Nathan Vērzemnieks
@inchoate.space
Worder, birder, partner, parent. Always becoming. they/them
Reposted by Nathan Vērzemnieks
Australia recorded ZERO cases of cervical cancer in women under 25 for the first time since they started tracking the cancer in the 80s.
This is the power of vaccines.
The HPV vaccine is extremely effective at preventing cancer.
Viruses can be oncogenic. Get your vaccines and protect yourself!
This is the power of vaccines.
The HPV vaccine is extremely effective at preventing cancer.
Viruses can be oncogenic. Get your vaccines and protect yourself!
newsGP - Australia set for world-first cervical cancer elimination
Vaccination programs have played a key role, and GPs remain ‘instrumental’ in boosting screening rates to reach the 2035 target.
www1.racgp.org.au
November 27, 2025 at 3:45 AM
Australia recorded ZERO cases of cervical cancer in women under 25 for the first time since they started tracking the cancer in the 80s.
This is the power of vaccines.
The HPV vaccine is extremely effective at preventing cancer.
Viruses can be oncogenic. Get your vaccines and protect yourself!
This is the power of vaccines.
The HPV vaccine is extremely effective at preventing cancer.
Viruses can be oncogenic. Get your vaccines and protect yourself!
Reposted by Nathan Vērzemnieks
One of the biggest issues with the synthetic text extruding machines is that we have well-formed linguistic output with no accountability. Solution: OpenAI should be accountable for everything that comes out of ChatGPT, period. (And likewise for Google with Gemini, etc.)
New on the Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 newsletter: @deccamuldowney.bsky.social and I write about OpenAI's transparent attempt to shift accountability.
buttondown.com/maiht3k/arch...
buttondown.com/maiht3k/arch...
OpenAI Tries to Shift Responsibility to Users
OpenAI is trying to shift the blame for bad legal and medical advice from its chatbot away from the company and onto users. We agree that no chatbot should be used for medical or legal advice.
buttondown.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:36 PM
One of the biggest issues with the synthetic text extruding machines is that we have well-formed linguistic output with no accountability. Solution: OpenAI should be accountable for everything that comes out of ChatGPT, period. (And likewise for Google with Gemini, etc.)
Reposted by Nathan Vērzemnieks
These politicians aren't in disarray. They fucking hate you. They don't work for you.
November 10, 2025 at 3:10 AM
These politicians aren't in disarray. They fucking hate you. They don't work for you.
Reposted by Nathan Vērzemnieks
people bitch about small talk, but small talk — and being able to shoot the shit with a stranger — is a key fucking social skill, and while i understand it doesn’t come naturally to everyone, it *is* one that’s useful and worth working on
November 6, 2025 at 3:40 AM
people bitch about small talk, but small talk — and being able to shoot the shit with a stranger — is a key fucking social skill, and while i understand it doesn’t come naturally to everyone, it *is* one that’s useful and worth working on
Reposted by Nathan Vērzemnieks
Lots of hard, shitty lessons being learned from this presidency. And one of the many I hope you're learning is, white supremacy is incompatible with reality, and cannot exist without historical revisionism.
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Lots of hard, shitty lessons being learned from this presidency. And one of the many I hope you're learning is, white supremacy is incompatible with reality, and cannot exist without historical revisionism.
Reposted by Nathan Vērzemnieks
having a young child is like having a friend on a serious "I NEED to talk to someone about my new hobby" bender, but the hobby is human existence
November 7, 2025 at 2:51 PM
having a young child is like having a friend on a serious "I NEED to talk to someone about my new hobby" bender, but the hobby is human existence
Reposted by Nathan Vērzemnieks
And in case you missed my own post about how Grokipedia is error-prone right-wing "AI"-babble:
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/10/30/a...
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/10/30/a...
A Review of Grokipedia, Using Myself as Test Subject
What? You didn’t know that Grokipedia exists? Well, it does, and it’s Elon Musk’s attempt to run Wikipedia out of town on a rail: An “AI”-generated compendium of infor…
whatever.scalzi.com
November 3, 2025 at 4:48 PM
And in case you missed my own post about how Grokipedia is error-prone right-wing "AI"-babble:
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/10/30/a...
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/10/30/a...
Reposted by Nathan Vērzemnieks
My perhaps controversial assessment is that when you share the propaganda of your enemies to call it out or to mock it… you’re still spreading their propaganda and maybe doing exactly what they hope you’ll do.
November 1, 2025 at 11:52 AM
My perhaps controversial assessment is that when you share the propaganda of your enemies to call it out or to mock it… you’re still spreading their propaganda and maybe doing exactly what they hope you’ll do.
