Edmund Chattoe-Brown
@edmundcb.bsky.social
Agent-Based Modeller and sociologist/social scientist, research in Social Networks, Decision Making, social evolution, opinion change, incompetence, participant research in secondhand markets, loves weird books and music. Unfollows marketers.
Annual social media Cringle detox starts here. Bless you one and all says Tiny Tim (and see you in 2026).
December 22, 2025 at 5:21 AM
Annual social media Cringle detox starts here. Bless you one and all says Tiny Tim (and see you in 2026).
“Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak, and that it is doing God’s service when it is violating all His laws." (John Quincy Adams).
December 21, 2025 at 8:19 AM
“Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak, and that it is doing God’s service when it is violating all His laws." (John Quincy Adams).
Another for #abm? “Research driven by a technique seems to be a poor bet, since almost invariably the technician’s skill is a solution looking for a problem." (Donald W. Braben, Nature, 316, 1985, p. 402).
December 20, 2025 at 6:41 AM
Another for #abm? “Research driven by a technique seems to be a poor bet, since almost invariably the technician’s skill is a solution looking for a problem." (Donald W. Braben, Nature, 316, 1985, p. 402).
Another for #abm? “Unless we foster that type of intellectual activity which – rather than expanding science in the usual sense of research – simplifies it, formulates concentrated syntheses, maintaining its substantial and qualitative essence, the future of science looks bleak."
December 19, 2025 at 6:47 AM
Another for #abm? “Unless we foster that type of intellectual activity which – rather than expanding science in the usual sense of research – simplifies it, formulates concentrated syntheses, maintaining its substantial and qualitative essence, the future of science looks bleak."
“The demand for certainty is one which is natural to man, but is nevertheless an intellectual vice. To endure uncertainty is difficult, but so are most of the other virtues." (Bertrand Russell).
December 17, 2025 at 10:22 AM
“The demand for certainty is one which is natural to man, but is nevertheless an intellectual vice. To endure uncertainty is difficult, but so are most of the other virtues." (Bertrand Russell).
“There is something fascinating about science. One gets such a wholesale return of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact." (Mark Twain.) He should have said social theory probably.
December 16, 2025 at 7:28 AM
“There is something fascinating about science. One gets such a wholesale return of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact." (Mark Twain.) He should have said social theory probably.
Reposted by Edmund Chattoe-Brown
Just when I thought I couldn't admire the man more...
🎯 🎯 🎯 💯 💯 💯 👍 👍 👍
🎯 🎯 🎯 💯 💯 💯 👍 👍 👍
December 13, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Just when I thought I couldn't admire the man more...
🎯 🎯 🎯 💯 💯 💯 👍 👍 👍
🎯 🎯 🎯 💯 💯 💯 👍 👍 👍
“What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our mode of questioning." (Werner Heisenberg)
December 14, 2025 at 8:04 AM
“What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our mode of questioning." (Werner Heisenberg)
If you say things are getting worse you are always told "But people have been saying that since Roman times." That is not, in fact, an effective counter-argument without additional reasoning.
December 13, 2025 at 9:18 AM
If you say things are getting worse you are always told "But people have been saying that since Roman times." That is not, in fact, an effective counter-argument without additional reasoning.
HE teaching is becoming increasingly odd. Instead of finessing a student's understanding of a subject by questioning and dialogue, you have to design systems to protect them against the consequences of bad choices that you previously warned them against.
December 12, 2025 at 12:10 PM
HE teaching is becoming increasingly odd. Instead of finessing a student's understanding of a subject by questioning and dialogue, you have to design systems to protect them against the consequences of bad choices that you previously warned them against.
One for #abm early doors: "If I can make a mechanical model I can understand it. As long as I cannot make a mechanical model all the way through I cannot understand it." (Lord Kelvin, quoted in: K. Walker, Meaning and purpose 1950).
December 11, 2025 at 9:36 AM
One for #abm early doors: "If I can make a mechanical model I can understand it. As long as I cannot make a mechanical model all the way through I cannot understand it." (Lord Kelvin, quoted in: K. Walker, Meaning and purpose 1950).
