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Ruth Aylett

@ruthaylett.bsky.social

900 followers 310 following 250 posts

(she/her) Author, poet, socialist, feminist, Heriot-Watt emeritus professor with research in AI, social robotics/agents, affective computing All views personal; likes/shares are not support

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Ruth Aylett @ruthaylett.bsky.social · Nov 16

Anyone keen to see beyond robot hype and understand how much of it is pure fiction, see our popular science book Living with Robots, what every anxious human needs to know. tinyurl.com/5y3552px

Living with Robots : What Every Anxious Human Needs to Know

Living with Robots : What Every Anxious Human Needs to Know (Paperback / softback) (9780262546041)

tinyurl.com

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George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 7h

Yes, we indeed have a serious problem.

A tweet by Robert Reich reads:
“The 400 richest Americans are now worth a record $6.6 trillion. The entire bottom 50% of America is worth just $4.2 trillion. Read that back. When 400 people control more wealth than half a country’s population, we have a very serious problem.”

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Middle East Eye (Unofficial) @middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social · 7h

Over 9,000 Palestinians remain in Israeli jails after Gaza prisoner swap - https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/over-9000-palestinians-remain-israeli-jails-after-gaza-prisoner-swap

Over 9,000 Palestinians remain in Israeli jails after Gaza prisoner swap

<article data-history-node-id="430181" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/over-9000-palestinians-remain-israeli-jails-after-gaza-prisoner-swap" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/over-9000-palestinians-remain-israeli-jails-after-gaza-prisoner-swap" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">Over 9,000 Palestinians remain in Israeli jails after Gaza prisoner swap</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p>Despite the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners on Monday as part of a swap deal with <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel" target="_blank">Israel</a>, more than 9,100 <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine" target="_blank">Palestinians</a> remain in Israeli custody under harsh and deteriorating conditions.</p> <p>Monday’s exchange saw the release of 20 Israeli captives held in Gaza, marking the third prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas since the war began in October 2023. </p> <p>A month into the war, 240 Palestinian prisoners were released in exchange for 105 captives during a brief seven-day truce. </p> <p>A second exchange in January and February saw the release of 1,778 Palestinians in return for 38 captives.</p> <p>In total, 3,985 Palestinians have been freed in exchange for 163 Israelis.</p> <p>However, with all living Israeli captives now returned, over 9,100 Palestinians remain in Israeli prisons - many of them detained without charge or trial. </p> <p>They are held in what rights groups call “<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-systematically-abusing-palestinian-detainees-torture-camps-says-btselem" target="_blank">torture camps</a>”, facing daily abuse, beatings, starvation and humiliation.</p> <p>You can read more <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/over-9000-palestinian-remain-israeli-jails-after-gaza-prisoner-swap">here</a>.</p> </div> </div> </article>

www.middleeasteye.net

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The Edinburgh Bookshop @edinburghbookshop.bsky.social · 6h

"From sunrise the wind blows
Always to sunset
Going where the stars go

My breath the wind

This little boat my body
Its ragged sail my soul

Going where the stars go"

So Far, So Good, the final, posthumously published #poems of the wonderful Ursula Le Guin.

#books #livres #poetry

The silver coloured cover the a paperback of So Far So Good by Ursula Le Guin

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Middle East Eye (Unofficial) @middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social · 11h

Israel kills seven Palestinians in violation of Gaza ceasefire - https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-violates-ceasefire-terms-shelling-several-areas-gaza

Israel kills seven Palestinians in violation of Gaza ceasefire

Attacks target civilians inspecting their damaged homes

www.middleeasteye.net

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Katelyn Boo-urns @katelynburns.com · 1d

Yes this is correct. And the Bell case significantly weakened the Gillick Competency, which is a British legal standard for underage patients to manage their own health care decisions. And it was first established for, you guessed it, teens to get abortions without parental approval.

Sydney Bauer @sydney-bauer.com · 1d

ADF was basically behind the Keira Bell case and trans reporters were trying to note similarities between that case and how the group uses lawfare in the U.S. to attack trans rights.

Katelyn Boo-urns @katelynburns.com · 1d

yeah man, trans reporters, whom the ny times derogatorily calls "trans activists" so that normies won't listen to them, have been reporting on ADF activity in the UK since 2018.

bigotry in journalism makes you late to the story.

