Ismael Velasco
@ismael-velasco.bsky.social
Involuntary polymath.
Writer, poet, storyteller, mime.
Software engineer (green compute, Web & AI).
Peer reviewed author (sustainability, humanities, social sciences).
Social activist.
Inadequate human & Bahá'í.
linkedin.com/in/IsmaelVelasco
Writer, poet, storyteller, mime.
Software engineer (green compute, Web & AI).
Peer reviewed author (sustainability, humanities, social sciences).
Social activist.
Inadequate human & Bahá'í.
linkedin.com/in/IsmaelVelasco
Sycophantic AI agrees 50% more than humans even with harmful conversations: arxiv.org/abs/2510.01395
October 11, 2025 at 9:46 AM
Sycophantic AI agrees 50% more than humans even with harmful conversations: arxiv.org/abs/2510.01395
AI for scientific discovery is a social problem, and just adding more compute per Sam Altman may not actually cure cancer.
arxiv.org/html/2509.06...
arxiv.org/html/2509.06...
October 8, 2025 at 7:14 AM
AI for scientific discovery is a social problem, and just adding more compute per Sam Altman may not actually cure cancer.
arxiv.org/html/2509.06...
arxiv.org/html/2509.06...
This is a very important point on the impact of adopting the language of the labs when describing the risks and problematic impacts of AI.
www.linkedin.com/posts/ismael...
www.linkedin.com/posts/ismael...
September 27, 2025 at 12:36 AM
This is a very important point on the impact of adopting the language of the labs when describing the risks and problematic impacts of AI.
www.linkedin.com/posts/ismael...
www.linkedin.com/posts/ismael...
Just read Iggulden's Nero and Garcia Marquez's posthumous novel. Nero is full of momentous incidents, in Garcia Marquez almost nothing happens. Nero is a good yarn... Marquez, a narrative masterclass. The distinction between popular and literary fiction can be unfashionable, but it's real.
#booksky
#booksky
December 31, 2024 at 3:07 AM
Just read Iggulden's Nero and Garcia Marquez's posthumous novel. Nero is full of momentous incidents, in Garcia Marquez almost nothing happens. Nero is a good yarn... Marquez, a narrative masterclass. The distinction between popular and literary fiction can be unfashionable, but it's real.
#booksky
#booksky
Their loves were clandestine. Their marriages policed and obstructed. Their children torn from them into anonymous care in Newcastle. Some of those children must live still. Do they know their parents? Their story?
I remember them today, those fathers, those children, those mothers.
#blacksky
I remember them today, those fathers, those children, those mothers.
#blacksky
December 29, 2024 at 10:37 PM
Their loves were clandestine. Their marriages policed and obstructed. Their children torn from them into anonymous care in Newcastle. Some of those children must live still. Do they know their parents? Their story?
I remember them today, those fathers, those children, those mothers.
#blacksky
I remember them today, those fathers, those children, those mothers.
#blacksky
But such uplifting breakthroughs past walls of prejudice were horrifically thwarted: asked about the "black bairns", one man recalled that "for some reason these were sent to Newcastle to be looked after."
What happened to those children in Newcastle?
How did it affect their mothers, fathers?
What happened to those children in Newcastle?
How did it affect their mothers, fathers?
December 29, 2024 at 10:12 PM
But such uplifting breakthroughs past walls of prejudice were horrifically thwarted: asked about the "black bairns", one man recalled that "for some reason these were sent to Newcastle to be looked after."
What happened to those children in Newcastle?
How did it affect their mothers, fathers?
What happened to those children in Newcastle?
How did it affect their mothers, fathers?
A reading of the memories suggests intercultural challenges bridged. 5 members stayed and are buried in the village, four of them at the church. Women in particular built relationships with them.A local teacher married one and went to live with him in Belize. Several had children with them.
December 29, 2024 at 10:03 PM
A reading of the memories suggests intercultural challenges bridged. 5 members stayed and are buried in the village, four of them at the church. Women in particular built relationships with them.A local teacher married one and went to live with him in Belize. Several had children with them.
But there were bright spots, it seems from the oral memories of Kirkpatrick-Fleming (kirkpatrickfleminglife.org.uk). While prejudice greeted them, it was not universal, and in the surviving memories, recollections are generally friendly and warm. Initial conditions were dire, but clearly improved.
