Robbie Flick
@rflick.bsky.social
Dad, husband, and critical care physician-scientist in training at Johns Hopkins.
Amid higher than usual AI hysteria recently, I offer this quote from Socrates re: another new-fangled techn that will lead to our ruin: writing
"You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding...you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom...they are not wise, but only appear wise.”
"You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding...you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom...they are not wise, but only appear wise.”
May 29, 2025 at 8:18 AM
Amid higher than usual AI hysteria recently, I offer this quote from Socrates re: another new-fangled techn that will lead to our ruin: writing
"You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding...you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom...they are not wise, but only appear wise.”
"You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding...you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom...they are not wise, but only appear wise.”
Great piece by @joshtpm.bsky.social about how a deep faith in AI replacing researchers is one part of why biomedical science is being gutted. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/why-d...
Meanwhile, tiring of my constant pestering to reference their work, ChatGPT begins citing itself for nonexistent work.
Meanwhile, tiring of my constant pestering to reference their work, ChatGPT begins citing itself for nonexistent work.
May 8, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Great piece by @joshtpm.bsky.social about how a deep faith in AI replacing researchers is one part of why biomedical science is being gutted. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/why-d...
Meanwhile, tiring of my constant pestering to reference their work, ChatGPT begins citing itself for nonexistent work.
Meanwhile, tiring of my constant pestering to reference their work, ChatGPT begins citing itself for nonexistent work.
Reposted by Robbie Flick
When someone tells you their name, you use it. When someone tells you their pronouns, you use them. Both practices are basic decency. Both are equally simple.
May 3, 2025 at 4:06 PM
When someone tells you their name, you use it. When someone tells you their pronouns, you use them. Both practices are basic decency. Both are equally simple.
Reposted by Robbie Flick
Four R senators and four R House members could announce they're caucusing with the Dems for now, and will vote for Schumer for Majority Leader and Jeffries for Speaker, because the threat to the rule of law is dire. Meanwhile, they'll work with Democrats to construct guardrails against dictatorship.
April 14, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Four R senators and four R House members could announce they're caucusing with the Dems for now, and will vote for Schumer for Majority Leader and Jeffries for Speaker, because the threat to the rule of law is dire. Meanwhile, they'll work with Democrats to construct guardrails against dictatorship.
Reposted by Robbie Flick
Import Chinese battery: 145% tariff
Import Chinese battery inside Chinese laptop: 20% tariff
Import Chinese battery inside Vietnamese laptop: 0% tariff
Fuckin brilliant. A+ work here team. I am so glad there are such smart people working on our trade policy.
Import Chinese battery inside Chinese laptop: 20% tariff
Import Chinese battery inside Vietnamese laptop: 0% tariff
Fuckin brilliant. A+ work here team. I am so glad there are such smart people working on our trade policy.
April 12, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Import Chinese battery: 145% tariff
Import Chinese battery inside Chinese laptop: 20% tariff
Import Chinese battery inside Vietnamese laptop: 0% tariff
Fuckin brilliant. A+ work here team. I am so glad there are such smart people working on our trade policy.
Import Chinese battery inside Chinese laptop: 20% tariff
Import Chinese battery inside Vietnamese laptop: 0% tariff
Fuckin brilliant. A+ work here team. I am so glad there are such smart people working on our trade policy.
Reposted by Robbie Flick
Good way to see the current tariffs, as of literally today, is no tariffs on high value add manufactured goods marketed to middle and upper middle classes. Massive tariffs for cheap consumer items which amount to the biggest economic privilege of working class/middle class life in US.
April 12, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Good way to see the current tariffs, as of literally today, is no tariffs on high value add manufactured goods marketed to middle and upper middle classes. Massive tariffs for cheap consumer items which amount to the biggest economic privilege of working class/middle class life in US.
Reposted by Robbie Flick
Printed books: a cheap form of entertainment and enrichment that doesn’t surveil you back.
Tell your kids.
Tell your kids.
April 9, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Printed books: a cheap form of entertainment and enrichment that doesn’t surveil you back.
Tell your kids.
Tell your kids.
Reposted by Robbie Flick
A tricky thing about modern society is that no one has any idea when they don’t die.
Like, the number of lives saved by controlling air pollution in America is probably over 200,000 per year, but the number of people who think their life was saved by controlling air pollution is zero.
Like, the number of lives saved by controlling air pollution in America is probably over 200,000 per year, but the number of people who think their life was saved by controlling air pollution is zero.
April 7, 2025 at 4:13 AM
A tricky thing about modern society is that no one has any idea when they don’t die.
Like, the number of lives saved by controlling air pollution in America is probably over 200,000 per year, but the number of people who think their life was saved by controlling air pollution is zero.
Like, the number of lives saved by controlling air pollution in America is probably over 200,000 per year, but the number of people who think their life was saved by controlling air pollution is zero.
