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D. Hicks

@danhicks.bsky.social
3.2K followers 982 following 8.2K posts

philosopher turned data scientist turned philosopher. enviro policy, data science, phil sci/STS, lefty stuff. UC Merced. they/them. Signal: danhicks.50

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Reposted by D. Hicks
lumpley @lumpley.bsky.social · 16h
PbtA fans, here's my challenge to you. For the next 12 months, when somebody asks how PbtA works, tell them that normally a 10+ is a critical hit, a 7-9 is a hit, and a 6- is a compromise, but that unusually challenging or dangerous situations can bump itdown.
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vortex_egg @vortexegg.com · 14h
It's like Sam Bankman-Fried said about why they only hired under-30s at FTX and Alemeda Research: they had at first tried hiring a few adults but the adults kept telling them why they weren't allowed to do certain things, which only got in the way of their criminal enterprise.
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vortex_egg @vortexegg.com · 14h
They recruit young people, and especially encourage them to drop out of college, because those ones tend to have more coding ability than they do moral judgement or curiosity about the social harms their work is being assembled in to.
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D. Hicks @danhicks.bsky.social · 18h
That feeling when the results pretty much replicated in study 3, but definitely not in study 4
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Three Cats Photography @three-cats-photo.bsky.social · 19h
Hello did you bring pets and attentions for Jasper. 22 January 2026. #cats
Photo of big white cat is sitting in loaf mode on a brown pad (it's heated) and a grey blanket. He's looking inquisitively, not quite at the camera but as though at something in the other hand of the person taking the picture.
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Amrk @amrk.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Peter Magyar is currently enacting a Liberal Currents fantasy where he amends the constitution to ban anyone associated with the old regime from ever holding office again and is somehow polling at 68% (he won with 53%) and I’m not saying that’s possible anywhere else but Dems should like, ask him
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embracebecoming.bsky.social @embracebecoming.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
We really can fix a lot of this by hiring back the dedicated civil servants Trump has purged and telling them "Destroy the people who did this to you. Don't break the law."
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Deb Chachra @debcha.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The thing about being me is that you think i) non-toxic batteries for biomedical applications are cool as hell, and ii) a world where dead batteries get tossed onto a compost pile instead of being e-waste is even cooler.
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Brett "Solidarity 2026" Banditelli @banditelli.org · 29/09/2026
If we can auto enroll every child into Trump accounts we can auto enroll every child into Medicare is the easiest layup of 2029.
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Thoughtful Skeleton @dqspider.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
GIVE 👏 LINA 👏 KHAN 👏 A 👏 GUNDAM 👏
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Ciara | Ciaraíoch 🎨 @ciaraioch.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Happy Michaelmas! In some parts of Ireland on this day, rent could be paid in geese. If you’re due to pay rent this month, please consider setting a very irritated goose on your landlord in lieu of payment, in the name of upholding important Irish traditions.
A drawing of mine of a goose looking concerned, with a tag around its neck that reads "This month's rent, with thanks".

#SpéirGorm #SpéirGhorm #Ireland #Art #Michaelmas
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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I try to help people understand this so we don't just automatically suggest lowering tuition as a silver bullet college affordability remedy when lots of public institutions already have low tuition
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Mike Henry @onlyveesaz.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Spending my day off with Milo.
Milo the orange cat sitting in his felt donut with one arm sticking out.
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Meera Desai @madesai.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Excited to share our new paper, “What AI Benchmarks Actually Measure: Adapting Convergent and Discriminant Validity to Interrogate Fifty-Six AI Benchmarks,” accepted as an oral at COLM! arxiv.org/pdf/2609.08812
Heatmap of average correlations between model rankings on benchmarks grouped into 11 assigned concepts: four capability concepts (reasoning, knowledge, comprehension, summarization) and seven safety concepts (over-refusal, refusal, safety detection, ethics, bias, privacy, unsafe behavior). Diagonal cells show within-concept correlations, ranging from 0.87 (knowledge) and 0.72 (over-refusal) down to 0.20 (bias) and 0.02 (safety detection). Reasoning, knowledge, and comprehension correlate with each other at 0.69 to 0.78, higher than reasoning's and comprehension's own within-concept values (0.66 and 0.68). Ethics correlates more with knowledge (0.70) than with itself (0.55), and bias correlates more with capability concepts (0.41 to 0.45) than with itself (0.20). Privacy and unsafe behavior correlate negatively with reasoning, knowledge, and comprehension (−0.41 to −0.49). Over-refusal and refusal correlate at −0.42.