December 29, 2024 at 9:22 PM
But there were bright spots, it seems from the oral memories of Kirkpatrick-Fleming (kirkpatrickfleminglife.org.uk). While prejudice greeted them, it was not universal, and in the surviving memories, recollections are generally friendly and warm. Initial conditions were dire, but clearly improved.
The BHFU was civilian body of 500 Black lumberjacks from British Honduras (Belize) sent to Scotland in 1941 to support the war effort, 400 more following a year later, and settled in camps across the country.
forestryandland.gov.scot/learn/herita...
forestryandland.gov.scot/learn/herita...
December 29, 2024 at 8:50 PM
The BHFU was civilian body of 500 Black lumberjacks from British Honduras (Belize) sent to Scotland in 1941 to support the war effort, 400 more following a year later, and settled in camps across the country.
forestryandland.gov.scot/learn/herita...
forestryandland.gov.scot/learn/herita...
Excellent article on a fascinating experiment: a tiny language imposing and embracing ambiguity, swiftly evolving and branching in real life use. Not just a miniature language but a miniature history of language. Makes me think of a short lived intelligent species living epochs in mere years.
December 24, 2024 at 12:52 AM
Excellent article on a fascinating experiment: a tiny language imposing and embracing ambiguity, swiftly evolving and branching in real life use. Not just a miniature language but a miniature history of language. Makes me think of a short lived intelligent species living epochs in mere years.
It reminds me of some of the darker elements of CharacterAI, which you can find from teenage users in its subreddit. Even knowing AI self-portrayal is a persona, the emotional impacts can be vast. There is a way in which AI turns self-deceptive too, which I haven't seen explored.
December 23, 2024 at 11:58 PM
It reminds me of some of the darker elements of CharacterAI, which you can find from teenage users in its subreddit. Even knowing AI self-portrayal is a persona, the emotional impacts can be vast. There is a way in which AI turns self-deceptive too, which I haven't seen explored.
December 22, 2024 at 6:18 PM
Wicket is a word
Steeped in mystery
To all except the British
And those they initiated
(not always willingly)
Into the rites of cricket
I'm not so sure
What is a wicket
The umpires of that Empire
never reached me
And I find
Among the British
That what I am
Is just not cricket
#vss365 #poetry #wicket
Steeped in mystery
To all except the British
And those they initiated
(not always willingly)
Into the rites of cricket
I'm not so sure
What is a wicket
The umpires of that Empire
never reached me
And I find
Among the British
That what I am
Is just not cricket
#vss365 #poetry #wicket
December 22, 2024 at 1:24 AM
This is why the original semitic image works better than English bushes. Picture a community where manually plucking dates was part of the economy. Climb every day to pluck dates, and see how long you avoid a thorn on the side as you stretch for them! Every second person must have experienced it!
December 20, 2024 at 11:16 PM
This is why the original semitic image works better than English bushes. Picture a community where manually plucking dates was part of the economy. Climb every day to pluck dates, and see how long you avoid a thorn on the side as you stretch for them! Every second person must have experienced it!
Can't help myself either 😏. The point of the skeet is based on the correct reading of 'very. The anti-arian burn is the "begotten, not created". Very god as "real god" is very much the point of the polemic and it's nerdily humourous by its factuality, not some witty mis/reading.
December 19, 2024 at 1:32 PM
Can't help myself either 😏. The point of the skeet is based on the correct reading of 'very. The anti-arian burn is the "begotten, not created". Very god as "real god" is very much the point of the polemic and it's nerdily humourous by its factuality, not some witty mis/reading.
#Neurodivergence #medicalModel
We pathologise diversity when it's modern industrialised society that is self-evidently maladaptive, yet unable to accommodate historically prevalent departures from the relatively recent but intolerant factory template.
We pathologise diversity when it's modern industrialised society that is self-evidently maladaptive, yet unable to accommodate historically prevalent departures from the relatively recent but intolerant factory template.
December 18, 2024 at 6:53 PM
#Neurodivergence #medicalModel
We pathologise diversity when it's modern industrialised society that is self-evidently maladaptive, yet unable to accommodate historically prevalent departures from the relatively recent but intolerant factory template.
