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Gary Polhill

@garypolhill.bsky.social
160 followers 120 following 208 posts

Agent-based modeller in human-natural systems with background in AI and NN. (Very) occasional blog posts at ecocyborg-manifesto.blog All posts my own views at the time and not necessarily those of my employer or any societies to which I belong.

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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Nice to find someone else randomly who shares a concern that when discussed with some colleagues leads to the blank stare and fixed smile that suggests they think I’ve lost my mind.
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
‘Bare’ nails a cover for white supremacy!? Reading articles like this makes me wonder if ‘The Patriarchy’ isn’t just a discourse blaming men for the appalling ways women treat each other. In the ‘Health’ section: “How the bare nails trend became a class issue” www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Classy or classist? How bare nails became a hot issue
Bare nails - or nails that appear that way - are a growing trend. But is it as innocent as it seems?
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
If AI just increases the volume of papers and proposals, I am wondering if anyone has thought through the implications of that for the free peer review service offered to academics. I am increasingly minded to refuse to review for journals and funders who allow AI generated contributions. 🧪
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Computational Social Science Society of the Americas @computationalsocialscience.org · 12/09/2026
Early registration discount ends soon! Presenters: confirm your attendance by registering before the rates go up! computationalsocialscience.org/conferences/... (computationalsocialscience.org/conferences/...)
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Computational Social Science Society of the Americas @computationalsocialscience.org · 07/09/2026
September Webinar! Leigh Tesfatsion (Iowa State University): Completely Agent-Based Modeling (c-ABM): A Right Mathematics for an Increasingly Agentic World? on Tuesday, September 22, at 11 am (ET). Click here to register for the webinar. (www.tickettailor.com/events/compu...)
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Looking forward to this talk at the European Social Simulation Association’s annual conference! Love a rant!
Title screen of a presentation: “Is simulation still a way forward for the social sciences in the era of the polycrisis in the capitalocene? — a RANT from an action researcher”
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
It is of course silly of me to hate _all_ the even numbers, so I have decided not to mind those with an odd factor. Except 6. And other even numbers with a 6 in.
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Today I am working from home, with the intention that I would have a concentrated space to make progress with my work. But instead I’ve spent two hours wrestling frustratedly with a recalcitrant PC, and now I’m too annoyed to concentrate on work.
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Computational Social Science Society of the Americas @computationalsocialscience.org · 29/06/2026
CSS 2026: Deadline Extended Now accepting both submissions and student fellowship award applications until July 15th! More info: computationalsocialscience.org/conferences/... (computationalsocialscience.org/conferences/...)
computationalsocialscience.org
CSS 2026 Santa Fe | The Computational Social Science Society of the Americas
CSSSA
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
If I have the belief that I need to get up to go to work, but the desire to stay in bed to get some more sleep, how am I to compute my intention?
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Bruce Edmonds @bruceedmonds.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Upcoming workshop 24-26th June, Groningen, NL on "Power to the People: Participatory Modeling for Societal Resilience". www.rug.nl/rudolf-agric... #participatory #modeling #resilience #society
rug.nl
Power to the People: Participatory Modeling for Societal Resilience
When communities face their most pressing challenges—managing disaster risk, adapting to climate change, navigating energy transitions—solutions rarely...
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Brend Parsons from Bristol, your country needs you.
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Anyone know the secret of listening to the news and _not_ having an hour-long panic attack because of all the stupid?
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
I am having one of those days in which other people’s ‘systems’ have not been designed imagining that someone like me could exist.
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
Does anyone else find the music they are now playing over scenes of destruction in Iran on the news (e.g. Laura Kuenssberg) — what’s the word — trivializing? I’m reminded of scenes from B movies and video games, rather than being given pause to reflect on the suffering of real people.
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Sometimes I wonder why academic organizations get so panicky about IT security when they already force us to use operating systems capable of sabotaging work with denial of service attacks of which nefarious actors can only dream.
