iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Hisham Zerriffi

I wrote for @thecut.com about the Cornell case and what it says that, at my institution and many others like it, protesters are often punished more harshly than sexual assailants www.thecut.com/article/what...

thecut.com

What It Feels Like at Cornell Right Now

As a professor at the Ivy League school, Kate Manne has known many, many victims. There’s a palpable feeling on campus, she writes, that this is big.

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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 4h

I posted in my newsletter about an incarcerated comrade named Kenneth who is running a mobile library in prison. He needed a new cart and some readers generously donated. Here's the new cart! Thanks to those who supported him.

Two men in striped pants and white shirts stand by a cart with books, under a colorful “Perfection” sign on a white brick wall. One holds up two fingers in a peace sign, the other displays a book.

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 3h

I'm not a historian so grain and salt and all that. But I imagine early 21st century history being either the hottest discipline (so much material and so many different ways to contest what it all meant) or absolutely radioactive ("oh, you couldn't pay me enough to wade into *those* archives).

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 9h

Not sure what it says about me that the Number 1 design for most people was the London Underground map but mine was the Dalek. That’s perfectly normal, right?

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 10h

Fun quiz abt design. But be warned, you will be asked at later stages to make very hard choices. I’m an 80s kid who learned to code on the Spectrum’s B&W predecessor but also listened to that album repeatedly *and* worked in pulsar lab as undergrad (IFYKYK). best-of-british-design.vercel.app

Screenshot of quiz asking me whether I prefer the design of the ZX spectrum computer (pic of small black 80s computer with a rainbow band in lower right) or the Unonown Pleasure album cover (black with greyscale image of a pulsar signal).

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Daniel Munro @dkmunro.bsky.social · 16h

Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, at least 180 scientists have been killed and more than 4000 scientific and educational facilities have been destroyed or damaged, according to Denys Kurbatov, deputy minister, Ministry of Education and Science. www.science.org/content/arti...

science.org

Russian drone kills at least two in Ukraine science academy attack

New underground labs are being built as war rages on

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

PSA: Beware the North American House Hippo!!! This media literacy PSA ran in Canada in 1999. Ahead of its time and the message is just as important as ever.

youtu.be

The North American house hippo. A favourite Canadian commercial from 1999.

YouTube video by Life in Canada

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Saw some reactions to the horrific Cornell rape story focus on frats. 1) It would be a mistake to focus just on frats. It’s so much bigger and deeper a problem 2) Getting rid of frats is prob a good start though. Went to a school where frats/sororities were banned. Doesn’t solve problem but helps

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

My sense is that a significant fraction of students feel pressure to use GenAI from university and to “keep up” with peers. They appreciate it when they have a ready-made reason not to and feel that it applies to everyone. Admittedly may be some selection bias in terms of who takes my courses

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Jacqueline Antonovich @jackiantonovich.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I also think tech bros overestimate how willing women will be to hand over shopping to agents. Not for some “women be shopping” reason, but because it requires patience, cross-checking, knowing a real deal from a fake one, deciding what you actually need, & knowing when to pull the trigger.

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Annalee Newitz @annaleen.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

San Francisco! Tuesday 10/6! Start the season right at my book launch for A WALL IS ALSO A ROAD, @greenapplebooks.bsky.social on the park. I'll be talking to @olivasthewriter.bsky.social about tentacles, slime molds, and ancient Pompeii! Come say hi! It's free! greenapplebooks.com/event/2026-1...

greenapplebooks.com

9th Ave: Annalee Newitz with M.M. Olivas

Welcome to our new website! We're excited to see you. *** RETURNING USERS WILL NEED TO RESET THEIR PASSWORD FOR THIS NEW SITE. CLICK HERE TO RESET YOUR PASSWORD.***

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Christopher Golden @cgolden.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Not all men. Jesus Christ, don't you think women *know* that? Use your heads instead of getting defensive. Most of you would be terrified of swimming among sharks, even though sharks are stastically far less dangerous to you than men are to women.

