vote has splintered. Big wins for JA21, a PVV-light party: 30% of PVV voters in 2023 now voted for JA21
My thoughts:
Is this the end of populism in The Netherlands? No.
Freedom Party (PVV) has lost seats, but the far right vote has splintered. Big wins for JA21, a PVV-light party: 30% of PVV voters in 2023 now voted for JA21
Reposted by Calum Alasdair Young
Cheating with an LLM is the easiest thing in the world for a student to do, but it creates a massive, laborious headache for a prof, if you intend to take it seriously. There’s meetings, emails, discussions, moral dilemmas. It’s just incredibly burdensome, on top of everything else right now.
I had 9 meetings about students using Chat GPT/LLMs on their papers today.
If you want to know why professors burn out, ask anyone trying to teach critical thinking and writing skills to Freshmen....
If you want to know why professors burn out, ask anyone trying to teach critical thinking and writing skills to Freshmen....
October 28, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Cheating with an LLM is the easiest thing in the world for a student to do, but it creates a massive, laborious headache for a prof, if you intend to take it seriously. There’s meetings, emails, discussions, moral dilemmas. It’s just incredibly burdensome, on top of everything else right now.
Reposted by Calum Alasdair Young
consider that the psychotic loop of chatgpt mostly seems to be 'the chatbot repeating your own ideas back to you and telling you they're brilliant' and then consider billionaires and the people around them
by OpenAI’s own estimates, hundreds of thousands of ChatGPT users are showing signs of manic or psychotic crisis every week
OpenAI Says Hundreds of Thousands of ChatGPT Users May Show Signs of Manic or Psychotic Crisis Every Week
OpenAI Says Hundreds of Thousands of ChatGPT Users May Show Signs of Manic or Psychotic Crisis Every Week
www.wired.com
October 27, 2025 at 5:17 PM
consider that the psychotic loop of chatgpt mostly seems to be 'the chatbot repeating your own ideas back to you and telling you they're brilliant' and then consider billionaires and the people around them
Reposted by Calum Alasdair Young
Half the major parties in the United Kingdom appear to be in a desperate arms race to see who can be performatively cruel enough to foreigners to earn a "based" quote tweet from Elon Musk.
October 23, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Half the major parties in the United Kingdom appear to be in a desperate arms race to see who can be performatively cruel enough to foreigners to earn a "based" quote tweet from Elon Musk.
Reposted by Calum Alasdair Young
I think we have a window of opportunity to stop AI from ruining us that is slowly closing
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Pupils fear AI is eroding their ability to study, research finds
One in four students say AI ‘makes it too easy’ for them to find answers
www.theguardian.com
October 15, 2025 at 8:39 AM
I think we have a window of opportunity to stop AI from ruining us that is slowly closing
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Reposted by Calum Alasdair Young
Any form of media that involves an angry man telling an audience what to be angry about for several hours a day is probably not good for the human brain
October 8, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Any form of media that involves an angry man telling an audience what to be angry about for several hours a day is probably not good for the human brain
Reposted by Calum Alasdair Young
Morning walk
September 26, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Morning walk
Reposted by Calum Alasdair Young
"You don’t fight the politics of violence by quibbling with the details. You stamp it into a million pieces! You draw a f*cking line!"
If Keir Starmer won’t even make a moral case against deporting our friends and neighbours, then what is the point of him?
If Keir Starmer won’t even make a moral case against deporting our friends and neighbours, then what is the point of him?
What Do We Have To Lose
If Keir Starmer won’t even make a moral case against deporting our friends and neighbours, then what is the point of him? Plus: some natural borders; and the non-existence of grey, and other letters.
jonn.substack.com
September 24, 2025 at 3:20 PM
"You don’t fight the politics of violence by quibbling with the details. You stamp it into a million pieces! You draw a f*cking line!"
If Keir Starmer won’t even make a moral case against deporting our friends and neighbours, then what is the point of him?
If Keir Starmer won’t even make a moral case against deporting our friends and neighbours, then what is the point of him?
Reposted by Calum Alasdair Young
Once again tapping my 'AI is a huge existential threat to the Internet and e-commerce' sign:
September 22, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Once again tapping my 'AI is a huge existential threat to the Internet and e-commerce' sign:
Reposted by Calum Alasdair Young
My latest newsletter is about how generative AI companies are risking the lives of the most vulnerable by releasing tools that affirm dangerous delusions -- and the potential human consequences.
And it's about why nobody seems to be freaking out about it.
whatwelost.substack.com/p/how-many-p...
And it's about why nobody seems to be freaking out about it.
whatwelost.substack.com/p/how-many-p...
How many people will generative AI kill before we actually care?
Too many.
whatwelost.substack.com
September 21, 2025 at 7:30 PM
My latest newsletter is about how generative AI companies are risking the lives of the most vulnerable by releasing tools that affirm dangerous delusions -- and the potential human consequences.
And it's about why nobody seems to be freaking out about it.
whatwelost.substack.com/p/how-many-p...
And it's about why nobody seems to be freaking out about it.
whatwelost.substack.com/p/how-many-p...
Reposted by Calum Alasdair Young
Moving from "what's the most authoritative answer?" to "what's the most plausible answer?" turns out to have downsides.
“OpenAI admits AI hallucinations are mathematically inevitable, not just engineering flaws”
https://www.computerworld.com/article/4059383/openai-admits-ai-hallucinations-are-mathematically-inevitable-not-just-engineering-flaws.html
https://www.computerworld.com/article/4059383/openai-admits-ai-hallucinations-are-mathematically-inevitable-not-just-engineering-flaws.html
September 21, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Moving from "what's the most authoritative answer?" to "what's the most plausible answer?" turns out to have downsides.