Mark Thakkar
@brunellus.com
Medieval Latinist · Postdoc in the History of Maths, Logic and Philosophy, working on Cardano, the impossible and the medievals: https://i2erc.wordpress.com
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
Don't call it a "bubble."
OpenAI, Microsoft, & Alphabet are just fine with that term because they get to tell you that all the dot-com bubble or the railroad bubble or the whatever bubble was, was a shaking out the greats after an intense period of mania. This isn't a bubble. This is a time bomb.
OpenAI, Microsoft, & Alphabet are just fine with that term because they get to tell you that all the dot-com bubble or the railroad bubble or the whatever bubble was, was a shaking out the greats after an intense period of mania. This isn't a bubble. This is a time bomb.
Opinion from Alphaville: OpenAI is a money pit with a website on top. That much we know already, but since OpenAI is a private company, there’s a lot of guesswork required when estimating the depth of the pit. on.ft.com/44xy39L
November 26, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Don't call it a "bubble."
OpenAI, Microsoft, & Alphabet are just fine with that term because they get to tell you that all the dot-com bubble or the railroad bubble or the whatever bubble was, was a shaking out the greats after an intense period of mania. This isn't a bubble. This is a time bomb.
OpenAI, Microsoft, & Alphabet are just fine with that term because they get to tell you that all the dot-com bubble or the railroad bubble or the whatever bubble was, was a shaking out the greats after an intense period of mania. This isn't a bubble. This is a time bomb.
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
'More universities use AI tools to teach students, generate course materials & give personalised feedback. A Dept of Education policy paper hailed this development, saying generative AI “has the power to transform education.”'
Into an accreditational dystopia.
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Into an accreditational dystopia.
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
‘We could have asked ChatGPT’: students fight back over course taught by AI
Staffordshire students say signs material was AI-generated included suspicious file names and rogue voiceover accent
www.theguardian.com
November 20, 2025 at 1:53 PM
'More universities use AI tools to teach students, generate course materials & give personalised feedback. A Dept of Education policy paper hailed this development, saying generative AI “has the power to transform education.”'
Into an accreditational dystopia.
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Into an accreditational dystopia.
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
I am by no means a prominent public intellectual, but my inbox is increasingly filled with messages from people who have been convinced by sycophantic chatbots that they have discovered revolutionary theories that entirely upend our scientific understanding of the universe.
November 21, 2025 at 2:49 AM
I am by no means a prominent public intellectual, but my inbox is increasingly filled with messages from people who have been convinced by sycophantic chatbots that they have discovered revolutionary theories that entirely upend our scientific understanding of the universe.
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
🚨Job Klaxon: The ERC project COALA (Computational Corpus Annotation for Quantitative Analysis of Latin Lexical Semantics) is hiring a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Latin Linguistics.
📍 King’s College London, UK
⌛ Duration: 3 years
⏰ Deadline: 2 December 2025
➡️ To apply: tinyurl.com/rme6rczh
📍 King’s College London, UK
⌛ Duration: 3 years
⏰ Deadline: 2 December 2025
➡️ To apply: tinyurl.com/rme6rczh
Post-doctoral Research Associate in Latin Linguistics | King's College London
www.kcl.ac.uk
November 18, 2025 at 11:54 AM
🚨Job Klaxon: The ERC project COALA (Computational Corpus Annotation for Quantitative Analysis of Latin Lexical Semantics) is hiring a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Latin Linguistics.
📍 King’s College London, UK
⌛ Duration: 3 years
⏰ Deadline: 2 December 2025
➡️ To apply: tinyurl.com/rme6rczh
📍 King’s College London, UK
⌛ Duration: 3 years
⏰ Deadline: 2 December 2025
➡️ To apply: tinyurl.com/rme6rczh
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
Next to Jesus Maria Johannes, another triad: amen amen amen. Unusually, the reason for invoking it thrice is explained: it is in honour of the Trinity as the superscript letters show (p[ater], f[ilius], s[spiritus sanctus]). @magdalenoxford.bsky.social MS. lat. 71.
