Travis Holland
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travish.co
Travis Holland
@travish.co
490 followers 1.4K following 270 posts
Communication researcher currently focused on science in media (palaeontology 🦖 birds 🐦 ecology ☘️) and teaching podcasting, etc
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Travis Holland
colincarlson.bsky.social
OVER A MILLION USERS

DISCUSS SUICIDE WITH CHATGPT

EVERY *WEEK*

what the fuck are we DOING here
ryanmarino.bsky.social Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 8d
Panera’s moderately caffeinated lemonade was loosely associated with 2 deaths before it was taken off market.

This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
jonathancohn.bsky.social Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 9d
I fully believe in the corporate death penalty and believe we would be a better world if OpenAI lost its corporate charter and was forcibly dissolved.

www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
November 7, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Reposted by Travis Holland
fossilsfiction.co
Episode 53: The deals with seals
Episode 53: The deals with seals
www.fossilsfiction.co
October 28, 2025 at 1:14 AM
Reposted by Travis Holland
sexomarxist.bsky.social
October 20, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Reposted by Travis Holland
drdemography.com
Unless there’s a reset of senior officials at the top, universities won’t change. Toxic cultures are embedded. Broken governance is breaking people. theconversation.com/there-are-ne...
There are new plans to fix how universities will run. But will they work?
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare says, ‘if you don’t think there are challenges in university governance, you’ve been living under a rock’.
theconversation.com
October 21, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Reposted by Travis Holland
asherelbein.bsky.social
Your Sunday read! In 2010, a scientist argued that 2.1 billion-year-old African specimens showed complex life appearing far ahead of schedule. In doing so, he's run headlong into a very difficult question:

How on earth do you prove it?

My cover story (!) for @sciam.bsky.social!

🧪
These Enigmatic ‘Fossils’ Could Rewrite the History of Life on Earth
Controversial evidence hints that complex life might have emerged hundreds of millions of years earlier than previously thought—and possibly more than once
www.scientificamerican.com
October 19, 2025 at 4:03 PM
travish.co
Living in regional Australia, you become used to (if not accepting of) roadkill roos, wombats, birds, snakes. The fix for koalas is relatively simple and easy compared to those, and we can't get it done. Photo ops over real improvements.
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...
How a koala conservation success story became a political embarrassment
Koala deaths on Appin Road are not unusual this time of year, but the fatality of rescued koala Gage is cause for more than the usual frustration and despair.
www.abc.net.au
October 13, 2025 at 1:26 AM
Reposted by Travis Holland
huwcdavies.bsky.social
When was the last time we heard anyone who represents universities let alone any politician defend the public university as a fundamentally important social institution that transforms lives and improves societies?
ukhenews.bsky.social UK HE News @ukhenews.bsky.social · Oct 12
University managers used tuition fees to justify a model where the 'product' is simple information transmission, which ultimately can be delivered via an AI app.

That the market value for such 'degrees' will soon reach zero is not management's problem.

They get paid even as the sector implodes.
October 12, 2025 at 9:24 AM
Reposted by Travis Holland
aunz.theconversation.com
📚 EXCERPT: In 2002, an online database was set up allowing birdwatchers to record their species observations. It is now a vast resource, shaping scientific research.

👉 theconversation.com/the-rem...
October 8, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Reposted by Travis Holland
merriam-webster.com
We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.
October 1, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Reposted by Travis Holland
markwitton.bsky.social
New #paleoart posted to #Patreon: woolly mammoths around a duck-filled lake. Accompanying the hi-res and WIPs of this image is a discussion about mammoth colour: the uniform red-brown mammoths of classic palaeoart seem unlikely now. Check it out at www.patreon.com/posts/night-...
#fossil #sciart
A herd of mammoths, with three large individuals up front, and lots of smaller, more distant individuals in the background, surrounding a shallow Pleistocene lake. They stand on browning, yellowing grass in front of a blue, partly cloudy sky. The mammoths are variable in colour, some being dark, some pale. A juvenile mammoth, blonde all over, has broken ranks and started chasing mallards around a pond. He has made a little grebe nervous. Why has this baby mammoth started attacking other species? Well, animals are a lot like people, Mrs. Simpson. Some of them act badly because they’ve had a hard life or have been mistreated. But, like people, some of them are just jerks.
October 1, 2025 at 10:58 AM
Reposted by Travis Holland
hollykirk.bsky.social
Some lovely things on the Aussie #urbanNature scene this week!

