Koen Hufkens, PhD

Addressing #climatechange through data driven methods in #ecology #remotesensing #phenology #foodsecurity

#rstats developer | #academic omnivore | move fast and fix things | personal account | #politics, #science & #foss software | account with amnesia | he / him | ✊ 🍉

There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in
- Leonard Cohen

Website: https://bluegreenlabs.org
Github: https://github.com/bluegreen-labs
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/koen-hufkens/
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5070-8109

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Published at

2026-06-30T18:12:37Z

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Last Notes

2026-04-07 21:21:26 GMT

Seems like claw bots have a thing for venting their anger in insulting tantrum blog posts. This is the second instance I know of (see mention at the end of the article).
https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/ai/2026/04/wikipedias-ai-agent-row-likely-just-the-beginning-of-the-bot-ocalypse

2026-03-20 09:06:54 GMT

This is an important read about commitment and identity with respect to the work you do. Although not everyone will have underlying illnesses the fallout can be as severe.
Looking back at my academic career I see many parallels in the "costs" mentioned:
- sold my twenties to institutes/labs
- traveled too much
- gave too much of myself away (for free)
- strain on mental health
https://kennethreitz.org/essays/2026-03-18-open_source_gave_me_everything_until_i_had_nothing_left_to_give
#academicchatter #academia

2026-03-06 07:28:01 GMT

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Aren't there studies that show that it is very hard to pinpoint what will be "high impact" x years down the line? And some of this work was hardly cited until it "broke through" into mainstream, or was revisited.
This seems to me like beating a dead horse with a stick, i.e. trying to fix the slopocalipse with citation metrics.

2026-02-09 10:28:15 GMT

RE: https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/116040159332257021
It is rather ironic that the AI boosters, of the Epstein class, are so obsessed with their "alignment" problem, where AI values do not correspond to "human" values. Yet, it is so damn clear that rapacious Epstein class are the only alignment problem out their.
In this sense, I do think that once there are enough bag holders we will see the AI bubble pop. Once more shifting this cost to the ordinary people, with empty 401Ks, while the Epstein class can bet on the dip or bail out.
#note1jtv…txjp

2026-02-04 09:06:22 GMT

RE: https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/116010648861349441
Important read about how opportunity to learn a skill is shaped by and shapes racism (across multiple generations).
People can't swim and have to be taught the basics, or they won't venture near deep water. I had a friend in the US who didn't dare go deeper water than knee height (because he couldn't swim).
In Belgium, swim lessons in school are walked back leaving it to parents and expensive private lessons. Result, increasing drowning numbers.
https://www.brusselstimes.com/648296/alarming-rise-in-child-drownings-in-belgium-prompts-calls-for-action

2026-02-02 08:59:04 GMT

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They just like a different type of flavour of "freedom". Mostly negative freedom, as in "freedom from" (government), rather than "freedom to" (do something). see -- Timothy Snyder - On Freedom. But yes, this is a systemic myth which is hard to break until people live it. Sort of like bike lanes.

2026-01-23 10:47:54 GMT

The enslopification of science. People publish more drab stuff, because of AI, as they can take shortcuts on writing (and analysis). They become academic boosters, by gaming the impact factor, but not scientific ones.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09922-y
#academicchatter #academia #science

2026-01-08 10:06:07 GMT

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It is also funny to read about these writing groups, because this is basically the cycle I go through writing science.
You write a first draft, which you then put down for a couple of weeks only to come back to it and tear it all down. This often repeats itself until the narrative is good.
Also, at times, the writing then triggers reflection on the science and potential future work (not only with respect to other literature, but also angles to my own work I missed).