November 5, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Next to Jesus Maria Johannes, another triad: amen amen amen. Unusually, the reason for invoking it thrice is explained: it is in honour of the Trinity as the superscript letters show (p[ater], f[ilius], s[spiritus sanctus]). @magdalenoxford.bsky.social MS. lat. 71.
Exciting news from Cambridge, where a donation has funded a permanent lectureship (sorry, “Assistant Professorship”) in the History of Knowledge Pre-1400. The only explicit restriction is “not medicine”, but it is in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science. www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/53305/
Assistant Professor in History of Knowledge Pre-1400 - Job Opportunities - University of Cambridge
Assistant Professor in History of Knowledge Pre-1400 in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge.
www.jobs.cam.ac.uk
October 31, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Exciting news from Cambridge, where a donation has funded a permanent lectureship (sorry, “Assistant Professorship”) in the History of Knowledge Pre-1400. The only explicit restriction is “not medicine”, but it is in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science. www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/53305/
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
Every time discover a new piece on the dangers of LLMs, particularly for research and teaching, I add it to a Zotero library. I figure that I might as well share it, so here's my library of Cautionary AI Tales: www.zotero.org/groups/62758...
October 28, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Every time discover a new piece on the dangers of LLMs, particularly for research and teaching, I add it to a Zotero library. I figure that I might as well share it, so here's my library of Cautionary AI Tales: www.zotero.org/groups/62758...
It’s rare to see a piece of journalism about the use of “AI” in universities that doesn’t salivate over the prospect of students outsourcing their reading and thinking to a mindless generator of (on a good day) superficially plausible text. Here’s a good one from Belgium: 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 25, 2025 at 9:45 AM
It’s rare to see a piece of journalism about the use of “AI” in universities that doesn’t salivate over the prospect of students outsourcing their reading and thinking to a mindless generator of (on a good day) superficially plausible text. Here’s a good one from Belgium: apache.be/2025/10/24/b...
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
ATTACKS from bots are a major problem for libraries scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/10/07/g...
"Can we differentiate the behavior in our systems from the motives of the operating individual or organization, and should we be in the business of judging “good” and “bad” site visitors and uses?"
"Can we differentiate the behavior in our systems from the motives of the operating individual or organization, and should we be in the business of judging “good” and “bad” site visitors and uses?"
Guest Post - “Have You Proved You’re Human Today?” Open Content and Web Harvesting in the AI Era - The Scholarly Kitchen
AI web harvesting bots are different from traditional web crawlers and violate many of the established rules and practices in place. Their rapidly expanding use is emerging as a significant IT managem...
scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org
October 7, 2025 at 6:44 PM
ATTACKS from bots are a major problem for libraries scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/10/07/g...
"Can we differentiate the behavior in our systems from the motives of the operating individual or organization, and should we be in the business of judging “good” and “bad” site visitors and uses?"
"Can we differentiate the behavior in our systems from the motives of the operating individual or organization, and should we be in the business of judging “good” and “bad” site visitors and uses?"
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
MLGB is back!! Delighted that Medieval Libraries of Great Britain @bodleian.ox.ac.uk is now back online. We are also working had on plans for the next phase of the resource, enhancing & adding data & functionality. HUGE thanks to my colleagues for their hard & clever work mlgb.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
October 7, 2025 at 10:19 AM
MLGB is back!! Delighted that Medieval Libraries of Great Britain @bodleian.ox.ac.uk is now back online. We are also working had on plans for the next phase of the resource, enhancing & adding data & functionality. HUGE thanks to my colleagues for their hard & clever work mlgb.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
A great thread applicable to scholars outside the US. Much of the work that historians do is not strictly what they’re paid for. Being able to do it depends on historians being stably employed, with access to resources, and with flexibility built in their schedules. All of those things are at risk.
Something I’ve been thinking about:
History as a profession has long relied on affiliation.