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GUINNESS @guinnessisacat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
WHY I AM YELLING: MY HUMAN MADE PIZZA BUT IT IS JUST COOLING ON THE COUNTER NOBODY IS FEEDING IT TO ME
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CharlieBrown's Family @charliebrowntc.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Fizgig would like you to acknowledge her mousebaby
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D. Hicks @danhicks.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The University of California is considering requiring the SAT again, based in part on claims that there's a burgeoning crisis in Calculus classes at Berkeley. I don't think the available evidence actually supports those claims. dhicks.github.io/posts/2026-0...
dhicks.github.io
The absence of evidence for a calculus crisis at UC Berkeley – D. Hicks
Website description
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taenia @taenia.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
replace the flag immediately
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Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
if trump thought he'd rigged the midterms, he'd be saying things like, "we have rigged the midterms" because he pretty much can't shut up about it when he thinks he's done something clever.
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Michael Bazaco @mcbazacophd.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
We’ve reached that time of year where I have an internal struggle about which annoys me more: 1. anatomically inaccurate decorative skeletons 2. people who are outraged about decorative skeletons being anatomically inaccurate.
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BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
JCO’s fursona is a velociraptor.
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cait (and adonis) @cait.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
would you 🫵 give this man some shredded cheese
orange cat sitting expectantly on the floor
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Josh Luke Davis 🏳️‍🌈 @joshlukedavis.com · 27/09/2026
see also: anyone who says that the development of AI will lead to uncovering climate solutions we already have the solutions! we've had them for decades! it's just that no government is willing to actually do what it takes!
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value plus discounted @akhilrao.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
one of the skeleton keys for me in this discourse was recognizing that most faculty commenting on the relative importance of their disciplines don't actually know much about the disciplines they're comparing against, they're just trying to fight for budget and priority. which, valid ig
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Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
stress is bad cat is good I choose cat
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Emily Gorcenski @emily.gorcen.ski · 27/09/2026
Having pets is weird because what do you mean this little gremlin lives in my house
A dresser missing a drawer, a cat is in the bottom drawer resting her chin on the edge looking content
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cait (and adonis) @cait.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
the "iced coffee at a job interview" discussion is obviously stupid but also a great representation of the fact that every single HR person/recruiter has their own different made up rules for candidates and all of them think they are absolutely correct
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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 26/09/2026
As a former pretentious little shit who grew out of it, rationalists (et al) annoy the piss out of me because they are adults with the mentality of tweens - they are somehow still convinced they are the greatest geniuses who have ever walked the earth. It is the worldview of an arrogant baby.
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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 26/09/2026
like I suspect many of you on This Website, I think a core reason why I find Eliezer Yudkowsky and his rationalist and effective altruist satellites so intensely annoying is because I had a VERY similar “being a super weird, pretentious, hyper-literate kid” experience - I just, you know, grew up.
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Danya Glabau @allergyphd.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I've learned and worked at elite universities myself, but the work of public campuses embedded in their communities is the real civic work of US academia. I ended up where I am by spending my childhood hanging out at community college and UMaine libraries and summer camps!
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Greg Priest @gregpriest.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was published OTD in 1962. “[W]e have now acquired a fateful power to alter and destroy nature. But man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself.” 🌱🐋 # HistSTM 🧪🌎 #philsci #philsky #WomeninSTEM
Caricature of Rachel Carson by David Levine for the New York Review of Books.
