Marcello Seri
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mseri.me
Marcello Seri
@mseri.me
870 followers 690 following 490 posts
Associate prof at Bernoulli Institute, Groningen. Proud dad, mathematical physicist, #OCaml enthusiast, LEGO aficionado, amateur photographer, mushroom lover, fresh podcaster

#mathsky #physics #scicomm #ocaml #edusky

Also @mseri@mathstodon.xyz
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mseri.me
Marcello Seri @mseri.me · Jun 23
Mathematics is a powerful language, but getting acquainted to it can be painful and discouraging, especially if you are not really interested in it. But it can be different!
Listen to us on creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/... or your favourite podcast platform

#🧮 #EduSky
S2E08 - Actively learning mathematics with Brendan Kelly by It’s Not Just Numbers
In this special episode, we return to the topics of learning and teaching mathematics. We are joined by Brendan Kelly, Director of Introductory Mathematics at Harvard University, to discuss the…
creators.spotify.com
Reposted by Marcello Seri
hpsvanessa.bsky.social
YIKES! I have linked to and used these resources in the past, a real shame to see them go.
pastandotherplaces.bsky.social The Past and other Places @pastandotherplaces.bsky.social · 5d
Edinburgh University is closing the Institute for Academic Development. Download these student resources while you can. Making notes, reading strategies, time management, dissertations and so on.
CC licenses. Pdf and text only versions. #HE 🗃️
institute-academic-development.ed.ac.uk/study-hub/le...
Study hub learning resources logo. Teal lettering and yellow cog wheels.
November 7, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Reposted by Marcello Seri
perfors.net
Getting nervous for the talk I'm about to give at a workshop about "using AI to drive impact" which features slides such as these.
Slide is titled: You don't need to use LLMs. Science is a process of collaborative meaning making, by which we try to understand the world Even if AI were perfect, we rely on it at our peril — it is not science if we (i.e., humanity as a whole) do not understand and cannot recapitulate all parts of it I very, very rarely use LLMs myself. You can give yourself permission not to. Don’t FOMO yourself into it Conclusion: Don't rely on something you don't understand and can't control If you must use LLMS: 1. Treat them like you would an intern: only use them for things you can easily and thoroughly check 2. Make your process as robust as possible 3. Be aware of your own (human) cognitive biases
November 6, 2025 at 8:41 PM
mseri.me
I like this idea!
valyrina.bsky.social lauren bre @valyrina.bsky.social · 5d
I have my students co-develop class policies, and they pretty much unanimously chose to ban AI in the class. There were a few questions about using Grammarly, but those were the only real exceptions any students expressed (and even then, we talked about alternatives to that and they were open to it)
irisvanrooij.bsky.social Iris van Rooij 💭 @irisvanrooij.bsky.social · 10d
‘Study after study shows that students want to develop these critical thinking skills, are not lazy, and large numbers of them would be in favor of banning ChatGPT and similar tools in universities’, says @olivia.science www.ru.nl/en/research/...
November 7, 2025 at 6:59 AM
Reposted by Marcello Seri
tedunderwood.com
[5/6] I don't know whether these changes will be good or bad in the long run. If you're sad, I can't talk you out of it.

But it's still true: if higher ed wants to play a meaningful role in 21c knowledge production, we have to seize the means of production and make them public.

Unpaywalled:
archive.is
November 4, 2025 at 7:55 PM
mseri.me
The result of an extremely fun and unusual collaboration are finally starting to appear. When this started, purely coincidentally, three years ago, we had only a keyword in common: GENERIC (all caps). And of course completely orthogonal backgrounds.
A geometric formulation of GENERIC stochastic differential equations
We propose a coordinate-invariant geometric formulation of the GENERIC stochastic differential equation, unifying reversible Hamiltonian and irreversible dissipative dynamics within a differential-geo...
arxiv.org
October 31, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Reposted by Marcello Seri
simonwillison.net
This was a tough but necessary decision - I posted my own notes on this here, from the perspective of a current PSF board member simonwillison.net/2025/Oct/27/...
October 27, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Reposted by Marcello Seri
python.org
TLDR; The PSF has made the decision to put our community and our shared diversity, equity, and inclusion values ahead of seeking $1.5M in new revenue. Please read and share. pyfound.blogspot.com/2025/10/NSF-...
🧵
The official home of the Python Programming Language
www.python.org
October 27, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Reposted by Marcello Seri
carlbergstrom.com
Yet again, we can't afford to let LLMs become a source of epistemic grounding for society.
Largest study of its kind shows AI assistants misrepresent news content 45% of the time – regardless of language or territory
An intensive international study was coordinated by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and led by the BBC
www.bbc.co.uk
October 24, 2025 at 5:21 AM
Reposted by Marcello Seri
olivia.science
I am close to tears; they listened and made an english version apache.be/2025/10/24/b...

@apache.be you rule 🖤
October 24, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Reposted by Marcello Seri
dutchscientist.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM-Y...
I always liked this Blackadder Back and Forth scene about Shakespeare...
Blackadder vs. Shakespeare
YouTube video by kalozpepi
www.youtube.com
October 24, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Reposted by Marcello Seri
stephencollins.bsky.social
[Scene is a high school classroom. A teacher is writing on the whiteboard 'ACT 2 SCENE 3'.] TEACHER: OK class - open up Macbeth to Act 2 Scene 3... TEACHER: So - does anybody have any ideas on Shakespeares meaning behind the character of 'the Porter' in this scene? [A voice comes from off-scene, behind the teacher's back[. VOICE: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. TEACHER [turning round]: Sorry….. who are you? [We see a wider scene that shows it is the GHOST OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, hovering over the heads of the startled students] SHAKESPEARE: I'm the Ghost of Shakespeare and I've come back to say: this scene means *absolutely nothing*. The Porter is a funny drunk bloke I lobbed in to cover a costume change! I mean like, not everything I did was genius OK? Stop giving me the ick. TEACHER: So um...what do you suggest we study? SHAKESPEARE: The most important text in British culture! TEACHER: Which is...? SHAKESPEARE: 'Bollocks People Say on the Internet.' TEACHER: You think we should study... bollocks people say on the internet? SHAKESPEARE: Yes. TEACHER: But Mr Shakespeare... your Porter scene was a question in a past GCSE paper... We need to analyse it so the kids don't end up failing their exams... SHAKESPEARE: Yes, and I'm just suggesting you should analyse Bollocks People Say on the Internet instead, so they don't end up painting flags on roundabouts. [Silent pause] TEACHER: OK class - open up your phones to X... [ends]
October 24, 2025 at 11:14 AM
mseri.me
Have fun :)

