@the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk
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May 07, 2026
the roamer
@the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk
University teacher, father, dog walker. A European in England. Posting micro-comments on all things that come my way, large and small. #pedagogy, #taoism, #literature, #programming, #typography, #TeX, #politics, #covid. Kindness will prevail. Posting about #noAI. #StopTheAICorruption. Personal long-term strands: #MastodonCulture, #whippet_moments, #Plutarch's #ParallelLives. Regular comments on the #Pepys diary. Most of my comments come up in conversations. Please view my "Posts and Replies".
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Thinking about genAI and the death of dialogue
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Richard Dawkins's "Claudia" piece gives us a glum vision of the future of speaking. We see an entirely artificial exchange of well-constructed sentences, all following the laws of pattern recognition, but all without an ounce of expressive truth. The soulless automation is on both sides: Claudia the LLM speaks as it was programmed to speak; Richard the human speaks as his narcissistic pathology makes him speak. Neither invests their soul. Claudia because it has none, Richard because he hides it from himself.
Martin Buber tells us that true dialogue is between "I and Thou". There is no "I" and no "Thou" in Dawkins' conversation, only performance.
Leonard Cohen tells us that "There is a crack in everything, // That's how the light gets in." There is no crack in these automated texts, and no light. Only darkness.
#RichardDawkins #GenerativeNarcicissm #StopTheAICorruption #noLLM #MartinBuber #IAndThou #LookForTheCracks
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@the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk
·
May 04, 2026
the roamer
@the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk
University teacher, father, dog walker. A European in England. Posting micro-comments on all things that come my way, large and small. #pedagogy, #taoism, #literature, #programming, #typography, #TeX, #politics, #covid. Kindness will prevail. Posting about #noAI. #StopTheAICorruption. Personal long-term strands: #MastodonCulture, #whippet_moments, #Plutarch's #ParallelLives. Regular comments on the #Pepys diary. Most of my comments come up in conversations. Please view my "Posts and Replies".
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@bodhipaksa@mastodon.scot
Well put.
Reading the Dawkings piece is useful for all sorts of reasons, including alerting us to the self-mirroring state of mind that is being created by intensive exposure to the Dark Machine.
#StopTheAICorruption
#noLLM #RichardDawkins
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@the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk
·
May 04, 2026
the roamer
@the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk
University teacher, father, dog walker. A European in England. Posting micro-comments on all things that come my way, large and small. #pedagogy, #taoism, #literature, #programming, #typography, #TeX, #politics, #covid. Kindness will prevail. Posting about #noAI. #StopTheAICorruption. Personal long-term strands: #MastodonCulture, #whippet_moments, #Plutarch's #ParallelLives. Regular comments on the #Pepys diary. Most of my comments come up in conversations. Please view my "Posts and Replies".
mastodonapp.uk
@johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz
"Did Turing every discuss how well flattery works for winning the imitation game?"
Oh, excellent. You've earned the Pithy Remark of the Year 2026 award.
(Yes, I dare the rest of year to prove me wrong!)
#RichardDawkins #TuringTest #GenerativeNarcicsm #noLLM #StopTheAICorruption
#PithyRemarkOfTheYear
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@the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk
·
May 02, 2026
the roamer
@the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk
University teacher, father, dog walker. A European in England. Posting micro-comments on all things that come my way, large and small. #pedagogy, #taoism, #literature, #programming, #typography, #TeX, #politics, #covid. Kindness will prevail. Posting about #noAI. #StopTheAICorruption. Personal long-term strands: #MastodonCulture, #whippet_moments, #Plutarch's #ParallelLives. Regular comments on the #Pepys diary. Most of my comments come up in conversations. Please view my "Posts and Replies".
mastodonapp.uk
@xtaldave@social.vivaldi.net
Remarkable. Perhaps not surprising, but remarkable nonetheless, and truly frightening.
To read Dawkins's exchanges with claude gives me a glimpse into the faux-dialogical LLM exhanges that many of my coworkers will have on a daily basis. I can see how having these experiences will change one's entire outlook on life and on others, and how language gets corrupted along the way. Frightening.
