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David Spurrett

@doctorspurt

Philosopher, working on evolution of mechanisms of action selection, and their variously situated subversion. https://davidspurrett.com/

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Latest posts by David Spurrett @doctorspurt

Stasi-scopes?

07.03.2026 17:24 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

Had to doublecheck the date on this

07.03.2026 16:00 πŸ‘ 10905 πŸ” 3119 πŸ’¬ 348 πŸ“Œ 224

Spyfocals is very nice. (Spy is a good element, I think, because it suggests the larger agency - and the Pedoscope wearer doesn't act alone, but with and subject to the whims of a cloud-enabled leviathan.)

07.03.2026 16:01 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Movie buffs on the other hand could prefer to call them "Norman Bates-Bans".

07.03.2026 15:37 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

The classically trained, for example, might go for "Gyges Goggles".

07.03.2026 15:35 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

They’re calling it the most reassuring message of all time

07.03.2026 03:20 πŸ‘ 754 πŸ” 60 πŸ’¬ 20 πŸ“Œ 2

'Pervoscopes' combines the advantages of the two above, but is still not as good a 'Wank Panzer' (for Cybertruck).

07.03.2026 08:13 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

'Pervert Glasses' isn't bad. 'Mark Zuckerberg's Pervert Glasses' for formal occasions, I guess. I'll do my bit for the trend. But one of the comments on the quoted tweet suggests 'Pedoscopes' which is more catchy. Meme-wranglers assemble!

07.03.2026 08:13 πŸ‘ 19 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 0

"... he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse..."

04.03.2026 20:49 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

"... he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse..."

04.03.2026 20:49 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Mom, come pick me up, the best lack all conviction and the worst are full of passionate intensity.

02.03.2026 16:46 πŸ‘ 2416 πŸ” 512 πŸ’¬ 29 πŸ“Œ 14

Boxing is like ballet, except there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other. (I can't remember where that's from...)

04.03.2026 17:29 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Anyone Else Have Those Weird Dreams Where Sobbing Future Generations Beg You To Change Course? The human subconscious is such an interesting thing. No matter how much you think you’ve got it figured out, it’ll always spit out the most random stuff. Take me, for example. After coming home from a...

Commentary: Anyone Else Have Those Weird Dreams Where Sobbing Future Generations Beg You To Change Course?

02.03.2026 18:10 πŸ‘ 7710 πŸ” 1437 πŸ’¬ 89 πŸ“Œ 62

Fun fact: the dining room at Mar-a-Lago, built in the mid-1920s, was dubbed "the Mussolini room" by its designer because it was intentionally modeled after Rome's Chigi Palace that was occupied at the time by Il Duce.

28.02.2026 16:13 πŸ‘ 735 πŸ” 238 πŸ’¬ 20 πŸ“Œ 15
Two photos. The first shows Catturd tweeting: Name one US inspired regime change that hasn't ended in absolute disaster

The next tweet shows him posting an AI illustration of Khamenei turned into a pile of dust. It says "I'm eliminated."

Two photos. The first shows Catturd tweeting: Name one US inspired regime change that hasn't ended in absolute disaster The next tweet shows him posting an AI illustration of Khamenei turned into a pile of dust. It says "I'm eliminated."

Two tweets. The first shows Laura Loomer promoting her show, where she says "A message has been sent that we are not interested in going back to the way politics were prior to Donald Trump, prior to 2016. We don't want warhawks. We don't want any more Neocons. We want American First. Period. End of discussion."

The next tweet says: Today is a great day. 

Our military is amazing. 

@PeteHegseth
 is an absolute killer. 

Now you see why the Deep State worked so hard against him. 

It’s great having a Sec War who has Infidel literally tattooed on his body. 

He actually gets it. 

God bless him.

