Peter Bart Reiner
@peterbartssi.bsky.social
Emeritus neuroscience and neuroethics @UBC. Musician. Bent wood artist. Salt Spring Island 🇨🇦 www.peterbartreiner.com
Reposted by Peter Bart Reiner
Physical activity and risk of Alzheimer's disease.
In older adults (mean age 72) with elevated Aβ amyloid, 5,000-7,500 steps/day (<-a plateau) were associated with less Tau accumulation, improved cognition
@naturemedicine.bsky.social
nature.com/articles/s41...
In older adults (mean age 72) with elevated Aβ amyloid, 5,000-7,500 steps/day (<-a plateau) were associated with less Tau accumulation, improved cognition
@naturemedicine.bsky.social
nature.com/articles/s41...
November 3, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Physical activity and risk of Alzheimer's disease.
In older adults (mean age 72) with elevated Aβ amyloid, 5,000-7,500 steps/day (<-a plateau) were associated with less Tau accumulation, improved cognition
@naturemedicine.bsky.social
nature.com/articles/s41...
In older adults (mean age 72) with elevated Aβ amyloid, 5,000-7,500 steps/day (<-a plateau) were associated with less Tau accumulation, improved cognition
@naturemedicine.bsky.social
nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Peter Bart Reiner
Are humans really the only rational animals? Our NEW PAPER 🎉 out in @science.org suggests otherwise! In a large collaboration led with my joint first author @hanna-schleihauf.bsky.social, we show that “Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs” 🧵
Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs
The selective revision of beliefs in light of new evidence has been considered one of the hallmarks of human-level rationality. However, tests of this ability in other species are lacking. We examined...
www.science.org
October 30, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Are humans really the only rational animals? Our NEW PAPER 🎉 out in @science.org suggests otherwise! In a large collaboration led with my joint first author @hanna-schleihauf.bsky.social, we show that “Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs” 🧵
Reposted by Peter Bart Reiner
Frontier AI could reach or surpass human level within just a few years. This could help solve global issues, but also carries major risks. To move forward safely, we must develop robust technical guardrails and make sure the public has a much stronger say. superintelligence-statement.org
October 22, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Frontier AI could reach or surpass human level within just a few years. This could help solve global issues, but also carries major risks. To move forward safely, we must develop robust technical guardrails and make sure the public has a much stronger say. superintelligence-statement.org
“what was once considered our grandchildren’s problem is now our own is arriving not in the form of hurricane-force winds, but as a letter of assessment from an insurer”
www.noemamag.com/the-abundanc...
www.noemamag.com/the-abundanc...
The Abundance Movement’s Blind Spot | NOEMA
What if Americans care more about the cost of climate disasters than carbon-free energy?
www.noemamag.com
October 22, 2025 at 4:18 PM
“what was once considered our grandchildren’s problem is now our own is arriving not in the form of hurricane-force winds, but as a letter of assessment from an insurer”
www.noemamag.com/the-abundanc...
www.noemamag.com/the-abundanc...
Reposted by Peter Bart Reiner
Call for moonshots. First phase: abstracts due on Oct 25, 2025. moonshots.laude.org/call-for-pro...
Call for Proposals // Laude Moonshots
Laude Moonshots support computer science researchers taking big, urgent swings in AI
moonshots.laude.org
October 9, 2025 at 4:30 AM
Call for moonshots. First phase: abstracts due on Oct 25, 2025. moonshots.laude.org/call-for-pro...
Reposted by Peter Bart Reiner
AI is reshaping how we live, work & connect. How can it deepen compassion? 🌏
Join us live from Dharamsala, Oct 14–16 for Minds, Artificial Intelligence & Ethics with The Dalai Lama Trust & Mind & Life Europe.
👉 http://mindand.life/4tWl50X8I26
#MindsAIEthics #AI #Ethics #Compassion
Join us live from Dharamsala, Oct 14–16 for Minds, Artificial Intelligence & Ethics with The Dalai Lama Trust & Mind & Life Europe.
👉 http://mindand.life/4tWl50X8I26
#MindsAIEthics #AI #Ethics #Compassion
Minds, Artificial Intelligence, and Ethics
October 14, 15, and 16, 2025 What is the potential of AI to alleviate suffering, advance equity, and support human and planetary flourishing—and what risks does it pose to health, work, education, politics, and climate action? And how might we infuse AI with ethical values so that it benefits the well-being of all life on Earth? … Continue reading "Minds, Artificial Intelligence, and Ethics"
www.mindandlife.org
October 8, 2025 at 8:01 PM
AI is reshaping how we live, work & connect. How can it deepen compassion? 🌏
Join us live from Dharamsala, Oct 14–16 for Minds, Artificial Intelligence & Ethics with The Dalai Lama Trust & Mind & Life Europe.
👉 http://mindand.life/4tWl50X8I26
#MindsAIEthics #AI #Ethics #Compassion
Join us live from Dharamsala, Oct 14–16 for Minds, Artificial Intelligence & Ethics with The Dalai Lama Trust & Mind & Life Europe.
