Sean Rafferty @skeptanth.bsky.social · 31/07/2026www.albany.edu/news-center/...albany.eduUAlbany Summer: Students Dig into Pine Bush HistoryThis summer, 10 UAlbany undergraduate students, a graduate student and several volunteers participated in an archaeological field school led by Professor and Chair of Anthropology Sean Rafferty and As... 000
Reposted by Sean RaffertyJonathan Jarry @jonathanjarry.bsky.social · 01/05/2026My latest for @mcgilloss.bsky.social is a weighty tome: the hallmarks of pseudoscience. I'm very proud of it. Lots to chew on. W/ help from the amazing @nbtiller.bsky.social @mrmmarsh.bsky.social @caulfieldtim.bsky.social & Dr. Alice Howarth of @skepticswithak.org. www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/...mcgill.caThe Hallmarks of PseudoscienceI’ve been investigating pseudoscientific claims for 13 years now. The word “pseudoscience” means “fake science,” something that superficially looks like science—and is often sold as such—but that isn’... 43625
Reposted by Sean RaffertyTimothy Caulfield @caulfieldtim.bsky.social · 12/04/2026Artemis II lunar mission draws flood of conspiracy theories www.philstar.com/lifestyle/on... Me: "The moon landing is an example of a conspiracy that will not die." "These conspiracies are attractive for a host of reasons including that they are linked to the allure of having secret knowledge..."philstar.comArtemis II lunar mission draws flood of conspiracy theoriesFrom false claims that a historic lunar fly-by was staged in a movie studio to unfounded narratives that footage of the crew was AI-generated, the Artemis II mission has been clouded by a blizzard of ... 1296
Reposted by Sean RaffertyTerry O'Connor @osteoconnor.bsky.social · 09/11/2025A very good Watson obit here, written, though obviously not published, years before he died. 054
Sean Rafferty @skeptanth.bsky.social · 03/11/2025www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/30/1...technologyreview.comIt’s never been easier to be a conspiracy theoristA mix of technology and politics has given an unprecedented boost to once-fringe ideas—but they are pretty much the same fantasies that have been spreading for hundreds of years. 020
Reposted by Sean RaffertySophie Labelle @assignedmale.bsky.social · 07/10/2025Ways to resist fascism 4536248
Reposted by Sean RaffertyIris van Rooij 💭 @irisvanrooij.bsky.social · 06/12/2024‘There will never be enough computing power to create AGI using machine learning that can do the same [as human cognition], because we’d run out of natural resources long before we'd even get close,’ — @olivia.science www.ru.nl/en/research/...ru.nlDon’t believe the hype: AGI is far from inevitable | Radboud UniversityWill AI soon surpass the human brain? If you ask employees at OpenAI, Google DeepMind and other large tech companies, it is inevitable. However, researchers at Radboud University and other institutes ... 824492
Sean Rafferty @skeptanth.bsky.social · 05/10/2025Got x2 vaxed yesterday (flu and covid), woke up at 7 am with a sore arm and did laundry. Trust the science. Vaccines cause clean clothes. 020
Sean Rafferty @skeptanth.bsky.social · 04/10/2025The phylogenetic position of the Yunxian cranium elucidates the origin of Homo longi and the Denisovans | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...science.orgThe phylogenetic position of the Yunxian cranium elucidates the origin of Homo longi and the DenisovansDiverse forms of Homo coexisted during the Middle Pleistocene. Whether these fossil humans represent different species or clades is debated. The ~1-million-year-old Yunxian 2 fossil from China is impo... 020
Reposted by Sean RaffertyRichard Kadrey @richardkadrey.bsky.social · 31/08/2025These fools are going to kill a lot of people. 07819
Sean Rafferty @skeptanth.bsky.social · 01/09/2025This will likely be the pattern, vaccines available in blue states only. Some dems will likely be smug about that, but I suggest they consider sick and dead kids in red states first. 000
