Michael A. Nees
@michaelnees.bsky.social
Professor of Psychology at Lafayette College. Interested in human factors, psychology of humans and tech, auditory displays, and accessibility. Opinions my own. https://sites.lafayette.edu/neesm
Reposted by Michael A. Nees
THREAD of offers of guest lectures (via Zoom) for Minneapolis-area classes so faculty can offer their students a top-quality education while dealing with other crises
Seeing tons of extremely generous offers. I'll try to post 'em all here--please add your own w topics you can cover & how to contact
Seeing tons of extremely generous offers. I'll try to post 'em all here--please add your own w topics you can cover & how to contact
Finally, a note to the many professors in my networks: One other specific, small thing you can do from outside of Minneapolis is reach out to colleagues who are heavily affected (because of their own or their family's risk, or because they're very busy protecting neighbors) and offer a guest lecture
January 15, 2026 at 7:43 PM
THREAD of offers of guest lectures (via Zoom) for Minneapolis-area classes so faculty can offer their students a top-quality education while dealing with other crises
Seeing tons of extremely generous offers. I'll try to post 'em all here--please add your own w topics you can cover & how to contact
Seeing tons of extremely generous offers. I'll try to post 'em all here--please add your own w topics you can cover & how to contact
Reposted by Michael A. Nees
my new AI powered lamp is trained on millions of lamp interactions so it understands that 50% of chain pulls are to turn it on and the other 50% are to turn it off. and honestly, it's a little spooky how it knows exactly what i want almost half of the time
March 17, 2025 at 10:59 PM
my new AI powered lamp is trained on millions of lamp interactions so it understands that 50% of chain pulls are to turn it on and the other 50% are to turn it off. and honestly, it's a little spooky how it knows exactly what i want almost half of the time
Reposted by Michael A. Nees
UMass head football coach Joe Harasymiak was paid $1.4 million last year, making him the third-highest paid public employee in the state of Massachusetts. His team went 0-12 last year.
Top Massachusetts state employee earners in 2025: Your Tax Dollars at Work
For the 19th year, we deliver the “Your Tax Dollars at Work” annual tally of where your money is spent in Massachusetts.
www.bostonherald.com
January 4, 2026 at 9:05 AM
UMass head football coach Joe Harasymiak was paid $1.4 million last year, making him the third-highest paid public employee in the state of Massachusetts. His team went 0-12 last year.
Reposted by Michael A. Nees
I actually teach programming, machine learning, and “AI” (which doesn’t exist).
Other work tech I think students should learn:
Driving a stick shift
How to fix a copier
Fax machines: friend or foe
The fine art of <reply all>
Adobe certificate signature
Navigating 🤬 SAP Concur
I could go on
Other work tech I think students should learn:
Driving a stick shift
How to fix a copier
Fax machines: friend or foe
The fine art of <reply all>
Adobe certificate signature
Navigating 🤬 SAP Concur
I could go on
December 14, 2025 at 2:49 PM
I actually teach programming, machine learning, and “AI” (which doesn’t exist).
Other work tech I think students should learn:
Driving a stick shift
How to fix a copier
Fax machines: friend or foe
The fine art of <reply all>
Adobe certificate signature
Navigating 🤬 SAP Concur
I could go on
Other work tech I think students should learn:
Driving a stick shift
How to fix a copier
Fax machines: friend or foe
The fine art of <reply all>
Adobe certificate signature
Navigating 🤬 SAP Concur
I could go on
Reposted by Michael A. Nees
Coughs in (many) university presidents, big city mayors, etc.
i think a (perhaps underappreciated) aspect of this whole situation is the extent to which every elite profession is filled with people who excel at drawing attention and want to be famous more than they want to do the actual job
December 11, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Coughs in (many) university presidents, big city mayors, etc.
Reposted by Michael A. Nees
6. Also this boilerplate: "use AI as more of a partner and resource, not as a replacement for thought and creativity," although this is essentially an impossible task presented as a salve of reasonableness.
December 11, 2025 at 11:57 AM
6. Also this boilerplate: "use AI as more of a partner and resource, not as a replacement for thought and creativity," although this is essentially an impossible task presented as a salve of reasonableness.
Reposted by Michael A. Nees
5. Then we get to AI and get this boilerplate: "when educators embrace AI with curiosity and patience, it can reduce burnout by handling repetitive tasks, improving overall workflow, and even providing new ways to engage."
No evidence is provided to support this frequent claim.
No evidence is provided to support this frequent claim.
December 11, 2025 at 11:53 AM
5. Then we get to AI and get this boilerplate: "when educators embrace AI with curiosity and patience, it can reduce burnout by handling repetitive tasks, improving overall workflow, and even providing new ways to engage."
No evidence is provided to support this frequent claim.
No evidence is provided to support this frequent claim.
Reposted by Michael A. Nees
Rudy Bridges is younger than the Sitting President of the United States and 29 sitting United States Senators
It’s useful for people of my generation to be reminded that this wasn’t that long ago. Ruby Bridges isn’t just still alive—she’s only 71, not ancient!
65 years ago on Nov. 14, little Ruby Bridges was escorted into an all-white elementary school in New Orleans. Norman Rockwell, renowned for blissful depictions of Americana, did this remarkable painting for Look magazine. Printed as a double page, over-size spread, it's his masterpiece.
November 15, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Rudy Bridges is younger than the Sitting President of the United States and 29 sitting United States Senators
Reposted by Michael A. Nees
I saw someone on my timeline shaming someone else for posting about college football in a time like this.