We pathologise diversity when it's modern industrialised society that is self-evidently maladaptive, yet unable to accommodate historically prevalent departures from the relatively recent but intolerant factory template.
#mythologyMonday #Buddhism
Angulimala was a serial killer with nine hundred and ninety nine murders behind him. He cut a finger off each victim and wore it as a garland. To make his 1000th killing special he chose to murder his own mother. He was about to attain enlightenment. (cont)
Angulimala was a serial killer with nine hundred and ninety nine murders behind him. He cut a finger off each victim and wore it as a garland. To make his 1000th killing special he chose to murder his own mother. He was about to attain enlightenment. (cont)
December 16, 2024 at 10:08 PM
#mythologyMonday #Buddhism
Angulimala was a serial killer with nine hundred and ninety nine murders behind him. He cut a finger off each victim and wore it as a garland. To make his 1000th killing special he chose to murder his own mother. He was about to attain enlightenment. (cont)
Angulimala was a serial killer with nine hundred and ninety nine murders behind him. He cut a finger off each victim and wore it as a garland. To make his 1000th killing special he chose to murder his own mother. He was about to attain enlightenment. (cont)
Source: Ibn Khaldun's fantastic Muqaddimah
December 15, 2024 at 6:59 PM
Source: Ibn Khaldun's fantastic Muqaddimah
December 14, 2024 at 4:33 AM
"In spite of his enormous confidence in both himself and his philosophy, he could not help but feel troubled and dispirited, since, as everybody knows, when philosophy is thrown at reality, it explodes and shatters like a missile ejected by a cannon."
#booksky #Mahfuz #philosophy
#booksky #Mahfuz #philosophy
December 14, 2024 at 3:41 AM
"In spite of his enormous confidence in both himself and his philosophy, he could not help but feel troubled and dispirited, since, as everybody knows, when philosophy is thrown at reality, it explodes and shatters like a missile ejected by a cannon."
#booksky #Mahfuz #philosophy
#booksky #Mahfuz #philosophy
December 13, 2024 at 5:48 AM
"Death is no laughing matter"
Mexico would like a word...
Mexico would like a word...
December 13, 2024 at 1:53 AM
"Death is no laughing matter"
Mexico would like a word...
Mexico would like a word...
"Indignation is a holy feeling", said Alí Taha calmly, "but defeatism is a sickness."
#NaguibMahfuz #booksky #quotes
#NaguibMahfuz #booksky #quotes
December 8, 2024 at 9:11 PM
"Indignation is a holy feeling", said Alí Taha calmly, "but defeatism is a sickness."
#NaguibMahfuz #booksky #quotes
#NaguibMahfuz #booksky #quotes
Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfuz' Cairo Trilogy is one of my favourite literary series of novels. Reading Cairo Modern (al-Qahiratu'l jadid) in Spanish translation. Gems as I glean them:
"Do not mock. The commotion of the heart is as important in this world, as the movement of the spheres is in heaven."
"Do not mock. The commotion of the heart is as important in this world, as the movement of the spheres is in heaven."
December 8, 2024 at 7:41 PM
Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfuz' Cairo Trilogy is one of my favourite literary series of novels. Reading Cairo Modern (al-Qahiratu'l jadid) in Spanish translation. Gems as I glean them:
"Do not mock. The commotion of the heart is as important in this world, as the movement of the spheres is in heaven."
"Do not mock. The commotion of the heart is as important in this world, as the movement of the spheres is in heaven."
Big thanks to all grassroots #science communicators out there. My 5yo has been loving pop-up street #paleontology workshops in CDMX.
Likewise in CDMX museums, where there's a paid scheme for young sci grad students to run subsidised children's tours and workshops. Great idea!
#sciencecommunication
Likewise in CDMX museums, where there's a paid scheme for young sci grad students to run subsidised children's tours and workshops. Great idea!
#sciencecommunication
December 7, 2024 at 12:55 AM
Big thanks to all grassroots #science communicators out there. My 5yo has been loving pop-up street #paleontology workshops in CDMX.
Likewise in CDMX museums, where there's a paid scheme for young sci grad students to run subsidised children's tours and workshops. Great idea!
#sciencecommunication
Likewise in CDMX museums, where there's a paid scheme for young sci grad students to run subsidised children's tours and workshops. Great idea!
#sciencecommunication