Reposted by Sean RaffertyGeorge Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 01/09/2025Anything except gun control.comicsands.comFox News Guest Sparks Outrage With Dystopian Solution For Preventing Mass Shootings 1311692285
Reposted by Sean RaffertyDavid Gorski, MD, PhD @gorskon.bsky.social · 01/09/2025The chaos at the CDC in the wake of last week’s firing of its Director and the resignations of four senior officials is fallout from the latest skirmish in RFK Jr.’s war against vaccines. Make no mistake, RFK Jr. is working hard to take away your vaccines, if he can. Here’s a progress report.sciencebasedmedicine.orgRobert F. Kennedy, Jr. is definitely coming for your vaccinesThe chaos at the CDC in the wake of last week's firing of its Director and the resignations of four senior officials is fallout from the latest skirmish in RFK Jr.'s war against vaccines. Make no mist 24341144
Reposted by Sean RaffertyRyan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 30/08/2025“Wellness has come to represent a wonderland free from constraints of scientific scrutiny. The industry flows with pseudoscience & to say it’s lucrative would be an understatement…The term has morphed into dollar signs, drawing us into a never-ending cycle of treating problems we didn’t know we had” 1123164
Reposted by Sean RaffertyPhil PlAIt @philplait.bsky.social · 31/08/2025Also, right-wing domestic terrorism far outnumbers left-wing. Don't let the right-wingers control the message. nij.ojp.gov/topics/artic...nij.ojp.govWhat NIJ Research Tells Us About Domestic TerrorismMilitant, nationalistic, white supremacist violent extremism has increased in the United States. In fact, the number of far-right attacks continues to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic... 923261
Reposted by Sean RaffertyGrumpy-ish Brian🏴🇪🇺🇮🇪 @brian770.bsky.social · 30/08/2025Spot on! 3318113
Reposted by Sean Raffertyjamelle @jamellebouie.net · 29/08/2025someone should put together a "kennedy death count" for everyone who dies of a preventable disease and just plaster it everywhere www.statnews.com/2025/08/28/c...statnews.comCrisis within CDC is spilling into real world, experts say"I’ve never heard as many colleagues saying things like 'CDC is dead’ as I have today," an agency employee told STAT. 284116903355
Reposted by Sean RaffertyFuturum_Chris @chris-dowell.bsky.social · 28/08/2025This is a great read. #scicomm. 1115
Reposted by Sean Rafferty☘️🧉🎨 Maria O'Connor 💙 @mariaoconnor.bsky.social · 19/08/2025@norabar.bsky.social @robertosaezm.bsky.social @jwhoopes2.bsky.social www.salon.com/2025/04/25/h...salon.comHumans think — AI, not so much. Science explains why our brains aren't just fancy computersNew research is revealing how specialized neurons give our brains an edge artificial intelligence can only dream of 013
Sean Rafferty @skeptanth.bsky.social · 20/08/2025I’ve read his Book of Five Rings. Some of these are useful. 110
Reposted by Sean RaffertyDrew Rowsome @drewrowsome.bsky.social · 17/08/2025The Buffalo Hunter Hunter: body horror and vampires in the wild west drewrowsome.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-... #horror #literature #indigenous #vampire #StephenGrahamJones @sgj.bsky.socialdrewrowsome.blogspot.comThe Buffalo Hunter Hunter: body horror and vampires in the wild westDrew Rowsome is a writer, editor, musician and pop culture enthusiast 0357
Reposted by Sean RaffertyBill Madden @maddenifico.bsky.social · 16/08/2025This is what playing offense looks like: With ZERO fucks to give, Gavin Newsom is not taking any of the pedophile president's fascistic authoritarian bullshit. 🙌💪👏👊👇 5452170
Reposted by Sean RaffertyArchaeodeath @archaeodeathprof.bsky.social · 16/08/2025'TikTok, Viking Archaeology, and the Far-Right': a blog-post contextualising my recent talk to A.R.F.A. howardwilliamsblog.wordpress.com/2025/08/16/t... Follow them on BlueSky, check out their other videos and follow their page on WordPress @a-rfa.bsky.social archaeologistsrfa.wordpress.comhowardwilliamsblog.wordpress.comTikTok, Viking Archaeology, and the Far-RightWhat are the key critical uses of the Vikings and the Viking Age in tody’s culture wars ‘debates’ and extremist political discourses? Some are predictable – such as fantasis… 2307
