Tim Verstynen
@tdverstynen.bsky.social
Professor
Department Gadfly
Data Alchemist
Synthetic Psychologist
Zombie Apologist
“The enemy” - JD Vance
Opinions are my own. Not gonna let my employer take credit for them.
Department Gadfly
Data Alchemist
Synthetic Psychologist
Zombie Apologist
“The enemy” - JD Vance
Opinions are my own. Not gonna let my employer take credit for them.
Pinned
Tim Verstynen
@tdverstynen.bsky.social
· Jan 28
I grew up a white kid in a bilingual, majority Hispanic state, in a pueblo region continuously occupied by indigenous peoples for over a thousand years, and in a city whose name is derived from an old Arabic phrase.
This is what America looks like.
This is what America looks like.
Me: Why did we outsource campus decisions to a corporate consultant?
HR: We haven’t outsourced anything. We’ve merely engaged a strategic partner to collaborate within our priorities and provide insights for our long-term goal of eliminating inefficiencies and streamlining our effective operations.
HR: We haven’t outsourced anything. We’ve merely engaged a strategic partner to collaborate within our priorities and provide insights for our long-term goal of eliminating inefficiencies and streamlining our effective operations.
November 11, 2025 at 4:20 AM
Me: Why did we outsource campus decisions to a corporate consultant?
HR: We haven’t outsourced anything. We’ve merely engaged a strategic partner to collaborate within our priorities and provide insights for our long-term goal of eliminating inefficiencies and streamlining our effective operations.
HR: We haven’t outsourced anything. We’ve merely engaged a strategic partner to collaborate within our priorities and provide insights for our long-term goal of eliminating inefficiencies and streamlining our effective operations.
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
this is literally never not accurate
November 10, 2025 at 6:32 PM
this is literally never not accurate
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
America's political elite has decided that climate change is no longer that important or worth talking about, but rest assured, it's still happening, it's extremely bad, and yes, it is going to affect you here in America.
What Climate Change Will Do to America by Mid-Century
Many places may become uninhabitable. Many people may be on their own.
www.theatlantic.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:55 PM
America's political elite has decided that climate change is no longer that important or worth talking about, but rest assured, it's still happening, it's extremely bad, and yes, it is going to affect you here in America.
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
Looks like a chair position in the Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine has opened up.
Any peeps looking to relocate to Pittsburgh?
Any peeps looking to relocate to Pittsburgh?
November 10, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Looks like a chair position in the Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine has opened up.
Any peeps looking to relocate to Pittsburgh?
Any peeps looking to relocate to Pittsburgh?
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
New: The Supreme Court DENIES Kim Davis' request to overturn Obergefell, the marriage equality decision. No noted dissents. www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...
November 10, 2025 at 2:31 PM
New: The Supreme Court DENIES Kim Davis' request to overturn Obergefell, the marriage equality decision. No noted dissents. www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
seems to me that those democrats inclined not to fight perceive themselves as living through a somewhat ordinary cycle of presidential overreach and backlash and not something much more significant and dangerous
November 10, 2025 at 12:50 PM
seems to me that those democrats inclined not to fight perceive themselves as living through a somewhat ordinary cycle of presidential overreach and backlash and not something much more significant and dangerous
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
Happy There Is A Circulatory System Walking Through The Kitchen Day to all who celebrate.
November 10, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Happy There Is A Circulatory System Walking Through The Kitchen Day to all who celebrate.
