Nick Byrd, Ph.D.
@byrdnick.com
I study how to improve decisions and well-being at @GeisingerCollege.bsky.social.
๐ gScholar: shorturl.at/uBDPW
โถ๏ธ youtube.com/@ByrdNick
๐จโ๐ป psychologytoday.com/us/blog/upon-reflection
๐ byrdnick.com/blog
๐๏ธ byrdnick.com/pod
๐ gScholar: shorturl.at/uBDPW
โถ๏ธ youtube.com/@ByrdNick
๐จโ๐ป psychologytoday.com/us/blog/upon-reflection
๐ byrdnick.com/blog
๐๏ธ byrdnick.com/pod
Pinned
Nick Byrd, Ph.D.
@byrdnick.com
ยท Oct 9
Upon Reflection, Ep. 16: Strategic Reflectivism | Nick Byrd, Ph.D.
In late 2025, artificial intelligence companies like OpenAI popularized the idea of automating the process of selecting which model is best for a task. This allowed users to simply send their prompโฆ
byrdnick.com
The #AI companies are onto me!
#OpenAI recently automated the identification of tasks worthy of "slow" #reasoning.
In "Strategic Reflectivism...", I showed why that's a key to #intelligence (in humans as well).
The #preprint (accepted in #LNCS) is now available as an audiopaper (a.k.a. #podcast)๐
#OpenAI recently automated the identification of tasks worthy of "slow" #reasoning.
In "Strategic Reflectivism...", I showed why that's a key to #intelligence (in humans as well).
The #preprint (accepted in #LNCS) is now available as an audiopaper (a.k.a. #podcast)๐
How are #AI emergency #medicine decisions affected by prompting?
#LLMs' rate of "Yes" answers to questions about #safety, #autonomy, treatment, resources, and follow-up varied by #ethics persona (utilitarian, etc.) and #reasoning style (intuitive, etc.).
doi.org/10.64898/202...
#LLMs' rate of "Yes" answers to questions about #safety, #autonomy, treatment, resources, and follow-up varied by #ethics persona (utilitarian, etc.) and #reasoning style (intuitive, etc.).
doi.org/10.64898/202...
January 13, 2026 at 12:03 PM
How are #AI emergency #medicine decisions affected by prompting?
#LLMs' rate of "Yes" answers to questions about #safety, #autonomy, treatment, resources, and follow-up varied by #ethics persona (utilitarian, etc.) and #reasoning style (intuitive, etc.).
doi.org/10.64898/202...
#LLMs' rate of "Yes" answers to questions about #safety, #autonomy, treatment, resources, and follow-up varied by #ethics persona (utilitarian, etc.) and #reasoning style (intuitive, etc.).
doi.org/10.64898/202...
๐This book is free for up to two weeks!
Our new book on health and disease is now available for free for two weeks. Get it before it is gone and please share this post! #philsci
Health and Disease
Cambridge Core - Philosophy of Science - Health and Disease
www.cambridge.org
January 12, 2026 at 3:33 PM
๐This book is free for up to two weeks!
Support for physician-assisted #death correlated with
- belief in free will (r โ -0.1 to -0.3)
- belief in determinism (r โ 0.1 to 0.3)
- religiosity (r โ -0.4)
The free will result in undergraduates was undetected in a more representative sample.
doi.org/10.1080/0748...
- belief in free will (r โ -0.1 to -0.3)
- belief in determinism (r โ 0.1 to 0.3)
- religiosity (r โ -0.4)
The free will result in undergraduates was undetected in a more representative sample.
doi.org/10.1080/0748...
January 12, 2026 at 12:02 PM
Support for physician-assisted #death correlated with
- belief in free will (r โ -0.1 to -0.3)
- belief in determinism (r โ 0.1 to 0.3)
- religiosity (r โ -0.4)
The free will result in undergraduates was undetected in a more representative sample.
doi.org/10.1080/0748...
- belief in free will (r โ -0.1 to -0.3)
- belief in determinism (r โ 0.1 to 0.3)
- religiosity (r โ -0.4)
The free will result in undergraduates was undetected in a more representative sample.
doi.org/10.1080/0748...
