University teacher, father, dog walker. A European in England. Posting micro-comments on all things that come my way, large and small. #pedagogy, #taoism, #literature, #programming, #typography, #TeX, #politics, #covid. Kindness will prevail.
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2026-07-30T16:04:17Z Event JSON
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Last Notes npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Very sharply argued, Karsten. Gives me a lot to think about! npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Richard Dawkins's "Claudia" piece gives us a glum vision of the future of speaking. We see an entirely artificial exchange of well-constructed sentences, all following the laws of pattern recognition, but all without an ounce of expressive truth. The soulless automation is on both sides: Claudia the LLM speaks as it was programmed to speak; Richard the human speaks as his narcissistic pathology makes him speak. Neither invests their soul. Claudia because it has none, Richard because he hides it from himself. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Wow, a fascinating programme. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer "Did Turing ever discuss how well flattery works for winning the imitation game?" npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer As to your question 2: oh certainly, there's no shortage of boring poems! npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer "No good poem, however confessional it may be, is just a self-expression. Who on earth would claim that the pearl expresses the oyster? " npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer He is furious about what happened. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer I don't know details of the current family. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer A family outing, to Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire. (Our daughter has developed a fascination with country houses, which we are delighted to nourish.) npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer My daughters are 13 now and I still sometimes read the Dr Suess books to them! You are right, they have a recitable quality, they become part of ones poetic memory. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Yeah, 100%. The poisoning of trust is the worst aspect of the whole thing. It voids any strategy that tries to maintain an LLM-free zone. It attacks us from inside the city walls. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Naturally. Never pray the night before washing day. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Interesring, thank you for the link. Intriguing parallels to why I reject AI in teaching. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Hello, fellow Fedivistas. Perhaps, like me, you try to keep a live substream of political news in your timeline. I understand if you don't! But if you do, I'd like to make sure you are aware of one especially charming account, by Kriszta Satori from the BBC. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer The weight of this sad time we must obey, npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Your Fedi posts are a really nice mix of things: specialist stuff that is addressed at people from your own field, "popular maths and physics" explorations that appeal to a wider group, and then more general items such as these posts about fishers and wildcats and beavers! I try to keep an eye on all the posts from all the core accounts that I follow, but I am also determined to keep my use of the Fedi relaxed and playful and informal, so unavoidably there are many things that flow through my timeline that I never even see. Delighted to have discoverd your rewilding strand of posts today! The Fedi is fun. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Hadn'd seen your earlier Fisher post, wow, good news too! (Now boosted.) npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer The return of the European wildcat. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer A great, great story! npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Fascinating thread, deeply enjoyable. Thank you! npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Yes, Donald Knuth is a hero and a true renaissance man, and his TeX is an unsurpased achievement, a tool of lasting value. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Anthony Hopkins, interviewed by Steve Rose. In today's Guardian. Worth reading. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Kindness will prevail. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer What a wonderful thing to be able to do. May the weather be on your side! npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer GenAI and what it does to the brain. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Yeah, our whippet Castorp also reaches a higher level of happiness when we're all out together, rather than just him and me. He walks ahead, busy looking left and right to make sure all is safe! :-) npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer It was the year of the Great Darkness. Chameo, the Lord of DarkSky, became ever more erratic. His followers grew uneasy. Many were seen in the free fields of the Mastodonians, setting up temporary tents, talking to each other about the decline of DarkSky and occasionally asking a Mastodonian passer-by about life in the free fields. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer AI corruption everywhere. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Yup! npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Remembering listening to that song as a teenager in the 70s, on my elder brother's big tape recorder. That was in the Joan Baez cover version, which at that time was just a few years old. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Wonderful. And, this being England, the rain is an integral part of the experience! The English landscape needs rain to come to life! npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Beautiful, thank you! I love the way these woodblock prints do rainfall. Those thin dark grey strings are at once highly stylised and highly realistic. Magic. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer What do you see, Watson, Holmes asked impatiently. You know my methods, apply them. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Hello, fellow genAI/LLM sceptics. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer On hashtags. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Storm Floris (UK) npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer A cool late July evening. August is still ahead of us, but my body registers mid-September feelings, when another summer will have passed. Make the most of the time you have, Roamer, nothing stays. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Highly relevant article, thank you for the link. I feel as you feel. I wish we could remove LLMs from the educational ennvironment, but currently the AI maelstrom takes everything with it. I fear that society first has to experience a serious loss of control before the madness stops. Loss of control due to malfunctioning AI-bases systems, or irrepairable buggy AI produced software, or the sudden realisation that we no longer have anybody who actually knows anything. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Love all your posts. Don't see all of them, due to a busy timeline, but I always stop when I see them, and they give me strength. Mastodon at its best: honest snippets of insights, into all things small and large; and courage when faced with life's difficulty. My whippet Castorp tells me he'd love to have a run with Summer. (Castorp would sprint him out in the first few minutes, then Summer would run circles around him.) npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Yes, I talked it through with them, in individual meetings, not in a group setting. