Geerte Slappendel
@geertes.bsky.social
Policy advisor and researcher on EDI in biomedical sciences. Knits her way through meetings.
Love when different kinds of nerdery intersect. And this metaphor works well, too. You CAN knit together different kinds of yarn, and there are good reasons why you might do so. But you need to think about how you do so, and how it will affect the fabric you’re creating, or you get a mess.
December 18, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Love when different kinds of nerdery intersect. And this metaphor works well, too. You CAN knit together different kinds of yarn, and there are good reasons why you might do so. But you need to think about how you do so, and how it will affect the fabric you’re creating, or you get a mess.
Reposted by Geerte Slappendel
Not to go down this week's particular rabbit hole very deeply, but as a guy who was *in fact hiring Hollywood writers* between 2011 and 2018, four staffs in total, it seems a lot of smart commenters are missing I did not diversify my rooms to be woke, I diversified my rooms to have better rooms.
December 17, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Not to go down this week's particular rabbit hole very deeply, but as a guy who was *in fact hiring Hollywood writers* between 2011 and 2018, four staffs in total, it seems a lot of smart commenters are missing I did not diversify my rooms to be woke, I diversified my rooms to have better rooms.
Reposted by Geerte Slappendel
I don't know how many times this needs to be said, but apparently a lot: If you are not in a position to verify the accuracy of some synthetic text, the synthetic text is not useful/has a high potential to be misleading.
This is one of those cases.
This is one of those cases.
The rationale I was given for AI Summaries *alongside* ordinary abstracts:
* The AI-generated summaries are intended to be more accessible to non-experts.
(1/3)
* The AI-generated summaries are intended to be more accessible to non-experts.
(1/3)
December 18, 2025 at 3:39 AM
I don't know how many times this needs to be said, but apparently a lot: If you are not in a position to verify the accuracy of some synthetic text, the synthetic text is not useful/has a high potential to be misleading.
This is one of those cases.
This is one of those cases.
Reposted by Geerte Slappendel
If you’re telling Head Start programs they can’t say “disability”, “Black”, “female”, or “Tribal” in order to get funded—you don’t care about kids. Period.
This administration is attacking the very protections that keep children safe and supported. Our kids are not political props.
This administration is attacking the very protections that keep children safe and supported. Our kids are not political props.
December 15, 2025 at 9:49 PM
If you’re telling Head Start programs they can’t say “disability”, “Black”, “female”, or “Tribal” in order to get funded—you don’t care about kids. Period.
This administration is attacking the very protections that keep children safe and supported. Our kids are not political props.
This administration is attacking the very protections that keep children safe and supported. Our kids are not political props.
Reposted by Geerte Slappendel
From Judge William Young (in NIH grant termination lawsuits)
9/9
9/9
December 16, 2025 at 1:16 AM
From Judge William Young (in NIH grant termination lawsuits)
9/9
9/9
Reposted by Geerte Slappendel
De toon is weer gezet met dat "belonen voor slecht gedrag". Ik wil jullie wel wat vertellen over die pendelbus want ik maak me er kwaad over. In het plaatje zie je lijn 73. In die bus mogen de asielzoekers helemaal niet komen, die is alleen voor "keurig" lokaal volk. 🧵1/8
Minister Keijzer: pendelbus voor asielzoekers Ter Apel wordt niet gratis #nieuws
Minister Keijzer: pendelbus voor asielzoekers Ter Apel wordt niet gratis
De pendelbus tussen het azc in Ter Apel en station Emmen zal niet gratis worden, zegt demissionair minister Mona Keijzer. Volgens het ministerie van Asiel en Migratie is de keuze om de pendelbus gratis te maken helemaal niet gemaakt en zullen asielzoekers blijven betalen voor een kaartje. Je moet mensen helemaal niet belonen als ze zich misdragen.
www.rtl.nl
December 15, 2025 at 1:45 PM
De toon is weer gezet met dat "belonen voor slecht gedrag". Ik wil jullie wel wat vertellen over die pendelbus want ik maak me er kwaad over. In het plaatje zie je lijn 73. In die bus mogen de asielzoekers helemaal niet komen, die is alleen voor "keurig" lokaal volk. 🧵1/8
Reposted by Geerte Slappendel
Ik hoop dat dit een nieuwe golf Meta-weigeraars veroorzaakt. Facebook, Instagram, whatsapp, weg ermee. We vinden echt wel nieuwe, betere wegen die steeds meer gebruikers trekken, zoals bluesky en signal.
