Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Ed Gibney @edgibney.bsky.social · 10h

MAGA —> WAAAA

Weakening America Again and Again

Elizabeth Warren @warren.senate.gov · 10h

Apparently $20B of our taxpayer money wasn't enough to bail out Argentina.

Now Trump wants U.S. banks to divert ANOTHER $20B away from lending to American businesses, farmers, and families to prop up Milei's corrupt presidency and failing economy.

So much for America First.

Ed Gibney @edgibney.bsky.social · 15h

New blog post! Part 3 of 5 of my detailed review of "Sapiens" by Yuval Harari. This includes some comments on religions and humanism that sure are doozies.

www.evphil.com/blog/review-...

Review of “Sapiens” by Yuval Noah Harari (3/5)

I’m back now for part three of my detailed review of Sapiens . As a reminder, the book is subdivided into these main sections: Part One: The Cognitive Revolution Part Two: The Agricultural...

www.evphil.com

Reposted by Ed Gibney

Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 1d

As if they keep writing all these headlines - and our membership numbers and polling just keeps shooting up. 🚀

Now at 110,000. Over 55% increase in just one month!

Lower bills. Fund NHS. Tax the super rich.

Join.greenparty.org.uk

Polanski is talking nonsense about wealth taxes.

Greens who want to save the world by destroying britain

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Reposted by Ed Gibney

Stephan Lewandowsky @lewan.bsky.social · 1d

Knock me down with a feather. What a surprise.

Politico @politico.com · 1d

EXCLUSIVE: Thousands of leaked messages show leaders of Young Republican groups joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape in a private Telegram chat.

Inside rising GOP leaders’ racist chats — obtained by POLITICO and spanning more than 7 months👇

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

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Ed Gibney @edgibney.bsky.social · 1d

I've never heard a physicist raise this issue of wondering how life emerged in a determined universe.

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Reposted by Ed Gibney

Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 1d

The Spectator (owned by GBNews owner Paul Marshall - estimated wealth of £800 million) doesn’t like taxing wealth fairly.

I wonder how they got to this editorial decision?

Let’s tax wealth fairly, fund front line services & make hope normal again.

join.greenparty.org.uk

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Ed Gibney @edgibney.bsky.social · 1d

That is a much deeper objection than I anticipated. But I don't see why such galaxy-denying symmetry would have to come from a determined universe. The slightest imbalance in the Big Bang leads to the chaos of three-body systems and all the cosmology beyond that. Randomness doesn't seem required.

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Ed Gibney @edgibney.bsky.social · 1d

That doesn’t seem surprising to me at all since learning is important to survival and subjects can’t know what is (or may be) determined. Hence my earlier post about (feelings of) freedom emerging from ignorance. Life is driven by guesswork of trials and errors, which feels to us like free will.

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Ed Gibney @edgibney.bsky.social · 1d

@treykerby.bsky.social Slippery Knueppel?

Ed Gibney @edgibney.bsky.social · 1d

Personally I find it irrelevant because the fate of the universe as deterministic or ind. seems unknowable. Physicists seem torn. So why spend so much effort on it? The pragmatic “free will worth wanting” is enough for me. No magic free will. No overturning everything to remove praise and blame.

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Reposted by Ed Gibney

Lee McIntyre @leecmcintyre.bsky.social · 2d

THIS is how to be an ally for truth. Lovely to see Pope Leo taking such a clear stand against post-truth, picking up where Pope Francis left off. And he quotes Hannah Arendt! Bravo!

Pope urges news agencies to stand as bulwark against lies, manipulation and post-truths

Pope Leo XIV has encouraged international news agencies to stand firm as a bulwark against the “ancient art of lying” and manipulation.

apnews.com

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Ed Gibney @edgibney.bsky.social · 2d

I'd love to see @seanmcarroll.bsky.social
read your paper and go through it. I got past my knowledge with your claim that HUP is ontic and not epistemic (seems ep to me). But this from Carroll seemed clearer to me:

www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2011/12...

On Determinism – Sean Carroll

www.preposterousuniverse.com

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Ed Gibney @edgibney.bsky.social · 2d

Okay I started reading this and was immediately troubled by this claim:

"the discovery of quantum mechanics has led many
philosophers, and most physicists (Schlosshauer et al., 2013), to officially reject the truth of
determinism;"

I checked that paper and didn't see this:

arxiv.org/pdf/1301.1069

arxiv.org

Ed Gibney @edgibney.bsky.social · 2d

Green is for going forward into a thriving future. 🚦 💚

Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 2d

A new week - and a new huge milestone!

@greenparty.org.uk now have 100,000 members!!!

We are absolutely on track to next overtake the Tories - let's make hope normal again!

Join.greenparty.org.uk

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Ed Gibney @edgibney.bsky.social · 3d

I see this as going back to Solms’ “affect” being the wellspring of consciousness. From the beginning, this pain and pleasure was selected for so it’s deep in the evolutionary history of life.

