dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
@davehowcroft.com
Queer. Catholic. Immigrant. Computational linguist. Often earnest but here to learn the art of shitposting. they/them
Languages: en, de, fr, sv
This account mixes personal and professional content. Also available at https://mastodon.social/@_dmh
Languages: en, de, fr, sv
This account mixes personal and professional content. Also available at https://mastodon.social/@_dmh
Reposted by dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
I only review for not-for-profit publishers. Yet even these seem intent on fueling the publication explosion.
We need to consider creating (and supporting) new, community owned, diamond access journals.
We need to consider creating (and supporting) new, community owned, diamond access journals.
Pushing for open access is not enough. We need a push to end profit.
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:
a 🧵 1/n
Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
a 🧵 1/n
Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
November 12, 2025 at 9:54 AM
I only review for not-for-profit publishers. Yet even these seem intent on fueling the publication explosion.
We need to consider creating (and supporting) new, community owned, diamond access journals.
We need to consider creating (and supporting) new, community owned, diamond access journals.
Reposted by dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
I am calling upon the people of Ireland to immediately begin construction of a thread on this site about how you or someone you know was roasted for a fashion choice. We need it.
All roasts must have come from Irish people *only*. Please respect this important rule, it makes a difference.
Tanks
All roasts must have come from Irish people *only*. Please respect this important rule, it makes a difference.
Tanks
November 12, 2025 at 5:45 AM
I am calling upon the people of Ireland to immediately begin construction of a thread on this site about how you or someone you know was roasted for a fashion choice. We need it.
All roasts must have come from Irish people *only*. Please respect this important rule, it makes a difference.
Tanks
All roasts must have come from Irish people *only*. Please respect this important rule, it makes a difference.
Tanks
Reposted by dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
Citation is power. Citation is epistemology. Citation is the creation of legitimacy and the gifting of authority.
Some things should not be given currency in our disciplines.
Some things should not be given currency in our disciplines.
November 11, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Citation is power. Citation is epistemology. Citation is the creation of legitimacy and the gifting of authority.
Some things should not be given currency in our disciplines.
Some things should not be given currency in our disciplines.
Reposted by dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
i think if the democrats had dug in their heels and said "this is the epstein shutdown. trump is starving the country because he doesn't want the epstein files to come out" they probably could have ended him. so it was very kind of them to not do that
November 11, 2025 at 3:21 PM
i think if the democrats had dug in their heels and said "this is the epstein shutdown. trump is starving the country because he doesn't want the epstein files to come out" they probably could have ended him. so it was very kind of them to not do that
Reposted by dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
"Error bars omitted for clarity because otherwise they would have taken up half the plot." 🤔
November 11, 2025 at 3:25 PM
"Error bars omitted for clarity because otherwise they would have taken up half the plot." 🤔
Reposted by dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
This slide unfortunately generalizes well 🥲
November 11, 2025 at 9:25 AM
This slide unfortunately generalizes well 🥲
Reposted by dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
"Schrödinger's causal inference" (n):
The practice of making causal claims or interpretations within a scientific article - typically in the title, abstract, implications, or conclusion - while simultaneously warning that the study design is unsuitable for causal inference.
The practice of making causal claims or interpretations within a scientific article - typically in the title, abstract, implications, or conclusion - while simultaneously warning that the study design is unsuitable for causal inference.
November 11, 2025 at 11:36 AM
"Schrödinger's causal inference" (n):
The practice of making causal claims or interpretations within a scientific article - typically in the title, abstract, implications, or conclusion - while simultaneously warning that the study design is unsuitable for causal inference.
The practice of making causal claims or interpretations within a scientific article - typically in the title, abstract, implications, or conclusion - while simultaneously warning that the study design is unsuitable for causal inference.
Reposted by dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
Doing non-causal inference (and being explicit about it), yet using a causal word as second word in the title.
If you pay Nature € 10.690, they will publish this in Nature Ageing.
I can tell you what I think of that for free.
www.nature.com/articles/s43...
If you pay Nature € 10.690, they will publish this in Nature Ageing.
I can tell you what I think of that for free.
www.nature.com/articles/s43...
November 11, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Doing non-causal inference (and being explicit about it), yet using a causal word as second word in the title.
If you pay Nature € 10.690, they will publish this in Nature Ageing.
I can tell you what I think of that for free.
www.nature.com/articles/s43...
If you pay Nature € 10.690, they will publish this in Nature Ageing.
I can tell you what I think of that for free.
www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Reposted by dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
this
Altman has been quite clear about his strategy.
From the 2008 crash he learned that if you bind enough of the economy to your business you can do whatever you like; government will decide the rules no longer apply.
What he's selling is unaccountabilty.
From the 2008 crash he learned that if you bind enough of the economy to your business you can do whatever you like; government will decide the rules no longer apply.
What he's selling is unaccountabilty.
I honestly don’t get the value of this company. They hoover up energy and water. Their product constantly gets things wrong and, in extreme cases, coaches people into suicide.
