Melanie I Stefan
@melanieistefan.bsky.social
Computational Neurobiologist at Medical School Berlin. Poster child of failure. She/her
That’s a weird way to spell “about an applicant’s race and gender”
November 7, 2025 at 6:46 AM
That’s a weird way to spell “about an applicant’s race and gender”
Also paging @danny14.bsky.social @prubisch.bsky.social
November 6, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Also paging @danny14.bsky.social @prubisch.bsky.social
Hi hello yes please
November 5, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Hi hello yes please
Ist jemand ein Rassist, nur weil er rassistisch denkt, rassistisch spricht und rassistisch handelt? Wir bleiben dran!
November 4, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Ist jemand ein Rassist, nur weil er rassistisch denkt, rassistisch spricht und rassistisch handelt? Wir bleiben dran!
Fine, but arguably if writing things that nobody ever reads is part of our job description, we should question why they need to be written in the first place. The production of writing is not an end in itself. If it doesn’t serve either the writer or the reader, why do it at all?
October 29, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Fine, but arguably if writing things that nobody ever reads is part of our job description, we should question why they need to be written in the first place. The production of writing is not an end in itself. If it doesn’t serve either the writer or the reader, why do it at all?
[PS] What is a good PhD? I think it’s one that only that particular person could have done, one that uses their unique and weird combination of skills and interests and passions. What makes a student great is exactly the ways in which they are different from a chatbot. And I wish they knew that.
October 29, 2025 at 10:01 AM
[PS] What is a good PhD? I think it’s one that only that particular person could have done, one that uses their unique and weird combination of skills and interests and passions. What makes a student great is exactly the ways in which they are different from a chatbot. And I wish they knew that.
One thing I have learned in my (very short) stint as a learner of Dutch is that the Dutch are quite tolerant with respect to the “r” sound. (Though maybe my teacher was just saying that to be nice)
October 29, 2025 at 9:50 AM
One thing I have learned in my (very short) stint as a learner of Dutch is that the Dutch are quite tolerant with respect to the “r” sound. (Though maybe my teacher was just saying that to be nice)
It makes me sad to think that there are people who think they have nothing to offer in that department, that their humanness can so easily be replaced. [Fin]
October 29, 2025 at 9:46 AM
It makes me sad to think that there are people who think they have nothing to offer in that department, that their humanness can so easily be replaced. [Fin]
It also made me sad that they are essentially allowing themselves to be replaced by an Averages Machine. When what makes people interesting are the ways in which we are different from the average, not necessarily better, just unique. Our quirks. Our weird nerdy interests. Our individual stories [17]
October 29, 2025 at 9:44 AM
It also made me sad that they are essentially allowing themselves to be replaced by an Averages Machine. When what makes people interesting are the ways in which we are different from the average, not necessarily better, just unique. Our quirks. Our weird nerdy interests. Our individual stories [17]
I was listening to a podcast a while ago about people who used chatbots to do their messaging on online dating apps. Aside from the question of why you’s want to be dating if you think “having a conversation with another human person” is a tedious task better to be outsourced to machines. [16]
October 29, 2025 at 9:41 AM
I was listening to a podcast a while ago about people who used chatbots to do their messaging on online dating apps. Aside from the question of why you’s want to be dating if you think “having a conversation with another human person” is a tedious task better to be outsourced to machines. [16]
(Also, don’t @ me, I know that means and medians are not the same, and that it is technically possible most people are in fact better-than-average drivers, in much the same way that most of us have more-than-average fingers.) [15]
October 29, 2025 at 9:38 AM
(Also, don’t @ me, I know that means and medians are not the same, and that it is technically possible most people are in fact better-than-average drivers, in much the same way that most of us have more-than-average fingers.) [15]
GenAI being a statistical model will essentially give you an average. Averagely good writing. It’s interesting that so many people think it’s an improvement over what they can do. (Maybe the opposite of the often-quoted statistic that most people think they are better than average drivers) [14]
October 29, 2025 at 9:35 AM
GenAI being a statistical model will essentially give you an average. Averagely good writing. It’s interesting that so many people think it’s an improvement over what they can do. (Maybe the opposite of the often-quoted statistic that most people think they are better than average drivers) [14]
I wonder if students are being robbed of feelings of self-efficacy and competence. Definitely they are being robbed of the experience of struggling through an assignment like an essay and learning they can do it. Or struggling with a concept and finally wrapping their head around it. [12?]
