Martyn Plummer
@martynplummer.bsky.social
Statistics. Computing. Cancer Epidemiology. Public health.
Reposted by Martyn Plummer
#TodayinHistory #dataviz #OTD 📊
💀Nov 18, 1887 Gustav Theodor Fechner died in Leipzig, Germany 🇩🇪
1850: Fechner's Law: the subjective sensation is proportional to the log of stimulus intensity. This is a core idea behind accuracy of visual encoding of data -- eg, length > angle > area > color
💀Nov 18, 1887 Gustav Theodor Fechner died in Leipzig, Germany 🇩🇪
1850: Fechner's Law: the subjective sensation is proportional to the log of stimulus intensity. This is a core idea behind accuracy of visual encoding of data -- eg, length > angle > area > color
November 19, 2025 at 12:21 AM
#TodayinHistory #dataviz #OTD 📊
💀Nov 18, 1887 Gustav Theodor Fechner died in Leipzig, Germany 🇩🇪
1850: Fechner's Law: the subjective sensation is proportional to the log of stimulus intensity. This is a core idea behind accuracy of visual encoding of data -- eg, length > angle > area > color
💀Nov 18, 1887 Gustav Theodor Fechner died in Leipzig, Germany 🇩🇪
1850: Fechner's Law: the subjective sensation is proportional to the log of stimulus intensity. This is a core idea behind accuracy of visual encoding of data -- eg, length > angle > area > color
Reposted by Martyn Plummer
![[Scene is a kitchen - a middle aged woman called JANET is boiling peas at the stove. A younger more colourfully dressed woman named LIZ approached her.]
JANET:
Ugh...
LIZ:
What's up?
JANET:
I am so bored of cooking peas!
LIZ:
Have you tried...
AI peas?
JANET:
AI peas?
LIZ:
They're peas with AI!
[Liz holds up to us a packet of peas labelled: Pea-i AI - Peas with AI].
LIZ:
Al-powered peas harness the potential of your peas
JANET:
What
LIZ [Now a voiceover as we cut to a whizzy technology diagram of peas all connected by meaningless dotted lines]
Why not take your peas to the next level with Al Peas' new Al tools to power your peas?
[Show a techno diagram of a pea with a label reading 'AI' pointing to a random zone in it]
LIZ:
Each pea has Al in a way we haven't quite worked out yet but it's fine
[Show Janet and Liz now in a Matrix-style world of peas]
LIZ:
With Al peas you can supercharge productivity and make AI work for your peas!
JANET:
What
LIZ:
Shut up
LIZ:
Our game-changing Pea-Al gives you the freedom to unlock the potential of the power of the future of your peas workflow
From opening the bag of peas
to boiling the peas
to eating the peas
To spending millions on adding Al to the peas and then having to work out what that even means.
JANET:
Is it really necessary to-
LIZ [Grabbing Janet by the collar]:
THE PEAS HAVE GOT AI, JANET
[Cut to an advert ending screen, with the bag of peas and the slogan:
AI PEAS: Just 'Peas' for god's sake buy the AI peas.
[Ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreiayqa37f7kik7l7s7fbtfp2sir5ckb662ry2lylinyjrfa2rkvvka@jpeg)
Reposted by Martyn Plummer
student used some AI-assisted code to compute ROC stats with weights and the AI hallucinated pROC::roc(…, weights = weights). (the function doesn’t have a weights argument.) and because the function has a … argument, the fake weights argument was ignored without any warning
October 29, 2025 at 11:43 PM
student used some AI-assisted code to compute ROC stats with weights and the AI hallucinated pROC::roc(…, weights = weights). (the function doesn’t have a weights argument.) and because the function has a … argument, the fake weights argument was ignored without any warning
“All that was once directly lived has become mere representation”
- Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle (1967)
- Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle (1967)
AI can’t raise the dead, but it might do the next best thing on.ft.com/4gFXyus | opinion
AI can’t raise the dead, but it might do the next best thing
Rapid advances in generative AI and voice technology mean communicating with the deceased will no longer be sci-fi
on.ft.com
September 27, 2025 at 6:38 AM
“All that was once directly lived has become mere representation”
- Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle (1967)
- Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle (1967)
"The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists." - Hannah Arendt
"We were told thalidomide was a safe drug and it wasn't..."