#StopTheAiCorruption #noLLM
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@the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk
·
Apr 26, 2026
the roamer
@the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk
University teacher, father, dog walker. A European in England. Posting micro-comments on all things that come my way, large and small. #pedagogy, #taoism, #literature, #programming, #typography, #TeX, #politics, #covid. Kindness will prevail. Posting about #noAI. #StopTheAICorruption. Personal long-term strands: #MastodonCulture, #whippet_moments, #Plutarch's #ParallelLives. Regular comments on the #Pepys diary. Most of my comments come up in conversations. Please view my "Posts and Replies".
mastodonapp.uk
genAI and email: the end of unfiltered communication
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At work we use MS Outlook for email. I have switched off all genAI / Copilot features, but Microsoft of course resets the system at every opportunity and the other day I had Copilot on against my wishes. I was busy and left it on whilst I dealt with some urgent emails.
Jeez! The intrusive way in which the interface pushes the genAI features on you! Can't open someone's email without being steered by the system to have AI summarise it for you. It's barely a choice, more the default.
I imagine many colleagues have it on all the time and use it when they get my carefully crafted messages. The times when you could assume that the recipient actually sees your text are gone.
I know that people are bad at parsing emails, but thus far one could assume they _see_ the text and one could write to help them parse it reasonably well. Not any more.
The times we live in.
Martin Buber, we need you.
#StopTheAICorruption
#Outlook #email #noLLM
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@the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk
·
Apr 09, 2026
the roamer
@the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk
University teacher, father, dog walker. A European in England. Posting micro-comments on all things that come my way, large and small. #pedagogy, #taoism, #literature, #programming, #typography, #TeX, #politics, #covid. Kindness will prevail. Posting about #noAI. #StopTheAICorruption. Personal long-term strands: #MastodonCulture, #whippet_moments, #Plutarch's #ParallelLives. Regular comments on the #Pepys diary. Most of my comments come up in conversations. Please view my "Posts and Replies".
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Wikipedia's new "no LLM" policy
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Good news, as of 27 March. (I had missed this when it came out.)
Wikipedia content guidelines now prohibit the use of genAI tools, with two well-defined minor exceptions. An important step.
quote
"Text generated by large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, DeepSeek, or Grammarly often violates several of Wikipedia's core content policies. For this reason, the use of LLMs to generate or rewrite article content is prohibited, save for [...] two exceptions."
end-quote
The two listed exceptions are (i) basic copyediting support, under human review, and (ii) translation into English.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Writing_articles_with_large_language_models
#noAI #noLLM
#StopTheAICorruption
#Wikipedia #WikipediaContentGuidelines #WikipediaNoLLM
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@the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk
·
Mar 29, 2026
the roamer
@the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk
University teacher, father, dog walker. A European in England. Posting micro-comments on all things that come my way, large and small. #pedagogy, #taoism, #literature, #programming, #typography, #TeX, #politics, #covid. Kindness will prevail. Posting about #noAI. #StopTheAICorruption. Personal long-term strands: #MastodonCulture, #whippet_moments, #Plutarch's #ParallelLives. Regular comments on the #Pepys diary. Most of my comments come up in conversations. Please view my "Posts and Replies".
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@bosak@flx.masto.host
Wow, yes, a very thoughtful and on first reading compelling argument. Also, a (to me) new and deeper look at the Narcissos myth and its relevance. Bookmarked for repeat-reading!
Intensive use of AI tools changes the user and makes them speak _to_ and _for_ the AI, and that in turn changes the person's subtle pre-conscious germination of ideas and makes them lose creative spaces within themselves:
" ... deeper reliance on A.I. would desiccate those less legible aspects of myself, ...".
An important essay. Thank you for the link.
#EzraKlein #noAI #StopTheAICorruption #MarshallMacluhan #Narcissus
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@the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk
·
Mar 10, 2026
the roamer
@the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk
University teacher, father, dog walker. A European in England. Posting micro-comments on all things that come my way, large and small. #pedagogy, #taoism, #literature, #programming, #typography, #TeX, #politics, #covid. Kindness will prevail. Posting about #noAI. #StopTheAICorruption. Personal long-term strands: #MastodonCulture, #whippet_moments, #Plutarch's #ParallelLives. Regular comments on the #Pepys diary. Most of my comments come up in conversations. Please view my "Posts and Replies".
mastodonapp.uk
Watching #TheMission (1986) in light of the current AI crisis in #HigherEducation.
The other day I happened to re-watch this 1986 #film by #RolandJoffé. I had last seen it 40 years ago when it came out. It has aged quite well. The depiction of the indigeneous #Guaraní people is embarrassingly superficial. And the idea that the Jesuit order was a benevolent force is of course laughable. But as a story of an institution that willingly sacrifices its purpose and moral integrity in a power game, the film works.
I can't help drawing parallels to the current AI corruption of higher education.