Reposted by Robbie Flick
Today’s firings at NIH/CDC/AHRQ represent billionaires doing to US science and universities the same thing they did to US manufacturing in the 1980's:
senseless destruction of massive amounts of capability and expertise in the name of short-term 'efficiency' that leads to long-term off-shoring.
senseless destruction of massive amounts of capability and expertise in the name of short-term 'efficiency' that leads to long-term off-shoring.
April 2, 2025 at 1:42 AM
Today’s firings at NIH/CDC/AHRQ represent billionaires doing to US science and universities the same thing they did to US manufacturing in the 1980's:
senseless destruction of massive amounts of capability and expertise in the name of short-term 'efficiency' that leads to long-term off-shoring.
senseless destruction of massive amounts of capability and expertise in the name of short-term 'efficiency' that leads to long-term off-shoring.
Maryland man (w/ protected status and has lived here since 2011), driving home w/ 5yo son in the early AM hours after a shift for his sheet metal apprenticeship, gets pulled over and cuffed by ICE who threaten to turn his child over to CPS then "accidentally" deport him to a Salvadoran prison.
Trump administration says Maryland man it mistakenly deported can’t come back
The Trump administration now says the federal courts in the U.S. lack the power to have the man returned.
www.thebaltimorebanner.com
April 2, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Maryland man (w/ protected status and has lived here since 2011), driving home w/ 5yo son in the early AM hours after a shift for his sheet metal apprenticeship, gets pulled over and cuffed by ICE who threaten to turn his child over to CPS then "accidentally" deport him to a Salvadoran prison.
Reposted by Robbie Flick
i appreciate that no one even tried with april fool’s day this year because we know we’re not psychologically equipped for that shit right now
April 2, 2025 at 7:48 AM
i appreciate that no one even tried with april fool’s day this year because we know we’re not psychologically equipped for that shit right now
Reposted by Robbie Flick
The common longitudinal intensive care unit data format (CLIF) for critical illness research is among the most interesting new collaborative projects in critical care
This is a team to watch #ICU #RealWorldData
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
This is a team to watch #ICU #RealWorldData
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
A common longitudinal intensive care unit data format (CLIF) for critical illness research - Intensive Care Medicine
Rationale Critical illness threatens millions of lives annually. Electronic health record (EHR) data are a source of granular information that could generate crucial insights into the nature and optim...
link.springer.com
March 14, 2025 at 1:34 PM
The common longitudinal intensive care unit data format (CLIF) for critical illness research is among the most interesting new collaborative projects in critical care
This is a team to watch #ICU #RealWorldData
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
This is a team to watch #ICU #RealWorldData
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Robbie Flick
“If the federal government decides it doesn’t want to know things anymore, that would be bad for Johns Hopkins and devastating for Maryland.”
I talked with the Wall Street Journal about the Trump Administration’s efforts to abandon science and break education
I talked with the Wall Street Journal about the Trump Administration’s efforts to abandon science and break education
Er, something like it archive.is/wJF1l
archive.is
March 11, 2025 at 10:44 PM
“If the federal government decides it doesn’t want to know things anymore, that would be bad for Johns Hopkins and devastating for Maryland.”
I talked with the Wall Street Journal about the Trump Administration’s efforts to abandon science and break education
I talked with the Wall Street Journal about the Trump Administration’s efforts to abandon science and break education
Amidst a measles outbreak, HHS secretary (bereft of any relevant clinical/public health training/experience) offers speculation on a child's death, conspiracy theories about vaccines, and false claims that vaccines—one of the most rigorously studied interventions—are somehow insufficiently studied
Kennedy Links Measles Outbreak to Poor Diet and Health, Citing Fringe Theories
In a recent interview, the health secretary also suggested that the measles vaccine had harmed children in West Texas, center of an outbreak.
www.nytimes.com
March 11, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Amidst a measles outbreak, HHS secretary (bereft of any relevant clinical/public health training/experience) offers speculation on a child's death, conspiracy theories about vaccines, and false claims that vaccines—one of the most rigorously studied interventions—are somehow insufficiently studied
Reposted by Robbie Flick
NIH budget: $ 48b
Musk wealth: $351b
Both are mostly funded by your tax dollars
But only one might save your life
.
.
.
.
Sources:
www.nih.gov/about-nih/wh...
Search results: elon musk net worth g.co/kgs/6c8YEuB
@standupforscience.bsky.social
Musk wealth: $351b
Both are mostly funded by your tax dollars
But only one might save your life
.
.
.
.
Sources:
www.nih.gov/about-nih/wh...
Search results: elon musk net worth g.co/kgs/6c8YEuB
@standupforscience.bsky.social
Google Search
g.co
March 8, 2025 at 12:00 AM
NIH budget: $ 48b
Musk wealth: $351b
Both are mostly funded by your tax dollars
But only one might save your life
.
.
.
.
Sources:
www.nih.gov/about-nih/wh...
Search results: elon musk net worth g.co/kgs/6c8YEuB
@standupforscience.bsky.social
Musk wealth: $351b
Both are mostly funded by your tax dollars
But only one might save your life
.
.
.
.