Nigel Farage says he has 'no idea' if Donald Trump is right about paracetamol being linked to autism.
Nigel Farage says he has 'no idea' if Donald Trump is right about paracetamol being linked to autism.
September 24, 2025 at 8:04 AM
"The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists." - Hannah Arendt
Reposted by Martyn Plummer
There are a couple of vacancies in Wollongong for Maths/Stats lecturers:
www.uow.edu.au/about/jobs/j...
www.uow.edu.au/about/jobs/j...
www.uow.edu.au
September 23, 2025 at 8:03 AM
There are a couple of vacancies in Wollongong for Maths/Stats lecturers:
www.uow.edu.au/about/jobs/j...
www.uow.edu.au/about/jobs/j...
Reposted by Martyn Plummer
Reposted by Martyn Plummer
Absolutely unbelievable to see egregious anti-science nonsense being given an airing like this. Well done @lewisgoodall.com for calling it out. “A broad church… freedom of speech” - and that’s the excuse for platforming not just misinformation but disinformation.
"It got the debate going and that's why we put him on."
Reform’s Laila Cunningham explains why her party allowed a 'quack' to falsely claim that the Covid vaccines gave the King cancer.
Reform’s Laila Cunningham explains why her party allowed a 'quack' to falsely claim that the Covid vaccines gave the King cancer.
September 8, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Absolutely unbelievable to see egregious anti-science nonsense being given an airing like this. Well done @lewisgoodall.com for calling it out. “A broad church… freedom of speech” - and that’s the excuse for platforming not just misinformation but disinformation.
Reposted by Martyn Plummer
The “problem” with vaccines? They so effective at preventing deaths that they create generations of people that question whether disease was a problem in the first place because they have never experienced the horrors of a world without vaccines.
September 4, 2025 at 7:44 PM
The “problem” with vaccines? They so effective at preventing deaths that they create generations of people that question whether disease was a problem in the first place because they have never experienced the horrors of a world without vaccines.
At the RSS conference in Edinburgh where @firthstat.bsky.social is presenting his new tetraplots for displaying 4-way results in UK elections. Wooden tetrahedron by @warwickstats.bsky.social woodworker-in-residence Nick Tawn.
September 4, 2025 at 5:59 AM
At the RSS conference in Edinburgh where @firthstat.bsky.social is presenting his new tetraplots for displaying 4-way results in UK elections. Wooden tetrahedron by @warwickstats.bsky.social woodworker-in-residence Nick Tawn.
Reposted by Martyn Plummer
At next week's RSS conference I'll be presenting a poster (a first for me...it's about time!)
"Tetraplot displays of UK General Election results" shows how to graph GE 2024 vote shares across 4 parties in a useful way.
Full PDF poster at:
github.com/DavidFirth/t...
"Tetraplot displays of UK General Election results" shows how to graph GE 2024 vote shares across 4 parties in a useful way.
Full PDF poster at:
github.com/DavidFirth/t...
August 26, 2025 at 4:11 PM
At next week's RSS conference I'll be presenting a poster (a first for me...it's about time!)
"Tetraplot displays of UK General Election results" shows how to graph GE 2024 vote shares across 4 parties in a useful way.
Full PDF poster at:
github.com/DavidFirth/t...
"Tetraplot displays of UK General Election results" shows how to graph GE 2024 vote shares across 4 parties in a useful way.
Full PDF poster at:
github.com/DavidFirth/t...
Kyle [secretary of state for science innovation and technology] has been a vocal champion of AI … he had asked ChatGPT for advice on a range of work-related questions, including why British businesses were not adopting AI and what podcasts he should appear on.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Deal to get ChatGPT Plus for whole of UK discussed by Open AI boss and minister
Exclusive: Deal that could have cost £2bn was floated at meeting between technology secretary Peter Kyle and Sam Altman
www.theguardian.com
August 24, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Kyle [secretary of state for science innovation and technology] has been a vocal champion of AI … he had asked ChatGPT for advice on a range of work-related questions, including why British businesses were not adopting AI and what podcasts he should appear on.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Martyn Plummer
New paper, with P. Basak, A.R. Linero, and C. Maringe, accepted in JASA A&CS
"Understanding Inequalities in Cancer Survival Using Bayesian Machine Learning"
doi.org/10.1080/0162...
