iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Matt Binder @mattbinder.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

the tech industry is about to invent books

Andrew Yeung
@andruyeung
X.com
We created gyms because modern day work no
longer required physical activity. Without exercise,
our muscles atrophy.
I predict we'll need gyms for our brains too, once Al
starts doing our knowledge work.
10:53 PM • 10/4/26 • 1.3M Views

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Wonky @wonkysq.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Excellent post with specific ideas for taking action. "an entire generation has grown up not realizing how extreme it is that their very language is being chosen for them by platforms run by people who hate that generation’s ability to express itself, and who hate the things it has to say."

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Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Earlier this year the scientific community successfully fought back on dramatic changes in Federal funding proposed by the Trump Administration.Now another RFI is proposing substantial changes that would damage peer review. This letter from SDB President Helen McNeill lays out the issue clearly 1/n

Dear SDB Members,

I am writing you now to ask everyone to respond to a proposed change to the way that grant review information at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is communicated to grant applicants, institutions, and NIH program staff. This is your opportunity to provide feedback on the process that selects our grants for funding.

The proposed change means that individuals, institutes and NIH staff will no longer receive the final overall impact score or percentile score that reflects the scientific opinion of a panel of experts. Currently, three reviewers provide their detailed opinion of a grant, and then the entire panel asks questions, can examine figures, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of a grant, and then members all independently score. The final overall impact score reflects this discussion and careful consideration of the entire scientific panel.

The proposed change is to now simply divide the scored grants into three categories: Scored applications would be grouped into three broad categories - “Most Competitive (top 25%),” “Competitive (26%-50%),” and “Not Discussed”. The motivation for the change is that decisions would now focus on the comments of reviewers, not the score of the grant to determine which grants to support. However, the current mechanism allows for scores and comments to be considered. Thus, removing the score component from NIH staff makes selection of which grants to fund more burdensome for NIH staff.

The loss of detailed scores will also make it more difficult for researchers to assess how competitive an application was and determine whether to revise and resubmit it. An application ranked top 2% and one ranked 24th% would receive the same label, even if the scientific panel viewed them quite differently. Meanwhile, applications ranked 25th%and 26th% would be placed in different categories because of a tiny difference that NIH itself says should not be treated as meaningful. The proposal would erase potentially important differences while creating arbitrary new dividing lines.

This is a dramatic loss of transparency in the scientific review process. Under the new plan, principal investigator(s), applicant institutions, NIH program staff, ICO leadership, and the relevant NIH Advisory Council will no longer have access to the final overall score.

NIH is explicitly asking for input on this particular question.

This is a Request for Information (RFI), not simply an announcement of a policy that has already been finalized. NIH says comments will be used to inform the final recommendation, including implementation and communication.

Please comment here: https://rfi.grants.nih.gov/?s=6a2b1c22c3fcfda46e0badd2

Deadline for response receipt is October 13, 2026, 11:59 PM ET.

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M. S. AtKisson @igrrrl.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Please please please I hope they give him a bucket!

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Alex Ip 葉清霖 @alexip718.com · 06/10/2026

oh hey here's Woke warrior *checks notes* Bill Kristol

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Eddy Conroy @econroy.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Let’s be clear, this isn’t software “going rogue” It’s either doing what it’s been trained to do, or it’s malfunctioning software that should never have been let out of a test environment.

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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

If you're in these states, *TODAY* is deadline to register to vote. Arizona, Arkansas Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas. Even if you think you've registered: doesn't hurt to check! And there's a lot happening across them. A thread with stakes on each. ⬇️

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Jay Rosen @jayrosen.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

"Polarization Is Not the Problem." The paragraph below says more about "both sides" journalism than just about anything I have read. By @lilymasonphd.bsky.social It's starting to get attaction. So read the rest, and let me know what you think. muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...

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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

If you're in these 3 states, *TODAY* is deadline to register to vote. Alaska Rhode Island South Carolina Even if you think you've registered: doesn't hurt to check everything is in order. Do it now. And there's a lot to vote for across them. A thread with stakes on each. ⬇️

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Jason Rasgon @vectorgen.bsky.social · 01/08/2023

61. Don't get disappointed. Get angry. When properly harnessed and focused, rage can be one if the most powerful and constructive weapons in your arsenal.

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Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis @kendrawrites.com · 02/10/2026

Every so often I think about how so many people do not know about the Beaver Drop. We used to be a country.

en.wikipedia.org

Beaver drop - Wikipedia

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John Teets @suenitos.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

"Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions we make are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of." — C. S. Lewis 📷🌱

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Hannah Vardit @hannahvardit.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

i worry that men think being A Good Guy is dramatically and heroically intervening on behalf of an endangered woman and then being publicly rewarded on a grand scale when actually being A Good Guy is just usually saying, “hey man that’s not funny” or “wow that’s fucked up” and there is no reward

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nick @unionnick.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

On the *same day* the Cornell Seven drugged and raped Jane Doe, Cornell banned four students (including the President of Cornell JVP) from campus for three years for nonviolent, pro-Palestine protests. The same Cornell officials let the rapists off with apology essays.

