Fluffy Cyborg, IInd of the name
@fluffycyborgii.bsky.social
AKA Avel Guénin--Carlut.
Studying the relation between material & cognitive landscapes in the XSCAPE project.
Physics of cognition; naturalizing ontology; (neo)pragmatism applied to pol sci.
Occasionally schyzoposting on main - there are many occasions.
Studying the relation between material & cognitive landscapes in the XSCAPE project.
Physics of cognition; naturalizing ontology; (neo)pragmatism applied to pol sci.
Occasionally schyzoposting on main - there are many occasions.
Pinned
Avel GUÉNIN
avelguenin.github.io
Hi 👋
Maybe it is time to give a proper impression of who I am and what I'm doing here.
First, I'm a PhD student / researcher in cognitive science, under the supervision of Andy Clark and Chris Buckley, financed by the XSCAPE project on Material Minds.
Maybe it is time to give a proper impression of who I am and what I'm doing here.
First, I'm a PhD student / researcher in cognitive science, under the supervision of Andy Clark and Chris Buckley, financed by the XSCAPE project on Material Minds.
My wokest opinion is that the personal is political
If your life is built around interpersonal abuse I don't want your opinion about anything and I don't want you to have any power whatsoever
If your life is built around interpersonal abuse I don't want your opinion about anything and I don't want you to have any power whatsoever
"my least woke opinion is---"
That's enough. We've had enough people indulging in the "thrill of a little conservatism", as a treat. Of considering reactionary thought to be a salacious and taboo in a world descending into reactionary mania.
Give me your MOST woke opinions. We're bringing it back.
That's enough. We've had enough people indulging in the "thrill of a little conservatism", as a treat. Of considering reactionary thought to be a salacious and taboo in a world descending into reactionary mania.
Give me your MOST woke opinions. We're bringing it back.
November 14, 2025 at 12:50 PM
My wokest opinion is that the personal is political
If your life is built around interpersonal abuse I don't want your opinion about anything and I don't want you to have any power whatsoever
If your life is built around interpersonal abuse I don't want your opinion about anything and I don't want you to have any power whatsoever
Reposted by Fluffy Cyborg, IInd of the name
If you have to get permission to teach in your area of expertise from people who are definitionally not qualified to adjudicate your expertise then you are no longer working at a university.
You’re working at a state propaganda factory.
You’re working at a state propaganda factory.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Texas A&M adopts policy requiring professors to get OK from school president to discuss certain race and gender issues.
November 13, 2025 at 11:48 PM
If you have to get permission to teach in your area of expertise from people who are definitionally not qualified to adjudicate your expertise then you are no longer working at a university.
You’re working at a state propaganda factory.
You’re working at a state propaganda factory.
Reposted by Fluffy Cyborg, IInd of the name
The Epstein story gets a something that is tearing at the heart of the electorate: elite impunity. The idea that wealthy and powerful people can do terrible things *at scale* and face no consequences for them. Whatever political party actually stops it could rule the country for a generation.
November 12, 2025 at 10:23 PM
The Epstein story gets a something that is tearing at the heart of the electorate: elite impunity. The idea that wealthy and powerful people can do terrible things *at scale* and face no consequences for them. Whatever political party actually stops it could rule the country for a generation.
Reposted by Fluffy Cyborg, IInd of the name
This is essentially the same story told by the Panama Papers of 2016, the Paradise Papers of 2017 & the Pandora Papers of 2020.
Nearly 7TB of data on released on wealthy people, mostly men, doing terrible things at scale & facing no consequences:barely any prosecutions, miniscule # of convictions.
Nearly 7TB of data on released on wealthy people, mostly men, doing terrible things at scale & facing no consequences:barely any prosecutions, miniscule # of convictions.
The Epstein story gets a something that is tearing at the heart of the electorate: elite impunity. The idea that wealthy and powerful people can do terrible things *at scale* and face no consequences for them. Whatever political party actually stops it could rule the country for a generation.
