iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Prof Stephen Serjeant

Anil Dash @anildash.com · 13/10/2026

You know, the thing is, I had drafted this piece a month ago, and then never published it, because I thought maybe it was too mean.

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Prof Stephen Serjeant @stephenserjeant.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Please everyone, I know the Russian bot story is appealing, but let’s not post disinformation. Good thread here on what actually happened

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Prof Stephen Serjeant @stephenserjeant.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

See also: magnolia wood chip, rows of seed packets in garden centres, musak. All viscerally grey even when they're literally not

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antibot4navalny | bot blocker | блокировщик ботов @antibot4navalny.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

To those implying that Kremlin-controlled social media bot/troll farms became silent after Ukraine hit a Yandex data center, posting this CloudFare chart ( radar.cloudflare.com/bots/as13238 ): Hate to disappoint you all ⤵️

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Prof Stephen Serjeant @stephenserjeant.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Lucid thread by a genuine expert in computational linguistics 🧪

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Prof Stephen Serjeant @stephenserjeant.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

As a kid I couldn’t eat baked beans until I’d counted how many there were on my plate, and as an adult I spent two decades of my professional life estimating the density on the sky of galaxies seen at sub-millimetre wavelengths and they look like this

The first blank field image of the sky (well, a small part of the sky) at a wavelength of 850 microns, and it looks like a plate of beans

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Reposted by Prof Stephen Serjeant

Dan Snow @thehistoryguy.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

This a million times. People of colour being dragged on to debate maniacs about imaginary labels & race science is an abomination. proper ‘how German are you’ Nazi shit Note that people like me with white migrant parentage never asked to defend our identity Englishness. Is. A. Made. Up. Thing

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

As expected, the Prime Minister's promise to sort out the mess of funding for Jodrell actually meant nothing - it seems the government would like it to be some sort of heritage theme park when you can go and see where we used to do science. 🔭

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Prof Stephen Serjeant @stephenserjeant.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Only just realised your blog is at the OU - I’m shockingly unobservant for an observational astronomer

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Prof Stephen Serjeant @stephenserjeant.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Did anyone else not receive their arXiv daily mailing this morning? It's there on arxiv.org/catchup/astr... and there's no US holiday I'm aware of? 🔭

arxiv.org

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Ian Pethick @ianpethick.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

So, Jeffrey Archer got into Oxford on the back of made up A level results and a non existent degree from an American university. Interesting to compare the different reaction from media and politicians to that which was handed out to Professor Jason Arday.

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A.R. Moxon @juliusgoat.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Hey, I’m just asking questions. Ignorant questions, bigoted questions, questions that have been repeatedly answered for many years. Sorry, but I’m not listening to answers right now; I’m far too busy asking questions. It’s called being intellectually curious.

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Prof Stephen Serjeant @stephenserjeant.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

it’s too oversubscribed so please can we have another two or three jwsts at least please

static.klipy.com

Cute Puppy Begging

Alt: Cute Puppy Begging

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Prof Stephen Serjeant @stephenserjeant.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I’ve not spotted anything myself but I only access gmail on my mobile in a Yahoo mail app. Very weird!

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Reposted by Prof Stephen Serjeant

ELSA: Euclid Legacy Science Advanced analysis tools @elsa-euclid.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

ELSA member Pietro Bergamini warping members of the public (painlessly) at "La Notte delle ricercatrici e dei ricercatori" last week, demonstrating the @ec-euclid.bsky.social space telescope's discoveries of gravitational lenses 🔭

Members of the public holding a dark cloth taut, for demonstrating motion in curved spacetime

Members of the public holding a dark cloth taut for demonstrating motion in a curved spacetime, with a ball bearing resting on the cloth curving the space or cloth around it

Pietro running a real time warp-yourself simulation, showing what you look like when warped by gravitational lensing. A member of the public is holding a ball bearing between finger and thumb, which is being warped into curved arcs

A scale model of the Euclid space telescope on a window ledge. There is also a model astronaut on the window ledge.

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Ben Stanford @drbenstanford.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Never, ever listen to these people when they preach from the rooftops about free speech, cancel culture and lefty snowflakes. The only speech they care about is that which agrees with them.

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nick @unionnick.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

On the *same day* the Cornell Seven drugged and raped Jane Doe, Cornell banned four students (including the President of Cornell JVP) from campus for three years for nonviolent, pro-Palestine protests. The same Cornell officials let the rapists off with apology essays.

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Michael Spicer @michaelspicer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Most TV is just this now.

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Sarah Kendrew @sarahkendrew.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

#JWST proposers, lest you not have enough to worry about already, check out some new language on use of the much-beloved \vspace parameter in your proposal jwst-docs.stsci.edu/jwst-opportu...

static.klipy.com

Carry On Queen Charlotte

ALT: Carry On Queen Charlotte

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Santiago Mayer @santiagomayer.com · 29/09/2026

Ruining their future should be the fucking goal actually

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Prof Stephen Serjeant @stephenserjeant.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I remember during the Johnson/Truss chaos, an Irish friend of mine said "England is a failed state and it's time for direct rule from Dublin"

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Prof Stephen Serjeant @stephenserjeant.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Max Jammer wrote books on Concepts Of Space, Concepts Of Force, Concepts Of Mass etc covering the historical developments. I remember them being an interesting easy read but that was when I was an undergrad <mumblemumph> decades ago

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Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 25/09/2026

I have blamed The agents That hacked Your website And which You probably Reasonably thought I controlled Forgive me I am rich And unaccustomed To taking responsibility

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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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Prof Stephen Serjeant @stephenserjeant.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

JFC. Which grant call was this for? Absolutely atrocious from UKRI.