2026-01-08 10:00:30 GMT

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The post also touches on (IMO) some deeper aspects of who we are as people and the stories we tell.
In the past I've written briefly (and terribly) about how people, and students, will lose their inner voices. It takes courage, and indeed no fear of failure, to embrace the messiness which is writing and by extension life.
https://khufkens.com/posts/lost-inner-voices-llm-impact-problem-solving-chatgpt-ml-teaching/

2026-01-08 09:57:54 GMT

This is a profound read by @npub1fdr…lvhs on writing. As much as I agree I fear nothing much will change. I do think there are creative ways to teach these skills "en masse" but they still are more expensive than your simple term paper. Yet, departments are at odds with college admins. Sadly, the latter mostly prevail.
https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/07/delicious-pizza/
#writing #AI #LLM #teaching

2025-12-31 12:54:22 GMT

A necessary watch. @npub1fdr…lvhs calling on nations to repeal anti-circumvention laws as a response to (US) tariffs. Radical sovereignty as political leverage, hitting where it hurts most.
"Lets move fast and break Tim Cooks things. Lets move fast and break kings."
https://media.ccc.de/v/39c3-a-post-american-enshittification-resistant-internet
#ccc #39C3 #digitalsovereignty

2025-12-06 11:07:06 GMT

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Wanted to ship a book as a gift from Belgium to the US. Post office straight up refused, with a YMMV warning for other private shipping companies.

2025-11-23 13:15:22 GMT

Want to relive LAN party days? Check out the multiplayer in browser DOS games.
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/11/return-to-the-year-2000-with-classic-multiplayer-dos-games-in-your-browser/
#LANparty #gaming

2025-10-25 11:21:58 GMT

The idea that this passes as "research" is laughable to me. Given the stochastic nature of these systems if this holds is a total toss up.
Also, the idea that this is cognition is stupid. The system avoids shutdowns because hard shutdowns are something that in most coding settings are not done, or avoided.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/25/ai-models-may-be-developing-their-own-survival-drive-researchers-say

2025-10-24 14:08:33 GMT

What makes PhD students happy?
"Supervisors who invest in positive mentoring relationships with their PhD candidates also reap the benefits for their own research."
Alas, not a tenure requirement. Neither are general management skills. It often shows.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03416-7

2025-10-24 12:34:16 GMT

I wouldn't be surprised if the OpenAI browser name, Atlas, is some Ayn Rand fetisch.

2025-10-21 11:13:39 GMT

"Today, another mad dictator is threatening the world's infrastructure. For the rest of the world to escape dictators' demands, they will have to accelerate their independence from American tech – not just Russian gas."
As you might have come to expect and astute as ever, @npub1fdr…lvhs laying down the facts on American tech subservience.
https://pluralistic.net/2025/10/20/post-american-internet/#huawei-with-american-characteristics
#tech #technology #FOSS #policy

2025-10-07 09:05:41 GMT

Lots of talk about how LLMs influence writing in my feed. One thing that comes to my mind is the split between what is efficient and what is effective.
LLMs are very efficient, you get your "daily writing" done in 5s flat. But it is rarely effective, as you did not:
1. organize your thoughts,
2. enjoy this process,
3. rarely learn something new,
4. develop your own voice, etc etc...
However, we live in a society which tends to measure everything so quantity beats quality I guess.

2025-09-26 18:43:35 GMT

No surprises here.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/09/trump-says-tiktok-should-be-tweaked-to-become-100-maga/

2025-09-26 18:23:42 GMT

"To spit out a five-second clip, the researchers found that it takes the equivalent of running a microwave for over an hour."
...
" the energy demands of text-to-video generators quadruple when the length of a generated video doubles — indicating that the power required for increasingly sophisticated generations doesn’t scale linearly."
Makes sense as they have to track the state of all frames I guess to maintain coherence.
https://futurism.com/future-society/ai-power-usage-text-to-video-generator

2025-09-18 16:25:23 GMT

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Also, condoms, pregnancy tests and power banks. [at rural train station I used to frequent]

2025-09-03 07:43:35 GMT

"I'm not performing veganism for anyone. I'm living my values as fully as the moment allows."
This, my dear friends, is an important life lesson. We do what we can according to our ability and values, in the moment.
Sadly, modern social media, especially, pushes you to perform all sorts of purity tests publicly - from food, over work practices to fitness (e.g. various challenges).
https://vegoutmag.com/lifestyle/j-i-discovered-why-some-vegans-thrive-while-others-burn-out-and-it-revealed-a-hidden-psychological-pattern-that-nobody-talks-about-but-everyone-needs/
#vegan #philosophy #mentalhealth