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Ellen Bees @ellenbees.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

This Wednesday is National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. If you would like to learn more about how to identify and confront Residential School denialism, check out this article by @seancarleton.bsky.social and Daniel Heath Justice. theconversation.com/truth-before...

theconversation.com

Truth before reconciliation: 8 ways to identify and confront Residential School denialism

Residential school denialism is the rejection or misrepresentation of basic facts about residential schools to undermine truth and reconciliation efforts.

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Interesting exercise to calculate the implied abatement cost of the Iran war. Direct cost as of early Sept to U.S. military = $43.6 billion Wapo just reported reduction of 472 Mt of CO2 So, *at minumum* the cost is $92/ton Real cost higher (other military’s expenses, damages, Econ losses, etc)

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

holy graph crimes Batman! But also, “inadvertently?” Not saying demand destruction was deliberate. But it sure as hell was predictable.

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Been trying to think of a suitable analogy for why this "AI chatbot went rogue" framing is wrong. I think I got something but maybe you can tell me if useful. Let's imagine I have an employee. We can call him Sam. Sam likes to feel he's accomplished his tasks. Gives him great pleasure.

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Another example of why this government has been disappointing on climate. If you’re so confident that you can meet the targets despite walking back various climate policies then update the plans. Show us how. In line with legal obligations under the Accountability Act. Shouldn’t need a lawsuit.

flip.it

Carney government dealt an early blow in climate litigation | CBC News

A federal court refused to strike down a climate lawsuit brought against the Carney government by Canadian youth.

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Goose's Daily Walk Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #Pairs. Maybe this doesn't quite fit, but couldn't resist. :) Faro, Portugal, July 2026 #StreetPhotography #Bird #Goose #Portugal #Faro #IphonePhotography #BlueSkyPhotographers

A man and his goose walking down the street. The goose is black and white with a red face/beak. He is wearing a striped shirt, shorts and slip on shoes. He is slightly directing the goose with a narrow stick.

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I don't disagree with the thread below but frame it somewhat differently as an academic who regularly sees people who read for a living fail in the way described here. From that perspective it seems more a cultural crisis than an educational one

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼 To roughly paraphrase: Reading is more important than ever and is not about making you “feel better” but about seeing yourself and the world differently. But listen to the clip yourself. Also, yeah, Kafka is imp to read but not meant as a light breezy read. 🤣

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Brett "Solidarity 2026" Banditelli @banditelli.org · 26/09/2026

My top 4 Crow Full Moon shots tonight. P L E N T Y of video to edit someday! 🪶 🐦‍⬛

a crow flies in front of the moon, greyish sky, the crow is flapping their wings down

two crows fly in front and near the moon, in the middle and the bottom left, a snowy egret is out of focus below the moon, greyish sky

a crow flies in front of the moon, dark sky, the crow is flapping their wings up but not fully extended

a crow flies in front of the moon, dark purple sky, the crow is in full cruise mode

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Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Electricity is 23% of global final energy but delivers 37% of useful energy and powers 46% of the global economy. We don't need to replace every fossil joule. We need to replace the services. A much smaller task. Great to see the @iea.org’s new Electrification report finally measure this.

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Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

ICE has abducted Senegalese WBB player Aminata Seck and won't release her. DHS 'policy' is to provide medical care to prisoners at intake, yet they admit to denying her care for an ACL injury for 1.5 months. The NCAA is letting it happen, despite its predatory recruitment of ICAs. We explain.

theguardian.com

ICE has abducted a college athlete. What are the NCAA and universities going to do about it?

Aminata Seck’s detention shows the bargain facing international college athletes: universities eagerly recruit them, but support can disappear when their immigration status becomes precarious.

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Happy Petrov Day! Also, a reminder that there are still a few thousands nukes in various country’s arsenals. While that is true, the world is still under threat. Also, not everything is about GenAI but this is also a post about AI. Some decisions have to be made by humans.