#inequalities #cancer #survival #Bayesian #MachineLearning @icon-lshtm.bsky.social @statisticsucl.bsky.social
"Understanding Inequalities in Cancer Survival Using Bayesian Machine Learning"
doi.org/10.1080/0162...
#inequalities #cancer #survival #Bayesian #MachineLearning @icon-lshtm.bsky.social @statisticsucl.bsky.social
August 21, 2025 at 6:20 AM
New paper, with P. Basak, A.R. Linero, and C. Maringe, accepted in JASA A&CS
"Understanding Inequalities in Cancer Survival Using Bayesian Machine Learning"
doi.org/10.1080/0162...
#inequalities #cancer #survival #Bayesian #MachineLearning @icon-lshtm.bsky.social @statisticsucl.bsky.social
"Understanding Inequalities in Cancer Survival Using Bayesian Machine Learning"
doi.org/10.1080/0162...
#inequalities #cancer #survival #Bayesian #MachineLearning @icon-lshtm.bsky.social @statisticsucl.bsky.social
The problem with creating a centralised research institute is that you have to answer the question "Why here? Why can't this be done elsewhere?" Caught between industry and the university sector, the Alan Turing Institute is having a hard time answering.
‘Shut it down and start again’: staff disquiet as Alan Turing Institute faces identity crisis
‘Shut it down and start again’: staff disquiet as Alan Turing Institute faces identity crisis
Whistleblower warns UK’s top AI research body in danger of collapse due to threats over funding and new direction
www.theguardian.com
August 18, 2025 at 7:14 PM
The problem with creating a centralised research institute is that you have to answer the question "Why here? Why can't this be done elsewhere?" Caught between industry and the university sector, the Alan Turing Institute is having a hard time answering.
Reposted by Martyn Plummer
Reposted by Martyn Plummer
Warwick Statistics is hosting the first Winter School in Probabilistic AI, 5-8 Jan 2026, targeted at PhD students, academics, and professionals; and features world-leading researchers speaking about recent advances in AI. www.probai.ac.uk/eve...
July 17, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Warwick Statistics is hosting the first Winter School in Probabilistic AI, 5-8 Jan 2026, targeted at PhD students, academics, and professionals; and features world-leading researchers speaking about recent advances in AI. www.probai.ac.uk/eve...
Reposted by Martyn Plummer
Let's say it louder for those at the back: Routine childhood vaccines do not cause autism, a major study in Denmark confirmed Wednesday, countering a myth that has been trumpeted for decades.
www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/...
www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/...
Aluminum-Adsorbed Vaccines and Chronic Diseases in Childhood: A Nationwide Cohort Study: Annals of Internal Medicine: Vol 0, No 0
Background: Aluminum is used as an adjuvant in nonlive vaccines administered in early childhood. Concerns persist about potential associations between vaccination with aluminum-adsorbed vaccines and i...
www.acpjournals.org
July 17, 2025 at 7:21 AM
Let's say it louder for those at the back: Routine childhood vaccines do not cause autism, a major study in Denmark confirmed Wednesday, countering a myth that has been trumpeted for decades.
www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/...
www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/...
Reposted by Martyn Plummer
GPT increasingly feels like the next evolution of Gladwellian non-fic. Gladwell’s great trick was that you could flatter the reader’s ego by dressing up banalities and oversimplifications in a way that made them feel clever, like they were accessing special wisdom. This is the interactive version.
![Travis Kalanick, the founder of Uber who no longer works at the company, appeared on All-In to talk with hosts Jason Calacanis and Chamath Palihapitiya about the future of technology. When the topic turned to AI, Kalanick discussed how he uses xAI’s Grok, which went haywire last week, praising Adolf Hitler and advocating for a second Holocaust against Jews.