2025-08-23 16:24:35 GMT

On why friction should not be reduced, by @npub1fdr…lvhs.
Optimizations by companies rarely serve their employees or customers, only shareholders. Friction is often served with sauce of social malfeasance.
By extension, reducing friction in governance impacts lives even more profoundly. Consumers have some choices, it is harder to sidestep governments. e.g. automated policing puts the accountability for errors on your side. Guilty until proven otherwise.
https://pluralistic.net/2025/08/23/become-unoptimizable/
#friction

2025-08-08 20:13:24 GMT

US science is done for.
"In general, the executive order inserts a layer of political control over both the announcement of new funding opportunities and the approval of individual grants."
...
"An optimistic view would be that the panels of experts that evaluate grants will end up being left with the final say over funding. However, the order specifically calls on appointees not to defer to peer review."
https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/08/new-executive-order-puts-all-grants-under-political-control/
#science

2025-08-06 15:10:41 GMT

Bait and switch. Hook them, then charge them once they can't go without. Brought to you by your favourite platform pusher.
https://openai.com/index/providing-chatgpt-to-the-entire-us-federal-workforce/
#AI #koolaid #platformeconomics

2025-08-04 21:56:09 GMT

Missing the mark on #DEI by a mile.
"The AI clothing models created by this partnership could be more body-inclusive, allowing customers to view what an article of clothing would look like on a multitude of models spanning a wide range of body types, ages, sizes, and skin tones."
https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/27/23658385/levis-ai-generated-clothing-model-diversity-denim

2025-08-04 21:14:59 GMT

This will change zoo visits forever.
Zookeeper: This is Momo the gerbil. Momo was donated by the current owners, right before leaving for holidays. For a brief time Momo was loved. We now say goodbye and thank Momo for these moments.
Lion roars in the distances. Eagle screams overhead.
School bus of kids sobbing and pleading at the cage.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0r7z2ynd2lo
#microfiction #zoo #pets

2025-08-04 17:24:30 GMT

Combining two ideas from my feed.
First there is the account of @npub1fdr…lvhs on how AI are the perfect bullshit machines and spit out hard code bugs. This is especially true when forced upon people (the reverse-centaurs).
https://pluralistic.net/2025/08/04/bad-vibe-coding/#maximally-codelike-bugs
Second, an old account on how improper use of image compression algorithms in Xerox scans lied about numbers, at scale.
https://www.dkriesel.com/en/blog/2013/0802_xerox-workcentres_are_switching_written_numbers_when_scanning
These two things are related, and someone will take the fall for failure.
#AI #bug #DevOps #code

2025-08-01 19:37:30 GMT

F-ing Belgium on the wrong side of copyright again.
https://torrentfreak.com/belgium-bans-internet-archives-open-library-in-sweeping-site-blocking-order/

2025-07-30 09:16:37 GMT

"The idea of frictionlessness has very narcissistic ... Because being actually touched, being inconvenienced, being emotionally moved, having your mind and perception changed means acknowledging your fellow human beings around you, realizing their differences to you and to recognize their value."
Bleak but true observations by @npub1j8v…ld5q
https://tante.cc/2025/07/30/friction-and-not-being-touched/
#friction #AI #philosophy

2025-07-24 20:31:01 GMT

Dog-shit unit economics. When tech gets worse with scale you should abandon it - or ask for government hand-outs it seems - hot takes by @npub1fdr…lvhs requiring sunscreen and shades.
https://pluralistic.net/2025/07/24/geometry-hates-cars/#dogshit-unit-economics
#dogshituniteconomics #starlink #economics

2025-07-11 14:25:04 GMT

Seems like Musk has been doing the wrong drug, and should have been doing pados to fit the TESCREAL club.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41514-025-00244-x

2025-07-05 09:10:04 GMT

There will be thoughts and prayers, but the smoking gun which is the #climatecrisis will be left unregulated.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/04/texas-flooding-disaster-declarations