👉 http://mindand.life/4tWl50X8I26
#MindsAIEthics #AI #Ethics #Compassion
Excellent advice but also: sign your review. Whether you actually sign it (I have for the last decade) or not, just thinking about it will nudge your review towards a more generous consideration of the authors, working to help them improve the paper rather than offering scathing criticism.
For all the knucklehead reviewers out there.
Principles for proper peer review - Earl K. Miller
jocnf.pubpub.org/pub/qag76ip8...
#neuroscience
Principles for proper peer review - Earl K. Miller
jocnf.pubpub.org/pub/qag76ip8...
#neuroscience
Principles for proper peer review
jocnf.pubpub.org
October 6, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Excellent advice but also: sign your review. Whether you actually sign it (I have for the last decade) or not, just thinking about it will nudge your review towards a more generous consideration of the authors, working to help them improve the paper rather than offering scathing criticism.
It has come to this: Thames Water removes 100-tonne fatberg from west London sewer
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Thames Water removes 100-tonne fatberg from west London sewer
Toxic mass chiselled out of Feltham pipes amid campaign to stop people tipping harmful substances down drains
www.theguardian.com
October 6, 2025 at 8:04 PM
It has come to this: Thames Water removes 100-tonne fatberg from west London sewer
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
“Why on earth would we abandon institutions that have genuinely made America great?”
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/o...
Opinion | We Are Watching a Scientific Superpower Destroy Itself
www.nytimes.com
September 8, 2025 at 10:04 PM
“Why on earth would we abandon institutions that have genuinely made America great?”
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/o...
Reposted by Peter Bart Reiner
Reposted by Peter Bart Reiner
Scottish government trial of four-day week improves productivity and staff wellbeing
Scottish government trial of four-day week improves productivity and staff wellbeing
Employees at two public bodies reported less work-related stress and one organisation had drop in sick days
Increased productivity and improved staff wellbeing were among the results of a year-long trial of the four-day week by the Scottish government.
Two public bodies, South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) and Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB), took part in the pilot, which was launched by Holyrood in early 2024. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
August 27, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Scottish government trial of four-day week improves productivity and staff wellbeing
Reposted by Peter Bart Reiner
Reposted by Peter Bart Reiner
in case you wanted at least a bit of good news today
Germany’s wind & solar surge in June 2025 is huge.
Share of generation: 57.5% — up from 47.7% in June 2024, and double the 28.8% in June 2021.
Output: 21.1 TWh, a 33% YoY jump from 16.6 TWh.
World’s 3rd-largest economy — a clear sign that high renewables penetration at scale is already happening.
Share of generation: 57.5% — up from 47.7% in June 2024, and double the 28.8% in June 2021.
Output: 21.1 TWh, a 33% YoY jump from 16.6 TWh.
World’s 3rd-largest economy — a clear sign that high renewables penetration at scale is already happening.
August 16, 2025 at 4:12 AM
in case you wanted at least a bit of good news today
Reposted by Peter Bart Reiner
So much of media is bad news. And I think it’s intended to break your will. I think it’s important to purposely spend time to expose yourself to good news and things that improve your spirits. In simpler terms, put yourself in your own happy place. It makes you a better fighter.
August 16, 2025 at 12:36 AM
So much of media is bad news. And I think it’s intended to break your will. I think it’s important to purposely spend time to expose yourself to good news and things that improve your spirits. In simpler terms, put yourself in your own happy place. It makes you a better fighter.
Apparently we’re just fancy thermostats (OK, that’s a bit of an exaggeration). At least that’s the analogy Herbert Harris uses to explain active inference as the underpinnings of our sense of free will.
3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily...
3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily...
The Social Origin of Free Will - 3 Quarks Daily
by Herbert Harris
3quarksdaily.com
August 15, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Apparently we’re just fancy thermostats (OK, that’s a bit of an exaggeration). At least that’s the analogy Herbert Harris uses to explain active inference as the underpinnings of our sense of free will.
3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily...
3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily...
Pretty damn great piece by @harveylederman.bsky.social thinking through the issues that we need to consider if AI’s take away all (or most) of the jobs. Definitely worth your consideration.
scottaaronson.blog?p=9030
scottaaronson.blog?p=9030
ChatGPT and the Meaning of Life: Guest Post by Harvey Lederman
Scott Aaronson’s Brief Foreword: Harvey Lederman is a distinguished analytic philosopher who moved from Princeton to UT Austin a few years ago. Since his arrival, he’s become one of my …
scottaaronson.blog
August 15, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Pretty damn great piece by @harveylederman.bsky.social thinking through the issues that we need to consider if AI’s take away all (or most) of the jobs. Definitely worth your consideration.
scottaaronson.blog?p=9030
scottaaronson.blog?p=9030
Reposted by Peter Bart Reiner
As of this week, there is nobody left on Earth who witnessed this moment live.
August 9, 2025 at 11:07 AM
As of this week, there is nobody left on Earth who witnessed this moment live.