Pim van Tol
@pvtol.bsky.social
Online/offline Publishing strategist | https://Monday915.com | Lit, Phil, Biz & Current Affairs | Musician & collector | Looking for a way out of today's madness
Pinned
Pim van Tol
@pvtol.bsky.social
· Jun 7
Apologies if I'm unfollowing about half of a starter pack but I find myself getting pretty depressed about the whole [pick your region] situation. I'm super eager to hear about *solutions*, though, however improbable
Reposted by Pim van Tol
Can we get some shares going? This album is free to download or pay what you want, we wanted to give back for all the support you've give us this year. Thank You.
theblackdog.bandcamp.com/album/the-bl...
theblackdog.bandcamp.com/album/the-bl...
December 6, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Can we get some shares going? This album is free to download or pay what you want, we wanted to give back for all the support you've give us this year. Thank You.
theblackdog.bandcamp.com/album/the-bl...
theblackdog.bandcamp.com/album/the-bl...
Reposted by Pim van Tol
Curious what those tech execs say to you @reckless.bsky.social!
I’ve been running around asking tech execs and academics if language was the same as intelligence for over a year now - and, well, it isn’t. @benjaminjriley.bsky.social explains how the bubble is built on ignoring cutting-edge research into the science of thought www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
November 25, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Curious what those tech execs say to you @reckless.bsky.social!
Reposted by Pim van Tol
Founders on LinkedIn still seem to be struggling with the difference between telling people about their humble beginnings and admitting to straight up committing fraud.
November 24, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Founders on LinkedIn still seem to be struggling with the difference between telling people about their humble beginnings and admitting to straight up committing fraud.
Reposted by Pim van Tol
"A lot of the choices we make with environmental impact are now choices we make consciously. We can ask what kind of world we want."
fivebooks.com/best-books/r...
fivebooks.com/best-books/r...
Climate Change Innovation
Environmental studies professor Roger Pielke Jr says innovation is the only way to reverse climate change and chooses five books on the subject.
fivebooks.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:00 AM
"A lot of the choices we make with environmental impact are now choices we make consciously. We can ask what kind of world we want."
fivebooks.com/best-books/r...
fivebooks.com/best-books/r...
Reposted by Pim van Tol
“Data doesn’t speak for itself. We need to speak for the data”
fivebooks.com/best-books/b...
fivebooks.com/best-books/b...
The Best Math Books of 2019
The best math and mathematics books of 2019, recommended by leading expert Kit Yates, Senior Lecturer in mathematical biology at the University of Bath.
fivebooks.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:00 AM
“Data doesn’t speak for itself. We need to speak for the data”
fivebooks.com/best-books/b...
fivebooks.com/best-books/b...
"When political figures deny evidence, distort facts, or lie as strategy, reporting their claims as equal to verified facts is not neutrality or impartiality — it is distortion."
The broader global trend is unmistakable. The BBC is not unique in this struggle, but because of its scale and cultural importance, the stakes are higher.
buff.ly/RnmP2Uc
buff.ly/RnmP2Uc
After resignations at the top, the BBC faces a defining test: What does impartiality mean now?
The organization, like many news outlets worldwide, is caught in a bind, accused of bias from both the left and the right — and while in the past this might suggest a fair balance, in today’s climate…
www.niemanlab.org
November 17, 2025 at 4:22 PM
"When political figures deny evidence, distort facts, or lie as strategy, reporting their claims as equal to verified facts is not neutrality or impartiality — it is distortion."
Reposted by Pim van Tol
David Miliband's closing paragraphs in his Observer article today are quite ... striking.
November 16, 2025 at 8:39 AM
David Miliband's closing paragraphs in his Observer article today are quite ... striking.
Reposted by Pim van Tol
Whole fucking thing makes me sick to my stomach. An abject fucking liar, a man who lies as easily as he fucking breathes, threatening an organisation which strives for truthfulness. And plastic patriots like the Mail and Farage urging him on. Jackels.