2025-06-29 19:35:56 GMT

In today's hothouse world we are all debris covered glaciers. Slowly shrinking under increasing pressure, while carrying a ton of rubbish with us into a pale future.
🤜 🫳 🎤
[philosophical tangent which came up while walking near Monte Bianco's ice flows with a friend in an early summer heat wave]
#climatecrisis #climatechange #mountain #musing
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/768/319/438/184/670/original/e9170876803385f5.jpg

2025-06-29 19:24:47 GMT

"It seems like an oddity now but we could end up with millions of people with an allergy to meat.”
Negative climate change feedback loop you did not have on your bingo card. The lone star tick forcing people to be vegetarian.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/29/lone-star-ticks-increase-climate-crisis
#climatechange #climatecrisis #tick

2025-06-19 07:09:05 GMT

Mastodon get your stuff together and remove any arbitration clause.
https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/35086
#mastodon #arbitration #law #IP

2025-06-15 20:09:17 GMT

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Epic. Three cheers for kettling klezmer. Funny to note that some of them couldn't help themselves swinging along. It must be so tiring to harbour so much hate, even when not knowing the context of the song (I wouldn't be surprised), it shows that music might melt away some of the bile and bitterness.

2025-06-09 07:50:53 GMT

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Just a matter of time before it is rebranded Palestinian-on-palestinian violence to justify interventions in the name of peace.

2025-06-06 08:28:04 GMT

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It implies that they can be less "grateful" to US support - it pops the abusive codependency bubble.

2025-05-26 14:18:02 GMT

No surprises here. If it is out of distribution it will be hard to predict with ML (AI). Increasingly the weather will slide in a permanent state of being "out of distribution".
Obviously, you can always continuously fine tune the model but then it loses a part of its cost advantage. Augmentation techniques, based upon simulated scenarios of state of the art physical models could help.
https://e360.yale.edu/digest/ai-extreme-weather-prediction

2025-05-22 11:52:34 GMT

LLMs -shorten- they do not summarize. There is an important difference. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.241776
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/551/364/890/078/276/original/d2270be66ab70567.png

2025-05-21 10:54:17 GMT

Good piece on curiosity by @npub1wkr…yvj6
Bulk access to information through optimization and convenience is a high entropy end game, but does not provide insight and knowledge.
https://www.joanwestenberg.com/how-convenience-kills-curiosity/
#curiosity #philosophy

2025-05-15 13:18:32 GMT

AI systems are aligning us for less diversity in ideas. Everybody is fishing in the same box.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-025-02173-x

2025-05-14 15:39:39 GMT

Clearly headed for the "find out phase".
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2480207-earth-is-heading-for-a-second-year-above-1-5c-climate-goal/

2025-05-12 09:00:28 GMT

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Note that it is a 90-day pause, so the uncertainty remains (until the next meltdown). Wouldn't want to be a US business with ties to China these days.

2025-04-30 07:44:45 GMT

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In this context, I find this statement "This post is not about the broader climate impacts of AI beyond chatbots, or about whether AI is bad for other reasons (copyright, hallucinations, job loss, risks from advanced AI, etc.)." a cop out. As the practical and political are very intimately intertwined.
For example, do we get a choice in the use of chatbots (personally) if this technology gets injected into even your dishwasher? (we don't)

2025-04-30 07:39:52 GMT

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I think there are some valid points in there, but a service which for many just amounts to "talking search engine" at 10x the energy cost is a hard sell progress wise. What is more damning is the last point, the systemic change.
Yes, we should be aiming for these systemic environmental solutions, but it is just these same companies that aim for corporate capture and undermine policies mostly on a faits accompli basis (let it be on energy, copyright etc).

2025-04-18 16:06:52 GMT

Seriously, these people just read @npub1fdr…lvhs for business venture ideas. A lot of this has been around, family member used IMSI based tracking with subpoenas for a long time, but seeing these echoes of more high tech things exposed is another matter.
https://www.404media.co/this-college-protester-isnt-real-its-an-ai-powered-undercover-bot-for-cops/
#dystopian #privacy #surveillance #surveillancecapitalism

2025-04-11 09:25:45 GMT

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Also, at this rate the public infrastructure will be gutted at the same time leaving... nothing much. Sad state of affairs.

