D. Hicks
@danhicks.bsky.social
philosopher turned data scientist turned philosopher. enviro policy, data science, phil sci/STS, lefty stuff. UC Merced. they/them. Signal: danhicks.50
Pinned
D. Hicks
@danhicks.bsky.social
· Nov 30
This is a thread to illustrate the nuclear block. I'm going to reply with a throwaway account, then block it, and screenshot the results from my alt account.
Reposted by D. Hicks
Coming this May. A documentary about WEB Du Bois - www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kMs...
W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause | Official Trailer | American Masters | PBS
YouTube video by American Masters PBS
www.youtube.com
February 16, 2026 at 3:03 PM
Coming this May. A documentary about WEB Du Bois - www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kMs...
Reposted by D. Hicks
Attenborough is fine and all but I'd watch more bird docs if they were narrated with the vivacity and honesty of Banditelli
Wow I was STRUGGLING to describe the scene at the LA River in Long Beach today.
Totally off my game.
🪶
Totally off my game.
🪶
February 17, 2026 at 2:09 AM
Attenborough is fine and all but I'd watch more bird docs if they were narrated with the vivacity and honesty of Banditelli
Reposted by D. Hicks
Who up continvoucly morging they bugfixes
February 16, 2026 at 11:07 PM
Who up continvoucly morging they bugfixes
Reposted by D. Hicks
I thenk thay meant me
February 16, 2026 at 10:50 PM
I thenk thay meant me
Reposted by D. Hicks
Public Access is coming to Kickstarter in March. We want to give this game the best possible chance, so please sign up for prelaunch and help spread the word!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/gau...
www.kickstarter.com/projects/gau...
Coming soon: Public Access Analog Horror Mystery TTRPG
From the creator of Brindlewood Bay and The Between, Public Access is a roleplaying game inspired by analog and found footage horror!
www.kickstarter.com
February 16, 2026 at 3:46 PM
Public Access is coming to Kickstarter in March. We want to give this game the best possible chance, so please sign up for prelaunch and help spread the word!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/gau...
www.kickstarter.com/projects/gau...
Reposted by D. Hicks
I've heard this position articulated by a lot of people, but I think this is hard to make precise. Much of this tracks a problem we already know in science: standards of authorship are not stable and there are many difficult edge cases.
Consider these cases...
Consider these cases...
Seeing ppl debate how to deal with paper submissions that are partly written by “AI”. Why are we having that conversation?
I would refuse to review or edit any paper that was not 100% written by its authors (i.e., the people who have authorial responsibility for the creation of a papers content).
I would refuse to review or edit any paper that was not 100% written by its authors (i.e., the people who have authorial responsibility for the creation of a papers content).
February 16, 2026 at 8:58 PM
I've heard this position articulated by a lot of people, but I think this is hard to make precise. Much of this tracks a problem we already know in science: standards of authorship are not stable and there are many difficult edge cases.
Consider these cases...
Consider these cases...
Reposted by D. Hicks
I agree that if democrats take control of the house in 2026 they should starve ICE/CBP of funding, as republicans successfully did with the IRS when they took control of the house in 2022
ICE/CBP have gone unfunded for 3 days; how about 3 years? The best way to claw back the $170 billion immigration enforcement surge in the Big Beautiful Bill is to just claw it back. The 2nd-best way is to slowly drain it by never funding the underlying appropriation. @ryanlcooper.com makes the case:
The Case for Keeping ICE and CBP Defunded - The American Prospect
Democrats should not provide one thin dime to MAGA storm troopers.
prospect.org
February 16, 2026 at 7:46 PM
I agree that if democrats take control of the house in 2026 they should starve ICE/CBP of funding, as republicans successfully did with the IRS when they took control of the house in 2022
Two super interesting ways of reading this as an academic researcher: if the code is your statistical analysis, and if you replace "code" with "literature review" in the intro
The mainstream conversation around AI agents is stuck on "AI slop."
There's more to it: we can use cheap agent code to do quality-raising work that didn't make economic sense before.
What's viable now that writing code isn't the primary bottleneck?
lpalmieri.com/posts/agenti...
There's more to it: we can use cheap agent code to do quality-raising work that didn't make economic sense before.
