பேராசிரியர் Prem Devanbu

Husband, Dad, Academic. Software "Naturalness", AI4SE & ESE@ UC Davis. MAE, ACM Fellow, Humboldtian. ❤️s Jokes, NJ snark & the outdoors. All opinions Personal.

[பேராசிரியர் Prem Devanbu @devanbu]

I'm an experienced and well-published Software Engineering Professor. Take it from me: The best way to ship software with fewer known defects is to test less.

[fabian @fabianstelzer]

German government folks celebrating their immunity to the cyber apocalypse as they’re still running on Fax

[பேராசிரியர் Prem Devanbu @devanbu]

Budapest (here for the Academia Europaea conference) is just as lovely as advertised, BUT! Everytime anyone opens their mouth and speaks in English, they sound like a Formal Logic or Complexity Theory professor, and I get anxious

[Phil Hoyeck @PAHoyeck]

Still one of the funniest philosophy anecdotes of all time

[பேராசிரியர் Prem Devanbu @devanbu]

@ruchicatomar @nytimes A useful piece, but I sorely missed *any* mention of @RitikaChopra__ 's courageous and careful Journalism which really shed light on the situation. I wish the @nytimes staff would be more collegial to a fellow journalist, and hope they will remedy this.

[பேராசிரியர் Prem Devanbu @devanbu]

Excellent move!!

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

In this era of artificial intelligence, it is becoming urgent to distinguish human art from what machines produce. There is an ontological difference, even before an aesthetic one, between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others. Algorithms lack the spark of humanity. For this reason, the Church wishes to renew an alliance with artists and cultural institutions to safeguard our humanity.

[பேராசிரியர் Prem Devanbu @devanbu]

I have discovered an elegant proof that Bielefeld doesn't exist, but it's too long to fit in the margin of this tweet.

Another proof will be generated in a few hours (after this tweet) by an AI, but it will be too long and boring to read.

[The Dutch Perspective @Mr_Tomorrow__]

Germany has a city that spent 25 years being told it did not exist.

Bielefeld.

The joke started in 1994, when computer science student Achim Held posted a satirical conspiracy theory on the internet. The basic claim was that Bielefeld did not exist and that anyone claiming otherwise was part of the conspiracy.

It worked far better than intended.

“Bielefeld gibt es doch gar nicht” became one of Germany's best-known internet jokes. People invented explanations involving secret organisations, aliens and access to Atlantis.

Bielefeld itself spent years living with it.

Then in 2019 the city decided to stop defending its existence and put money on the table.

€1 million.

Anyone who could provide irrefutable proof that Bielefeld did not exist could claim the prize.

More than 2,000 submissions arrived.

Nobody won.

The city then declared the conspiracy finished and installed a memorial stone marking the whole affair.

There is something admirable about a city responding to a quarter-century of mockery by opening the municipal budget and saying, fine, prove it.

Bielefeld still appears on maps, has more than 300,000 inhabitants and keeps insisting that all of this is evidence.

Which is, of course, what Bielefeld would say.

[பேராசிரியர் Prem Devanbu @devanbu]

Passionate, clear, committed position taken by @BillGates on AI Safety. Also nicely executed, probing, thoughtful interview Journalism. The entire thing is worth a listen, @ezraklein on @nytimes

[Headquarters @HQNewsNow]

Bill Gates on Trump's idea to use lawsuits to regulate AI:

"Do we just use the liability laws to try and keep humans safe? ... We've created a society that tries to keep people safe not by saying, 'oh, we can bankrupt the person who does that.' ... Say you kill 100 million. You want to use a lawsuit? I almost can't keep a straight face."

[பேராசிரியர் Prem Devanbu @devanbu]

@thatsTamil Congratulations!

[Amitav Ghosh @GhoshAmitav]

The whole world should be paying attention to what is happening in India right now. Computer programs have been used to systematically remove huge numbers of voters from the electoral rolls. But India's Gen Z has cottoned on and the tide is turning...

[பேராசிரியர் Prem Devanbu @devanbu]

Odd, but delightful benefit of modern water boiler in Hot Central California---shelves nearby stay cool(er)! and so become good places to stash packaged food (cans, bottles,...)

[Jonathan Eisen @phylogenomics]

For those just starting at @ucdavis or for those who are here and not aware of this - the UC Davis Putah Creek Riparian Preserve is a true treasure - beautiful, serene, filled with amazing plants and animals and other organisms and just spectacular.

[பேராசிரியர் Prem Devanbu @devanbu]

So inspiring to read this. I hope the RSS, Bajrang Dal, BJP etc in India also find this inspiring, and change the way they treat Christians and Muslims in India.

[Ruchir Bakshi @RuchirBakshi]

I’m a U.S. Army combat veteran and a Hindu American. I didn’t put on that uniform, leave my family, and go to war so some third-rate talk show guy could announce that when his side “wins,” they’re coming for my religion.

