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Zhuāngzǐ's Tree

@radioactivegorgon.bsky.social
135 followers 304 following 231 posts

This account is used to post or re-post political and/or academic interests—mostly. Predictive processing enthusiast. she/her

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Zhuāngzǐ's Tree @radioactivegorgon.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
'Epstein Class' is the antisemitic gift of the decade. And it's not even an unexpected one given how baked-in some claims were, but most self-styled informed people on this site seem to have only maybe heard some of it second-hand. Few/none seem to have listened to the 3 hour Farmer-Webb interview.
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Steve Fleming @smfleming.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Glad to be part of this elegant study that is reshaping the way I think about metacognition. Confidence is strikingly goal-sensitive, with supposedly sensory biases such as PEB being readily flipped through instruction. Led by Prady Sepulveda and Benedetto De Martino www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Goals shape human confidence
Confidence guides our decisions: it determines when we commit to a choice, gather more information, or change our minds. Prominent models treat confidence as a readout of the evidence in support of a ...
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Zhuāngzǐ's Tree @radioactivegorgon.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Online harassment was something that radicalized me at the time of Gamer Gate but yeah at this point I'm not entertaining any illusions about it being a right-wing contained problem. Grievance-fueled bullying feuds are unfortunately able to thrive outside of a narrow political window.
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Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
The superposition of these two studies — both incredible — reflect a snapshot of "one big thing" systems neuroscience has yet to resolve. In mice: 1. Task-related signals are everywhere. 2. Absent large swaths of "everywhere," suprisingly sophisticated learning & behavior remains.
Post by Enny van Beest, "Brainwide representation of navigation"Post by Jieyu Zheng, "How fast can mice learn complex mazes?"
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Zhuāngzǐ's Tree @radioactivegorgon.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
I dunno about the CIA stuff, but I'm more familiar with her role with the satanic panic and being one of Bennet Braun's most enthusiastic supporters. They did horrible things to women and children in the name of championing them.
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Neil Vigdor @gettingviggy.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, which is affiliated with Drexel University, cited attendance struggles and higher costs in its decision to close. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/01/u...
nytimes.com
A Nearly 200-Year-Old Museum Known for Its T. Rex Faces Extinction
The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, which is affiliated with Drexel University, cited attendance struggles and higher costs in its decision to close.
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Earl K. Miller @earlkmiller.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Attention control ability is associated with frontoparietal control network interactions doi.org/10.1073/pnas... #neuroscience
doi.org
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Earlier in the summer I suggested I’d do a thread on this gnarly paper. Better late than never. (Yes, it's more WTF biology.) 🧵 /1 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Subnuclear genome compartmentalization controls bivalent chromatin activity - Nature
Knowledge of the spatial location of a gene is necessary to understand its epigenomic regulation.
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Zhuāngzǐ's Tree @radioactivegorgon.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
As dislikable as Cofnas is, there's a part of the Arday case where-in his own actions to chase off investigation amplified the media response. I don't think there's a lot of consistency if people want to "bring back shame!" and emphasize the harm of liars on society and then shift gears with Arday.
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marina grlica 🌱 @dovesplants.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
see you space cowboy tim curry
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Ken Miller @kenmiller.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
This is wild. >1/2 of HC synapses disappear in artificial hibernation, come back in same/similar locations & memories intact. ~1/2 of engram synapses-between two memory-tagged cells-are clustered on dendrites, those preferentially spared. Not biggest synapses. 1/ www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
This shows the visual abstract and a paragraph from the extended abstract of the linked article.
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Zhuāngzǐ's Tree @radioactivegorgon.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
I don't know why these people kept going after bus drivers. In one case I can sorta recall, accusing them of elaborate rituals in the middle of a bus route that never had any delays or indication of something being wrong.
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Lisa Feldman Barrett @lisafeldmanbarrett.com · 25/08/2026
How does your #brain turn light waves, air pressure, and racing hearts into sights, sounds, and emotions? By generating categories. @quantamagazine.org explains our recent @nature.com paper and why it matters. With @earlkmiller.bsky.social. www.quantamagazine.org/a-new-framew...
quantamagazine.org
A New Framework for How the Brain Compresses Our Noisy World | Quanta Magazine
An updated view of categorization reflects the modern understanding that the nervous system is more of a prediction engine than a filing cabinet.
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Ctenophores Rock! @ctenophoresrock.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Happy #CtenophoreCtuesday! For your moment of zen, enjoy this tentacular (comb) jelly roll 🪼🌀 Captured by the ever-talented macro-photographer & scientist @adameykolab.bsky.social 🤩 Stay tuned for next week as we comb through the internet looking for all things #ctenophore! #MarineLife #scicomm
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Zoomer Antimillenarian @surcomplicated.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Astrology is bad and ppl who take it seriously should feel bad. All the granola crunch crankery ppl thought was harmless keeps producing utter horror in the real world.
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Zhuāngzǐ's Tree @radioactivegorgon.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Isn't the marathon one of the things that was technically plausible and also substantiated with some reporting? atm I'm mostly relying on reporting rather than doing my own digging on this, but while there seems like enough to justify intense scrutiny there might also be some overstated cases.
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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
So I sort of think we're in a bit of a good for the goose good for the gander situation. The misconduct charges should actually receive proper investigation for the same reason that the charges against Arday should have. I hope the media will be more civilised in this case than they were with Arday.