And it’s all built on what seems to be malicious and vast intellectual property theft.
What does OpenAI offer the world?
And it’s all built on what seems to be malicious and vast intellectual property theft.
What does OpenAI offer the world?
November 9, 2025 at 9:52 AM
this
Reposted by dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
Six people died from tampered Tylenol and the company pulled 30 million bottles off the market. ChatGPT is accused of urging seven people towards suicide, and OpenAI just assures us they’re still working out the kinks. Billions in investment, zero accountability.
OpenAI faces 7 lawsuits claiming ChatGPT drove people to suicide, delusions
OpenAI is facing seven lawsuits claiming ChatGPT drove people to suicide and harmful delusions even when they had no prior mental health issues.
apnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Six people died from tampered Tylenol and the company pulled 30 million bottles off the market. ChatGPT is accused of urging seven people towards suicide, and OpenAI just assures us they’re still working out the kinks. Billions in investment, zero accountability.
Reposted by dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
Funko is dying
Repost to make it die faster
Repost to make it die faster
Funko admits “substantial doubt” it can continue as a going concern amid crashing sales and mounting debt.
The Pop! maker warns of potential loan defaults without fresh funding or a buyout, after a 14% sales drop and $250M in obligations.
#Funko #PopVinyl #GoingConcern
The Pop! maker warns of potential loan defaults without fresh funding or a buyout, after a 14% sales drop and $250M in obligations.
#Funko #PopVinyl #GoingConcern
November 8, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Funko is dying
Repost to make it die faster
Repost to make it die faster
Reposted by dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
‘Study after study shows that students want to develop these critical thinking skills, are not lazy, and large numbers of them would be in favor of banning ChatGPT and similar tools in universities’, says @olivia.science www.ru.nl/en/research/...
‘Opposing the inevitability of AI at universities is possible and necessary’ | Radboud University
Since the widespread release of ChatGPT in December of 2022, AI has taken over much of the world by storm – including academia. Most of this happened with very little pushback, despite a myriad of iss...
www.ru.nl
November 1, 2025 at 10:26 PM
‘Study after study shows that students want to develop these critical thinking skills, are not lazy, and large numbers of them would be in favor of banning ChatGPT and similar tools in universities’, says @olivia.science www.ru.nl/en/research/...
Reposted by dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
"A lot of academic research on AI currently is also funded by the AI industry, which creates the risk of distorting scientific knowledge, similar to how we’ve seen happen in the past’, adds Iris van Rooij, co-author and professor of computational cognitive science at Radboud University."
‘Study after study shows that students want to develop these critical thinking skills, are not lazy, and large numbers of them would be in favor of banning ChatGPT and similar tools in universities’, says @olivia.science www.ru.nl/en/research/...
‘Opposing the inevitability of AI at universities is possible and necessary’ | Radboud University
Since the widespread release of ChatGPT in December of 2022, AI has taken over much of the world by storm – including academia. Most of this happened with very little pushback, despite a myriad of iss...
www.ru.nl
November 2, 2025 at 12:52 PM
"A lot of academic research on AI currently is also funded by the AI industry, which creates the risk of distorting scientific knowledge, similar to how we’ve seen happen in the past’, adds Iris van Rooij, co-author and professor of computational cognitive science at Radboud University."
Reposted by dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
So it turns out... the US air travel system was incredibly, deeply dependent on federal funding to just run day-to-day all this time, to the benefit of private airline shareholders, when everyone thinks that state-run trains are leeching off the government. Weird!
November 9, 2025 at 12:10 AM
So it turns out... the US air travel system was incredibly, deeply dependent on federal funding to just run day-to-day all this time, to the benefit of private airline shareholders, when everyone thinks that state-run trains are leeching off the government. Weird!
Reposted by dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
AI . Racism and ICE
Spotify is crashing HARD because of the boycott. Their stock dropped 11% in value over the last month. Let’s keep this going!
Tell everyone you know to boycott Spotify. There are plenty of alternatives that don’t run ICE advertisements and screw over artists.
We made it easy at boycottspotify.com.
Tell everyone you know to boycott Spotify. There are plenty of alternatives that don’t run ICE advertisements and screw over artists.
We made it easy at boycottspotify.com.
November 8, 2025 at 1:10 PM
AI . Racism and ICE
Reposted by dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
This is the spirit! 😉😂
My writing is shit, but it's *my* writing.