I served with Christians, Jews, Muslims, atheists, and other Hindus. Nobody pulled rank on God before we went outside the wire. Some of those men never came home. None of them died so you could fantasize about ravaging someone else’s faith. The people who worship in those temples pay taxes, run businesses, and send their sons and daughters into the same Army I served in. “When we win, we are tearing this down” is not patriotism. It is a threat against Hinduism itself to vandalize another American community’s house of worship because you hate the faith inside it.

If winning in America means demolishing Hindu temples, you don’t want the country I fought for. You just want a license to go after people who aren’t you. America is not your theocracy. Religious liberty does not expire for Hindus when you decide you’ve won. You don’t get to tear anything down. Not legally. Not morally. Not in the country for which I actually sacrificed.
@CoHNAOfficial @sudhaj12 @pushpita @carlwheless @shiva_makki @ShawnBinda @Cloudwatch199

[பேராசிரியர் Prem Devanbu @devanbu]

Really fun speculative fiction, set in Colonial Times, by Amitav Ghosh.

https://t.co/3fzBwCg8Sf

[Ro Khanna @RoKhanna]

I know X is a form for clever clap backs. But I want to have a real conversation on this. You see, Lincoln had to answer the same objections about the Americanness of recent immigrants. Back then, many claimed that those with French and German and Scandinavian blood were not American because their family did not fight in the Revolution. How can you be an American if no one in your family, not a great grandfather or great uncle, spilled blood fighting for this country?

Today the question is put to those of us of Indian heritage, or Mexican, or Chinese, to Hindus and Muslims, Jews and Buddhists. What did your family do in this country’s wars? What did they build? Where do you sit in the hierarchy of Americans?

Some tech barons would count your votes by your net worth, as if the only value that matters is what wealth you produce. The heritage school answers with a different ledger. Your standing as an American should be measured by how much your family has bled or sacrificed.

Lincoln answered the heritage school in some of the most beautiful words ever written in the English language. His speech for July 4, 1858 has more wisdom than everything collectively ever written on X, or for that matter, social media.

Lincoln said that if you believe in the Constitution, if you believe in the Declaration of Independence, then there is an electric chord that links your heart to the hearts of the men who fought in the Revolution for those principles, and that you are blood of the blood and flesh of the flesh of our founders. He articulated why our nation, unique in the history of the world, is constituted based on a devotion to a common set of ideals and principles.

I attach the text below. If even a few who engaged with my tweet read it, well, then our country would be a little better for it.

Dinesh the irony is that the President you worked for --Ronald Reagan --who gave an Indian immigrant with a thick accent a job in his White House knew this Lincoln passage very well.

[பேராசிரியர் Prem Devanbu @devanbu]

@IAmAYadavally @moarbugs Maybe this is OK? but perhaps a "scholarship" for those who demonstrate hardship (perhaps after a screening round...which round might also permanently ban you from scholarships if you're slopping the conference. And I'm happy to serve as screener in this setting).

[பேராசிரியர் Prem Devanbu @devanbu]

Much bashing these days on SE conferences. Some of this is historical (PL people have for years bashed on SE conferences; ya, ok 🥱 🥱 different approaches to the same problems) But, please tell us: what specifically is wrong with SE that is NOT wrong other high-vol AI venues.

[Rohan Padhye @moarbugs]

💯 - The SE conference experience (attending, reviewing, authoring) has gone totally downhill and my lab is aligning more with PL and Systems these days.

[பேராசிரியர் Prem Devanbu @devanbu]

@IAmAYadavally @moarbugs Well, I believe that for Academics, reputations are paramount? I'll admit to a lack of familiarity with academic cultures outside (of North America & EU).

[பேராசிரியர் Prem Devanbu @devanbu]

Governor Newsom @CAgovernor Please sign SB 868!! Electric bills are going sky-high in California, and folks need relief! Plug-in Solar is safe, effective, and affordable, please don't stop us from using it!
#pluginsolar @Scott_Wiener

[பேராசிரியர் Prem Devanbu @devanbu]

@JAldrichPL Yes, of course applications of LLM & AI to SE are most welcome....but the high-volume slop, and the unaccountable "fishing" with crap submissions, we really need to address.

[பேராசிரியர் Prem Devanbu @devanbu]

@moarbugs The resulting reviewing bottleneck is a big problem; in particular, the AI-generated slop is *AWFUL*. It might be time to follow the OpenReview model, post-decision, so people pay a reputational price for submitting slop. But I don't think this is SE-specific. 2/2

[பேராசிரியர் Prem Devanbu @devanbu]

@moarbugs The big increase in SE submissions has been large labs outside of EU and the Americas---I consider this to be a good thing overall. Recently there is a huge increase in AI, LLM-related submissions (> 50% of the papers). I also consider this to be good for some reason :-P 1/2