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Avel Guénin--Carlut @avel.kairos-research.org · 23/08/2026
Very emphatically, the mind doesn't work that way - and neither does evolution link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Is Evolutionary Psychology Possible? - Biological Theory
In this article I argue that evolutionary psychological strategies for making inferences about present-day human psychology are methodologically unsound. Evolutionary psychology is committed to the vi...
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Zhuāngzǐ's Tree @radioactivegorgon.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
"empathetic people" are just like that
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Dr. Walter Veit @walterveit.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
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Zhuāngzǐ's Tree @radioactivegorgon.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Since folks are talking about the satanic panic again: If you want to understand the perpetuation of ritual abuse stories, this is a very solid read. It's a phenomenon that can adapt to various zeitgeists and extends beyond just satanism. And it is unfortunately an ongoing problem.
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Zhuāngzǐ's Tree @radioactivegorgon.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
The problem with punishing people is that a fragmented understanding of the history (often focused on Evangelicals going after D&D and pagans) has led most people to underestimate how deep we all have sunk into their nonsense again. People are all over this site defending recovered memory therapies.
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A Frogs Gent @frogsgent.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
From a certain perspective, this is arguably what the Emperor was Trying To Make, it just didn't go so well. It's probably hard to ignore the specter of human irrationality when it has a habit of physically manifesting in the world and has Very Sharp Teeth.
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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
How your email finds me.
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The Dissenter @thedissenteryt.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Learn about psychological epigenetics and other fads in #Neuroscience in my second interview with Dr. Kevin Mitchell (@wiringthebrain.bsky.social). #Science Full interview: youtu.be/6Ugbm6HJko4
youtu.be
#486 Kevin Mitchell: Psychological Epigenetics, and Other Fads in Neuroscience
YouTube video by The Dissenter
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Zhuāngzǐ's Tree @radioactivegorgon.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
While I am ironically on "the other side" here (imo in a framing that isn't quite fair), I do agree that 'gender wars' polarization probably has more to do with one's recalibration and need for new social + information environments as one questions previously trusted sources post-disillusionment.
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Zhuāngzǐ's Tree @radioactivegorgon.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I'm wondering how much of it was stretching the truth, maybe even some reasonable misconceptions, versus complete fabrications. Some criticisms did technically find the marathon story, if accurately told, plausible tho very surprising if true. e.g. humanlimits.substack.com/p/how-far-ca...
humanlimits.substack.com
How Far Can You Run on a Broken Leg?
Jason Arday’s marathon claim may be physiologically possible. That does not mean it should be accepted without evidence.
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Zhuāngzǐ's Tree @radioactivegorgon.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
And they're doing this while dependence on fossil fuels is making it impossible for them to wage the war they want? That's, in a twisted way, impressive.
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Earl K. Miller @earlkmiller.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
New paper/theory: Analog Cognition and Consciousness Thoughts, actions, and our unified sense of consciousness may emerge from wave patterns, which both shape and are shaped by neuron firing to create coherent mental states. www.jneurosci.org/content/46/3... #neuroscience
jneurosci.org
Analog Cognition and Consciousness
Cognition and consciousness may arise from bidirectional interactions between neuronal spiking and rhythmic electric field activity (brain waves). Goal-directed behavior relies on top-down control to ...
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The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
In this episode, @braininspired.bsky.social talks with @marcofacchin.bsky.social about why computational explanations of cognition, though powerful, aren't the only game in town. #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/brain-inspir...
thetransmitter.org
Marco Facchin on theories, explanations in neuroscience
Computational explanations of cognition, though powerful, aren’t the only game in town.
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Institute of Art and Ideas @iai.tv · 19/08/2026
Are our gut senses of good and evil a reliable moral compass? | bit.ly/4ghfmfI Psychologist Jordan Theriault-Brown argues morality is in fact an energy-saving trick of the brain. Our brains crave a predictable world, and moral feelings enforce rules that make our behavior predictable.
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William B. Fuckley @opinionhaver.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
I kind of depressingly think that a downside of openness is that large swathes of the population are basically incapable of really modeling selection bias in their head, and so countries and institutions that make some effort at accountability and transparency look 'worse' to them.
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Warwick Anderson @wombatscholar.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Interesting article but too voyeuristic for me. Deals with issues not focused on in Collectors of Lost Souls, for various reasons. Nice to be quoted but an article so dependent on my book might at least have named it... @newyorker.com @hopkinspress.bsky.social @mxmcadam.bsky.social #STS #histsci
newyorker.com
The Scientist Who Lived with Dozens of Children from the Pacific Islands
Carleton Gajdusek won the Nobel for his work on a disease in Papua New Guinea. But his biggest experiment was on the children he took back to the U.S.
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Steve Hudson @dustcircle.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Why one of the most common #braindisorders is also one of the most misunderstood The story of functional #neurologicaldisorder is beginning to turn a corner. www.fastcompany.com/91590677/fun...
fastcompany.com
Why one of the most common brain disorders is also one of the most misunderstood
The story of functional neurological disorder is beginning to turn a corner.
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/nəˈθænjəl/ @nathanielbdemiller.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
A new kind of "metal-eating" bacteria was discovered on the Titanic in 2010: Halomonas titanicae, a halophilic (salt-loving) microbe that corrodes iron and steel by deriving energy from the oxidation of metal, converting it into rust formations (rusticles).
Rusticles found on the wreck of the RMS Titanic

