Eric Van Wyk
@ericvanwyk.bsky.social
Professor, Computer Science, University of Minnesota, Extensible Programming Languages, https://cs.umn.edu/~evw, He/His.
Reposted by Eric Van Wyk
‼️ UNBELIEVABLE RESULTS‼️ Hold my baguette while I count the people on bikes! How did Paris increase cycling by 240% in a few short years?
November 13, 2025 at 1:38 PM
‼️ UNBELIEVABLE RESULTS‼️ Hold my baguette while I count the people on bikes! How did Paris increase cycling by 240% in a few short years?
Reposted by Eric Van Wyk
sometimes an Oxford comma can make all the difference
November 8, 2025 at 12:36 PM
sometimes an Oxford comma can make all the difference
Reposted by Eric Van Wyk
AI will "cure cancer" like the GOP is "fixing healthcare"--by letting everyone who needs a cure or healthcare just die.
The literal definition of high on your own supply.
This country can’t even afford insulin.
This country can’t even afford insulin.
🤔
October 26, 2025 at 7:34 PM
AI will "cure cancer" like the GOP is "fixing healthcare"--by letting everyone who needs a cure or healthcare just die.
Reposted by Eric Van Wyk
When administrators try to soft-pedal censorship of student press by cutting only the print edition, they are reminding us that paper is the medium of liberatory potential.
October 17, 2025 at 4:58 PM
When administrators try to soft-pedal censorship of student press by cutting only the print edition, they are reminding us that paper is the medium of liberatory potential.
Reposted by Eric Van Wyk
You hate it how companies like Google and Microsoft keep shoving AI down your throats, you have no idea how much worse this is for tech workers in regular companies, who have to actually report on how this crap improves productivity.
“People [in tech jobs] worry that not being seen as uncritical AI cheerleaders will be a career-limiting move…for those who aren't insiders in the tech industry, it's vital that you understand that you've been presented with an extremely distorted view about what tech workers really think about AI”
Okay, for the folks who asked: here's the majority AI view, writing up the reasonable, thoughtful view on AI that the vast majority of people in tech hold, that gets overshadowed by the bluster and hype of the tycoons trying to shill their nonsense. anildash.com/2025/10/17/t... Please share!
October 18, 2025 at 4:56 PM
You hate it how companies like Google and Microsoft keep shoving AI down your throats, you have no idea how much worse this is for tech workers in regular companies, who have to actually report on how this crap improves productivity.
Reposted by Eric Van Wyk
Frustrating to hear people confine their concerns about AI & quantum computing to the possibility that "bad actors" may acquire them. Let's be clear: Big Tech cos., with their stranglehold on social media, search engines, & phones (& eagerness to capitulate to an authoritarian regime) ARE bad actors
October 18, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Frustrating to hear people confine their concerns about AI & quantum computing to the possibility that "bad actors" may acquire them. Let's be clear: Big Tech cos., with their stranglehold on social media, search engines, & phones (& eagerness to capitulate to an authoritarian regime) ARE bad actors
These are not serious people. All this electricity for your own porn-bot... www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
OpenAI will allow verified adults to use ChatGPT to generate erotic content
New version will allow users to customize AI assistant’s personality in what firm calls ‘treat adults users like adults’ policy
www.theguardian.com
October 16, 2025 at 2:53 AM
These are not serious people. All this electricity for your own porn-bot... www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Reposted by Eric Van Wyk
“Sisyphus, slyest of mortals, is punished for his ‘Out Of Office’ reply—condemned to circle back with idiots who forget why they emailed him to begin with.”
— Plato, Gorgias
— Plato, Gorgias
Sisyphus’s Inbox
“And I saw Sisyphus in agonizing torment, drafting a reply to Kayleigh’s ten urgent UX questions. He hit ‘send,’ and immediately received an autore...
buff.ly
August 20, 2025 at 2:00 AM
“Sisyphus, slyest of mortals, is punished for his ‘Out Of Office’ reply—condemned to circle back with idiots who forget why they emailed him to begin with.”
— Plato, Gorgias
— Plato, Gorgias
Reposted by Eric Van Wyk
Oh my god, we're re-inventing Weizenbaum and the ELIZA Effect from first principles!
Quote below is from "Computer Power and Human Reason, From Judgement To Calculation" (1976)
Quote below is from "Computer Power and Human Reason, From Judgement To Calculation" (1976)
August 12, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Oh my god, we're re-inventing Weizenbaum and the ELIZA Effect from first principles!
Quote below is from "Computer Power and Human Reason, From Judgement To Calculation" (1976)
Quote below is from "Computer Power and Human Reason, From Judgement To Calculation" (1976)
Reposted by Eric Van Wyk
This is the only thing you need to read about AI
The part about being too emotional and putting words in people’s mouths ESPECIALLY
The part about being too emotional and putting words in people’s mouths ESPECIALLY
In the Future All Food Will Be Cooked in a Microwave, and if You Can’t Deal With That Then You Need to Get Out of the Kitchen
As a restaurant owner – I’m astounded at the rate of progress since microwaves were released a few short years ago. Today’s microwave can cook a frozen burrito. Tomorrow’s m…
www.colincornaby.me
August 8, 2025 at 12:21 PM
This is the only thing you need to read about AI
The part about being too emotional and putting words in people’s mouths ESPECIALLY
The part about being too emotional and putting words in people’s mouths ESPECIALLY
Reposted by Eric Van Wyk
We need your help in continuing to put pressure on decision-makers to restore the boulevard options for the Rethinking I-94 project. @governorwalz.mn.gov has a say over which project options will move forward.
mn.gov/governor/con...
mn.gov/governor/con...
