iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Planted some fall Kernza (perennial wheat) and mulched with the comfrey that grows like a weed all over the farm.

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

"Releasing over 700 files at once is not a demonstration of scholarship, but a demonstration of power."

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

If college women started boycotting fraternity parties FP would surely also throw a fit about that. I didn't read the article but maybe @michaelhobbes.bsky.social @notalawyer.bsky.social will do it for us.

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

If all yield tradeoffs are off limits, we will never build the world we want. We need to be able to give up some biofuel production! This, from @globalecoguy.bsky.social, is the better model.

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

"Making such predictions usually 'involves so many untestable claims that you just end up with a conversation that is really more like faith than something scientific or empirical', says Vermeer. This makes basing any course of action on these conversations difficult, he adds."

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Reposted by Chris Lewis

Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Good piece that gets at something that's been nagging at me about what @himself.bsky.social terms "the Machine God metaphor": Buying into it cuts off other types of questions, lines of inquiry, and approaches to knowledge. And I can't help but notice which way of thinking empowers tech companies.

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Reposted by Chris Lewis

George Dubya @itisgeorge.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I support a Manhattan Project-type push because we're gonna need large scale CO2 removal. But imagine the allies deciding in 1940 that they didn't need to fight the Nazis with tanks/troops/etc. because any day now the Manhattan Project would develop an atomic bomb and they could just fight with that

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Their view is not only "this tech could kill us, but we have to make it anyway..." ...it's "this tech could kill us, but we have to get rich making it anyway."

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

For real. I don't think this is true of Raskin, but it perpetuates the image that it's all a game to them.

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Am I reading right that there *is* a drying trend, but this study shows that the drying trend is not *accelerating*?

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

The AI doomsday scenarios seem to assume indefinite exponential growth in the tech’s capacity. Do we have any precedent for other technologies behaving like this? Computer chips maybe? Sincere question.

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Late to this, but: trees that produce food.

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Just found my vision for my life’s work vividly depicted in a… Chobani ad?

youtube.com

Dear Alice

YouTube video by THE LINE

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Has anyone written about how this dovetails with the MAHA-style cultural politics of brawny, manly red meat consumption?

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Absolutely a real-world pokemon

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Found a bird’s nest tucked in the row of grapes at the farm. Not sure we ultimately want it there long-term, but it’s nice to be able to provide a little bit of habitat for now <3

Bird nest nestled among grapes and grape leaves

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

I'd have to think about it. Tbh it's not really my area and I'm taking trusted actors like the Lancet at face value when they say it's an important concept. But I agree that for the concept to be useful, it would have to pass the test you propose.

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Granted, it seems to me that many proponents of the UPF concept are not very good about communicating this nuance, so I understand the urge to push back. I just think we might all be more enlightened if we embrace a more gestalt definition of it. /end

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

So perhaps there's no single precise criteria that we can use to include/exclude people from middle class status. And yet I think it's clear that the concept still offers tremendous value for understanding American life. Can the same not also be true for UPF? 5/

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

So it must be income, right? A Pew study a few years ago defined "middle class" as income from $52-156k for a family of three. So then a family making $51k cannot possibly be middle class. But that's also not true! Perfectly plausible to call them middle class based on presence of other factors. 4/

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Perhaps you're a renter with a college degree and a $70,000 salary. That sounds pretty middle class to me. Okay, so is a college degree the defining trait of "middle class"? Definitely not IMO. Lots of people with other professional backgrounds can fit the bill. 3/

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Example: the concept of "middle class." You might say that most middle class Americans are homeowners, have some advanced education, and have income that falls within a certain range. But does that mean you *cannot* be "middle class" if you rent your home? I don't think so. 2/

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

These pitfalls are important to point out. But can't UPF still be a useful analytical concept even if it elides precise definition? Can it not still describe a meaningful constellation of traits, even if none of those traits are strictly essential? An example... (cc @michaelhobbes.bsky.social

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Apples at the farm looking quite nice…

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Los... Apparently there's a movie too but somehow I doubt it handles the nuances as well.

en.wikipedia.org

The Lost City of Z (book) - Wikipedia

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

On Amazon cities: highly recommend the "Lost City of Z" book. Scientists used to think that complex civilization in the Amazon was impossible. (Clear racist undertones to this idea.) 100 years ago, a British explorer was convinced otherwise and went missing in the Amazon looking for evidence...

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Yah, "too expensive" could mean "literally unaffordable" or also "more of a hardship than it should be." Why is that so bad?

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Cincinnati has released a plan for how the city will prepare for climate migrants. Denser housing, more public transit, fewer fossil fuels… www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/c...

nytimes.com

A City With a Plan

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Backyard grapes are coming along...

Ripening purple and green grapes hanging from our back deck railing

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

I don't think the sass was necessary here but cool, thanks!

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Which Dems have openly said this? (Sincere question, I haven't noticed it.)

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

It's interesting that the cost of a healthy diet has increased, but also that more people are now able to afford it

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

The study estimates that more than 10% of opioid overdose deaths occurred because of floods. Proximate causes like loss of job, loss of home, inability to access care.

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

...it seems like a fitting symbol of this early era of climate change. We are fortunate, and we are still having a relaxing time—reading, cooking, watching soccer, and spying animals out the windows. But it is a different experience than it would have been a decade ago.

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

A while ago we booked ourselves a getaway for this weekend at a cottage in rural Wisconsin. We envisioned lots of hiking and sun. Instead, we’re largely cooped up inside because of heat and smoke...

Green Wisconsin forest in wildfire haze.

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

@robinsonmeyer.bsky.social really nails it here. Quite possible that the worst impacts of climate change will be the curveballs we didn't anticipate.

To summarize, wildfire smoke did not appear in our economic simulations of climate change. As recently as a few years ago, we did not really know that days like today — or June 7, 2023; or September 15, 2020; or September 9, 2020 — could occur. Then they happened. And happened again. And then we studied them and discovered that, in fact, they may be more expensive for the U.S. economy than we once thought climate change itself would be.

That worries me. Now we know these smoke-out days can happen; now they are fast becoming a rare but predictable feature of summer life. But until recently they were unimaginable. What other ignominies, what other tail risks and airborne surprises, are lurking in the uncontrolled experiment we’re running on the biosphere? What else — unforecast, unmodeled, unstudied, unthought of — lies ahead? After 10 years of covering the climate system, I am not someone who lies sleepless fretting about atmospheric CO2. But I do wonder what else we don’t know enough about to ask.

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Reposted by Chris Lewis

Dr. Jeff Masters @drjeffmasters.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Even running a HEPA unit indoors when the AQI is in the Hazardous range outside may not improve your indoor AQI to the "Good" range. My colleague @wisconsam.bsky.social improved their AQI from Purple (borderline Very Unhealthy) to Orange (Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups) by running HEPA in the room.

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Chris Lewis @chrislewis.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

A hedge fund thinks that markets are underestimating El Niño risks to food supply. They’re planning to invest $500 million in impacted markets and crops. www.moneycontrol.com/news/busines...

moneycontrol.com

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