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Robert Kowalenko

@rob-kowa.bsky.social
2.7K followers 3.7K following 2.7K posts

research in philosophy of science, language, sport | interests in politics, art, photography | University of the Witwatersrand | immigrant | sapere aude! | intelligentia artificialis delenda est 🇪🇺 | 🇩🇪🇿🇦🇺🇦🇬🇧🇫🇷🇮🇹 #PhilSky www.researchgate.net/profile/Robert-Kowa

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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Does the U.S. Secretary of Defense (“war”) really talk like this? America has really unlocked the maximum level of embarrassing. Are they even aware of what they have done to themselves; the amounts of respect they have lost In the world? He could only top this by undressing and pissing on the stage
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Amen
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Let's hope for model collapse #AI #scourgeofhumanity
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Ladies and Gentlemen, a Muslim politician... When Erdogan finally crosses the Jordan (it can't be too long now, he's 72), perhaps Turkey can turn its back to totalitarianism & fundamentalism, and re-embrace modernity as Atatürk did. And finally join the EU where it belongs.
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100 years ago news @100yearsagonews.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Sept. 27, 1926: The world's best-preserved Gutenberg Bible, a vellum book made in 1455 by the pioneer of printing, is sold for $300,000 to German industrialist and collector Otto Vollbehr. He outbid two Americans in the highest price yet paid for a book.
Vollbehr and the Gutenberg BibleWashington Star
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
On the other hand, I didn't believe that Obamacare would get passed, either. Or that Obama would get elected, for that matter. Perhaps, in the words of Samgee the wise from the Shire, there is still good in this world, and it is worth fighting for.
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Common sense the average American mind is simply inured to, somehow. Maybe in a century or two they will understand the benefits, to all, of universal healthcare. El-Sayed (Sanders, etc.) are fighting a frontline fight here.
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
"A.I. produced content must be labeled" Maybe the first time in my life that I agree with a Chinese regulation that doesn't exist in the West (yet).
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
They have completely lost the plot on what is “creepy” and what isn’t. Perhaps because they’re creeps. Zuckerberg said long ago that we should all forget about “privacy”. That should have been a giveaway.
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Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 06/08/2026
more people should know the electric car is more than a century old
 Woman posing with an early model of the GE electric charging station for electric cars, ca. 1912. A young woman uses a hand-cranked battery charger to charge her electric Columbia Mark 68 Victoria automobile.
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The Conversation U.S. @us.theconversation.com · 27/09/2026
Scientific studies often say researchers “controlled” for certain variables. But what does that actually mean? A statistician explains what “control” means and how it can help you judge reports of new research:
theconversation.com
What does it mean to ‘control’ for variables in a scientific study? A statistician explains
Understanding what a ‘control’ is can help you decide for yourself how insightful new studies are.
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They Call Me Doctor Mae @dr-maeforrest.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I would wager that tech pessimism in the US comes from exposure to the guys running these companies. Thats how it was for me, at least. I was an optimist at first! But then I read the beliefs of these tech moguls and... hoo boy. Generally repulsive people to a fault.
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Ars Technica @arstechnica.com · 25/09/2026
Feedback from healthcare providers in response to the AI pilot program has been scathing, with one calling it “a disgrace to the human race” and reporting that they saw patients crying in pain as they waited for care.
arstechnica.com
Trump admin using AI to deny medical care for seniors in disastrous experiment
Vendors rolling out AI have an "incentive to deny as many claims as possible."
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
A “chatbot” cannot have “chats” with you, because it does not know what a chat *is*. It does not *reply* to you, because it does not know that words have meaning and refer to a world. It does not know that there *is* a world outside of its dataset. You’ve been having conversations with a doorknob
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
What happens when machines don’t have ethics, because we don’t know how to build ethics into them. We hardly know how to do it with humans…
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Ban AI. Now
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I hate Apple’s “write with Siri” feature, now ubiquitous, SO MUCH… It borders on criminal.
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
“Heat reduces Europe’s economic output, costing €113 billion per year” I wish I could travel back in time to the 1980s, when the Green Party was attacked as tree-hugging hippies that couldn’t be taken seriously… You’re taking climate seriously now, aren’t you?
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The Industrial Revolution, right in your face…
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
So this is the quantum of American racists… Roughly the same as everywhere else in the world.
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PJ Manney @pjmanney.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Yes, this is about genAI.
A line portrait of George Orwell (25/06/1903 - 21/01/1950) with this quote: "If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them." Published by UNESCO.
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Charlene H-M @charistrying2write.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Looking to connect with more scholars here, especially those in cultural studies, American studies, sociology, and education. #Academia #Academics #HigherEd
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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
The world’s largest battery-electric aircraft flew for the first time on the 12th of August, a 27-minute test flight over upstate New York that cost about five dollars in electricity. Heart Aerospace’s 30-seat prototype is a big step toward a commercial version. buff.ly/i3f0PhR #ShareGoodNewsToo
techspot.com
The largest all-electric plane ever flew for 27 minutes, on $5 of electricity
Heart's X1 demonstrator flew for 27 minutes from a regional airport in upstate New York, running on battery power the entire time. The aircraft reached 1,100 feet...
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
😂 Mockery has always been the most potent weapon against tyrants and wannabe tyrants.
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
We’re “in an era short of great orators”, not just in politics, because no one reads the eloquent classic English, French, Russian, German literature of the 19th century any more. Let alone Shakespeare, Ovid, or Homer. It’s a TV and TikTok generation.
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
People on all sides of the spectrum of U.S. political discourse still dancing around the big pink elephant in the room. I suppose they will never stop ignoring it, because … the price would be too high. “Mr. President, some of your *racism* has gone too far!” Here, I fixed it.
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Thank God that AI will never produce great original philosophy (art). Maybe that says something interesting about the difference between math/coding and philosophy (art).
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julia 🌋 @hypv.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
presented sans comment
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
… and the fake familiarity this generates is supposed to be a good thing? Rather than taking the hard road and familiarising yourself, by yourself, with the fields.
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
It’s truly weird how often this needs to be repeated
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
“Universities that fail to produce graduates who can use [AI] productively will consign themselves to irrelevance,” [the president of Dartmouth] wrote recently” (@nytimes.com) Philosophy has been “irrelevant“ in the eyes of those who think education = productivity for 2000 years now. We’ll be fine
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Dr Keith Wilson 💭 @keithwilson.eu · 11/09/2026
That a recording is stored privately, is opt-in, and only holds the last 15 seconds doesn’t mean it is not a recording. This is a personal surveillance device. www.macrumors.com/2026/09/10/a...
macrumors.com
Apple Explains What Happens to Conversations Siri Recap Hears
The Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 have new Audio Intelligence features that include Sound Recognition, Music Recognition, Live Rewind, and Siri Recap. When these features are activated, the new Ap...
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Who is his speech writer? He's good. (and definitely not AI)
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
How to be an AI trailblazer: don't use it
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Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
"School students’ reading scores have plunged across the developed world, as widespread access to AI and social media has harmed teenagers’ ability to concentrate, said a newly published international survey."
giftarticle.ft.com
Reading scores plummet as ‘digital distraction’ harms students
Widespread access to AI and social media has set back educational attainment across the world, study shows
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Very disappointed that the App Store on iOS does not find X when prompted for "The fascist app"... Come on Apple, the first step towards authenticity is to name things by their name!
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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 07/09/2026
Black text on white page that reads:

