Joe Murphy

More than 10,000 Ohio households – and 170,000 nationally – are at risk of returning to homelessness as a result of last-minute HUD policy changes to the largest source of federal funding for local homeless assistance programs, per Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio

In statistics, we say "All models are wrong but some are useful." Maybe the reason AIs being buggy doesn't really bother me is I query possibly wrong models about reality all the time. AI isn't anything special or different in that regard.

@michael_nielsen I worked at a library circulation desk where students had to come in every semester to show us the little sticker on their ID which proved they'd paid their bill. Every now and then someone would come up and say "I need validation." I'd respond "I think you're a lovely person."

Two 70 year old guys are catching up in the cafe beside me, with great gusto One of them: "So, I went into the bookstore. I walked around, couldn't find the book I was looking for. So, finally, I asked the woman there 'Where's the self-help section'. And she said to me very drily 'Aren't you rather missing the point?'" He delivered this with tremendous enthusiasm, and both of them absolutely killed themselves laughing It was impossibly sweet (and, I think, proves that much of a joke is in the telling)

@TVM_Comms And now you've got me wondering about every family who can't make it to Tennessee to get to St. Jude's Hospital.

Every time you see an ad for the Shriners Hospitals, you are watching a very sweet and nonthreatening indictment of the US healthcare system’s horrific treatment of families in poverty.

Incidentally, I believe Libbrecht used tenure to make this change. He went from a field which is important but well-supplied with talent (atomic physics, IIRC), to something where it was massively undersupplied. I think of this as an example of the benefit tenure confers to society. But far too few people do this kind of thing...

One more thing. The dig about being unemployable is both unnecessary and false.

"College students going hungry is a tragedy, and unfortunately it’s something a lot of students face. There’s been...times where I’ve seen students talk about the fact that they’re eating struggle meals—like instant ramen for about a week." #HHWEEK ow.ly/GPls50U9pea

I redirect the expression all the time. It’s a branding issue. What we’re calling AI currently is really machine learning. So I call it that: machine learning. And if it’s an LLM (large language model), then there’s already a term for that as well. The converse is also true; what if humanists recognized that the dictionary definition of AI as used diachronically at this moment in time is an umbrella term for various forms of machine learning and large language models? What if humanists caught up with the way programmers have been using it for say, 40 years? There’s a comms problem going on. It’s pretty impressive how much students (and others) relate to the tools differently when we talk about those things, and also about the difference between open source code and ethical training of LLMs, and the various ways in which things can and do go south in the for profit sector right now. At the core, there’s an ethics conversation for everyone to be part of that is much deeper and much richer than many humanists currently realize. And it would significantly benefit everyone if they were involved. If you look up the history of the dev of LLMs, I think you’ll find what your proposing already exists. Hysteria generated something else. A phantasm (in the Aristotelian sense).

The next time you’re hesitant to call or email your elected official because your issue doesn’t seem important enough… Just remember how many times they texted you begging for $5

The new Twitter block function.

@Bali_Maha @harmonygritz I think you're right in that you see biases that a lot of other people don't. Some of that inability is about opportunity and training; some is willful. I like your framing of "cultural hallucination bias". the fabrication of a world which doesn't exist but matches training data.

@harmonygritz @joefromkenyon Oh the bias conversation, OF COURSE, but I've decided that other people can't be coming across as much bias or hallucinations as I am... or else they're really in denial. blog.mahabali.me/educational-te…

I am going through my angry phase of AI (it comes in waves, but I'm at a particularly deep phase of anger right now). I can't stand how much people diminish the reproduction of bias and occasional hallucinations. Why? Why does this not matter to some people?

For those on the fence about voting, I'll share something my grandma told me before she passed. Always remember that you aren't just bringing yourself to The Ballot Box when you vote. You bring with you everyone who died so that you have the right to vote, everyone who sacrificed and risked their lives so that we all have an equal seat at the table, and the people no longer with us who would vote if they could. It is completely understandable to be hesitant about the people running for president, but we cannot lose sight of the fact that we have to vote so that we aren't stuck fighting battles our parents and grandparents already won.

You see, we recognized a LONG time ago (Massachusetts in the 1640s) that it was the COMMUNITY'S responsibility to bear the cost of educating its children. Why? Because even if you don't have kids in schools, you 100% benefit from having educated youth (5/16)

@Bali_Maha The reproduction of bias conversation is even harder and probably more necessary.

@Bali_Maha I truly believe we have to stop saying "hallucinations." I much prefer "fabrications." Because frankly, if someone is hallucinating, you usually know they're wrong and there are some general playbooks about handling i). When someone is just lying to you, neither of those is true.

I’m so glad blogging is back. As districts across the country seek to constrict teacher voices and as researchers are seeking to publish articles in open journals, it’s good that we’re trying to find more ways to dialogue beyond the gates. Truly public intellectuals.

@AccountMuted On the population level, there's an overall decline in both drinking and binge drinking. But it doesn't take a large number of "outliers" to constitute a problem. (In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if one of the effects was a decline in the number of responsible brunchdrinkers.)

@AccountMuted This also fits with the way Zoomers are drinking less than their elders. Booze profits are dropping (and really hurting venues and festivals), so just lean into the overpriced coffee etc. options.

@BryanAlexander Is it just me, or do all the students also look like they're based on your photo?

Instagram's AI imagines me as a professor, teaching a university class filled with diverse students.