Pieter T. L. Beck
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ptrbck.bsky.social
Pieter T. L. Beck
@ptrbck.bsky.social
120 followers 270 following 66 posts
Philosopher and historian of science: chemistry, experimentation, and the epistemology of (science) education

FWO Senior Postdoc @ Ghent University.

Research: https://research.flw.ugent.be/nl/pieter.beck

Blog: https://pietertlbeck.wordpress.com/
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ptrbck.bsky.social
Pieter T. L. Beck @ptrbck.bsky.social · Jul 31
I am proud to announce that the videos showing my replication experiments are now online!
Here you can see the replication of Priestley's production of "nitrous air": /1
Reposted by Pieter T. L. Beck
apache.be
Belgian AI scientists are advocating *against* the use of AI in academia. “If independent thinking is no longer encouraged at university, where would it?” apache.be/2025/10/24/b...
Belgian AI scientists resist the use of AI in academia
Several AI scientists have published an open letter calling for a ban on AI use by students.
apache.be
October 24, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Reposted by Pieter T. L. Beck
apache.be
Prominente professoren en onderzoekers luiden de alarmbel over AI in het hoger onderwijs. Ze verzetten zich tegen wat ze “de AI-hype” noemen en waarschuwen voor het verlies van kritisch denken, een kunst die vooral niet uitbesteed kan worden aan “best guess machines”.

apache.be/2025/10/23/a...
Als AI-wetenschappers zich verzetten tegen AI in het hoger onderwijs
Deze wetenschappers en filosofen roepen op tot kritisch denken over AI.
apache.be
October 23, 2025 at 6:29 AM
Reposted by Pieter T. L. Beck
olivia.science
> Among the signatories is Luc Steels, "the father of AI in Belgium." And he's not the only Belgian scientist supporting the resistance to "so-called 'AI' technologies." Apache spoke with Steels and co. "Universities encouraging students to use ChatGPT? I'm stunned"

apache.be/2025/10/23/a...
Als AI-wetenschappers zich verzetten tegen AI in het hoger onderwijs
Deze wetenschappers en filosofen roepen op tot kritisch denken over AI.
apache.be
October 23, 2025 at 6:11 AM
Reposted by Pieter T. L. Beck
nateo.bsky.social
If anyone missed this yesterday, might be worth a read
October 22, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Reposted by Pieter T. L. Beck
wirwartaal.bsky.social
Ook in Nederland geven adviesraden, directies, colleges van bestuur e.d. handreikingen. Zie hier bijv de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen: www.rug.nl/about-ug/org...

Ze zijn altijd onpraktisch, en gaan uit van een optimistisch mensbeeld: de student die 't gebruikt als "studie-tool", voor "zelfstudie".
October 21, 2025 at 3:07 PM
ptrbck.bsky.social
Tijdens discussies over dit onderwerp worden we vaak geconfronteerd met dezelfde argumenten tegen een AI verbod in het onderwijs. Een lang draadje met tegenargumenten. 🧵
apache.be apache/ @apache.be · Oct 8
De opleidingscommissie van de Vakgroep Wijsbegeerte en Moraalwetenschap aan Universiteit Gent besliste om het gebruik van generatieve AI voor bachelor- en masterproeven te verbieden. Die beslissing wordt van hogerhand teruggefloten. UGent wil generatieve AI omarmen.

apache.be/2025/10/08/u...
UGent verbiedt verbod op AI aan filosofievakgroep
UGent omarmt generatieve AI en dat geldt ook voor opleidingen die bezwaren uiten.
apache.be
October 9, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Reposted by Pieter T. L. Beck
apache.be
De opleidingscommissie van de Vakgroep Wijsbegeerte en Moraalwetenschap aan Universiteit Gent besliste om het gebruik van generatieve AI voor bachelor- en masterproeven te verbieden. Die beslissing wordt van hogerhand teruggefloten. UGent wil generatieve AI omarmen.

