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Niels Van Santen

@nielsvs.bsky.social
97 followers 285 following 3 posts

PhD student at Ghent University. Interested in complexity, information theory and networks.

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Reposted by Niels Van Santen
Adam Konig | Play Mischief on steam! 🐀 @konig.games · 01/07/2026
My biggest pet peeve is that there's a ton of scam websites that are "Free QR Code Generator"s then the QR code stops working after a few days and then redirects you to ask you to PAY to re-activate it. I made a page on website for making ACTUALLY FREE QR Codes. Enjoy. konig.games/QRCodes/ #QRCodes
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Complexity Next Gen @complexitynextgen.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
The clock is ticking and the end of the 72h is drawing ever closer 😱 While ideas take shape, models evolve, and final presentations come together, here’s a glimpse of each team as they race towards the finish line 👥🧠🏭📚🗳️🤖🏀
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Andrew Quemere @andrewqmr.bsky.social · 01/11/2025
I've been getting back into the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series after many years, and the most relatable part is how everyday objects like doors and elevators have been imbued with artificial intelligence and it just makes them obnoxious and frustrating to use and everyone hates it.
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apache/ @apache.be · 24/10/2025
Belgian AI scientists are advocating *against* the use of AI in academia. “If independent thinking is no longer encouraged at university, where would it?” apache.be/2025/10/24/b...
apache.be
Belgian AI scientists resist the use of AI in academia
Several AI scientists have published an open letter calling for a ban on AI use by students.
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 16/10/2025
Physics Paths xkcd.com/3155/
Vertical comic structured like flow chart. (1) Einstein had an insight that overturned physics, thus proving his value. (2) I hope *I* have value. I’ll try to have an insight that overturns physics, to check. (3) [Time Passes] (4) Oh no! My insight didn’t overturn physics! But I don’t think I’m worthless… [arrows to two different options] (5a) Healthy Path: Maybe this was not a well-thought-out test of my value. (5b) Path of Ruin: The establishment must be *suppressing* my insight!
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 12/08/2025
8. This has been a short and honestly rather peevish thread, so if you want read more that has been written in a more equanimous tone, here's a short piece that I coauthored a few years ago, precisely about how we deal with this kind of duplicity.
scientificamerican.com
To Fight Misinformation, We Need to Teach That Science Is Dynamic
Science is a social process, and teaching students how researchers work in tandem to develop facts will make them less likely to be duped by falsehoods
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Dr. Damien P. Williams, dread portent down from a mountain cave @wolven.blacksky.app · 04/04/2025
So OpenAI is actively marketing ChatGPT to students during college finals season in the U.S. We've talked many (many) times before about the kinds of harm that can come from giving over too much epistemic and heuristic authority over to these systems, but additionally, there's been at least three…
Screenshot of ChatpGPT page:

ChaptGPT

Promo:  2 months free for students
ChatGPT Plus is now free for college students through May

Offer valid for students in the US and Canada

[Buttons reading "Claim offer" and "learn more"
An image of a pencil scrawling a scribbly and looping line]

ChatGPT Plus is here to help you through finals
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Daniele Marinazzo @danielemarinazzo.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
With mechanisms like these, who needs behaviors? My commentary on the latest by Thomas Robiglio, friends, and @lordgrilo.bsky.social physics.aps.org/articles/v18...
physics.aps.org
With Behaviors Like These in Complex Systems, Who Needs Mechanisms?
A new study of complex systems supports a growing trend that focuses more on analyzing a system’s collective behavior rather than on trying to uncover the underlying interaction mechanisms.
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Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 30/03/2025
Here is my best guidance for action, rendered beautifully by the great John Lithgow. I first published these lessons more than eight years ago, in late 2016. They open the twenty chapters of "On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century." snyder.substack.com/p/twenty-les...
snyder.substack.com
Twenty Lessons, read by John Lithgow
Key selections from On Tyranny, for viewing and sharing
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Abel Jansma @abelaer.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
New blog post 🚨 A gentle dive into the mereology of complex systems, Möbius inversion, and a new way to think about higher-order interactions—no prior knowledge needed! abeljansma.nl/2025/01/28/m...
abeljansma.nl
Complex Systems and Quantitative Mereology
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Daniele Marinazzo @danielemarinazzo.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Niels Van Santen wrote a guide to the use of information theoretical measures in psychology/psychometrics. Any feedback is most welcome!
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Manlio De Domenico @manlius.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
Simultaneous attacks to research funding and information ecosystems. I discuss on #ComplexityThoughts about the potential consequences. 👉 open.substack.com/pub/manlius/... 🎧 creators.spotify.com/pod/show/com... Short 🧵 1/
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Kate Clancy @kateclancy.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
I was interviewed by @msjpauly.bsky.social for @motherjones.com regarding that awful gamete size "sex" executive order. A bit of an explainer here of why the science is so bad, and why that's dangerous:
motherjones.com
Trump’s definitions of "male" and "female" are nonsense science with staggering ramifications
"How can you so fully misunderstand basic human biology, and then legislate about it?"
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Winter Workshop on Complex Systems @wwcs.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
❄️ Only 10 days to go! ❄️ The 10th edition of the Winter Workshop on Complex Systems is almost here! We're so excited to spend a week full of inspiring science in the beautiful mountains of Lombardy. This year, it's truly a Winter Workshop—snow and all! 🌨️✨ #WWCS25
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PessoaBrain @pessoabrain.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗲𝘂𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 If you are a statistician, teach statistics, or even just use statistics, this is a highly recommended read. What a horror story which probably most of us know little about. nautil.us/how-eugenics...
nautil.us
How Eugenics Shaped Statistics
Exposing the damned lies of three science pioneers.
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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
"Scientists need to recognize that bold presentation, dissemination, and support of scientific knowledge has become both a basic commitment and a political act." 👏👏👏
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Paul Hünermund @p-hunermund.com · 19/11/2024
⁉️ DAG Quiz of the Day ⁉️ Find all conditional independencies between nodes implied by the following directed acyclic graph. (Hint: there is an easy way to rule out many potential dependencies.)
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Sean Carroll @seanmcarroll.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
Let's see if we can hold two ideas simultaneously: 1. Science is of course "neither red nor blue." It's about understanding nature, not partisan agendas. 2. Science is of course "political." Politics is how we make collective decisions, including concerning science. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Science is neither red nor blue
Long before the 5 November US presidential election, I had become ever more concerned that science has fallen victim to the same political divisiveness tearing at the seams of American society. This i...
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Eiko Fried @eikofried.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
New feed on complexity and network science, featuring a host of amazing folks.
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