Two tweets. The first shows Laura Loomer promoting her show, where she says "A message has been sent that we are not interested in going back to the way politics were prior to Donald Trump, prior to 2016. We don't want warhawks. We don't want any more Neocons. We want American First. Period. End of discussion." The next tweet says: Today is a great day. Our military is amazing. @PeteHegseth is an absolute killer. Now you see why the Deep State worked so hard against him. It’s great having a Sec War who has Infidel literally tattooed on his body. He actually gets it. God bless him.

Two tweets. The first shows Will Chamberlain tweeting: The Republican Party is no longer the party of regime change and endless wars. If you want to be its standard-bearer that is a non-negotiable position.

The next tweet shows him posting "Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead." The tweet has a USA flag attached.

Two tweets. The first shows Will Chamberlain tweeting: The Republican Party is no longer the party of regime change and endless wars. If you want to be its standard-bearer that is a non-negotiable position. The next tweet shows him posting "Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead." The tweet has a USA flag attached.

Two tweets. The first shows Gunther Eagleman tweeting: "Warmonger Lindsey Graham just rushed to Fox to advocate for U.S. involvement as soon as he could.

He is also pushing for a US-backed regime change in Iran.

I would like to renominate Graham to get a one-way ticket to the frontlines of every war he wants America involved in." There's an attached video of Graham speaking. 

The next shows Eagleman tweeting: UST IN! President Trump is HARD AT WORK all weekend after the massive strikes on Iran!

He’s already on the phone with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte! 

Trump is a machine!" There's an attached video of a news segment about the war in Iran.

Two tweets. The first shows Gunther Eagleman tweeting: "Warmonger Lindsey Graham just rushed to Fox to advocate for U.S. involvement as soon as he could. He is also pushing for a US-backed regime change in Iran. I would like to renominate Graham to get a one-way ticket to the frontlines of every war he wants America involved in." There's an attached video of Graham speaking. The next shows Eagleman tweeting: UST IN! President Trump is HARD AT WORK all weekend after the massive strikes on Iran! He’s already on the phone with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte! Trump is a machine!" There's an attached video of a news segment about the war in Iran.

manufacturing consent through lowly paid influencers

28.02.2026 20:20 πŸ‘ 6920 πŸ” 1542 πŸ’¬ 92 πŸ“Œ 77

The enemy’s wicked ideology, Mandrake

27.02.2026 22:36 πŸ‘ 140 πŸ” 18 πŸ’¬ 8 πŸ“Œ 2
Building benchmarks is only one way scholars can help steer AI development. We can also measure the effects of AI on students, build better datasets, or tune new open models. Openness itself could be our most important contribution. Universities have huge libraries, and the legal doctrine of fair use should protect models trained on those collections for a nonprofit educational purpose. At the moment, we are not pressing this advantage. Higher education has been so cautious about fair use that the private sector can now train more freely on our libraries (via Google Books) than is possible for academic AI researchers. We need to be bolder: It is our duty to ensure library collections remain open to the public in a form that empowers 21st-century readers. If our intellectual heritage gets enclosed in proprietary tools, we will find ourselves making the same bad bargain we made with scientific publishers, who sell our own research back to us at a steep markup.

Building benchmarks is only one way scholars can help steer AI development. We can also measure the effects of AI on students, build better datasets, or tune new open models. Openness itself could be our most important contribution. Universities have huge libraries, and the legal doctrine of fair use should protect models trained on those collections for a nonprofit educational purpose. At the moment, we are not pressing this advantage. Higher education has been so cautious about fair use that the private sector can now train more freely on our libraries (via Google Books) than is possible for academic AI researchers. We need to be bolder: It is our duty to ensure library collections remain open to the public in a form that empowers 21st-century readers. If our intellectual heritage gets enclosed in proprietary tools, we will find ourselves making the same bad bargain we made with scientific publishers, who sell our own research back to us at a steep markup.

We're in a strange situation rn where Google can train freely on books from university librariesβ€”but researchers *at* universities have limited access. I'm optimistic this can be fixed, but if you're in admin or working at a foundation, please know: univs are failing here & resources are needed.

