iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

A PhD student in our med school had a supervisor telling them that “given their position on the author list, they didn’t feel the obligation to provide feedback on the paper”, which puts this behavior in perspective I suppose?

Then why they always fail to understand it?!?!

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Then again, if you are a researcher who is only collecting data to confirm the beliefs you already held, but who is never willing to reconsider your beliefs in light of the data, perhaps you should use AI-generated data lest you waste actual people's time.

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If this were possible (because the answer is already known or predictable), there would be no point in setting out the survey, because we would already know the answer. Anyone with a basic understanding of survey research, methodology, statistics, or AI should know this.

Thom Volker @thomvolker.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I can get into why laypeople might think this is a good idea. If you have selective experiences with LLM's, they perhaps come across as oracles. However, for this approach to work, either the AI system needs to "know" the population quantities of interest, or be able to predict this perfectly.

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If you do not validate your solutions, mathematicians all around will probably not take it too seriously, I suppose. So is this just showing off to keep investments rolling, or is this planting the flag so they can always say “but we had it first actually”.

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Thom Volker @thomvolker.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Doesn’t he mean “Super Media Outlets”?

The Ohio Arena was already full to the brim - And yet these people were still trying to get in. The New York Times said, "There were empty seats" when, in fact, there were none, and thousands of people had to be turned away. The New York Times, and many other Artificial Media Outlets, should be arrested for their dishonesty and disservice to our Country.
When Bernie Sanders has 500 to 1,000 people, they make it sound like it's the biggest event that ever took place. When PRESIDENT DONALD J.
TRUMP has 50,000 people, they make it sound like nobody showed up!
President DONALD J. TRUMP

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Thom Volker @thomvolker.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

“Move fast and break things”

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GESIS Training @gesistraining.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

🚀 Your survey data alone may not be enough. Learn how to integrate survey data with nonprobability samples, administrative records, and digital traces in our #GESISWorkshop – with plenty of hands-on #R. 📊💻 Info & registration ➡️ t1p.de/SurveyDataIn... @gesis.org @utrechtuniversity.bsky.social

GESIS Workshop
Survey Data Integration: Combining (Non)probability, Administrative, and Digital Trace Data
18 – 20 November 2026 | Online
Camilla Salvatore (Utrecht University)

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Darren Dahly @statsepi.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

They hounded Aaron Swartz to death for downloading papers from jstor but society is now supposed to just accept mass theft because this thing can write that TPS report *for* you. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_S...

en.wikipedia.org

Aaron Swartz - Wikipedia

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Thom Volker @thomvolker.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Once you know almost exactly what you want to write, maybe. Still, articulating my thoughts and building the structure helps me identify the parts I don't yet fully understand, and this usually takes up most of my time. It does help with the editing, which I don't enjoy anyway.

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Vera Wilde @verawil.de · 05/10/2026

Causal discovery. What is it good for? I've criticized the Glymour–Spirtes Tetrad tradition before; NOTEARS is its younger cousin. I ran a simulation showing if you rescale one variable, the "causes" change. Causality first! Analyses second. wildetruth.substack.com/p/no-tears-f...

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Hagen Blix @hagenblix.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The problem that we need to solve isn't rogue AI, it's that companies increasingly think they can just price crime into the business model and get away with it

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Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

A man replied to this saying in earnest that women need to get organized and fight for our rights and men will follow. We did that. We do that. We mobilized the largest single day protest in global history on every continent and yet I have fewer rights than my mom did at my age.

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Michael Mishak @mjmishak.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Online sportsbooks say they do not want business from problem gamblers. So @propublica.org's Jake Pearson spent 10 weeks on DraftKings testing how the company would react to someone displaying all the hallmarks of a compulsive bettor. Spoiler: It made him a VIP. www.propublica.org/article/draf...

propublica.org

I Deliberately Bet Like a Problem Gambler. DraftKings Made Me a VIP.

Amid growing public health concerns, operators like DraftKings have touted “responsible gaming” tools and prompts. But as I went off the deep end, I found they were no match for the incentives and pro...

