Richard J Hewitt
@richardjhewitt.bsky.social
Ramón y Cajal Research Fellow
@IEGD_CSIC, researcher integrated environmental modelling & policy, archaeology
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4169-8647
@IEGD_CSIC, researcher integrated environmental modelling & policy, archaeology
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4169-8647
More inexcusable AI slop ending up in apparently “reputable” journals. What’s going on @springernature.com - only care about the money, is that it?
Hello @springernature.com - you’ve just published another bit of nonsense in Scientific Reports 🙁
Uhh,,, Figure 1 shows you... what exactly? Trying to understand Medical fryrmbial, runctitional features and mum's legs going through concrete.
This whole article is a bit of a disaster. And it's very difficult to find other published work for the author. Strange! 🧪
(via @smutclyde.bsky.social)
This whole article is a bit of a disaster. And it's very difficult to find other published work for the author. Strange! 🧪
(via @smutclyde.bsky.social)
November 27, 2025 at 7:01 AM
More inexcusable AI slop ending up in apparently “reputable” journals. What’s going on @springernature.com - only care about the money, is that it?
Oh yes
Do not miss @attackerman.bsky.social's modest proposal today: Nationalize AI!
How To Expropriate An Artificial Intelligence Oligarchy
An industry whose bubble is set to burst is crucial to U.S. national security, you say?
www.forever-wars.com
November 26, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Oh yes
Brilliant piece from last year worth revisiting in the light of the COP30 fiasco www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
The social construction of sustainable futures: how models and scenarios limit climate mitigation possibilities
This article shines a light on the act of social construction of climate change mitigation as a policy issue at the hands of expert bodies enjoying epistemic power, notably the Intergovernmental Pa...
www.tandfonline.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Brilliant piece from last year worth revisiting in the light of the COP30 fiasco www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Good piece
My latest: #COP30, global climate politics, and what happens next — for @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
November 24, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Good piece
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
Don't call it AI or LLM. Call it the Expensive Mistake Generator.
This great thread makes a point I've been trying to convey for years. Calling all data-driven prediction or decision software "AI" is a huge gift to LLM hypemen, who want people to believe, incorrectly, that LLM data centers are crucial for solar forecasting or operating buildings and power grids.
Journalist challenge: Use “Machine Learning” when you mean machine learning and “LLM” when you mean LLM. Ditch “AI” as a catch-all term, it’s not useful for readers and it helps companies trying to confuse the public by obscuring the roles played by different technologies. 🧪
November 22, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Don't call it AI or LLM. Call it the Expensive Mistake Generator.
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
So, below is EU President von der Leyen saying that the EU is "not fighting fossil fuels, only emissions."
And here is the Saudi envoy to COP30 saying exactly the same thing.
I'm telling you: climate politics are unified around the lie that we can keep fossil fuels & still deal w climate anyway.
And here is the Saudi envoy to COP30 saying exactly the same thing.
I'm telling you: climate politics are unified around the lie that we can keep fossil fuels & still deal w climate anyway.
November 21, 2025 at 10:19 PM
So, below is EU President von der Leyen saying that the EU is "not fighting fossil fuels, only emissions."
And here is the Saudi envoy to COP30 saying exactly the same thing.
I'm telling you: climate politics are unified around the lie that we can keep fossil fuels & still deal w climate anyway.
And here is the Saudi envoy to COP30 saying exactly the same thing.
I'm telling you: climate politics are unified around the lie that we can keep fossil fuels & still deal w climate anyway.
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
yes, sure bsky.app/profile/iris...
“While the AI industry claims its models can “think,” “reason,” and “learn,” their supposed achievements rest on marketing hype and stolen intellectual labor. In reality, AI erodes academic freedom, weakens critical reading, and subordinates the pursuit of knowledge to corporate interests.”
AI Is Hollowing Out Higher Education
Olivia Guest & Iris van Rooij urge teachers and scholars to reject tools that commodify learning, deskill students, and promote illiteracy.
www.project-syndicate.org
November 19, 2025 at 1:33 PM
yes, sure bsky.app/profile/iris...
Interesting. I am terrible at arguing my point. I always get lost in details or concede that my opponent could easily be right. I guess good debaters have quick wits but also cast-iron self belief…
I was a debate kid and what I learned is that the best people at arguing do not believe or care about what they’re saying.