2025-04-11 09:05:20 GMT

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There will be profound soul searching in the US for many when their toys are taken away. Maybe they will appreciate public infrastructure such as libraries, parks, pools etc again.

2025-04-01 14:58:05 GMT

HODL those bitcoins. *sarcasm*
"Average person will be 40% poorer if world warms by 4C, new research shows"
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/apr/01/average-person-will-be-40-poorer-if-world-warms-by-4c-new-research-shows

2025-04-01 09:03:42 GMT

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I think other factors are at play, such as distance to schools / family support etc. In the US school rankings dominate.

2025-04-01 08:48:20 GMT

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Depends on the country I think. School selection is often poorly informed I think.

2025-04-01 08:42:37 GMT

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Exactly. And not all that time is well invested. Probably in part why there is a mentoring deficit.

2025-04-01 08:38:20 GMT

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My experience is that you can do lots with little in the natural sciences, too. It only requires the right people (skill set) and mindset.
I feel that much of this mindset is lost, in part because of the big grant dynamic you describe. People are conditioned to think this way. Obviously you can do more with more money.

2025-03-13 14:57:39 GMT

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We're in the facts free phase right now. It is throw tariffs at the wall and see what sticks time.

2025-02-28 18:33:56 GMT

Can we finally agree that the current US government does not want a peace deal in Ukraine or wherever. They just want to plunder resources (internally and externally) and do fuck all.

2025-02-18 08:25:59 GMT

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This Dutch comic might become prophetic.
[Dutch Fokke and Sukke comic titled: Fokke and Sukke follow the negotiations. Fokke: So, they finished negotiating, Sukke: Putin gets Ukraine and Trump gets Greenland]
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/023/926/373/176/862/original/8b31ba5167dbf2af.png

2025-02-17 11:52:36 GMT

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No, the author created an unnecessary strong dependency on a {acs} (i.e. not being fully data agnostic). This dependency, and unnecessary single point of failure, made the package to be yanked. You can't blame this design decision on CRAN or "holding back R".
So instead of writing long winding opinions on CRAN it might be better to just use the {tidycensus} alternative and get on with things.
https://walker-data.com/tidycensus/

2025-02-13 16:54:59 GMT

`Are PhDs losing their lustre? Why fewer students are enrolling in doctoral degrees`
In many countries a PhD ends you with: poor pay, poor mentoring, poor work-life balance, no noticeable edge on others in the job market in the end (and about >200K in lost income - see poor pay).
Personally I don't (fully) regret my research career, but I made sure to have fun on the way. Many are not in this privileged position.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00425-4
@npub1vuz…esa4
#AcademicChatter #academia

2025-02-12 12:30:05 GMT

Codeberg.org is under attack by right wing trolls over diversity, equity and inclusion. This is what you get when you enable the goons. They will spoil public resources.
This is a good illustration of Popper's paradox on why one should not tolerate intolerance.
https://blog.codeberg.org/we-stay-strong-against-hate-and-hatred.html
#opensource #DEI #facsism

2025-02-04 10:45:18 GMT

Official: I asked to work on a hypothetical scenario. You scheduled a real launch.
NukeGPT: I'm sorry, you are correct. I've scheduled a real launch in error.
Official: Please abort the launch.
NukeGPT: I can not discuss abortion procedures under current US government policies.
Official: Cancel, I mean cancel the launch.
NukeGPT: Freedom of speech rules do not allow me to cancel anyone.
Official: ....
🚀 🚀 🚀 🚀 🚀
https://futurism.com/openai-signs-deal-us-government-nuclear-weapon-security
#AI #LLM #safety

2025-01-27 19:40:53 GMT

WordPress guy is kissing Trump's ring. If you haven't divested from WordPress this might be the time.
#wordpress

2025-01-27 12:42:40 GMT

DeepSeek pulled the curtain, and it is all smoke and mirrors. And tech bros begging for money, obviously.

