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Reposted

Prof Julia Steinberger 🌹🌱🌍 #ClimateAction #Fightfascism

@jksteinberger.bsky.social

As promised, here are the slides I shared with students to convince them to NOT use chatGPT and other artificial stupidity.

TL;DR? AI is evil, unsustainable and stupid, and I'd much rather they use their own brains, make their own mistakes, and actually learn something. 🪄

NO CHATGPT Or other artificial stupidity: motivation
First, clarity on distinguishing AIs:
Non-generative: grammar aid, translation, dictionary, text-to-audio (e.g. Natural Reader): no problem
As long as you use the appropriate tools (least intensive in data and server energy use).
Why? Because you provide the content. Your brain is doing the most important work
Generative: ChatGPT & Co.
You only supply the prompt, the AI supplies the content.
Why is this delegation of work problematic?
3 domains: ethical, environmental, intellectual engagement.

(Caveat: generative is probably ok for computer programming, where it can be useful and save time. Not relevant to this class.)

1) AI and ethics
Mass theft of all and everything
«learning» on books, articles, blogs, social media, images, music, cultural production, without permission of authors/creators, and leading to their mass joblessness. Profits are not reditributed to originators.
Permanent destruction of the mental health of underpaid precarious tech workers in the Global South (Kenya, Philippines …):
«correction» to avoid production of violent and pedophile contents etc, tech workers are obliged to watch and correct super violent contents for days on end, leading to extreme psychological suffering and trauma, from which recovery is doubtful. No or little compensation (certainly not at the level of the suffering inflicted).
In short, an industry built on theft of real human creation and sacrifice of real human health, profiting a few megafortunes.

2) AI and (un)sustainability

Massive consumption of electricity, water, server capacity for generative AI.
Outcome: keep fossil fuel companies in business, using up new renewable capacity, without any satisfaction of basic human needs.
Massive misappropriation of the finance necessary for climate and ecological action (renewable generation, efficiency and retrofit for buildings, public transit, infrastructures for cycling etc) towards AI industry.
Overall: undermine climate action, reinforce fossil industry, waste resources necessary for human development.

3) AI and intellectual engagement

First, what learning is (or should be) about:
The goal should not (only) be the reproduction of «correct» knowledge,
But mainly personal engagement and experience of thinking about topics of interest. Personal engagement = using one’s own brain.
The most important activity for learning and intellectual engagement is the experience of making one’s own mistakes, by trial and error, corrections based on new ideas, starting over again. Learning to recognise nuances, knowledge gaps, better explanations
This kind of learning is possible only through using your own brain, not AI.
Also, Ais are not «intelligent». At all.
They simply reproduce pre-existing patterns. They «bullshit», invent false references, false facts, false data, simply because those sound plausible. VERY DANGEROUS.
If you learn how to NOT use AI, and how to research facts and data on your own, this will serve you and your communities for the rest of your life.

February 23, 2025 at 1:45 PM

Reposted

Jan Rosenow

@janrosenow.bsky.social

The end of the internal combustion engine?

Sales of petrol and diesel cars in China peaked in 2017 and are now falling rapidly.

The shift to electric and low-carbon transport is well underway—and EV sales are rising fast.

November 12, 2025 at 3:36 PM

Reposted

Nature Metabolism

@natmetabolism.nature.com

RESEARCH | T Feng, Q Luo, J Yun et al (@mdanderson.bsky.social)

The combination of glucose and fructose in sugar-sweetened beverages promotes colorectal cancer metastasis via sorbitol dehydrogenase 🧪

www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Fructose and glucose from sugary drinks enhance colorectal cancer metastasis via SORD - Nature Metabolism

Feng, Luo and colleagues show that the combination of glucose and fructose, as found in sugar-sweetened beverages, promotes colorectal cancer metastasis through a mechanism involving sorbitol dehydrog...

www.nature.com

November 8, 2025 at 8:22 PM

Reposted

Bloomberg Opinion

@opinion.bloomberg.com

This chart, showing that the world is getting hotter fast, speaks its own truth

A Chart Climate Denialists Can’t Ignore

Every now and then you come across a piece of evidence that feels strong enough to cut through the noise and change minds.

bloom.bg

October 8, 2025 at 11:45 AM

Reposted

Özden Terli

@terliwetter.bsky.social

Das ist einfach niederschmetternd.