People love to talk about how awful theater kids are, and they’re not wrong, but let’s be real, debate kids have made this country a lot worse
November 18, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Interesting. I am terrible at arguing my point. I always get lost in details or concede that my opponent could easily be right. I guess good debaters have quick wits but also cast-iron self belief…
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
18/11/25 - nocturn
November 18, 2025 at 7:33 PM
18/11/25 - nocturn
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
Profits from scientific publishing are eye-watering, costing us billions. In ‘The Drain of Scientific Publishing’ (arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820), (building on ‘The Strain of Scientific Publishing’ doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00327) we show how it is harmful – and unnecessary.
The Drain of Scientific Publishing
The domination of scientific publishing in the Global North by major commercial publishers is harmful to science. We need the most powerful members of the research community, funders, governments and ...
arxiv.org
November 12, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Profits from scientific publishing are eye-watering, costing us billions. In ‘The Drain of Scientific Publishing’ (arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820), (building on ‘The Strain of Scientific Publishing’ doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00327) we show how it is harmful – and unnecessary.
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
When you switch from fossil to clean you only use like 30-40% of the energy to do the same stuff, bc most energy from fossil fuels is lost as waste heat
What's I'm trying to say is that all climate action is degrowth
WELCOME TO DEGROWTH EVERYONE
What's I'm trying to say is that all climate action is degrowth
WELCOME TO DEGROWTH EVERYONE
From my file on the IEA's world energy outlook.
"Primary energy" = what goes in
"Final energy" = what comes out
a
The space in between: mostly lost energy bc burning fossil fuels is absurdly wasteful.
So in the net zero scenario, that gaps closes to zero --->>
"Primary energy" = what goes in
"Final energy" = what comes out
a
The space in between: mostly lost energy bc burning fossil fuels is absurdly wasteful.
So in the net zero scenario, that gaps closes to zero --->>
November 8, 2025 at 8:52 PM
When you switch from fossil to clean you only use like 30-40% of the energy to do the same stuff, bc most energy from fossil fuels is lost as waste heat
What's I'm trying to say is that all climate action is degrowth
WELCOME TO DEGROWTH EVERYONE
What's I'm trying to say is that all climate action is degrowth
WELCOME TO DEGROWTH EVERYONE
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
CAIL = prerequisite knowledge for a critical perspective, such as to tell apart nonsense hype from true theoretical computer scientific claims. For example, the idea that human-like systems are a sensible or possible goal is the result of circular reasoning and anthropomorphism. olivia.science/ai
🧵
🧵
November 2, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
The first news story on the publication (to be honest, odd title since it is neither a poem nor debunked as literature, but nice of the journalist and publication to be interested enough in spreading news of it): thefreesheet.com/2025/11/04/m...
Medieval poem debunked after 700 years, rewriting Black Death history - theFreesheet
A single 14th-century rhyming poem, mistakenly believed to be a historical fact, has misled scientists and historians for 700 years about how the Black Death
thefreesheet.com
November 4, 2025 at 5:32 PM
The first news story on the publication (to be honest, odd title since it is neither a poem nor debunked as literature, but nice of the journalist and publication to be interested enough in spreading news of it): thefreesheet.com/2025/11/04/m...
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
Thank you, Alex. Here's everything in one spot olivia.science/ai
I recommend the project syndicate piece with @irisvanrooij.bsky.social and @marentierra.bsky.social 💖
I recommend the project syndicate piece with @irisvanrooij.bsky.social and @marentierra.bsky.social 💖
Critical AI
On this page are some resources for Critical AI Literacy (CAIL) from my perspective.
olivia.science
November 2, 2025 at 8:31 AM
Thank you, Alex. Here's everything in one spot olivia.science/ai
I recommend the project syndicate piece with @irisvanrooij.bsky.social and @marentierra.bsky.social 💖
I recommend the project syndicate piece with @irisvanrooij.bsky.social and @marentierra.bsky.social 💖
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
If only every single critical "AI" researcher had warned about the likelihood of this danger for machine learning-based systems for the past decade or so and if only an acronym like "GIGO" had existed for decades Prior.
Oh If Only 😐
"Too much social media gives AI chatbots ‘brain rot’"
Oh If Only 😐
"Too much social media gives AI chatbots ‘brain rot’"
Too much social media gives AI chatbots ‘brain rot’
Large language models fed low-quality data skip steps in their reasoning process.
go.nature.com
November 1, 2025 at 6:28 PM
If only every single critical "AI" researcher had warned about the likelihood of this danger for machine learning-based systems for the past decade or so and if only an acronym like "GIGO" had existed for decades Prior.
