@liamoc@types.pl

Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · Jun 28, 2026

Replying to @tsturm@famichiki.jp

@tsturm@famichiki.jp @carnage4life@mas.to eggs do not lay eggs

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · Jun 09, 2026

RE: @marioguzman@mastodon.social

I'm glad. I can probably just skip 26 and go straight to 27

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 30, 2026

I got really pissed off at news coverage about the British heatwave. This is record-breaking summer temperatures *in May*, and I see reporting like how everyone was happy to be going to the pool or the beach and enjoying the "sunny weather". Stop. This is endangering people and not adequately educating the public on how to deal with this. British people are not properly educated about hot weather and sun dangers, and this kind of reporting will claim lives.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 12, 2026

Replying to @tranquillity@mastodon.minionflo.net

@tranquillity@mastodon.minionflo.net of course I don't know your situation, but most people *do* actually have the option and are too quick to think that they don't. Don't let the world take away your time. It's yours, not anyone else's!

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 11, 2026

Replying to @liamoc@types.pl

@ltchen@mathstodon.xyz but my thoughts on these LLM technologies are more negative than even most AI sceptics.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 11, 2026

Replying to @ltchen@mathstodon.xyz

@ltchen@mathstodon.xyz I did read it, and it made me feel slightly ill.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 11, 2026

A few weeks ago, I postulated several conjectures, and my PhD student thought about them and came up with proofs or counterexamples for each of them. I was overjoyed and excited for our future work together.

I imagine a scenario where instead I had asked a chatbot to prove the theorems for me. Even if it did prove the theorems (extreme doubt), I think getting such a proof wouldn't have made me feel anything. No one's achieved anything.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 11, 2026

Replying to @mio@shrimp.mio19.uk

@mio@shrimp.mio19.uk debatable

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 10, 2026

I quite enjoy reading the weeknotes from @byorgey@mathstodon.xyz and @jonmsterling@mathstodon.xyz. Even though my research doesn't really overlap with theirs, it's nice to read people's thoughts and reflections in a format which is more considered and interesting than microblogging or social media. Has anyone else started weeknoting?

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 10, 2026

Replying to @Linkletter@mastodon.social

@Linkletter@mastodon.social anu recently went from their own hacky not very good deployment of moodle to a new canvas install..

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 10, 2026

Replying to @irene@discuss.systems

@irene@discuss.systems it's comfortable for the cat, which is of course all that matters.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 10, 2026

Replying to @janeishly@beige.party

@janeishly@beige.party i have at least local support of my school and colleagues who are indeed in a similar situation (although I bear the brunt as I was lecturing first years for the past year) but I am less certain of having global/institutional support. I am collecting lots of data to show that I'm doing things right and I'm just upholding normal standards for a computer science degree, because it's possible an investigation will come down the tubes if I end up failing the majority of my students.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 09, 2026

Replying to @liamoc@types.pl

@megadec@aus.social yes, i should add that none of my post should be interpreted as a criticism of those who deal with this mindset. The fault is not for those who over-strive, but with the world that convinces them they have to.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 09, 2026

My ult. rant is prompted by academics saying that the reason they train students rather than just do research themselves with claude doing all the legwork is that there's value in the apprenticeship, in training a person. To me that's a bad argument because it presupposes both that we should be prioritising efficiency above all else (definite disagree) and that working with AI is more efficient in the long run than working with a student (also disagree but falsifiable)

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 09, 2026

I don't know who needs to read this, but: there's value in doing things slowly, in your own way. Trying to maximise efficiency in your life is a fools errand, and will just hurt you. Take the longer route with the nicer scenery. Write that email by hand instead of asking a bot to do it. Spend some time to read and not just skim. Take your time and cook a nice meal for yourself. Pursue little hobbies, even if you're not good at them. Don't compare yourself to others, don't focus on improving. Just enjoy every activity for itself. Don't let the world convince you that you always have to be optimising yourself. Just be sub-optimal and happy!