apache.be/2025/10/08/u...
UGent verbiedt verbod op AI aan filosofievakgroep
UGent omarmt generatieve AI en dat geldt ook voor opleidingen die bezwaren uiten.
apache.be
October 8, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Reposted by Pieter T. L. Beck
kevinlala.bsky.social
I'm happy to share our latest manuscript "Impediments to countering racist pseudoscience", coauthored with @gillianrbrown1.bsky.social @kztwyman.bsky.social & Marcus Feldman.
July 25, 2025 at 9:17 AM
ptrbck.bsky.social
In a few weeks, I'll participate in the Refugee Walk, in support of @vluchtelingenwerk.bsky.social, a non-profit organization that helps refugees and asylum seekers. If you want to donate, you can use the following link. All proceeds go to Vluchtelingenwerk www.refugeewalk.be/teams/team-s...
Alle poen is welkom
Meer solidariteit de wereld instappen
www.refugeewalk.be
September 5, 2025 at 4:59 PM
ptrbck.bsky.social
Eind september doe ik traditiegewijs weer mee aan de Refugee Walk ten voordele van @vluchtelingenwerk.bsky.social. Financieel steunen kan via onderstaande link. Wie het team wil versterken is ook welkom! www.refugeewalk.be/teams/team-s...
Alle poen is welkom
Meer solidariteit de wereld instappen
www.refugeewalk.be
September 5, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Reposted by Pieter T. L. Beck
caitlinmoriah.bsky.social
i used my connections to pressure a major news organization to stop using a word that made my friend sad. and this, to me, is liberalism
twitter: Steven Pinker @sapinker Years ago I had to bug the Times (I knew its managing editor) to stop referring to FIRE as a "conservative" organization. Most threats to free speech from within universities at the time came from the left (while most threats from outside came from the right). 7:14 AM • Aug 22, 2025 • 8,604 Views Greg Lukianoff @glukianoff • 3h That is correct! Thank you Steve!
August 22, 2025 at 6:33 PM
ptrbck.bsky.social
I am proud to announce that the videos showing my replication experiments are now online!
Here you can see the replication of Priestley's production of "nitrous air": /1
July 31, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Reposted by Pieter T. L. Beck
jeroenvanbouwel.bsky.social
“Oligarchs attempting to shape policy to their advantage will benefit from the fact that few will have the attention span to track (…) policies in dull, technical fields; what a majority now wants isn’t investigation but a new video short owning the other tribe.” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/o...
Opinion | Thinking Is Becoming a Luxury Good
www.nytimes.com
July 31, 2025 at 11:52 AM
ptrbck.bsky.social
If your local anti-woke pundit is complaining about activist students "nowadays" and how it's all going downhill, remind them that in the 17th century, universities banned weapons and firearms in the lecture-halls because the Cartesians were trying a bit too hard to cancel the Aristotelians /1
July 30, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Reposted by Pieter T. L. Beck
radleybalko.bsky.social
Just to reiterate: What this administration is doing right now is orders of magnitude more dangerous for academic freedom and free speech than anything the right has spent the last 30 years complaining about.
donmoyn.bsky.social Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · Jul 29
Faculty who wrote to defend their president and object to a DOJ investigation of their university...are now being investigated by the DOJ.
The most banal defense of free speech and academic freedom will trigger the full wrath of the US government now.
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/u...
Faculty Support of George Mason’s President Draws Federal Investigation
www.nytimes.com
July 29, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Reposted by Pieter T. L. Beck
rebeccasear.bsky.social
“Discredited ideas on race, genetics and IQ have become staple topics of far-right online discourse”

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Phrenology and IQ tests: the far-right revival of discredited race science
Resurging interest in theories of racial exceptionalism is turbocharged amid nuance-light world of social media
www.theguardian.com
July 29, 2025 at 8:32 AM
ptrbck.bsky.social
Vandaag werd ik geïnterviewd door Dieter De Cleene van @demorgen.be over de jammerlijke heropleving van rassenwetenschap. Door plaatsgebrek werden m'n antwoorden wat ingekort (geen kritiek, alle begrip), dus hier wat aanvullingen en literatuursuggesties. /1
Van schedelmetingen tot IQ-tests en genetica: waarom rassenwetenschap weer in opmars is
Een Britse universiteit slaat mea culpa voor haar rol in de verspreiding van racistische wetenschap. Van schedelleer tot verschillen in IQ en genetica. De jongste jaren is ‘rassenwetenschap’ weer in o...
www.demorgen.be
July 28, 2025 at 6:00 PM
ptrbck.bsky.social
My good colleague and friend Jip van Besouw (not on Bluesky) and I wrote a paper on 18th century fountains used for research and teaching in physics. It was fun stuff to colaborate on, including arguing for the use of the concept "pissing machine". /1
July 16, 2025 at 5:22 PM
ptrbck.bsky.social
Een aantal jaren geleden schreef ik een artikel over de zogenaamde "science wars" in de jaren '90, wat er daarin misliep en hoe daar de kiemen werden gelegd voor de retoriek dat universiteiten overgenomen waren door "postmodernisme" 1/

