iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

I have always considered this one of the very best pieces of music journalism

Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

New Spanish edition of Third Millennium Thinking! There are Italian, German, Chinese, and several other editions out now, and editions in Portugese, Russian, Japanese, Vietnamese, Ukranian and a few other languages soon. Still no interest from the French; pardon moi for badmouthing post-modernism.

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

ChatGPT 4o feels my pain. (And yes, I somehow felt compelled to share my inner musings with it, and I always thank AI programs.)

brief dialog where AI empathizes with me for engaging in a sunk-cost fallacy

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

After trying to give them the benefit of the doubt for a few months, I'm finally cancelling my @washingtonpost.com subscription. So sad.

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

The older I get, the less cleverness resembles either knowledge or wisdom, which seem much harder to come by.

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

ChatGPT now seems to mention things it learned about me in previous queries (e.g., that I'm using Quarto for a new book project). This immediately makes it both more useful for me, but also slightly...um, terrifying. 🫣

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

{Bra-zil, ian} -- {ver-sion, of our} -- {book is, published}! (Punctuation placed to facilitate reading to a clave beat)

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

Seems like a good time to find out what cottagecore is all about, with ~4 yrs worth of videos on YouTube.

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

This nicely illustrates how our culture valorizes certainty. We usually don't make movies about all the officials who say 100% and then get it wrong.

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Reposted by Rob MacCoun

David Mair @davidmair4.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Excellent idea in "Third Millennium Thinking" @robmaccoun.bsky.social to encourage government to copy science and oblige policymakers to express confidence intervals around their factual statements, captured here h/t @ppfideas.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GW_...

youtube.com

Zero Dark Thirty | Meeting Scene | 100% he's there | Jessica Chastain | Jason Clarke

YouTube video by MovieLegend

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

Having come to a similar realization a few years back, I now allow myself to enjoy mid-20th century Exotica (Les Baxter, Martin Denny) without apology or postmodern irony, Edward Said notwithstanding.

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 27/12/2024

The Onion's Supreme Court brief is a must read.

supremecourt.gov

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

The good news: If trained to be evil, this AI may have just faked being evil, temporarily, to make the best of a bad situation. The bad news: Of course it *would* say that, if it really had become evil. Gulp.

assets.anthropic.com

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

This is a serious problem; the system runs on perceived legitimacy.

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

New paper in The Critical Review of Social Science Studies cites me for an imaginary paper: "MacCoun, R. J. (2006). Moral decision making and the psychology of conflict. Social Psychology Quarterly, 69(4), 334-350." No such paper. Curious to see if it gets cited in the future now that it "exists."

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

In the old neighborhood, I would have been alarmed that I follow more people than follow me. A new neighborhood calls for new norms: Following interesting others is something to celebrate. 👋

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

That is amazing; I never realized it was just a portion of the full painting, much less the Raphael connection. Thanks!

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

I regularly invite my students to ponder the puzzle of how humans often violate Bayes theorem and yet tiny bumblebee brains are capable of optimal Bayesian foraging. This paper might offer the solution: psycnet.apa.org/record/2023-... @bayesandbounds.bsky.social

psycnet.apa.org

APA PsycNet

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

On Thanksgiving afternoon, I happened to relisten to Joni Mitchell's "Down to You". For some reason, it has been playing in my head non-stop ever since. Perhaps I should be concerned, but it has remained glorious the whole time.

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

I so wanted this video to turn the static cover painting into a new computer animation, but alas. Still, I never get tired of the song or the painting.

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

I am not trying to be snarky, but I genuinely don't know how I can tell you aren't a bot.

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

Hey, we're in German too, with a bilingual title.

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

I'm very excited that our book will come out soon in China!

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

Just last night, I was telling an audience how important it is to protect the integrity and continuity of federal data collection efforts (economic, public health, criminal justice, etc.), so I was heartened by this morning's lovely NYT essay: www.nytimes.com/2024/12/06/b...

nytimes.com

Everybody Loves FRED: How America Fell for a Data Tool

From Facebook political debates to college classrooms, the St. Louis Fed’s data tool has gained a major following.

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

"Meet us at Pier 15. No kids allowed—but you can still act like one. Unplug and play with 700+ interactive exhibits exploring science, art, and perception. Journey through total darkness in our twisting, turning, world-famous Tactile Dome. Get inquisitive and grab a drink."

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

I'm looking forward to our book event at the Exploratorium After Dark this Thursday. It's a wonderful place and if you go, you get the whole museum to yourself before and after our event (i.e., no school field trips to compete with). www.exploratorium.edu/visit/calend...

exploratorium.edu

After Dark: Figure It Out | Exploratorium Museum Event

Find out how to make better decisions with the help of philosophy, psychology, and physics.

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

You’ve made me actually appreciate light pollution.

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Wouldn’t it just be Predict_next = {insert algorithm} Toss_next = 1-Predict_next {where 1=Heads, 0=Tails}? If so, observed errors wouldn’t reveal algorithm. Or am I misunderstanding question?

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Wow. My curated Bluesky feed is so different from my old feed-that-shall-not-be-mentioned. A big dose of beautiful art, nature, and science, and then some policy stuff that is about ideas, evidence, and problem solving. I don't even feel the need to make this post wry or clever.

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

I think we need art more than ever.

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

On Saturday, we had a fun reunion of the team that in 2009-2015 published projections of effects of cannabis legalization in CA and several other states. With Jonathan Caulkins, Gregory Midgette, Beau Kilmer, Rosalie Pacula, Rosanna Smart, and Peter Reuter. (Working on new paper; watch this space!)

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Yes indeed -- 2 drummers effectively cancel each other out, creating an ignorable blanket of white noise! 🥸

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Rob MacCoun @robmaccoun.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

"You're my blue sky, you're my sunny day Lord, you know it makes me high When you turn your love my way Turn your love my way, yeah".

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