My feed has mentions of the protests in #Iran, but primarily from (1) Iranians living outside Iran and (2) #foreignAffairs / #nationalSecurity folks.
What are you seeing?
How prevalent are Iranโs protests in your feeds compared to other global affairs?
What are you seeing?
How prevalent are Iranโs protests in your feeds compared to other global affairs?
Deaths from Iran protests reach more than 500, rights group says
Tehran threatened to target U.S. military bases and Israel if President Trump carries out threats to attack Iran over its treatment of demonstrators.
www.reuters.com
January 12, 2026 at 3:58 AM
My feed has mentions of the protests in #Iran, but primarily from (1) Iranians living outside Iran and (2) #foreignAffairs / #nationalSecurity folks.
What are you seeing?
How prevalent are Iranโs protests in your feeds compared to other global affairs?
What are you seeing?
How prevalent are Iranโs protests in your feeds compared to other global affairs?
Protests in #Iran once got more coverage and attention in the U.S. than the #economy, #healthcare reform, and the #Israel / #Palestine conflict?
That was what Pew Research Center found in the Summer of 2009: www.pewresearch.org/...
What would this #survey find if fielded now?
That was what Pew Research Center found in the Summer of 2009: www.pewresearch.org/...
What would this #survey find if fielded now?
January 12, 2026 at 3:57 AM
Protests in #Iran once got more coverage and attention in the U.S. than the #economy, #healthcare reform, and the #Israel / #Palestine conflict?
That was what Pew Research Center found in the Summer of 2009: www.pewresearch.org/...
What would this #survey find if fielded now?
That was what Pew Research Center found in the Summer of 2009: www.pewresearch.org/...
What would this #survey find if fielded now?
If it hasn't already been done/started, it'd be helpful to see results of an RCT comparing both animal- and plant-based sources of EPA-DHA to a control group.
After all, if it does not matter whether the EPA-DHA were from *fish*, then it's not "fish oil" that helps, but EPA-DHA more generally.
After all, if it does not matter whether the EPA-DHA were from *fish*, then it's not "fish oil" that helps, but EPA-DHA more generally.
January 11, 2026 at 2:56 PM
If it hasn't already been done/started, it'd be helpful to see results of an RCT comparing both animal- and plant-based sources of EPA-DHA to a control group.
After all, if it does not matter whether the EPA-DHA were from *fish*, then it's not "fish oil" that helps, but EPA-DHA more generally.
After all, if it does not matter whether the EPA-DHA were from *fish*, then it's not "fish oil" that helps, but EPA-DHA more generally.
๐ค โmy goal [in this book] is to develop a defense of the surprising and counterintuitive view that it is always (or almost always) impermissible for Christians to procreate.โ
Christian Anti-Natalism (2026): https://amzn.to/4aKNLCC
Christian Anti-Natalism (2026): https://amzn.to/4aKNLCC
January 11, 2026 at 12:29 PM
๐ค โmy goal [in this book] is to develop a defense of the surprising and counterintuitive view that it is always (or almost always) impermissible for Christians to procreate.โ
Christian Anti-Natalism (2026): https://amzn.to/4aKNLCC
Christian Anti-Natalism (2026): https://amzn.to/4aKNLCC
Appleโs #Fitness app says I averaged 13.9 miles per day on foot in 2025 โ just over 5000 miles for the year.
#Strava indicates 80% of the mileage was from recorded workouts.
Grateful to have traded #commuting for #exercise. Working from home certainly has upsides!
#WFH #health
#Strava indicates 80% of the mileage was from recorded workouts.
Grateful to have traded #commuting for #exercise. Working from home certainly has upsides!
#WFH #health
January 10, 2026 at 4:07 PM
Appleโs #Fitness app says I averaged 13.9 miles per day on foot in 2025 โ just over 5000 miles for the year.
#Strava indicates 80% of the mileage was from recorded workouts.
Grateful to have traded #commuting for #exercise. Working from home certainly has upsides!
#WFH #health
#Strava indicates 80% of the mileage was from recorded workouts.
Grateful to have traded #commuting for #exercise. Working from home certainly has upsides!
#WFH #health
Reposted by Nick Byrd, Ph.D.
