Marius Loots
@mariusloots.bsky.social
eat:sleep:exercise| live learn http://chaos.co.za he/him
university of pretoria
Histology, 3D printing, photography, anthropology
For what it's worth - my data is not allowed to train AI.
university of pretoria
Histology, 3D printing, photography, anthropology
For what it's worth - my data is not allowed to train AI.
Pinned
Marius Loots
@mariusloots.bsky.social
· Aug 21
It seems I've earned myself the title of the Afrikaner reply guy, receiving multiple block awards. Some random thoughts on the matter.
A thread. For footnotes, see end of same.
A thread. For footnotes, see end of same.
Reposted by Marius Loots
For those who couldn't access this because of a paywall, it's now available via my Substack: buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com/p/large-lang...
Large Language Mistake
Current AI models are not on the path to artificial general intelligence
buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com
December 2, 2025 at 1:12 PM
For those who couldn't access this because of a paywall, it's now available via my Substack: buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com/p/large-lang...
Reposted by Marius Loots
This one has dotted her I’s and crossed her T’S. (Trump). 😂
December 2, 2025 at 5:00 AM
This one has dotted her I’s and crossed her T’S. (Trump). 😂
Too late for Guy Fawkes and too early for New Year's, but we've been having a light show.
Had a light painting event tonight at the Voortrekker Monument. They cancelled last week due to possible weather issues. Global warming delivered.
#SouthAfrica #Pretoria
Had a light painting event tonight at the Voortrekker Monument. They cancelled last week due to possible weather issues. Global warming delivered.
#SouthAfrica #Pretoria
December 1, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Too late for Guy Fawkes and too early for New Year's, but we've been having a light show.
Had a light painting event tonight at the Voortrekker Monument. They cancelled last week due to possible weather issues. Global warming delivered.
#SouthAfrica #Pretoria
Had a light painting event tonight at the Voortrekker Monument. They cancelled last week due to possible weather issues. Global warming delivered.
#SouthAfrica #Pretoria
Reposted by Marius Loots
“[Eventually] humanities depts will be forced to accept AI-authored assignments, as part of revised university policy to cooperate with these billionaires. It's already happening, and our response needs to be decisive. Because our students' ability to *think* is at stake.”
really important thread ⬇️
really important thread ⬇️
An issue we're seeing at all levels of university is that many students are simply refusing to do *anything*. They aren't reading the syllabus, aren't following assignment guidelines, aren't engaging with material, ignoring deadlines. And this might seem like old news, but it truly has ramped up.
November 30, 2025 at 8:13 AM
“[Eventually] humanities depts will be forced to accept AI-authored assignments, as part of revised university policy to cooperate with these billionaires. It's already happening, and our response needs to be decisive. Because our students' ability to *think* is at stake.”
really important thread ⬇️
really important thread ⬇️
I know these media houses don't engage on this platform. For what it's worth, a comment.
How many Es does the elephant in the room have? Can we address that first BEFORE looking for ways to promote BigTech's power grab.
#AI
How many Es does the elephant in the room have? Can we address that first BEFORE looking for ways to promote BigTech's power grab.
#AI
A shift in mindset is necessary so that generative artificial intelligence can be used as a tool to produce graduates with the critical thinking skills that tech lacks and cannot duplicate reliably.
Lecturers should treat AI as their learning partner and not as a threat | Daily Maverick
www.dailymaverick.co.za
December 1, 2025 at 5:21 AM
I know these media houses don't engage on this platform. For what it's worth, a comment.
How many Es does the elephant in the room have? Can we address that first BEFORE looking for ways to promote BigTech's power grab.
#AI
How many Es does the elephant in the room have? Can we address that first BEFORE looking for ways to promote BigTech's power grab.
#AI
Reposted by Marius Loots
One nice thing about Bluesky is because there's a lot fewer right wing trolls to deal with, you can stretch out and relax and admit there are a few people on the left that are several guillotines short of a revolution
Don't assume something is true about any subject here just because someone *sounds* authoritative or reasonable. I'm finding more and more that if you really analyze some posts, on the left, too, they don't make any sense. It's just someone whose been in their own head too long.
November 30, 2025 at 6:25 AM
One nice thing about Bluesky is because there's a lot fewer right wing trolls to deal with, you can stretch out and relax and admit there are a few people on the left that are several guillotines short of a revolution
Reposted by Marius Loots
Reposted by Marius Loots
When traveling this holiday season, please remember that Donald Trump raped children.
November 29, 2025 at 4:50 PM
When traveling this holiday season, please remember that Donald Trump raped children.
Reposted by Marius Loots
I can't wait until this chest-beating imbecile is brought up on murder charges.
November 29, 2025 at 3:00 PM
I can't wait until this chest-beating imbecile is brought up on murder charges.