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Stockholm Resilience Centre @sthlmresilience.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
We’re looking for a postdoc to join the SURPRISES project! The project aims to understand the transformative changes needed to achieve sustainable and equitable coastal and marine futures that are resilient to surprises in African ocean basins. Learn more and apply by 7 April 2026 buff.ly/zMQ4YZE
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Do you know, I don’t think I’ve heard anyone say “It’s not rocket science” for ages now… It just goes to show that difficult things don’t last forever.
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Just dropped in to #PoliticsLive debating immigration. Missed the beginning so did not know who anyone was. From what he was saying, I just assumed the chap who turned out to be Jonathan Hinder MP was from Reform.
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Two words to invoke a nameless fear: “new recipe”
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Prof. Nicole Holliday @mixedlinguist.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
My course syllabi now contain a link to this document, "why Professor Holliday Doesn't Use Generative AI". Feel free to share/repurpose or just check out the links for your own reference. It won't stop some of them, but I want students to know why. docs.google.com/document/d/1...
docs.google.com
Why Professor Holliday Doesn’t Use Generative “AI”
Why Professor Holliday Doesn’t Use Generative “AI” This is a (very) incomplete list of journalistic and scholarly sources that provide information about limitations and documented drawbacks of variou...
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
Academic publishing is broken. My suggestion is that each academic organization runs its own journal ‘Research Reports of the Uni of X’ or whatever. Lead authors would be bound by employment / grant award contracts to publish only in their organization’s journal.
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The James Hutton Institute @hutton.ac.uk · 30/12/2025
Congratulations to Professor Lorna Dawson, who has been named Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in New Year Honours List! 🤩👏 She was recommended for the award by His Majesty the King for her services to innovations in soil and forensic science.
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 16/12/2025
Apples xkcd.com/3180/
Comic. [Two people one one side of a pile of seven apples, next to person with long hair next to five apples.] PERSON: Okay, with my seven apples added to your five, we have… let’s se… twelve apples! PERSON 2 [with hands raised]: Incredible! Perfect agreement with the theory! [caption] Experimental Mathematicians
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RoccoPaolillo @roccopaolillo.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
Our chapter on #syntheticpopulations and #researchinfrastructures is out: link.springer.com/chapter/10.1... An overview of #algorithms for estimation and some applied cases in #socialsimulation research, W/ @garypolhill.bsky.social, Alice Sbrana, Nick Roxburgh, Evelina Sabatella, Mario Paolucci
link.springer.com
Synthetic Populations in Research Infrastructures
A challenge to many social and economic policies is to tackle the interactive processes between actors and institutions involved, bound to a geographical, economic, and cultural context over which the...
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
Your back is up against the wall. All is lost. Who is coming to save you?
A depiction of Marvin the Paranoid Android in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams. From Marvin’s Wikipedia page, uploaded by user MeWhen123 under a CC-BY licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en).
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
Electric cars seem to make an inordinate fuss out of plugging something in and turning it on. Other appliances manage this simple task without needing an app.
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
I want to suggest that we try to get ‘runctitional’ in to the dictionary by using it as an adjective for academic papers using AI. e.g. A reviewer might say ‘This paper has too many runctitional features to merit publication.’ #AcademicSky 🧪
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Simon Waldman @simon-on-energy.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
In case you had any doubt that peer review doesn't work in pay-to-publish journals, including those with a Nature badge.... #academicSky pivot-to-ai.com/2025/11/28/n...
pivot-to-ai.com
Nature’s latest AI-generated paper — with medical frymblal and Factor Fexcectorn
Nature’s open-access sideline Nature Scientific Reports is the “we’ve got Nature at home” of scientific publishing. It appears to run any garbage for a mere $2,690 processing charge. A snip, I’m su…
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
When journalists quote think tanks I think they should be obliged to say who funds them so we know whose political agenda they are parroting
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Really good read about the importance of supporting postgraduates and postdocs as a research leader. I absolutely agree that this should be as, if not more important, than publication metric when hiring.
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J. Doyne Farmer @doynefarmer.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
We're looking for a postdoc for our new project on forecasting technological change - more details below
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
It’s more than that though. We have left things so late that emissions need to drop rapidly and go negative to achieve 1.5.
