Benjamin Riley
@benjaminjriley.bsky.social
Founder of Cognitive Resonance, a new venture dedicated to helping people understand human cognition and generative AI. Advocate for humans.
Pinned
AI Will Not Revolutionize Education
YouTube video by Cognitive Resonance
www.youtube.com
In April 2025 I delivered a speech at the ASU+GSV ed-tech conference titled "AI Will Not Revolutionize Education." It touches on human cognition, gen AI, and the nature of scientific and social revolutions. I worked hard at this, I hope you'll watch and share.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0_t...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0_t...
I've never met @johndownesangus.bsky.social. I only know what's in his bio, that he's a public high school English teacher in NYC. What I can tell you is that following him on here enriches my thinking weekly.
This is a Ben Loves Human Teachers post.
This is a Ben Loves Human Teachers post.
What I like about Henry James—and maybe what I like about every book I’ve liked—is that it would be pointless to read him quickly
November 14, 2025 at 10:16 PM
I've never met @johndownesangus.bsky.social. I only know what's in his bio, that he's a public high school English teacher in NYC. What I can tell you is that following him on here enriches my thinking weekly.
This is a Ben Loves Human Teachers post.
This is a Ben Loves Human Teachers post.
The killing of letters of reference might be one positive of generative AI.
From my discussions with other faculty, the use of generative AI I hear about the most is writing reference letters.
What's the point of having reference letters anymore if everyone is just having them written by machine?
What's the point of having reference letters anymore if everyone is just having them written by machine?
November 14, 2025 at 7:15 PM
The killing of letters of reference might be one positive of generative AI.
"This moment will not last forever. The generative AI financial bubble will burst. The ongoing fraud and corruption will take a toll on everyone. Authoritarian governments are not known for their prosperity or their long-term stability.
But neither will it be brief."
But neither will it be brief."
I'm attending a workshop hosted by @techpolicypress.bsky.social tomorrow. They invited me to write a "provocation" about the state of technology and democracy right now.
I think I wrote something appropriately dark and foreboding.
www.techpolicy.press/the-dance-wi...
I think I wrote something appropriately dark and foreboding.
www.techpolicy.press/the-dance-wi...
The Dance with Big Tech is Different under Trump 2.0 | TechPolicy.Press
If we are going to repair democratic institutions, we are going to have to do it ourselves, writes Dave Karpf.
www.techpolicy.press
November 14, 2025 at 4:56 PM
"This moment will not last forever. The generative AI financial bubble will burst. The ongoing fraud and corruption will take a toll on everyone. Authoritarian governments are not known for their prosperity or their long-term stability.
But neither will it be brief."
But neither will it be brief."
Tom's work has been essential to my mental model of AI. Cool gig(s) for anyone looking!
🤖🧠I'll be considering applications for PhD students & postdocs to start at Yale in Fall 2026!
If you are interested in the intersection of linguistics, cognitive science, & AI, I encourage you to apply!
PhD link: rtmccoy.com/prospective_...
Postdoc link: rtmccoy.com/prospective_...
If you are interested in the intersection of linguistics, cognitive science, & AI, I encourage you to apply!
PhD link: rtmccoy.com/prospective_...
Postdoc link: rtmccoy.com/prospective_...
November 14, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Tom's work has been essential to my mental model of AI. Cool gig(s) for anyone looking!
There are few things I find more intellectually satisfying than working with a good *human* editor on something I'm writing. Someone who asks sharp, probative questions that hone my thinking, and make me consider new ideas I haven't thought of. You know what I'm throwing shade at right now.
November 14, 2025 at 2:15 PM
There are few things I find more intellectually satisfying than working with a good *human* editor on something I'm writing. Someone who asks sharp, probative questions that hone my thinking, and make me consider new ideas I haven't thought of. You know what I'm throwing shade at right now.
"They said it was a lockdown, the people are risin'" YEAH!
Love to see community action against this AI nonsense! neighborhoodview.org/2025/11/13/d...