In Cardinal Altamirano (played by the excellent #RayMcAnally), we see the manager who knows that his action destroys the very rationale of his institution, yet he does it. The two priests (Jeremy Irons and Robert de Niro) are the ground-level staff who stay true to their calling and fight, in different ways. They vanish. Years later, the manager has the luxury of regret.
#StopTheAICorruption
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@the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk
·
Mar 04, 2026
the roamer
@the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk
University teacher, father, dog walker. A European in England. Posting micro-comments on all things that come my way, large and small. #pedagogy, #taoism, #literature, #programming, #typography, #TeX, #politics, #covid. Kindness will prevail. Posting about #noAI. #StopTheAICorruption. Personal long-term strands: #MastodonCulture, #whippet_moments, #Plutarch's #ParallelLives. Regular comments on the #Pepys diary. Most of my comments come up in conversations. Please view my "Posts and Replies".
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Inspector Lestrade did not try to hide his pride. "Charlotte, our new AI agent, really is the ticket. We gave her the data and she found the murderer within seconds. We have arrested Jones, the plumber. Not sure whether we will need your services much longer, Holmes," he laughed. "Charlotte does the work." Sherlock smiled drily.
What can one do about someone like Lestrade, Watson, he said to me once we sat in the cab. Someone who can't think can't see the truth even when it stares them in the face. Jones would never have twisted the compression coupling counter-clockwise, he's a trained plumber, for Heaven's sake! It was Lord Jenkins who removed the pipe, ignorant of the nature of the fittings. Hence the scratch marks on the brass. Lestrade will call on us again by evening. It is Tuesday, Watson, I believe Mrs Hudson has some cake for us. We can keep some for Lestrade.
#SherlockHolmes #InspectorLestrade #HolmesAndWatson #StopTheAICorruption #noLLM
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@the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk
·
Feb 28, 2026
the roamer
@the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk
University teacher, father, dog walker. A European in England. Posting micro-comments on all things that come my way, large and small. #pedagogy, #taoism, #literature, #programming, #typography, #TeX, #politics, #covid. Kindness will prevail. Posting about #noAI. #StopTheAICorruption. Personal long-term strands: #MastodonCulture, #whippet_moments, #Plutarch's #ParallelLives. Regular comments on the #Pepys diary. Most of my comments come up in conversations. Please view my "Posts and Replies".
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@rysiek@mstdn.social
Well put.
And, like the original quote, it's also a fine #SixWordStory!
#StopTheAICorruption
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@the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk
·
Feb 26, 2026
the roamer
@the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk
University teacher, father, dog walker. A European in England. Posting micro-comments on all things that come my way, large and small. #pedagogy, #taoism, #literature, #programming, #typography, #TeX, #politics, #covid. Kindness will prevail. Posting about #noAI. #StopTheAICorruption. Personal long-term strands: #MastodonCulture, #whippet_moments, #Plutarch's #ParallelLives. Regular comments on the #Pepys diary. Most of my comments come up in conversations. Please view my "Posts and Replies".
mastodonapp.uk
Higher Education's march toward our eventual genAI suicide continues.
N is an enthusiastic young colleague who's been promoting genAI all along. This week he shares a new paper he's written. In it we find a lengthy list of the dangers of genAI and why we shouldn't be using it. Wait, what? Is this the same guy?
Let's read on. What is N's solution to the recognised genAI failure? "Agentic AI." Ah, that's where we're heading!
A long list of agentic AI's presumed powers follows, along with presumed supporting pedagogical theory. No reference to actual practice: like Sam Altman we trade on future promises.
The soulless, person-less future we are promised, without any hint of irony: "AI as a collaborative partner"; "from AI as a servant to AI as a learning companion".
Heaven help us.
#StopTheAICorruption #HigherEducationChatter
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@the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk
·
Jan 31, 2026
the roamer
@the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk
University teacher, father, dog walker. A European in England. Posting micro-comments on all things that come my way, large and small. #pedagogy, #taoism, #literature, #programming, #typography, #TeX, #politics, #covid. Kindness will prevail. Posting about #noAI. #StopTheAICorruption. Personal long-term strands: #MastodonCulture, #whippet_moments, #Plutarch's #ParallelLives. Regular comments on the #Pepys diary. Most of my comments come up in conversations. Please view my "Posts and Replies".
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@mirijb2@c18.masto.host
Heartbreaking. Young people are prevented from developing their own self-determined writing voices --- by their own teachers. A pedagogical crime.
#StopTheAICorruption
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