Meta shuts down global accounts linked to abortion advice and queer content
Meta shuts down global accounts linked to abortion advice and queer content
More than 50 organisations report sites being restricted or removed, with abortion hotlines blocked and posts showing non-explicit nudity triggering warnings
www.theguardian.com
December 11, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Ik hoop dat dit een nieuwe golf Meta-weigeraars veroorzaakt. Facebook, Instagram, whatsapp, weg ermee. We vinden echt wel nieuwe, betere wegen die steeds meer gebruikers trekken, zoals bluesky en signal.
Reposted by Geerte Slappendel
What forms of inclusion and exclusion does neurodiversity perform as a concept, field, and movement? How may lines of queer, trans, crip, decolonial, posthumanist, or Mad thinking shake up and overspill the conventional boundaries of neurodiversity?
Please join us for this important discussion! 🔥
Please join us for this important discussion! 🔥
🚨 NEURODIVERSITY IS MORE THAN... symposium 📅 4 March 2026, 9-5pm GMT, online. Free to attend, all welcome! Sign up below:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/neurodiver...
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/neurodiver...
Neurodiversity is More Than...
A symposium organised by Abs S. Ashley and Ombre Tarragnat
www.eventbrite.co.uk
December 3, 2025 at 4:29 PM
What forms of inclusion and exclusion does neurodiversity perform as a concept, field, and movement? How may lines of queer, trans, crip, decolonial, posthumanist, or Mad thinking shake up and overspill the conventional boundaries of neurodiversity?
Please join us for this important discussion! 🔥
Please join us for this important discussion! 🔥
So a while ago, I was buying an electric moped. Some municipalities have subsidies for that, so I did a google search for my municipality. Google’s AI confidently informed me my municipality had such a subsidy. It did not. And I totally understand WHY it got it wrong!
h/t @robertfreundlaw.bsky.social
holy shit, an accurate legal critique of LLMs. LLMs don't reason because they're just stitching together plausible-looking sentences indifferent to the content
holy shit, an accurate legal critique of LLMs. LLMs don't reason because they're just stitching together plausible-looking sentences indifferent to the content
December 4, 2025 at 9:05 AM
So a while ago, I was buying an electric moped. Some municipalities have subsidies for that, so I did a google search for my municipality. Google’s AI confidently informed me my municipality had such a subsidy. It did not. And I totally understand WHY it got it wrong!
Reposted by Geerte Slappendel
Just imagining how much better it would be if ALL news stories about vaccine-preventable illnesses were illustrated with pictures of people with the disease, not pictures of needle injections. If you must show something that people will find scary & unpleasant, make it the disease, not the cure.
I'm so tired of measles.
I'm also tired of people using needle shots on stories like this.
Show what measles looks like.
I'm also tired of people using needle shots on stories like this.
Show what measles looks like.
Gallatin Co. reports 2nd measles case, warns of exposure sites nbcmontana.com/news/local/g...
December 2, 2025 at 4:40 AM
Just imagining how much better it would be if ALL news stories about vaccine-preventable illnesses were illustrated with pictures of people with the disease, not pictures of needle injections. If you must show something that people will find scary & unpleasant, make it the disease, not the cure.
Reposted by Geerte Slappendel
This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥
December 1, 2025 at 11:09 AM
This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥
Reposted by Geerte Slappendel
Are you one of the following?
🎓 vice-rector for academic affairs
🏛️ head of #learning & #teaching centre
🔖 programme director
🧑🏫 academic staff/researcher
Then join the 2026 #EUALearnTeach Forum:
📅 12-13 February, Universidade Católica Portuguesa
🔗 https://bit.ly/bs2026ltforum
#AcademicSky
🎓 vice-rector for academic affairs
🏛️ head of #learning & #teaching centre
🔖 programme director
🧑🏫 academic staff/researcher
Then join the 2026 #EUALearnTeach Forum:
📅 12-13 February, Universidade Católica Portuguesa
🔗 https://bit.ly/bs2026ltforum
#AcademicSky
December 1, 2025 at 8:07 AM
Are you one of the following?