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Ben Fenton @benfenton.bsky.social · 13h

This - and Farage working with wealthy US anti-abortion groups on 'freedom of [our] speech' campaigns (per Byline Times and NY Times) - show significant US financial interference in UK politics.

If you want to end up like the US, first thing to do is let money dominate democracy.

Sathnam Sanghera @sathnam.bsky.social · 14h

Taking on Elon Musk should be an open goal in British politics.

Ian Fraser @ianfraser.bsky.social · 14h

Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, aka ”Tommy Robinson,” says Tesla CEO Elon Musk is paying his legal bills.

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Peter @notalawyer.bsky.social · 1d

the actual story here, which the media never talks about, is that police in this country have become a discrete right-wing political operation. the story isn't about cops leaving (they're lying about that), it's about the police trying to exert influence over elections.

Mark Misoshnik 🏴 @misoshnik.bsky.social · 2d

Lmao is this supposed to be a bad thing?

A tweet from Bari Weiss that says “"It's shaken me to my core," a lieutenant said of Mamdani's unexpected victory in June. "The absolute dread I feel is palpable.
"
Today in @TheFP our @Olivia_Reingold talks to the cops who say they will walk if Zohran Mamdani is elected in November:”

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Meredith Shiner @meredithshiner.com · 1d

It’s impossible to overstate how much “abolish ice” is the normie position now here in chicago — just countless random moms at toddler soccer on a park district field asking me where I bought my anti-ice t-shirt. average people don’t like our neighborhoods being terrorized.

laura olin @lauraolin.bsky.social · 2d

A friend ran the Chicago marathon today and said he couldn’t count the number of FUCK ICE signs along the way.

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Peter Tennant @pwgtennant.bsky.social · 14h

Asking an LLM to 'never invent data' is like asking a lion to 'never eat meat'.

LLMs have no concept of truth or fiction. They are trained on text, not truth. Even when 'retrieving', their answers are always just a prediction of 'the kind of answer that might be given to this kind of query'.

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Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 1d

* Over 20,000 Palestinians killed since January
* 100s starved to death, including kids
* Congress bypassed to send more & more bombs to Israel
* US citizens murdered in the West Bank

I hope this ceasefire holds & I am glad the hostages are free, but this is Trump’s *actual record* so far.

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 1d

Just in case the dramatically low Leni Riefenstahl-style angle was too subtle, they used a word from her most famous movie

Time magazine cover featuring a photo of Trump from a dramatically low angle

HIS
TRIUMPH
by ERIC CORTELLESSA
THE LEADER ISRAEL NEEDED
by EHUD BARAK
HOW GAZA HEALS

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Owen Jones @owenjones.bsky.social · 1d

Israel violates the ceasefire - and threatens more genocidal violence.

New post 👇

www.owenjones.news/p/israel-vio...

Israel violates ceasefire, threatens more violence

Palestinians in Gaza are celebrating - but danger remains

www.owenjones.news

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Ruth Aylett @ruthaylett.bsky.social · 1d

Fair enough. Would that world publicity also did. The Israeli hostages are 'our people' and dead Palestinians are airbrushed out.

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Saul Staniforth @saulstaniforth.bsky.social · 1d

Two left wing Israeli MPs from Hadash were thrown out during Trumps speech for heckling him and holding up signs that said 'recognise Palestine'

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Ruth Aylett @ruthaylett.bsky.social · 1d

You might also want to think about the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have been murdered since then? Or do they not count?

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Saul Staniforth @saulstaniforth.bsky.social · 1d

Israel has banned Palestinians from celebrating the release of Palestinian prisoners [hostages] & banned their families from giving interviews

Contrast that with the celebrations around the release of Israeli hostages & the many interviews being broadcast around the world.

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Paul McGrane @paulmcgrane.bsky.social · 3d

The Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series is inviting poems and short prose focusing on the escalating tragedy of refugee deaths in the English Channel (La Manche). forcedmigrationandthearts.blogspot.com/2025/09/refu...