Your university or museum pays your salary, and in return, you give time to edit journals, peer review articles, write book reviews, consult on exhibits, and volunteer for institutional support. 1/
History as a profession has long relied on affiliation.
Your university or museum pays your salary, and in return, you give time to edit journals, peer review articles, write book reviews, consult on exhibits, and volunteer for institutional support. 1/
September 22, 2025 at 5:31 PM
A great thread applicable to scholars outside the US. Much of the work that historians do is not strictly what they’re paid for. Being able to do it depends on historians being stably employed, with access to resources, and with flexibility built in their schedules. All of those things are at risk.
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
Breaking news: OpenAI researchers use actual intelligence to discover that bears shit in the woods! Stay tuned for their “landmark study” on the pope’s religious affiliation. (PSA: it is a category mistake to call the generation of falsehoods “hallucination”.) www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
OpenAI admits AI hallucinations are mathematically inevitable, not just engineering flaws
In a landmark study, OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limi...
www.computerworld.com
September 21, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Breaking news: OpenAI researchers use actual intelligence to discover that bears shit in the woods! Stay tuned for their “landmark study” on the pope’s religious affiliation. (PSA: it is a category mistake to call the generation of falsehoods “hallucination”.) www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
Breaking news: OpenAI researchers use actual intelligence to discover that bears shit in the woods! Stay tuned for their “landmark study” on the pope’s religious affiliation. (PSA: it is a category mistake to call the generation of falsehoods “hallucination”.) www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
OpenAI admits AI hallucinations are mathematically inevitable, not just engineering flaws
In a landmark study, OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limi...
www.computerworld.com
September 21, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Breaking news: OpenAI researchers use actual intelligence to discover that bears shit in the woods! Stay tuned for their “landmark study” on the pope’s religious affiliation. (PSA: it is a category mistake to call the generation of falsehoods “hallucination”.) www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia:
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n
September 6, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia:
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
Note that although the upgraded high-res digitization can be viewed at BAV, the Biblissima interface allows a much higher-resolution download.
September 16, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Note that although the upgraded high-res digitization can be viewed at BAV, the Biblissima interface allows a much higher-resolution download.
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
Reminder @theguardian.com has a partnership with OpenAI; which explains this thinly sourced excuse of an article that relies on ONE Masters student and OpenAI's International Education Lead countered by measly words of "caution" from ONE university admin.
Vacuous, generic and scattershot advice for incoming 1st years on the use of AI at university. Especially liking 'Chin recommends giving it class notes and asking it to generate practice exam questions.' Surely we can't be the only programme that supplies students with past & practice exams?
How to use ChatGPT at university without cheating: ‘Now it’s more like a study partner’
The ubiquitous AI tool has a divisive effect on educators with some seeing it a boon and others a menace. So what should you know about where to draw the line between check and cheat?
www.theguardian.com
September 14, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Reminder @theguardian.com has a partnership with OpenAI; which explains this thinly sourced excuse of an article that relies on ONE Masters student and OpenAI's International Education Lead countered by measly words of "caution" from ONE university admin.
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
We need more "unfunded" research, not less. Or rather, we need more "core" funding and much less project based funding. Then universities can *invest* in core research infrastructure (including people), reduce precarity, and focus on growing and retaining talent.
September 12, 2025 at 8:17 AM
We need more "unfunded" research, not less. Or rather, we need more "core" funding and much less project based funding. Then universities can *invest* in core research infrastructure (including people), reduce precarity, and focus on growing and retaining talent.
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
Join us next week to assess ⚖️📏 the role quantity played in diverse premodern cultural domains and practices.
It is possible to attend on Zoom (if you send me an email).
It is possible to attend on Zoom (if you send me an email).
September 11, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Join us next week to assess ⚖️📏 the role quantity played in diverse premodern cultural domains and practices.
It is possible to attend on Zoom (if you send me an email).
It is possible to attend on Zoom (if you send me an email).
