Kerry Champion
LightNews LightNews
banner
kerrychamp.bsky.social
Kerry Champion
@kerrychamp.bsky.social
690 followers 2.7K following 27 posts
Professional interest: applications of AI.
Civic interest: rule of law and fight against authoritarianism.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Kerry Champion
dalcantonjd.bsky.social
That bag solves problems I didn’t even know I had.
November 23, 2025 at 2:11 AM
Reposted by Kerry Champion
nickkristof.bsky.social
President Trump speaks of making America great again, but my column argues that instead he is systematically undermining the three key ingredients to the formula that over the last 150 years made the US the world's leading economy: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/o...
Opinion | America’s Formula for Greatness Is Under Threat
www.nytimes.com
November 16, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by Kerry Champion
drmichaellevin.bsky.social
Cool!! I'll check it out. But, "thinking vs. obeying physics" - the standard paradigm says our thinking is obeying physics too, right? One question is: how much of more advanced "thinking" is also least action dynamics on more complex virtual spaces constructed by more advanced cognitive systems.
November 12, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Reposted by Kerry Champion
ricardsole.bsky.social
How “intelligent” is a slime mold? When it solves mazes, it might not be thinking:it’s obeying physics. Our new paper with
@jordiplam.bsky.social shows how it follows a least action principle,letting physics do the job arxiv.org/pdf/2511.08531
@drmichaellevin.bsky.social @docteur-drey.bsky.social
November 12, 2025 at 4:17 AM
Reposted by Kerry Champion
vtg2.bsky.social
“He’s actually weakening the economy by eliminating the very industrial strategy that led, in the past 50 to 100 years, companies like Intel to be born.”

I interviewed @mazzucatom.bsky.social for Politico Magazine on Trump’s brand of capitalism
www.politico.com/news/magazin...
‘He’s Actually Weakening the Economy’: Why Trump’s Strategy May Fail
A top economist says Trump is doing industrial policy all wrong.
www.politico.com
November 12, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Reposted by Kerry Champion
seanmcarroll.bsky.social
Today's talk from the #NaturalPhilosophy Symposium is Nick Lane on Life as a Guide to Its Own Origins, with commentary by Michael Wong @miquai.bsky.social.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHL_...
October 28, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Reposted by Kerry Champion
jfallows.bsky.social
Important column in @economist.com by @palfrey.org, head of MacArthur Foundation, on how foundations, NGOs, nonprofits, etc are standing up against MAGA attacks.

www.economist.com/by-invitatio...

Paywalled, but here's a sample:
Article text: In turn, every community in America depends on charitable organisations: hospitals, schools, museums, libraries, community centres, medical researchers—the list goes on. When the federal government reneges on its commitments to these pillars of society, it creates gaps in our social infrastructure. This year MacArthur has increased its giving by over 20% to respond to the government-induced funding crisis that non-profits in America and around the world face, and we plan to repeat this in 2026. The extra money comes from tapping some of the excess growth from our investment portfolio—we are having to spend a higher portion of the returns from our endowment. Many charitable foundations are doing the same, and together we could put to work billions of dollars more than was previously budgeted in the coming years. There are trade-offs here, and spending more now might mean less is available later. But this is a crucial time to support the social sector, with the sudden collapse in federal funding having sent budgets under water in field after field.
October 27, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Reposted by Kerry Champion
xkcd.com
Shielding Chart

xkcd.com/3158/
Comic. Confusion matrix showing renditions of different combinations, colored yellow, tan, or gray. [Air: gamma rays Y, neutrons Y, alpha particles G, light Y, sound Y, heat Y, swords Y, toxic dust Y, radio Y, sharks G] [Lead: gamma rays G, neutrons T, alpha particles G, light G, Sound Y, heat Y, swords G, toxic dust T, radio G, sharks G] [Water: gamma rays T, neutrons G, alpha particles G, light T, sound Y, heat Y, swords Y, toxic dust Y, radio G, sharks Y] [Vacuum: gamma rays Y, neutrons Y, alpha particles Y, light Y, sound G, heat T, swords Y, toxic dust Y, radio Y, sharks G] [Oven mitts: gamma rays Y, neutrons Y, alpha particles G, light G, sound T, heat G, swords Y, toxic dust Y, radio Y, sharks Y] [Armor: gamma rays Y, neutrons Y, alpha particles G, light G, sound Y, heat Y, swords G, toxic dust Y, radio G, sharks T] [Biohazard suit: gamma rays Y, neutrons Y, alpha particles G, light G, sound Y, heat Y, swords Y, toxic dust G, radio Y, sharks Y] [Faraday cage: gamma rays Y, neutrons Y, alpha particles Y, light Y, sound Y, heat Y, swords Y, toxic dust Y, radio G, sharks Y] [Shark cage: gamma rays Y, neutrons Y, alpha particles Y, light Y, sound Y, heat Y, swords Y, toxic dust Y, radio Y, sharks G]
October 23, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Reposted by Kerry Champion
ricardsole.bsky.social
What if we could chart all cell types across the tree of life?
In @nature.com, @arnausebe.bsky.social and colls launch the Biodiversity Cell Atlas, a global effort to map eukaryotic cell diversity using single-cell & genomic data.
drive.google.com/file/d/1G4zZ... @crg.eu @ibe-barcelona.bsky.social
October 23, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Reposted by Kerry Champion
juliegoldberg.bsky.social
A prince in a monarchy is being held more accountable than our elites in this democracy.
October 17, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Reposted by Kerry Champion
philipmai.com
As they should. It's clearly illegal. The US is not a monarchy. He is trying to put Band-Aids on problems he himself created.
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Oct 16
Leavitt: "The president tapped into tariff revenue to keep WIC money going out the door. He found a creative solution to keep the troops paid. And rather than congratulate him for doing that, this unprecedented action to get our troops paid, Dems want to sue him for it. They're saying it's illegal."
October 16, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Reposted by Kerry Champion
xkcd.com
Physics Insight

