Conor Bacon
@conorbacon.bsky.social
Research scientist in polar (and, erstwhile, volcano) seismology, living in Norway. 🌋❄️💻〰️
Sailing through the shortest day of the year in Oslo.
December 22, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Sailing through the shortest day of the year in Oslo.
Reposted by Conor Bacon
suspect a big reason why many academics and others who work in areas where getting facts RIGHT is key are disinterested in using LLMs for research:
they’ve tried it, they keep noticing major errors in output, and they conclude that having to verify all that doesn’t actually save them time.
they’ve tried it, they keep noticing major errors in output, and they conclude that having to verify all that doesn’t actually save them time.
December 21, 2025 at 4:16 PM
suspect a big reason why many academics and others who work in areas where getting facts RIGHT is key are disinterested in using LLMs for research:
they’ve tried it, they keep noticing major errors in output, and they conclude that having to verify all that doesn’t actually save them time.
they’ve tried it, they keep noticing major errors in output, and they conclude that having to verify all that doesn’t actually save them time.
Satisfying to find a short paper discussing the exact problem with which you've been (hopelessly) wrangling for a day.
September 11, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Satisfying to find a short paper discussing the exact problem with which you've been (hopelessly) wrangling for a day.
Reposted by Conor Bacon
In the words of Nelson Mandela: it always seems impossible until it’s done.
My friends, it is done. And you are the ones who did it.
I am honored to be your Democratic nominee for the Mayor of New York City.
My friends, it is done. And you are the ones who did it.
I am honored to be your Democratic nominee for the Mayor of New York City.
June 25, 2025 at 5:54 AM
In the words of Nelson Mandela: it always seems impossible until it’s done.
My friends, it is done. And you are the ones who did it.
I am honored to be your Democratic nominee for the Mayor of New York City.
My friends, it is done. And you are the ones who did it.
I am honored to be your Democratic nominee for the Mayor of New York City.
Our work at Askja volcano, Iceland, is supported by the team at EPIC (both through the instrument loan and their expertise!) and the NSF. Here's to hoping there is a little less snow this year when we go back to recover the magnetometers they loaned us...
June 18, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Our work at Askja volcano, Iceland, is supported by the team at EPIC (both through the instrument loan and their expertise!) and the NSF. Here's to hoping there is a little less snow this year when we go back to recover the magnetometers they loaned us...
Reposted by Conor Bacon
Another dynamic I see with noxious techbro eugenicists and rationalists: they tend to have such pissant little jobs making such boring and trivial products - shopping buttons! banking software!
and I do think they’re aware of this on some level, which fuels their batshit lofty rhetoric.
and I do think they’re aware of this on some level, which fuels their batshit lofty rhetoric.
The first tech bros who appeared in public to muse about how we need to end humanitarian aid because the poor are less *human* than soft-handed Palo Alto-ites who program online shopping buttons for a living should have been driven from society with pitchforks and torches.
It’s not too late.
It’s not too late.
Too many people assumed too late in the game that effective altruists and rationalists were mostly just weird nerds with little influence on real world policy:
well, now they’ve got their disease-releasing spores implanted in the White House, USAID has been shuttered, and millions will die.
well, now they’ve got their disease-releasing spores implanted in the White House, USAID has been shuttered, and millions will die.
April 1, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Another dynamic I see with noxious techbro eugenicists and rationalists: they tend to have such pissant little jobs making such boring and trivial products - shopping buttons! banking software!
and I do think they’re aware of this on some level, which fuels their batshit lofty rhetoric.
and I do think they’re aware of this on some level, which fuels their batshit lofty rhetoric.
Tomorrow, our union (UAW 4100) will be out, alongside fellow unionised workers at Columbia University, taking a stand for our members and our university.
region9a.uaw.org/news/columbi...
region9a.uaw.org/news/columbi...
UAW Locals at Columbia University Stand United
A message from UAW Local 4100, UAW Local 2710, UAW Local 2110, and members of the TCSW-UAW and CFCU-UAW Organizing Committees:
region9a.uaw.org
March 27, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Tomorrow, our union (UAW 4100) will be out, alongside fellow unionised workers at Columbia University, taking a stand for our members and our university.
region9a.uaw.org/news/columbi...
region9a.uaw.org/news/columbi...
Reposted by Conor Bacon
US volcanoes pose a very real threat to communities and aircraft. Cutting funds will significantly compromise our ability monitor them and mitigate disaster. Why this administration wants us flying blind in volcano territory is an utter mystery. This is not a FAFO situation.
Trump’s Cuts Come With Risks. Including From Volcanoes. (Gift Article)
A spending freeze could disrupt systems that warn communities when eruptions appear imminent.
www.nytimes.com
February 28, 2025 at 10:45 PM
US volcanoes pose a very real threat to communities and aircraft. Cutting funds will significantly compromise our ability monitor them and mitigate disaster. Why this administration wants us flying blind in volcano territory is an utter mystery. This is not a FAFO situation.
Last week, in collaboration with OVSICORI, the AVERT team from LDEO deployed 4 seismometers, 3 magnetometers, a GNSS station, and a soil probe measuring CO2 flux at Poás volcano. There were even 2 small eruptions from the central vent!
December 6, 2023 at 4:59 PM
Last week, in collaboration with OVSICORI, the AVERT team from LDEO deployed 4 seismometers, 3 magnetometers, a GNSS station, and a soil probe measuring CO2 flux at Poás volcano. There were even 2 small eruptions from the central vent!
Interested in novel instrumentation of volcanic systems? Got some kit you want to test or just want to collect data somewhere new? The AVERT project are running an all-in-country-expenses paid field workshop at Poás volcano, Costa Rica, in February, 2024. avert.ldeo.columbia.edu/news/cov-12-...
The AVERT System Portal
avert.ldeo.columbia.edu
November 18, 2023 at 5:19 PM
Interested in novel instrumentation of volcanic systems? Got some kit you want to test or just want to collect data somewhere new? The AVERT project are running an all-in-country-expenses paid field workshop at Poás volcano, Costa Rica, in February, 2024. avert.ldeo.columbia.edu/news/cov-12-...
Just finished The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins. An immediate recommendation and something I think I’ll need to revisit a number of times to fully comprehend.
November 10, 2023 at 2:47 PM
Just finished The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins. An immediate recommendation and something I think I’ll need to revisit a number of times to fully comprehend.
Great time visiting MIT yesterday to give a seminar on modern tooling in geophysics! In love with the department building. 😍
October 25, 2023 at 8:41 PM
Great time visiting MIT yesterday to give a seminar on modern tooling in geophysics! In love with the department building. 😍
Reposted by Conor Bacon
We've released a new version of the CSDMS Ivy course material, v2023.1, that includes updates to the Landlab and Python lessons. Check it out at github.com/csdms/ivy.
GitHub - csdms/ivy: Course material on scientific software development for researchers in earth and ...
Course material on scientific software development for researchers in earth and planetary surface processes - GitHub - csdms/ivy: Course material on scientific software development for researchers ...
github.com
September 19, 2023 at 8:02 PM
We've released a new version of the CSDMS Ivy course material, v2023.1, that includes updates to the Landlab and Python lessons. Check it out at github.com/csdms/ivy.