Carl T. Bergstrom
UW biology prof.
I study how information flows in biology, science, and society.
Book: *Calling Bullshit*, tinyurl.com/fdcuvd7b
LLM course: https://thebullshitmachines.com
Corvids: tinyurl.com/mr2n5ymk
I don't like fascists.
he/him
- An extraordinary story about how scientists in the US are afraid to speak up as the entire science research ecosystem is demolished at the hands of the Republican administration. Without our voices, how will people understand the scope and generational consequences of the ongoing destruction?
- “The lived experience of a scientist right now is terrifying” My colleague Warren Cornwall spoke to @gregggonsalves.bsky.social, @rebekahtromble.bsky.social, @katestarbird.bsky.social and others about “the fear and self-censorship coursing through the nation’s scientific establishment today”. 🧪
- Straining the bounds of propriety is when I gave a talk at an Ivy League med school wearing jeans and a polo. This is extraordinary corruption.
- "Strains bounds of propriety"? How about "shatters every ethical norm of public service"? I truly want to know what the headline writers at the @nytimes.com are smoking, and to what end.
- "Strains bounds of propriety"? How about "shatters every ethical norm of public service"? I truly want to know what the headline writers at the @nytimes.com are smoking, and to what end.
- It would be wildly foolish it is to rely on any sort of AI to make decisions in tense international situations. But using an LLM to do so is terrifyingly stupid. It's a category error to think that a machine designed to generate plausible text would be good at reasoning about existential risk.
- Even the Trojans weren't stupid enough to get IN the horse.
- Tonight in amazing music: I'm a long-time fan of Norwegian jazz trumpeter Nils Peter Molvær. And I've been pushing everyone I know to listen to the Sweetheart, the best (Scandin)americana band you've never heard. Here they are playing together. It's sublime. h/t @acresofsnow.bsky.social
- nothing to worry about here at all
- I was very fortunate to take a course from Joe Nye as an undergraduate. I’ve always marveled at the way his 30+ lectures fit together into a grand narrative arc, almost like The Sopranos or The Wire. I’ve tried for years to emulate that but mine always come out more like Season Two of Twin Peaks.
- Sorry to hear of the passing of Joseph Nye, originator of the concept of soft power which itself passed a little over 100 days earlier. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_...
- I drove to Kingston, NY tonight to see John Moreland for the first time in 9 years. You probably know his music. If you don’t, start with 2015’s High on the Tulsa Heat.
- Something more positive: tonight at Bennington College I saw the premier of Robin McDonald's latest film. It's maybe my favorite yet. (As well as being a great filmmaker, Robin is my daughter's partner and will be graduating next month.) If you like absurdist/avant-garde short films, check it out!
