Science cannot live by LLM alone, part 12,386.

As an experiment, Almira Osmanovic Thunström published fake papers about a fake eye disease that credited Professor Maria Bohm of Starfleet Academy. They were said to be funded by the Professor Sideshow Bob Foundation in partnership with the University of the Fellowship of the Ring.

Despite such obvious trickery, within a few weeks, chatbots were citing the studies as real:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01100-y

One of the things I like about the fediverse, as a concrete network of real people, is that you all tend to at least recognize the actions of power. Not perfectly, and not universally. But on average, you can see the outcome of some exercise of power, and then point back to the power that produced it.

This means that things don't seem like inevitable, uncontrollable, acts of nature to you. You can imagine a different outcome than the one we got, even if you don't know how to bring it about.

And oh my god is that refreshing. It's something that I have found in zero other places.

" #US appeals court declares 158-year-old home #distilling ban unconstitutional"

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-appeals-court-declares-158-year-old-home-distilling-ban-unconstitutional-2026-04-10/

If you're excited about this: please be careful. Amateurs can give themselves methanol poisoning. If you're going to do this, educate yourself

I'll also make a wider hopeful political observation:

This is a country that once made #alcohol illegal. It was stupid. This is the final nail in the coffin

Meaning:

Stop believing the #USA's ills are eternal

Some changes just take time