Reposted by Sean RaffertyAvik Dey @avikdey.bsky.social · 14/08/2025@garymarcus.bsky.social called it, way back before the hype cycle: “Speaking to The New Yorker, Gary Marcus, a neural scientist and longtime critic of OpenAI, said what many have been coming to suspect: despite years of development at a staggering cost, AI doesn't seem to be getting much better.” 03217
Reposted by Sean RaffertyKim Crawley (she/her) 😷🍉 @stopgenai.com · 12/08/2025I'm in need of #MutualAid now, because I decided to be an anti Gen AI whistleblower. Please share or help me. @mutualaidvoid.bsky.social @vastramutualaid.bsky.social @mutualaidlanetwork.bsky.social ko-fi.com/kimatstopgenai medium.com/@kim_crawley...medium.comI’m a professor literally risking my own life to fight the menace of Gen AI destroying education.In this piece thoroughly backed by scientific research, I explain how Gen AI is destroying education, the environment, and the workforce. 18072
Sean Rafferty @skeptanth.bsky.social · 13/08/2025In Mythologizing the Past I wrote about how popular depictions of Medieval Europe falsely depict an ethnically homogeneous society. 020
Sean Rafferty @skeptanth.bsky.social · 12/08/2025I need someone to explain the proof to me but this supposedly demonstrates AGI to be highly improbable in any relevant timeframe. 010
Reposted by Sean RaffertyRobert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 09/08/2025one of the great tragedies of our age is how many people are willing to view AI as magic because they don't understand how it functions but unwilling to exhibit any humility at all towards more important things they understand even less (like the climate or medicine) 513077568
Reposted by Sean RaffertyLauren "Hope is Praxis" Lastname @verbingnouns.bsky.social · 09/08/2025I have a hot take. Getting a PhD has nothing to do with intelligence (if intelligence is even a thing), so "PhD levels of intelligence" is meaningless. Getting a PhD is about tenacity + curiosity, two things LLMs don't have even if you accept they are anthropomorphic. 935254
Reposted by Sean RaffertyKatie Mack @astrokatie.com · 07/08/2025Yet another helpful explainer to counter the ignorant disinformation spouted by the unqualified extremist who is currently destroying the HHS 412139621
Sean Rafferty @skeptanth.bsky.social · 02/08/2025I’ve never much cared for the beach. Now i see why. theconversation.com/the-beach-wa...theconversation.comThe beach wasn’t always a vacation destination - for the ancient Greeks, it was a scary placeBeach vacations became popular only around the 19th-20th centuries – as part of the lifestyle of the wealthy. 000
Reposted by Sean RaffertyTimothy Caulfield @caulfieldtim.bsky.social · 15/07/2025Study finds no link between aluminum in vaccines and autism, asthma www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-... via @nbcnews.com "...found no link between aluminum in vaccines and an increased risk of 50 chronic conditions, including autoimmune diseases, allergies and autism." #VaccinesWorknbcnews.comStudy finds no link between aluminum in vaccines and autism, asthmaThe study included more than 1.2 million people in Denmark who got childhood vaccines. 05925
Reposted by Sean RaffertyJosh Sternberg @joshsternberg.com · 15/07/2025"My inescapable conclusion has become that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people." Written by an Ivy League professor who studies the Holocaust; who served in the IDF. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/o... 3247111
Reposted by Sean RaffertyFlint Dibble @flintdibble.bsky.social · 03/07/2025With all the news coming in, it's clear that it's a dire time for science. It's a very dire time for higher education. It's an especially dire time for archaeology Archaeology has been facing funding cuts for years, and now it is being decimated www.science.org/content/arti...science.orgFunding cuts to U.S. archaeology could imperil field’s futureA Science analysis of canceled and curtailed federal grants reveals hits to research, collections, and training 510942