What's viable now that writing code isn't the primary bottleneck?
lpalmieri.com/posts/agenti...
Can agentic coding raise the quality bar?
Five examples of using agentic coding to improve software quality, instead of delivery throughput.
lpalmieri.com
February 16, 2026 at 8:17 PM
Two super interesting ways of reading this as an academic researcher: if the code is your statistical analysis, and if you replace "code" with "literature review" in the intro
Reposted by D. Hicks
In the case of statistical meta-science, if your toy model predicts a certain curve under "ideal" research practices, and you find a different curve, it's possible that the curve derived from undergraduate probability has nothing to do with scientific practice.
February 16, 2026 at 6:21 PM
In the case of statistical meta-science, if your toy model predicts a certain curve under "ideal" research practices, and you find a different curve, it's possible that the curve derived from undergraduate probability has nothing to do with scientific practice.
Reposted by D. Hicks
If you are wondering what words the all-male Congress found so "blasphemous" that they felt compelled to literally scrape them off the monument, they were: ''Woman, first denied a soul, then called mindless, now arisen, declared herself an entity to be reckoned.''
On this day in 1921, Congress reluctantly accepted a sculpture memorializing women’s 19th A victory. Congress relegated the memorial to the Capitol’s crypt & painted over the feminist inscription. The statue stayed entombed in the crypt for 76 years. The inscription is still not restored. #WeTheMen
February 16, 2026 at 4:35 PM
If you are wondering what words the all-male Congress found so "blasphemous" that they felt compelled to literally scrape them off the monument, they were: ''Woman, first denied a soul, then called mindless, now arisen, declared herself an entity to be reckoned.''
Reposted by D. Hicks
Beyond Kuhn and Feyerabend -- read Mary Hesse!
aeon.co/essays/why-a...
aeon.co/essays/why-a...
February 16, 2026 at 12:04 PM
Beyond Kuhn and Feyerabend -- read Mary Hesse!
aeon.co/essays/why-a...
aeon.co/essays/why-a...
Reposted by D. Hicks
They want to scare people out of posting ICE-critical content, because they know these posts are turning even their supporters against them. But the better option is to take a page out of their playbook and flood the zone.
Posting about ICE on Instagram is now enough to get you an “administrative subpoena.” 👀
@nytimes.com #$META
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...
@nytimes.com #$META
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...
February 16, 2026 at 1:49 PM
They want to scare people out of posting ICE-critical content, because they know these posts are turning even their supporters against them. But the better option is to take a page out of their playbook and flood the zone.
Reposted by D. Hicks
Right; they will not. The idea that the only check on a lawless president must be a supermajority in Congress against him is a recipe for enduring autocratization in a two-party duopoly
February 16, 2026 at 2:26 PM
Right; they will not. The idea that the only check on a lawless president must be a supermajority in Congress against him is a recipe for enduring autocratization in a two-party duopoly
Reposted by D. Hicks
We should be VERY SUPPORTIVE of a norm that "congressional confidence" in members of an administration matters, a lot.
Parliamentarism, in which executives are dismissible by the legislature, grows out of this basic idea by becoming more and more authoritative.
Parliamentarism, in which executives are dismissible by the legislature, grows out of this basic idea by becoming more and more authoritative.
ABC: Do you still have confidence in Pam Bondi as AG?
MASSIE: I don't think Pam Bondi has confidence in Pam Bondi. She wasn't confident enough to engage in anything but name calling in a hearing. So no, I don't. She was responsible for the document production.
MASSIE: I don't think Pam Bondi has confidence in Pam Bondi. She wasn't confident enough to engage in anything but name calling in a hearing. So no, I don't. She was responsible for the document production.
February 16, 2026 at 1:52 PM
We should be VERY SUPPORTIVE of a norm that "congressional confidence" in members of an administration matters, a lot.
Parliamentarism, in which executives are dismissible by the legislature, grows out of this basic idea by becoming more and more authoritative.
Parliamentarism, in which executives are dismissible by the legislature, grows out of this basic idea by becoming more and more authoritative.