October 29, 2025 at 9:33 AM
I wonder if students are being robbed of feelings of self-efficacy and competence. Definitely they are being robbed of the experience of struggling through an assignment like an essay and learning they can do it. Or struggling with a concept and finally wrapping their head around it. [12?]
And also that he felt like if he couldn’t use AI, his hands were tied in terms of quality. As if there wasn’t an arsenal of tried-and-tested non-AI methods to improve one’s writing. As if things like „have a friend read it“ or „read it back to yourself out loud“ were somehow unavailable to him. [12]
October 29, 2025 at 9:30 AM
And also that he felt like if he couldn’t use AI, his hands were tied in terms of quality. As if there wasn’t an arsenal of tried-and-tested non-AI methods to improve one’s writing. As if things like „have a friend read it“ or „read it back to yourself out loud“ were somehow unavailable to him. [12]
And you know what, it was fine. Could have done with some polishing here and there. Could have done with a human proof-read. But absolutely within the quality range that I would expect from student work. And it’s kind of sad that he thought it was worth apologising for. [11]
October 29, 2025 at 9:26 AM
And you know what, it was fine. Could have done with some polishing here and there. Could have done with a human proof-read. But absolutely within the quality range that I would expect from student work. And it’s kind of sad that he thought it was worth apologising for. [11]
One student, apparently knowing that I am a sceptic, sent me an assignment with the caveat that the language would be quite bad. Because usually he uses AI to improve it, but in this case he did NOT (his capitals), so sorry in advance. [10]
October 29, 2025 at 9:24 AM
One student, apparently knowing that I am a sceptic, sent me an assignment with the caveat that the language would be quite bad. Because usually he uses AI to improve it, but in this case he did NOT (his capitals), so sorry in advance. [10]
It breaks my heart also that some students seem to think that, and seem to think that it’s not even a set of skills they can (and should) learn. They have big, beautiful, amazing brains and they don’t know what to do with them. [9]
October 29, 2025 at 9:22 AM
It breaks my heart also that some students seem to think that, and seem to think that it’s not even a set of skills they can (and should) learn. They have big, beautiful, amazing brains and they don’t know what to do with them. [9]
Academics who have spent a literal decade training to read and understand texts and critically evaluate them think that PocketChad can do it better than them. This breaks my heart. [8]
October 29, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Academics who have spent a literal decade training to read and understand texts and critically evaluate them think that PocketChad can do it better than them. This breaks my heart. [8]
But also every time you let ChatGPT write your introduction or do your lit search or write your ethics proposal (yes, yes, I have seen it all), you are saying you think it can do better than you. [7]
October 29, 2025 at 9:18 AM
But also every time you let ChatGPT write your introduction or do your lit search or write your ethics proposal (yes, yes, I have seen it all), you are saying you think it can do better than you. [7]
After all, you can ask stupid questions to a chatbot. A chatbot doesn’t judge. (Turns out that particular Postdoc also doesn’t judge, except she judges you for using a chatbot. And rightly so.) [6]
October 29, 2025 at 9:16 AM
After all, you can ask stupid questions to a chatbot. A chatbot doesn’t judge. (Turns out that particular Postdoc also doesn’t judge, except she judges you for using a chatbot. And rightly so.) [6]
But it’s more than a lack of confidence in other people’s abilities. It’s also a lack of confidence in their own. Maybe my colleague felt a bit queasy about having a young early-career scientist explain thing that were outside his expertise. [5]
October 29, 2025 at 9:14 AM
But it’s more than a lack of confidence in other people’s abilities. It’s also a lack of confidence in their own. Maybe my colleague felt a bit queasy about having a young early-career scientist explain thing that were outside his expertise. [5]