@rpolsk.bsky.social
data | applied physics PhD | materials 💎 | nature 🧗 | probably some rando nerd sniping and baking/coffee stuff too
Curious #datascientist and #physicist trying to make sense of the world. Using BS to reduce BS, why not?
Curious #datascientist and #physicist trying to make sense of the world. Using BS to reduce BS, why not?
Reposted
The real question is not "Why is Bluesky so left-coded," the real question is "Why can't the right exist in a social media environment without algorithmic assistance, where people can ignore them"
December 2, 2025 at 3:08 PM
The real question is not "Why is Bluesky so left-coded," the real question is "Why can't the right exist in a social media environment without algorithmic assistance, where people can ignore them"
Reposted
Extremely upset that a throw-away XKCD joke somehow became the organizing principle for the Internet.
November 20, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Extremely upset that a throw-away XKCD joke somehow became the organizing principle for the Internet.
Rewatched Wicked part 1, and it suddenly hit me how well the story (including the Wizard of Oz) links showy contraptions (tech) with fascism and replacement
November 20, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Rewatched Wicked part 1, and it suddenly hit me how well the story (including the Wizard of Oz) links showy contraptions (tech) with fascism and replacement
Reposted
VACCINES DO NOT CAUSE AUTISM, YOU FLAMING SHITBIRDS.
THE LAST TIME HHS, AS CURRENTLY OCCUPIED BY RFK JR., CONDUCTED A “COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT” OF THE CAUSES OF AUTISM THEY BLAMED TYLENOL AND THEN, BECAUSE IT WAS BULLSHIT, HAD TO WALK IT BACK.
THE LAST TIME HHS, AS CURRENTLY OCCUPIED BY RFK JR., CONDUCTED A “COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT” OF THE CAUSES OF AUTISM THEY BLAMED TYLENOL AND THEN, BECAUSE IT WAS BULLSHIT, HAD TO WALK IT BACK.
November 20, 2025 at 3:15 AM
VACCINES DO NOT CAUSE AUTISM, YOU FLAMING SHITBIRDS.
THE LAST TIME HHS, AS CURRENTLY OCCUPIED BY RFK JR., CONDUCTED A “COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT” OF THE CAUSES OF AUTISM THEY BLAMED TYLENOL AND THEN, BECAUSE IT WAS BULLSHIT, HAD TO WALK IT BACK.
THE LAST TIME HHS, AS CURRENTLY OCCUPIED BY RFK JR., CONDUCTED A “COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT” OF THE CAUSES OF AUTISM THEY BLAMED TYLENOL AND THEN, BECAUSE IT WAS BULLSHIT, HAD TO WALK IT BACK.
How about we all make it a habit of trusting the author’s words first? And start out assuming the more likely case that there’s some motive behind the claimant. Because as far as I’ve seen, viral claims like this (“they think everything is identity-dependent!”) are bad-faith every. single. time.
A really fun thing about being a Black and queer feminist and physicist is that assholes are always accusing me of saying the laws of physics are identity-dependent and desperate people are always hoping that I actually will say that and are wildly disappointed that actually I think they’re not
November 17, 2025 at 6:04 PM
How about we all make it a habit of trusting the author’s words first? And start out assuming the more likely case that there’s some motive behind the claimant. Because as far as I’ve seen, viral claims like this (“they think everything is identity-dependent!”) are bad-faith every. single. time.
Reposted
Bsky hasn’t heard the story about the time that I was giving a virtual colloquium to the Aspen Center for Physics in September 2020 and Lawrence Krauss, Geoff Marcy, Christian Ott all attended as a group
ACP now has a policy that would prevent this from happening, because of that incident 🔭
ACP now has a policy that would prevent this from happening, because of that incident 🔭
November 16, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Bsky hasn’t heard the story about the time that I was giving a virtual colloquium to the Aspen Center for Physics in September 2020 and Lawrence Krauss, Geoff Marcy, Christian Ott all attended as a group
ACP now has a policy that would prevent this from happening, because of that incident 🔭
ACP now has a policy that would prevent this from happening, because of that incident 🔭
Had to drive up toward Park City, Utah. It’s faint but visible once your eyes adjust!
November 12, 2025 at 5:52 AM
Had to drive up toward Park City, Utah. It’s faint but visible once your eyes adjust!
Yes that map has a lot of red, and people talk about how Utah is “deep red”, but that small blue blip has probably around half the state’s population, and it’s a 60/40 state historically. It’s about damn time for a seat and possibly more in the future.
