Greg Wilson

I program, write, and teach. Co-founder of Software Carpentry and It Will Never Work in Theory; co-editor of The Architecture of Open Source Applications.

Last Notes

2026-09-20 20:44:37 UTC

from the Toronto Public Library website
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/117/305/314/616/841/379/original/5cabd0f31022c9d9.png

2026-08-19 16:39:19 UTC

"AI adoption raises homework scores by 18% and reduces completion time by 30%, but lowers monthly exam scores by 20% within six months. High-stakes entrance-exam scores fall by 18 and 24%, with the full penalty emerging only after about two years. The losses are largest in social science subjects, followed by STEM and languages, and are especially large for junior students, high-achieving students, and boys." 2/3

2026-08-19 16:38:45 UTC

Stromberg et al 2026: "The Generative AI Learning Penalty: Evidence from Chinese Secondary Education" https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=6868618 "Using 30 months of panel data on 26,811 Chinese students in grades 7-12, we study how generative AI affects homework productivity and learning. The data combine monthly closed-book exams, high-school and college entrance exams, and homework scores and completion time across nine subjects. We exploit staggered AI adoption in a difference-in-differences design." 1/3

2026-08-09 21:31:24 UTC

I just learned that oat milk was discovered in the 1960s, when NASA found out by accident what zero-g environments do to goat milk.
Thank you, thank you, I'll see myself out.

2026-07-28 11:28:56 UTC

In his essay on Salvador Dali, Orwell argued that because Dali was a repulsive human being, the right wouldn't admit that he was a great artist; conversely, because he was a great artist, the left wouldn't admit he was a repulsive human being. I'm seeing the same thing with AI: because it's unethical, one side won't acknowledge that it's useful, but because it's useful, the other side won't acknowledge that it's unethical.
Time to make another cup of tea…

2026-04-02 13:48:06 UTC

"World’s oldest tortoise caught in viral crypto death scam" is apparently part of our timeline now: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/02/worlds-oldest-tortoise-crypto-death-scam

2026-03-09 11:49:54 UTC

This is what censorship looks like in practice: content makers cut things *before* being told to because the lines are deliberately vague https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/mar/09/pixar-chief-lgbtq-plot-cut-elio-not-therapy-pete-docter

2024-11-26 15:12:10 UTC

GitHub Copilot
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/549/895/194/985/912/original/e551e17b613ef9ef.png