November 11, 2025 at 7:24 AM
Whole fucking thing makes me sick to my stomach. An abject fucking liar, a man who lies as easily as he fucking breathes, threatening an organisation which strives for truthfulness. And plastic patriots like the Mail and Farage urging him on. Jackels.
Overheard: "Emily seemed very unconvinced to do a full marathon"
November 11, 2025 at 8:40 AM
Overheard: "Emily seemed very unconvinced to do a full marathon"
Reposted by Pim van Tol
"Born digital describes works that are created with a computer and are meant to be read on the computer. They’re not works that you print out."
fivebooks.com/best-books/e...
fivebooks.com/best-books/e...
The Best Electronic Literature
The best electronic literature, recommended by literary scholar and digital literature specialist, Jessica Pressman.
fivebooks.com
November 9, 2025 at 4:00 PM
"Born digital describes works that are created with a computer and are meant to be read on the computer. They’re not works that you print out."
fivebooks.com/best-books/e...
fivebooks.com/best-books/e...
Reposted by Pim van Tol
"Many doomsday anxieties around AI likely reflect the broader epistemological shift away from language as a source of truth. The anxieties we place on them now reflect a deep unease and unfamiliarity with how we navigate a world where words persuade without regard to reality." - @eryk.bsky.social
Geoffrey Hinton warns us of the persuasive powers of superintelligence. But, "while AI won't “decide” to persuade people to do harmful things on a global scale any time soon; AI companies are persuading us to do harmful things on a global scale already." mail.cyberneticforests.com/thoughts-on-...
Thoughts on Hinton
On Consciousness in Programs
Geoffrey Hinton recently won a Nobel Prize for his work on backpropagation, a foundational piece of research that contributed to the emergence of contemporary artificial ...
mail.cyberneticforests.com
November 5, 2025 at 1:50 PM
"Many doomsday anxieties around AI likely reflect the broader epistemological shift away from language as a source of truth. The anxieties we place on them now reflect a deep unease and unfamiliarity with how we navigate a world where words persuade without regard to reality." - @eryk.bsky.social
*sighs* OK... where shall I start with this one...
November 1, 2025 at 6:06 PM
*sighs* OK... where shall I start with this one...
"I think about writing like I think about music: no one says ‘Can you condense that piece of music or explain it in a shorter piece?' The experience of listening to music is not considered as something that necessarily has a subtext that is more important that the text."
“Absurdist writing seems to be very much to do with a proliferation or confusion of meaning”
fivebooks.com/best-books/a...
fivebooks.com/best-books/a...
The Best Absurdist Literature
Joanna Walsh recommends the best works of absurdism, from Daniil Kharms shattered narratives to Isabel Waidner's joyful assaults on sense
fivebooks.com
November 1, 2025 at 11:05 AM
"I think about writing like I think about music: no one says ‘Can you condense that piece of music or explain it in a shorter piece?' The experience of listening to music is not considered as something that necessarily has a subtext that is more important that the text."
Reposted by Pim van Tol
A beautiful testament to the essential humanity of teaching.
"I will never compete with AI in word count or response time. But I will keep saying, 'Tell me more about that…' I will keep noticing how the girl in the back always looks up when I mention whales or rivers or grief."
"I will never compete with AI in word count or response time. But I will keep saying, 'Tell me more about that…' I will keep noticing how the girl in the back always looks up when I mention whales or rivers or grief."
Please read this essay aloud.
“[Teaching] is about being present. About staying long enough to know what to ask. About saying: ‘I think I know what you mean,’ even if we’re wrong. Especially if we’re wrong.”
Thanks @heymrsbond.com for sharing this. It impacted me.
therumpus.net/2025/10/02/h...
“[Teaching] is about being present. About staying long enough to know what to ask. About saying: ‘I think I know what you mean,’ even if we’re wrong. Especially if we’re wrong.”
Thanks @heymrsbond.com for sharing this. It impacted me.
therumpus.net/2025/10/02/h...
Human Error Is the Point: On Teaching College During the Rise of AI - The Rumpus
My syllabus is a mess of half-remembered intentions. I re-use icebreakers that I know don’t work. I forget to grade the first assignment until Week Four. I write emails that begin with “So sorry for t...
therumpus.net
October 22, 2025 at 10:24 AM
A beautiful testament to the essential humanity of teaching.