Reposted by Nathan Vērzemnieks
i think i would honestly find this whole discourse more tolerable if people simply said what they were actually saying, which is that they think the Democratic Party is too associated with femininity (and secondarily, with black people) and that they want to correct this
October 25, 2025 at 12:08 PM
i think i would honestly find this whole discourse more tolerable if people simply said what they were actually saying, which is that they think the Democratic Party is too associated with femininity (and secondarily, with black people) and that they want to correct this
Reposted by Nathan Vērzemnieks
like, for example, just say political transphobia isn't a deal breaker for you instead of whining about purity tests
October 20, 2025 at 2:19 PM
like, for example, just say political transphobia isn't a deal breaker for you instead of whining about purity tests
Reposted by Nathan Vērzemnieks
I’m putting “purity test” on the big board of bullshit terms right next to “polarized.” Terms that, when you hear them, the odds the person using them is talking bullshit approaches 100%.
like, for example, just say political transphobia isn't a deal breaker for you instead of whining about purity tests
October 21, 2025 at 9:46 AM
I’m putting “purity test” on the big board of bullshit terms right next to “polarized.” Terms that, when you hear them, the odds the person using them is talking bullshit approaches 100%.
Reposted by Nathan Vērzemnieks
Just FYI, here are my personal beliefs on the use of large scale violence.
1. Violence tends to be self-replicating, and so should be avoided as much as possible.
All violence has the potential to entrench itself.
1. Violence tends to be self-replicating, and so should be avoided as much as possible.
All violence has the potential to entrench itself.
October 14, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Just FYI, here are my personal beliefs on the use of large scale violence.
1. Violence tends to be self-replicating, and so should be avoided as much as possible.
All violence has the potential to entrench itself.
1. Violence tends to be self-replicating, and so should be avoided as much as possible.
All violence has the potential to entrench itself.
Reposted by Nathan Vērzemnieks
After spending 43 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, evidence hidden by the prosecution reversed his conviction. Rather than finally enjoying freedom, ICE abducted him for deportation
Depraved.
www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...
Depraved.
www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...
He was wrongfully imprisoned for 43 years. Moments after being released, ICE took him
Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam now faces deportation.
www.miamiherald.com
October 12, 2025 at 2:00 AM
After spending 43 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, evidence hidden by the prosecution reversed his conviction. Rather than finally enjoying freedom, ICE abducted him for deportation
Depraved.
www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...
Depraved.
www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...
Reposted by Nathan Vērzemnieks
Here's a rule of thumb: If "AI" seems like a good solution, you are probably both misjudging what the "AI" can do and misframing the problem.
>>
>>
October 11, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Here's a rule of thumb: If "AI" seems like a good solution, you are probably both misjudging what the "AI" can do and misframing the problem.
>>
>>
Reposted by Nathan Vērzemnieks
Doug Wilson co-authored a (plagiarized) book that defended the institution of slavery *as it was practiced in the antebellum South*. This is how Douthat introduced the subject while providing him with the NYT's platform:
October 9, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Doug Wilson co-authored a (plagiarized) book that defended the institution of slavery *as it was practiced in the antebellum South*. This is how Douthat introduced the subject while providing him with the NYT's platform:
Reposted by Nathan Vērzemnieks
Putting aside the question of AI personhood, a slur requires a history of dehumanization.
In order to fuction, the slur has to call into being that history of dehumanization for its injurious force. There is no such history for LLMs, regardless of claims otherwise.
In order to fuction, the slur has to call into being that history of dehumanization for its injurious force. There is no such history for LLMs, regardless of claims otherwise.
October 5, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Putting aside the question of AI personhood, a slur requires a history of dehumanization.
In order to fuction, the slur has to call into being that history of dehumanization for its injurious force. There is no such history for LLMs, regardless of claims otherwise.
In order to fuction, the slur has to call into being that history of dehumanization for its injurious force. There is no such history for LLMs, regardless of claims otherwise.
Reposted by Nathan Vērzemnieks
Every few months now I re-read this "Who Goes Nazi?" piece from 1941 and am blown away by how it captures the people we are dealing with 80 years later.
harpers.org/archive/1941...
harpers.org/archive/1941...
Who Goes Nazi?, by Dorothy Thompson
harpers.org
October 1, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Every few months now I re-read this "Who Goes Nazi?" piece from 1941 and am blown away by how it captures the people we are dealing with 80 years later.
harpers.org/archive/1941...
harpers.org/archive/1941...
Reposted by Nathan Vērzemnieks
ICE are thug trash.
Another violent attack by an ICE officer on a civilian at 26 Federal Plaza—this time on a journalist, who had to be carried out on stretcher.
Another attack on the First Amendment, our neighbors, and our democracy.
Another attack on the First Amendment, our neighbors, and our democracy.