Reposted by Sean RaffertyJohn Scalzi @scalzi.com · 13/06/2025Oh, shit, this is perfect www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/con...mcsweeneys.netCongrats, Dipshit, You’re a Dad NowListen up, soup for brains. Yesterday, you were just a man. But today, a doctor snipped the umbilical cord off an angry, gray alien with your name ... 401008192
Reposted by Sean RaffertyFlint Dibble @flintdibble.bsky.social · 24/05/2025Good blog post by @jasoncolavito.bsky.social about media treatment of pseudoscience www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/1843-ma...jasoncolavito.com"1843 Magazine" Profiles Graham Hancock, "Conspiracy Theorists' Favourite Historian"On Friday, 1843 Magazine , the longform arm of The Economist , published a lengthy profile of Graham Hancock , a onetime stringer for The Economist . Journalist Tomas Weber duly noted the darker... 1223
Sean Rafferty @skeptanth.bsky.social · 15/05/2025Somehow I never saw this video on our field school program from a few years back (or just forgot). You can see me lurking in the background in a few shots. youtu.be/3szye-NHnDk?...youtu.beResearch at UAlbany: Archeological Discoveries at PethickYouTube video by University at Albany 010
Sean Rafferty @skeptanth.bsky.social · 15/05/2025STEM still needs the humanities. Cutting the latter hamstrings the former. 000
Reposted by Sean RaffertyMatthew Facciani @matthewfacciani.bsky.social · 14/05/2025A meta-analysis of 279 studies found that people are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories when they feel uncertain, powerless, or socially excluded. psycnet.apa.org/record/2025-...psycnet.apa.orgAPA PsycNet 55917
Reposted by Sean RaffertyPopular Science @popsci.com · 06/05/2025According to this study, pre-Incan elites dosed commoners with DMT, took them into tiny rooms, blasted conch horns at them, and kept saying "YoU ToTaLLy WaNt To BuiLd ThEsE GiAnT StOnE bUiLdiNgS fOr Us." (It worked, because of course it did) www.popsci.com/science/hall...popsci.comHeavy hallucinogenic rituals solidified social castes in Pre-Incan Peru‘The supernatural world isn’t necessarily friendly, but it’s powerful.’ 0365
Sean Rafferty @skeptanth.bsky.social · 03/05/2025Worth watching for archaeologists and allies alike. 030
Reposted by Sean RaffertyDelthia Ricks @dricks.bsky.social · 26/04/2025RFK Jr may eliminate the #Covid shot from CDC's vaccine schedule for kids. He's apparently considering this major shift in protocol not because experts are advising it, but because he's superstitious about vaccines. Anti-vaxxerism is a form of superstitious behavior—and it's dangerous 👇medpagetoday.comRFK Jr. May Pull COVID Shot From CDC's Vaccine Schedule for KidsKennedy considering major shift to vaccination protocol 46322
Sean Rafferty @skeptanth.bsky.social · 26/04/2025I saw the tapestry years ago but totally missed this key element. 120
Reposted by Sean RaffertyKevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 23/04/2025Gélineau advanced the term "narcolepsy" in 1880 while de la Tourette described his eponymous syndrome in 1885. "Autism" was coined by Bleuler in 1911, with full diagnoses soon after. But what do I know? I'm not the Cabinet secretary in charge of the goddamn Department of Health and Human Services. 1282160144157
Reposted by Sean RaffertyJohn Hoopes @jwhoopes2.bsky.social · 16/04/2025The Great Big Pseudoarcheology Debunk (Graham Hancock, Dan Richards, Jimmy Corsetti) youtu.be/JK4Fo6m9C9Myoutu.beThe Great Big Pseudoarcheology Debunk (Graham Hancock, Dan Richards, Jimmy Corsetti)YouTube video by Professor Dave Explains 0177
Reposted by Sean RaffertyJonathan Howard @joho.bsky.social · 31/03/2025Sobering article by @gorskon.bsky.social on what Kennedy and his enablers have unleashed. sciencebasedmedicine.org/make-america...sciencebasedmedicine.org“Make America Healthy Again”: The new LysenkoismTrofim Lysenko was a Soviet scientist whose dogmatic science denialism led to mass famine when his ideas were applied to agriculture. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a lot like Lysenko in his science denial 24926