Kevin Picado
@kevinini.bsky.social
Interested in the history and philosophy of {physics, climate science, earth science}, medieval-early modern science and the history of emotions | He/they
Reposted by Kevin Picado
a couple of hours before my keynote, I went through an intense negotiation with the organisers (for over a hour) where we went through my slides and had to remove anything that mentions 'Palestine' 'Israel' and replace 'genocide' with 'war crimes'
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my keynote happening in a few mins. registration here to stream it
aiforgood.itu.int/summit25/reg...
aiforgood.itu.int/summit25/reg...
July 8, 2025 at 9:58 AM
a couple of hours before my keynote, I went through an intense negotiation with the organisers (for over a hour) where we went through my slides and had to remove anything that mentions 'Palestine' 'Israel' and replace 'genocide' with 'war crimes'
1/
1/
Reposted by Kevin Picado
A short blogpost detailing my experience of censorship at the AI for Good Summit with links to both original and censored versions of slides and links to my talk
aial.ie/blog/2025-ai...
aial.ie/blog/2025-ai...
AI for Good [Appearance?]
Reflections on the last minute censorship of my keynote at the AI for Good Summit 2025
aial.ie
July 11, 2025 at 2:01 PM
A short blogpost detailing my experience of censorship at the AI for Good Summit with links to both original and censored versions of slides and links to my talk
aial.ie/blog/2025-ai...
aial.ie/blog/2025-ai...
Reposted by Kevin Picado
RIP Helen De Cruz (1978-2025) 💔
Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net), professor of philosophy at Saint Louis University, has died. dailynous.com/2025/06/20/h...
Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net), professor of philosophy at Saint Louis University, has died. dailynous.com/2025/06/20/h...
dailynous.com
June 20, 2025 at 9:27 PM
RIP Helen De Cruz (1978-2025) 💔
Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net), professor of philosophy at Saint Louis University, has died. dailynous.com/2025/06/20/h...
Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net), professor of philosophy at Saint Louis University, has died. dailynous.com/2025/06/20/h...
Reposted by Kevin Picado
5 years ago every LinkedIn Dude was posting pictures of Greta Thunberg with hollow 'inspiring' messages of action on climate change and fawning about her bravery
As soon as she took up the cause of Palestinians being killed they stopped
As soon as she took up the cause of Palestinians being killed they stopped
June 1, 2025 at 12:23 PM
5 years ago every LinkedIn Dude was posting pictures of Greta Thunberg with hollow 'inspiring' messages of action on climate change and fawning about her bravery
As soon as she took up the cause of Palestinians being killed they stopped
As soon as she took up the cause of Palestinians being killed they stopped
Reposted by Kevin Picado
You don't have to obey anyone's framing. Calling them British Petroleum. Call it a chatbot instead of "artificial intelligence". Use real emissions, not adjusted for offsets or certificates. It's all allowed!!!
May 20, 2025 at 12:06 PM
You don't have to obey anyone's framing. Calling them British Petroleum. Call it a chatbot instead of "artificial intelligence". Use real emissions, not adjusted for offsets or certificates. It's all allowed!!!
Reposted by Kevin Picado
Right now there are a lot of new eyes on Signal, and not all of them are familiar with secure messaging and its nuances. Which means there’s misinfo flying around that might drive people away from Signal and private communications. 1/
March 25, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Right now there are a lot of new eyes on Signal, and not all of them are familiar with secure messaging and its nuances. Which means there’s misinfo flying around that might drive people away from Signal and private communications. 1/
Reposted by Kevin Picado
I regret to information the Bluesky philosophy community that Michael Friedman, noted philosopher of science and ground-breaking historian of Kant, neo-Kantianism, and logical positivism has died. May his memory be a blessing. #philsci
March 26, 2025 at 1:24 AM
I regret to information the Bluesky philosophy community that Michael Friedman, noted philosopher of science and ground-breaking historian of Kant, neo-Kantianism, and logical positivism has died. May his memory be a blessing. #philsci
Reposted by Kevin Picado
The United Nations has proclaimed this year the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology because it is, allegedly, the 100th anniversary of the development of modern quantum mechanics.