November 14, 2025 at 1:04 PM
"They said it was a lockdown, the people are risin'" YEAH!
Yes, if there's one thing to ensure that housing is more affordable it's to choke the supply the labor that builds housing.
JD Vance: "A lot of young people are saying housing is way too expensive. Why is that? Because we flooded the country with 30 million illegal immigrants who were taking houses that ought by right go to American citizens."
November 13, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Yes, if there's one thing to ensure that housing is more affordable it's to choke the supply the labor that builds housing.
So, uh, the Jed Rubenfeld referenced here was disciplined by Yale Law for sexually harassing students. He's married to Amy Chua who among other things took to the pages of the NYT to defend Kavanaugh when he was under fire for sexually harassment. Ken Starr, well we know. This is just incredible.
Ken Starr signed an email to Jeffery Epstein with "hugs"
November 13, 2025 at 1:03 AM
So, uh, the Jed Rubenfeld referenced here was disciplined by Yale Law for sexually harassing students. He's married to Amy Chua who among other things took to the pages of the NYT to defend Kavanaugh when he was under fire for sexually harassment. Ken Starr, well we know. This is just incredible.
Who's up for a short thread demonstrating just how wrong this claim is by Mistral's CEO, using research by @rtommccoy.bsky.social (an co-authors) regarding crossword puzzles? Just me? Well whatever, let's dive into a mini-exploration of the Embers of Autoregression and why they singe...
flat out lies. these tech ceos take regulators and the masses for fools
![“If you want to know how a model will behave, the only way of doing it is to run it,” Mensch also suggested. “You do need to have some empirical testing, what’s happening. Knowing the input data that has been used for training is not going to tell you whether your model is going to behave well in [a healthcare use-case], for instance. You don’t really care about what’s in the training data. You do care about the empirical behaviour of the model. So you don’t need knowledge of the training data. And if you had knowledge of the training data, it wouldn’t even teach you whether the model is going to behave well or not. So this is why I’m saying it’s neither necessary nor sufficient.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:26hkfmtr7jrchexamh7hk6rz/bafkreibp7oaeovg7xt43dlk3qtmkft6irldgf44tz75sbaiqvoqdq4kpjy@jpeg)
November 12, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Who's up for a short thread demonstrating just how wrong this claim is by Mistral's CEO, using research by @rtommccoy.bsky.social (an co-authors) regarding crossword puzzles? Just me? Well whatever, let's dive into a mini-exploration of the Embers of Autoregression and why they singe...
"Artificial intelligence will force a new reckoning with human dignity—a concept older than any technology, yet curiously absent from most conversations about it. Dignity insists that a person’s worth is intrinsic, not measurable in data points or economic output."
Wonderful essay here.
Wonderful essay here.
"Ethical due diligence should become as routine as financial due diligence. Before asking how large a technology might become, we should ask what kind of behaviour it incentivises, what dependencies it creates, and who it leaves behind." #AIEthics
time.com/7332888/we-n...
time.com/7332888/we-n...
AI Regulation is Not Enough. We Need AI Morals
"The challenge of our time is to keep moral intelligence in step with machine intelligence."
time.com
November 12, 2025 at 11:48 AM
"Artificial intelligence will force a new reckoning with human dignity—a concept older than any technology, yet curiously absent from most conversations about it. Dignity insists that a person’s worth is intrinsic, not measurable in data points or economic output."
Wonderful essay here.
Wonderful essay here.
...and the other hand is givin' a peace sign!
(This is one of the dumbest things I've read this year, which is saying something)
(This is one of the dumbest things I've read this year, which is saying something)
November 11, 2025 at 10:54 PM
...and the other hand is givin' a peace sign!
(This is one of the dumbest things I've read this year, which is saying something)
(This is one of the dumbest things I've read this year, which is saying something)
Veteran teacher @mpershan.bsky.social provides such great insight from intersection of teaching practice and principles of cognitive science. Also, he's funny. Not as funny as he thinks, but still funny.
