Reposted by Alex Diaz-Papkovichdepths of wikipedia @depthsofwikipedia.bsky.social · 06/10/2026it blows my mind that these bizarre AI people think “the commons” is just sitting around for them to strip-mine for free 161390195
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 04/10/2026There's an interesting rhetorical trick where "making it harder to speed" is equated to "making it harder to drive". It's not! Driving slow is way easier than driving fast! 0193
Reposted by Alex Diaz-PapkovichProf. Eliot Jacobson @climatecasino.net · 01/10/2026Records come and records go. But this is one for the ages. The preliminary Nino 3.4 sea-surface temperature anomaly is now at a record 3.23°C above the 1991-2020 baseline. This crushes the previous daily record set in 1982 by over 1.14°C. The Climate 8-ball is looking up. 541131534
Reposted by Alex Diaz-PapkovichC. Brandon Ogbunu @cbo.bsky.social · 27/09/2026In my latest for @undark.org, I compare AI adoption in science to the Ship of Theseus: "If you swap out every wooden plank on a ship over time, is it still the same vessel?" I argue that science derives authority from something more than data generation + publication. undark.org/2026/09/25/o...undark.orgAI Presents Science with a ‘Ship of Theseus’ ProblemOpinion | AI can replace each part of the scientific process, leaving the enterprise recognizable but devoid of human judgment. 58446
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 27/09/2026really neat tool! (as noted, the corrected URL is www.observingthecity.ca/intersection...)observingthecity.caToronto Intersection CountsEvery Toronto intersection the City has counted, mapped by how its traffic splits between cars, trucks, buses, people walking and people cycling. 010
Reposted by Alex Diaz-PapkovichMadeleine Bonsma-Fisher, PhD @mbonsma.bsky.social · 20/09/2026In a massive dataset of over 10,000 cities around the world, the strongest association with distance travelled by cycling was not climate, topography, or even infrastructure - it was *gasoline prices* doi.org/10.1073/pnas... 824164
Reposted by Alex Diaz-PapkovichAsher Cutter @asherdcutter.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Come to @romtoronto.bsky.social and EEB in Toronto! ROM is seeking entomologist/arachnologist curator who would also be faculty in EEB at UofT royalontariomuseum.applytojob.com/apply/mdMTpA...royalontariomuseum.applytojob.comCurator of Insects & Arachnids - Royal Ontario Museum - Career PageApply to Curator of Insects & Arachnids at Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, ON, Canada. 02431
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 15/09/2026had to check to make sure this wasn't the *other* front-page FT story today about crypto being used to evade sanctions to buy oil 000
Reposted by Alex Diaz-PapkovichDr Lindsay Tedds @lindsaytedds.bsky.social · 14/09/2026The overall response rate for the 2026 Census of population reached 98.4% nationally. 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 www.canada.ca/en/statistic...canada.caStatistics Canada thanks Canadians for their exceptional participation in the 2026 Census - Canada.caThanks to outstanding participation across the country, the final response rate for the Canadian census is among the highest ever recorded. 315536
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 11/09/2026I wore this shirt to a Jimmy Eat World concert and got a compliment on it (from a fan, not from Jimmy) so if you want to be cool I recommend you buy it 1272
Reposted by Alex Diaz-PapkovichBoston Review @bostonreview.bsky.social · 09/09/2026“Mathematics only makes sense as a gift economy. It has no trade secrets. Substituting a monetizable ersatz culture for the one evolved through historical experience is a particularly insidious form of knowledge collapse.” Mathematician Michael Harris on the AI companies coming for math:bostonreview.netKnowledge CollapseAI companies are racing to mechanize mathematics. Where does that leave human understanding? 1357121
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 06/09/2026The CBC article's witness did describe a car braking and skidding so the driver noticed something at the last second. The traffic cam photo also has some skidding www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/artic...ctvnews.ca2 people make it to shore after crashing car into Mooney’s BayTwo people were able to make it to shore after crashing their car into the water at Mooney’s Bay early Friday. 110
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 06/09/2026this screams "distracted driving" to me tbh 110
Reposted by Alex Diaz-PapkovichBen Martin @benjaminmartin.bsky.social · 04/09/2026Come be my colleague! Montreal is a great place to live and work! Tenure Track position at @mcgill.ca in quantitative cell biology with a research program to address fundamental questions in biology. @futurepislack.bsky.social mcgill.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/McGill_Caree...mcgill.wd3.myworkdayjobs.comAssistant Professor in Quantitative Cell Biology - Department of BiologyPlease refer to the How to Apply for a Job (for External Candidates) job aid for instructions on how to apply. If you are an active McGill employee (ie: currently in an active contract or position at ... 05350
