James Ashford
@jelashford.bsky.social
Researcher in Machine Learning and Genetics. Here to explore projects in ALife and machine learning - particularly interested in self organising systems and interpretability! (he/him)
Reposted by James Ashford
Whistles are one of the most accessible tools in resisting ICE.
Here’s how to use them:
Here’s how to use them:
November 20, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Whistles are one of the most accessible tools in resisting ICE.
Here’s how to use them:
Here’s how to use them:
Reposted by James Ashford
Reposted by James Ashford
Why is the onus on *us* to interpret their babble as something clever and good rather than the onus being on *them* to make sense?
November 19, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Why is the onus on *us* to interpret their babble as something clever and good rather than the onus being on *them* to make sense?
Reposted by James Ashford
![[Scene is a kitchen - a middle aged woman called JANET is boiling peas at the stove. A younger more colourfully dressed woman named LIZ approached her.]
JANET:
Ugh...
LIZ:
What's up?
JANET:
I am so bored of cooking peas!
LIZ:
Have you tried...
AI peas?
JANET:
AI peas?
LIZ:
They're peas with AI!
[Liz holds up to us a packet of peas labelled: Pea-i AI - Peas with AI].
LIZ:
Al-powered peas harness the potential of your peas
JANET:
What
LIZ [Now a voiceover as we cut to a whizzy technology diagram of peas all connected by meaningless dotted lines]
Why not take your peas to the next level with Al Peas' new Al tools to power your peas?
[Show a techno diagram of a pea with a label reading 'AI' pointing to a random zone in it]
LIZ:
Each pea has Al in a way we haven't quite worked out yet but it's fine
[Show Janet and Liz now in a Matrix-style world of peas]
LIZ:
With Al peas you can supercharge productivity and make AI work for your peas!
JANET:
What
LIZ:
Shut up
LIZ:
Our game-changing Pea-Al gives you the freedom to unlock the potential of the power of the future of your peas workflow
From opening the bag of peas
to boiling the peas
to eating the peas
To spending millions on adding Al to the peas and then having to work out what that even means.
JANET:
Is it really necessary to-
LIZ [Grabbing Janet by the collar]:
THE PEAS HAVE GOT AI, JANET
[Cut to an advert ending screen, with the bag of peas and the slogan:
AI PEAS: Just 'Peas' for god's sake buy the AI peas.
[Ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreiayqa37f7kik7l7s7fbtfp2sir5ckb662ry2lylinyjrfa2rkvvka@jpeg)
Reposted by James Ashford
THEN YOU PURCHASE THEM AND DO NOT USE THE PROPERTY OF OTHERS
Open AI loses copyright case in Germany.
Judge Elke Schwager summarized the case saying that if you want to build something and need components, "then you purchase them and do not use the property of others."
Judge Elke Schwager summarized the case saying that if you want to build something and need components, "then you purchase them and do not use the property of others."
Blow for OpenAI in Germany as court rules song lyrics used illegally
A German court ruled on Tuesday that OpenAI violated copyright on nine popular songs in a lawsuit that marked another attempt to prevent the free use of artists' content online. The Munich Regional Co...
www.yahoo.com
November 14, 2025 at 9:23 PM
THEN YOU PURCHASE THEM AND DO NOT USE THE PROPERTY OF OTHERS
Reposted by James Ashford
When you think 'I should probably post more from my sketchbook' and then you look at the sketchbook and realise that since you got a dog two years ago your brain has turned into 90% dog
November 18, 2025 at 1:20 PM
When you think 'I should probably post more from my sketchbook' and then you look at the sketchbook and realise that since you got a dog two years ago your brain has turned into 90% dog
Reposted by James Ashford
A Government of cowards.
Rather than tackle inequality - they've gone for pensioners, disabled people and now it's people fleeing war and persecution.
They can't get away with this.
Join.greenparty.org.uk
Rather than tackle inequality - they've gone for pensioners, disabled people and now it's people fleeing war and persecution.
They can't get away with this.
Join.greenparty.org.uk
November 17, 2025 at 11:16 PM
A Government of cowards.
Rather than tackle inequality - they've gone for pensioners, disabled people and now it's people fleeing war and persecution.
They can't get away with this.
Join.greenparty.org.uk
Rather than tackle inequality - they've gone for pensioners, disabled people and now it's people fleeing war and persecution.
They can't get away with this.
Join.greenparty.org.uk
Reposted by James Ashford
Pass the phone… to the 40,000 Young Greens! 📲 💚
We now have the largest youth and student movement in UK politics - AND the biggest Young Greens group in Europe 🥳
This is the generation that’s done waiting. Join us. ⤵️
We now have the largest youth and student movement in UK politics - AND the biggest Young Greens group in Europe 🥳
This is the generation that’s done waiting. Join us. ⤵️
November 18, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Pass the phone… to the 40,000 Young Greens! 📲 💚
We now have the largest youth and student movement in UK politics - AND the biggest Young Greens group in Europe 🥳
This is the generation that’s done waiting. Join us. ⤵️
We now have the largest youth and student movement in UK politics - AND the biggest Young Greens group in Europe 🥳
This is the generation that’s done waiting. Join us. ⤵️
Reposted by James Ashford
Reposted by James Ashford
“It isn’t people seeking sanctuary who are tearing our country apart. It’s toxic, racist narratives and the scapegoating of migrants for crises they did not cause.”
Carla Denyer challenges the Home Secretary's new immigration reforms saying they just fuel far-right narratives.