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Richard @benjymous.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

My Golden Retriever went rogue again, sorry about your picnic

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Kate Bevan @katebevan.com · 24/09/2026

*extremely tired voice*AI agents don't "go rogue". They are not sentient; they don't have agency. They work within guardrails set by humans. If the humans are so shit at building secure sandboxes for the agents to work within, that's on the humans. Stop using this framing.

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Prof Stephen Serjeant @stephenserjeant.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

NASA has selected a new far-infrared space telescope, PRIMA! Marvellous news and congratulations to the whole team! And tonight I'll raise a glass to SPICA, the ESA/JAXA proposed far-IR space telescope that I worked on for many years www.nasa.gov/news-release... h/t @davecl.bsky.social

nasa.gov

NASA Selects Far-Infrared Telescope as First in New Mission Class - NASA

NASA announced Wednesday a mission to explore the history and evolution of the universe, PRIMA (PRobe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics), is advancing to

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Reposted by Prof Stephen Serjeant

Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Thousands of university jobs lost too, and barely a peep either.

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Prof Stephen Serjeant @stephenserjeant.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I'm afraid it's already been snapped up

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Prof Stephen Serjeant @stephenserjeant.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

ok DM me an address and I’ll pop it in the mail 😊

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Prof Stephen Serjeant @stephenserjeant.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Ahahaha you got in first! Would you like me to post it to you?

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Prof Stephen Serjeant @stephenserjeant.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Would anyone like my lovely @royalastrosoc.bsky.social diary? I use an electronic diary so this is surplus to requirements. Keyboard for scale. Free to a good home, or even a bad one 🔭🧪

Purple 2027 RAS diary with keyboard for scale.

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Jane @localnotail.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Solidarity with this Piddington resident ♥️✊ #Newsnight

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Pete Fraser @petefrasermusic.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

In the movie version of this, after Piddington runs out of food water and money as a result of leaving the UK, the residents apply for asylum and end up housed in a military base, with HILARIOUS consequences. www.bbc.com/news/article...

bbc.com

Piddington in Oxfordshire votes to leave UK over asylum plans

Piddington residents voted over proposals to house up to 1,256 male asylum seekers nearby

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Prof Stephen Serjeant @stephenserjeant.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Bold move for a village with no school, no hospital or GP surgery, no pharmacy, no shops, no petrol station, no police station, no fire station, no bank or post office. But what it lacks in basic civic infrastructure, it makes up for in a village hall of pissy fuckwits www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Piddington in Oxfordshire votes to leave UK over asylum plans

Piddington residents vote over proposals to house up to 1,256 male asylum seekers nearby.

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Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I am so tired of nasty, insular, smug gits playing PR stunts to prevent people finding safety. I say grant them independence and then see how they react to facing immigration restrictions when they want to do a big shop or work. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Piddington in Oxfordshire votes to leave UK over asylum plans

Piddington residents vote over proposals to house up to 1,256 male asylum seekers nearby.

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LiLBazula 👻 🎃 @lilbazza.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The most spectacularly stupid embarrassing island on the face of the earth chock full of small time brain broken petty fascists who deserve everything they demand. Full independence for Piddington now. Hard border. Visas. Passport control. Tariffs.

Delivering the result, Susannah Parden, vice chair of the parish council said: "We are Piddington the village that roars."

Following the result, council chair Tim McNally said: "This is an example of democracy in operation.

"We went into this village hall as the underdogs - we had a plucky idea.

"We have given a message to the world."

Responding to the village saying it had "roared", Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told BBC Breakfast: "I think they have – we have heard it, we are listening.

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Hassinator @hassinator.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

a great letter in the times today. perhaps worth sharing in these troubled times. #RNLI #heroes

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Philipp Markolin @philippmarkolin.eurosky.social · 10/09/2026

🚨🚨🚨 Seems like another Mathematician comes forward with concerns about OpenAI stealing unpublished math research and then publishing it as AI solve under big publicity. Andreas Thom and Gábor Kun worked on Gromov’s soficity conjecture. (See his thread with alt-text) mstdn.science/@andreasthom...

1/3 I want to record a number of points that I realized after reading up on the controversy. In fact it recalls an exchange I had with OpenAI after its non-sofic-group announcement. It exposes a serious, unanswered question about whether researchers can trust OpenAI with unpublished mathematics.

I wrote in an email to Mark Sellke and Sebastien Bubeck shortly after the surprising finding of a non-sofic group using the methods of Kun and myself:
“Another point is that I and a colleague in Dresden were discussing the expander matching problem and various extensions of the work with Gabor Kun actively over the last months with ChatGPT, so that we are of course curious if that was part of the training data or accessible to the reasoning process. There is a certain (frankly unacceptable) lack of transparency here; and I fear it will damage the communal process of math more than the new AI-generated results will benefit the subject.”

Mark Sellke’s complete answer was: “Regarding your conversations with ChatGPT: that did not happen.”

I had explicitly asked about two different things: (1) whether our conversations entered training data, and (2) whether they were accessible to the solving process. The categorical answer now looks as though it addressed only direct access under (2). No such qualification, explanation, or evidence was given. I take this as dishonesty to say the least.
OpenAI now says in the Buckmaster-Alpöge case that no specific user data was accessed, but adds that it “cannot rule out that de-identified data derived from their usage of our products helped improve our models.”

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Cllr Dr Alex Powell @apowelllaw.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

This is domestic terrorism. It's that simple. They are using violence to advance a political position. We have seen time and again how left wing protestors are treated by police and yet the police and government are allowing this fascist vigilantism to enjoy impunity.

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