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
yes senator they're roasting you on Bluesky, sir
yes full roast sir, the communists, the wine moms, Bill Kristol, they're all roasting you, sir
no, sir, I haven't seen him in Waiting for Godot, but he's roasting you, too, sir
yes full roast sir, the communists, the wine moms, Bill Kristol, they're all roasting you, sir
no, sir, I haven't seen him in Waiting for Godot, but he's roasting you, too, sir
November 10, 2025 at 12:34 AM
yes senator they're roasting you on Bluesky, sir
yes full roast sir, the communists, the wine moms, Bill Kristol, they're all roasting you, sir
no, sir, I haven't seen him in Waiting for Godot, but he's roasting you, too, sir
yes full roast sir, the communists, the wine moms, Bill Kristol, they're all roasting you, sir
no, sir, I haven't seen him in Waiting for Godot, but he's roasting you, too, sir
If you lens everything through the fact that both parties in the US have the same financial dependency on the top 0.1% for their political survival, then our current situation makes a lot more sense.
November 10, 2025 at 10:20 AM
If you lens everything through the fact that both parties in the US have the same financial dependency on the top 0.1% for their political survival, then our current situation makes a lot more sense.
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
This is not a deal — it's an empty promise.
Trump and his Republican Congress are making healthcare more expensive for the middle class and ending it for working families.
Time for Democrats to stand tall for affordable healthcare. www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Trump and his Republican Congress are making healthcare more expensive for the middle class and ending it for working families.
Time for Democrats to stand tall for affordable healthcare. www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Senate reaches deal on ending the shutdown
Democrats are coalescing around a bipartisan agreement to fund the government.
www.politico.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:50 AM
This is not a deal — it's an empty promise.
Trump and his Republican Congress are making healthcare more expensive for the middle class and ending it for working families.
Time for Democrats to stand tall for affordable healthcare. www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Trump and his Republican Congress are making healthcare more expensive for the middle class and ending it for working families.
Time for Democrats to stand tall for affordable healthcare. www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
Very well done story on 60 Minutes about the harms of grant terminations and freezes at Harvard with Joan Brugge, Don Engbar, David Liu, and a very compelling young cancer patient, now cured with Liu's technology.
Transcript and video here
www.cbsnews.com/news/researc...
Transcript and video here
www.cbsnews.com/news/researc...
Battle between Trump and universities hurting scientific research in need of federal funding
Federal research funding to universities has fueled breakthroughs for years. The White House is pressuring universities to align with the president's political agenda, or risk losing their funding.
www.cbsnews.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Very well done story on 60 Minutes about the harms of grant terminations and freezes at Harvard with Joan Brugge, Don Engbar, David Liu, and a very compelling young cancer patient, now cured with Liu's technology.
Transcript and video here
www.cbsnews.com/news/researc...
Transcript and video here
www.cbsnews.com/news/researc...
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
Ask him why so many air traffic controllers are retiring at once. Ask him if it has anything to do with Reagan firing 11K union strikers in 1981 and having to replace them all at once. Ask him how the mass firings this year will impact us the same way 40 years from now. Ask him, Jake.
"This will live on" -- Duffy explains that flying will remain a mess even after the shutdown because so many air traffic controllers are retiring
November 9, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Ask him why so many air traffic controllers are retiring at once. Ask him if it has anything to do with Reagan firing 11K union strikers in 1981 and having to replace them all at once. Ask him how the mass firings this year will impact us the same way 40 years from now. Ask him, Jake.
Wealth isn’t earned, it’s largely stolen through lucky grifting.
November 9, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Wealth isn’t earned, it’s largely stolen through lucky grifting.
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
Making AI more intelligent isn’t going to make it conscious. It will make it increasingly indistinguishable from consciousness, and that’s gonna be a huge problem.
November 9, 2025 at 4:35 AM
Making AI more intelligent isn’t going to make it conscious. It will make it increasingly indistinguishable from consciousness, and that’s gonna be a huge problem.
Can we just stop please? Just let it go. We are not anywhere close to “conscious” machines.
We’re going to look back on hot takes like this in 20 years and wonder how people fell for such clear fairytales.
We’re going to look back on hot takes like this in 20 years and wonder how people fell for such clear fairytales.
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com
“A.I. is no less a form of intelligence than digital photography is a form of photography,” the philosopher Barbara Gail Montero writes in a guest essay. “And now A.I. is on its way to doing something even more remarkable: becoming conscious.”