In 1882, 10,000 workers marched up Broadway in the first-ever Labor Day parade. Led by democratic socialists and organized by New York’s unions, they rallied the movement that went on to win us weekends, safety standards, overtime pay, a minimum wage, and social security.

None of those victories were guaranteed. And none are permanent.

We created the first-in-the-nation Office of Worker Power to put the full weight of City Hall behind the people who keep New York running. On Labor Day, we honor the workers who came before us by fighting for the workers who come next.

Happy Labor Day, New York. The future of worker power is ours to build. Learn more at nyc.gov/workerpower.
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richard mortimer @richardmortimer.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
The Occasional Not-Richter is a wall under a railway bridge in Hackney #aofoto
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
The handmaids of fascism everywhere
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Ben Whitham @drbenwhitham.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Every inch of ground they ceded - whether in the press, in parliament, or on the streets - while thinking they were being Very Clever People, strategically throwing a few undesirable minorities under the bus to placate manufactured "public opinion", was power willingly handed to fascists by idiots.
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Entirely predictable consequences of Trump's Greenland threats... How & why American elites (Republican Party, donors, etc.) allowed this dangerous moron to take the helm is as inexplicable now as it was on his 1st day. But then again, Germany did that too, with Hitler. Racism is a potent drug.
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Fossil fuel dinosaurs in SA's government, ex-mining worker union leaders, etc in the ANC, have finally smelled the coffee. Of course, the only reason they champion nuclear alongside solar & wind is because it offers (they think) more opportunities for graft. www.businessday.co.za/news/2026-09...
businessday.co.za
Eskom earmarks R21bn for decommissioning and clean energy
Funds will support nuclear and coal decommissioning alongside Eskom Green energy push
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
👉 thread Exactly the same is true, mutatis mutandis, in philosophy. "Students need traditional training [reasoning skills, text analysis, critical thinking, writing skills, historical knowledge] to even begin to work with these tools.' Let's get AI out of classrooms. You can use it with a PhD.
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Reading the new AI features coming out in Apple's next OS release, it's clear that we will, in education and throughout society, have to develop new tools for identifying someone's skills and intelligence independently of AI ➝ your written word will mean nothing ... your spoken one everything.
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Speak with me, after Hume: “If we take in our hand any volume; of critical or postmodern theory, for instance; does its title contain the word 'to explore? Yes. Does it contain the word 'to imagine'? Yes. Commit it then to the flames: for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.”
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Must be satire... but so much about the U.S. in the last years hasn't been, so..
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Brian Honan @brianhonan.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Happy Skynet day to all those who celebrate
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
AI might be the answer to the Fermi paradox. The reason why we do not have evidence for extraterrestrial civilizations despite the high number of planets and likelihood of extraterrestrial life, is that all civilizations inevitably develop AI; and are then exterminated by it.
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Robert Kowalenko @rob-kowa.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
I've seen this analogy many times by now... but this one is nicely put. It's also true. The most disappointing thing about this sorry affair is how many educators, *educators* of all people, cannot see how harmful AI is to education.
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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
So many are eagerly imagining what a Democratic POTUS would do with the imperial powers the Trump administration has unlocked. Even if you could produce outcomes like prosperity through authoritarian process, it still wouldn’t be good. Democracy is an end in and of itself We have Boromir democrats.
Boromir, Fellowship of the Ring, at the council of Elrond: 

“It is a gift!”
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