But what actually happened in 1925? /1
pubs.aip.org/physicstoday...
#histsci #quantum2025 #histSTM
But what actually happened in 1925? /1
pubs.aip.org/physicstoday...
#histsci #quantum2025 #histSTM
Demythologizing quantum history
Celebrating the 100th anniversary of quantum mechanics in 2025 without providing appropriate context risks reinforcing a long legacy of hagiography and hero worship.
pubs.aip.org
March 21, 2025 at 8:04 PM
The United Nations has proclaimed this year the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology because it is, allegedly, the 100th anniversary of the development of modern quantum mechanics.
But what actually happened in 1925? /1
pubs.aip.org/physicstoday...
#histsci #quantum2025 #histSTM
But what actually happened in 1925? /1
pubs.aip.org/physicstoday...
#histsci #quantum2025 #histSTM
Reposted by Kevin Picado
This week on the blog, I court controversy by suggesting that our understanding of history has in fact improved over the decades #history #academia
salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2025/03/20/n...
salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2025/03/20/n...
Never Trust Any Work of History Over the Age of Fifty!: Or, Please Stop Citing Edward Gibbon to Try to Win Arguments on the Internet
When I first began marking undergraduate essays, I noticed a curious phenomenon in the footnotes. In place of the cutting-edge reading list that I had painstakingly assembled, all accessible either…
salutemmundo.wordpress.com
March 20, 2025 at 2:59 PM
This week on the blog, I court controversy by suggesting that our understanding of history has in fact improved over the decades #history #academia
salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2025/03/20/n...
salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2025/03/20/n...
Reposted by Kevin Picado
The fetishisation of Magna Carta is bad. But the notion that the rule of law on its own is going to save you is worse. Roman Empire and medieval polities had elaborate legal systems allowing them to exploit large swathes of the population. Modern arrogance about the historical context is stunning.
March 19, 2025 at 7:26 AM
The fetishisation of Magna Carta is bad. But the notion that the rule of law on its own is going to save you is worse. Roman Empire and medieval polities had elaborate legal systems allowing them to exploit large swathes of the population. Modern arrogance about the historical context is stunning.
Reposted by Kevin Picado
Is everyone huffing paint?
Crypto guy claims to have built an LLM-based tool to detect errors in research papers; funded using its own cryptocurrency; will let coin holders choose what papers to go after; it's unvetted and a total black box—and Nature reports it as if it's a new protein structure.
Crypto guy claims to have built an LLM-based tool to detect errors in research papers; funded using its own cryptocurrency; will let coin holders choose what papers to go after; it's unvetted and a total black box—and Nature reports it as if it's a new protein structure.
AI tools are spotting errors in research papers: inside a growing movement
Study that hyped the toxicity of black plastic utensils inspires projects that use large language models to check papers.
www.nature.com
March 7, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Is everyone huffing paint?
Crypto guy claims to have built an LLM-based tool to detect errors in research papers; funded using its own cryptocurrency; will let coin holders choose what papers to go after; it's unvetted and a total black box—and Nature reports it as if it's a new protein structure.
Crypto guy claims to have built an LLM-based tool to detect errors in research papers; funded using its own cryptocurrency; will let coin holders choose what papers to go after; it's unvetted and a total black box—and Nature reports it as if it's a new protein structure.
Reposted by Kevin Picado
Theory-freedom is an incoherent ideal for scientific objectivity and one which harms the integrity of science.
Sam Gershman writes beautifully about how theory-free neuroscience prevents the field from reaching its promise. Beautiful and true. Most folks do not test hypotheses. Running a NHST does not a hypothesis make. www.thetransmitter.org/theoretical-...
Breaking the barrier between theorists and experimentalists
Many neuroscience students are steeped in an experiment-first style of thinking. Let’s not forget how theory can guide experiments.
www.thetransmitter.org
March 8, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Theory-freedom is an incoherent ideal for scientific objectivity and one which harms the integrity of science.
Reposted by Kevin Picado
Let's debunk this whole "space is hard" mantra.