November 12, 2025 at 11:27 PM
This is essentially the same story told by the Panama Papers of 2016, the Paradise Papers of 2017 & the Pandora Papers of 2020.
Nearly 7TB of data on released on wealthy people, mostly men, doing terrible things at scale & facing no consequences:barely any prosecutions, miniscule # of convictions.
Nearly 7TB of data on released on wealthy people, mostly men, doing terrible things at scale & facing no consequences:barely any prosecutions, miniscule # of convictions.
Had a new haircut done, and uh let us say the meme potential is strong with that one
November 13, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Had a new haircut done, and uh let us say the meme potential is strong with that one
Or have Bluetooth actually work. Or improving phone reparability and improving OS compatibility. Or massif ying mesh networks for emergency communications. Or make photo transfer from android to computer actually work. Or...
Proposal: instead of pouring resources into AI, tech companies first figure out a way for people to be able to copy slides from one PowerPoint presentation to another without the formatting getting all fucked up
November 13, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Or have Bluetooth actually work. Or improving phone reparability and improving OS compatibility. Or massif ying mesh networks for emergency communications. Or make photo transfer from android to computer actually work. Or...
Reposted by Fluffy Cyborg, IInd of the name
Proposal: instead of pouring resources into AI, tech companies first figure out a way for people to be able to copy slides from one PowerPoint presentation to another without the formatting getting all fucked up
November 11, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Proposal: instead of pouring resources into AI, tech companies first figure out a way for people to be able to copy slides from one PowerPoint presentation to another without the formatting getting all fucked up
It's 5h from now folks! Tune in for more preaching about how vacuous and yet necessary is our impressions of ourselves as moral agents
I do not regret to inform you that a roundtable on Active Inference for the Social Sciences will soon take place for @activeinference.bsky.social's Active Inference Symposium 🥳
The recording will take place live on November 13th at 17:00-18:30 UTC, so save the date if you'd like to ask us anything!
The recording will take place live on November 13th at 17:00-18:30 UTC, so save the date if you'd like to ask us anything!
November 13, 2025 at 11:48 AM
It's 5h from now folks! Tune in for more preaching about how vacuous and yet necessary is our impressions of ourselves as moral agents
To weigh on this:
I have a strong impression that great performative displays of care often work as an alternative, rather than a prequel, to the actual work of care / fixing the problem.
I have a strong impression that great performative displays of care often work as an alternative, rather than a prequel, to the actual work of care / fixing the problem.
I also want to note that in other related experiences I’ve had, the people who were initially the most shocked, outraged etc. were often the least supportive or helpful later on.
November 13, 2025 at 11:46 AM
To weigh on this:
I have a strong impression that great performative displays of care often work as an alternative, rather than a prequel, to the actual work of care / fixing the problem.
I have a strong impression that great performative displays of care often work as an alternative, rather than a prequel, to the actual work of care / fixing the problem.
Reposted by Fluffy Cyborg, IInd of the name
It can feel like progress to “shock” audiences/students with new information, but shock can be disempowering on its own, part of a trauma cycle of forgetting. you can be shocked, and then shocked again 2 years later.
relatedly, it’s a PR strategy to release all the bad content at once as a flood.
relatedly, it’s a PR strategy to release all the bad content at once as a flood.
November 13, 2025 at 11:25 AM
It can feel like progress to “shock” audiences/students with new information, but shock can be disempowering on its own, part of a trauma cycle of forgetting. you can be shocked, and then shocked again 2 years later.
relatedly, it’s a PR strategy to release all the bad content at once as a flood.
relatedly, it’s a PR strategy to release all the bad content at once as a flood.
Reposted by Fluffy Cyborg, IInd of the name
Nothing will convince me of Kuhn's observation that most science is essentially just scientists playing a game with preset rules as much as the reign of p < .05
November 13, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Nothing will convince me of Kuhn's observation that most science is essentially just scientists playing a game with preset rules as much as the reign of p < .05
Reposted by Fluffy Cyborg, IInd of the name
None of this shit happens without a great many powerful people deciding that it's more important to generally preserve the impunity of elites they like than to pierce the elite impunity of child molesters.
