Kenny B
@playertotheleft.bsky.social
I love ethics, teach math, read (mostly) sci-fi and fantasy, and yearn for justice.
As a mathematician, I cannot endorse this message.
December 17, 2025 at 6:00 PM
As a mathematician, I cannot endorse this message.
A) Congratulations!
B) Your regalia made me think we might have gone to the same place (we didn't, but Michigan State's looks a lot like yours).
C) I hope institutions recognize your passion and quality and your job search is short and, if this is even possible, easy.
B) Your regalia made me think we might have gone to the same place (we didn't, but Michigan State's looks a lot like yours).
C) I hope institutions recognize your passion and quality and your job search is short and, if this is even possible, easy.
December 15, 2025 at 12:42 AM
A) Congratulations!
B) Your regalia made me think we might have gone to the same place (we didn't, but Michigan State's looks a lot like yours).
C) I hope institutions recognize your passion and quality and your job search is short and, if this is even possible, easy.
B) Your regalia made me think we might have gone to the same place (we didn't, but Michigan State's looks a lot like yours).
C) I hope institutions recognize your passion and quality and your job search is short and, if this is even possible, easy.
The thread's author reveals the fragility of continuity of self even over time spans of less than a year. 8/10 QDUs
December 10, 2025 at 5:17 PM
The thread's author reveals the fragility of continuity of self even over time spans of less than a year. 8/10 QDUs
This also seems to be Trump's ideal for any contract for labor.
December 10, 2025 at 4:37 PM
This also seems to be Trump's ideal for any contract for labor.
I want this, but as a cake.
November 19, 2025 at 2:49 PM
I want this, but as a cake.
I think the largest problem with anecdotal data is when individuals reject the anecdotes of others because their own anecdotes disagree. Statistical conclusions provide and justify a veneer of "objectivism" to their results, but it is mostly just that, a veneer.
November 8, 2025 at 9:41 PM
I think the largest problem with anecdotal data is when individuals reject the anecdotes of others because their own anecdotes disagree. Statistical conclusions provide and justify a veneer of "objectivism" to their results, but it is mostly just that, a veneer.
*I want to acknowledge, but also push back against, the primacy of statistical over anecdotal data in modern epistemology. Certainly statistical methods have been extremely useful, and can only be reliably applied to aggregate data. However, ultimately statistically average people do not exist.
November 8, 2025 at 9:41 PM
*I want to acknowledge, but also push back against, the primacy of statistical over anecdotal data in modern epistemology. Certainly statistical methods have been extremely useful, and can only be reliably applied to aggregate data. However, ultimately statistically average people do not exist.
That said, anecdotally*, my experience is that I am online more when I feel worse about my offline life (say, when grading something that is not going well for my students, for example). This raises the specter that emotional health and digital habits form a reinforcing cycle, a "downward spiral."
November 8, 2025 at 9:41 PM
That said, anecdotally*, my experience is that I am online more when I feel worse about my offline life (say, when grading something that is not going well for my students, for example). This raises the specter that emotional health and digital habits form a reinforcing cycle, a "downward spiral."
Not through a controlled experiment, but by linking the rise of social media to technological changes (prevalence of smart phones). It would be admittedly odd if increased anxiety led to the invention of smartphones...
November 8, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Not through a controlled experiment, but by linking the rise of social media to technological changes (prevalence of smart phones). It would be admittedly odd if increased anxiety led to the invention of smartphones...
Autonomous individual, you are the change we need.
November 8, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Autonomous individual, you are the change we need.
The *only* thing!?! (Sorry for necro-ing your post, I'll refresh and maybe my feed won't be all six day old posts anymore... but it is an interesting question and I'm glad I saw it!)
I cannot decide if this is a good faith question, or a fun poking at an admittedly humorously arbitrary discussion.
I cannot decide if this is a good faith question, or a fun poking at an admittedly humorously arbitrary discussion.
November 8, 2025 at 9:26 PM
The *only* thing!?! (Sorry for necro-ing your post, I'll refresh and maybe my feed won't be all six day old posts anymore... but it is an interesting question and I'm glad I saw it!)