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Darren Dahly @statsepi.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Every online getting company has exactly the data they need to identify people with gambling problems, and the technology and know-how to maximally enable that problem. They also know exactly how to spot the rare skilled gamblers and ban them from playing. Zero economic value. It's basically theft.

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Thom Volker @thomvolker.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

So, your slides already suck and then you make them even worse by introducing typos? Why would you do that??

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Will Lowe @conjugateprior.org · 24/09/2026

The boring but effective way to ensure 'AI alignment' has two steps: 1. make those who build and sell AI responsible for what it does. 2. apply our best existing alignment technology – the law – to them. Maybe the AI is sentient, malign or benign. Who cares? It doesn't matter for this to work.

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Thom Volker @thomvolker.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Sitting is the new smoking, no?

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Jonathan Bartlett @jonathan-bartlett.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I am seeking to support an applicant for a PhD scholarship to pursue a PhD at LSHTM, starting October 2027, on developing machine learning methods for handling missing data in statistical analyses. For more details, and to express interest, please complete the form docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

docs.google.com

LSHTM PhD - machine learning for missing data

I am seeking to support an applicant for a PhD scholarship from the UBEL DTP to pursue at PhD at LSHTM, starting October 2027. The topic is about developing machine learning methods for handling missi...

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Rafe Meager (they/them) @economeager.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

this story is crazy. also, looks like academia's not so obsolete after all.

I said that if OpenAI released its result in the way proposed I would go
public with what happened. The reply was, “Why would you ruin your career?”
I replied that I am an academic, and asked why he thought going public would
ruin my career. The reply was, “If you don’t want me to be nice, then I don’t
have to be nice.”

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Thom Volker @thomvolker.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

It’s only fraud if you signed off that you won’t commit fraud

Sam Gershman @gershbrain.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

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If this makes you mad, submit your cognitive science research to @openmindjournal.bsky.social No APCs, no subscription fees. It's funded by university libraries, at low cost.

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Thom Volker @thomvolker.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Must be nice if your academic genre is "fiction"

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Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 24/08/2026

i do think a lot of mainstreamers have missed the ball on how musk has moved past "rich guy with funny opinions on race science" and into "literally just a nazi"

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Thom Volker @thomvolker.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

And then the remaining 14% is probably Bayesian??

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Thom Volker @thomvolker.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

I thought they just assumed independence of observations

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Darren Dahly @statsepi.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Just as we don't extend academic freedom to flat-earthers, we shouldn't extend it to "race realists". They consistently ignore or misunderstand the vast quantity of research across multiple fields that rubbishes their "viewpoints", and they produce shockingly bad "research" to support their views.

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Thom Volker @thomvolker.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

It’s almost as if we, instructors, assign homework not merely to bore our students throughout their weeks

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Thom Volker @thomvolker.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Surely the free speech advocates will do everything in their power to revert this policy

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Ran (abu_hobbit) @abuhobbit.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

There are more people telling how they were hit by bikes than by SUVs

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Thom Volker @thomvolker.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

So? As long as it’s smaller than .05, right??

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Thom Volker @thomvolker.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Nou, alleen nog wachten tot de VVD het weer laat klappen, dan mogen we weer

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Hassnae @hassnae.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Grote bek voor een land dat niet eens fatsoenlijke opvang in Ter Apel kan organiseren.

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Thom Volker @thomvolker.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

The PI presenting the paper written entirely by the rest of their research team

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Ahh, no, although the ethics board might actually request an a priori power analysis of people are to collect new data?

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Statement on behalf of UEFA and its 55 national associations

“As a result of today’s discussion, no UEFA national teams will participate in any FIFA competition for so long as these proposals remain alive” UEFA is taking no prisoners www.uefa.com/news-media/n...

uefa.com

UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions.

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No I don’t think so, but I find it rather unethical to let people drink until they are hangover

Anyway, I'm just jealous that you're more productive on parental leave than I am working full-time

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There were essentially a million things you could do, and you decided to write about odds ratios??

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If you thought your smoke alarm's false positives are annoying, ... HT @statsepi.bsky.social

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Also, what the hack was this ethics board thinking?

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