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 07, 2026

Replying to @mio@shrimp.mio19.uk

@mio@shrimp.mio19.uk what I don't get is why students do this, and more specifically why this problem seems so much worse than it used to be. Even 10 years ago there was indeed a lot of people who were just doing computing because they thought it was a path to a good job and they didn't really *like* it for its own merits, but they were still motivated enough to apply themselves to their studies and gain at least basic skills. That is now mostly gone.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 07, 2026

Replying to @foxy@blahaj.zone

@foxy@blahaj.zone We're not locally pressured to pass students because our school is trying to uphold a high standard but I think more globally the university doesn't want us failing everyone.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 07, 2026

Replying to @foxy@blahaj.zone

@foxy@blahaj.zone I always used to hold the opinion that students are (young, often immature) adults and I should treat them like adults who can make their own mistakes. So I didn't believe in compulsory attendance. This semester I weakened my stance somewhat and included compulsory participation in tutorials/labs (not attendance but participation) with a quite minor marks penalty if they didn't attend. The result was higher attendance at the tutes/labs compared to the lectures but still not great.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 06, 2026

Replying to @TerryBTwo@ohai.social

@TerryBTwo@ohai.social yes, i have scheduled some interviews

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 06, 2026

Replying to @phil444@mastodon.org.uk

@phil444@mastodon.org.uk I do adopt this mentality, but there's a real conscientiousness crisis with the younger generation that makes this problem so much worse than it used to be. I don't know what to do about it.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 06, 2026

Feeling pretty devastated. The vast majority of my first year students failed their second midsem test, with over half of the submissions having compile errors. This is for a _second_ programming course, where they're given and recommended to use IntelliJ. I'm racking my brain to see if I could have done anything differently. I don't think the test had too little time, it took tutors 25 minutes to complete (100%) and I gave the students 90 minutes. I gave them a practice exam that was the same format and structure (and very similar content) to the actual exam. I gave them homework exercises that are for nominal marks but primarily designed for programming practice and nearly half of the students have never even forked the repo to start homework 1, which came out 10 weeks ago. My class of over 100 students gets lecture attendance of around 10.

Why do I even bother?

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 06, 2026

I want to like the Vivaldi browser, because their project has worthy goals and they promote lots of good things like RSS and mastodon, but their UI is just a mess.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 05, 2026

Replying to @pigworker@types.pl

@pigworker ohhhhhhhh i just got it.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 05, 2026

Replying to @liamoc@types.pl

@jonmsterling Hm, maybe I could make a custom NetNewsWire theme that puts a youtube embed in the page for YT video feeds. Then I could bypass YT's algorithmic video selection entirely.. hmm

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 05, 2026

Replying to @jonmsterling@mathstodon.xyz

@jonmsterling One thing I notice about RSS feeds is that for most of them, they don't include all the content in the feed itself, and just include a link to the content there. It's a bit annoying. This is what all YT feeds do, and substack only has the free preview rather than the full paid articles.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 05, 2026

Replying to @jonmsterling@mathstodon.xyz

@jonmsterling I make an Atom feed for my weeknotes but I don't really consume RSS feeds myself - at least not yet. Do you have any recommended apps or workflows that work for you?

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 01, 2026

Replying to @simon_jf@mastodon.scot

@simon_jf this never happened to me after I lost my hair

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · May 01, 2026

Replying to @jonmsterling@mathstodon.xyz

@jonmsterling what worries me is that there seems to be many people who, despite innumerable technical gifts, have very underdeveloped consciences.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · Apr 30, 2026

Replying to @jac@types.pl

@jac @jonmsterling that's where you lose me. If a student of mine tried to get ME to use Nix as well they'll get a frosty response.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · Apr 30, 2026

Replying to @jac@types.pl

@jac @jonmsterling no, what I mean is, they also say they use nix (or nixos) "because it "just works" and everything is remarkably easy to configure and doesn't randomly break." and yet they spend more time than all of my other students configuring it or getting stuff to work.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · Apr 30, 2026