Folks, if we're going to survive a time like this, we're going to need to avoid burning out from an attitude of 24/7 vigilance and constant outrage.
Let people find joy where they can, please.
Folks, if we're going to survive a time like this, we're going to need to avoid burning out from an attitude of 24/7 vigilance and constant outrage.
Let people find joy where they can, please.
November 8, 2025 at 8:56 PM
I saw someone on my timeline shaming someone else for posting about college football in a time like this.
Folks, if we're going to survive a time like this, we're going to need to avoid burning out from an attitude of 24/7 vigilance and constant outrage.
Let people find joy where they can, please.
Folks, if we're going to survive a time like this, we're going to need to avoid burning out from an attitude of 24/7 vigilance and constant outrage.
Let people find joy where they can, please.
Reposted by Michael A. Nees
In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.
October 17, 2025 at 12:16 PM
In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.
Reposted by Michael A. Nees
A meme for the modern university...
September 29, 2025 at 8:44 PM
A meme for the modern university...
Reposted by Michael A. Nees
If you think the LLM told you something, ask yourself: What is your belief about who's talking? What is feeding that belief?
September 7, 2025 at 5:57 PM
If you think the LLM told you something, ask yourself: What is your belief about who's talking? What is feeding that belief?
Reposted by Michael A. Nees
"The care robots themselves required care: they had to be moved around, maintained, cleaned, booted up, operated, repeatedly explained to residents... Indeed, a growing body of evidence from other studies is finding that robots tend to end up creating more work for caregivers.":
Caregivers’ use of robots and their effect on work environment – a scoping review
Despite the lively discussion on the pros and cons of using robots in health care, little is still known about how caregivers are affected when robots are introduced in their work environment. The ...
www.tandfonline.com
September 3, 2025 at 2:29 PM
"The care robots themselves required care: they had to be moved around, maintained, cleaned, booted up, operated, repeatedly explained to residents... Indeed, a growing body of evidence from other studies is finding that robots tend to end up creating more work for caregivers.":
Reposted by Michael A. Nees
Also eliminating disability and “perfecting humanity” are fundamentally incompatible because disability is a core element to the human experience and what makes us humans
July 29, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Also eliminating disability and “perfecting humanity” are fundamentally incompatible because disability is a core element to the human experience and what makes us humans
Reposted by Michael A. Nees
It's membership drive time! Sociology grad student ASA members who aren't pol soc members yet, Ziggy's looking at you! We're gifting FREE grad student political soc section memberships in return for cute pet pics. DM or email me for details. #ASA2025 Pls reskeet!
@asapolisoc.bsky.social
@asapolisoc.bsky.social
July 30, 2025 at 5:43 PM
It's membership drive time! Sociology grad student ASA members who aren't pol soc members yet, Ziggy's looking at you! We're gifting FREE grad student political soc section memberships in return for cute pet pics. DM or email me for details. #ASA2025 Pls reskeet!
@asapolisoc.bsky.social
@asapolisoc.bsky.social
Reposted by Michael A. Nees
In a stunning moment of self-delusion, the Wall Street Journal headline writers admitted that they don't know how LLM chatbots work.
July 21, 2025 at 1:48 AM
In a stunning moment of self-delusion, the Wall Street Journal headline writers admitted that they don't know how LLM chatbots work.
Reposted by Michael A. Nees
A man came up to us at a Tesla Showroom picket on Saturday to tell us he’d just had a test drive and it was *great* that FSD meant there was no longer any need for a human driver.
FWIW I found that people thought "autopilot" meant pretty much the same thing as "self-driving" and "autonomous" and I'm pretty sure what people think the word means is the only thing that matters here...
July 24, 2025 at 3:17 AM
A man came up to us at a Tesla Showroom picket on Saturday to tell us he’d just had a test drive and it was *great* that FSD meant there was no longer any need for a human driver.
Reposted by Michael A. Nees
What--and I say this with my chest--the hell are we doing here people
AI-assistant caused DATA LOSS, destroyed projects, user files and a production database: issued faulty commands, overwriting data; another ignored freeze directives, fabricated test data, and dropped a live database. anuraag2601.github.io/gemini_cli_d... www.theregister.com/2025/07/21/r...
July 25, 2025 at 12:14 PM
What--and I say this with my chest--the hell are we doing here people
Reposted by Michael A. Nees
The (Ed) Tech Industry has made citizens believe that the problem with education is reading, thinking, and writing when the problem with education is austerity.
Reading, thinking, and writing are not the problems to be solved. Austerity is.
Reading, thinking, and writing are not the problems to be solved. Austerity is.
July 24, 2025 at 1:44 PM
The (Ed) Tech Industry has made citizens believe that the problem with education is reading, thinking, and writing when the problem with education is austerity.
Reading, thinking, and writing are not the problems to be solved. Austerity is.
Reading, thinking, and writing are not the problems to be solved. Austerity is.
Reposted by Michael A. Nees
How do you stop the incessant political text messages? I never have donated by phone, never heard of many of the politicians and campaigns I get texts from, often several a day. I now report them as spam but that doesn't seem to help any more than texting stop.
July 23, 2025 at 10:37 PM
How do you stop the incessant political text messages? I never have donated by phone, never heard of many of the politicians and campaigns I get texts from, often several a day. I now report them as spam but that doesn't seem to help any more than texting stop.
Reposted by Michael A. Nees
self-driving would seem, to the layman, to indicate that the car... drives itself?
July 24, 2025 at 2:54 AM
self-driving would seem, to the layman, to indicate that the car... drives itself?