Richard J Hewitt
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richardjhewitt.bsky.social
Richard J Hewitt
@richardjhewitt.bsky.social
Ramón y Cajal Research Fellow
@IEGD_CSIC, researcher integrated environmental modelling & policy, archaeology
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4169-8647
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
Profits from scientific publishing are eye-watering, costing us billions. In ‘The Drain of Scientific Publishing’ (arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820), (building on ‘The Strain of Scientific Publishing’ doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00327) we show how it is harmful – and unnecessary.
The Drain of Scientific Publishing
The domination of scientific publishing in the Global North by major commercial publishers is harmful to science. We need the most powerful members of the research community, funders, governments and ...
arxiv.org
November 12, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
When you switch from fossil to clean you only use like 30-40% of the energy to do the same stuff, bc most energy from fossil fuels is lost as waste heat

What's I'm trying to say is that all climate action is degrowth

WELCOME TO DEGROWTH EVERYONE
From my file on the IEA's world energy outlook.

"Primary energy" = what goes in

"Final energy" = what comes out
a
The space in between: mostly lost energy bc burning fossil fuels is absurdly wasteful.

So in the net zero scenario, that gaps closes to zero --->>
November 8, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
CAIL = prerequisite knowledge for a critical perspective, such as to tell apart nonsense hype from true theoretical computer scientific claims. For example, the idea that human-like systems are a sensible or possible goal is the result of circular reasoning and anthropomorphism. olivia.science/ai

🧵
November 2, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
The first news story on the publication (to be honest, odd title since it is neither a poem nor debunked as literature, but nice of the journalist and publication to be interested enough in spreading news of it): thefreesheet.com/2025/11/04/m...
Medieval poem debunked after 700 years, rewriting Black Death history - theFreesheet
A single 14th-century rhyming poem, mistakenly believed to be a historical fact, has misled scientists and historians for 700 years about how the Black Death
thefreesheet.com
November 4, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
Thank you, Alex. Here's everything in one spot olivia.science/ai

I recommend the project syndicate piece with @irisvanrooij.bsky.social and @marentierra.bsky.social 💖
Critical AI
On this page are some resources for Critical AI Literacy (CAIL) from my perspective.
olivia.science
November 2, 2025 at 8:31 AM
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
If only every single critical "AI" researcher had warned about the likelihood of this danger for machine learning-based systems for the past decade or so and if only an acronym like "GIGO" had existed for decades Prior.

Oh If Only 😐

"Too much social media gives AI chatbots ‘brain rot’"
Too much social media gives AI chatbots ‘brain rot’
Large language models fed low-quality data skip steps in their reasoning process.
go.nature.com
November 1, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
My reconstruction of Allen Smelt Mill (2017) is a good contender for being among my most challenging visualisation projects. It required months of effort, research, and problem-solving with the aid of 3D models. I wrote an article about the experience.... bob-marshall.blogspot.com/2018/01/reco...
November 1, 2025 at 8:02 AM
The key question is whether he had also been drinking the wine before he “missed a bend on his bike on his way home from the supermarket on a lonely road in the mountainous Cevennes region”
This Frenchman has outfrenched every single one of us
A French cyclist survived for three days after a horrendous 130-foot fall into a ravine, kept alive by the bottles of red wine he had in his shopping bag, police said.
October 31, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
Happy #Halloween
This intaglio depicts a skeleton resting on an amphora and holding a jug. Such representations were intended to remind to enjoy life to the fullest since pleasure ends irrevocably with death.

Photo: Museum August Kestner/Christian Tepper

#RomanArchaeology
October 31, 2025 at 6:36 AM
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
“Not everything that is buried is dead.” Heinrich Heine
October 30, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Papyrus or vellum perhaps? Looking forward to the next “call for parchments”
Papers are for losers. Winner submit pergaminia
October 30, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
Very pleased that @groene.nl translated a @projectsyndicate.bsky.social piece by @olivia.science and me into Dutch 😌

www.groene.nl/artikel/ai-h...
October 27, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
October 21, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
This week we welcome Prof. Steven Shapin to the pod!🎙️

We explore his journey through interdisciplinary spaces, revisit Leviathan and the Air-Pump 40 years on, and explore how credibility, trust and expertise are shaped by the fragmentation of expertise and (recent) political & cultural challenges
S5 E11 - Steven Shapin on the Social Life of Scientific Knowledge
Podcast Episode · The HPS Podcast - Conversations from History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science · 19/10/2025 · 50m
podcasts.apple.com
October 19, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
My short story ‘The Unspoken’ online @grantamag.bsky.social granta.com/the-unspoken/
October 18, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
DC 😍😍
Some photos from #NoKings DC now that I have a signal again (absolutely huge crowd considering all the other protests happening simultaneously in the DC area)!
October 18, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
Today the US honors the man who discovered Columbus, Ohio.
October 9, 2023 at 1:41 PM
Sensible advice which I try to follow
Excellent advice on paper review:

1. Peer reviewers are volunteers.

2. Map all comments to actions.

3. Address all comments.

4. Focus on improving your paper, instead of arguing.

5. Rarely, and only with strong defense, say no.

6. Don’t take things personally.

7. Avoid recreational revisions.
October 10, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Great read. Just the tonic I need to deal with multiple rejections
October 8, 2025 at 7:25 AM
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
Important new study by the @doughnuteconomics.bsky.social team in @nature.com finding that "the richest 20% of nations, with 15% of the global population, contribute more than 40% of annual ecological overshoot" doi.org/10.1038/s415...
October 8, 2025 at 6:50 AM
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
doomscroll break
October 8, 2025 at 7:13 AM
Almost unbelievable. How do they get away with this shit?
This video of Chicagoans intervening to save a man from being abducted off the streets by ICE is making the rounds on Instagram.

Community action works.

Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DPZL2AL...
October 5, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
AI: the ultimate human ingenuity in service of producing an abundance of mediocrity.
October 4, 2025 at 9:12 PM