ian lasch
@ianlasch.bsky.social
autistic episcopal priest | أبو إلياس و أبو عزرا | theology & liturgy nerd | cleveland/osu sports | “the boy who cried serious” | phd student @ aberdeen
useful thread for those who are unaware. using vaers to influence or craft policy is like formulating your opinions exclusively based on one star amazon reviews
Pretty much ANY statistic you see cited to frighten you about vaccines comes from the VAERS database. (Including the recent evidence-free missive from Vinay Prasad). Here's why VAERS can NEVER be a proper source for population-level vaccine risk estimates.
Thread [1/9]
Thread [1/9]
November 30, 2025 at 5:57 PM
useful thread for those who are unaware. using vaers to influence or craft policy is like formulating your opinions exclusively based on one star amazon reviews
this is a good thread on why guardrails for llms do not (and will not!) work. in an episcopal church context, i would say that a llm can never go through safe church training, so at a minimum it should never be left alone with a parishioner.
cool pincer movement if you truly grasp:
AI & any concept relating to it like so-called guardrails are a scam in the deepest sense like a perpetual motion machine or a quija board — and not only a scam like a pyramid scheme which is a possible way to make money if you are first in first out
🧵
1/n
AI & any concept relating to it like so-called guardrails are a scam in the deepest sense like a perpetual motion machine or a quija board — and not only a scam like a pyramid scheme which is a possible way to make money if you are first in first out
🧵
1/n
"Powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4o model by default...tests repeatedly showed that the AI toy dropped its guardrails the longer a conversation went on, until hitting rock bottom on incredibly disturbing topics."
November 30, 2025 at 5:18 PM
this is a good thread on why guardrails for llms do not (and will not!) work. in an episcopal church context, i would say that a llm can never go through safe church training, so at a minimum it should never be left alone with a parishioner.
Reposted by ian lasch
Again, a lot of people loudly and proudly proclaimed their preference for norms which rewarded this rather than norms that didn’t.
Oh nothing. Just a major conservative activist, former staffer for Chuck Grassley and a former clerk for Justice Neil Gorsuch calling me a "retarded pussy." Fun stuff on X, the everything site.
November 28, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Again, a lot of people loudly and proudly proclaimed their preference for norms which rewarded this rather than norms that didn’t.
Reposted by ian lasch
A reminder for those who are not aware: "remigration" is the process of deporting all non-white people from a country. It includes citizens and is, by definition, ethnic cleansing.
And to be clear: this is not fake. I just screenshot it myself.
And to be clear: this is not fake. I just screenshot it myself.
November 28, 2025 at 6:12 PM
A reminder for those who are not aware: "remigration" is the process of deporting all non-white people from a country. It includes citizens and is, by definition, ethnic cleansing.
And to be clear: this is not fake. I just screenshot it myself.
And to be clear: this is not fake. I just screenshot it myself.
Reposted by ian lasch
What a great headline
November 28, 2025 at 3:49 PM
What a great headline
Reposted by ian lasch
“Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Trump: “I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries … denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquility, and deport any Foreign National who is a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western Civilization.“
November 28, 2025 at 2:14 PM
“Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Reposted by ian lasch
It's easy to be numb because it's par for the course nowadays, but repeatedly calling a reporter who asks a reasonable question "stupid" is conduct unbecoming for a small-town mayor, let alone the President of the United States.
The press exists to play a watchdog role, not be a supplicant.
The press exists to play a watchdog role, not be a supplicant.
“You’re a stupid person” — Trump lashes out at a reporter who presses him on the fact that the suspected DC shooter was actually thoroughly vetted before he was let in the US from Afghanistan
November 28, 2025 at 12:31 AM
It's easy to be numb because it's par for the course nowadays, but repeatedly calling a reporter who asks a reasonable question "stupid" is conduct unbecoming for a small-town mayor, let alone the President of the United States.
The press exists to play a watchdog role, not be a supplicant.
The press exists to play a watchdog role, not be a supplicant.
Reposted by ian lasch
Discourse commence. 📕
November 27, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Discourse commence. 📕
the best part about being autistic is the factor fexcectorn but the worst part about being autistic is when the factor fexcectorn leads to relu dropout tolalbottl (remech n)
"Runctitiononal features"? "Medical fymblal"? "1 Tol Line storee"? This gets worse the longer you look at it. But it's got to be good, because it was published in Nature Scientific Reports last week: www.nature.com/articles/s41... h/t @asa.tsbalans.se
November 27, 2025 at 7:06 PM
the best part about being autistic is the factor fexcectorn but the worst part about being autistic is when the factor fexcectorn leads to relu dropout tolalbottl (remech n)
Reposted by ian lasch
tfw u need seven samurai
November 26, 2025 at 1:42 AM
tfw u need seven samurai
when "the chatbot cannot be held liable for encouraging suicide because we told you not to let it do that" is part of the actual defense i think maybe it is clear we are out over our skis as a society about llms
Additionally, OpenAI argues its not liable because Raine, by using ChatGPT for self-harm, broke its terms of service
November 26, 2025 at 1:49 AM
when "the chatbot cannot be held liable for encouraging suicide because we told you not to let it do that" is part of the actual defense i think maybe it is clear we are out over our skis as a society about llms
Reposted by ian lasch
when we say we want more streets to be pedestrianized, this is what we mean
November 25, 2025 at 4:46 PM
when we say we want more streets to be pedestrianized, this is what we mean
Reposted by ian lasch
If I had a nickel for every time I saw ASAN and Autism Speaks team up I’d have two nickels
Which isn’t a lot
But it’s weird that it happened TWICE
Which isn’t a lot
But it’s weird that it happened TWICE
WOW! Autism Society of America, The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, the Autism Science Foundation, the Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network and Autism Speaks put out a statement denouncing the CDC changing its website on vaccines
autisticadvocacy.org/2025/11/lead...
autisticadvocacy.org/2025/11/lead...