Looking at all NASA-led missions launched since 2000, only 4 out of ~60 missions experienced total failures.
Two of these were due to issues with the commercial launch vehicle, & two were spacecraft issues.
That is a *93% success rate.* (1/n)
Looking at all NASA-led missions launched since 2000, only 4 out of ~60 missions experienced total failures.
Two of these were due to issues with the commercial launch vehicle, & two were spacecraft issues.
That is a *93% success rate.* (1/n)
March 7, 2025 at 10:41 PM
Let's debunk this whole "space is hard" mantra.
Looking at all NASA-led missions launched since 2000, only 4 out of ~60 missions experienced total failures.
Two of these were due to issues with the commercial launch vehicle, & two were spacecraft issues.
That is a *93% success rate.* (1/n)
Looking at all NASA-led missions launched since 2000, only 4 out of ~60 missions experienced total failures.
Two of these were due to issues with the commercial launch vehicle, & two were spacecraft issues.
That is a *93% success rate.* (1/n)
Reposted by Kevin Picado
Some AI enthusiasts fantasize about chatbots' potential future suffering. But David McNeill and Emily Tucker say there are many good reasons to reject the claim that contemporary AI research is on its way toward creating genuinely intelligent, much less conscious, machines.
Suffering is Real. AI Consciousness is Not. | TechPolicy.Press
Probabilistic generalizations based on internet content are not steps toward algorithmic moral personhood, write David McNeill and Emily Tucker.
buff.ly
February 19, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Some AI enthusiasts fantasize about chatbots' potential future suffering. But David McNeill and Emily Tucker say there are many good reasons to reject the claim that contemporary AI research is on its way toward creating genuinely intelligent, much less conscious, machines.
Reposted by Kevin Picado
Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat passed away today at the age of 101. She was one of the pioneers of mathematical general relativity.🧪
February 12, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat passed away today at the age of 101. She was one of the pioneers of mathematical general relativity.🧪
Reposted by Kevin Picado
There isn’t enough ‘sustainable’ aviation fuel to make a dent in our emissions – and there won’t be for years
theconversation.com/there-isnt-e...
theconversation.com/there-isnt-e...
There isn’t enough ‘sustainable’ aviation fuel to make a dent in our emissions – and there won’t be for years
It’s better than regular jet fuel, but beware the hype.
theconversation.com
February 11, 2025 at 12:44 PM
There isn’t enough ‘sustainable’ aviation fuel to make a dent in our emissions – and there won’t be for years
theconversation.com/there-isnt-e...
theconversation.com/there-isnt-e...
Reposted by Kevin Picado
in August, i went to two meetings in Iowa—one headed by the Sierra Club, one emceed by disgraced congressman Steve King—both in opposition to the same project: a proposed carbon-capture pipeline.
for Drilled, my longread on the pipeline & what it says about the future of climate politics:
for Drilled, my longread on the pipeline & what it says about the future of climate politics:
Unrest in Carbon Country
How agricultural interests are teaming up with big oil to take advantage of tax credits meant to fight climate change—and what the backlash can tell us about the future of climate politics.
drilled.media
December 5, 2024 at 4:16 PM
in August, i went to two meetings in Iowa—one headed by the Sierra Club, one emceed by disgraced congressman Steve King—both in opposition to the same project: a proposed carbon-capture pipeline.
for Drilled, my longread on the pipeline & what it says about the future of climate politics:
for Drilled, my longread on the pipeline & what it says about the future of climate politics:
Reposted by Kevin Picado
January 2025 was quite unexpectedly the warmest January on record at 1.75C above preindustrial, beating the prior record set in 2024.
This is despite the presence of La Niña conditions in the tropical Pacific, with the El Niño event of 2023/2024 long faded. www.theclimatebrink....
This is despite the presence of La Niña conditions in the tropical Pacific, with the El Niño event of 2023/2024 long faded. www.theclimatebrink....
February 2, 2025 at 8:57 PM
January 2025 was quite unexpectedly the warmest January on record at 1.75C above preindustrial, beating the prior record set in 2024.