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D. Hicks @danhicks.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Good Caturday, post fuzzy butt
A big white cat, hanging out in a green blanket on some patio furniture. He's curled up with his butt towards the camera while also giving some side-eye at the weird primate photographing his butt.
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Microplastics Sommelier @leastactionhero.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
i bring an iced coffee to the interview. only it’s not for me, it’s for the interviewer. and it’s laced with a sedative. when she comes to, she’s wearing my clothes and i’m in her office. her car keys don’t work. i’m with her husband. her kids don’t recognize her. coming soon from A24.
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
i think we should allow babies to decide the outcome of more philosophical debates
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Aidan McGlynn @aidanmcglynn.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The only thing that can stop a bad AI with a nuke is a good AI with a nuke
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Joe Bak-Coleman @jbakcoleman.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Notably the journalist who covered it is part of the Tarball Center for AI journalism, funded by by a who’s who of EA/rationalists and AI-tied philanthropy. It’s an industry aligned group, like we used to see with tobacco and still see with fossil fuels. Sucks to see this in science.
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prop @jailrespecter.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
ai agen t perfec t size to put private data! inside very comfort data sleep soundly. no problems ever in agent because good shape and support for persona l data messy everywher e. a agent yes a place for data put nakd selfys in agent can trust agent for giveing good love to data. friend agent
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Jen Jennings @jenjennings.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
You don’t gut the country's capacity to measure what's happening in its schools because you care about improving them. Guardian article below.
graph of number of employees at NCES
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D. Hicks @danhicks.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Btw last week I decided that tofu, kimchi, and avocado tacos are authentic Californian food
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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 25/09/2026
It's amazing how the rationalists have basically just re-invented Calvinism for the AI age.
john calvin thinks you're the elect of the machine god probably
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 24/09/2026
Every villain has a weakness. And occasionally their weakness is turning to the camera and explaining what their weakness is and that their weakness is making themselves stupider
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Resident Warren G. Harding @popeawesomexiii.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
First day as a vampire hunter: This is easy lol First night as a vampire hunter: oh no
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Duchess of Doom @kilagreene.myatproto.social · 24/09/2026
Are we sure this “skeletal child” isn’t just a cat?
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Prof Dynarski @dynarski.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Volume up
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Janet Hill @saskajanet.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Never before has a turtle turtled this hard. Zoom in and appreciate The Foot
A fantastic painted turtle stands on a snag in a stream. Turtle has a smooth black carapace with bright red edges. Its neck and legs are a glorious riot of yellow racing stripes. It has its neck fully extended staring at the sky and the back right leg and foot are completely extended. This is an epic pose by a creature at the peak of its powers.
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D. Hicks @danhicks.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
When you're all fuzzy and get good pets
A big white cat is on my lap, thoroughly enjoy some head scratches. A tabby and white cat is laying next to us, looking at the pets with envy.
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 23/09/2026
I remember all the people who yelled at us for hating Gavin. They were out there believing in the hair gel.
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Three Cats Photography @three-cats-photo.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
17 January 2026 #photography #landscapePhotography #landscape #Yosemite
Landscape photograph in portrait (tall) orientation, of a mountain scene in the snow. Just beyond the edge of a groomed road, three trees stand in a snow-covered meadow. The most prominent is a snag, about 8-10 feet tall, with the upper part of the tree long since broken off. A small conifer is growing next to it, maybe 3 feet tall. In the midground, not quite on the far side of the meadow, is a young-mature conifer perhaps 15-20 feet tall. Tall, thin conifers line form the edge of the meadow in the background.
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samuel mehr @mehr.nz · 23/09/2026
after some in-depth discussions with my lab and also drawing on conversations on here, we've edited our new policy on AI usage in my lab feel free to adapt or re-use with attribution, or to reply to tell me how awful this policy is lol
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sarah jeong @sarahjeong.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
so now i am on a bus, i do not know who has taken us or where we are going, i have either been taken tenderly into the embrace of the EU regulatory framework, or someone has kidnapped me and a bunch of other tired and confused PNWers
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