Reposted by Marius Loots
Wellness influencers never let a big shopping day pass without making you scared of something.
www.conspirituality.net/episodes/bri...
www.conspirituality.net/episodes/bri...
Brief: Black Friday’s Wellness Extravaganza — Conspirituality
Derek and Julian survey all of the incredible, life-changing deals going down this weekend in Wellnesslandia.
www.conspirituality.net
November 29, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Wellness influencers never let a big shopping day pass without making you scared of something.
www.conspirituality.net/episodes/bri...
www.conspirituality.net/episodes/bri...
Reposted by Marius Loots
i never get the point of "emulator frontends," retroarch is a piece of shit, iisu is just a fancy mockup. just put your emulator in a folder with games like it's always been done
November 29, 2025 at 5:33 AM
i never get the point of "emulator frontends," retroarch is a piece of shit, iisu is just a fancy mockup. just put your emulator in a folder with games like it's always been done
Reposted by Marius Loots
Check your flight status & what type of aircraft you're flying with. In South Africa, #SAA & #Lift use A320 aircraft.
Airlines around the world announced delayed or cancelled flights Saturday following an Airbus alert that up to 6,000 #A320 aircraft may require upgrades. www.bbc.com/news/article...
Airlines around the world announced delayed or cancelled flights Saturday following an Airbus alert that up to 6,000 #A320 aircraft may require upgrades. www.bbc.com/news/article...
Flights disrupted after Airbus discovers intense sun radiation could impact flight control data
The issue is thought to affect 6,000 planes, which will need to undergo an urgent software update or have computers replaced.
www.bbc.com
November 29, 2025 at 7:50 AM
Check your flight status & what type of aircraft you're flying with. In South Africa, #SAA & #Lift use A320 aircraft.
Airlines around the world announced delayed or cancelled flights Saturday following an Airbus alert that up to 6,000 #A320 aircraft may require upgrades. www.bbc.com/news/article...
Airlines around the world announced delayed or cancelled flights Saturday following an Airbus alert that up to 6,000 #A320 aircraft may require upgrades. www.bbc.com/news/article...
Reposted by Marius Loots
The house behind ours went up like a torch a couple of nights ago. One person was killed. I can’t describe the feeling when I went downstairs and saw the orange glow out the back and thought the outside of ours was on fire. South Africans, if you don’t have smoke alarms, get. And extinguishers.
November 29, 2025 at 6:55 AM
The house behind ours went up like a torch a couple of nights ago. One person was killed. I can’t describe the feeling when I went downstairs and saw the orange glow out the back and thought the outside of ours was on fire. South Africans, if you don’t have smoke alarms, get. And extinguishers.
Reposted by Marius Loots
Oh hey! It’s me!
New article now available and Open Access.
Fact-checking doesn’t really work. If we want to understand what misinformation does, ethnography is super useful.
Come for the discussion of windmills and Elon Tweets, stay for the talk of the “Afrikaner Refugees.” It’s a wild time.
New article now available and Open Access.
Fact-checking doesn’t really work. If we want to understand what misinformation does, ethnography is super useful.
Come for the discussion of windmills and Elon Tweets, stay for the talk of the “Afrikaner Refugees.” It’s a wild time.
NOW OUT ON FIRSTVIEW!!
Blending #Truth and #Lies: Using an #Ethnographic #Sensibility to Study #Online #Misinformation
By @carolyneholmes.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1017/S153...
Blending #Truth and #Lies: Using an #Ethnographic #Sensibility to Study #Online #Misinformation
By @carolyneholmes.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1017/S153...
November 24, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Oh hey! It’s me!
New article now available and Open Access.
Fact-checking doesn’t really work. If we want to understand what misinformation does, ethnography is super useful.
Come for the discussion of windmills and Elon Tweets, stay for the talk of the “Afrikaner Refugees.” It’s a wild time.
New article now available and Open Access.
Fact-checking doesn’t really work. If we want to understand what misinformation does, ethnography is super useful.
Come for the discussion of windmills and Elon Tweets, stay for the talk of the “Afrikaner Refugees.” It’s a wild time.
Reposted by Marius Loots
The UAE is selling well-equipped armoured vehicles to African states under a ‘Made in Emirates’ label. But documents from a whistleblower show that these are South African-designed vehicles built by the staff of Integrated Convoy Protection, a South African company. The vehicles were built in the...
Fake it ’till you make it: How an SA arms company built UAE armoured vehicles | Daily Maverick
www.dailymaverick.co.za
November 28, 2025 at 12:01 AM
The UAE is selling well-equipped armoured vehicles to African states under a ‘Made in Emirates’ label. But documents from a whistleblower show that these are South African-designed vehicles built by the staff of Integrated Convoy Protection, a South African company. The vehicles were built in the...
Reposted by Marius Loots
Stephen Miller is of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. His great-grandparents inhabited the Pale of Settlement (western Russia where Jews were allowed to live) and escaped Russian pogroms and the Holocaust. All the same racist, xenophobic, ignorant things he is saying were said about his own family.