Today's SJDM Featured Paper is: DeKay, M. L. (in press). Risky-choice framing effects persist when option descriptions are matched and complete: A replication and extension of DeKay and Dou (2024). Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. osf.io/preprints/ps...
OSF
osf.io
January 9, 2026 at 7:20 PM
Today's SJDM Featured Paper is: DeKay, M. L. (in press). Risky-choice framing effects persist when option descriptions are matched and complete: A replication and extension of DeKay and Dou (2024). Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. osf.io/preprints/ps...
This book also reminded me that โย among other things โย many of these visualizations attributed to Du Bois were a team effort between colleagues like Daniel Murray and Thomas J. Calloway and seemingly many uncredited students.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exh...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exh...
The Exhibit of American Negroes - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
January 9, 2026 at 4:03 PM
This book also reminded me that โย among other things โย many of these visualizations attributed to Du Bois were a team effort between colleagues like Daniel Murray and Thomas J. Calloway and seemingly many uncredited students.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exh...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exh...
Reposted by Nick Byrd, Ph.D.
We've found good results on overt and covert #dataQuality measures by recruiting people via #onlineAdvertising (perhaps because participation incentives aren't financial):
Attention โ 2.6 out of 3
ReCAPTCHA (v3) โ 0.94 out of 1.0
doi.org/10.1017/S003...
#surveyMethods #cogSci #psychology #xPhi
Attention โ 2.6 out of 3
ReCAPTCHA (v3) โ 0.94 out of 1.0
doi.org/10.1017/S003...
#surveyMethods #cogSci #psychology #xPhi
January 9, 2026 at 2:19 PM
We've found good results on overt and covert #dataQuality measures by recruiting people via #onlineAdvertising (perhaps because participation incentives aren't financial):
Attention โ 2.6 out of 3
ReCAPTCHA (v3) โ 0.94 out of 1.0
doi.org/10.1017/S003...
#surveyMethods #cogSci #psychology #xPhi
Attention โ 2.6 out of 3
ReCAPTCHA (v3) โ 0.94 out of 1.0
doi.org/10.1017/S003...
#surveyMethods #cogSci #psychology #xPhi
We've found good results on overt and covert #dataQuality measures by recruiting people via #onlineAdvertising (perhaps because participation incentives aren't financial):
Attention โ 2.6 out of 3
ReCAPTCHA (v3) โ 0.94 out of 1.0
doi.org/10.1017/S003...
#surveyMethods #cogSci #psychology #xPhi
Attention โ 2.6 out of 3
ReCAPTCHA (v3) โ 0.94 out of 1.0
doi.org/10.1017/S003...
#surveyMethods #cogSci #psychology #xPhi
January 9, 2026 at 2:19 PM
We've found good results on overt and covert #dataQuality measures by recruiting people via #onlineAdvertising (perhaps because participation incentives aren't financial):
Attention โ 2.6 out of 3
ReCAPTCHA (v3) โ 0.94 out of 1.0
doi.org/10.1017/S003...
#surveyMethods #cogSci #psychology #xPhi
Attention โ 2.6 out of 3
ReCAPTCHA (v3) โ 0.94 out of 1.0
doi.org/10.1017/S003...
#surveyMethods #cogSci #psychology #xPhi
Bonus: Dubois' data and visualizations from the early 20th century are available for free on #Github so that anyone can reproduce the infographics, run their own analyses, etc.:
The #dataViz: github.com/ajstarks/...
#dataAnalysis #openAccess #archive #DuBoisChallenge2025 #edu
The #dataViz: github.com/ajstarks/...
#dataAnalysis #openAccess #archive #DuBoisChallenge2025 #edu
January 9, 2026 at 12:20 PM
Bonus: Dubois' data and visualizations from the early 20th century are available for free on #Github so that anyone can reproduce the infographics, run their own analyses, etc.:
The #dataViz: github.com/ajstarks/...
#dataAnalysis #openAccess #archive #DuBoisChallenge2025 #edu
The #dataViz: github.com/ajstarks/...
