Cameron Roberts
@bikeademic.bsky.social
Sustainability transitions researcher in Canada.
Just use LLMs to find links to sources written by actual humans, and then click on and read those links.
LLMs are often great if you just use them like a version of Google where you can ask more complex and context dependent questions. This is especially handy in academic literature searches.
LLMs are often great if you just use them like a version of Google where you can ask more complex and context dependent questions. This is especially handy in academic literature searches.
November 21, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Just use LLMs to find links to sources written by actual humans, and then click on and read those links.
LLMs are often great if you just use them like a version of Google where you can ask more complex and context dependent questions. This is especially handy in academic literature searches.
LLMs are often great if you just use them like a version of Google where you can ask more complex and context dependent questions. This is especially handy in academic literature searches.
AI writing has a weird, uncanny consistency to it. While human writing, even if it's not particularly good, at least shows some kind of unique authorial voice.
This is why I tell my friends to not write emails with AI (they don't listen). Even a bad writer still sounds like a real human.
This is why I tell my friends to not write emails with AI (they don't listen). Even a bad writer still sounds like a real human.
November 17, 2025 at 3:54 PM
AI writing has a weird, uncanny consistency to it. While human writing, even if it's not particularly good, at least shows some kind of unique authorial voice.
This is why I tell my friends to not write emails with AI (they don't listen). Even a bad writer still sounds like a real human.
This is why I tell my friends to not write emails with AI (they don't listen). Even a bad writer still sounds like a real human.
It'd be a lot cheaper to just remove the gates.
November 17, 2025 at 1:51 PM
It'd be a lot cheaper to just remove the gates.
It could be a selection bias thing: People look you up when they want to talk about housing. When they want to talk about immigration they go somewhere else.
November 16, 2025 at 8:44 PM
It could be a selection bias thing: People look you up when they want to talk about housing. When they want to talk about immigration they go somewhere else.
If it's the latter, that's a way healthier way to express it than buying a Ford F-350.
FWIW I did a lot of running through a winter when I lived in the UK, and it can be surprisingly comfortable to be out without a lot of layers, as long as you keep moving.
Never went out shirtless though!! 🤣
FWIW I did a lot of running through a winter when I lived in the UK, and it can be surprisingly comfortable to be out without a lot of layers, as long as you keep moving.
Never went out shirtless though!! 🤣
November 16, 2025 at 4:06 PM
If it's the latter, that's a way healthier way to express it than buying a Ford F-350.
FWIW I did a lot of running through a winter when I lived in the UK, and it can be surprisingly comfortable to be out without a lot of layers, as long as you keep moving.
Never went out shirtless though!! 🤣
FWIW I did a lot of running through a winter when I lived in the UK, and it can be surprisingly comfortable to be out without a lot of layers, as long as you keep moving.
Never went out shirtless though!! 🤣
I saw a guy yesterday out jogging shirtless, wearing running shorts which were basically just tight boxers. He was absolutely jacked.
Dudes Rock.
Dudes Rock.
November 16, 2025 at 3:59 PM
I saw a guy yesterday out jogging shirtless, wearing running shorts which were basically just tight boxers. He was absolutely jacked.
Dudes Rock.
Dudes Rock.
Cool that it's electric. But you wouldn't get me aboard one of those things for any amount of money.
November 15, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Cool that it's electric. But you wouldn't get me aboard one of those things for any amount of money.
Make sure all your colleagues and students know about sci-hub
November 14, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Make sure all your colleagues and students know about sci-hub
Ultra processed food seems like a very weird catch-all category. Surely the health impacts depend on which specific process is used to prepare the food.
November 14, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Ultra processed food seems like a very weird catch-all category. Surely the health impacts depend on which specific process is used to prepare the food.
Hilarious implications for white collar crime
November 11, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Hilarious implications for white collar crime
Reminds me a lot of your exchange with Chris Smaje, who wants to depopulated cities so we can all become subsistence farmers.
November 11, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Reminds me a lot of your exchange with Chris Smaje, who wants to depopulated cities so we can all become subsistence farmers.
The most parsimonious explanation is that they aren't actually corrupt. They're functioning as intended.
November 11, 2025 at 2:36 PM
The most parsimonious explanation is that they aren't actually corrupt. They're functioning as intended.
Antiexpertise: The phenomenon whereby deeply studying a topic and its ongoing debates makes you less likely to have good ideas about it. Usually happens when a field gets ideologically captured.
See also: Economics, evolutionary psychology, traffic engineering
See also: Economics, evolutionary psychology, traffic engineering
November 11, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Antiexpertise: The phenomenon whereby deeply studying a topic and its ongoing debates makes you less likely to have good ideas about it. Usually happens when a field gets ideologically captured.
See also: Economics, evolutionary psychology, traffic engineering
See also: Economics, evolutionary psychology, traffic engineering
One of your colleagues, actually. Here on a visit.
November 11, 2025 at 12:57 PM
One of your colleagues, actually. Here on a visit.
Kinda reminds me of how McCarthyism wound up hurting a bunch of people who weren't actually communists.
Anti-degrowthism has apparently become so aggressive in places that it's causing problems for people studying *energy efficiency.*
Anti-degrowthism has apparently become so aggressive in places that it's causing problems for people studying *energy efficiency.*
November 11, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Kinda reminds me of how McCarthyism wound up hurting a bunch of people who weren't actually communists.
Anti-degrowthism has apparently become so aggressive in places that it's causing problems for people studying *energy efficiency.*
Anti-degrowthism has apparently become so aggressive in places that it's causing problems for people studying *energy efficiency.*
I think the pathway to increasing reliability and frequency IS to make transit free, or at least to reduce fares a lot. It's counterintuitive but it's about the political coalition you can put together to demand more resources.
November 10, 2025 at 6:37 PM
I think the pathway to increasing reliability and frequency IS to make transit free, or at least to reduce fares a lot. It's counterintuitive but it's about the political coalition you can put together to demand more resources.
Yeah, owning and using a car is really expensive! One sixth of that is also pretty expensive. Certainly enough to be one of the straws on the camel's back for a struggling family's finances.
Also remember this is the median income. Half of all New Yorkers pay a higher percentage of their income.
Also remember this is the median income. Half of all New Yorkers pay a higher percentage of their income.
November 10, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Yeah, owning and using a car is really expensive! One sixth of that is also pretty expensive. Certainly enough to be one of the straws on the camel's back for a struggling family's finances.
Also remember this is the median income. Half of all New Yorkers pay a higher percentage of their income.
Also remember this is the median income. Half of all New Yorkers pay a higher percentage of their income.
Actually I can see green grass on Lemieux island, so maybe Sutcliffe is indeed trolling.
November 10, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Actually I can see green grass on Lemieux island, so maybe Sutcliffe is indeed trolling.
That was what I had expected, too. But that photo is really confusing me now. I think it might be genuine.
November 10, 2025 at 5:43 PM
That was what I had expected, too. But that photo is really confusing me now. I think it might be genuine.