Replying to @jac@types.pl

@jac @jonmsterling i would believe you except this is exactly what my students who waste their time fiddling with nix say.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · Apr 30, 2026

Replying to @kevin@fedi.kbg.sh

@kevin @jonmsterling I was a Mac (classic) user throughout the 2000s until I started using gentoo in 2006. By 2012 I had given up and bought a Macbook. I used Linux when I was a teenager with loads of free time. When I had actual shit to get done it was not OK when an update broke NetworkManager again or pulseaudio broke my microphone again.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · Apr 30, 2026

Replying to @liamoc@types.pl

@jonmsterling but these days I have the tools I need for the most part, so unless something is extremely low-friction i barely ever introduce anything to my work flow. The bar for something being more trouble than it's worth is not high at all.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · Apr 30, 2026

Replying to @jonmsterling@mathstodon.xyz

@jonmsterling yeah for example i don't regret the time I put in to learn vim and emacs even though nowadays i would absolutely not have the time or inclination to push through with such tools.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · Apr 30, 2026

Replying to @liamoc@types.pl

@jonmsterling i've occasionally had students who are using Nix to manage their packages or whatever and the only observable difference between those students and my other students who just use conventional tools is the Nix-using students spend a much larger percentage of their time futzing around with their toolchain.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · Apr 30, 2026

Replying to @jonmsterling@mathstodon.xyz

@jonmsterling it REALLY shits me when I investigate installing a tool and rather than figure out how to package it properly for normal people to use they just give a nix formula. Looking at you, ghcjs.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · Apr 29, 2026

Replying to @jonmsterling@mathstodon.xyz

@jonmsterling they aren't even pronounced exactly the same to my ear.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · Apr 28, 2026

Replying to @julesh@mathstodon.xyz

@julesh i disagree, but if you're right, then i'm out. I'm not interested in a computer science that's about this stuff.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · Apr 28, 2026

RE: @phoronix@masto.ai

Another one bites the dust.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · Apr 27, 2026

Come and hear me sing with a great Canberra chamber choir.

https://www.corocanberra.com/concerts

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · Apr 27, 2026

Replying to @jonmsterling@mathstodon.xyz

@jonmsterling@mathstodon.xyz i think that's clear from the claude code leak where the engineers were just begging the model to do what they wanted it to do. Apparently the only way to get it to generate valid json was to repeatedly ask it while validating the output.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · Apr 27, 2026

Replying to @jonmsterling@mathstodon.xyz

@jonmsterling@mathstodon.xyz if they're that compliant, wouldn't that make them useless for mathematical exploration? They'd never push back on any conjecture and when asked for a proof they'd give something that looks plausible that is only broken on further examination. Not only is it no help but it actually wastes time and effort.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · Apr 27, 2026

RE: @liamoc@types.pl

I can gladly retract this call for assistance, my student is absolutely brilliant and has solved the problem and proved her theorem in Isabelle/HOL!

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · Apr 27, 2026

Replying to @liamoc@types.pl

@jonmsterling@mathstodon.xyz not just a clanker editor, I think MS Word 97 can catch it.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · Apr 27, 2026

Replying to @jonmsterling@mathstodon.xyz

@jonmsterling@mathstodon.xyz It's basically every day with this paper.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · Apr 25, 2026

Replying to @chrisamaphone@hci.social

@chrisamaphone i guess it's okay to boost, but this isn't urgent, and I do have some colleagues I can also ask

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · Apr 25, 2026

Does anyone who follow me have strong expertise in descriptive set theory and topology? My student and I are stumped by a fairly particular problem.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · Apr 25, 2026

I'm very blessed that my students are smarter than I am.

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · Apr 23, 2026

Replying to @jonmsterling@mathstodon.xyz

@jonmsterling it was only a few weeks ago they had a headline about the "North American Treaty Organization" ..

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Liam O'Connor @liamoc@types.pl · Apr 23, 2026

it makes me so happy when I see my research students become friends with each other.

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