#Klimakatastrophe

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The history of a + 3 °C future: Global and regional drivers of greenhouse gas emissions (1820–2050)

Identifying the socio-economic drivers behind greenhouse gas emissions is crucial to design mitigation policies. Existing studies predominantly analyz…

www.sciencedirect.com

August 13, 2025 at 7:50 PM

klaus2schneider.bsky.social

@klaus2schneider.bsky.social

Dieses Thema liegt mir am Herzen. Bitte hier unterzeichnen: weact.campact.de/petitions/3-...

3,4 Mrd. Euro Klimageld für Gassubventionen? Nicht mit uns!

Warum wir diesen Vorschlag gemeinsam ablehnen sollten Eine Finanzierung der Gasspeicherumlage aus dem KTF würde fossiles Heizen günstiger machen. Dies würde die Anreize zum Umstieg auf emissionsfreie ...

weact.campact.de

July 30, 2025 at 3:23 PM

Reposted

klstone / Klaus Steinfelder

@klstone.bsky.social

Die #Kosten für die #Abregelung von #EE-Anlagen sind in den 3 Jahren von 2021 (letztes Jahr der "alten" GroKo) bis 2024 (letztes Jahr der Ampel) um 31% gesunken (von 807 auf 554 Millionen €)

Bei einem gleichzeitigen Anstieg der installierten PV-Leistung..

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Ökostrom: Mehr als halbe Milliarde Euro Kosten für Abregelungen von Anlagen

Betreiber von Windrädern und Solaranlagen haben im vergangenen Jahr 554 Millionen Euro Entschädigung erhalten. Ihre Anlagen mussten bei Netzengpässen immer wieder abgeregelt werden.

www.spiegel.de

June 4, 2025 at 9:22 PM

Reposted

Eric Topol

@erictopol.bsky.social

Too much protein in the diet appears to carry a risk of atherosclerotic heart disease secondary to leucine's effect. An important report considering recent advocacy for very high-protein diets.
@natmetabolism.nature.com
nature.com/articles/s42...

May 25, 2025 at 10:44 PM

klaus2schneider.bsky.social

@klaus2schneider.bsky.social

Companies seek a second obesity treatment revolution—in pill form | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

Companies seek a second obesity treatment revolution—in pill form

Smaller, more easily made drugs that target GLP-1 could treat obesity and diabetes with fewer side effects

www.science.org

May 16, 2025 at 9:40 AM

Reposted

Florian Aigner

@florianaigner.at

Wow - das ist eine tolle und extrem wichtige Nachricht: In China sinkt der CO2-Ausstoß, weil das Land bei erneuerbarer Energie so erfolgreich ist. Bei gleichzeitigem Wirtschaftswachstum. Das alte Argument "bringt ja nichts, wenn wir was tun, weil China!" hat sich völlig ins Gegenteil verkehrt.

Analysis: Clean energy just put China’s CO2 emissions into reverse for first time - Carbon Brief

For the first time, the growth in China’s clean power generation has caused the nation’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to fall despite rapid power demand growth.

www.carbonbrief.org

May 15, 2025 at 3:02 PM

Reposted

Saloni

@scientificdiscovery.dev

Women tend to live longer than men, but how much longer varies widely around the world 🧵

A world map illustrates the differences in life expectancy between females and males at birth in 2023. Areas shaded in darker purple indicate a greater male life expectancy compared to females, while lighter shades represent regions with higher female life expectancy. Notable data points include Ukraine with a difference of 13.3 years, Russia at 11.8 years, Togo at 0.4 years, and Nigeria at 0.6 years. The data source is the Human Mortality Database (2024) and UN World Population Prospects (2024). The map is attributed with a CC BY license and published by Our World in Data.