Sources:
www.nih.gov/about-nih/wh...
Search results: elon musk net worth g.co/kgs/6c8YEuB
@standupforscience.bsky.social
Reposted by Robbie Flick
It’s such an honor to serve in the Senate alongside my Sister Senator.
We are fighting for you. For hardworking families like the ones we came from.
We are fighting for you. For hardworking families like the ones we came from.
Senators Angela Alsobrooks and Lisa Blunt Rochester aren’t going to let that other election result prevent them from making history.
A ‘Bright Spot’ in Washington
Senators Angela Alsobrooks and Lisa Blunt Rochester aren’t going to let that other election result prevent them from making history.
www.thecut.com
February 26, 2025 at 10:58 PM
It’s such an honor to serve in the Senate alongside my Sister Senator.
We are fighting for you. For hardworking families like the ones we came from.
We are fighting for you. For hardworking families like the ones we came from.
Reposted by Robbie Flick
Credo: Trans issues are issues because trans people are people.
Trans issues are also is sues because they are one case of “how do we treat the vulnerable among us” which Christ suggested might determine the condition of our soul.
I believe this is what Lynch means by “Fix your heart or die.”
Trans issues are also is sues because they are one case of “how do we treat the vulnerable among us” which Christ suggested might determine the condition of our soul.
I believe this is what Lynch means by “Fix your heart or die.”
March 1, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Credo: Trans issues are issues because trans people are people.
Trans issues are also is sues because they are one case of “how do we treat the vulnerable among us” which Christ suggested might determine the condition of our soul.
I believe this is what Lynch means by “Fix your heart or die.”
Trans issues are also is sues because they are one case of “how do we treat the vulnerable among us” which Christ suggested might determine the condition of our soul.
I believe this is what Lynch means by “Fix your heart or die.”
Reposted by Robbie Flick
Using AI to produce writing or art is like asking someone at the gym to lift weights for you.
The effort is the point.
The effort is the point.
February 10, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Using AI to produce writing or art is like asking someone at the gym to lift weights for you.
The effort is the point.
The effort is the point.
Reposted by Robbie Flick
8/8. So, if you’re feeling down about these attacks, I understand—I feel that way too. But just remember that they’re not attacking because your work doesn’t matter; they’re attacking *precisely* because it does. So, get some rest, connect with your people, and keep doing it.
February 8, 2025 at 8:42 PM
8/8. So, if you’re feeling down about these attacks, I understand—I feel that way too. But just remember that they’re not attacking because your work doesn’t matter; they’re attacking *precisely* because it does. So, get some rest, connect with your people, and keep doing it.
Reposted by Robbie Flick
The #NFL removing the words "No racism" from the end zones of today's #SuperBowlLIX venue, New Orleans, because the president's attending the game, is so 1936 Berlin Olympics.
February 9, 2025 at 10:24 AM
The #NFL removing the words "No racism" from the end zones of today's #SuperBowlLIX venue, New Orleans, because the president's attending the game, is so 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Reposted by Robbie Flick
Reposted by Robbie Flick
I just texted my mom
February 8, 2025 at 12:06 AM
I just texted my mom
Reposted by Robbie Flick
5. Finally - Every dollar spent by taxpayers on NIH grants brings approx $2.50 in immediate economic returns 🤷♀️ never mind the longer term benefit of science & innovation.
It’s made possible through infrastructure supported by indirects.
This Friday night decision will (yet again) hurt Americans.
It’s made possible through infrastructure supported by indirects.
This Friday night decision will (yet again) hurt Americans.
February 8, 2025 at 3:28 AM
5. Finally - Every dollar spent by taxpayers on NIH grants brings approx $2.50 in immediate economic returns 🤷♀️ never mind the longer term benefit of science & innovation.
It’s made possible through infrastructure supported by indirects.
This Friday night decision will (yet again) hurt Americans.
It’s made possible through infrastructure supported by indirects.
This Friday night decision will (yet again) hurt Americans.
Reposted by Robbie Flick
Holy shit this cartoon.
February 8, 2025 at 3:56 AM
Holy shit this cartoon.
Simple truths :
* Appropriated federal money belongs to the American people, not the executive branch
* Most voted for someone besides Trump; he got 49.8% of vote. Reject the myth of a strong mandate
* Your reps need to hear from you, even if its to show support for what they're already doing
* Appropriated federal money belongs to the American people, not the executive branch
* Most voted for someone besides Trump; he got 49.8% of vote. Reject the myth of a strong mandate
* Your reps need to hear from you, even if its to show support for what they're already doing
January 29, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Simple truths :
* Appropriated federal money belongs to the American people, not the executive branch
* Most voted for someone besides Trump; he got 49.8% of vote. Reject the myth of a strong mandate
* Your reps need to hear from you, even if its to show support for what they're already doing
* Appropriated federal money belongs to the American people, not the executive branch
* Most voted for someone besides Trump; he got 49.8% of vote. Reject the myth of a strong mandate
* Your reps need to hear from you, even if its to show support for what they're already doing