Robin Z
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firepile.bsky.social
Robin Z
@firepile.bsky.social
3.3K followers 900 following 4.5K posts
Professor, Philosopher, Cognitive Scientist, 4e Cognition and Artificial Intelligence; Science Fiction Fan, Cyborgologist, Retired Knitter, Comic Book Reader, 4ad records fanatic. Wanna see me nerd out about music stuff? @musicephemera.bsky.social
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firepile.bsky.social
Robin Z @firepile.bsky.social · Jan 9
Rocket just wants to have a talk about your attitude. She isn't mad, she's just disappointed.
White dog with her arms folded like your mom's when you come home late and high af
firepile.bsky.social
When my kid, in first grade at the time, announced on Zoom to his class he was late to gym because he had to poop.
zachweinersmith.bsky.social Zach Weinersmith @zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 51m
What's a charming memory you have from the worst period of the pandemic?
November 29, 2025 at 11:32 PM
firepile.bsky.social
It suddenly occurs to me that I *didn't* spend yesterday chasing owls for good photos, and that entire episode was just a dream I had
November 29, 2025 at 5:54 PM
firepile.bsky.social
If you ever thought you had to be exceptional to publish in Nature, think again. (Link to paper in reply) thanks (?) to @remisramos.bsky.social
I don't even fucking know. An AI-generated infographic with nonsense all over it, top to bottom
November 27, 2025 at 3:11 PM
firepile.bsky.social
This just in
3 ny slices of pizza, one white, one cheese, and one weird meat one for the carnivore Egg and cheese and hashbrown on a sesame seed bagel
November 27, 2025 at 12:19 AM
firepile.bsky.social
I'm in NJ this week so just know that it is taking all my willpower not to just post pictures of bagels and pizza because all I ever want to do in NJ is eat bagels and pizza. And Chinese food. Apparently like 95% of my nostalgia for my youth is simply food.
November 26, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Reposted by Robin Z
tonychemero.bsky.social
Early career people:
We have funding to subsidize travel to the conference.
November 25, 2025 at 6:13 PM
firepile.bsky.social
Hey that's me!
tonychemero.bsky.social Tony Chemero @tonychemero.bsky.social · 4d
Keynote speakers:
Jelle Bruineberg (University of Copenhagen)
Sina Fazelpour (Northeastern University)
Shen-Yi Liao @liao.shen-yi.org (University of Puget Sound)
Shannon McMullen (Purdue University)
Robin Zebrowski @firepile.bsky.social (Beloit College)
November 25, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Reposted by Robin Z
tonychemero.bsky.social
Call for abstracts for the first conference of our new Center for Humanities and Technology. Please share!

uchumanitiestech.org/2026-confere...
2026 Conference
Call for Papers: Science and Technology in the Anthropocene April 2 – 3, 2026 A conference about human experience in a world with non-biological intelligent systems and the environmental prob…
uchumanitiestech.org
November 25, 2025 at 6:07 PM
firepile.bsky.social
Good flight
Doggy on a plane. Doggy on MY plane.
November 25, 2025 at 4:23 PM
firepile.bsky.social
Been at O'Hare for less than an hour and I've seen 4 dogs already. Maybe travel is good, actually
November 25, 2025 at 3:39 PM
firepile.bsky.social
This is a surprisingly good list of tech books to gift from Wired, including some aged classics and some new work destined to be classics down the line (*cough* @ashleyshoo.bsky.social's book *cough*)
25 Great Tech Books to Gift (or Keep for Yourself)
Give the techie in your life access to the inner workings of the companies and characters shaping Big Tech.
www.wired.com
November 24, 2025 at 8:54 PM
firepile.bsky.social
The queen's tears is flowering! 🌱
Plant with a pink flower opening to small buds not quite open yet Plant with a pink flower opening to small buds not quite open yet
November 23, 2025 at 8:14 PM
firepile.bsky.social
The real reason people aren't having kids anymore is that kids always lose the apple tv remote. Like 12 times a day, minimum. No one wants to live like that.