I wrote about shallow, vague, fuzzy definitions of "conceptual understanding" and a better way to think about it. pershmail.substack.com/p/understand...
"Understanding" Shouldn't Be Vague or Mysterious
Let's do some pedagogy.
pershmail.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Veteran teacher @mpershan.bsky.social provides such great insight from intersection of teaching practice and principles of cognitive science. Also, he's funny. Not as funny as he thinks, but still funny.
Although not the central point of this essay on Watson, this is worth bearing in mind:
"We are scarcely closer to understanding the genetics of human intelligence than we were in the 1950s, and are perhaps even further away from a consensus definition of what sort of thing 'intelligence' even is."
"We are scarcely closer to understanding the genetics of human intelligence than we were in the 1950s, and are perhaps even further away from a consensus definition of what sort of thing 'intelligence' even is."
November 10, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Although not the central point of this essay on Watson, this is worth bearing in mind:
"We are scarcely closer to understanding the genetics of human intelligence than we were in the 1950s, and are perhaps even further away from a consensus definition of what sort of thing 'intelligence' even is."
"We are scarcely closer to understanding the genetics of human intelligence than we were in the 1950s, and are perhaps even further away from a consensus definition of what sort of thing 'intelligence' even is."
"It makes perfect sense to me that the Senate Democrats caved last night and voted to end the government shutdown with only the vaguest of promises from Senate Republicans: I am a lifelong Washington Wizards fan. I am accustomed to watching my team throw away a lead."
(Laughing but also weeping.)
(Laughing but also weeping.)
I scribbled down all my shutdown-related intrusive thoughts and put them in a blog post.
open.substack.com/pub/davekarp...
open.substack.com/pub/davekarp...
The Shutdown Surrender
I just... I mean... Whatever.
open.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:36 PM
"It makes perfect sense to me that the Senate Democrats caved last night and voted to end the government shutdown with only the vaguest of promises from Senate Republicans: I am a lifelong Washington Wizards fan. I am accustomed to watching my team throw away a lead."
(Laughing but also weeping.)
(Laughing but also weeping.)
"The only thing we can do regarding the forthcoming bursting of the AI bubble is…pray? Are we so helpless in the face of our tech overlords that we must hope for the Almighty to save us, rather than, say, enacting some regulations and employing some critical thinking?"
Thou shalt not falsify the AI bubble
Serenity now, serenity now
buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:36 PM
"The only thing we can do regarding the forthcoming bursting of the AI bubble is…pray? Are we so helpless in the face of our tech overlords that we must hope for the Almighty to save us, rather than, say, enacting some regulations and employing some critical thinking?"
Cool. I tend to seek more rigorous evidence of effectiveness than personal anecdote.
I have personally found chatbots to be *amazingly* effective tutors. I feed it a pdf and prompt it to ask first easy questions, then progressively harder ones, tying in other concepts from other chats in the project. Domains: Statistics, software languages, hugging face AI papers.
The evidence AI tutors work "astonishing well" is incredibly thin. We've seen these same promises made for virtually every technological "innovation" of the past 100 years. (Carl's essay is more nuanced than this post describing it.)
November 9, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Cool. I tend to seek more rigorous evidence of effectiveness than personal anecdote.
This is so shameful.
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 3:44 PM
This is so shameful.
Guillermo del Toro, he who leads crowds in chants of "Fuck AI!", narrates a scene from his recently released Frankenstein. There is a profound viscerality to del Toro's work, and in this movie too -- human bodies are opened up (and recombined) as blood flows freely.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/m...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/m...
Watch Oscar Isaac Create Life in ‘Frankenstein’
www.nytimes.com
November 9, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Guillermo del Toro, he who leads crowds in chants of "Fuck AI!", narrates a scene from his recently released Frankenstein. There is a profound viscerality to del Toro's work, and in this movie too -- human bodies are opened up (and recombined) as blood flows freely.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/m...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/m...
The argument that human feelings are entirely the result of cultural programming is, uh, ambitious. Think of pain, it is pre-lingual, and "unlike any other state of consciousness, pain has no referential content, it resists objectification in language." (E. Scarry)
AI cannot feel pain.