November 8, 2025 at 1:22 PM
This is the spirit! 😉😂
Reposted by dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
sociolinguistics / raciolinguistic ideologies / linguistic racism
November 8, 2025 at 3:34 AM
sociolinguistics / raciolinguistic ideologies / linguistic racism
Reposted by dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
There’s a young southern woman on tt doing an experiment: calling churches & asking if they can help her get baby formula, saying she can’t afford it. Of the 30+ she’s called, nearly every church has said no. The ones who said yes were:
Black Baptist Churches
A Mosque
A small Appalachian church
Black Baptist Churches
A Mosque
A small Appalachian church
November 8, 2025 at 11:07 AM
There’s a young southern woman on tt doing an experiment: calling churches & asking if they can help her get baby formula, saying she can’t afford it. Of the 30+ she’s called, nearly every church has said no. The ones who said yes were:
Black Baptist Churches
A Mosque
A small Appalachian church
Black Baptist Churches
A Mosque
A small Appalachian church
Reposted by dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
god inventing the human neck: this is gonna fuck em up so bad lmao
November 7, 2025 at 10:15 PM
god inventing the human neck: this is gonna fuck em up so bad lmao
Reposted by dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
ICE agents in Chicago violently detain a non verbal autistic man for being “non compliant”
He couldn’t “comply” because of his disability…they don’t care
This is not the first time they’ve gone after a disabled person
They target the most vulnerable because it’s an easy way to meet their quota
He couldn’t “comply” because of his disability…they don’t care
This is not the first time they’ve gone after a disabled person
They target the most vulnerable because it’s an easy way to meet their quota
November 8, 2025 at 8:15 AM
ICE agents in Chicago violently detain a non verbal autistic man for being “non compliant”
He couldn’t “comply” because of his disability…they don’t care
This is not the first time they’ve gone after a disabled person
They target the most vulnerable because it’s an easy way to meet their quota
He couldn’t “comply” because of his disability…they don’t care
This is not the first time they’ve gone after a disabled person
They target the most vulnerable because it’s an easy way to meet their quota
Reposted by dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
I’m conflicted about all this. The double helix story is important and incredible. My inclination is to say it’s great that his terrible statements are out there, so we all remember we’re not in a scripted narrative — no amount of wonderful works or generosity proves someone isn’t also doing evil.
James Watson was not just a scientist who was a racist. He was worse - a scientist who offered other racists the comfort of scientific authority.
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 8:41 AM
I’m conflicted about all this. The double helix story is important and incredible. My inclination is to say it’s great that his terrible statements are out there, so we all remember we’re not in a scripted narrative — no amount of wonderful works or generosity proves someone isn’t also doing evil.
Reposted by dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
From the outside US evangelicalism is a very puzzling religious group because ostensibly they are very concerned with the moral teachings of a publicly accessible text but also they seem to have inferred completely the opposite lessons from that text than what everyone else thinks is the plain read.
so my town has been hosting an emergency food drive for snap recipients. the town, high school clubs, the Y, the churches (Episcopal, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Baptists, Unitarians, and the Catholics) & the synagogue, are involved.
You know who isn't participating? the fucking evangelicals.
You know who isn't participating? the fucking evangelicals.
November 7, 2025 at 8:02 PM
From the outside US evangelicalism is a very puzzling religious group because ostensibly they are very concerned with the moral teachings of a publicly accessible text but also they seem to have inferred completely the opposite lessons from that text than what everyone else thinks is the plain read.
Reposted by dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
congrats to everyone for thinking this through before signing very big contracts to put it on every student’s device at the school or university you run
OVER A MILLION USERS
DISCUSS SUICIDE WITH CHATGPT
EVERY *WEEK*
what the fuck are we DOING here
DISCUSS SUICIDE WITH CHATGPT
EVERY *WEEK*
what the fuck are we DOING here
Panera’s moderately caffeinated lemonade was loosely associated with 2 deaths before it was taken off market.
This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
November 7, 2025 at 11:24 PM
congrats to everyone for thinking this through before signing very big contracts to put it on every student’s device at the school or university you run
Reposted by dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
A final fuck off to James Watson and to every news source who’s naming him as one of two co-discoverers of DNA structure without mentioning Rosalind Franklin. 🖕
November 7, 2025 at 7:58 PM
A final fuck off to James Watson and to every news source who’s naming him as one of two co-discoverers of DNA structure without mentioning Rosalind Franklin. 🖕
Reposted by dave howcroft 🦔 is in 🇦🇺
The world would be immensely better if more religions and their believers had even a tenth of the dedication the Sikhs do to doing good for people with no gatekeeping or expectations of anything other than "you are a fellow human in need and we can help you"
Folks, if you are hungry, please contact your local Sikh gurdwara. Or just show up for langar, which most gurdwaras do several times a week, for a free meal. Lots also do weekly or monthly drives giving out groceries.
No conversion necessary. Feeding anyone who is hungry is a key part of Sikhism.
No conversion necessary. Feeding anyone who is hungry is a key part of Sikhism.
A lady on TikTok has been calling churches pretending to be a mother with a baby who needs formula and several churches turned her away. But wouldn’t you know that when she called a Mosque (Islamic Center of Charlotte) they immediately said yes.
[Source: www.tiktok.com/t/ZTMpoxsaW/ ]
[Source: www.tiktok.com/t/ZTMpoxsaW/ ]
November 8, 2025 at 4:42 AM
The world would be immensely better if more religions and their believers had even a tenth of the dedication the Sikhs do to doing good for people with no gatekeeping or expectations of anything other than "you are a fellow human in need and we can help you"