W. Ethan Duckworth
@weduckworth.bsky.social
Mathematician, d̶e̶p̶a̶r̶t̶m̶e̶n̶t̶ c̶h̶a̶i̶r̶, husband, father, follower of news and sports.
Great line "It's institutional auto-cannibalism"
I finally got around to reading this. You should read it too.
"We are exporting the very labor of teaching and learning—the slow work of wrestling with ideas, the enduring of discomfort, doubt and confusion, the struggle of finding one’s own voice."
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
"We are exporting the very labor of teaching and learning—the slow work of wrestling with ideas, the enduring of discomfort, doubt and confusion, the struggle of finding one’s own voice."
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself
Students use AI to write papers, professors use AI to grade them, degrees become meaningless, and tech companies make fortunes. Welcome to the death of higher education.
www.currentaffairs.org
December 6, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Great line "It's institutional auto-cannibalism"
Reposted by W. Ethan Duckworth
This is about a human using AI to fact-check a fact-check of AI by a human…and it helped me see how good/bad debates over AI tools miss the point.
It seems AI/LLMs are like cricket bats and smoked paprika: they're wonderful when you use them properly, and can cause a lot of grief when you don't. /1
It seems AI/LLMs are like cricket bats and smoked paprika: they're wonderful when you use them properly, and can cause a lot of grief when you don't. /1
When I talk about using LLMs to fact-check, many people reply "Me, I'd rather consult a fact-checker" I think I mostly agree, but the *best* option is to consult a fact-checker who **knows how to use AI**
We're not taking the fact-checking powers of AI seriously enough. It's past time to start.
Some notes on the Grokipedia error that wasn't
mikecaulfield.substack.com
December 6, 2025 at 5:16 AM
This is about a human using AI to fact-check a fact-check of AI by a human…and it helped me see how good/bad debates over AI tools miss the point.
It seems AI/LLMs are like cricket bats and smoked paprika: they're wonderful when you use them properly, and can cause a lot of grief when you don't. /1
It seems AI/LLMs are like cricket bats and smoked paprika: they're wonderful when you use them properly, and can cause a lot of grief when you don't. /1
Reposted by W. Ethan Duckworth
um... my math-art collaboration just received a $30k grant? 😮
December 5, 2025 at 6:31 PM
um... my math-art collaboration just received a $30k grant? 😮
Reposted by W. Ethan Duckworth
This may go down as the worst book ever written by scientists in my lifetime.
sciencebasedmedicine.org/warscience/
sciencebasedmedicine.org/warscience/
December 4, 2025 at 2:39 AM
This may go down as the worst book ever written by scientists in my lifetime.
sciencebasedmedicine.org/warscience/
sciencebasedmedicine.org/warscience/
Reposted by W. Ethan Duckworth
Wrote a thing www.liberalcurrents.com/wars-on-scie...
Wars on Science, Real and Otherwise
The War on Science, ed. Lawrence Krauss, documents an imaginary "war on science" from the left in order to justify an entirely real war on science from the right.
www.liberalcurrents.com
October 21, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Wrote a thing www.liberalcurrents.com/wars-on-scie...
I had no idea what this book was about. In fact, I think I had conflated it with Hotez's book "Science under siege" which, shall we say, means I had it backwards. (To be clear, I love Hotez's work).
This may go down as the worst book ever written by scientists in my lifetime.
sciencebasedmedicine.org/warscience/
sciencebasedmedicine.org/warscience/
December 4, 2025 at 12:42 PM
I had no idea what this book was about. In fact, I think I had conflated it with Hotez's book "Science under siege" which, shall we say, means I had it backwards. (To be clear, I love Hotez's work).
Reposted by W. Ethan Duckworth
December 1, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Reposted by W. Ethan Duckworth
In #mathstoday we consolidated out understanding of series by completing a great Tarsia puzzle. The devil is in the detail with this type of activity 👍🏻
December 2, 2025 at 9:38 AM
In #mathstoday we consolidated out understanding of series by completing a great Tarsia puzzle. The devil is in the detail with this type of activity 👍🏻
nice anecdote which reminds me about the value of the humanities
Alt text for those who need it. This is amazing.
December 2, 2025 at 11:26 AM
nice anecdote which reminds me about the value of the humanities
Reposted by W. Ethan Duckworth
every trans person i see post about the OU suspension knows that the suspended target is trans & a grad student, & has an innate awareness that this is about purging trans employees. every cis person i see thinks the target is a rando professor & that this is about giving conservatives good grades
December 1, 2025 at 12:04 AM
every trans person i see post about the OU suspension knows that the suspended target is trans & a grad student, & has an innate awareness that this is about purging trans employees. every cis person i see thinks the target is a rando professor & that this is about giving conservatives good grades
Reposted by W. Ethan Duckworth
An issue we're seeing at all levels of university is that many students are simply refusing to do *anything*. They aren't reading the syllabus, aren't following assignment guidelines, aren't engaging with material, ignoring deadlines. And this might seem like old news, but it truly has ramped up.
November 28, 2025 at 10:15 PM
An issue we're seeing at all levels of university is that many students are simply refusing to do *anything*. They aren't reading the syllabus, aren't following assignment guidelines, aren't engaging with material, ignoring deadlines. And this might seem like old news, but it truly has ramped up.
Reposted by W. Ethan Duckworth
Pretty much ANY statistic you see cited to frighten you about vaccines comes from the VAERS database. (Including the recent evidence-free missive from Vinay Prasad). Here's why VAERS can NEVER be a proper source for population-level vaccine risk estimates.
Thread [1/9]
Thread [1/9]
November 30, 2025 at 3:01 AM
Pretty much ANY statistic you see cited to frighten you about vaccines comes from the VAERS database. (Including the recent evidence-free missive from Vinay Prasad). Here's why VAERS can NEVER be a proper source for population-level vaccine risk estimates.