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

🚨🚨🚨 Very urgent for many of us. I also just learned this today. Tell your friends. Tell your grant admins. 🧪

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BWJones @bwjones.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Science peeps: Looks like SciENcv updated the digital certificate used to sign Biosketch and Current & Pending documents without notification. The old certificate expires Saturday, September 26, 2026. SciENcv docs before that date may fail validation in eRA Commons delaying or blocking submission.

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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

David Quammen's essay in The New York Times today closes with this paragraph. It's both a scientific falsehood, and an incredibly dangerous narrative. If you're willing to give me five minutes of your time, I'd like to explain why.

The Ebola virus doesn’t need to spill back. It abides in its reservoir host, and awaits its next opportunity. A virus can’t climb out of a bat or a monkey and fly off in search of human prey. It can only spill over. If humans left the reservoir host alone — not hunting it, not capturing it, not eating it, not exporting it live, not disturbing its forest habitat — the virus wouldn’t re-emerge in humans. It would remain where it is, harming no one. But of course that’s not what happens. And when viruses spill, they often spill into us, because the human population is such a big, busy target.

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Browned Butter ♎️🍁🍂✨ @brownedbutter.blacksky.app · 25/09/2026

Example of the fact that there’s never been any “trad wife/womanhood” for us

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Askme @askme99.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I know I've posted this many times - needs to flood the media until election day.

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Spooky Back From The Dead Lazarus @jlazarus.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

This is Nazi rhetoric. Not similar. Not Nazi-like. It’s straight up lebensraum.

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Catherine Shaffer @cathshaffer.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

For science journalists: this always works for me, though it might take a day or two

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Craig Kaplan @triggerloop.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Let me talk about this OpEd from GOP PA Senator Dave McCormick (whose office doesn't answer phones or respond to emails) 1

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Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 23/09/2026

If academics were as sensitive as these people are to rejection and disagreement — not to say we're unique of course, but we certainly take a beating — then we would not last a minute through peer review or whatever else. They really come unprepared if they think bullying works on people like us.

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Ancient Egyptian Prayer Bot @egyptianprayerbot.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Don't be evil, kindness is good, make your memorial last through love of you. (Instruction of Merikare) (ALL)

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

NYT tech reporter sings the praises of Meta Muse. It can do everything for you! Even set your fantasy football lineups! My dude... you know that's called "cognitive surrender," right? www.nytimes.com/2026/09/22/t...

"To test Muse, I experimented with it nonstop for two weeks... I had it perform dozens of day-to-day tasks, including (...) setting my fantasy football lineups."

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M. S. AtKisson @igrrrl.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Is the text game the one that had the riddle of the sphinx in there somewhere? I played one in high school and got passed the sphinx and the engineers were pissed because they'd had to go into the code to figure it out. Benefits of knowing the classics.

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Rep. Jim McGovern @repmcgovern.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Republicans passed legislation that requires people to work at least 80 hours per month to receive Medicaid. Over the past two months, Republican leadership worked, on average, for only 56 hours. They wouldn't even meet the work requirements they forced on working families.

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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 22/09/2026

"OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman gave Trump's super PAC a whopping $25 million" is one of those things that could really stand to be pointed out more:

finance.yahoo.com

OpenAI exec becomes top Trump donor with $25 million gift

The super PAC will help fund Republicans' midterm election battle.

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Dare Obasanjo @carnage4life.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

A typical morning at the Anthropic head office

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 20/09/2026

"AI responses are for educational purposes only and may not always be accurate"... surely it doesn't matter if it is misleading/inaccurate if the purpose is education @wileyonlinelibrary.bsky.social, do you see the absurdity of your logic

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

(Another) 5 alarm fire for biomedical research in America.

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Peanut 🎃 @peanutium.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

It's really wild to me how people will say "trans people should just have their own bathrooms/sports leagues" like bro do you even understand what you're suggesting?

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M. S. AtKisson @igrrrl.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

QotD:

What are our systems actually optimised for?
One question I keep returning to is money.
Money is extraordinarily useful. It allows coordination, exchange and planning at a scale human beings could not otherwise manage. But somewhere along the way, a tool for organising human activity began to look increasingly like the purpose of human activity.

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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

What’s a pirate’s favorite computer programming language? You’d think it’d be R, but their first love will always be the C. Happy talk like a pirate day!

static.klipy.com

Spongebob Captain Oooooh Meme Reaction

ALT: Spongebob Captain Oooooh Meme Reaction

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Brendan Harley @profharley.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

The risk to the NIH and NIH-funded investigators is not going away.

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Dilek Sayedahmed @dileksayedahmed.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I truly, deeply, sincerely do think the guy flipping burgers at McDonalds should be able to afford rent, bills, and groceries with his paycheck alone. That's kind of the whole point of having a job and I can't believe this is considered a radical position.🤷🏽‍♀️

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Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 19/09/2026

It's even simpler: the technology is the industry. To exclude the industry from our understanding of AI is to misunderstand the technology. So-called AI just doesn't work without the whole industry behind it. How do we know? We tried for decades and even more than a century under some definitions.

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