Wikipedia 

Lori Johnston, RMS Titanic Expedition 2003, NOAA-OE
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Jerry Chen @jcsalterego.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
good news i'm in the newspaper. bad news i need to talk to the editor of this headline
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mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
gillcels seethe after getting mogged by oxygenmaxxing lungschads bsky.app/profile/desi...
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Ersatz Doctor @ersatzdoctor.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
The cool thing about having an existential crisis as a philosopher is that it technically counts as research
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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 09/08/2026
Chris Hohn, billionaire hedge fund manager: ‘All these people who say we can't afford net zero - they're completely misunderstanding the gravity of the situation.' www.thetimes.com/article/de38...
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Earl K. Miller @earlkmiller.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
We have a long way to go before we understand consciousness. Why assume an explanatory gap exists before establishing that it does? The “hard problem” is just dualism in sheep’s clothing. www.noemamag.com/there-is-no-... #neuroscience
noemamag.com
There Is No ‘Hard Problem Of Consciousness’ | NOEMA
Consciousness is not separate from the physical world — our “soul” is of the same nature as our body and any other phenomenon of the world.
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Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
THANK YOU www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
More important, the bat viruses that the grant paid the lab to study are so genetically distant from SARS-CoV-2 that they could not have produced it, a point that independent virologists have made repeatedly. That disposes of the specific charge that research that Fauci’s agency funded produced the virus. It did not.
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Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Highly usable post from last year
@weedle.bsky.social: Pete Hegseth is not going to remember his soldiers need food.
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David Marx @digthatdata.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
> Mark: What’s your take on the replication crisis? > Berna: It’s past time we stopped using the phrase altogether. hear hear!
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Zhuāngzǐ's Tree @radioactivegorgon.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
If anything, I expect us to become slightly dumber as we have to collectively deal with more heat stress.
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Zhuāngzǐ's Tree @radioactivegorgon.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
iirc he even talks about the struggle of balancing hobbies with parental duties and how he'll cry when his kids leave for college. discourse on this site can be surreal.
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Zhuāngzǐ's Tree @radioactivegorgon.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
I'm kinda confused about how much people are deriving from it or if I'm missing something because I'm watching the video and after he leans into the bit he does pull back for a moment to say he's not serious. Though he does take (a fairly common) issue with how his breakout role typecasted him.
youtube.com
Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, & Will Arnett with Jonah Hill | SmartLess LIVE
YouTube video by SmartLess
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Zhuāngzǐ's Tree @radioactivegorgon.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
A highly affect-driven space definitely *rewards* politically validating misinterpretations more.
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Zhuāngzǐ's Tree @radioactivegorgon.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I suspect plenty of them also are more motivated to inject their own readings into the work than trying to figure out what the artist(s) actually intended. As a sort of heavy-handed performance of 'denouncing the unthinkable' in the public space.
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Zhuāngzǐ's Tree @radioactivegorgon.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Feels like one of those things that people will argue about to keep it relevant to them and how they evaluate ongoing social behaviors but in a way that ultimately might be a bit circular rather than function as definitive information from which to build an educatable broader framework.
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Zhuāngzǐ's Tree @radioactivegorgon.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Which does circle around to highlight a problem in the idea of media-literacy and a single overall meaning of a film rather than what intentions and limitations went into crafting its pieces and turning them into a composition. ...tho I might be re-inventing art theory while musing
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