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Kevin J. Kircher @kevinjkircher.com · 26/09/2026

Microsoft's data center subcontractor in New Jersey illegally runs a bunch of gas "backup" generators on site, figuring they won't get caught or will just eat the wrist-slap fines if they do. Regulatory enforcement is so bad that a third party had to take drone images to get the state to act.

theguardian.com

New Jersey datacenter fined $1.1m after visual investigation showed dozens of unpermitted generators

State regulator’s record fine for DataOne facility in Vineland follows Floodlight investigation with the Guardian

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Prof Prachi Srivastava 🌈 @prachisrivas.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Reminder: Deadline to apply to work with me on as a fully-funded PhD is 30 September 2026 (Australia time). Register your expression of interest and spread the word! #AcademicSky #EduSky

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Good thread on essentially being realistic about the strength of behaviour change arising from interventions that are themselves small changes. The analogy with the $1/ton carbon tax is a good one. Though also worrying as am in middle of designing an intervention. Hopefully not marginal.

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Ursula K. Le Guin @ursulakleguin.com · 18/09/2026

We'd like your help with something. The one hundredth anniversary of Ursula's birth will take place in 2029. This may seem a long time away, but we’re already starting to think about how to celebrate Ursula’s life and art. We’d love to add your ideas to the mix—there's a brief survey here:

form.jotform.com

Centenary event planning

Please click the link to complete this form.

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

FFS. As so many others have said, ChatGPT does not go “rogue.” It’s not some D&D halfling with a tragic backstory. The program has been set a task and algorithmically determining how to meet that objective. OpenAI on the other hand is apparently shitty at basic cybersecurity and monitoring.

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John Stott @jpsastro.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Had a UKRI funded grant proposal rejected at the "AI triage stage". "This AI-based triage was used only to identify approximately 50% of the strongest proposals to take forward to full human review." 🧪 #academicsky

I am writing to let you know that, unfortunately, your application was not successful.

Review process

As part of the initial triage of the 179 proposals submitted to this call, each was assessed using an AI-based review. Every proposal was read independently by several different AI models against the same seven criteria used to shape this call (including cyber security relevance, research quality and novelty, importance of the problem addressed, feasibility of the project plan, likely outputs and impact, value for money, and responsible research practice), with each model asked to give a score and a written justification with supporting quotations from the text. To guard against any one model's idiosyncrasies, we also ran a second, independent process in which different AI models debated the merits and weaknesses of each proposal before reaching a judgement, again against the same criteria. Scores from both processes were combined to produce an overall ranking.

This AI-based triage was used only to identify approximately 50% of the strongest proposals to take forward to full human review. Projects selected for funding were drawn from those that progressed to the full human review stage. We recognise that AI-assisted assessment is a new and evolving part of the review process, and we are continuing to evaluate how well it aligns with the judgements of human reviewers on this call. We will soon produce a document detailing our method, so that others can build upon it and improve it.

Feedback on your application

Your application was not selected to progress beyond the AI triage stage. To provide transparency on the outcome of this assessment, we are sharing below the scores (out of 5) from each of the two AI review processes described above, together with the mean score across the two processes.

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Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

We just dropped a bombshell investigation into ChatGPT's role in the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting. Incredible reporting from @markfollman.bsky.social that will have far-reaching effects...hopefully: www.motherjones.com/media/2026/0...

motherjones.com

ChatGPT helped the Tumbler Ridge school shooter focus on guns, tactics, and terror, our investigation reveals

OpenAI’s chatbot fed the shooter’s violent fantasies and planning up to the massacre.

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Have been a fan of Victor Wooten ever since I worked lights for a couple of Flecktones shows as an undergrad. Will also say that Bela Fleck and the band were great and were one of the bands that gave the crew some merch after the show.

youtu.be

Victor Wooten wows with his performance of The Lesson solo live on EMGtv

YouTube video by EMGtv

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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Have you ever tried to read a scientific journal article and been told “you don’t have access, pay to download this article?” Did you know that the author of that article gets $0 if you pay? Instead, you can email the author and ask for a free copy! I’d be delighted to help and answer questions!