Thread [1/9]
Thread [1/9]
Reposted by W. Ethan Duckworth
Finished Evan S. Connell’s 1959 novel Mrs Bridge last night. No overstatement to call it a masterpiece. I will be thinking about it forever. And reading it many more times.
November 30, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Finished Evan S. Connell’s 1959 novel Mrs Bridge last night. No overstatement to call it a masterpiece. I will be thinking about it forever. And reading it many more times.
Reposted by W. Ethan Duckworth
THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT. as @heidikitrosser.bsky.social has noted, the northwestern faculty had just voted overwhelmingly against exactly this kind of capitulation.
BTW, any story about a possible Northwestern capitulation should include this detail (screenshot is from the oped linked below)
November 29, 2025 at 1:37 AM
THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT. as @heidikitrosser.bsky.social has noted, the northwestern faculty had just voted overwhelmingly against exactly this kind of capitulation.
Reposted by W. Ethan Duckworth
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
November 26, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
Reposted by W. Ethan Duckworth
“Biden Asylum Cases” is NYT’s framing for a story pegged to a man who got asylum 3 months into the Trump administration
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/27/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/27/u...
November 27, 2025 at 10:48 PM
“Biden Asylum Cases” is NYT’s framing for a story pegged to a man who got asylum 3 months into the Trump administration
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/27/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/27/u...
Reposted by W. Ethan Duckworth
Reposted by W. Ethan Duckworth
I think it’s pretty clear at this point that one of the main impacts of LLMs is to disrupt thinking: to make it so that far too many people never properly learn how to do it, and then to control the output so there are thoughts that people never learn how to think.
November 24, 2025 at 5:18 PM
I think it’s pretty clear at this point that one of the main impacts of LLMs is to disrupt thinking: to make it so that far too many people never properly learn how to do it, and then to control the output so there are thoughts that people never learn how to think.
Reposted by W. Ethan Duckworth
4 yrs ago today, a family member managed a truly spectacular own goal, splintered his domestic bliss, & in the process, united the world for a day.
On popular request, I shall now recreate the livetweet thread from that day
So gather around children, for this is the tale of The Rice Truck Saga
On popular request, I shall now recreate the livetweet thread from that day
So gather around children, for this is the tale of The Rice Truck Saga
September 4, 2024 at 4:14 PM
4 yrs ago today, a family member managed a truly spectacular own goal, splintered his domestic bliss, & in the process, united the world for a day.
On popular request, I shall now recreate the livetweet thread from that day
So gather around children, for this is the tale of The Rice Truck Saga
On popular request, I shall now recreate the livetweet thread from that day
So gather around children, for this is the tale of The Rice Truck Saga
Reposted by W. Ethan Duckworth
People will die, and are currently dying, because RFK was granted one of the most powerful megaphones in the country. Two people who could have thrown barriers in front of his climb decided not to; there's a sex scandal here but it is not the biggest scandal.
November 26, 2025 at 11:30 PM
People will die, and are currently dying, because RFK was granted one of the most powerful megaphones in the country. Two people who could have thrown barriers in front of his climb decided not to; there's a sex scandal here but it is not the biggest scandal.
Reposted by W. Ethan Duckworth
Reposted by W. Ethan Duckworth
But US air carriers won't even fly to Haiti right now because they're being shot at?!?!!
Trump says Haiti no longer meets requirements for TPS. Haitians have to leave
www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-...
www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-...
Trump says Haiti no longer meets requirements for TPS. Haitians have to leave
The decision could affect more than a half million Haitians living in the U.S.
www.miamiherald.com
November 27, 2025 at 12:30 PM
But US air carriers won't even fly to Haiti right now because they're being shot at?!?!!
Good enough review that I immediately went and bought the book
Yes! Check out my review. I sweat blood and tears to write this thing. And Joe’s novel is excellent.
Check out as @mondyboy74.bsky.social reviews KING SORRORW, and @joe-hill.bsky.social “a writer who grabs you by the lapels and doesn’t let go until the ride, finally and sadly, comes to an end.”
November 27, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Good enough review that I immediately went and bought the book
Reposted by W. Ethan Duckworth
"In perceiving and experiencing the world, we ‘smuggle in’ our own fundamental self-survival goals. This is something we share with cats and worms and viruses. Whether this is also something we share with artificial systems is another story."
- @annaciaunica.bsky.social
- @annaciaunica.bsky.social
What if thinking doesn’t begin in the brain, but in the ceaseless labour of our cells? Today’s essay rethinks the question of how we become minds, arguing that cognition begins not in the mind but in the collective processes that keep a body alive @annaciaunica.bsky.social
Why you need your whole body – from head to toes – to think | Aeon Essays
Contemplating the world requires a body, and a body requires an immune system: the rungs of life create the stuff of thought
buff.ly
November 27, 2025 at 12:36 PM
"In perceiving and experiencing the world, we ‘smuggle in’ our own fundamental self-survival goals. This is something we share with cats and worms and viruses. Whether this is also something we share with artificial systems is another story."
- @annaciaunica.bsky.social
- @annaciaunica.bsky.social
Wonderful food for thought
What if thinking doesn’t begin in the brain, but in the ceaseless labour of our cells? Today’s essay rethinks the question of how we become minds, arguing that cognition begins not in the mind but in the collective processes that keep a body alive @annaciaunica.bsky.social
Why you need your whole body – from head to toes – to think | Aeon Essays
Contemplating the world requires a body, and a body requires an immune system: the rungs of life create the stuff of thought
buff.ly
November 27, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Wonderful food for thought