AI cannot feel pain.
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com
“A.I. is no less a form of intelligence than digital photography is a form of photography,” the philosopher Barbara Gail Montero writes in a guest essay. “And now A.I. is on its way to doing something even more remarkable: becoming conscious.”
“A.I. is no less a form of intelligence than digital photography is a form of photography,” the philosopher Barbara Gail Montero writes in a guest essay. “And now A.I. is on its way to doing something even more remarkable: becoming conscious.”
Opinion | A.I. Is Already Intelligent. This Is How It Becomes Conscious.
Skeptics overlook how our concepts change.
nyti.ms
November 9, 2025 at 10:41 AM
The argument that human feelings are entirely the result of cultural programming is, uh, ambitious. Think of pain, it is pre-lingual, and "unlike any other state of consciousness, pain has no referential content, it resists objectification in language." (E. Scarry)
AI cannot feel pain.
AI cannot feel pain.
The evidence AI tutors work "astonishing well" is incredibly thin. We've seen these same promises made for virtually every technological "innovation" of the past 100 years. (Carl's essay is more nuanced than this post describing it.)
Latest post looks at the complicated picture emerging on AI tutoring: when AI tutors work astonishingly well and when they quietly make students worse. ⬇️
Are we approaching a Turing Test for Teaching? A deep dive into the evidence on AI tutoring. carlhendrick.substack.com/p/the-algori...
November 8, 2025 at 9:17 PM
The evidence AI tutors work "astonishing well" is incredibly thin. We've seen these same promises made for virtually every technological "innovation" of the past 100 years. (Carl's essay is more nuanced than this post describing it.)
It's worth watching the 1997 film Gattaca to get a window into the concerns about what sequencing the genome might portend. One of the happier scientific developments is realizing just how complex the relationship is btw nature and nurture, in ways that undercut Watson's "scientific" racism.
I wrote some reflections this afternoon about how the discovery of the double helix changed the course of science. Gift link: nyti.ms/4qPS3y6
November 8, 2025 at 2:46 PM
It's worth watching the 1997 film Gattaca to get a window into the concerns about what sequencing the genome might portend. One of the happier scientific developments is realizing just how complex the relationship is btw nature and nurture, in ways that undercut Watson's "scientific" racism.
Few people realize that AI is actually a cat in a box that is both alive and dead at the same time.
AI could end scarcity, end humanity - or boost trend growth by 0.2 percentage points
November 7, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Few people realize that AI is actually a cat in a box that is both alive and dead at the same time.
"Once you have created a culture in which all expertise is denigrated and removed from the equation and considered nonessential, you create the circumstances in which AI can flourish.”
Librarians are at the front lines of the war on knowledge. They speak out here.
Librarians are at the front lines of the war on knowledge. They speak out here.
“And then you have librarians who are experiencing a real existential crisis because they are getting asked by their jobs to promote [AI] tools that produce more misinformation. It's the most, like, emperor-has-no-clothes-type situation that I have ever witnessed.” - Alison Macrina
AI Is Supercharging the War on Libraries, Education, and Human Knowledge
"Fascism and AI, whether or not they have the same goals, they sure are working to accelerate one another."
www.404media.co
November 7, 2025 at 11:55 AM
"Once you have created a culture in which all expertise is denigrated and removed from the equation and considered nonessential, you create the circumstances in which AI can flourish.”
Librarians are at the front lines of the war on knowledge. They speak out here.
Librarians are at the front lines of the war on knowledge. They speak out here.
This is nightmare fuel for those struggling with their mental health, especially children.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
November 7, 2025 at 2:11 AM
This is nightmare fuel for those struggling with their mental health, especially children.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
Perhaps we could also measure the size of human craniums. Perhaps we could craft an entire "science" around this endeavor.
bro are you fucking kidding me
November 6, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Perhaps we could also measure the size of human craniums. Perhaps we could craft an entire "science" around this endeavor.