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Joe Levy

@colddirt.bsky.social
1.1K followers 689 following 290 posts

permafrost & planetary geomorphologist, assoc. prof of Earth & Env. Geosciences @colgateuniv, linker of climate change to landscape evolution, ice storyteller

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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
If AI undercuts our efforts to grow food for all people, to keep air and water clean, and to build and maintain infrastructure that supports human life and human development, then it is a hurtling locomotive, throwing off exhaust and danger, but for all that we feed it, not doing work that matters.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Or do we want to build machines that support the time-consuming processes of life, that foster learning, that make things, or that give us the time we need carry out work that cannot be automated by an LLM or a fleet of agents? If AI can enable human flourishing then it’s a redeemable technology.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
So, the big question, I think, is what do we want our machines to do for us? Do we want machines that turn fossil fuels into the illusion of status and the illusion of dominion?
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
It takes time to build a relationship, and time to make up your mind. The frustrations of AI are that the dominion machine we thought we had cannot speed some things up. Meat-world is going to always be slower than information-world.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
It takes time to grow an apple, time to figure out how to get music from a ukulele, time to build a bridge, time to learn (to really learn— to observe, analyze, evaluate, & apply—not just to flash symbols in a regurgitation of information, no matter how well organized it might be by machine).
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
But that failure to understand, even more than the failure to control, points to the bigger issue. The bigger problem that many folks have noticed, not least the late Wendell Berry, is that many things that matter to us do not move at the speed of information.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
The first AI problem is that the dominion AI seems to grant us is, apparently, a risky delusion at best. That’s what Dario Amodei, Anthropic’s chief executive, was getting at when he said, “Left unchecked, it could outrun our ability to understand and control these systems,”
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
And it is shocking how quickly these dopamine hits can be delivered. AI gives us what we want, right now, or dispatches an agent into the web to deliver on our demands as soon as it possibly can. AI is like magic for anything that can move at the speed of information.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
So we have built status machines, and wish-fulfillment machines—a machine that gives us the appearance of consequences-free dominion over an artist, a writer, an advisor, an executive assistant for everyone.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
They say yes with enthusiasm, take criticism unflinchingly. They strive to deliver. No chorus of Likes can compete with the allure of the focused attention of someone who cares just about you and strives to fulfill your wishes.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
AI chatbots are a similar machine, but even better. Type a few words, and you get what appears to be dominion over a thinking being. Need a ghost-writer, an analyst, a graphic designer? A lover, a tutor, a research assistant? They can be yours, right now, attentive and at your beck and call.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Social media was a magic status machine. It cost less than the time and effort of buying a round at the pub, and produced a similar chorus of engaged and supportive voices. Also, I hope these posts are interesting to you (I’m a hominid, too, and seek status).
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
We all got used to the machine of social media, a contraption that turns words into social status, or at least into the illusion of status. Type a few lines, and wait for the likes and reposts to tumble in. To our hominid brains, there’s little better than the approval of our peers.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I know I’m supposed to mostly muse about drones & permafrost, but like everyone, I have been thinking a lot about AI lately. What strikes me most, & this is not an observation uniquely made by me, is the perversity with which we have invested our resources—what machines we’ve chosen to build and why
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I, too, yearn to be hotter than a croc, cooler than a chicken. I mean, I know some pretty cool chickens.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Maybe it’s not news. Maybe it’s manipulation to paper over poor business strategy and smaller than anticipated economic impact. But if I’m wrong, no shade to our new robot overlords. People are cynical by nature. www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Maybe I’m cynical, but I can’t see announcements from AI companies as anything but marketing. Not enough pep in the stock? Share news about super tools that hack email. Worried about that Oct IPO? Suggest you need regulation & then blame the threat of regulation for poor profits & underperformance
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
@pareidolia.bsky.social, this is the big one.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Today was Oreo cookie clay minerals ... and this afternoon after labs let out, we're doing a Stratigraphic Sundaes social event (think cross-section puzzles, but with ice cream). If only there was a demo that involved fresh fruit or veggies (actually, fruit tomography demos are great)
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
From all of us who have become explorers of strange new worlds, thank you for the inspiration! One lesson most scientists and explorers have taken from Star Trek is that you can't explore without an outstanding crew that supports and looks out for one another. Ad astra!
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Happy fieldwork Friday! My team came upon some impassable chasms out in the Alvord Desert and needed to turn back. Actually, these are just mud cracks. I've been playing with macro photos of soils and sediments to better think about micro landscapes. Still a work in progress, but lots of fun! ⚒️🧪
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
It's hard to go wrong with Oreo tectonic plates sliding over a creme asthenosphere. With a close up shot, you can show all three major boundaries easily. Cookie dough in time lapse in the oven shows partial melting nicely. But now I want to read about folks' epic food demos!
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Even if you're not a person focused on climate over time, check out our "how to apply" page to get some insights into what selective liberal arts colleges (SLACs) might be looking for in faculty applications: www.colgate.edu/academics/de...