A wild speculation I’ve had is that silicon life hasn’t arisen because they feel pleasure at destruction.

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Ed Gibney @edgibney.bsky.social · 3d

This was genius.

When will the Ringer dive into the question of NBA teams going public? Stop running these franchises like mom and pop private firms. Let the public invest in them to share in this wealth generation, rather than courting more and more unsavory billionaires.

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Reposted by Ed Gibney

Naomi Oreskes @naomioreskes.bsky.social · 4d

If you saw the recent piece in @nytimes.com claiming that "Spraying round-up on crops is fine. Really." Please read our reply.
@davechapman.bsky.social @ninaelkadi.com @michaelpollan.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/o...

Opinion | Debating the Dangers of a Pesticide

www.nytimes.com

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Ed Gibney @edgibney.bsky.social · 4d

In my queue so I’ll come back to this when I watch it.

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Ed Gibney @edgibney.bsky.social · 4d

“If we are brave enough to tell the bitter truth – that climate breakdown is here and it’s too late to stop it entirely – then our role becomes clear: we must lead society in building resilience.”

These and further inspiring words below. Green is for going forward into a thriving future. 🚦 💚

Rupert Read @rupertread.bsky.social · 5d

"I’ve just returned from our largest-ever #GreenParty Conference – and the excitement was palpable."

We now stand at a crossroads. Read my thoughts on which way the Party should be turning 👇

rupertsreads.substack.com/p/from-elect...

Image is of a Tweet against a backdrop of Westminster. The tweet reads: "Our recent electoral gains prove we’re rising. But our deeper strength lies in truth-telling: that the age of false optimism is over, and that adaptation is now the defining political challenge of our time."

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Ed Gibney @edgibney.bsky.social · 4d

Always a good read at “This View of Life”.

ProSocial World @prosocialworld.bsky.social · 5d

New This View of Life article 🌏 X

Besides racial prejudice, what else is behind xenophobia? Among the evolved human instincts, we can find at least two for the anti-immigration sentiment: territoriality and the endowment effect.

🔗https://bit.ly/4o7C2Bc

Xenophobia in the Light of Evolution: On the Origins of Anti-Immigration Sentiment

Besides racial prejudice, what else is behind xenophobia? Among the evolved human instincts, we can find at least two for the anti-immigration sentiment: territoriality and the endowment effect.

bit.ly

Reposted by Ed Gibney

Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 7d

We just hit 93,000 members.

We're polling on average higher than we have ever before.

Over 1000 people joining a day!

Join our movement.

Join.greenparty.org.uk

Join the Green Party

Join the Green Party from just £6 a year. Become a member today - join the only party standing up for people and planet.

Join.greenparty.org.uk

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Ed Gibney @edgibney.bsky.social · 7d

Holy crap. This is not going to end well.

Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 9d

‘The hundreds of billions of dollars companies are investing in AI now account for an astonishing 40 per cent share of US GDP growth this year… Outside of the AI plays, even European stock markets have been outperforming the US this decade’
on.ft.com/4pTQ3US

America is now one big bet on AI

It’s seen as the magic fix for every threat to the US economy

on.ft.com

Reposted by Ed Gibney

Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 9d

Friends in Philly: Tomorrow @upenn.edu (Tuesday October 7, 12p) I'll be giving a public-facing talk about Elusive Cures, as part of the Penn library book series. Join me! RSVP below.

www.library.upenn.edu/events/nicol...

Nicole Rust: "Elusive Cures: Why Neuroscience Hasn't Solved Brain Disorders — and How We Can Change That"

Psychology professor Nicole Rust of the School of Arts & Sciences dives into why research on conditions like Alzheimer’s and depression hasn’t translated more effectively into better treatments.

www.library.upenn.edu

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Reposted by Ed Gibney

Rachel Maddow @maddow.msnbc.com · 10d

"Morris, former spiritual advisor to President Trump and the former pastor at a megachurch in Texas, pleaded guilty to charges in a child sex abuse scandal on Oct. 2.

He faced five counts of lewd indecent acts with a child..."

www.kjrh.com/news/local-n...

Former Trump spiritual advisor Morris enters plea deal in Hominy child sex abuse case

Robert Morris, the former pastor at a megachurch in Texas and former spiritual advisor to President Trump, pleaded guilty to five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child on Oct. 2.

www.kjrh.com

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Ed Gibney @edgibney.bsky.social · 10d

This was excellent. Addressing economic inequality has little to do with economics. It’s about stopping those with more and more from continuing to take more and more. That’s enough of a reason to do something.

Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 10d

In case you missed it - here's this weeks episode of @boldpolitics.bsky.social with Gary Stevenson.

100k views and growing!

youtu.be/WRVfmQkCSdk?...

How Labour Sold Their Souls To Billionaires | Gary Stevenson | Zack Polanski

YouTube video by Bold Politics with Zack Polanski

youtu.be

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