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 02/09/2026isn't this kind of like saying "the spine isn't the entire skeleton"? 1320
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 01/09/2026"A 2024 city staff estimate for removing the bike lanes pegged the cost at $48 million" 182
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 27/08/2026Angela Saini’s Superior: The Return of Race Science is an excellent overview 131
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 25/08/2026is there a German word for when a city places signage telling cyclists/scooters not to use the sidewalk “for safety” next to an obviously unsafe road? 120
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 22/08/2026Just finished this and it explained a lot of overlap in Types of Redditor 020
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 19/08/2026hot take: bulldoze the Gardiner to make way for HSR 1100
Reposted by Alex Diaz-PapkovichJames McLeod @jamespmcleod.ca · 19/08/2026By tracking mentions of sovereignty in the House of Commons, and conducting linguistic analysis, we can say that there's never been another moment like this in Canadian political history. Cool analysis by my colleagues at @canadianshieldinstitute.ca. canadianshieldinstitute.ca/updates/cana... 03823
Reposted by Alex Diaz-PapkovichJoseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 17/08/2026New from 404 Media: we solved which AI company is buying massive shipments of rare books, scanning and destroying them to train AI. We put an Apple AirTag in a rare book, followed it. It ended up at an Amazon facility. Its logo is a dinosaur ripping through a book www.404media.co/we-tracked-a...404media.coWe Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training FacilityWe placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it, and found an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books. 12537932367
Reposted by Alex Diaz-PapkovichOh The Urbanity! @ohtheurbanity.bsky.social · 14/08/2026Bloor Street is the spine of the bike network in Toronto. Ripping it out would be like removing Saint-Denis in Montreal. 4655
Reposted by Alex Diaz-PapkovichSaloni @scientificdiscovery.dev · 11/08/2026BIG NEW piece by me. A few years ago, if you asked me to summarize my entire worldview in one article, I would’ve said it was too broad and too difficult. But this year, I decided to do it.worksinprogress.coEvery disease is a policy failureFew people know how much medicine has progressed in their lifetimes. Fewer know how much faster it could be progressing. 1327189
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 12/08/2026the only way for bluesky to grow is to allow users that are not 38 and that is a sacrifice i am not willing to make 010
Reposted by Alex Diaz-PapkovichRebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 06/08/2026Concerning thread about how Wikipedia and, especially, Grokipedia promote genetic essentialism even though academic research does not support these views 0114
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 05/08/2026I noticed that too, interesting that it's a Grokipedia tic 130
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 05/08/2026This was a very eye-opening and sprawling project and I think gives a lot of insight into how our research lives online. A *huge* thank you to Sohini for her guidance, to my co-authors Abby and Sophia for helping to collect and manage data, and those who offered their thoughts while I was writing. 052
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 05/08/2026Grokipedia represents the polar opposite: remixing, misrepresenting, and fabricating research with AI to generate scientific racism at scale. For now, its traffic is paltry compared to Wikipedia (~1 million vs 2 billion monthly views), but it represents a grim new frontier. 182
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 05/08/2026There are many possibilities going forward. Wikipedia, for all its flaws, is a good faith attempt to represent expert consensus. Hereditarian writers are not considered reliable sources because users in 2020 (citing many scientific writers and scientific orgs.) concluded it was unscientific. 132
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 05/08/2026There's danger in ignoring this. Extremists frequently leave manifestos mentioning genetics, part of (to borrow from theconversation.com/the-shooting...) a "curriculum of violence". But we also know from that education can reduce genetic essentialism and racism (e.g. www.science.org/doi/full/10....) 142