Refugees are as British as Fish and Chips - A Call for Poems

The Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series invites poems and short prose focusing on the escalating tragedy of refugee deaths in th...

forcedmigrationandthearts.blogspot.com

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Ruth Aylett @ruthaylett.bsky.social · 2d

I will be signing copies of Solstice at
@worldfantasy2025.bsky.social in Brighton
at the end of the month! See you soon at the @stairwellbooks.bsky.social Stairwell Books stand?
#fantasyauthor #writerlife #scotland #wales #england

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helen, gender goblin @gendergoblinhelen.bsky.social · 2d

i wonder why this might be.

Bradley Wall @bwallarthur.bsky.social · 4d

It's staggering that the people who sold us brexit were taking bribes from the Russian state and this isn't a huge national conversation

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Zoe Gardner @zoejardiniere.bsky.social · 2d

I’ll be joining @talksport.com radio at 12.15 to talk about the Gary Neville video & the hysterical backlash to it that seems to be the norm now, when anyone involved in football dares to express a nuanced or humanitarian opinion.

Fellow football fans tune in 😊😊

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Bettina Struff #Woke #FBPE #FBPR #NHS #RejoinEU @bettinastruff.bsky.social · 2d

"By vowing to tackle our “island of strangers” through tougher immigration, Keir Starmer is keeping us all trapped on it – by not offering any solutions to the real reasons that explain our estrangement."

An excellent article on the futility of blaming immigration, by @hardeepmatharu.bsky.social

Byline Times @bylinetimes.bsky.social · May 26

🔴 How Our Politicians Created an 'Island of Strangers' So They Don't Have to Make Our Lives Any Better

"By vowing to tackle our 'island of strangers' through immigration, Starmer keeps us trapped on it – by not offering solutions to the real reasons for our estrangement" @hardeepmatharu.bsky.social

How Our Politicians Created an ‘Island of Strangers’ So They Don’t Have to Make Our Lives Any Better

By presenting tougher immigration as a solution to people’s discontent, Keir Starmer and others sidestep the real reasons why people feel estranged in their lives – it’s a cynical and simplistic polit...

bylinetimes.com

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The Canary @thecanaryuk.bsky.social · 3d

Israel refuses to release abducted Palestinian doctors, will not let foreign medics enter Gaza either

Doctors imprisoned without charge, beaten and starved will remain in 'detention' says Israel as it blocks international medical access to Gaza
www.thecanary.co/skwawkbox/20...

Israel refuses to release abducted Palestinian doctors, will not let foreign medics enter Gaza either

Doctors imprisoned without charge, beaten and starved will remain in 'detention' says Israel as it blocks international access to Gaza

www.thecanary.co

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ooOOOoona McCormack 🎃 @unamccormack.bsky.social · 4d

A privilege to speak about what “The Tombs of Atuan” means to me. Launch of “The Word for World” book and exhibition of the maps of Ursula Le Guin.

Architectural Association, Bedford Square, London: banners for The Word for World exhibition.

Architectural Association, Bedford Square, London: display for The Word for World exhibition.

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Middle East Eye (Unofficial) @middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social · 4d

Hamas, Palestinian factions reject any ‘foreign guardianship' over Gaza - https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/hamas-palestinian-factions-reject-any-foreign-guardianship-over-gaza

Hamas, Palestinian factions reject any ‘foreign guardianship' over Gaza

<article data-history-node-id="429973" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/hamas-palestinian-factions-reject-any-foreign-guardianship-over-gaza" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/hamas-palestinian-factions-reject-any-foreign-guardianship-over-gaza" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">Hamas, Palestinian factions reject any ‘foreign guardianship' over Gaza</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p>Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine rejected in a joint statement on Friday any "foreign guardianship" over Gaza, stressing that its governance is a purely internal Palestinian matter.</p> <p>They also expressed their readiness to benefit from Arab and international participation in the reconstruction of the enclave.</p> </div> </div> </article>

www.middleeasteye.net

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Ruth Aylett @ruthaylett.bsky.social · 4d

Plan the economy so everyone doesn't have to go to London to get a job. Take over all the empty properties owned by overseas investors and left empty, and BUILD SOCIAL HOUSING with rents ordinary people can afford.

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Jess O'Thomson @jessothomson.co.uk · 5d

It cannot be made clearer.

If you continue to support the Harry Potter franchise in any way, you are directly funding the removal of trans people's human rights in the UK.

JK Rowling pledges to keep up fight against SNP trans policies

Author vows to bankroll campaigners after Scottish government fails to pay group's legal fees in Supreme Court equality case

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