March 20, 2025 at 8:19 AM

Reposted

Wolf Maahn

@wolfmaahn.bsky.social

Hey Verbrennersekte,
habt ihr schon vom „Wunder von Paris“ gehört?
(c) 2025 Energiedepesche

Text und vier Grafiken zur Verringerung der jährlichen mittleren Stickstoffdioxid-Konzentration in Paris.

March 20, 2025 at 8:24 AM

Reposted

Christiane Werner

@chriswernerlab.bsky.social

Noch bis zum 24.3. Zeit den Appell für mehr Klimaschutz in den Koalitionsverhandlungen zu unterschreiben.
www.bayceer.uni-bayreuth.de/s4f/de/top/o...

March 13, 2025 at 7:32 PM

klaus2schneider.bsky.social

@klaus2schneider.bsky.social

The Continuing Crisis, Part VII: An Overview | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/blog...

The Continuing Crisis, Part VII: An Overview

www.science.org

March 7, 2025 at 1:00 PM

Reposted

Jan Rosenow

@janrosenow.bsky.social

“Heat pumps are superior in efficiency to condensing boilers, even if the heat pumps are powered by electricity from a power station burning natural gas.”

Not me saying that but late Prof Sir David MacKay.

He is right as my analysis @carbonbrief.org shows.👇

www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-18...

March 6, 2025 at 7:57 PM

Reposted

Jan Rosenow

@janrosenow.bsky.social

Europe leads the way on electricity decarbonisation.

Not only the lowest emissions per kWh of major world regions but also significant reduction achieved in recent years and more to come in the future.

March 5, 2025 at 2:58 PM

Reposted

Carbon Brief

@carbonbrief.org

CCC: Reducing emissions 87% by 2040 would help ‘cut household costs by £1,400’ | @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org @joshgabbatiss.bsky.social @mollylempriere.carbonbrief.org

Read here: https://buff.ly/4kgDfFu

UK greenhouse gas emissions, including international aviation and shipping (IAS), MtCO2e. Lines show historical emissions (black) and the CCC’s “balanced pathway” to reaching net-zero. Legislated carbon budgets levels are shown as grey steps. The first five budgets did not include IAS, but “headroom” was left to allow for these emissions (darker grey wedges). Source: CCC 2024 progress report

February 26, 2025 at 10:00 AM

Reposted

Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh)

@gdch.de

Kathrin Breuker, Universität Innsbruck, erhält den mit 7500€ dotierten Fresenius-Preis der GDCh für ihre innovativen Methoden in der analytischen Chemie. Sie liefert Erkenntnisse über Biomoleküle in der Gasphase mittels hochauflösender Massenspektrometrie.
Mehr: gdch.app/article/fres...

February 11, 2025 at 10:01 AM

Reposted

Anne Applebaum

@anneapplebaum.bsky.social

On the German press baron who "calculated that by hollowing out the political center, political consensus would become impossible and the democratic system would collapse"
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

The Oligarchs Who Came to Regret Supporting Hitler

They helped him in pursuit of profit. Many ended up in concentration camps.

www.theatlantic.com

February 7, 2025 at 12:21 PM

Reposted

Wolf Maahn

@wolfmaahn.bsky.social

Konzertierte Aktion gegen Windkraft: Hinter 440.000 Einsprüchen stecken nur 6.650 Menschen. (= 66 Einsprüche/Person) tagesschau.de

www.tagesschau.de/inland/regio...

tagesschau.de - die erste Adresse für Nachrichten und Information

tagesschau.de - die erste Adresse für Nachrichten und Information: An 365 Tagen im Jahr, rund um die Uhr aktualisiert - die wichtigsten News des Tages

tagesschau.de

January 30, 2025 at 8:06 AM

Reposted

Christian Stöcker

@christianstoecker.de

Fakt ist: In Deutschland sind in den letzten 10 Jahren, trotz Syrienkrieg, trotz Ukrainekrieg, mehr als 700 Menschen WENIGER ermordet worden als im Jahrzehnt davor. „Wie wird Deutschland wieder sicher?“ (@CarenMiosga) ist eine Frage, die von einer falschen Prämisse ausgeht.
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