July 31, 2025 at 4:34 PM
We need your help in continuing to put pressure on decision-makers to restore the boulevard options for the Rethinking I-94 project. @governorwalz.mn.gov has a say over which project options will move forward.
mn.gov/governor/con...
mn.gov/governor/con...
Reposted by Eric Van Wyk
How much stronger would universities be in fighting the far right had they not acted like their race and gender scholars’ research and courses had no value. Welp…
July 29, 2025 at 11:00 PM
How much stronger would universities be in fighting the far right had they not acted like their race and gender scholars’ research and courses had no value. Welp…
Have always admired Alfie Kohn for his work and activism, but this makes me respect him even more. Tom Lehrer was a legend.
1/5
Maybe your childhood inspiration ("This is who I want to be") was a movie star or an athlete. Mine was #Tom_Lehrer (1928-2025). I tracked down and studied the sheet music to his songs, memorized all of them (yes, including "The Elements"), and started writing & performing my own satiric ditties.
Maybe your childhood inspiration ("This is who I want to be") was a movie star or an athlete. Mine was #Tom_Lehrer (1928-2025). I tracked down and studied the sheet music to his songs, memorized all of them (yes, including "The Elements"), and started writing & performing my own satiric ditties.
July 29, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Have always admired Alfie Kohn for his work and activism, but this makes me respect him even more. Tom Lehrer was a legend.
Reposted by Eric Van Wyk
Reposted by Eric Van Wyk
Really sucks that those who suffered denunciation from the hegemoney when they called it genocide will now receive a second round of denunciation for being right too soon & too loudly from the hegemoney who now finds it convenient to admit it’s genocide.
July 27, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Really sucks that those who suffered denunciation from the hegemoney when they called it genocide will now receive a second round of denunciation for being right too soon & too loudly from the hegemoney who now finds it convenient to admit it’s genocide.
A legend for sure. I remember listening to these in grad school and loving them. Still sound fresh and are still relevant. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/a...
Tom Lehrer, Musical Satirist With a Dark Streak, Dies at 97
www.nytimes.com
July 27, 2025 at 9:59 PM
A legend for sure. I remember listening to these in grad school and loving them. Still sound fresh and are still relevant. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/a...
"the broken relationship between corporate capital and our communities". bikepacking.com/plog/when-we...
When We Get Komooted
Following the sale of Komoot to private equity, Josh Meissner explores the broken relationship between corporate capital and our communities...
bikepacking.com
July 27, 2025 at 9:54 PM
"the broken relationship between corporate capital and our communities". bikepacking.com/plog/when-we...
Reposted by Eric Van Wyk
deerhoof just announced they’re taking their entire music catalog off of spotify
June 30, 2025 at 1:14 PM
deerhoof just announced they’re taking their entire music catalog off of spotify
Reposted by Eric Van Wyk
Yesterday I used this "AI -Free Statement" in a conference talk for the first time. Still trying to figure out the exact language.
Feel free to borrow, modify, etc.
Feel free to borrow, modify, etc.
June 27, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Yesterday I used this "AI -Free Statement" in a conference talk for the first time. Still trying to figure out the exact language.
Feel free to borrow, modify, etc.
Feel free to borrow, modify, etc.
Reposted by Eric Van Wyk
U of MN faculty voted no confidence in the Provost after she helped block a faculty appointment for political reasons; and replacement is selected through a secret search. Not a great way to restore confidence.
Unlike for past leaders, no public forums or interviews were held for the new provost. Some faculty worry about the lack of transparency and public trust.
Some University of Minnesota faculty criticize hiring second-in-command without any public meetings
Unlike for past leaders, no public forums or interviews were held for the new provost. Some faculty worry about the lack of transparency and public trust.
bit.ly
May 27, 2025 at 6:37 PM
U of MN faculty voted no confidence in the Provost after she helped block a faculty appointment for political reasons; and replacement is selected through a secret search. Not a great way to restore confidence.
Reposted by Eric Van Wyk
At least the flat-earthers aren't in a position to kill people with their ideological idiocy
If you don’t want to take the booster don’t. But to prevent adults from having the choice is depraved.
BREAKING: FDA says covid boosters now only for those over 65 or with preconditions. www.statnews.com/2025/05/20/f...
May 20, 2025 at 4:56 PM
At least the flat-earthers aren't in a position to kill people with their ideological idiocy
Reposted by Eric Van Wyk
This is a video of PBS travel guy Rick Steves at the Edmonds WA Hands Off event, giving a speech which I think is one of the BEST explanations I've seen for the average person of what is going on now and it is 🔥🔥🔥. You are going to want to watch this. youtu.be/86hnPrWozUo?...
Hands Off National Day of Protest - Edmonds, WA
YouTube video by R
youtu.be
April 6, 2025 at 2:17 PM
This is a video of PBS travel guy Rick Steves at the Edmonds WA Hands Off event, giving a speech which I think is one of the BEST explanations I've seen for the average person of what is going on now and it is 🔥🔥🔥. You are going to want to watch this. youtu.be/86hnPrWozUo?...
Reposted by Eric Van Wyk
i'm going to practice employing systematic plagiarism to bolster academic integrity
March 18, 2025 at 9:14 PM
i'm going to practice employing systematic plagiarism to bolster academic integrity