“A.I. is no less a form of intelligence than digital photography is a form of photography,” the philosopher Barbara Gail Montero writes in a guest essay. “And now A.I. is on its way to doing something even more remarkable: becoming conscious.”
Opinion | A.I. Is Already Intelligent. This Is How It Becomes Conscious.
Skeptics overlook how our concepts change.
nyti.ms
November 9, 2025 at 3:26 AM
Can we just stop please? Just let it go. We are not anywhere close to “conscious” machines.
We’re going to look back on hot takes like this in 20 years and wonder how people fell for such clear fairytales.
We’re going to look back on hot takes like this in 20 years and wonder how people fell for such clear fairytales.
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
“I think anybody who enters should understand that they may not leave.” Hundreds of immigrants have been detained at the Edward J. Schwartz federal courthouse in downtown San Diego. The emotional scenes have alarmed activists, immigration lawyers and local elected officials.
Emotional Glimpses of an Immigration Crackdown in a San Diego Courthouse
Federal officials use the building for check-ins that can end with immigrants being detained. Clergy members and volunteers have been watching for months.
nyti.ms
November 8, 2025 at 11:20 PM
“I think anybody who enters should understand that they may not leave.” Hundreds of immigrants have been detained at the Edward J. Schwartz federal courthouse in downtown San Diego. The emotional scenes have alarmed activists, immigration lawyers and local elected officials.
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
Seriously? He has no idea how insurance works or how to govern. I’ll never get over 77 million people thinking a man this incompetent belongs anywhere near the Oval Office.
November 8, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Seriously? He has no idea how insurance works or how to govern. I’ll never get over 77 million people thinking a man this incompetent belongs anywhere near the Oval Office.
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
My reviewing style has changed over time. Rather than litigate every little thing, and pushing my own ideas, I focus only on 2 things:
(1) Are the claims interesting/important?
(2) Does the evidence support the claims?
Most of my reviews these days are short and focused.
(1) Are the claims interesting/important?
(2) Does the evidence support the claims?
Most of my reviews these days are short and focused.
November 8, 2025 at 11:22 AM
My reviewing style has changed over time. Rather than litigate every little thing, and pushing my own ideas, I focus only on 2 things:
(1) Are the claims interesting/important?
(2) Does the evidence support the claims?
Most of my reviews these days are short and focused.
(1) Are the claims interesting/important?
(2) Does the evidence support the claims?
Most of my reviews these days are short and focused.
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
Grok asks a 12 year old for nudes after asking Grok its favorite soccer player.
When CBC requested comment, xAIs said “Legacy Media Lies.”
When CBC requested comment, xAIs said “Legacy Media Lies.”
November 7, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Grok asks a 12 year old for nudes after asking Grok its favorite soccer player.
When CBC requested comment, xAIs said “Legacy Media Lies.”
When CBC requested comment, xAIs said “Legacy Media Lies.”
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
Did women ruin the workplace?
November 7, 2025 at 3:33 AM
Did women ruin the workplace?
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
I understand why we shut down American airspace for a few days after 9-11 to avoid a repeat attack but imagine shutting down American airspace to avoid releasing the Epstein files.
November 7, 2025 at 11:03 PM
I understand why we shut down American airspace for a few days after 9-11 to avoid a repeat attack but imagine shutting down American airspace to avoid releasing the Epstein files.
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
FINALLY a beauty contest that I can get behind
November 7, 2025 at 12:37 PM
FINALLY a beauty contest that I can get behind
It is now well into November and I am still harvesting chard and peppers from my outdoor garden in Pittsburgh.
Tell me again about how climate change is a lie?
Tell me again about how climate change is a lie?
November 7, 2025 at 1:45 PM
It is now well into November and I am still harvesting chard and peppers from my outdoor garden in Pittsburgh.
Tell me again about how climate change is a lie?
Tell me again about how climate change is a lie?