Maria Mahamed

Exploring how techs reshape human - human reshapes techs
PhD | Environmental studies & AI
Taught and worked across disciplines:
tech, society, environment

[Maria Mahamed @MariaMaham68630]

We didn't escape into the internet because screens became available.
We are escaping because reality became emotionally expensive.

My new sketch (AI-free):
Where we took a "wrong turn" and what does The Little Mermaid have to do with it?

https://t.co/XlwBm8lMGQ

[Maria Mahamed @MariaMaham68630]

@alvinfoo I think the bigger question today is whether academia’s modern financial system still makes sense. Paid education turned students into customers. A century ago, professors were guardians of unique knowledge; today, they are education service providers.

[Maria Mahamed @MariaMaham68630]

@DrJustFutures Science is not only work executed brilliantly from a methodological standpoint, but also the researcher’s passion, ethical struggle, and the pain of failed attempts. No professor can push aside a truly devoted, sincere scientist. Besides,few great scientists were career academics

[Maria Mahamed @MariaMaham68630]

@PhysInHistory I'm impressed by zero: absence is confirmation of existence.
Before Roman numerals,the Sumerians used place-value numbers, but without zero, this idea never took off. Today, thanks to symbol of nothing, we use the decimal number system for calculations and the binary - for coding

[Maria Mahamed @MariaMaham68630]

@thedarshakrana I used to think it was a joke that you could write a philosophical treatise about any proverb. Take this one: “Every coin has two sides.” I wish this could become common wisdom again, rather than something unique of a Nobel laureates.

[Maria Mahamed @MariaMaham68630]

@CynthiaLIVE The idea that techs could lead us to happiness reminds me of Zamyatin’s "We":happiness came at the price of abandoning feelings. In modern terms,eliminating self-reflection as a source of disappointment.
That isn’t happiness. I agree with you,we are more than what has been named

[Maria Mahamed @MariaMaham68630]

@jonathanstea I miss the days when reading and understanding were inseparable, almost interchangeable in the context of an educated adult.

[Maria Mahamed @MariaMaham68630]

@PeterDiamandis The internet was supposed to make knowledge accessible: libraries digitized, university courses made free, and COVID flooded the web with free education.
What we got? If equal opportunity means everyone now struggles to read and writes only using AI, mission accomplished.

[Maria Mahamed @MariaMaham68630]

@signulll You’re at the beginning of the path from misunderstanding to compassion. It won't be easy, but the greater the challenge, the more valuable what you gain along the way.

[Maria Mahamed @MariaMaham68630]

@alz_zyd_ Good joke)
About a century ago, Nietzsche was buryng God with the same enthusiasm.
As long as we can’t say whether a quantum is a particle or a wave, there will always be room for new discoveries in mathematics, physics, and music.

[Maria Mahamed @MariaMaham68630]

@NTFabiano I suggest to take care for neuroplasticity (there are many practices to support this). This way you can become whoever you want, but also change your choice if you feel that it is not for you.

[Maria Mahamed @MariaMaham68630]

@JonathanShedler It's a game for two: authors use AI, readers are looking for a way to read for free.
After all, literature was different when writing was a spiritual impulse, not a source of sustenance.

[Maria Mahamed @MariaMaham68630]

@malikules I also like the expression "being stupid" when describing the state in which someone makes a discovery. It's just important to clarify for the uninitiated: you have to be stupid while being smart.

[Maria Mahamed @MariaMaham68630]

@DocDoc21516 @NBerggruen @NoemaMag I choose to believe human consciousness is more than electrical impulses responding to stimulus. I mentioned the imaginary unit because it has no physical counterpart in human experience, yet its place in mathematics allows us to accurately calculate many physical processes today

[Maria Mahamed @MariaMaham68630]

@DocDoc21516 @NBerggruen @NoemaMag The same question in rephrase.
If consciousness IS body experience, then how do we know about the imaginary unit, given that the body has not experienced it?

[Maria Mahamed @MariaMaham68630]

@TaylorLorenz Techs has advanced so fast that restrictions on minors are growing exponentially, outpacing traditional parenting: don’t stick fingers in sockets, or hurt others - everything else is fine. Today, warnings often seem more like avoiding responsibility than finding real solutions.

[Maria Mahamed @MariaMaham68630]

@michaelmina_lab I’ve seen a similar theme in Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle.
The ethics and responsibility of 20th-century scientists helped restrain reckless discoveries, including cloning. What safeguards for humanity does the 21st century offer?

[Maria Mahamed @MariaMaham68630]

@Lleyn_Birding @Rainmaker1973 I think plants with therapeutic properties can help in many way - not only through their scent, but also through their appearance. For example, this is a photo of thyme.

https://t.co/YcoaFl1GFn

[Maria Mahamed @MariaMaham68630]

@aldenejones In my view, this is more a consequence of how the modern academic system is organized than of scientists’ personal qualities.