"I will never compete with AI in word count or response time. But I will keep saying, 'Tell me more about that…' I will keep noticing how the girl in the back always looks up when I mention whales or rivers or grief."
"I will never compete with AI in word count or response time. But I will keep saying, 'Tell me more about that…' I will keep noticing how the girl in the back always looks up when I mention whales or rivers or grief."
No Kings. And certainly no Mad ones
October 18, 2025 at 6:02 PM
No Kings. And certainly no Mad ones
Reposted by Pim van Tol
Chicago - no kings
October 18, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Chicago - no kings
Reposted by Pim van Tol
This post needs an updated re-issue because AI companies have truly come up with some incredibly novel ways to push this technology that no one wants onto people.
The AI age is the "age of no consent"
"Inevitability" means design decisions are no longer informed by user needs; now they are unilaterally imposed. The users are the ones being designed.
productpicnic.beehiiv.com
October 12, 2025 at 2:56 PM
This post needs an updated re-issue because AI companies have truly come up with some incredibly novel ways to push this technology that no one wants onto people.
Reposted by Pim van Tol
This year is beginning to seem endless.
October 4, 2025 at 2:25 PM
This year is beginning to seem endless.
New in my top-10 of Ugliest Things I've Ever Seen:
September 25, 2025 at 12:26 PM
New in my top-10 of Ugliest Things I've Ever Seen:
Reposted by Pim van Tol
Europeans need to have their eyes open about what is happening across the Atlantic.
Or they are in for a very rude awakening.
The denialism on this continent is dangerous.
Or they are in for a very rude awakening.
The denialism on this continent is dangerous.
Step back and take it in: the US is entering full authoritarian mode | Jonathan Freedland
Trump’s dictator-like behaviour is so brazen, so blatant, that paradoxically, we discount it. But now it’s time to call it what it is, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland
www.theguardian.com
August 30, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Europeans need to have their eyes open about what is happening across the Atlantic.
Or they are in for a very rude awakening.
The denialism on this continent is dangerous.
Or they are in for a very rude awakening.
The denialism on this continent is dangerous.
Reposted by Pim van Tol
this iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like
August 22, 2025 at 2:20 PM
this iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like
"We are told that we must take personal responsibility for our lives but we are never told that that personal responsibility includes consuming less products."
Here with working link:
newintrigue.com/2021/06/10/t...
Here with working link:
newintrigue.com/2021/06/10/t...
August 18, 2025 at 4:47 PM
"We are told that we must take personal responsibility for our lives but we are never told that that personal responsibility includes consuming less products."
Here with working link:
newintrigue.com/2021/06/10/t...
Here with working link:
newintrigue.com/2021/06/10/t...
A great read - and an interesting take on being conservative. This interview urgently needs an update for 2025 though! Would love to read his thoughts on present conservative behaviour
"De Tocqueville saw people living their lives, but behind it he could see the ideal of equality acting on American society."
fivebooks.com/best-books/y...
fivebooks.com/best-books/y...
Freedom Isn’t Enough
The Founder and Editor of National Affairs Magazine speculates how the founding fathers of Conservatism might have been nervous about Sarah Palin and the Tea Party movement
fivebooks.com
August 12, 2025 at 2:04 PM
A great read - and an interesting take on being conservative. This interview urgently needs an update for 2025 though! Would love to read his thoughts on present conservative behaviour
Reposted by Pim van Tol
Very interesting. And a reminder that our current far right have no positive vision of the future, and no understanding of the modern world beyond how they can use social media to spread lies.
Kind of fascinating framing from Australia's climate and energy minister @chrisbowenmp.bsky.social. Don't think I've ever seen it presented this way?
August 12, 2025 at 7:59 AM
Very interesting. And a reminder that our current far right have no positive vision of the future, and no understanding of the modern world beyond how they can use social media to spread lies.
Reposted by Pim van Tol
Everything OK here except me.
August 11, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Everything OK here except me.