Edward Tenner

Author of The Efficiency Paradox: What Big Data Can't Do, Why Things Bite Back, Our Own Devices, TED speaker, Smithsonian Distinguished Scholar

[Edward Tenner @edward_tenner]

“Reading ability is cumulative and develops through the…life cycle. If every opportunity a person has to read, they’re engaging in this shallow, scanning kind of reading, their skills may never evolve to allow for comprehension of more complex ideas….” https://t.co/MfiLy8Wd1u

[Edward Tenner @edward_tenner]

Alternative point of view from the comedian Brother Theodore: “it would be better never to have been born. But how many people are so lucky? Not one in 10 million!“ https://t.co/Rp8JyeFyjW

[Edward Tenner @edward_tenner]

Almost 50 years ago, the Tenerife airport was the scene of the worst air crash in history:
https://t.co/IoKKPRZYQp https://t.co/AnccEiEdFI

[Edward Tenner @edward_tenner]

At last relief from the boomer-bashing pandemic. A millennial deploring Gen Z😎 https://t.co/9GzpsqKOlB

[Edward Tenner @edward_tenner]

Harvard faculty of arts and sciences should read this, too, before cracking down too hard on grade inflation 😎 https://t.co/SqRNeDVOoJ

[Edward Tenner @edward_tenner]

Not me 😎 https://t.co/39zhVU02J9

[Edward Tenner @edward_tenner]

That’s nothing! He actually gave a course on humility at Yale:
https://t.co/hCILI2sN7I
https://t.co/yNXNpNH5oU

[Edward Tenner @edward_tenner]

Too bad insurance companies aren’t climate skeptics 😎 :
“The Sun Belt delivers warm winters, but it also delivers hurricanes, flooding, and wildfires with growing frequency. These climate events have driven insurance costs sharply higher….” https://t.co/9RGdAyMNAn.

[Edward Tenner @edward_tenner]

Best indication yet of an impending market crash!
https://t.co/I5kHAoNbjy

[Edward Tenner @edward_tenner]

When autonomy is granted to a software system whose outcomes are probabilistic in nature a lot of things can go wrong really fast and instead of efficiencies you may get inefficiencies, at best, and catastrophic mistakes, at worst.”https://t.co/BOTY18voxD on @LinkedIn

[Edward Tenner @edward_tenner]

Frankentrees bite back. Bradford Pears. Originally introduced as sterile, different nearby varieties “began to cross-pollinate, creating fertile seeds, which are consumed by birds and dropped across forests, fields and roadsides.” https://t.co/S9q1PGLakq

[Edward Tenner @edward_tenner]

Did you know that those lovely cherry blossoms have a dark side? They are clones promoted by 19th and 20th century nationalist Japanese governments, displacing beloved local species. A monoculture weakening disease resistance. https://t.co/xZU7mUgPYJ

[Edward Tenner @edward_tenner]

John Cleese on how tolerance of discomfort promotes deeper thinking and creativity. Obvious implications for the comfort of using AI!
https://t.co/qHTsM41Jb3

[Edward Tenner @edward_tenner]

Opioid alternative bites back:

“Gabapentin has been associated in studies with greater risk of dementia, suicidal behavior, severe breathing problems for people who have lung disease, and edema, in addition to well-known side effects like dizziness. “ https://t.co/PttPie5Qm2

[The Hedgehog Review @hedgehogreview]

New online: What explains American academics' ties with Jeffrey Epstein? Part of it, writes Edward Tenner, is the insecurity of academics who move in the highest levels of society yet are dazzled by the wealth of those in finance and technology.
https://t.co/CY863BaMmj

[Edward Tenner @edward_tenner]

I apply the lessons of my Princeton First Year Seminar, Understanding Disasters, to the ultimate scandal: https://t.co/3Uofx4eEAr

[Edward Tenner @edward_tenner]

“Officials said the Port Authority fire truck involved in the crash did not have a transponder…limiting how it appeared to controllers and safety technology. Separately, only two controllers were staffing the tower, with one handling multiple roles….” https://t.co/QHvi3TbbSO

[Edward Tenner @edward_tenner]

Too good to check 2.0:

“It is particularly painful that I made precisely the mistake I have repeatedly warned colleagues about: these language models are so good that they produce irresistible quotes you are tempted to use as an author.’ https://t.co/0MKnZDxCiO

[Edward Tenner @edward_tenner]

“The pattern is everywhere: Condition people to rely on the system. Erode their vigilance. Then, when something breaks, point to the terms of service and blame them for not paying attention.” https://t.co/4GPc8dRfAh

[Edward Tenner @edward_tenner]

Biological control bites back:
“During the 1980s, Partula snails…nearly vanished after the arrival of a carnivorous foreign snail. (That snail had been introduced a decade earlier in an attempt to control a different invasive snail.)”

https://t.co/EYCjvijvVc via @NYTimes