Naulald Shorttown

FAIRNESS & PROGRESS Exploring the relationship between fairness and progress, emphasizing non-zero-sum games as a means to enhance human well-being and collective growth.

New audio for "WHY?—can we have both fairness & progress?". Check it out on the site or on the podcast. open.spotify.com/episode/6nK6...

POLYMATHS Explore the fascinating world of polymaths, their methodologies, and the significance of First Principles thinking in innovation and creativity today.

Innovators throughout the ages have found ways to apply knowledge in one area of expertise to another domain to create breakthroughs. This series makes a strong case for "reasoning by analogy".

See if this shift in perspective unlocks your inner genius.

#Polymaths #Genius #Innovation #Musk

View of a church chapel lit by large windows in which a large tomb chest with effigies can be seen alongside a children’s learning area with a circle of chairs and a small blackboard.

Where children learn and old lords rest deep in rural England. At St James’s, Somerton, Oxfordshire, village life seems timeless. Here, I was struck by how a transient moment of modern life was left as but a shadow by the tomb chest of Sir Thomas Fermor (d.1580) and his second wife Bridget Bradshaw.

The conservation ledger: What we lost and what we gained in 2025 2025 was a year shaped by both loss and persistence, marked by species formally declared extinct, hundreds of organisms newly described, and uneven conservation outcomes across forests, reefs, and the...

On New Year’s Day, take a moment to be present with those relatives we lost, those relatives we found, and those relatives that we’re learning how to better care for. This is worth a deep mindful breath, of grief and gratitude.

open.substack.com/pub/mongabay...

A bunch of daddies hypnotized at school, burly bodies squeezed into small desks, eager to please the professor controlling them. "Yes, teacher!" they say eagerly like a chorus, deep voices contrasted their simple-minded childish tones. They're learning that silly daddies are meant to obey teacher

Sir: It seems the boy is learning very well. In a recent game of cum or air he found amazing focus. Deep breathing exercises while edged, cut off air wait for cum or fight. Wanting to please me he slowed his breath closed his eyes and shot an incredible load. Did he get air? 😈

Part 1: How do LLMs work? YouTube video by Andrew Perfors

I just created a series of seven deep-dive videos about AI, which I've posted to youtube and now here. 😊

Targeted to laypeople, they explore how LLMs work, what they can do, and what impacts they have on learning, well-being, disinformation, the workplace, the economy, and the environment.

With some trepidation, I'm putting this out into the world:
gershmanlab.com/textbook.html
It's a textbook called Computational Foundations of Cognitive Neuroscience, which I wrote for my class.

My hope is that this will be a living document, continuously improved as I get feedback.

Animal Consciousness (first paragraph of the article). First published Sat Dec 23, 1995; substantive revision Tue Jan 13, 2026. Is there something it’s like to be an octopus, a bee, a snail? For much of the twentieth century, research into animal cognition tended to avoid questions of consciousness, following the lead of human neuroscience, where such questions were also marginalized (see the entries on animal cognition, methods in comparative cognition). However, the growing profile of consciousness science since 2000 has brought the topic of consciousness back into the scientific mainstream (see the entry on the neuroscience of consciousness), and this has led to resurgent interest in studying conscious experience in other animals.

I've been working for ages on a comprehensive revamp of the Stanford Encyclopedia Entry on "Animal Consciousness", with new sections on non-Western perspectives, methodological challenges and evolutionary big pictures, and it's out today: plato.stanford.edu/entries/cons.... Hope you find it useful!

Confocal microscopy image showing astrocytes in the human brain

Human astrocytes are among my favorite things to photograph under the microscope! I feel like I’m looking at stars in the sky!
Can you identify the blood vessel in the middle of the image?
Markers: 💙 Dapi 💛 GFAP
🌟 🔬 🧠 #Microscopy #Neuroscience

Opinion | What Are We Thinking?

Neuroscience is moving away from a modular view of the brain because the brain is not modular. It is network of murmuring neurons. Great metaphor by @pessoabrain.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/16/o...
#neuroscience

I relocated from Brazil to the US in 2017 for a Postdoc in Neuroscience. A dream coming true, the US was the place to be in my field. The country I moved to no longer exists. Now I'm preparing to move to Germany, and sad about all the scientists who don't have the same chance to escape. #BrainDrain

Emma is a war refugee and survivor of conversion therapy whose work, feminism, and feedback have all been invaluable to me and my nonfiction. Please consider helping her out if you can.

Am attempting to write stuff that requires more research so I've been reading more nonfiction in the last few months.

I haven't been a naturally curious person as an adult. (Depression? IDK.) So it's something that requires some effort.