Carla Denyer challenges the Home Secretary's new immigration reforms saying they just fuel far-right narratives.
November 17, 2025 at 9:52 PM
“It isn’t people seeking sanctuary who are tearing our country apart. It’s toxic, racist narratives and the scapegoating of migrants for crises they did not cause.”
Carla Denyer challenges the Home Secretary's new immigration reforms saying they just fuel far-right narratives.
Carla Denyer challenges the Home Secretary's new immigration reforms saying they just fuel far-right narratives.
Reposted by James Ashford
I am delighted to have been elected to the Board of Directors of The International Society for Artificial Life (ISAL), together with talented colleagues from around the world. I look forward to serving such a wonderful & diverse community where disciplinary boundaries disappear!
November 14, 2025 at 9:22 PM
I am delighted to have been elected to the Board of Directors of The International Society for Artificial Life (ISAL), together with talented colleagues from around the world. I look forward to serving such a wonderful & diverse community where disciplinary boundaries disappear!
Reposted by James Ashford
Reposted by James Ashford
Whether it's Zohran Mamdani or Claudia Sheinbaum, progressives are finding their voice around the world 🌍
November 13, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Whether it's Zohran Mamdani or Claudia Sheinbaum, progressives are finding their voice around the world 🌍
Reposted by James Ashford
Local areas can lead the way on protecting nature, making lives better and securing a safe future for all of us - but they need government to stop starving them of funds.
@carladenyer.bsky.social led the way with her Climate Emergency declaration. Now time for the Government to step up.
@carladenyer.bsky.social led the way with her Climate Emergency declaration. Now time for the Government to step up.
November 13, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Local areas can lead the way on protecting nature, making lives better and securing a safe future for all of us - but they need government to stop starving them of funds.
@carladenyer.bsky.social led the way with her Climate Emergency declaration. Now time for the Government to step up.
@carladenyer.bsky.social led the way with her Climate Emergency declaration. Now time for the Government to step up.
Reposted by James Ashford
November 11, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Reposted by James Ashford
Nuremburg trials is the moderate position
He said that the agents would throw food at them to eat. The agents threatened to withhold food for a week and to beat him up if he didn't sign deportation papers. He said he saw others refuse and get beaten/receive no food. He signed because he was afraid.
November 7, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Nuremburg trials is the moderate position
Reposted by James Ashford
“I want you to understand what it is like to live in Chicago during this time.”
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
November 9, 2025 at 5:26 PM
“I want you to understand what it is like to live in Chicago during this time.”
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
Reposted by James Ashford
Cheers!
We don't have to agree on absolutely everything.
But want lower bills? Think billionaires should pay more tax?
Join.greenparty.org.uk
We don't have to agree on absolutely everything.
But want lower bills? Think billionaires should pay more tax?
Join.greenparty.org.uk
November 9, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Cheers!
We don't have to agree on absolutely everything.
But want lower bills? Think billionaires should pay more tax?
Join.greenparty.org.uk
We don't have to agree on absolutely everything.
But want lower bills? Think billionaires should pay more tax?
Join.greenparty.org.uk
Reposted by James Ashford
I wrote a review of James Watson's obituary by CSHL: liorpachter.wordpress.com/2025/11/08/r...
Review of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Obituary for Dr. James Watson
James Watson, who described himself as “not a racist in a conventional way”, has died at the age of 97. Below is a review of an obituary for Dr. James Watson published by Cold Spring Ha…
liorpachter.wordpress.com
November 8, 2025 at 9:58 PM
I wrote a review of James Watson's obituary by CSHL: liorpachter.wordpress.com/2025/11/08/r...
Reposted by James Ashford
Reposted by James Ashford
Her sister wrote my favorite essay about her. She points out that RF would have been famous even if she'd never looked at DNA
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Remembering my sister Rosalind Franklin
Rosalind Franklin died of ovarian cancer in 1958 aged 37 years. Sympathy and feminism
have combined to give us her familiar image as a downtrodden woman scientist, brilliant
but neglected, a heroine t...
www.thelancet.com
November 7, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Her sister wrote my favorite essay about her. She points out that RF would have been famous even if she'd never looked at DNA
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Reposted by James Ashford
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:55 AM
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
Reposted by James Ashford
‘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 10:26 PM
‘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/...
Reposted by James Ashford
Getting nervous for the talk I'm about to give at a workshop about "using AI to drive impact" which features slides such as these.
November 6, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Getting nervous for the talk I'm about to give at a workshop about "using AI to drive impact" which features slides such as these.
Reposted by James Ashford
And another councillor defection - after another two in London!
Over and over again people speaking out against this Labour Government and joining the hopeful movement in the Green Party!
Huge welcome to Caroline! 🎉
www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/news/politic...
Over and over again people speaking out against this Labour Government and joining the hopeful movement in the Green Party!
Huge welcome to Caroline! 🎉
www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/news/politic...
Former Labour councillor defects to Bedford Green Party
Independent councillor Caroline White (Kempston Central and East ward) has joined the Green Party.
www.bedfordtoday.co.uk
November 6, 2025 at 8:13 AM
And another councillor defection - after another two in London!
Over and over again people speaking out against this Labour Government and joining the hopeful movement in the Green Party!
Huge welcome to Caroline! 🎉
www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/news/politic...
Over and over again people speaking out against this Labour Government and joining the hopeful movement in the Green Party!
Huge welcome to Caroline! 🎉
www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/news/politic...