This is despite the presence of La Niña conditions in the tropical Pacific, with the El Niño event of 2023/2024 long faded. www.theclimatebrink....
This is despite the presence of La Niña conditions in the tropical Pacific, with the El Niño event of 2023/2024 long faded. www.theclimatebrink....
Reposted by Kevin Picado
Very happy to share the newest entry in the Elements in Philosophy of Physics series: Causation in Physics, by Christopher Weaver. This one is permanently open access, courtesy of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champagne.
www.cambridge.org/core/element...
www.cambridge.org/core/element...
Causation in Physics
Cambridge Core - Philosophy: General Interest - Causation in Physics
www.cambridge.org
January 31, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Very happy to share the newest entry in the Elements in Philosophy of Physics series: Causation in Physics, by Christopher Weaver. This one is permanently open access, courtesy of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champagne.
www.cambridge.org/core/element...
www.cambridge.org/core/element...
Reposted by Kevin Picado
still can’t believe that if i want my story to exist, i have to be the one that writes it
absolutely unbelievable, if you ask me
absolutely unbelievable, if you ask me
January 26, 2025 at 7:40 PM
still can’t believe that if i want my story to exist, i have to be the one that writes it
absolutely unbelievable, if you ask me
absolutely unbelievable, if you ask me
Reposted by Kevin Picado
Philosopher of physics Larry Sklar, who famously challenged "canonical" example of thermodynamics reducing to stastical mechanics has passed away. ⚛️ #philsci
Philosopher Larry Sklar (University of Michigan) has died.
Lawrence Sklar (1938-2024) - Daily Nous
Lawrence (Larry) Sklar, professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Michigan, has died. Professor Sklar was well-known for his work in philosophy of science and physics. He is the author of ...
dailynous.com
January 9, 2025 at 12:53 AM
Philosopher of physics Larry Sklar, who famously challenged "canonical" example of thermodynamics reducing to stastical mechanics has passed away. ⚛️ #philsci
Reposted by Kevin Picado
There's a classic #philsci paper by Deborah Mayo (1994) on need for metascientific approach to recognizing cancer risk of formaldehyde, how DuPont studies were misleading in concl no increased risk, & how risk assessment shouldn't be separate from risk management
errorstatistics.com/wp-content/u...
errorstatistics.com/wp-content/u...
January 7, 2025 at 2:16 PM
There's a classic #philsci paper by Deborah Mayo (1994) on need for metascientific approach to recognizing cancer risk of formaldehyde, how DuPont studies were misleading in concl no increased risk, & how risk assessment shouldn't be separate from risk management
errorstatistics.com/wp-content/u...
errorstatistics.com/wp-content/u...
Reposted by Kevin Picado
Hi pals. Today I wrote about the unsettling mismatches between what climate models say should be happening and what is actually happening. We're pushing the Earth past the limits of our physical understanding. This is a gift link: www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...
Climate Models Can’t Explain What’s Happening to Earth
Global warming is moving faster than the best models can keep a handle on.
www.theatlantic.com
January 6, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Hi pals. Today I wrote about the unsettling mismatches between what climate models say should be happening and what is actually happening. We're pushing the Earth past the limits of our physical understanding. This is a gift link: www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...
Reposted by Kevin Picado
OpenAI doesn't report a single number for its climate impacts - not anywhere, in any way, shape or form.
It sounds kind of obvious but the fact that a company with such incredible electricity hunger isn't disclosing basic information about its energy consumption and associated emissions is v bad..
It sounds kind of obvious but the fact that a company with such incredible electricity hunger isn't disclosing basic information about its energy consumption and associated emissions is v bad..
December 28, 2024 at 7:58 AM
OpenAI doesn't report a single number for its climate impacts - not anywhere, in any way, shape or form.
It sounds kind of obvious but the fact that a company with such incredible electricity hunger isn't disclosing basic information about its energy consumption and associated emissions is v bad..
It sounds kind of obvious but the fact that a company with such incredible electricity hunger isn't disclosing basic information about its energy consumption and associated emissions is v bad..