I cannot decide if this is a good faith question, or a fun poking at an admittedly humorously arbitrary discussion.
I cannot decide if this is a good faith question, or a fun poking at an admittedly humorously arbitrary discussion.
Dr. Sturgis from Young Sheldon in a canvassing group?!? Inconceivable!
November 8, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Dr. Sturgis from Young Sheldon in a canvassing group?!? Inconceivable!
To be clear, conservatives can be feminists (and should be!), but their feminism cannot be conservative.
November 6, 2025 at 7:27 PM
To be clear, conservatives can be feminists (and should be!), but their feminism cannot be conservative.
So all the AI algorithms that actually do something are also brought to us by math. Like, increased surveillance! Better targeted corporate advertising! Better targeted political advertis... gosh darn it!
Math: its effectiveness isn't just unreasonable, sometimes it's downright inconvenient!
Math: its effectiveness isn't just unreasonable, sometimes it's downright inconvenient!
November 3, 2025 at 3:25 AM
So all the AI algorithms that actually do something are also brought to us by math. Like, increased surveillance! Better targeted corporate advertising! Better targeted political advertis... gosh darn it!
Math: its effectiveness isn't just unreasonable, sometimes it's downright inconvenient!
Math: its effectiveness isn't just unreasonable, sometimes it's downright inconvenient!
This is absolutely the best second half that a post with that unfortunate first half could have. (I'm not going to lie, you had me worried.) And the great news is that all the other non-scam deep learning algorithms are also matrix multiplication and pages of partial derivatives! (Dark turn ahead.)
November 3, 2025 at 3:25 AM
This is absolutely the best second half that a post with that unfortunate first half could have. (I'm not going to lie, you had me worried.) And the great news is that all the other non-scam deep learning algorithms are also matrix multiplication and pages of partial derivatives! (Dark turn ahead.)
A number is an element of a group.
Yet another problem solved by group theorists.
Yet another problem solved by group theorists.
November 3, 2025 at 12:25 AM
A number is an element of a group.
Yet another problem solved by group theorists.
Yet another problem solved by group theorists.
[1] Friedrich Nietzsche, Unpublished Journal 11, Note 65
[2] Plato, The Republic, Book VII
[2] Plato, The Republic, Book VII
October 25, 2025 at 10:54 PM
[1] Friedrich Nietzsche, Unpublished Journal 11, Note 65
[2] Plato, The Republic, Book VII
[2] Plato, The Republic, Book VII
Plato, on the other hand, was just being rude!
"'For you surely would not regard the skilled mathematician as a dialectician?'
'Assuredly not,' he said; 'I have hardly ever known a mathematician who was capable of reasoning.'" [2]
"'For you surely would not regard the skilled mathematician as a dialectician?'
'Assuredly not,' he said; 'I have hardly ever known a mathematician who was capable of reasoning.'" [2]
October 25, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Plato, on the other hand, was just being rude!
"'For you surely would not regard the skilled mathematician as a dialectician?'
'Assuredly not,' he said; 'I have hardly ever known a mathematician who was capable of reasoning.'" [2]
"'For you surely would not regard the skilled mathematician as a dialectician?'
'Assuredly not,' he said; 'I have hardly ever known a mathematician who was capable of reasoning.'" [2]
However, one can see what he means. In a field which focuses on the purely formal to the exclusion of the specific as much as possible, there can be much consensus and, therefore, less need to impress one's own self upon the ideas studied.
October 25, 2025 at 10:54 PM
However, one can see what he means. In a field which focuses on the purely formal to the exclusion of the specific as much as possible, there can be much consensus and, therefore, less need to impress one's own self upon the ideas studied.
I'm not sure if this is true, but it is worrisome that it is reasonable to posit that some of the advantages to supplementing the police with an actual militia come from reducing the militarization...
September 14, 2025 at 4:17 AM
I'm not sure if this is true, but it is worrisome that it is reasonable to posit that some of the advantages to supplementing the police with an actual militia come from reducing the militarization...