I was gone for three days
February 16, 2026 at 1:48 AM
I was gone for three days
Reposted by D. Hicks
I think we're almost there to having the right opinions about LLMs on this Website. If we just post between 500,000 and 1,000,000 more times about whether they are bad or good actually I think we'll solve it
February 15, 2026 at 10:42 PM
I think we're almost there to having the right opinions about LLMs on this Website. If we just post between 500,000 and 1,000,000 more times about whether they are bad or good actually I think we'll solve it
Reposted by D. Hicks
One week from today! VOD will be available after.
I'm going to be doing some short classes for the Ad Astra Institute! First up, How to Not Do Eugenics with Speculative Biology! It's a brief primer on the history of race science and eugenics with suggestions on how to avoid fantasy or science fiction racism. adastra-sf.com/courses.htm#...
February 14, 2026 at 6:57 PM
One week from today! VOD will be available after.
Reposted by D. Hicks
Yah, im tha lorge boy, tha bigg guy
February 16, 2026 at 1:35 AM
Yah, im tha lorge boy, tha bigg guy
Reposted by D. Hicks
I'll be honest, this isn't about AI at all, it's about the increased expectations of productivity put on tech workers due to a declining rate of profit. all these new tech cos have sky high 9/9/6 expectations for workers; AI is, like all things, just a convenient proxy for exploitation.
Token Anxiety
i think i mostly echo this for myself. with so much that can be done, i often feel like i *should* be doing something, always
i think i mostly echo this for myself. with so much that can be done, i often feel like i *should* be doing something, always
February 15, 2026 at 6:32 PM
I'll be honest, this isn't about AI at all, it's about the increased expectations of productivity put on tech workers due to a declining rate of profit. all these new tech cos have sky high 9/9/6 expectations for workers; AI is, like all things, just a convenient proxy for exploitation.
Reposted by D. Hicks
Mother: so you run a school?
Charles Xavier: a school for gifted youngsters, like Timothy
Mother: but it’s a real school right?
Xavier: oh my yes
Mother: so he won’t be trained to kill
Xavier: oh no he certainly will
Mother: but he won’t actually have to do it
Xavier: oh no he certainly will
Charles Xavier: a school for gifted youngsters, like Timothy
Mother: but it’s a real school right?
Xavier: oh my yes
Mother: so he won’t be trained to kill
Xavier: oh no he certainly will
Mother: but he won’t actually have to do it
Xavier: oh no he certainly will
February 15, 2026 at 6:36 PM
Mother: so you run a school?
Charles Xavier: a school for gifted youngsters, like Timothy
Mother: but it’s a real school right?
Xavier: oh my yes
Mother: so he won’t be trained to kill
Xavier: oh no he certainly will
Mother: but he won’t actually have to do it
Xavier: oh no he certainly will
Charles Xavier: a school for gifted youngsters, like Timothy
Mother: but it’s a real school right?
Xavier: oh my yes
Mother: so he won’t be trained to kill
Xavier: oh no he certainly will
Mother: but he won’t actually have to do it
Xavier: oh no he certainly will
Reposted by D. Hicks
Can we start using “Epstein class” to describe scientists? 🤔
What I’m seeing in some of the Epstein revelations about well known scientists who maintained contact after his conviction, is folks who always thought they were the smartest person in any room, sure they could shrewdly navigate a route that gets them what they want without getting dirty themselves.
February 15, 2026 at 5:57 PM
Can we start using “Epstein class” to describe scientists? 🤔
Reposted by D. Hicks
Someone has sure already made this observation but the fact they can convert all those empty warehouses into prison camps means they could have converted them into housing, community centers, job training centers or, hell, libraries or schools all along. It’s always a matter of will not resources.
February 15, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Someone has sure already made this observation but the fact they can convert all those empty warehouses into prison camps means they could have converted them into housing, community centers, job training centers or, hell, libraries or schools all along. It’s always a matter of will not resources.
Really clarifies the valence of "culture of dependence" complaints about AFDC
1/3 What Musk is really referring to here is, of course “race” - that construct that served to define the hierarchies of wealth & power structured by modern colonialism. Like other far right racists though, he uses the word “culture” as a seemingly less pernicious synonym.
February 15, 2026 at 5:48 PM
Really clarifies the valence of "culture of dependence" complaints about AFDC