“I’ll go down this thread with [Chat]GPT or Grok and I’ll start to get to the edge of what’s known in quantum physics and then I’m doing the equivalent of vibe coding, except it’s vibe physics,” Kalanick explained. “And we’re approaching what’s known. And I’m trying to poke and see if there’s breakthroughs to be had. And I’ve gotten pretty damn close to some interesting breakthroughs just doing that.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:qlnirjwff4ibiw3wchmleszo/bafkreiac2szurc5dnw6klquhpjmo7iafg4n6fwmrqyred7jrrph6h6mptq@jpeg)
July 16, 2025 at 7:39 AM
GPT increasingly feels like the next evolution of Gladwellian non-fic. Gladwell’s great trick was that you could flatter the reader’s ego by dressing up banalities and oversimplifications in a way that made them feel clever, like they were accessing special wisdom. This is the interactive version.
Reposted by Martyn Plummer
Reposted by Martyn Plummer
Worth a watch:
Head of Signal, Meredith Whittaker, on so-called "agentic AI" and the difference between how it's described in the marketing and what access and control it would actually require to work as advertised.
Head of Signal, Meredith Whittaker, on so-called "agentic AI" and the difference between how it's described in the marketing and what access and control it would actually require to work as advertised.
June 26, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Worth a watch:
Head of Signal, Meredith Whittaker, on so-called "agentic AI" and the difference between how it's described in the marketing and what access and control it would actually require to work as advertised.
Head of Signal, Meredith Whittaker, on so-called "agentic AI" and the difference between how it's described in the marketing and what access and control it would actually require to work as advertised.
Reposted by Martyn Plummer
We are recruiting! A three-year postdoctoral position at Warwick as part of the “Probabilistic Artificial Intelligence” hub on the mathematical foundations of AI. Further details at the link: warwick-careers.tal....
June 26, 2025 at 11:00 AM
We are recruiting! A three-year postdoctoral position at Warwick as part of the “Probabilistic Artificial Intelligence” hub on the mathematical foundations of AI. Further details at the link: warwick-careers.tal....
Reposted by Martyn Plummer
@danmcquillan.bsky.social has shared the text of his talk in which he applies Illich's ideas to the question of the role of the university in a world with now ubiquitous 'AI'. Here's a juicy bit.
June 24, 2025 at 8:45 AM
@danmcquillan.bsky.social has shared the text of his talk in which he applies Illich's ideas to the question of the role of the university in a world with now ubiquitous 'AI'. Here's a juicy bit.
The really strange thing about this ad is that it supposes a world in which Warren the slob can fake his way through work because his colleagues remain blissfully unaware that AI tools exist.
I'm not making this up. This is how Apple, the progenitor of the iconic tech ad, is selling its AI tool.
You too can be like this asshole. Dress like a slob. Do nothing all day. Piss off your colleagues. Outsource your brain to the machine.
Even the color palette hates itself. What is this shit?
You too can be like this asshole. Dress like a slob. Do nothing all day. Piss off your colleagues. Outsource your brain to the machine.
Even the color palette hates itself. What is this shit?
June 24, 2025 at 7:40 AM
The really strange thing about this ad is that it supposes a world in which Warren the slob can fake his way through work because his colleagues remain blissfully unaware that AI tools exist.
Reposted by Martyn Plummer
This is not necessarily prevention. It’s prediction. And prediction only leads to prevention if certain screening criteria are fulfilled including how good the prediction is & how effective the action is once you have the info. Otherwise there may be harms.
IMO this hasn’t been well thought through.
IMO this hasn’t been well thought through.
All babies in England to get DNA test to assess risk of diseases within 10 years
All babies in England to get DNA test to assess risk of diseases within 10 years
Newborns will have whole genome sequencing to enable personalised healthcare that predicts and prevents illness
Every baby in England is to have a DNA screening to avoid fatal diseases and receive personalised healthcare as part of the government’s £650m investment in DNA technology, it has been reported.
Within a decade, every newborn will undergo whole genome sequencing, which assesses the risk of hundreds of diseases and is expected to form part of the government’s 10-year plan for the health service. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
June 22, 2025 at 9:20 AM
This is not necessarily prevention. It’s prediction. And prediction only leads to prevention if certain screening criteria are fulfilled including how good the prediction is & how effective the action is once you have the info. Otherwise there may be harms.
IMO this hasn’t been well thought through.
IMO this hasn’t been well thought through.