www.ethiekenmaatschappij.ugent.be/wp-content/u...
www.ethiekenmaatschappij.ugent.be
July 8, 2025 at 7:54 AM
ptrbck.bsky.social
Samen met enkele collega's schreef ik een stuk in Apache waarin we ons distantiëren van de associate van onze vakgroep met racistische pseudowetenschap en eugenetica.
apache.be/2025/07/04/r...
Racistische pseudowetenschap hoort niet thuis aan de universiteit
Vakgroepleden distantiëren zich van haar associatie met racistische pseudowetenschap en eugenetica.
apache.be
July 4, 2025 at 6:16 AM
Reposted by Pieter T. L. Beck
irisvanrooij.bsky.social
If you agree with our 5 requests to our universities, please sign 🖊️ the open letter and don’t forget to confirm your email! ☺️🙏

openletter.earth/open-letter-...
• Resist the introduction of AI in our own software systems, from Microsoft to OpenAI to Apple. It is not in our interests to let our processes be corrupted and give away our data to be used to train models that are not only useless to us, but also harmful. • Ban AI use in the classroom for student assignments, in the same way we ban essay mills and other forms of plagiarism. Students must be protected from de-skilling and allowed space and time to perform their assignments themselves. • Cease normalising the AI hype and the lies which are prevalent in the technology industry's framing of these technologies. The technologies do not have the advertised capacities and their adoption puts students and academics at risk of violating ethical, legal, scholarly, and scientific standards of reliability, sustainability, and safety. • Fortify our academic freedom as university staff to enforce these principles and standards in our classrooms and our research as well as on the computer systems we are obliged to use as part of our work. We as academics have the right to our own spaces. • Sustain critical thinking on AI and promote critical engagement with technology on a firm academic footing. Scholarly discussion must be free from the conflicts of interest caused by industry funding, and reasoned resistance must always be an option.
June 28, 2025 at 7:52 PM
ptrbck.bsky.social
Brilliant. Now if people ask why as a philosopher of science I'm interested in obscure details of historical chemical experiments, I can just enigmatically answer: "Remember the magnetic stirrer"
chemistryworld.com Chemistry World @chemistryworld.com · Jun 26
New research shows that simply changing how a reaction vessel is positioned on a magnetic stirrer can significantly change a reaction's speed and product quality, influencing the reproducibility of results. #ChemSky #ScienceSky #EduSky
Position of flask on magnetic stirrers can drastically affect reproducibility of experiments
Comprehensive examination reveals improper siting of reaction vessels can affect catalyst formation, alter nanoparticle formation and change yields
www.chemistryworld.com
June 26, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Reposted by Pieter T. L. Beck
masssimons.bsky.social
🧵1/ I'm happy to share my new article just published in the European Journal for Philosophy of Science:

"Political philosophy of experimentation"
🔗 link.springer.com/article/10.1...
#philsci #STS #politicalphilosophy
Political philosophy of experimentation - European Journal for Philosophy of Science
In this article, I sketch out the contours of a political philosophy of experimentation. Drawing on the work of Joseph Rouse, Hans Radder, Gilbert Hottois, and Jerome Ravetz, I argue that such a polit...
link.springer.com
June 20, 2025 at 5:38 AM
ptrbck.bsky.social
To get a sneak peek, here is some footage I made myself of earlier performances of the replication experiments: youtube.com/shorts/KfSSa... (1/2)
June 16, 2025 at 12:24 PM
ptrbck.bsky.social
Today I was back in the lab, this time with cinematographer Adam Dens to film replications of historical chemical experiments. In this picture you can see us interviewing a vacuum flask to ask how he feels about being part of the production of "nitrous air" 1/3 #hps
Image showing camera and a set up of a chemical experiment in a fume cupboard.
June 11, 2025 at 4:46 PM