Important to understand the Epstein stuff and the fascism and the corruption are, in a lot of ways, really all the same story from different angles: powerful men who can and do abuse vulnerable people around them because they can, and because systems of elite accountability catastrophically failed
November 12, 2025 at 10:33 PM
None of this shit happens without a great many powerful people deciding that it's more important to generally preserve the impunity of elites they like than to pierce the elite impunity of child molesters.
Reposted by Fluffy Cyborg, IInd of the name
My experience is that "thinking outside the box" is *massively* overhyped, at least in product development and innovation.
Innovating without in-depth understanding of the problem, technology, and earlier solutions is like crossing the Atlantic without experience in sailing.
Innovating without in-depth understanding of the problem, technology, and earlier solutions is like crossing the Atlantic without experience in sailing.
November 12, 2025 at 10:05 AM
My experience is that "thinking outside the box" is *massively* overhyped, at least in product development and innovation.
Innovating without in-depth understanding of the problem, technology, and earlier solutions is like crossing the Atlantic without experience in sailing.
Innovating without in-depth understanding of the problem, technology, and earlier solutions is like crossing the Atlantic without experience in sailing.
Reposted by Fluffy Cyborg, IInd of the name
The 5th Applied Active Inference Symposium starts tomorrow!
The Symposium Program is available in interactive online format coda.io/d/_d08cdDbWw... and as a published abstract book zenodo.org/records/1757... .
Join the Institute Discord: discord.activeinference.institute
The Symposium Program is available in interactive online format coda.io/d/_d08cdDbWw... and as a published abstract book zenodo.org/records/1757... .
Join the Institute Discord: discord.activeinference.institute
Join the Active Inference Institute Discord Server!
Open science Institute for learning and applying Active Inference https://www.activeinference.institute/ | 1545 members
discord.activeinference.institute
November 11, 2025 at 6:37 PM
The 5th Applied Active Inference Symposium starts tomorrow!
The Symposium Program is available in interactive online format coda.io/d/_d08cdDbWw... and as a published abstract book zenodo.org/records/1757... .
Join the Institute Discord: discord.activeinference.institute
The Symposium Program is available in interactive online format coda.io/d/_d08cdDbWw... and as a published abstract book zenodo.org/records/1757... .
Join the Institute Discord: discord.activeinference.institute
So the Five Eyes are now four? Wonder what's next
"The United Kingdom is no longer sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in US military strikes and believes the attacks are illegal, sources familiar with the matter told CNN." www.cnn.com/2025/11/11/p...
Exclusive: UK suspends some intelligence sharing with US over boat strike concerns in major break | CNN Politics
The United Kingdom is no longer sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in US military strikes and believes ...
www.cnn.com
November 11, 2025 at 3:27 PM
So the Five Eyes are now four? Wonder what's next
Reposted by Fluffy Cyborg, IInd of the name
"The United Kingdom is no longer sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in US military strikes and believes the attacks are illegal, sources familiar with the matter told CNN." www.cnn.com/2025/11/11/p...
Exclusive: UK suspends some intelligence sharing with US over boat strike concerns in major break | CNN Politics
The United Kingdom is no longer sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in US military strikes and believes ...
www.cnn.com
November 11, 2025 at 3:21 PM
"The United Kingdom is no longer sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in US military strikes and believes the attacks are illegal, sources familiar with the matter told CNN." www.cnn.com/2025/11/11/p...