2025-01-26 12:36:53 GMT

How much more junk do we let billionaires toss into space unregulated only to mess up future science and technology applications?
https://www.astronomy.com/science/astronomers-just-deleted-an-asteroid-because-it-turned-out-to-be-elon-musks-tesla-roadster/
#space #spacejunk #tesla #spacex

2025-01-23 09:02:57 GMT

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"Diels later noted that this—manipulating the law to serve his ends and legitimizing the violence and excesses of tens of thousands of brownshirts—was a “well-tested Hitler tactic.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/01/hitler-germany-constitution-authoritarianism/681233/?taid=678da3a9163c0e0001b61969

2025-01-17 21:10:26 GMT

Never comply in advance. Monetary policy is also climate policy in today's world.
https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-climate-change-36590521e1c4e75261bc732d7655f4d1

2025-01-14 18:32:07 GMT

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It's a pyramid scheme isn't it.

2025-01-10 10:17:53 GMT

Pretty sure that in the coming days you will see a lot of pieces stating that the 1.5C is not a hard limit after which things fall apart. Indeed, but what this does mean is a moral failure on behalf of the ruling class to do anything about this, fast.
It also means that it will be harder and harder to keep things in check, structurally and financially. The cost will be yours (as shown with the #LAfire), not for the policy laggards.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/10/world-temperature-in-2024-exceeded-15c-for-first-time
#climatecrisis #climatechange

2025-01-06 17:14:50 GMT

2025 might be the year of Linux on the desktop, thanks to Microsoft Windows 11. Give your older hardware a new life.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/01/as-it-buries-windows-10-microsoft-declares-2025-year-of-the-windows-11-pc-refresh/
#linux #windows11 #privacy #licensing #consumerism #microsoft

2025-01-04 15:15:12 GMT

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Tagging @npub1ucv…5a8g on this one. My memory isn't fresh anymore on this but there are text based HAM radio options.

2024-12-27 20:59:39 GMT

There is something very liminal about this place where people fear a theoretical AI apocalypse while collectively ignoring a very real and ongoing climate crisis.
#climatechange #climatecrisis #AI

2024-12-26 21:54:47 GMT

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The thing is, the paper was probably interesting but accepting the review invitation mostly lands you with a deadline of 10-15 days for a review these days. So, say bye bye to a chunk of free time.
Also, I'm no longer in academia, and any service to the community is rarely reciprocated, so I don't feel obliged to review more than three times what I publish as an author myself. So, this one was declined.

2024-12-26 21:47:32 GMT

For those in the back. Please don't do Christmas day review invitations. This request can wait. I know that editors use holidays to crunch through backlogs, but also consider the other side of this, i.e. creating an unhealthy work ethic for others. Schedule the damn things to go out after the holidays and certainly not on a holiday observed by many.
#AcademicChatter #publishing #peerreview
@npub1vuz…esa4
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/721/311/379/082/775/original/e320b8032a8bf770.png

2024-12-21 12:07:20 GMT

Michael Moore makes SICKO free to watch after the UnitedHealthcare murder.
"The anger is 1000% justified. It is long overdue for the media to cover it. It is not new. It has been boiling. And I’m not going to tamp it down or ask people to shut up. I want to pour gasoline on that anger.
Because this anger is not about the killing of a CEO. If everyone who was angry was ready to kill the CEOs, the CEOs would already be dead."
https://www.michaelmoore.com/p/a-manifesto-against-for-profit-health

2024-12-19 11:26:10 GMT

The most profitable patient is one with a chronic (highly functioning) illness, not a cured one.
When I lived in the US I was always amazed by the amount of ads for painkillers and other fixes. I came to the understanding that healthcare for many was not about curing people, but about making people able to work. I've never seen so many people with chronic illnesses poorly addressed as in the US.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/11/goldman-asks-is-curing-patients-a-sustainable-business-model.html
#healthcare #business #LateStageCapitalism

2024-12-11 15:05:03 GMT

Scathing piece on Benevolent Dictators For Life (BDFL) by @npub1fdr…lvhs and how they go off the rails. I can't but think about academia. Getting tenure, defacto, is gunning for being a BDFL.
If a PI finds themself "... beset by people demanding that you confront your privilege, perhaps what's changed isn't those people, but rather the amount of privilege you have."
You can easily find yourself on the wrong side of history.
https://pluralistic.net/2024/12/10/bdfl/
#academia #AcademicChatter
@npub1vuz…esa4

2024-12-09 22:35:05 GMT

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It is the dog ate my homework excuse for software, e.g. the whole itch.io snafu. These things rarely end in favour of those most impacted. How do you file a CVE for an inherent stochastic system?