Oh If Only 😐
"Too much social media gives AI chatbots ‘brain rot’"
Oh If Only 😐
"Too much social media gives AI chatbots ‘brain rot’"
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
My reconstruction of Allen Smelt Mill (2017) is a good contender for being among my most challenging visualisation projects. It required months of effort, research, and problem-solving with the aid of 3D models. I wrote an article about the experience.... bob-marshall.blogspot.com/2018/01/reco...
November 1, 2025 at 8:02 AM
My reconstruction of Allen Smelt Mill (2017) is a good contender for being among my most challenging visualisation projects. It required months of effort, research, and problem-solving with the aid of 3D models. I wrote an article about the experience.... bob-marshall.blogspot.com/2018/01/reco...
The key question is whether he had also been drinking the wine before he “missed a bend on his bike on his way home from the supermarket on a lonely road in the mountainous Cevennes region”
This Frenchman has outfrenched every single one of us
A French cyclist survived for three days after a horrendous 130-foot fall into a ravine, kept alive by the bottles of red wine he had in his shopping bag, police said.
October 31, 2025 at 5:55 PM
The key question is whether he had also been drinking the wine before he “missed a bend on his bike on his way home from the supermarket on a lonely road in the mountainous Cevennes region”
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
Happy #Halloween
This intaglio depicts a skeleton resting on an amphora and holding a jug. Such representations were intended to remind to enjoy life to the fullest since pleasure ends irrevocably with death.
Photo: Museum August Kestner/Christian Tepper
#RomanArchaeology
This intaglio depicts a skeleton resting on an amphora and holding a jug. Such representations were intended to remind to enjoy life to the fullest since pleasure ends irrevocably with death.
Photo: Museum August Kestner/Christian Tepper
#RomanArchaeology
October 31, 2025 at 6:36 AM
Happy #Halloween
This intaglio depicts a skeleton resting on an amphora and holding a jug. Such representations were intended to remind to enjoy life to the fullest since pleasure ends irrevocably with death.
Photo: Museum August Kestner/Christian Tepper
#RomanArchaeology
This intaglio depicts a skeleton resting on an amphora and holding a jug. Such representations were intended to remind to enjoy life to the fullest since pleasure ends irrevocably with death.
Photo: Museum August Kestner/Christian Tepper
#RomanArchaeology
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
“Not everything that is buried is dead.” Heinrich Heine
October 30, 2025 at 3:30 PM
“Not everything that is buried is dead.” Heinrich Heine
Papyrus or vellum perhaps? Looking forward to the next “call for parchments”
October 30, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Papyrus or vellum perhaps? Looking forward to the next “call for parchments”
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
Very pleased that @groene.nl translated a @projectsyndicate.bsky.social piece by @olivia.science and me into Dutch 😌
www.groene.nl/artikel/ai-h...
www.groene.nl/artikel/ai-h...
October 27, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Very pleased that @groene.nl translated a @projectsyndicate.bsky.social piece by @olivia.science and me into Dutch 😌
www.groene.nl/artikel/ai-h...
www.groene.nl/artikel/ai-h...
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
This week we welcome Prof. Steven Shapin to the pod!🎙️
We explore his journey through interdisciplinary spaces, revisit Leviathan and the Air-Pump 40 years on, and explore how credibility, trust and expertise are shaped by the fragmentation of expertise and (recent) political & cultural challenges
We explore his journey through interdisciplinary spaces, revisit Leviathan and the Air-Pump 40 years on, and explore how credibility, trust and expertise are shaped by the fragmentation of expertise and (recent) political & cultural challenges
S5 E11 - Steven Shapin on the Social Life of Scientific Knowledge
Podcast Episode · The HPS Podcast - Conversations from History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science · 19/10/2025 · 50m
podcasts.apple.com
October 19, 2025 at 10:25 AM
This week we welcome Prof. Steven Shapin to the pod!🎙️
We explore his journey through interdisciplinary spaces, revisit Leviathan and the Air-Pump 40 years on, and explore how credibility, trust and expertise are shaped by the fragmentation of expertise and (recent) political & cultural challenges
We explore his journey through interdisciplinary spaces, revisit Leviathan and the Air-Pump 40 years on, and explore how credibility, trust and expertise are shaped by the fragmentation of expertise and (recent) political & cultural challenges
Reposted by Richard J Hewitt
My short story ‘The Unspoken’ online @grantamag.bsky.social granta.com/the-unspoken/
October 18, 2025 at 10:52 AM
My short story ‘The Unspoken’ online @grantamag.bsky.social granta.com/the-unspoken/