This is a fascinating article on whether AI can be conscious. www.noemamag.com/the-mytholog...
Dan Levitt
Dan Levitt
@danlevitt.bsky.social
Writing a book for HarperCollins on the brain. Author of "What’s Gotten Into You: The Story of Your Body's Atoms from the Big Bang Through Last Night’s Dinner" Former science documentary producer. https://danlevitt.com
1.1K followers2.2K following46 posts
A great article by a philosopher on the difference between AI and us and how forgetting can be a gift. The Id, the Ego and the Superintelligence www.nytimes.com/2026/09/27/o...
Great article on what the chain of thought reasoning that LLMs do before they produce answers actually represents. www.quantamagazine.org/is-ai-reason...
This looks like a real milestone in creating artificial life. Great article by @carlzimmer.com. This Cell Feeds, Grows and Reproduces. And It’s Manmade. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Fascinating beautifully written article by @joshuasokol.bsky.social about the soul of astrophysics in the age of AI. There's a lot to think about here. www.science.org/content/arti...
Fascinating article on the brain's neural code. The brain’s code seems to be in constant flux. Neuroscientists are baffled www.nature.com/articles/d41...
I’m excited to be in conversation with @bschillace.brandyschillace.com about her new fascinating book.
BOOK EVENT 3, MAY 16 BOSTON Brandy Schillace at Harvard Book Store presenting : The Intermediaries: A Weimar Story in conversation with @danlevitt.bsky.social ! DETAILS: www.harvard.com/event/brandy...
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"To worsebetter something" (verschlimmbessern) is perfect for both technology and some of my attempts at editing academic writing. Thank you, Germans.
There’s a colloquial German word, verschlimmbessern, that describes attempting to improve something but only making it worse (for example, most Microsoft Word updates). So go ahead and add to your German vocabulary the term etwas verschlimmbessern, or “to worsebetter something”
Thrilled to be a PAPERBACK writer. My book, which traces the mind-bending journey of our atoms from the Big Bang to now, is out today. Simon Winchester calls it “A truly astonishing and eminently readable work.” tinyurl.com/459uepbk #science #books #biology www.youtube.com/shorts/_dmUw...
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Really looking forward to this!
Missed us?? We're back on Apr 11 to discuss... well, you! No, no invasive personal questions here. We'll be discussing WHAT'S GOTTEN INTO YOU and learning about the atoms that make all of us, us! 7EST and free - want links, cocktail recipes and peculiar news? Sign up: subscribepage.io/Ip9rwS
So sorry to hear of the passing of Frans de Waal, a brilliant student of ape and human behavior. news.emory.edu/features/202...
Did coenzymes help kickstart life? Scientists make a key one from common organic compounds on the early Earth. www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
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“We’re used to having a fairly good handle on things. But the impression at the moment is that things have gone further and faster than we expected. That’s an uncomfortable place as a scientist to be.” www.nytimes.com/2024/02/27/c...
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Belgian philosopher Maarten Boudry (wittily, half-seriously) proposes the "7 Laws of Declinism" which explain why so many people feel so bad about the world when most of the data show that on the whole conditions are steadily improving.
So glad to see my book quoted! We are a story-telling species. by Walt Bobrowski link.medium.com/GFm5bvTvOGb
Nice to see this lovely review of “What’s Gotten Into You” from GreenSpirit in the UK. “There were many moments when I felt a deep sense of awe at the stranger than fiction journey that our planet has been on.” www.greenspirit.org.uk/bookreviews2...
Love this review of "What's Gotten Into You." "Truly the idea of wrapping your head around how the solar system formed, how earth came to be life-bearing, and just how brief the existence of humans actually is… it takes my breath away. Loved this, would totally read again." tinyurl.com/2dknx6ty
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Science Writers: NASW is transitioning from Twitter to Bluesky as its short-form social media platform for community building. To facilitate Bluesky signups for our member network, we've created a code donation and receiving tool. See you all here soon! www.nasw.org/article/nasw... 💚
This was a really fun conversation about "What's Gotten Into You: The Story of Your Body's Atoms, from the Big Bang Through Last Night's Dinner" with Gary Scott Thomas
This sounds like promising news. Maybe AI will earn its keep. www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-...
Just another text from my daughter. "Have you heard about the fungus that turns caterpillars into zombies?" Then she sent this www.npr.org/2011/10/09/1...
The return of Gaia. Or rather a fascinating article about how it never really went away.
Hey! I wrote something about the history of Gaia thinking, focusing on its run-ins with evolutionary theory. This material is based on a talk I gave last summer at PABST 2023... thanks to those present for the helpful discussions! www.extinctblog.org/extinct/2023...
Interesting speculation: 50 years ago, did adding water kill dry adapted microbes that we found on Mars? bigthink.com/hard-science... #science
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OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule just landed successfully with pieces of the asteroid Bennu 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/osir...
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Ancient DNA is amazing, Part 4,982. DNA of 400-yr-old cow bones in Hispaniola and Mexico hints that the first cowboys in the Americas were enslaved Africans. Analysis backs up historians' belief that classic cowboy stuff like herding from horseback and using lassos were created by Africans, too.
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So an asteroid impact let a million flowers bloom www.nytimes.com/2023/09/12/s...
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Dan Levitt reposted
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