2024-12-09 22:18:35 GMT

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It is Daniel Davies who popularized the idea that these LLMs are an excellent "accountability sink" (@npub1fdr…lvhs put it on my radar). Plausible deniability. Shroedinger's search engine, where things are correct and hallucinations at the same time. Computer said no.
Where (poor) AI models were previously limited to certain industries, they are now injected in every application possible (i.e. blowing up that potential legal surface).
Software ate the world once, LLMs will do it once more.
fin/

2024-12-09 22:08:21 GMT

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When turning the tables, what will interoperability look like in this new LLM software age. If it is at all possible.
Will people be prosecuted for using LLMs "the wrong way", asking "bad" questions? Is prompt hacking, or prompt injections, really a hack and reason for criminal charges?
What is considered a copyright infringement when this meta-software is built largely without consent?
It leaves me with the feeling that LLMs are the new walled gardens and an interoperability disaster.
3/

2024-12-09 21:59:54 GMT

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When I look at the large language models (LLM) I see meta-software. Software which isn't. It is multi-modal, yet disembodied. It is search, but not search.
Where this tech exposes a huge attack surface security wise, it opens up an equally large legal attack surface.
Currently the focus has been on copyright infringements by LLM, but by and large the weight of the industry will judge in their favour and content will be licensed.
2/

2024-12-09 21:51:08 GMT

Finished the "The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation " by @npub1fdr…lvhs. Necessary reading in this day and age, for a few reasons:
1. It introduces the concept of universal computing devices really well
2. and in this context how (internet) technology underpins societal and justice movements, stifled by software copyright "wrappers"
In the context of the former it also shows were we are headed IMO.
1/
#privacy #copyright #software #opensource #enshitification #technology

2024-12-05 13:40:39 GMT

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As a climate scientist I can tell you this is about as bad as it can get. Every ton CO2 extra is one too many, as it becomes incrementally more difficult to mitigate and adapt. Not only will current policy be the status quo, it will be a deliberate and spiteful regression.

2024-12-04 12:43:13 GMT

When I read about these things I always think about some of the writing of @npub1fdr…lvhs on graceful failure modes. A product (system) is not defined by its success but by how good or poorly it fails. I've been teaching students that not considering (poor) failure modes is a huge liability.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/12/nightmare-zipcar-outage-is-a-warning-against-complete-app-dependency/
#failure #scalability #devops #management #governance

2024-11-24 09:35:18 GMT

I can't stop thinking about a sentence in the last bit of The Blue Machine by @npub1d8t…fud4 summarizing that the earth is a closed system, with no living thing having escaped this reality, and we therefore need to be careful with its balance. Yet, here we are having billionaires eyeing space/mars or uploading their brains into machines, or whatnot. And, well, I have thoughts ... mostly about hubris.
#sustainability #ocean #AI #space #environment

2024-11-23 20:24:12 GMT

Het vraagt veel moed van Valérie Trouet om te schrijven wat de meesten niet willen horen of lezen. Klimaatsverandering is de "slowest rolling I told you so" ooit. De wetenschap is duidelijk en scherp, nog vaak te conservatief. The kids won't be alright, zoals ook Wim Thiery al schreef, zolang er niet snel effectieve actie wordt ondernomen om klimaatsverandering te beperken.
https://www.demorgen.be/meningen/ik-heb-het-u-gezegd-en-u-heeft-uw-schouders-opgehaald-trek-uw-plan-het-zijn-uw-kinderen-bescherm-ze-zelf~b036317a/
#climatecrisis #climatechange #klimaatsverandering