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer We are still in the middle of the supervision phase. I give them specific modelling tasks and do some of them jointly with them. I make them explore specific situations and write about them, with graphs etc, so that they learn to experience the joy of being a creator rather than a consumer. I expect most of them to end up with piecee that are not fake. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Met my MSc dissertation students this week. All good natured people. But the genAI rot is spreading. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer What an absolute nightmare. Giving away our data to Google!! npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer I have pretty much given up on Labour, pinning my hopes on Greens & LibDems. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Today I needed to look up a specific post by a scrientist on Bluesky and, once there, I looked around a bit. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer An observation on AI hype in higher education. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Stony beaches are what beaches are meant to be. A degree of aloofness to human visitors, and a magical mirror of geological processes. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Castorp my Whippet has some issue with his front right paw, or perhaps with the leg and the joints. He limps. We have been to the vet but he couldn't find anything. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer EDITED: npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Truly truly heartbreaking. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer "Erbarme dich, mein Gott, um meiner Zaehren willen." npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Local elections in England yesterday (not in the wider UK), npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer "As part of your earliest remarks, make sure to talk about some kind of link you have with the audience. Preferably something the audience knows more about than you do. Give them something to feel good about, and feel good about listening to you. This opens up their ears & will make them care around 100 times more about the rest of your presentation." npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Virginia Giuffre, I am so sorry. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Good old-fashioned reporting, Facts, views, traced to names and sources, The Guardian is still doing it, occasionally. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer There is true dialogical engagement on Mastodon..True connection. We are so lucky to be able to meet here. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Hello, Thou. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Oh, yes, I did have a lengthy conversation with Master Martin before I posted. I checked with him on Madeleine's original post too. He said that he was unfamiliar with this Lacan chap and that in his day the people who talked about Death all the time were on the wrong side of history, but yeah, he said, that was then, and terms change. Herr Lacan, he said, is a Mensch. He seems to be on to something: you can't relate to a Thou if you don't know that both of you are fundamentally at risk. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer "[genAI] is not hearing you with a body that will one day die." npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Spot on. Agreeing with every part of your post. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Remembering Gene Hackman, who has died at 95 alongside his wife. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Hi. Your correction is absolulety not helping, especially since you first published this as the 2025 result. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Sadly in my institution (Russel) it's driven by academics, not the EduTech guys. Many otherwise very sensible and earnest acadermics are taken in by the genAI hype, and seem to have lost all ability to look at this issue with some sense. It's very strange. The University's senior management are also in on the ride. It is very very puzzling and disheartening. I have stopped arguing and instead do what I can to protect my own courses from the craze. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Well put: "(the reason we ask students to read things is not because we think that is an efficient method of information upload! Reading is a form of thinking)". npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer "On the other hand, not all miss their old posts." npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer [Rare excursion into US pol, forgive me.] npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer "Who will run the country while Trump is cheating at golf?" npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Audrey Hepburn's involvement with the Dutch #resistance during WW2. Remarkable. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Thinking about the impact of genAI on student learning. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer But then they'd have nothing to sort out on my behalf ... :-). npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer His guardian angels never rested. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer He did not like his wings. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Silence came without warning. It stayed. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Email crimes, episode 4073. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Early primary school, in West Berlin, which at the time was an isolated city within East Germany, without surrounding countryside. There was one working farm in West Berlin, near the border. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer You are so right. A powerful manifesto for not taking the easy route. Worth reading and re-reading. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Didn't see this coming. Nicely done. On stage, we'd call this "perfect timing." npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer "Though some people want the right to die, many of us are still fighting for the right to exist." npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer At my university, all lectures are recorded, as a "voice + screen" recording. During my lectures I also do lots of unscripted whiteboard writing and drawing, and this is not filmed. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer A lovely, poetic, powerful statement. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer This is so, so good. The flooded footbridge adds something surreal, magical to the photograph. So beautiful! (As are all the photographs you post here, you have the eye.) npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer It may appear frivolous to devote another post to Kier Starmer's freebies. But. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Quotes from Master Wodehouse are always welcome. They never fail to lighten the heart. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer I at my desk, headphones on. My daughter in the same room, a quiet day at home at the end of her holidays. She listens to her music, I listen to mine. She makes some lists of things she thinks about, draws a picture, enjoys her self- time. Every once in a while she shows me something she's written, I nod. Oh will I ever be so close to her again. npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer A sunny, slightly chilly late August morning. The children will be back to school next week. I feel the usual mix of regret about things not done and quiet joy in what we did. How many years left before they will be gone? npub1k7c75ukj7ymyeqqtam2698v366lnq5ldk6szjjveh4603s26ew5sjk7qf4 the roamer Good posts are fragments.
