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Dr. Jens Foell

@jensfoell.de
12K followers 2K following 8K posts

I used to scan brains, now I talk about science for a living. Science editor, science podcaster, SPIEGEL-bestselling writer. Founder of @realscientists.de and trainer at @nawik.de. Looks even worse IRL. He/him. NEW BOOK OUT NOW! 🔗 jensfoell.de

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Reposted by Dr. Jens Foell
Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 6h
They quoted me in this New Yorker piece about AI today. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
“Let’s say there’s a world or time line I exist in where A.I. has been subject to regulation. It is ethical. It has no footprint environmentally,” the novelist Jeff VanderMeer, a prominent critic of A.I., told me over the phone. “With those guardrails in place, would I read an A.I. book? All I can say is no. And the reason is, in part, because I want to read something coming from a particular mind.” Using A.I., he said, “feels like a betrayal of the whole point of why you’re a writer.”
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 7h
To my fellow dudes: Listen to this. Read through this thread. Read through other threads like this one. The world makes it easy for us to close our eyes. But don't think that doing so doesn't come at a cost.
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 8h
I made a meme
That one meme from Invincible. A superhero labeled "some random guy with an acoustic guitar" watches some fighter jets labeled "AI music generators" and says "Look at what they need to mimic a fraction of our power"
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sibylleberg @sibylleberg.bsky.social · 8h
Ein neuer Kommentar auf unserer bezaubernden HP, um erregte JournalistInnen zu beruhigen: parteieuropa.eu/kommentar-ge... @jensfoell.de
parteieuropa.eu
Kommentar: Gedankenlesen ohne Technik-Milliardäre - Berg & Sonneborn MdEPs
Randbemerkung · Cyberspace Gedankenlesen ohne Tech-Milliardäre Start-up entwickelt Mütze, die Gedanken lesen kann TECHBOOK · Manuel Bauer · 26. April 2026 Komme...
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Martin Stoermer @martinstoermer.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
My current favourite German thing thanks to Duolingo is the verb for hug, umarmen. Literally to wrap in arms.
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 29/09/2026
As a stark reminder of how much times have changed: In 2009, Hulu ran a Super Bowl ad featuring Alec Baldwin, explaining that their business model is an evil plan to destroy all humans, and everyone immediately got that it was a joke. techcrunch.com/2026/09/28/a...
techcrunch.com
Anthropic's prospectus details losses, growth, and, yes, a warning that its AI could end humanity | TechCrunch
In its prospectus, Anthropic just told investors it's losing tens of billions of dollars a year, but also growing like crazy, and — oh yeah — its own AI might pose an existential risk to humanity.
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timesink.bsky.social @timesink.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
adding this article: www.heise.de/en/news/Disp...
heise.de
Dispute over AI evidence: Another mathematician accuses OpenAI
A Dresden mathematics professor is now also asking whether unpublished research from ChatGPT chats might have flowed into OpenAI’s math breakthroughs.
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 29/09/2026
The wonderful @carlzimmer.com has just posted what might very well become the defining “using AI for science” story of the year:
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Jens Müller @jens0331.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I thought of those false friends recently. While we Germans understand "the end of the world" as a remote place far away. English speakers understand it more literally.
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 29/09/2026
Fun random difference between English and German: in German, you can’t kill something that isn’t alive, and you can’t destroy something that is. So both “kill the lights” and “authorities had the wild bear destroyed” need to be slightly rephrased to make sense in German.
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 28/09/2026
AI is making the internet useless, part 35623576
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 26/09/2026
Does my Speak-n-Spell feel pain when I type O-U-C-H? The jury is out. Philosophers and neuroscientists say that's fucking stupid, but I called a guy from the Center for Pretending that Household Electronics Are Sentient and he said there's no way to know for sure.
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🌈Dr. Frizzle @swilua.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
OK this description made me LAUGH go.bsky.app/JKv3BWU
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 24/09/2026
*cocks gun* "Moon's been eaten"
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Dr Emma Byrne @sciwriby.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Nobody can stop you eating chocolate biscuits
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 24/09/2026
Pacific Rim is now available on Prime
These 7 Life-ChangingWords Are the Key Advice You Need to Hear (and Share) Right Now Maybe you don't need to hear this. But I'II bet other people around you do.
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 23/09/2026
This won't stop, by the way, no matter what happens. His only goals in life were to get rich and to leave an undeniable legacy. Now that he's stolen billions, his remaining goal is the second thing. Permanence will be the priority. His tribute doesn't have to be beautiful, it has to be non-removable
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 23/09/2026
"They're transing the kids in Springfield, Illinois"
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Brandi K. Adams @bkadams.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Honestly, @emilymbender.bsky.social and @timnitgebru.blacksky.app should be honored for their work on LLMs and ‘AI hype.’
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 21/09/2026
You can only share this today, so do your best
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 21/09/2026
A quick PSA for some news media CEOs from your friendly neighborhood neuropsychologist: Don't be concerned about sharp pain in your back over the next few days; it's an expected side effect of the soft tissue displacement that occurs when you're growing a new spine. Use OTC pain meds as needed.
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Hadas Weiss @hadas.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
the museum sounds great i hope they also build one for women
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 21/09/2026
The big risk isn't that AI will destroy civilization. It's that AI-based enshittification will progress so far that we'll all *wish* civilization would be destroyed. I call this the "is Trump going to shut down the CDC" dilemma.
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 20/09/2026
He gazed up at the enormous face.
Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark mustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose.
But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved generative Al.
- George Orwell
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 19/09/2026
GENIE: “There are only three restrictions: No love spells, no resurrections, and no wishing for more wishes.” ME: “I want to have a discussion with someone who’s pro AI but who isn’t at the same time incredibly naive about the technology.” GENIE: ME: GENIE: “There are now four restrictions.”
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 18/09/2026
Seems important to remember that Biden was never as impaired by his age as Trump and McConnell are every single day. You know, because people made a big thing out of all that.
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 17/09/2026
"And so, because of the automated and irrevocable decision making process which rules out human meddling, the doomsday machine is terrifying. It's simple to understand. And completely credible, and convincing." Dr. Strangelove
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Dr. SkySkull @drskyskull.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
This seems like a good time to remind people I wrote a book on the physics and history of falling cats!
Cover of falling Felines and Fundamental Physics by Gregory J. Gbur, showing a cat falling with string
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 17/09/2026
This is the best idea in the history of both design and engineering
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 17/09/2026
A local bar is hosting a Pulp Fiction night, where they will show the movie and serve their version of Big Kahuna burgers
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 16/09/2026
WELCOME CANADIAN FRIENDS!! Love to have you here ❤️
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 13/09/2026
As a father I can appreciate the joy of watching a 6-year-old learn about the world for the first time
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Horrible 'Antigonish' Horse 🇵🇸 @horriblehorse.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
THIS is the tech that should be getting heavy development. Not LLM data centers that ruin communities, destroy farmland and kill the planet
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Blake @blakeac.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
THIS is the stuff from Star Wars we should have in the real world not fascists who refuse to die, even while their bodies rot before our eyes blowing up entire populations
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 12/09/2026
I don’t care if OpenAI has solved an age-old math question in the same way that I don’t care if anything useful has come out of unethical psychological or medical experiments. If it’s worth knowing, we‘ll get there a different way.
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 12/09/2026
Actual technology with deep, generous purpose remains extremely cool and good. I miss feeling good about machines and computers
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 12/09/2026
An absolutely incredible development here. This leg would have been unimaginable just a few short years ago. (Original post by @science.org on instagram)
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 12/09/2026
6yo: “It seems like these trees are taller than they were” Me: “I guess they grew” 6yo: “That fast?!” Me: “Well when do you remember them being smaller than this?” 6yo: “Maybe ten minutes ago”
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 11/09/2026
"When a bridge collapses, you don’t analyze whether the bridge was ethical or sentient or why it decided to collapse. You ask, who built this bridge to be so flimsy? There are permits you have to acquire [& supposed] tests. When you ask about the bridge collapsing itself, you’ve lost the thread"
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 10/09/2026
Happy to report that I already knew the first one of these fun trivia items about Jesus. But I must admit, the other two came as a bit of a surprise.
Trivia
Christ is not part of Jesus' name. It is a title, and means "anointed."
The Magi who presented gifts to Jesus were in fact aliens who followed the Star of Bethlehem throughout the universe as it appeared before important events.[13]
Two immortal beings, the Sphinx[14] and the first vampire Varnae, observed Jesus during the time he was alive.[15]
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public health guy @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
📈📈📈
Gas Station Price Sign Using Scientific Notation