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 05/08/2026There's huge room for improvement for scicomm here. What *is* a cluster? What does it mean to be "distinct"? "Distinct" compared to what? What's in a biobank? What's an admixture plot telling us? A PCA plot? Most guidance on writing is aimed at technical audiences, but little is aimed to the public. 172
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 05/08/2026We found many discussions between Wikipedia editors disliking "Genetics" sections for similar reasons. But geneticists keep putting out papers about national biobanks, genetic histories, PCA plots and population clusters--often with no public guidance on how to interpret the fairly arcane methods. 162
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 05/08/2026So what does all this mean? Regarding Wikipedia, we argue that its discrete structure and page format are priming the public for genetic essentialism. People curious about, say, an ethnic group will repeatedly see a "Genetics" section and may start thinking of groups being defined by genetics 182
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 05/08/2026(I really cannot overemphasize how racist Grokipedia is. The page "Black people" mentions genetics in every section, almost exclusively in a negative light, except for "Achievements and Contributions", which doesn't mention genetics at all.) 1238
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 05/08/2026Grokipedia defines race by genetics, and also states that population-scale differences in IQ and crime rates are genetically caused. Comparing the Wikipedia and Grokipedia case study pages, genetics terms are more prominent on Grokipedia, and the citations are often total nonsense (see alt text). 3225
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 05/08/2026So genetics-and-nationality are being propagated by AI to some degree. But what about an AI-generated encyclopedia, like Elon Musk's Grokipedia? We found it mentions genetics more often than Wikipedia in nationalities, but the case study pages are especially egregious (next post). 173
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 05/08/2026Wikipedia is an influential data source for chatbots (though we don't know how important). We prompted ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini to "tell me the history of [nationality]" and got genetics keywords in 31%, 18%, and 10% of responses, with "Wikipedia" mentioned in 83%, 100%, and 95% (respectively) 143
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 05/08/2026The page "White people" had a "Genetic History" section that was spun off into the page "Genetic history of Europe" in 2006. This is an interesting example of the enmeshment of race and genetics in the information ecosystem. 153
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 05/08/2026We looked at race, genetics, and hereditarianism in three case study pages. The page "Ashkenazi Jews" had text about IQ and genetics on and off until 2023. The page "Black people" cited hereditarians like Rushton and Jensen as late as 2007 regarding definitions of race. 163
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 05/08/2026We use nation-level demonyms (e.g. "Spaniards", "Somalis", "Mexicans") as a proxy for nationality. When they exist, these pages have genetics sections often (53%); When Wikipedia users are curious about a nationality, they're going to see a "genetics" section very often. 142
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 05/08/2026We downloaded wiki markup from 3 million historical revisions and text-mined them, tracing genetics-related keywords, and analyzing when and how they appear. Some findings: Wikipedia pages ethnic/national groups increasingly have "Genetics" sections, especially highly-viewed pages 163
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 05/08/2026Population geneticists don't think of, say, ethnic groups as genetically discrete and homogeneous, but is that what gets across? Wikipedia is a natural experiment--what happens to our research "in the wild"? We looked at 6,700 Wikipedia pages about ethnicity, nationality, and race over 25 years. 172
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 05/08/2026How does human genetics research live in the information ecosystem? Is it misused? Misrepresented? In my paper with @sramach.bsky.social, we tackle this question with 25 years of Wikipedia data, AI chatbot responses, and pages from Grokipedia www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...biorxiv.orgFrom Wikipedia to AI: Measuring 25 years of synthesis of human genetics research in the public-facing information ecosystemGenetics research frequently intersects with ethnicity, nationality, and race, making it uniquely vulnerable to misrepresentation. Yet, 25 years after the initial sequencing of the human genome, there... 24734
Alex Diaz-Papkovich @alexandr.bsky.social · 04/08/2026Hearing Young Liars live was like a religious experience, glad The Youths are getting exposed to them 110