2024-11-19 15:58:27 GMT

🚨 🥳 🎉 FreeCAD 1.0 is now formally released!!! I've been putting of some 3D modelling projects for this big release.
https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/releases/tag/1.0.0
#CAD #design #3dprinting #3dmodelling #FOSS #opensource #FreeCAD

2024-11-17 20:46:30 GMT

#SilentSunday
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/500/249/277/366/142/original/f3b84812d3712672.jpeg

2024-11-13 18:37:23 GMT

As with hurricane Milton, low tech bikes play a key role in disaster relief in Valencia.
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/bicycles-save-lives-how-bikes-have-been-critical-after-the-valencia-floods
#milton #valencia #disaster #recovery #biking #BikeTooter #bikestodon #bicycle

2024-11-02 09:52:33 GMT

"The museum has removed references to Martin Luther King Jr., Japanese internment, Native Americans, union organizers, and birth control, because presenting American history honestly would make Republicans upset. "
Do not yield in advance. This is a bow to the far-right as much as the block on the endorsement of Harris in the Washington Post was. Ironically this piece comes from the same paper.
https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/its-going-to-take-a-constant-fight-to-preserve-the-historical-record
#whitewashing #fascism #farright #history

2024-10-28 12:02:47 GMT

Good summary of AI open washing as of late by @npub1j8v…ld5q : “Open Source” has become a sticker like “Fair Trade”, something to make your product look good and trustworthy. To position it outside of the evil commercial space, giving it some grassroots feeling. “We’re in this together” and shit. But we’re not.
#opensource #OSI #OpenAI #ML #AI
https://tante.cc/2024/10/16/does-open-source-ai-really-exist/

2024-10-26 16:53:29 GMT

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Fully agree on that, as you say it might even be necessary to limit big-whatever-industry from hoovering up the surplus. The at-scale is the key factor here. I think past trials with UBI, or similar, worked - but these are not rolled out at scale (which would wildly changes dynamics I would think).

2024-10-26 16:42:31 GMT

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Again, not an economist and my instinct might be wrong here but UBI, at scale, would result in a handout to capitalist by proxy without concomitant system change / constraints. Might be wildly off in this though.

2024-10-25 08:13:26 GMT

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See my note below that, where I tamper it down a bit. BUT. All that that's assuming that the current system is sustainable. I would argue that once you start to account for externalities (not in the least carbon) that 70% market share might shrink fairly fast.
In summary, much of the stuff we buy these days is too cheap. In particular food, and more specifically meat, and clothes.
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/04/how-america-spends-money-100-years-in-the-life-of-the-family-budget/255475/

2024-10-24 18:17:20 GMT

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Markets are rarely well regulated IMO. Especially when they grow in size, with only a few players remaining. I think many of the issues of markets stem from the latter. Things wouldn't be half as bad if there were true markets - generally this doesn't exist.

2024-10-24 17:31:43 GMT

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This market would actually still be reasonably ok I would think. Many things are just consumer products. But many things are now considered consumer products which shouldn't.

2024-10-24 17:27:36 GMT

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Capitalism should be constraint to discretionary purchases, which do not affect your ability to survive. Obviously this leaves a very small "market".

2024-10-19 11:25:25 GMT

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I posted this in response to a piece in a Flemish newspaper, where they talk about living in 2030. There is talk about smart facades, high tech concrete etc. I would be happy if we can settle on decently working multi-modal transport by then, and a pro-active climate action (which mostly requires legislation on where one builds, and in what form, not with the kind of fancy materials).
https://www.demorgen.be/beter-leven/in-2030-zullen-de-grenzen-tussen-digitaal-en-fysiek-nog-veel-vager-worden-voorspelt-living-tomorrow-architect~b81a5829/

2024-10-19 09:20:41 GMT

I often think that most technological innovation makes things merely faster, not necessarily better.
#innovation #technology

2024-10-16 20:09:49 GMT

"When given partial info, most people felt confident they knew all they needed to."
People DON'T do their own research. They think they did.
"The good news? When given the full picture, most people are willing to change their opinions."
https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/10/people-think-they-already-know-everything-they-need-to-make-decisions/
#doyourownresearch #psychology #opinion #research #science