the ONION
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Cassandra Jaramillo @cassandrajaramillo.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
New reporting from my colleagues: Ectopic-related deaths in abortion banned states are increasing. One expert said deaths from ectopic pregnancies should “really be a never event.” www.propublica.org/article/ecto...
propublica.org
Ectopic Pregnancy Deaths Have Nearly Doubled. It’s Worse in States With Abortion Bans.
With prompt and appropriate medical care, experts say, people shouldn’t die from an ectopic pregnancy. Women in Texas and Oklahoma have sued over delays in care, which, coupled with our new analysis, ...
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
you can be arrested if you give water to people waiting on line to vote
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 09/09/2026
I responded to this by saying that I don't really do any of the things that people do to compensate for their midlife crisis; then I suddenly realized that I've started a podcast and published a book with myself on the cover
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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 09/09/2026
I will say it is funny watching OpenAI boast about solving a complex math problem using millions of dollars of compute (and someone else’s work) all while remaining unable to solve the most obvious math problem (how to make their services profitable)
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Bethany Black @bethanyblack.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
4 years since The Rock did one if the all time tweets
Rest in peace to Her Majesty the Queen, Elizabeth II. A great woman who sat on the throne as long as anyone in British history.
Sad she will never get to see #BlackAdam V IN THEATERS OCT 21st
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 08/09/2026
Bluesky is quickly sinking into the quicksand of pro-AI delusion.
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 08/09/2026
This is the same thing that's happening in Germany right now. People siding with fascists, willingly running the country into the ground on the promise of freeing themselves from shackles that they've made up in their mind.
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 08/09/2026
RT if you've never had a tab of ChatGPT open, period.
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Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 07/09/2026
I had a thread about @sanders.senate.gov & Max Tegmark before seeing this one. Yudkowsky is an even more overt eugenicist, you don't have to do any digging to see that. He also has ZERO expertise in "AI" except for being a self described "genius" cult leader who wrote a Harry Potter fanfic.
Sen. Bernie Sanders @SenSadners

Will AI become smarter than humans?

If so, is humanity in danger?

I went to Silicon Valley to ask some of the leading AI experts that question. 

Here's what they had to say.
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