Breaking: A Utah judge just tossed out Republicans’ gerrymandered map and ordered a new map that will include a new safe Democratic seat.
Utah now joins California in helping to cancel out Trump’s gerrymandering.
Utah now joins California in helping to cancel out Trump’s gerrymandering.
November 12, 2025 at 5:48 AM
Yes that map has a lot of red, and people talk about how Utah is “deep red”, but that small blue blip has probably around half the state’s population, and it’s a 60/40 state historically. It’s about damn time for a seat and possibly more in the future.
Reposted
Looking at election results from around the country last night and wondering
if X is a safe space echo chamber that makes its users out of touch with real Americans
if X is a safe space echo chamber that makes its users out of touch with real Americans
November 5, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Looking at election results from around the country last night and wondering
if X is a safe space echo chamber that makes its users out of touch with real Americans
if X is a safe space echo chamber that makes its users out of touch with real Americans
I keep coming back to this analogy. It’s too good. Synthetic text extruder (from @emilymbender.bsky.social , I think) -> counterfeit money printer
LLMs and generative AI are the intellectual equivalent of 'solving poverty' by giving everyone little counterfeit money printers. Stupid people feel richer, at least for a while, all while society as a whole is quickly driven to ruin.
November 4, 2025 at 6:34 PM
I keep coming back to this analogy. It’s too good. Synthetic text extruder (from @emilymbender.bsky.social , I think) -> counterfeit money printer
Reposted
‘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/...
‘Opposing the inevitability of AI at universities is possible and necessary’ | Radboud University
Since the widespread release of ChatGPT in December of 2022, AI has taken over much of the world by storm – including academia. Most of this happened with very little pushback, despite a myriad of iss...
www.ru.nl
November 1, 2025 at 10:26 PM
‘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/...
What a World Series! 😅 Go Dodgers!
November 2, 2025 at 3:59 AM
What a World Series! 😅 Go Dodgers!
After reading, I thought it was worth connecting the dots a little on why this is so relevant.
Btw, I think the article answered most of my first-impression questions 1/n
Btw, I think the article answered most of my first-impression questions 1/n
This is the sort of thread that should be centered right now in tech circles. Looking forward to reading this.
Boiling here at home in Cyprus but I put the finishing touches a couple of days ago on this preprint: What Does 'Human-Centred AI' Mean? doi.org/10.48550/arX...
Wherein I analyse HCAI & demonstrate through 3 triplets my new tripartite definition of AI (Table 1) that properly centres the human. 1/n
Wherein I analyse HCAI & demonstrate through 3 triplets my new tripartite definition of AI (Table 1) that properly centres the human. 1/n
October 17, 2025 at 6:56 PM
After reading, I thought it was worth connecting the dots a little on why this is so relevant.
Btw, I think the article answered most of my first-impression questions 1/n
Btw, I think the article answered most of my first-impression questions 1/n
This is the sort of thread that should be centered right now in tech circles. Looking forward to reading this.
Boiling here at home in Cyprus but I put the finishing touches a couple of days ago on this preprint: What Does 'Human-Centred AI' Mean? doi.org/10.48550/arX...
Wherein I analyse HCAI & demonstrate through 3 triplets my new tripartite definition of AI (Table 1) that properly centres the human. 1/n
Wherein I analyse HCAI & demonstrate through 3 triplets my new tripartite definition of AI (Table 1) that properly centres the human. 1/n
October 15, 2025 at 4:21 PM
This is the sort of thread that should be centered right now in tech circles. Looking forward to reading this.
Reposted
New preprint 🌟 Psychology is core to cognitive science, and so it is vital we preserve it from harmful frames. @irisvanrooij.bsky.social & I use our psych and computer science expertise to analyse and craft:
Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacy for Psychologists. doi.org/10.31234/osf...
🧵 1/
Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacy for Psychologists. doi.org/10.31234/osf...
🧵 1/
October 4, 2025 at 5:33 AM
New preprint 🌟 Psychology is core to cognitive science, and so it is vital we preserve it from harmful frames. @irisvanrooij.bsky.social & I use our psych and computer science expertise to analyse and craft:
Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacy for Psychologists. doi.org/10.31234/osf...
🧵 1/
Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacy for Psychologists. doi.org/10.31234/osf...
🧵 1/
Reposted
Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.
October 5, 2025 at 9:08 AM
Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.