“Every real thought on every subject knocks the wind out of somebody or other. As soon as his breath comes back, he very probably begins to expend it in hard words. These are the best evidence a man can have that he has said something it was time to say"
December 10, 2025 at 5:17 AM
“Every real thought on every subject knocks the wind out of somebody or other. As soon as his breath comes back, he very probably begins to expend it in hard words. These are the best evidence a man can have that he has said something it was time to say"
The exact opposite of contemporary HE? “The only help that can be given to a researcher is to defray his needful scientific expenses, and then to ensure that no one filches his leisure." (Rene Descartes, Discours de la me/thode, 1637)
December 6, 2025 at 7:12 AM
The exact opposite of contemporary HE? “The only help that can be given to a researcher is to defray his needful scientific expenses, and then to ensure that no one filches his leisure." (Rene Descartes, Discours de la me/thode, 1637)
Without anyone saying it, I think research methods are quietly dying out. It is noticeable how many jobs with "research methods" in their text aren't really. Once a field stops knowing how to produce new knowledge (or even being sure what knowledge is), it is doomed. Not immediately, but inevitably.
December 5, 2025 at 7:42 AM
Without anyone saying it, I think research methods are quietly dying out. It is noticeable how many jobs with "research methods" in their text aren't really. Once a field stops knowing how to produce new knowledge (or even being sure what knowledge is), it is doomed. Not immediately, but inevitably.
A motto for the internet? “We should leave our minds open but not so open that our brains fall out." Alan Ross Anderson, New England J Med, 308 (1983) p. 962.
December 4, 2025 at 5:26 AM
A motto for the internet? “We should leave our minds open but not so open that our brains fall out." Alan Ross Anderson, New England J Med, 308 (1983) p. 962.
I know there is more to communication than correct English but there is a credibility dimension: "Sociopedia is product of years of gathering and complying sociological knowledge." From: sociopedia.co/help
December 3, 2025 at 11:26 AM
I know there is more to communication than correct English but there is a credibility dimension: "Sociopedia is product of years of gathering and complying sociological knowledge." From: sociopedia.co/help
“It is not enough to observe, experiment, theorize, calculate and communicate; we must also argue, criticize, debate, expound, summarize, and otherwise transform the information that we have obtained individually into reliable, well established, public knowledge." Ziman, Nature, 224 (1969) p. 318.
December 2, 2025 at 6:45 AM
“It is not enough to observe, experiment, theorize, calculate and communicate; we must also argue, criticize, debate, expound, summarize, and otherwise transform the information that we have obtained individually into reliable, well established, public knowledge." Ziman, Nature, 224 (1969) p. 318.
Quite a lot of people know that "delve" is a significant "tell" for AI in that almost no human uses it in the sense in which it appears in (for example) student essays. But it is an interesting question, given this, how AI has trained itself to perform in this way.
December 1, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Quite a lot of people know that "delve" is a significant "tell" for AI in that almost no human uses it in the sense in which it appears in (for example) student essays. But it is an interesting question, given this, how AI has trained itself to perform in this way.
"What is the first business of one who studies philosophy? [sociology?] To part with all self-conceit. For it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn what he thinks he already knows." (Epictetus)
November 29, 2025 at 7:52 AM
"What is the first business of one who studies philosophy? [sociology?] To part with all self-conceit. For it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn what he thinks he already knows." (Epictetus)
How many Voluntary Severance Schemes obliged staff to argue for their own lack of contribution? What could possibly go wrong?
November 26, 2025 at 5:54 PM
How many Voluntary Severance Schemes obliged staff to argue for their own lack of contribution? What could possibly go wrong?
it is noticeable how often student research project topics already seem to be covered by the top hit on Google Scholar using suitable search terms. Coincidence or something more sinister?
November 24, 2025 at 7:32 AM
it is noticeable how often student research project topics already seem to be covered by the top hit on Google Scholar using suitable search terms. Coincidence or something more sinister?
An unobserved shift? In the sixties, bands used to sneak into studios at 3am to try and get a record pressed because once they did, it would get (some) audience. Now the cost of making music available is virtually zero but try getting an audience.
November 9, 2025 at 9:35 AM
An unobserved shift? In the sixties, bands used to sneak into studios at 3am to try and get a record pressed because once they did, it would get (some) audience. Now the cost of making music available is virtually zero but try getting an audience.
Unobtrusive measures of incompetence. The number of reminders I now get about each forthcoming NHS appointment could be regarded as faintly insulting. But I guess they wouldn't spend the time on this unless it was needed.
November 8, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Unobtrusive measures of incompetence. The number of reminders I now get about each forthcoming NHS appointment could be regarded as faintly insulting. But I guess they wouldn't spend the time on this unless it was needed.
Trigger warning: The world does not prioritise your feelings above all else.
November 7, 2025 at 7:17 AM
Trigger warning: The world does not prioritise your feelings above all else.
Modern peer review. Reviewer: You have calculated the mean incorrectly. Author: We have added a citation discussing the pros and cons of different measures of central tendency for different data.
November 6, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Modern peer review. Reviewer: You have calculated the mean incorrectly. Author: We have added a citation discussing the pros and cons of different measures of central tendency for different data.