November 28, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Stephen Miller is of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. His great-grandparents inhabited the Pale of Settlement (western Russia where Jews were allowed to live) and escaped Russian pogroms and the Holocaust. All the same racist, xenophobic, ignorant things he is saying were said about his own family.
Reposted by Marius Loots
This is an abuse man I was becoming involved with but the abuse became an issue before we met up
He won't unfollow me
I can block him
But decided to say it out loud instead
bsky.app/profile/know...
He won't unfollow me
I can block him
But decided to say it out loud instead
bsky.app/profile/know...
bsky.app
November 28, 2025 at 3:25 PM
This is an abuse man I was becoming involved with but the abuse became an issue before we met up
He won't unfollow me
I can block him
But decided to say it out loud instead
bsky.app/profile/know...
He won't unfollow me
I can block him
But decided to say it out loud instead
bsky.app/profile/know...
Is it dead yet, cause I can't take the idiocracy much longer and stay sane.
November 28, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Is it dead yet, cause I can't take the idiocracy much longer and stay sane.
Reposted by Marius Loots
Eye for E
Close-up of the eye & mouth of a fossil fish.
#AlphabetChallenge
#WeekVforVowels
#Fossil
#Fauna
#Macro
#Photography
Close-up of the eye & mouth of a fossil fish.
#AlphabetChallenge
#WeekVforVowels
#Fossil
#Fauna
#Macro
#Photography
November 27, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Eye for E
Close-up of the eye & mouth of a fossil fish.
#AlphabetChallenge
#WeekVforVowels
#Fossil
#Fauna
#Macro
#Photography
Close-up of the eye & mouth of a fossil fish.
#AlphabetChallenge
#WeekVforVowels
#Fossil
#Fauna
#Macro
#Photography
November 27, 2025 at 6:42 AM
Reposted by Marius Loots
‘an AI system might remix and recycle our knowledge in interesting ways. But that’s all it will be able to do. It will be forever trapped in the vocabulary we’ve encoded in our data and trained it upon — a dead-metaphor machine.’
By @benjaminjriley.bsky.social
By @benjaminjriley.bsky.social
Is language the same as intelligence? The AI industry desperately needs it to be
The AI boom is based on a fundamental mistake.
www.theverge.com
November 26, 2025 at 4:16 PM
‘an AI system might remix and recycle our knowledge in interesting ways. But that’s all it will be able to do. It will be forever trapped in the vocabulary we’ve encoded in our data and trained it upon — a dead-metaphor machine.’
By @benjaminjriley.bsky.social
By @benjaminjriley.bsky.social
Reposted by Marius Loots
I know you all are running away from the US, but we don't see too many positions like this opening up, and Miami has a really nice group in the geo department. ⚒️
(unfortunately, not really relevant right now to non-US citizens with the H1B fees)
(unfortunately, not really relevant right now to non-US citizens with the H1B fees)
I hear that University of Miami is looking for a paleoceanography / paleoclimate scientist:
careers.miami.edu/us/en/job/R1...
careers.miami.edu/us/en/job/R1...
Assistant Professor in Paleoceanography - Marine Geosciences in Miami, Florida, United States of America | Faculty & Physicians at University of Miami
Apply for Assistant Professor in Paleoceanography - Marine Geosciences job with University of Miami in Miami, Florida, United States of America. Faculty & Physicians at University of Miami
careers.miami.edu
November 26, 2025 at 4:40 PM
I know you all are running away from the US, but we don't see too many positions like this opening up, and Miami has a really nice group in the geo department. ⚒️
(unfortunately, not really relevant right now to non-US citizens with the H1B fees)
(unfortunately, not really relevant right now to non-US citizens with the H1B fees)
Reposted by Marius Loots
where are the civil lawsuits?
Many demonstrators were arrested; fewer were charged. And of those charged, many cases crumbled. Federal prosecutors declined to pursue some cases; in others, judges or grand juries declined to let them proceed.
talkingpointsmemo.com/news/chicago...
talkingpointsmemo.com/news/chicago...
Chicago Protestors Reel After Fending Off Federal Charges
The administration governs by propaganda. There’s bluster, threats, and even real violence...
talkingpointsmemo.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:16 PM
where are the civil lawsuits?
Reposted by Marius Loots
The subtext in JD Vance asking for "patience" on the economy: When leaders stop talking about current conditions and jump straight to rosy forecasts, they’re signaling the present isn’t defensible. That’s your cue to scrutinize the numbers, not just the narrative.
November 25, 2025 at 10:56 PM
The subtext in JD Vance asking for "patience" on the economy: When leaders stop talking about current conditions and jump straight to rosy forecasts, they’re signaling the present isn’t defensible. That’s your cue to scrutinize the numbers, not just the narrative.