Reposted
"A literature which is made by machines, which are owned by corporations, which are run by sociopaths, can only be a “stereotype” — a simplification, a facsimile, an insult, a fake — of real literature. It should be smashed, and can." -- @nplusonemag.com 🙏🏽
www.nplusonemag.com/issue-51/the...
www.nplusonemag.com/issue-51/the...
Large Language Muddle | The Editors
The AI upheaval is unique in its ability to metabolize any number of dread-inducing transformations. The university is becoming more corporate, more politically oppressive, and all but hostile to the ...
www.nplusonemag.com
September 29, 2025 at 7:18 PM
"A literature which is made by machines, which are owned by corporations, which are run by sociopaths, can only be a “stereotype” — a simplification, a facsimile, an insult, a fake — of real literature. It should be smashed, and can." -- @nplusonemag.com 🙏🏽
www.nplusonemag.com/issue-51/the...
www.nplusonemag.com/issue-51/the...
Reposted
“Fascism” isn’t a slur for politics we don’t like. It’s a precise word with precise meaning. And in the face of what’s happening right now in America, it’s the most honest one we have.
I’ll lay it out as plainly as I can. 🧵
I’ll lay it out as plainly as I can. 🧵
September 20, 2025 at 3:31 PM
“Fascism” isn’t a slur for politics we don’t like. It’s a precise word with precise meaning. And in the face of what’s happening right now in America, it’s the most honest one we have.
I’ll lay it out as plainly as I can. 🧵
I’ll lay it out as plainly as I can. 🧵
Reposted
Lesson 1 about how NOT to do technical/scientific communication…
If only we had someone even vaguely competent in the room.
If only we had someone even vaguely competent in the room.
Trump: "It's too much liquid. Too many different things are going into that baby at too big a number. The size of this thing when you look at it. It's like 80 different vaccines and beyond vaccines."
September 22, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Lesson 1 about how NOT to do technical/scientific communication…
If only we had someone even vaguely competent in the room.
If only we had someone even vaguely competent in the room.
Reposted
Now with comments... Lots of comments
(A long thread)
1/n
(A long thread)
1/n
September 22, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Now with comments... Lots of comments
(A long thread)
1/n
(A long thread)
1/n
Reposted
This 🧵 is long so please bear with me. It is compiles evidence in a historical timeline on how effective #COVIDVaccines are. When a pandemic ends we quickly and easily forget the tools that got us out of it. So here is my labour day gift to you prompted by this headline.
September 1, 2025 at 10:38 PM
This 🧵 is long so please bear with me. It is compiles evidence in a historical timeline on how effective #COVIDVaccines are. When a pandemic ends we quickly and easily forget the tools that got us out of it. So here is my labour day gift to you prompted by this headline.
Reposted
As Ukrainian and European leaders travel to Washington for discussions in the White House this Monday about ending Russia’s illegal war of aggression, Americans would do well to remember ten principles of negotiation.
snyder.substack.com/p/common-sen...
snyder.substack.com/p/common-sen...
Common Sense about Negotiations
For Americans about Ukraine
snyder.substack.com
August 17, 2025 at 9:26 PM
As Ukrainian and European leaders travel to Washington for discussions in the White House this Monday about ending Russia’s illegal war of aggression, Americans would do well to remember ten principles of negotiation.
snyder.substack.com/p/common-sen...
snyder.substack.com/p/common-sen...
Reposted
Look, speaking as a physicist, it is hard for me to put into words how batshit crazy this is.
"I’ll go down this thread with GPT or Grok and I’ll start to get to the edge of what’s known in quantum physics and then I’m doing the equivalent of vibe coding, except it’s vibe physics,” said Travis Kalanick, the founder of Uber.
gizmodo.com/billionaires...
gizmodo.com/billionaires...
July 16, 2025 at 4:04 AM
Look, speaking as a physicist, it is hard for me to put into words how batshit crazy this is.
It’s just constant irony with these dimwits. “Here are the facts…” and then the most speculative, unsupported bullshit doublespeak you’ve ever heard.
There’s so much to breakdown in this newly dropped manifesto against higher education by Chris Rufo and signed by all the usual suspects affiliated with the Manhattan Institute. It warrants attention since it’s targeted at university grants. manhattan.institute/article/the-...
The Manhattan Statement on Higher Education
America’s colleges and universities have long been the bright lights of our civilization. For nearly four centuries, they have pioneered new fields of knowledge, brought the arts and sciences to new h...
manhattan.institute
July 17, 2025 at 4:34 AM
It’s just constant irony with these dimwits. “Here are the facts…” and then the most speculative, unsupported bullshit doublespeak you’ve ever heard.