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Owen Chevalier

@owenc.bsky.social
108 followers 116 following 84 posts

PhD candidate @ UWO Philosophy, psychiatry, social media etc. Avid user of apps

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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Seeing an influx in AI medicine coverage in the news the past couple days which is poignant given the US Governments new official stance on autism. AI can certainly be a powerful tool for healthcare, but I wonder if it will always be correlated to anti-intellectualism.
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
Presenting Dr. Billie Anderson!!! B successfully defended her dissertation on Wednesday on monstrosity and disability in film. I've been blown away by her dedication and passion for this project, and I'm so excited to see where her research goes next. Congrats @billieanderson.bsky.social
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
I liked this article, and appreciate @paulbloomatyale.bsky.social pointing out that AI friends don't mean the end of human friends for everyone, but that some people who may otherwise have had friends will struggle. A more measured take in a polarizing field. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
newyorker.com
A.I. Is About to Solve Loneliness. That’s a Problem
The discomfort of loneliness shapes us in ways we don’t recognize—and we may not like what we become without it.
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
So it turns out a handful of business owners CAN use free AI tools and handmade signs to completely dismantle a necessary transit improvement. No city as big as Toronto should be so easy to manipulate. Just embarrassing. www.torontotoday.ca/local/transp...
torontotoday.ca
City waters down RapidTO bus plan, limiting dedicated lanes to south of Bloor
Staff no longer recommend the Bathurst and Dufferin TTC routes get their own RapidTO lanes all the way to Eglinton
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Reposted by Owen Chevalier
Matt Elliott @graphicmatt.com · 19/06/2025
Cool study from @bikewaysto.bsky.social detailing a traffic count on Bloor Street taken on June 11 with a camera at 412 Bloor West. During the peak of the afternoon rush, bikes outnumbered cars. I repeat: bikes outnumbered cars. drive.google.com/file/d/1ctd4...
Bar chart showing traffic counts on Bloor Street West in Toronto during the afternoon rush on Wednesday, June 11, 2025. For each hour from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., the number of bikes and motor vehicles (cars, trucks, motorcycles) was recorded. At 4–5 p.m., there were 643 bikes and 849 motor vehicles. At 5–6 p.m., 930 bikes and 832 motor vehicles. At 6–7 p.m., 919 bikes and 909 motor vehicles. At 7–8 p.m., 726 bikes and 935 motor vehicles. Bike counts exceeded car counts from 5 to 7 p.m. The chart was created by Matt Elliott for City Hall Watcher using data from the Toronto Community Bikeways Coalition.
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
I think the counterpoint to the "young people are lonely, lazy, and addicted to TikTok" rhetoric is that public services all over Toronto are seeing massive boosts in popularity. Young people want to be outside, social, and connected to their communities. Politicians should take note!
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 14/06/2025
Loved getting the chance to speak at this conference and learn more about current research in epidemic injustice in psychiatry, lived experience expertise, and potential futures for the field that improve both its ethical and epistemic outputs.
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
My conspiracy theory is that they’re using AI to write these things, which is both a fascinating and terrifying thought. A new regime founded on LLM definitions for complex ideas.
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
Not the official death date printed on this Scarborough RT cardboard model 😭😭😭
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
To me this constitutes a pretty huge deal. If local consultation can’t even happen without AI disinformation campaigns how can we ever hope to have a reasonable democratic society again? Summerhill Market should face some kind of consequence for this.
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
I’m so exhausted.
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
My wife is only a cyclist because there are big bike lanes with enough space to make her feel safe with both e-bikes and cars. Building more of this infrastructure WILL convert non-cyclists into cyclists.
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
First they came for my cars made partly in Canada, then they came for my movies that make Toronto look like New York. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
theguardian.com
Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’
President calls films ‘national security threat’ and claims he called on commerce department to immediately enact tariff
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
The Toronto School Board has a deficit of $70 million. Wonder if any of this money could instead be going to keeping the schools in Canada’s largest city open?
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Very funny to see American news celebrating Carney’s decisive victory when this is kind of a nightmare result for a parliament. You Americans really live with this kind of polarization all the time eh?
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
The first publication on perceptions of diagnosis and social media use of youth in psychiatric treatment is out now! We are now conducting interviews with these patients and the conversations have been fascinating. Very excited to share those results soon. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Self-diagnosis in the age of social media: A pilot study of youth entering mental health treatment for mood and anxiety disorders
To understand young adult patients' perspectives around the importance of mental health diagnoses and use of online material to self-diagnose.Prior to…
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 19/04/2025
Would love to write an Atlantic-style article (light on the facts, heavy on the sensationalized opinion) about how American culture is no longer dictated by Hollywood but by the LDS. Everything from fashion and celebrities to cookies seems to be coming out of Utah these days.
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Just nice to see Canada’s national public media stand up to the bullshit. We don’t have to give space to people whose agenda is to destroy our democratic institutions.
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