26.02.2026 22:20 πŸ‘ 211 πŸ” 53 πŸ’¬ 10 πŸ“Œ 3
Preview
Trump’s State of the Union Reminds Us The Republican Party Is Truly Lost More evidence that the Republican Party has been entirely transformed into the party of violence and authoritarianism.

β€œIt is a hallmark of fascist politics that the ruling party becomes a kind of institutionalized gang…with cruelty and brutality as the organizing principles and violent bravado as the main form of political expression.”

www.liberalcurrents.com/trumps-state...

26.02.2026 11:49 πŸ‘ 791 πŸ” 252 πŸ’¬ 18 πŸ“Œ 12

This is a cool paper. I think that the idea that there is a market for 'attentional landscaping potential' is very useful.

23.02.2026 19:52 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Angine de Poitrine - Full Performance (Live on KEXP)
Angine de Poitrine - Full Performance (Live on KEXP) YouTube video by KEXP

Please listen to, and watch this. Several times. It is glorious. youtu.be/0Ssi-9wS1so?...

21.02.2026 13:37 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
PhD student grant (3 years) on the evolution of written communication My team recruits a PhD student to work under the supervision of Olivier Morin on the evolution of written communication, within a project jointly led by Olivier Morin, Hugo Mercier, and Marc Allassonn...

CALL: a PhD grant (3 years) to do a PhD with me at @cognitionens.bsky.social on the evolution of graphic codes. euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/410213

19.02.2026 12:13 πŸ‘ 25 πŸ” 32 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 6

You may laugh, but the Macbeths are a much better role model for a marriage than Romeo and Juliet. They discuss their problems (killing the king of Scotland), share their hobbies (killing the king of Scotland), and resolve their conflicts (by killing the king of Scotland).

13.02.2026 17:09 πŸ‘ 4850 πŸ” 1531 πŸ’¬ 63 πŸ“Œ 87

The Matrix: Reloaded.

18.02.2026 21:57 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

One upside of this was sending me back to look at some of Steve Bell's cartoons of George Osborne.

18.02.2026 21:55 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Countries that do not join the stampede over the AI cliff of doom could be 'left behind' says sock puppet for Acme Cliff Corporation.

18.02.2026 21:47 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

Pretty incredible that the left, concerned as it is with workers, has not wholly and uncritically embraced generative AI, the tool promoted by its billionaire owners as replacing all workers

18.02.2026 14:20 πŸ‘ 78 πŸ” 25 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
AI Delusions Are Leading to Domestic Abuse, Harassment, and Stalking ChatGPT and other AI chatbots are reinforcing users' delusions about other people β€”Β fueling fixations linked to stalking and other abuses.

NEW: ChatGPT and other chatbots are feeding users' fixations on real people, reinforcing users' delusional ideas and obsessions about others as they descend into unwanted harassment, stalking, and/or domestic abuse β€”Β traumatizing victims and profoundly altering lives.

futurism.com/artificial-i...

17.02.2026 15:58 πŸ‘ 1188 πŸ” 613 πŸ’¬ 22 πŸ“Œ 130

I propose to make universal the old policy of the Blackfriars conference at the American Shakespeare Center:

If you do not end your paper on time, you will be forced to exit, pursued by a bear. Literally, a bear will come take your paper from you.

16.02.2026 01:14 πŸ‘ 1637 πŸ” 569 πŸ’¬ 34 πŸ“Œ 77
PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

How do institutions enable large-scale cooperation? 🀝

Institutions promote cooperation but depend on cooperation to function. In a new study in @pnas.org,
@jbaptistandre.bsky.social, N. Baumard, @lfitouchi.bsky.social and I explore this paradox. 🧡

πŸ‘‰ www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

16.12.2024 11:04 πŸ‘ 41 πŸ” 18 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 1