xkcd.com/3154/
Comic. PERSON: Sure, when *Einstein* suggests using the Lorentz transform to explain the connection between velocity and time, people call him a genius. But when *I* suggest it, it’s “basic physics” and “undergraduate stuff.” PERSON 2 with white hat: Such a double standard!
October 15, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Reposted by Kerry Champion
fifthdentist.bsky.social
If conservative ideas were so great, they would easily withstand any attempts at belittlement.
October 15, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Reposted by Kerry Champion
nathanlane.bsky.social
A staggering boost to quality of life tbh
nytimes.com The New York Times @nytimes.com · Oct 15
The Japanese parent company of 7-Eleven is betting billions of dollars that it can expand its business in the U.S. by making its convenience stores more like the food meccas they are in Japan. nyti.ms/3KTwGve
A photo shows a 7-Eleven store with the headline: Is America Ready for Japanese-Style 7-Elevens?
October 15, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Reposted by Kerry Champion
tarpits.org
🦝 Even amid mammoths and saber-tooths, raccoons were part of Ice Age Los Angeles too. A rare fossil from Project 23 shows one of these masked foragers once lived here—quiet, small, but surviving in the shadows of giants: bit.ly/RaccoonsofLA
October 11, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Reposted by Kerry Champion
artemyte.bsky.social
After a long time in the making, my paper on nonequilibrium thermodynamics of Darwinian evolution has been published in Philosophical Transactions B. Updated version: arxiv.org/abs/2112.02809
October 7, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Reposted by Kerry Champion
seanmcarroll.bsky.social
Strong truth here from @himself.bsky.social. Civil society has to get its act together and coordinate for the greater good, even if that's not its usual mode. Universities most especially.
himself.bsky.social Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · Oct 8
"It wanted to signal strength. Instead, it’s revealing its weakness. The administration’s need to break the academy is forcing it to make a desperately risky gamble." www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/o...
Opinion | You Beat Trumpism by Banding Together. It’s as Hard and as Simple as That.
www.nytimes.com
October 8, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Reposted by Kerry Champion
seanmcarroll.bsky.social
Trump’s enablers in govt/media honestly think of him as a ranty old gasbag, so they don’t treat authoritarian pronouncements like this seriously.

They should! Have they learned nothing?
govpritzker.illinois.gov Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · Oct 8
I will not back down.

Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power.

What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?
Donald Trump Truth Social Post: Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also.
October 8, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Reposted by Kerry Champion
newrepublic.com
Below the radar, the second Trump administration has taken extraordinary steps to expand the rights of gun owners and manufacturers. He doesn't care about crime, nor does he care about kids.

Trump 2.0 shows every sign of doing anything the NRA wants. trib.al/MliH8vt
August 29, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Reposted by Kerry Champion
financialtimes.com
Europe is selling its soul to Trump on.ft.com/3JBTEGx | opinion
Europe is selling its soul to Trump
What masquerades as pragmatism is self-harming opportunism
on.ft.com
August 25, 2025 at 4:31 AM
Reposted by Kerry Champion
warriorsofficial.bsky.social
The BEST assist in the league last year belongs to Brandin Podziemski 🤯
August 23, 2025 at 4:05 AM
Reposted by Kerry Champion
profzeke.bsky.social
Cronyism at its finest.

When every company has to cut an individual deal with the government, you don’t have institutions anymore.

In an institutional system, the rules ensure everyone is treated the same according to fair principles. This is not the case anymore in America.
berkowitzbt.bsky.social Ben Berkowitz @berkowitzbt.bsky.social · Aug 15
The White House is now scoring companies and trade associations on their loyalty to the administration's priorities, starting with support for the BBB.

Uber, DoorDash, Delta, United, AT&T, Cisco, and trade groups for steel and airlines among those topping the list.

www.axios.com/2025/08/15/w...
Scoop: White House hands down loyalty ratings for hundreds of companies
The unusual scorecard fits this administration's habit of micromanaging companies and administering loyalty tests.
www.axios.com
August 15, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Reposted by Kerry Champion
robertscotthorton.bsky.social
Nearly $1 billion has been transferred from DOD accounts to pay to transform the Qatari jet into a flying bordello, meeting Trump's esthetic preferences. The jet will then be controlled by Trump in perpetuity, transferred to a foundation he controls whenever he ceases to be president.
What Will It Cost to Renovate the ‘Free’ Air Force One? Don’t Ask.
www.nytimes.com
July 27, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Reposted by Kerry Champion
xkcd.com
What if the moon turned into a black hole?

Watch the latest What If? video collaboration with @minuteearth.bsky.social!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQgw...
What if the moon turned into a black hole?
YouTube video by xkcd's What If?
www.youtube.com
July 10, 2025 at 4:38 AM
Reposted by Kerry Champion
scottwiener.bsky.social
BIG NEWS: The Legislature passed our major CEQA reform & affordability legislation, SB 131:

SB 131 cuts down on unnecessary process — often having nothing to do with the environment — that makes it harder & more expensive to build housing, advanced manufacturing, child care centers, broadband … 🧵
July 1, 2025 at 1:17 AM