#dataAnalysis #openAccess #archive #DuBoisChallenge2025 #edu
I finally read this book about how W.E.B. #Dubois and colleagues challenged 19th and 20th century ideas and intuitions by visualizing data: https://amzn.to/49916Dz
Cheers to those who advance debate with clear, cogent, empirical arguments.
#stats #history #sociology #philosophy
Cheers to those who advance debate with clear, cogent, empirical arguments.
#stats #history #sociology #philosophy
January 9, 2026 at 12:20 PM
I finally read this book about how W.E.B. #Dubois and colleagues challenged 19th and 20th century ideas and intuitions by visualizing data: https://amzn.to/49916Dz
Cheers to those who advance debate with clear, cogent, empirical arguments.
#stats #history #sociology #philosophy
Cheers to those who advance debate with clear, cogent, empirical arguments.
#stats #history #sociology #philosophy
mTurk data issues are not new:
โIn late 2020โฆ. Participants from the United States were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk, CloudResearch, Prolific, and a university. One participant source yielded up to 18 times as many low-quality respondents as the other three.โ
doi.org/10.1093/anal...
โIn late 2020โฆ. Participants from the United States were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk, CloudResearch, Prolific, and a university. One participant source yielded up to 18 times as many low-quality respondents as the other three.โ
doi.org/10.1093/anal...
January 9, 2026 at 5:49 AM
mTurk data issues are not new:
โIn late 2020โฆ. Participants from the United States were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk, CloudResearch, Prolific, and a university. One participant source yielded up to 18 times as many low-quality respondents as the other three.โ
doi.org/10.1093/anal...
โIn late 2020โฆ. Participants from the United States were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk, CloudResearch, Prolific, and a university. One participant source yielded up to 18 times as many low-quality respondents as the other three.โ
doi.org/10.1093/anal...
๐ Fascinating talk about the factors that do (and do not) influence how people actually categorize #health and #disease!
Not always intuitive!
Thanks @edouardmachery.bsky.social!
If you missed it, check out this new #xPhiMed elements from @universitypress.cambridge.org that went online yesterday:
Not always intuitive!
Thanks @edouardmachery.bsky.social!
If you missed it, check out this new #xPhiMed elements from @universitypress.cambridge.org that went online yesterday:
Health and Disease
Cambridge Core - Philosophy: General Interest - Health and Disease
www.cambridge.org
January 8, 2026 at 4:51 PM
๐ Fascinating talk about the factors that do (and do not) influence how people actually categorize #health and #disease!
Not always intuitive!
Thanks @edouardmachery.bsky.social!
If you missed it, check out this new #xPhiMed elements from @universitypress.cambridge.org that went online yesterday:
Not always intuitive!
Thanks @edouardmachery.bsky.social!
If you missed it, check out this new #xPhiMed elements from @universitypress.cambridge.org that went online yesterday:
Yeah I get the sense the dept. started with interests and traditions less associated with the analytic tradition(s) โย that may have created some momentum (or at least selection effects) in new hires, students, etc.
January 8, 2026 at 4:05 PM
Yeah I get the sense the dept. started with interests and traditions less associated with the analytic tradition(s) โย that may have created some momentum (or at least selection effects) in new hires, students, etc.
I'm also puzzled by the categorization/naming. I don't see #philosophy as primarily narrative or expressive. When I was Asst. Prof. of Philosophy, my people were quants and analysts in the Math, Psychology, Computer Science, and Business depts. And many of those people were in my umbrella "School".
January 8, 2026 at 2:27 PM
I'm also puzzled by the categorization/naming. I don't see #philosophy as primarily narrative or expressive. When I was Asst. Prof. of Philosophy, my people were quants and analysts in the Math, Psychology, Computer Science, and Business depts. And many of those people were in my umbrella "School".
The #Philosophy dept. at @MontclairState will consolidate into a new "School of Human Narrative and Creative Expression" with #English and #Spanish?
And #Psychology will consolidate too?
No more departments (or dept. chairs)? ๐ค
www.northjersey.com/...
#higherEd #philSci #edu
And #Psychology will consolidate too?
No more departments (or dept. chairs)? ๐ค
www.northjersey.com/...