September 30, 2025 at 4:54 PM
ICE are thug trash.
Reposted by Nathan Vērzemnieks
The essential failure of LLMs in the smart home - where natural language processing should shine - is the best evidence that LLMs as a technology simply may not be able to do the things they’re promised
www.theverge.com/report/78717...
www.theverge.com/report/78717...
September 29, 2025 at 4:06 PM
The essential failure of LLMs in the smart home - where natural language processing should shine - is the best evidence that LLMs as a technology simply may not be able to do the things they’re promised
www.theverge.com/report/78717...
www.theverge.com/report/78717...
Reposted by Nathan Vērzemnieks
Adler makes a point: Any game excludes people. Every decision excludes people. The impulse is "exclude no one" but this is wrong, impossible. The question you *should* ask is: Is this game excluding *the same people who every game tends to exclude*? *That* would be wrong.
This point generalizes
This point generalizes
September 27, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Adler makes a point: Any game excludes people. Every decision excludes people. The impulse is "exclude no one" but this is wrong, impossible. The question you *should* ask is: Is this game excluding *the same people who every game tends to exclude*? *That* would be wrong.
This point generalizes
This point generalizes
Reposted by Nathan Vērzemnieks
And as for writing, don't get me started. Most often, the process of writing is not a laborious business of transcription, but a process of thinking itself. I'm not about to outsource my thinking to a machine.
September 26, 2025 at 10:50 AM
And as for writing, don't get me started. Most often, the process of writing is not a laborious business of transcription, but a process of thinking itself. I'm not about to outsource my thinking to a machine.
Reposted by Nathan Vērzemnieks
dear everyone
MOCKING PEOPLE'S APPEARANCE ISN'T HOW YOU BUILD A MORE JUST WORLD
MOCKING ABILITY OR HEALTH MOST *CERTAINTLY* ISN'T
how many times must we cover this
yes this includes "chosen" things like self-tanner FFS it doesn't matter
people's SPEECH & ACTIONS are what matter
GO AFTER THAT
MOCKING PEOPLE'S APPEARANCE ISN'T HOW YOU BUILD A MORE JUST WORLD
MOCKING ABILITY OR HEALTH MOST *CERTAINTLY* ISN'T
how many times must we cover this
yes this includes "chosen" things like self-tanner FFS it doesn't matter
people's SPEECH & ACTIONS are what matter
GO AFTER THAT
August 26, 2025 at 7:19 PM
dear everyone
MOCKING PEOPLE'S APPEARANCE ISN'T HOW YOU BUILD A MORE JUST WORLD
MOCKING ABILITY OR HEALTH MOST *CERTAINTLY* ISN'T
how many times must we cover this
yes this includes "chosen" things like self-tanner FFS it doesn't matter
people's SPEECH & ACTIONS are what matter
GO AFTER THAT
MOCKING PEOPLE'S APPEARANCE ISN'T HOW YOU BUILD A MORE JUST WORLD
MOCKING ABILITY OR HEALTH MOST *CERTAINTLY* ISN'T
how many times must we cover this
yes this includes "chosen" things like self-tanner FFS it doesn't matter
people's SPEECH & ACTIONS are what matter
GO AFTER THAT
Reposted by Nathan Vērzemnieks
We will never defeat Trumpism in this country so long as we accept the idea that some kinds of people are not as good as others.
It's liberty and justice for all, all the way, for everyone, without a single asterisk.
It's liberty and justice for all, all the way, for everyone, without a single asterisk.
August 26, 2025 at 3:27 PM
We will never defeat Trumpism in this country so long as we accept the idea that some kinds of people are not as good as others.
It's liberty and justice for all, all the way, for everyone, without a single asterisk.
It's liberty and justice for all, all the way, for everyone, without a single asterisk.
Reposted by Nathan Vērzemnieks
Journalists stop prentending that using synthetic text extruding machines to extrude synthetic text is "interviewing" them challenge
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
August 26, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Journalists stop prentending that using synthetic text extruding machines to extrude synthetic text is "interviewing" them challenge
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Reposted by Nathan Vērzemnieks
ICE posted this video. It’s not posted by someone pointing out that masked anonymous federal cops are tearing down speech they don’t like, which is a very bad thing.
It was posted by the anonymous anti-speech secret police themselves!
It was posted by the anonymous anti-speech secret police themselves!
ICE just posted this video taking down the sign in Mount Pleasant on Twitter.
August 18, 2025 at 7:10 AM
ICE posted this video. It’s not posted by someone pointing out that masked anonymous federal cops are tearing down speech they don’t like, which is a very bad thing.
It was posted by the anonymous anti-speech secret police themselves!
It was posted by the anonymous anti-speech secret police themselves!