I do find it annoying how some people dismiss long YouTube video essays as "bad" just because of their length. I get if you don't have the time to watch them, thats ok! But length isn't quality. Yes, movies and TV shows may be shorter, but you listen to nonfiction audiobooks that are 10 hours, yes?

I earnestly would equate video essays more with academic articles or nonfiction books. Are some giant wastes of drivel and time? Sure. But some aren't, and length isn't a measure of its quality, but the quality of its time usage is.

My nonfiction essay writing class has ended. It was very much a success! I tried out something that was new to me AND required me being vulnerable while strangers critiqued my work. So just a little push to try stuff out.

A panel from a new page of Phantomarine. Phaedra runs and screams "CHETH IF YOU'RE WATCHING THIS I'M GONNA KILL YOU"

Phantomarine is updated! Ch 7 p 37

Girl, don't give him the satisfaction.

www.phantomarine.com/comic/737-in...
#webcomics #comics

Voltar no tempo pra impedir a Coreia do Sul de ser uma grande potência exportadora de cultura pop e, consequentemente não fazerem webcomics de scrollar no celular que, depois, seriam postas junto com mangás em sites de ler scan online pra evitar a queda do Mangadex e do Batoto

(Eve at store check-out) Clerk: “Let’s see; poster board, markers, paint, bottled water…” ~ Clerk: “Bullhorn, Black shirt, black pants, black bandana, umbrella, Oreos…” ~ Clerk: “Full-face respirator, 2x4, helmet, and a first aid kit.” (handing bags to Eve) Eve: “Thanks.” Clerk: “Good luck out there.” ~ Clerk: “What are the Oreos for?” Eve: “I’m hungry. I’m not making two trips.”

By the way, fuck ICE. #webcomics

Part of a panel from the webcomic KEEPING TIME that only reads, "NOW." Daniel, a Japanese-American dude, tunes a peg on his electric guitar in front of a poster parodying Interpol.

Daniel was in a band in high school. Then his sister died, he fell out with his band's guitarist, & years went by. So how did he end up back here, in a vibes-audition for the same band? Something to do with that guitarist's 'marry me' eyes, probably

#KeepingTime #webcomics

🎸 keepingtimecomic.com

Text: "It's time to turn the page" Image: a chimera consisting of (left to right) a pink lion body, a blue-ish goat head (that's turning a book page that's in the lion's paw) and a yellow snake panicking at the page being turned.. or eaten??

I think us folks at @chimeracomics.bsky.social are ready to eat-- uh, turn the page! yeah! :D
Go and check out all the brilliant webcomics on chimeracomics.org 💙💗💛

I want to be a polymath!

Just remember that last year @albomp.bsky.social’s government approved a carbon bomb, the North West Shelf Gas project.

For those that pay attention to and respect climate science, and laws of physics and chemistry, you’ll appreciate why this is an issue.

When a container of mixed nuts is shaken, the largest nuts rise to the top.

This phenomenon is known as the ‘Brazil nut effect,’ and there are a couple of mechanisms at play.

Or: “Making physics fun with snacks.” 🧵⬇️

i'm just gonna say, only the physics, chemistry, and physiology prizes matter.

the economics one is basically fake and the peace prize is an award for advancing a narrative. insulin is an achievement. peace prizes don't even award peace itself and are actual participation trophies.

Endwokeness tweets: "Star Trek cadets are now required to get DEI training from an obnoxious lesbian Yes, this is real" and embeds a video from Starfleet Academy.

In the scene depicted, the instructor is teaching quantum physics and temporal mechanics. She calls out a student who is being an ass and doesn't even know his classmates' names. But to bigots, the mere presence of an LGBTQI+ actor (Tig Notaro) is "DEI training."

Question:

Would YOU stay if you were asked to do something that violated your ethics, professionalism, and sense of decency?

A digital postcard with an illustration showing three monkeys sharing one thought bubble. The thought bubble has people working in a corn field. The text at the bottom reads "DOMINIQUE RAMSEY. Rep'd by Kelly Sonnack at Andrea Brown Literacy. www.dominiqueramsey.com. kelly@andreabrownlit.com"

Hey #kidlitartpostcard! My name is Dominique, im an illustrator who enjoys drawing animals, non-fiction, folklore, and nature.

I am repped by Kelly Sonnack at Andrea Brown Literacy, working in picture books, coloring for graphic novels, and book covers.

🌵 www.dominiqueramsey.com

for the record when i call my work "graphic novels" i just mean it's a comic that's you know. in a format that's, like, kinda long, and not a continuing story