From Rosemary Barton re. “The post-debate scrum has been cancelled due to an altercation”: “Let me be clear, this was not a fight between journalists, these were right wing extremists with their own agenda who harassed us”
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
It’s always fascinated me that TO has several major news outlets that all cater directly to suburban rage for the city. Normally I wouldn’t care but it’s especially bad when the province has the power to destroy the city based on what these people think Toronto is.
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
When we talk about social media algorithms we often ascribe them agency (e.g., TikTok knows me better than my parents; TikTok wanted me to see this) But it’s unclear what people generally think their relationship to these agents are. Are they the experts? Are we equal partners?
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Got to share some of my thoughts for this piece in Western’s undergrad magazine. It was great to chat with Hannah, and to see students thinking critically about how social media shapes their identities, especially relating to mental health.
westerngazette.ca
How gender bias and social media have shaped ADHD accessibility
While the stigma around ADHD has diminished, its normalization on platforms like TikTok risks turning it into a trend. Students are advocating for better institutional support, reduced barriers to dia...
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
A peculiar justification for the US declaring war on Canada is that it will hurt Canadians, and this is evidence that they’ve somehow taken advantage of the US all these years. It’s like punching someone in the face and then using their nosebleed as evidence that they’ve taken advantage of you.
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
The thing about the “You need a car for winter in Canada” crowd is that my car is the first thing I stop using when TO gets 50 cm of snow. Why would I risk my life and sanity trying to drive right now when every other option is easier?
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
They're going to make us use AI in our writing whether we like it or not eh?
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
Tim Hortons is an American company.
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
Love carrying a disposable camera around because I can capture moments like this. Carollers sheltering from the snow and wind on Bloor Street. Not all heroes wear capes, but these ones sorta do.
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
It’s -7°C in Toronto today, but I had to get all the way from my apartment to midtown and then back downtown in under an hour. Thanks to safe cycling infrastructure on the 3 roads Ford wants to tear up, cycling was not only possible but also the easiest and most enjoyable option. No need to drive.
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
It finally happened. I found a way to talk about Severance with my students. Rewatching the first episode I really think you could structure a whole survey philosophy course with it.
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
Been mostly posting about bike lanes these days but since this is a new platform w/ new followers I’ll shamelessly plug my recent publication! I wrote about the ADHD TikTok phenomenon, spoke with some influencers, and tried to connect it to PhilSci. Check it out :) muse.jhu.edu/article/930492
muse.jhu.edu
Project MUSE - "It starts on TikTok": Looping Effects and The Impact of Social Media on Psychiatric Terms
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Working on something re. AI friends and whether the fundamental issue with them is a mistaken belief that people are fixed categories. These friends seem to always be coded to portray a set of fixed categories and I wonder if that’s how the developers really see people too. Never changing/growing.
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Loved getting to speak a bit about this in @billieanderson.bsky.social’s section of the class yesterday!
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
I have a strong feeling that a lot of the things I love and think are good will be destroyed over the next few years. So I’ve been trying to focus on what’s good now, and what can’t easily be touched by bad faith politicians. What are some things that make you happy these days?
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
This keeps happening. If even one TTC vehicle hurt a driver we’d have calls to ban public transit, yet what is this the 3rd time in the past few months that careless drivers cause massive collisions? Where is the enforcement? Why are we debating bike lanes?
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
What’s insane to me about the AI Coke ad is that like the only reason Coke is popular is because of its ability to connect real human emotion with the product. Like 90% of the budget should be in these ads alone. Do these people not understand their own marketing?
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
TTC running smoother than I’ve ever seen it. Conspiracy theory is that the Swifties did this. If so, I thank them. True power lurks in teen pop sensations.
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 09/11/2024
Awesome vibes at the Fight for Bikes rally today! This is the kind of positive energy that gives me hope we can defeat Bill 212.
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Reposted by Owen Chevalier
Community Bikeways - TCBC @bikewaysto.bsky.social · 09/11/2024
Look forward to seeing many of you #BikeTO folks at today's protest against Doug Ford's Bill 212. Meet 2 PM at Christie Pits. #TOpoli #ONpoli #VisionZero
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 08/11/2024
Among the many, many very bad things about a Trump presidency, I’m deeply concerned about the future of AI regulation. We need to be having the tough AI conversations and instead we’re going to get Elon Musk slashing every regulatory body. It’ll be a disaster there’s no way around it.
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 29/07/2023
Just thinking about “subjective” disciplines because a student told me yesterday she prefers science over philosophy because of how subjective philosophy is. It’s not. There’s a method/methods philosophers use that can be verified. It’s just not taught in school.
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 29/07/2023
I think people call the humanities “subjective” because they’re taught the scientific method in school but not taught about other methods.
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 24/07/2023
Revising a paper is so lame. I said what I said, can’t the journal just accept that?
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Owen Chevalier @owenc.bsky.social · 06/07/2023
A new social media? In this economy?
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