New Wyclif polemic discovered! Only 250 words long, but not obviously detached from a larger work. It isn’t ascribed to him in the manuscript (no titulus or colophon) but the style is recognizably his. I’m posting it here because the content is eerily topical. #medievalLatin #medievalSky #genAI
August 27, 2025 at 10:54 AM
New Wyclif polemic discovered! Only 250 words long, but not obviously detached from a larger work. It isn’t ascribed to him in the manuscript (no titulus or colophon) but the style is recognizably his. I’m posting it here because the content is eerily topical. #medievalLatin #medievalSky #genAI
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
Provenance to die for: the works of Tacitus (Antwerp, 1581), edited by Justus Lipsius, and scribbled on by both Isaac Casaubon & Richard Bentley (Master of @trincolllibcam.bsky.social). @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Adv.d.3.14.
August 12, 2025 at 7:31 AM
Provenance to die for: the works of Tacitus (Antwerp, 1581), edited by Justus Lipsius, and scribbled on by both Isaac Casaubon & Richard Bentley (Master of @trincolllibcam.bsky.social). @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Adv.d.3.14.
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
The University of Warwick has paid a lot of money, I'm guessing, for their internet banner ads on the Guardian and elsewhere.
But they can't spell "curiosity". This isn't a US-UK variant. They just, genuinely, have a massive spelling error in their banner ads.
But they can't spell "curiosity". This isn't a US-UK variant. They just, genuinely, have a massive spelling error in their banner ads.
August 8, 2025 at 8:22 AM
The University of Warwick has paid a lot of money, I'm guessing, for their internet banner ads on the Guardian and elsewhere.
But they can't spell "curiosity". This isn't a US-UK variant. They just, genuinely, have a massive spelling error in their banner ads.
But they can't spell "curiosity". This isn't a US-UK variant. They just, genuinely, have a massive spelling error in their banner ads.
BREAKING: THE discovers a new grammatical category of questions to which the answer is “No”! Also, “Isabel spent over 20 years working in technology innovation and digital transformation at American Express and Visa… before transitioning into academia full-time in 2015. Her teaching reflects this” 💯
#GenAI is not just for students. Isabel Fischer outlines draft principles to help assessors use AI responsibly in #marking and feedback.
www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/how-s...
www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/how-s...
How should assessors use AI for marking and feedback?
While much attention has focused on students’ use of GenAI, its potential to support assessors has mostly been overlooked. Here, Isabel Fischer shares draft principles co-created at a cross-institutio...
www.timeshighereducation.com
August 5, 2025 at 11:23 AM
BREAKING: THE discovers a new grammatical category of questions to which the answer is “No”! Also, “Isabel spent over 20 years working in technology innovation and digital transformation at American Express and Visa… before transitioning into academia full-time in 2015. Her teaching reflects this” 💯
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
OMG PEOPLE! I have the BL hack of all BL hacks. Why didn't this occur to me before? It turns out the Wayback Machine has snapshots of MS metadata from the old Digitised Manuscripts site. I tried it for the Benedictional of St. Æthelwold, in honor of his day, and lo! web.archive.org/web/20140305...
August 1, 2025 at 2:50 PM
OMG PEOPLE! I have the BL hack of all BL hacks. Why didn't this occur to me before? It turns out the Wayback Machine has snapshots of MS metadata from the old Digitised Manuscripts site. I tried it for the Benedictional of St. Æthelwold, in honor of his day, and lo! web.archive.org/web/20140305...
“The Daily Mail claims the number of people who click its links from Google search results has fallen by around 50% on both desktop and mobile traffic since Google introduced its AI Overview feature.” Every cloud… www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Google launches new AI search feature in UK
The new tool marks a significant change for the search giant but raises questions for advertisers.
www.bbc.co.uk
July 29, 2025 at 7:28 AM
“The Daily Mail claims the number of people who click its links from Google search results has fallen by around 50% on both desktop and mobile traffic since Google introduced its AI Overview feature.” Every cloud… www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...