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
Oh, is that what we’re calling empirical agent-based modelling now…?
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International Association for People-Environment Studies @iaps-association.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
📢 Call for submissions is now open 👇👇👇
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IAPS 2026 Conference @iaps2026.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
🍂🌞 October is here! Time to start thinking about your conference plans for 2026? In a couple of weeks we’ll be launching our Call for Submissions. Stay tuned to our website: www.surrey.ac.uk/iaps2026 🍁🍃 @iaps-association.bsky.social | @eprg-surrey.bsky.social | @bpsenvpsych.bsky.social
surrey.ac.uk
IAPS Conference 2026
29 June - Friday 3 July 2026, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom. The theme of IAPS 2026 is Sustainability as Wellbeing: Towards healthy, green, and equitable communities.
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The James Hutton Institute @hutton.ac.uk · 30/09/2025
🤖🌳 Inspired by a Hutton project, Aberdeen teens Anjishnu Bhaduri, Adwait Sharma & Jayawant Sivarajan built ThistleDroid—a robot that tests land for reforestation & plants seeds! 🥇 Winners at #WROUK2025, they’ll rep GB in Singapore this Nov. 👉 ow.ly/tr9X50X4nYe
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
You know when a piece of software does not work when its advocates start saying the problems aren’t with the software, they’re with people.
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The James Hutton Institute @hutton.ac.uk · 24/09/2025
⏳ Just one week to go until the 46th #TBMacLecture! World-renowned economist Professor Kate Raworth is set give a talk on her revolutionary concept of #DoughnutEconomics 📅 1 October | 🎟️ Tickets are sold out, but you can still join the waitlist! More: ow.ly/NYVI50X1ytj
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
I’m wondering what else could be found to cause autism and whether any of them are things I don’t like. Cauliflower, for instance.
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
Not sure about Apple’s ‘glass’ UI thing in 26.0. But maybe I’m just getting retraumatized from Aero in Windows 20+ years ago.
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Computational Social Science Society of the Americas @computationalsocialscience.org · 19/09/2025
CSSSA September Webinar Join us Wednesday, September 24, at 10 am (ET) or An Open Discussion on Education Needs for Agent-based Simulation with Dr. Rob Axtell and the CSSSA Team. Register here! (www.tickettailor.com/events/compu...)
tickettailor.com
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Windows and Office are productivity vampires. Fun little UX today in Outlook. A pop-up over a tab that ‘helpfully’ tells you the same text as the tab title (but in a slightly smaller font), obscuring the cursor where I’m typing. Moving the mouse interrupts my train of thought.
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The James Hutton Institute @hutton.ac.uk · 08/09/2025
🌾 #Flax, once a staple of Scottish agriculture, could play a key role in sustainable textiles and low-impact #farming today. We’ve been working with Soil Association Scotland through the Flax Field Lab to test this crop’s potential. More: ow.ly/1Spp50WT7Cr
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
So what do you do when you cannot sleep?
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The James Hutton Institute @hutton.ac.uk · 21/07/2025
🌱 What happens when economic theory meets local action? Ahead of the #TBMacLecture, explore how our speaker, Kate Raworth’s, #DoughnutEconomics is shaping a Swedish town, and join us in Edinburgh to hear more. 🎟️: ow.ly/lAcp50WrKpv 📖 @theguardian.com : ow.ly/mbqo50WrKpt
ow.ly
46th TB Macaulay Lecture - with Kate Raworth
46th TB Macaulay Lecture - Kate Raworth
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Stockholm Resilience Centre @sthlmresilience.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
We're looking for a Postdoctoral Fellow to join the Horizon Europe project INSPIRI! Help co-create imaginative, stakeholder-driven visions for Europe's ocean and water systems. Learn more and apply by 31 August: www.stockholmresilience.org/4.aeea46911a...
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
No, I didn’t
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Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
It seems now the sole qualification for being doomed to watch history repeating itself is simply to live long enough
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