Leading Autism and Disability Organizations Statement on CDC's Vaccines and Autism Page
As national organizations dedicated to advancing the well-being of autistic individuals and partners across the disability and public health sectors, we are deeply disappointed by the latest update to...
autisticadvocacy.org
November 25, 2025 at 3:17 AM
If I had a nickel for every time I saw ASAN and Autism Speaks team up I’d have two nickels
Which isn’t a lot
But it’s weird that it happened TWICE
Which isn’t a lot
But it’s weird that it happened TWICE
Reposted by ian lasch
Google at its peak was basically the best information retrieval system in human history and they and every competitor decided going from there to “you didn’t want answers you wanted half-assed auto-complete 80%-wrong hallucinations” in a few years was the right idea
November 25, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Google at its peak was basically the best information retrieval system in human history and they and every competitor decided going from there to “you didn’t want answers you wanted half-assed auto-complete 80%-wrong hallucinations” in a few years was the right idea
Reposted by ian lasch
you want quaint Bethlehem stories and little babies, NO, I’m going to talk about the POWER OF DEATH RULING THE COSMOS, and GOD’S INFILTRATION OF ENEMY TERRITORY
November 24, 2025 at 5:01 PM
you want quaint Bethlehem stories and little babies, NO, I’m going to talk about the POWER OF DEATH RULING THE COSMOS, and GOD’S INFILTRATION OF ENEMY TERRITORY
Reposted by ian lasch
Disability advocates and their supporters have called on the Massachusetts legislature to pass a bill banning the use of ‘aversive therapy’, as the state’s Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) continues to administer electric shocks to disabled children.
Massachusetts legislators urged to pass bill banning electric shock treatment on disabled children
Disability advocates and their supporters have called on the Massachusetts legislature to pass a bill banning the use of ‘aversive therapy’, as the state’s Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) continues to administer electric shocks to disabled children.
liamodell.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:05 AM
Disability advocates and their supporters have called on the Massachusetts legislature to pass a bill banning the use of ‘aversive therapy’, as the state’s Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) continues to administer electric shocks to disabled children.
can confirm
the average American cannot imagine the luxury of a Tesco Express.
November 24, 2025 at 4:12 PM
can confirm
Reposted by ian lasch
Many disabled kids would benefit so much if parenting classes that focus on disability inclusion and the harms of ableism were widely available (so, free) to their parents.
November 24, 2025 at 1:37 AM
Many disabled kids would benefit so much if parenting classes that focus on disability inclusion and the harms of ableism were widely available (so, free) to their parents.
Reposted by ian lasch
Common, common, common, common
Common Camellia
Common Camellia
November 23, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Common, common, common, common
Common Camellia
Common Camellia
there is so much wrong with this but the part i cannot get past is an ostensibly ethnonationalist project quoting *the prophet isaiah*. like i know context doesn't matter to a lot of christians when finding a proof text verse they like but just wow.
DHS uses American Standard Version translation when quoting scripture. In case you were wondering.
November 22, 2025 at 8:10 PM
there is so much wrong with this but the part i cannot get past is an ostensibly ethnonationalist project quoting *the prophet isaiah*. like i know context doesn't matter to a lot of christians when finding a proof text verse they like but just wow.
the hhs secretary has changed the cdc website to assert an autism-vaccine connection in defiance of scientific evidence, and all because he wants to eliminate people like me from the face of the earth, so i guess it is time to re-up this article (again):
"What if there is something about autism and autistic experience that somehow shows us more about who God is, that we might not otherwise see?"
sojo.net/articles/opi...
sojo.net/articles/opi...
Why RFK Jr. Doesn't See the Image of God In Autistic People
The Secretary of Health and Human Services looks at autistic people and only sees what they can't do, not who they were created to be.
sojo.net
November 21, 2025 at 7:42 PM
the hhs secretary has changed the cdc website to assert an autism-vaccine connection in defiance of scientific evidence, and all because he wants to eliminate people like me from the face of the earth, so i guess it is time to re-up this article (again):
hudson hawk
Name an underrated film.
November 21, 2025 at 2:44 PM
hudson hawk
fyi gdt's frankenstein is an absolute masterpiece
November 21, 2025 at 2:26 AM
fyi gdt's frankenstein is an absolute masterpiece
Reposted by ian lasch
I want to live in a world where even if there's a "cause" of autism found, the answer would be "so?" But we don't live in that world, and that includes people on all parts of the political spectrum.
November 20, 2025 at 3:55 PM
I want to live in a world where even if there's a "cause" of autism found, the answer would be "so?" But we don't live in that world, and that includes people on all parts of the political spectrum.
wait they used to have breads *and* circuses?!
November 20, 2025 at 2:36 PM
wait they used to have breads *and* circuses?!