neal.fun/space-elevator
Space Elevator
Take a trip to space!
neal.fun
October 21, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Reposted by Marcello Seri
sciencefaction.nl
This week’s faction meeting: budget cuts, SSH governance, and PhD wellbeing. Because nothing says ‘fun’ like deciding who gets the short end of the stick!
Guido Visman Thereza Langeler Marcello Seri Gerard Ritsema van Eck
October 15, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Reposted by Marcello Seri
melaniemitchell.bsky.social
The lifecycle of software objects
October 14, 2025 at 9:01 PM
mseri.me
I know, th photo is terrible, but those colours this morning… wow!

#autumn
Autumn colours. A photo of trees on the side of the road. The leaves range from dark green, to red, to bright orange. A grey sky in the background makes the colours pop out
October 13, 2025 at 8:58 PM
mseri.me
Another milestone for our "oscillation book" tonight, with a new heavily edited version, introducing linear algebra much earlier and integrating some notions of harmonic analysis in the text. Still aiming at a "non-expert" audience.

The new draft: academic.mseri.me/pe.htm#oscil...

#mathSky #eduSky
Marcello Seri Academic Page - Public Engagement
Marcello Seri, academic pages
academic.mseri.me
October 9, 2025 at 8:30 PM
mseri.me
If you can travel on Dec 9-12 and you are interested in LEAN, mathlib and in general formalizing mathematics, don't miss #ItaLean25

Great job @marcolenci.bsky.social and @pietromonticone.bsky.social

pitmonticone.github.io/ItaLean2025/
ItaLean 2025
pitmonticone.github.io
October 9, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Reposted by Marcello Seri
sciencefaction.nl
Marcello Seri's first month in the University Council flew by; read about his experiences on our blog!

Or, you know, his blog. We ain't jealous about page views.
October 8, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Reposted by Marcello Seri
smbccomics.bsky.social
When biologists can't explain cubic wombat poop, why don't THEY call it a singularity?

COMIC ◆ www.smbc-comics.com/comic/beyond
PATREON ◆ www.patreon.com/c/ZachWeiner...
STORE ◆ smbc-store.myshopify.com
2-panel SMBC comic update. The first panel has a narration box saying "Caveman" where two cavemen are looking out at the ocean. One says "us not know what on other side of ocean." The second panel has a narration box saying "Caveman Physicist" where the same caveman now says "Past ocean... Science breaks down. Is Ocean singularity" as the other caveman marvels.
October 7, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Reposted by Marcello Seri
jalonso.bsky.social
Growing Mathlib: Maintenance of a large scale mathematical library. ~ Anne Baanen, Matthew Robert Ballard, Johan Commelin, Bryan Gin-ge Chen, Michael Rothgang, Damiano Testa. arxiv.org/abs/2508.21593 #ITP #LeanProver #Mathlib #Math
Growing Mathlib: maintenance of a large scale mathematical library
The Lean mathematical library Mathlib is one of the fastest-growing libraries of formalised mathematics. We describe various strategies to manage this growth, while allowing for change and avoiding ma...
arxiv.org
October 8, 2025 at 10:24 AM
mseri.me
In September I have joined our University Council, a co-participation body that monitors the activities of the Uni Board, issues (un)solicited advice and has a say in some important decisions.

What we do can sound a bit mysterious and I hope I can make it more transparent by blogging about it :)
Our first month in the University Council
A month has passed since the new University Council (UC) was installed, and I think it’s time to look back on what has happened so far, and what seems to lie ahead. When I enlisted I promised myself t...
www.mseri.me
October 8, 2025 at 10:04 AM
mseri.me
> I gave the world wide web away for free because I thought that it would only work if it worked for everyone. Today, I believe that to be truer than ever. — T. Berners-Lee

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Why I gave the world wide web away for free | Technology | The Guardian
My vision was based on sharing, not exploitation – and here’s why it’s still worth fighting for
www.theguardian.com
October 6, 2025 at 5:05 PM
mseri.me
Ottimo video di Taglio Netto, diFlavia Carlini, su Chat Control 2.0
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwDe...

Manca poco più di una settimana per il voto al parlamento Europeo, non possiamo continuare a far finta di niente

Per contattare i vostri europarlamentari consultate fightchatcontrol.eu
L'Unione Europea vuole condurci verso la sorveglianza di massa.
YouTube video by flaviacarlini
www.youtube.com
October 6, 2025 at 8:42 AM
mseri.me
Despite the severe lack of time and funding, the third season of It's Not Just Numbers, a podcast on the human side of #mathematics, is finally in the making!

Stay tuned, and catch up on the episodes you missed 😊
Find us on podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/not-just-numbers or your favorite platform
October 6, 2025 at 7:16 AM
Reposted by Marcello Seri
newyorker.com
Today’s Daily Cartoon, by Brendan Loper. #NewYorkerCartoons
October 3, 2025 at 6:30 PM