🎓 vice-rector for academic affairs
🏛️ head of #learning & #teaching centre
🔖 programme director
🧑🏫 academic staff/researcher
Then join the 2026 #EUALearnTeach Forum:
📅 12-13 February, Universidade Católica Portuguesa
🔗 https://bit.ly/bs2026ltforum
#AcademicSky
🎓 vice-rector for academic affairs
🏛️ head of #learning & #teaching centre
🔖 programme director
🧑🏫 academic staff/researcher
Then join the 2026 #EUALearnTeach Forum:
📅 12-13 February, Universidade Católica Portuguesa
🔗 https://bit.ly/bs2026ltforum
#AcademicSky
Reposted by Geerte Slappendel
I don’t think many people realize how infinitely complex the human brain is and the difficulty level of many of the basic tasks it performs in relation to interacting with the world. With less data in less organized blocks than any LLM has ever received, human toddlers can speak multiple languages.
November 30, 2025 at 4:34 AM
I don’t think many people realize how infinitely complex the human brain is and the difficulty level of many of the basic tasks it performs in relation to interacting with the world. With less data in less organized blocks than any LLM has ever received, human toddlers can speak multiple languages.
Reposted by Geerte Slappendel
The simple reality of gen-AI/LLMs is that this is all a lot of hand waving to attempt to get to AGI before the bubble pops. But the chasm between what these models churn out now and what a human-equivalent intelligence could create with skill is larger than the Pacific.
November 30, 2025 at 4:31 AM
The simple reality of gen-AI/LLMs is that this is all a lot of hand waving to attempt to get to AGI before the bubble pops. But the chasm between what these models churn out now and what a human-equivalent intelligence could create with skill is larger than the Pacific.
Reposted by Geerte Slappendel
The bottom-up nature of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions must be preserved!
EUA is strongly opposed to the introduction of a top-down thematic focus or ‘directionality’ in the Commission’s proposal for Horizon Europe.
📄 Our analysis: https://bit.ly/4nxoFL4
#FP10 #MSCAactions
EUA is strongly opposed to the introduction of a top-down thematic focus or ‘directionality’ in the Commission’s proposal for Horizon Europe.
📄 Our analysis: https://bit.ly/4nxoFL4
#FP10 #MSCAactions
November 28, 2025 at 8:35 AM
The bottom-up nature of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions must be preserved!
EUA is strongly opposed to the introduction of a top-down thematic focus or ‘directionality’ in the Commission’s proposal for Horizon Europe.
📄 Our analysis: https://bit.ly/4nxoFL4
#FP10 #MSCAactions
EUA is strongly opposed to the introduction of a top-down thematic focus or ‘directionality’ in the Commission’s proposal for Horizon Europe.
📄 Our analysis: https://bit.ly/4nxoFL4
#FP10 #MSCAactions
Reposted by Geerte Slappendel
De toonaangevende filosoof Achille Mbembe (68) pleit voor meer aandacht voor het ‘Afrikaanse archief’. Hij ontving deze week de Spinozalens, onder meer omdat hij Europeanen een confronterende spiegel voorhoudt. ‘Het idee dat mensen verheven zijn boven andere wezens, is ons met geweld opgedrongen.’
Filosoof Achille Mbembe: ‘Westers denken leidt ons richting een catastrofe’
De Kameroense denker won deze week de Spinozalens.
buff.ly
November 27, 2025 at 7:00 AM
De toonaangevende filosoof Achille Mbembe (68) pleit voor meer aandacht voor het ‘Afrikaanse archief’. Hij ontving deze week de Spinozalens, onder meer omdat hij Europeanen een confronterende spiegel voorhoudt. ‘Het idee dat mensen verheven zijn boven andere wezens, is ons met geweld opgedrongen.’
Reposted by Geerte Slappendel
"a single person of this demographic may have committed a crime, therefore we must punish the entire demographic" is a policy response you may recognize from fascist governments dedicated to ethnic cleansing elsewhere.
November 27, 2025 at 5:52 AM
"a single person of this demographic may have committed a crime, therefore we must punish the entire demographic" is a policy response you may recognize from fascist governments dedicated to ethnic cleansing elsewhere.
Reposted by Geerte Slappendel
Dear professional society leadership:
People say “believe women”. Until the man is someone they know.
November 27, 2025 at 2:44 AM
Dear professional society leadership:
Reposted by Geerte Slappendel
Odi , odi Sranan! Wan switi Srefidensi gi alla Sranan Sma tap a grontapu!
Simons en Simons feliciteren alle Surinamers over de hele wereld met 50 jaar onafhankelijkheid.