#higherEd #philSci #edu
Montclair State's rebrand of the humanities has faculty miffed
Faculty and students at Montclair State University are alarmed by a restructuring move that will eliminate humanities departments.
www.northjersey.com
January 8, 2026 at 12:09 PM
The #Philosophy dept. at @MontclairState will consolidate into a new "School of Human Narrative and Creative Expression" with #English and #Spanish?
And #Psychology will consolidate too?
No more departments (or dept. chairs)? ๐ค
www.northjersey.com/...
#higherEd #philSci #edu
And #Psychology will consolidate too?
No more departments (or dept. chairs)? ๐ค
www.northjersey.com/...
#higherEd #philSci #edu
Thanks be to you all, who did all the work. :)
a man in a suit and tie is sitting at a table with a glass of beer .
Alt: Neil Patrick Harris in a suit and tie is sitting at a restaurant table with a glass saying, โAww it was somethingโ (instead of โit was nothingโ).
media.tenor.com
January 8, 2026 at 1:39 AM
Thanks be to you all, who did all the work. :)
So the added value of chat-based #AI tools can be efficiency even if the quality of our output is no better.
You admit that possibility; Iโm just elaborating with an analogy: Instant text messaging probably didnโt improve the *quality* of our communication; it just made some communication easier.
You admit that possibility; Iโm just elaborating with an analogy: Instant text messaging probably didnโt improve the *quality* of our communication; it just made some communication easier.
January 8, 2026 at 12:30 AM
So the added value of chat-based #AI tools can be efficiency even if the quality of our output is no better.
You admit that possibility; Iโm just elaborating with an analogy: Instant text messaging probably didnโt improve the *quality* of our communication; it just made some communication easier.
You admit that possibility; Iโm just elaborating with an analogy: Instant text messaging probably didnโt improve the *quality* of our communication; it just made some communication easier.
One advantage of todayโs language models is similar to the efficiency gains of human-human instant messaging.
Sort of like email and other text messages allowed faster, more efficient responses from just a few words, chat-based #AI allows us to quickly get decent responses with less effort or time.
Sort of like email and other text messages allowed faster, more efficient responses from just a few words, chat-based #AI allows us to quickly get decent responses with less effort or time.
January 8, 2026 at 12:22 AM
One advantage of todayโs language models is similar to the efficiency gains of human-human instant messaging.
Sort of like email and other text messages allowed faster, more efficient responses from just a few words, chat-based #AI allows us to quickly get decent responses with less effort or time.
Sort of like email and other text messages allowed faster, more efficient responses from just a few words, chat-based #AI allows us to quickly get decent responses with less effort or time.
Perfect! I do prefer email to social media. Cheers!
January 8, 2026 at 12:12 AM
Perfect! I do prefer email to social media. Cheers!
This may allow us to scale up our work on reflective thinking (alone versus together, in humans or machines) on tasks with demonstrable solutions (e.g., logic or stats puzzles) and non-demnstable solutions (e.g., philosophical thought experiments).
If I've questions about the paper, may we chat?
If I've questions about the paper, may we chat?
January 7, 2026 at 6:41 PM
This may allow us to scale up our work on reflective thinking (alone versus together, in humans or machines) on tasks with demonstrable solutions (e.g., logic or stats puzzles) and non-demnstable solutions (e.g., philosophical thought experiments).
If I've questions about the paper, may we chat?
If I've questions about the paper, may we chat?
Now available as a preprint: this paper about judging people (morally) for ...feeling emotions (!)๐
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
Follow @isernmas.bsky.social, @joannad-c.bsky.social, and Ivar Hannikainen (www.researchgate.net/profile/Ivar...) for more.
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
Follow @isernmas.bsky.social, @joannad-c.bsky.social, and Ivar Hannikainen (www.researchgate.net/profile/Ivar...) for more.
January 7, 2026 at 4:10 PM
Now available as a preprint: this paper about judging people (morally) for ...feeling emotions (!)๐
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
Follow @isernmas.bsky.social, @joannad-c.bsky.social, and Ivar Hannikainen (www.researchgate.net/profile/Ivar...) for more.
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
Follow @isernmas.bsky.social, @joannad-c.bsky.social, and Ivar Hannikainen (www.researchgate.net/profile/Ivar...) for more.