Reposted by Fluffy Cyborg, IInd of the name
The French wikipedia page "Technocritique" is vastly longer and better-done than the English-language version
Technocritique — Wikipédia
fr.wikipedia.org
November 11, 2025 at 1:42 PM
The French wikipedia page "Technocritique" is vastly longer and better-done than the English-language version
Reposted by Fluffy Cyborg, IInd of the name
My take as well: We need everything from "social worker who can dodge a punch" to "SWAT team" because sometimes someone's having a psychotic break in public and sometimes someone has a gun and hostages. The police being our one-size-fits-all solution is pretty stupid in that light.
November 11, 2025 at 6:12 AM
My take as well: We need everything from "social worker who can dodge a punch" to "SWAT team" because sometimes someone's having a psychotic break in public and sometimes someone has a gun and hostages. The police being our one-size-fits-all solution is pretty stupid in that light.
Reposted by Fluffy Cyborg, IInd of the name
The police should be broken up into like four forces each with different responsibilities and applicant pools.
My take as well: We need everything from "social worker who can dodge a punch" to "SWAT team" because sometimes someone's having a psychotic break in public and sometimes someone has a gun and hostages. The police being our one-size-fits-all solution is pretty stupid in that light.
November 11, 2025 at 1:11 PM
The police should be broken up into like four forces each with different responsibilities and applicant pools.
I was already freaking out about people reaching 20 without knowing how to sew or do basic home repair, and now a 30-ish friend tells me they can't cook and they're only fed by their parents + restaurants
I don't have the mental capacity to process this information
I don't have the mental capacity to process this information
November 11, 2025 at 1:16 PM
I was already freaking out about people reaching 20 without knowing how to sew or do basic home repair, and now a 30-ish friend tells me they can't cook and they're only fed by their parents + restaurants
I don't have the mental capacity to process this information
I don't have the mental capacity to process this information
Reposted by Fluffy Cyborg, IInd of the name
There is a lot of fuss today over whether chatbots can replace human participants in social sciences research when the solution is obvious: ask chatbots to simulate the views of social scientists and survey them on attitudes towards chatbots as substitutes for human subjects.
November 10, 2025 at 10:45 PM
There is a lot of fuss today over whether chatbots can replace human participants in social sciences research when the solution is obvious: ask chatbots to simulate the views of social scientists and survey them on attitudes towards chatbots as substitutes for human subjects.
Once again
November 11, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Once again
Reposted by Fluffy Cyborg, IInd of the name
This slide unfortunately generalizes well 🥲
November 11, 2025 at 9:25 AM
This slide unfortunately generalizes well 🥲
Reposted by Fluffy Cyborg, IInd of the name
Doing non-causal inference (and being explicit about it), yet using a causal word as second word in the title.
If you pay Nature € 10.690, they will publish this in Nature Ageing.
I can tell you what I think of that for free.
www.nature.com/articles/s43...
If you pay Nature € 10.690, they will publish this in Nature Ageing.
I can tell you what I think of that for free.
www.nature.com/articles/s43...
November 11, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Doing non-causal inference (and being explicit about it), yet using a causal word as second word in the title.
If you pay Nature € 10.690, they will publish this in Nature Ageing.
I can tell you what I think of that for free.
www.nature.com/articles/s43...
If you pay Nature € 10.690, they will publish this in Nature Ageing.
I can tell you what I think of that for free.
www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Reposted by Fluffy Cyborg, IInd of the name
I do not regret to inform you that a roundtable on Active Inference for the Social Sciences will soon take place for @activeinference.bsky.social's Active Inference Symposium 🥳
The recording will take place live on November 13th at 17:00-18:30 UTC, so save the date if you'd like to ask us anything!
The recording will take place live on November 13th at 17:00-18:30 UTC, so save the date if you'd like to ask us anything!
November 10, 2025 at 6:25 PM
I do not regret to inform you that a roundtable on Active Inference for the Social Sciences will soon take place for @activeinference.bsky.social's Active Inference Symposium 🥳
The recording will take place live on November 13th at 17:00-18:30 UTC, so save the date if you'd like to ask us anything!
The recording will take place live on November 13th at 17:00-18:30 UTC, so save the date if you'd like to ask us anything!