First up - the work and creativity of friend-colleague @drkyliesoanes.bsky.social has been beautifully profiled by the ABC.

If you use TikTok or Insta I highly encourage you to add Kylie to your feeds!🌏
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...
One woman's mission to rewild our cities
Kylie Soanes says urban development should not come at the expense of nature and there's no reason why we should not spot a fairy wren on the way to the bus stop.
www.abc.net.au
October 1, 2025 at 5:50 AM
Reposted by Travis Holland
travish.co
Are podcasts legitimate research outputs? My new survey is exploring how Australian academics view podcasting as a scholarly practice. Research-active staff are invited to share experiences here forms.cloud.microsoft/r/mYr4KvsiND
Microsoft Forms
forms.cloud.microsoft
September 18, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Reposted by Travis Holland
edzitron.com
Newsletter: This is The Case Against Generative AI, a comprehensive analysis of a financial collapse built on myths I’ll dispel, the markets’ unhealthy obsession with NVIDIA's growth, and the fact that there is not enough money in the world to fund OpenAI.
www.wheresyoured.at/the-case-aga...
The Case Against Generative AI
Soundtrack: Queens of the Stone Age - First It Giveth Before we go any further: This is, for the third time this year, the longest newsletter I've ever written, weighing in somewhere around 18,500 wo...
www.wheresyoured.at
September 29, 2025 at 5:37 PM
travish.co
It's not a pyramid scheme when publicly listed companies are doing it
ketanjoshi.co Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · Sep 23
"The FT sought to categorise the expected positive benefits of the technology. Most of the anticipated benefits, such as increased productivity, were vaguely stated and harder to categorise than the risks"

www.ft.com/content/e93e...

(note: Entergy is the fossil fuel company supplying Meta)
Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour. https://www.ft.com/content/e93e56df-dd9b-40c1-b77a-dba1ca01e473 While non-tech companies are upbeat about AI, their filings suggest less clear upsides. During an earnings call in February, Coca-Cola was excited about the technology — even though the key use was in the production of a TV commercial.  The FT sought to categorise the expected positive benefits of the technology. Most of the anticipated benefits, such as increased productivity, were vaguely stated and harder to categorise than the risks. Companies anticipated being able to optimise workflows through automation, and hope to achieve market differentiation through their use of AI. Some hoped to be able to use the technology to improve the personalisation of their products. Filings do reveal that the companies able to give clear AI upsides include those that serve the rising AI-driven data centre boom. Energy companies First Solar and Entergy cited AI as a demand driver. Freeport-McMoran, which has a stockpile of copper, stated that “data centres and artificial intelligence developments” would support the metal’s price. The company also said the technology can help with material characterisation and mineral extraction. Equipment manufacturer Caterpillar reported that its energy business was benefiting from supporting “data centre growth related to cloud computing and generative artificial intelligence”.
September 23, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Reposted by Travis Holland
brkeogh.bsky.social
It remains so bewildering why we as a country let entirely unexperienced non-experts who have no real knowledge of the sector run the country’s universities for million+ salaries.
September 19, 2025 at 11:20 PM
travish.co
Are podcasts legitimate research outputs? My new survey is exploring how Australian academics view podcasting as a scholarly practice. Research-active staff are invited to share experiences here forms.cloud.microsoft/r/mYr4KvsiND
Microsoft Forms
forms.cloud.microsoft
September 18, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Reposted by Travis Holland
timmclellan.bsky.social
Private consultants are taking control of how public universities are evaluated and run.

My submission to the Senate university governance inquiry raises concerns about the impact of Nous Group and their dodgy UniForum data on our universities.

www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStor...