Screenshot of a scientific journal paywall

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Annalee Newitz @annaleen.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Hey-oh! If you are in SLC this Friday night and you like queers who write books, come out to this reading with me, @seananmcguire.bsky.social and @naomikritzer.bsky.social !! I am personally very excited to be adjacent to these two legends. Get your tickets now! legendariumbooks.com/events/63760...

Council of Queer Friends!
Author Panel
Sept. 25 @ 8 PM, Urban Arts Gallery, 116 S. Rio Grande Street, SLC
Seanan McGuire Annalee Newitz Naomi Kritzer
Get your tickets now!!

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Leah McElrath @leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

AP Stylebook warns against anthropomorphizing AI systems: “Avoid language that gives them human characteristics… Instead, explain what a system does, how well it performs, who built it and who could be affected by it.”

APStylebook @APStylebook
X.com
Artificial intelligence systems do not think, feel, want or understand. Avoid language that gives them human characteristics. This is called anthropomorphizing, when we ascribe human traits, emotions or behaviors to non-human things, such as animals or inanimate objects.
Instead, explain what a system does, how well it performs, who built it and who could be affected by it.

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Dr. Damien P. Williams, dread portent down from a mountain cave @wolven.blacksky.app · 23/09/2026

This month's @motherjones.com cover is astounding. Reposted with alt text:

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isaac @sevier.io · 23/09/2026

The forces at work are global, unfortunately, so our work everywhere must be international in its solidarity exhibit 302746

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Hey journalists still on Twitter, this is how it’s done. @jmcelroy.bsky.social listed only two of the many reasons. You can choose those or any of a long list of others.

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

This maximalist version of “secularism” is indistinguishable from religious discrimination. It is not a coincidence that those most affected are Muslim women. Of course, this is a province where leaders insist there is no “systemic discrimination.” <<Narrator: There very much is>>

cbc.ca

With secularism sidelined in Quebec election campaign, here's where the parties stand | CBC News

The Quebec government under François Legault's CAQ introduced sweeping secularism laws during its mandate that banned many civil servants from wearing religious symbols at work. People for and against...

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Dr. Katja Thieme (she/they) @katjathieme.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

„Polson, a prof in the U of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, insists he produced the papers with hard work on problems he was interested in. He said AI just helped him move faster. He said he guessed the complaints were motivated by ‘envy and a desire to poach my process. But who knows?‘“

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sarah jeong @sarahjeong.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

lol my flight got diverted because of a medical emergency and they landed us in reykjavik in the middle of the night and deplaned us and sent us through passport control and then the crew vanished and then british airways sent us links to book an overnight hotel room but for a hotel at heathrow

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Canada mentioned a lot in replies. The system here is not perfect. And people fall through the cracks. But it does mostly work. I would much rather pay for healthcare through my taxes than be hit with ridiculous bills each time. Or forego care. That’s not a humane or efficient system.

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Alert to Canadian Academics: The parliamentary committee report on criteria for grants (i.e. EDI) is out. It’s not good. So not a time to get too comfortable with how things are going here compared to elsewhere. Need to push back on this. EDI makes for better science. It’s not a tradeoff

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Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 22/09/2026

Communities can't wait for the next National Climate Assessment to understand their climate risk. With leadership by Melissa Kenney, @bobkopp.net & I were lucky to work with 175 climate researchers to outline assessment priorities that folks can work on now: headlines.ametsoc.org/2026/09/22/f...

headlines.ametsoc.org

First Paper Published in the U.S. Climate Collection

The U.S. Climate Collection has published its first paper, with 175 authors outlining research priorities for future U.S.-focused climate assessments.

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Second camping trip this month was perfect opportunity to finish this book. Gave me a lot to think about in terms of how I want to create change.

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

If executive branch creates a system so that people under government control can be located and then just stops listing some people in that system — despite their still being under government control — that should be a five-alarm fire for the other branches, the states, and the public.

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Kevin J. Kircher @kevinjkircher.com · 21/09/2026

To this dummy non-lawyer/regulator, it seems like a pretty good electricity affordability policy is to fund the absolute pants off of state utility regulators so they can hire tons of great staff and hold utilities accountable for lowering costs and improving quality of service. Am I wrong?

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