Moge de komende 50 vooruitgang, eenheid en voorspoed brengen voor het mooiste land ter wereld!
🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷
Simons en Simons feliciteren alle Surinamers over de hele wereld met 50 jaar onafhankelijkheid.
Moge de komende 50 vooruitgang, eenheid en voorspoed brengen voor het mooiste land ter wereld!
🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷
November 25, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Odi , odi Sranan! Wan switi Srefidensi gi alla Sranan Sma tap a grontapu!
Simons en Simons feliciteren alle Surinamers over de hele wereld met 50 jaar onafhankelijkheid.
Moge de komende 50 vooruitgang, eenheid en voorspoed brengen voor het mooiste land ter wereld!
🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷
Simons en Simons feliciteren alle Surinamers over de hele wereld met 50 jaar onafhankelijkheid.
Moge de komende 50 vooruitgang, eenheid en voorspoed brengen voor het mooiste land ter wereld!
🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷
Reposted by Geerte Slappendel
Thanks, but no thanks. We don't want Amazon, Microsoft and Google to invest a trillion dollars in datacenters in Europe that will bring data of EU citizens within reach of Trump and will lock-in our digital dependence for decades to come.
We need to start building our own digital infrastructure.
We need to start building our own digital infrastructure.
US tells EU to 'roll back' digital rules against US tech companies | Euractiv
US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick dangled the "carrot" of US giants investing in EU data centres in exchange for "reasonable" laws – and the "stick" of tariffs
www.euractiv.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Thanks, but no thanks. We don't want Amazon, Microsoft and Google to invest a trillion dollars in datacenters in Europe that will bring data of EU citizens within reach of Trump and will lock-in our digital dependence for decades to come.
We need to start building our own digital infrastructure.
We need to start building our own digital infrastructure.
Reposted by Geerte Slappendel
You're told it'll sabotage your career if you're a vocally politically opinionated, queer, woman. But things sabotaging my career are systemic xenophobia, sexism, and horrible job market. Which are a direct consequences of people not being vocally opinionated in the first place.
November 25, 2025 at 2:27 AM
You're told it'll sabotage your career if you're a vocally politically opinionated, queer, woman. But things sabotaging my career are systemic xenophobia, sexism, and horrible job market. Which are a direct consequences of people not being vocally opinionated in the first place.
Social media, work floor, conferences…just because we’re part of the educational system doesn’t mean we should be stuck in high school.
Can we *please* stop rewarding bullying behavior in academic social media?
November 25, 2025 at 10:58 AM
Social media, work floor, conferences…just because we’re part of the educational system doesn’t mean we should be stuck in high school.
Reposted by Geerte Slappendel
Imagine you are in a post-apocalyptic world with zombies. There is a spray you can use to ward off zombies. It works well, but is short-acting.
Someone made a new spray that is more long-acting. You want to test it out to see the difference.
Someone made a new spray that is more long-acting. You want to test it out to see the difference.
November 22, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Imagine you are in a post-apocalyptic world with zombies. There is a spray you can use to ward off zombies. It works well, but is short-acting.
Someone made a new spray that is more long-acting. You want to test it out to see the difference.
Someone made a new spray that is more long-acting. You want to test it out to see the difference.
Reposted by Geerte Slappendel
If someone knits or crochets you a blanket or sweater, they want to keep you warm AND they dedicated many hours of their lives to making it for you.
There's no profit in fiber arts, not when you can get a machine made at Target for 30 bucks. So know fiber artists making for you? Is an act of love.
There's no profit in fiber arts, not when you can get a machine made at Target for 30 bucks. So know fiber artists making for you? Is an act of love.
November 21, 2025 at 4:01 PM
If someone knits or crochets you a blanket or sweater, they want to keep you warm AND they dedicated many hours of their lives to making it for you.
There's no profit in fiber arts, not when you can get a machine made at Target for 30 bucks. So know fiber artists making for you? Is an act of love.
There's no profit in fiber arts, not when you can get a machine made at Target for 30 bucks. So know fiber artists making for you? Is an act of love.
Reposted by Geerte Slappendel
It’s widely known (and, I think, pretty uncontroversial) that learning requires effort — specifically, if you don’t have to work at getting the knowledge, it won’t stick.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
November 21, 2025 at 12:49 PM
It’s widely known (and, I think, pretty uncontroversial) that learning requires effort — specifically, if you don’t have to work at getting the knowledge, it won’t stick.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.