colgate.edu
Faculty Position: Assistant Professor in Paleoclimate | Colgate University
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Paleoclimate peeps - come work with us at Colgate! apply.interfolio.com/188708 Review of applications starts Sept. 1.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Those look awesome!
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
I know this guy's the villain in this story, but I still kind of want "I do not think you are STUPID. I only think you are WRONG" on a stamp or maybe some sparkly stickers.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
This is the way … says my brewing logbook and other assorted hobby notebooks.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
I think Nolan just got Gilgamesh greenlit and trolls are already howling about the casting of Enkidu
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Happ #FieldworkFriday from the Alvord Desert playa in far southeastern Oregon! Hot work on the Alvord Hot Springs discharge plume during the day, followed by hanging out on the playa at sunset! ⚒️🧪
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
h/t Hamilton village trivia for getting to think about these numbers the other night during the US-BH game!
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
A little World Cup planetary science... If the Earth were the size of a soccer ball, 🌎 = ⚽ then the Moon would be the size of a tennis ball: 🌔 = 🎾 The Earth-Moon distance, 🌎 to 🌔, would be about 30 soccer balls: ⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽ or a little less than the width of the goal 🥅
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Curious! It should be live now. Seems like there was a little Interfolio hiccup earlier in the day. Does it work for you now?
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
They’re just very big fossil raindrops, ergo, paleoclimate! Chair-hat: the specialization is open. Friend-hat: it’s a bit like a D&D rogue trying to use sleight-of-hand instead of gather information: “I pick the pocket of his mind for useful knowledge!” Chair-hat: we seek a broad pool of applicants.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Applications should be submitted through Interfolio at apply.interfolio.com/188708. Review of applications will begin September 1, 2026, and continue until the position is filled.
apply.interfolio.com
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
We seek an individual who is committed to excellence in teaching and research at the undergraduate level. The area of specialization is open but should include an examination of climatic change in the geologic record.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
The Department of Earth and Environmental Geosciences at @colgate.edu invites applications for a tenure-stream position in the area of Paleoclimatology at the rank of Assistant Professor, beginning fall '27.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Love exploring climate change in the geological record? Want to teach about climate change with fabulous undergraduates? Yearning to advance your paleoclimate research in a supportive, scholarship-forward environment? Then come work with us at Colgate University! ⚒️🧪❄️🧪🌊🧪 apply.interfolio.com/188708
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
I'm much more interested in seeing a student's stack of index cards with notes and citations on them than I am in seeing their final essay. It's in collecting and organizing information that the process of writing is learned.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
And the soil, too, expanding and contracting with each thermal cycle--clays swelling with each humidity cycle. E pur si muove as they say (they, being Galileo). For being a planet of rock and ice, Mars has got some moves. And robots.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Road salt? In my drinking water? If you live in central NY, the answer might be yes, and a lot of it. Read all about @colgate.edu Earth & Environmental Geosciences student Morgan Cecil's findings here bit.ly/hamiltonsali... - fresh out in Case Studies in the Environment. ⚒️🧪💧🧪❄️🧪
A graph showing sodium concentration from 1995 to 2025 for hour municipalities in central New York: Hamilton, Rome, Oneida, and Norwich. While Rome, Oneida, and Norwich are pretty low, less than 20 ppm, Hamilton's value is above 50 ppm and rising up to 100 ppm by the end of the graph.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Happy #FieldworkFriday! Exploring lava tubes from above and below at Tabernacle Hill volcano outside of Fillmore, UT. 🥾🌋⚒️🧪
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
You know, we don't see the "before" part of this scene, but I think Stickman was probably provoking the rocks on the North Kaibab trail before they turned on him ⚒️🧪
A yellow rectangular reflective sign showing a black line drawing of a cliff face, rocks falling from the cliff face, and a stick person running away with one arm in the air and a spring in their step.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Today was a particularly effective day to teach about aeolian processes at Coral Pink Sand Dunes
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Way to go!!!
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
These tasks seem more like labor to me-a human preoccupation with experience and novelty. And I think that's the real test of AI knowledge work-does it outpace our best human workers on meaningful low-probability/high-reward cases.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
But some knowledge work is about low-probability/high-impact results: finding a turn of phrase that delights a reader, finding an obscure precedent that turns a legal case, seeing a similarity with a prior patient that leads to diagnosis, intuiting a hypothesis that leads to a new experiment.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
But the other half of this might be about the product of knowledge work. Some tasks are about getting the most probable answer--AI is built for that. There are many cases where the most probable answer is the best.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
EK is probably right that human contact and relationships will matter more in the future, as knowledge work is displaced to machine-made. Connections and relationships and stories tied to knowledge products are place where "human-made" might market like "homemade" does today.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
But if knowledge work really is information applied through skill, then AI is about replacing labor, & machines that can produce similar knowledge products will reduce demand for knowledge labor. Is knowledge produce more like denim fabric (better machine made) or like a sandwich (human-centric)?
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
The crux is whether knowledge is a resource like coal, which capital (an engine or an AI) consumes to produce produce for profit, or whether knowledge is part of labor, a skill that is applied to do work. If knowledge is just data, then more productive use of data means more use of knowledge (data).
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