November 23, 2025 at 7:31 PM
firepile.bsky.social
5 new requests to review from 5 different journals in the last 24 hours, academia is doing great
November 23, 2025 at 3:13 PM
firepile.bsky.social
Rocket says goodnight, sleep well, she'll probably kill you in the morning
White pup sleeping on the couch with her head resting on a delicate little pillow
November 23, 2025 at 7:17 AM
firepile.bsky.social
I am profoundly sick of grading
November 23, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Reposted by Robin Z
ernie.tedium.co
If you have been sharing that Malwarebytes article on the Gmail thing, you should note the giant correction up top.

www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/20...
Update November 22. We’ve updated this article after realising we contributed to a perfect storm of misunderstanding around a recent change in the wording and placement of Gmail’s smart features. The settings themselves aren’t new, but the way Google recently rewrote and surfaced them led a lot of people (including us) to believe Gmail content might be used to train Google’s AI models, and that users were being opted in automatically. After taking a closer look at Google’s documentation and reviewing other reporting, that doesn’t appear to be the case. Gmail does scan email content to power its own “smart features,” such as spam filtering, categorisation, and writing suggestions. But this is part of how Gmail normally works and isn’t the same as training Google’s generative AI models. Google also maintains that these feature settings are opt-in rather than opt-out, although users’ experiences seem to vary depending on when and how the new wording appeared. It’s easy to see where the confusion came from. Google’s updated language around “smart features” is vague, and the term “smart” often implies AI—especially at a time when Gemini is being integrated into other parts of Google’s products. When the new wording started appearing for some users without much explanation, many assumed it signalled a broader shift. We’ve revised this article to reflect what we can confirm from Google’s documentation, as it’s always been our aim to give readers accurate, helpful guidance.
November 22, 2025 at 9:44 PM
firepile.bsky.social
Find someone who looks at you the way my dog looks at a fake pie with a tennis ball in the middle
Rocket really likes pie, even fake pie.
November 22, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Reposted by Robin Z
rincewind.run
evergreen
Tweet from @PPathole Tech enthusiasts: my entire house is smart Tech workers: the only piece of technology in my house is a printer and I keep a gun next to it so I can shoot it if it makes a noise I don’t recognize
November 22, 2025 at 5:20 PM
firepile.bsky.social
The most NY thing to show up in Illustoria (kid McSweeney's). I thought we were getting a recipe for rainbow cookies and instead it's just "go to the supermarket." Hi, I live in the Midwest now, supermarkets don't sell these, it's why I needed the recipe.
Irene's Rainbow Cookies (for people who don't bake !) 1. Visit your local supermarket or bakery. 2. Find a container of rainbow cookies. (If there is no bakery, CakeBite Classic is a strong runner-up.) 3. Let them sit in a room-temperature setting so they're nice and soft. 4. Place on a plate. 5. Best served with a hot mug of your beverage of choice!
November 22, 2025 at 3:42 PM
firepile.bsky.social
Lotta talk about Thanksgiving turkey this morning, can I simply recommend my vegetarian Thanksgiving turkey instead
Wild turkey bourbon
November 22, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Reposted by Robin Z
esghound.com
November 22, 2025 at 7:10 AM
firepile.bsky.social
Is today's Discourse about Ethics in Journalism because it is entirely too early for this shit AND ON A SATURDAY
November 22, 2025 at 1:38 PM
firepile.bsky.social
Scenes from a Newtonmas tree
Close up of an apple ornament Close up of a gold and red speckled apple ornament on a tree with others in the background Close up of a corduroy apple ornament on a tree Close up of a minecraft cube apple ornament and a smiling apple ornament on a tree with other apple ornaments
November 22, 2025 at 2:51 AM
firepile.bsky.social
Almost curious what the True Believers on X are saying about all this but not curious enough to ever check
libyaliberty.bsky.social Hend Amry @libyaliberty.bsky.social · 7d
When I say I thought this photo from today’s press conference w/ Trump and Mamdani was AI…
Trump sitting at this desk, beaming as he look at a smiling Mamdani standing by his side
November 22, 2025 at 1:00 AM