A thread
Image shows a screenshot of the conclusion of the linked Senate inquiry submission. This text can be found on page 10. The text is too long for alt text, but here is the first three quarters of the text: Conclusion Over the past decade, Nous Group’s UniForum data has quietly taken on the status of authoritative benchmark for the quality of a range of professional and academic services performed by public universities in Australia and across the world. This authoritative status is performed through scientific-looking graphs and scientific-sounding jargon designed to imply UniForum data is generated through rigorous methods and backed by expert consensus. This performance of authority is significant: it lends UniForum data an air of credibility and facticity that makes acting upon its results irresistible. When one begins to open the black box and examine how UniForum data is actually produced, however, it becomes difficult to justify the degree to which Australian university executives are relying upon it in their decision-making. My analysis is based on a review of publicly available documents, and it is therefore possible that Nous or its clients would point to things not in the public domain that address some of the conceptual and methodological flaws that I have highlighted in UniForum. But the fact that the underlying UniForum data and methodology is not in the public domain is itself one of the key causes for concerns. When the stakes are so high, it cannot be acceptable for Nous Group and its clients to simply tell university staff and governing councils, ‘trust us, these numbers are based on rigorous methods and analysis.’ The lack of rigor, external scrutiny, and transparency in UniForum’s underlying data and methodology would be a cause for concern in any public institution, but it is especially concerning in the context of universities where rigorous, transparent, and accountable knowledge production is a core part of what we do. ...
September 17, 2025 at 5:54 AM
Reposted by Travis Holland
noupside.bsky.social
My hot take that got me yelled at by ppl here was "doesn't seem 'leftist', extremely online but not getting NVE, not much evidence for groyper, doesn't read as cohesively strongly ideological in any direction, there's just not enough info, wait 48 hrs":

www.kenklippenstein.com/p/exclusive-...
Exclusive: Leaked Messages from Charlie Kirk Assassin
Accused shooter’s “politics” is not what government and media say
www.kenklippenstein.com
September 16, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Reposted by Travis Holland
aunz.theconversation.com
The sobering assessment is a national call to action. The sooner Australia mitigates and adapts, the safer we will be.
Is this Australia’s climate wake-up call? Official report reveals a hotter, harder future if we don’t act now
theconversation.com
September 15, 2025 at 6:24 AM
Reposted by Travis Holland
transform6789.bsky.social
best one-line insight about the Kirk assassin: “To them, murder is the ultimate act of trolling, and they want to be remembered for it.”

www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
Something Is Very Wrong Online
The cycle of violence will continue as long as the medium doesn’t change.
www.theatlantic.com
September 14, 2025 at 4:08 AM
travish.co
A thoughtful and powerful critique of the modern university
www.abc.net.au/religion/anu...
Has meritocracy gotten the better of our universities? Why events at ANU are grounds for hope - ABC Religion & Ethics
It’s not every day that the students and staff of a university succeed in forcing a vice-chancellor from office — that’s what happened last week at ANU, but why did change take so long when it was cle...
www.abc.net.au
September 15, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Reposted by Travis Holland
ryanlcooper.com
"We have let school shootings in America persist long enough that we have created a culture where kids grow up seeing them as a path towards fame and glory." www.garbageday.email/p/charlie-ki...
Charlie Kirk was killed by a meme
Making sense of our dark new era of extremely online political violence
www.garbageday.email
September 12, 2025 at 7:31 PM
travish.co
New on Persona Studies: A Peek at Cesuo as Nonhuman Online Fan Persona on Weibo by Yifei Yang from @ucddublin.bsky.social ojs.deakin.edu.au/index.php/ps...
A Peek at Cesuo as Nonhuman Online Fan Persona on Weibo | Persona Studies
ojs.deakin.edu.au
September 12, 2025 at 4:09 AM
Reposted by Travis Holland
japrenticewrites.bsky.social
I really love this piece. It engages with the ideas behind the orcs in a way most analysis of them doesn’t—neither apologia for Tolkien nor a dismissal of him.
asherelbein.bsky.social Asher Elbein @asherelbein.bsky.social · Sep 11
Today, on Heat Death! To celebrate our podcast appearance on @thelorehounds.com, we're re-running a classic piece on Tolkien's orcs and the narrative myth of the eternal enemy. If you missed it the first time, this is a piece I'm *tremendously* proud of
September 11, 2025 at 11:30 PM
travish.co
The people most intently searching for life beyond Earth are also, rightfully, those most cautious about exciting prospects
setiinstitute.bsky.social SETI Institute @setiinstitute.bsky.social · Sep 11
In the past decades, Mars exploration has offered repeated evidence of Mars’ habitability, and tantalizing but inconclusive hints that the Red Planet may once have hosted life. None of these findings, however, could confirm that life was ever present on Mars. 🧪 🔭 👩‍🔬
September 11, 2025 at 1:11 AM