Robbie Flick

Amid higher than usual AI hysteria recently, I offer this quote from Socrates re: another new-fangled techn that will lead to our ruin: writing

"You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding...you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom...they are not wise, but only appear wise.”

Great piece by @joshtpm.bsky.social about how a deep faith in AI replacing researchers is one part of why biomedical science is being gutted. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/why-d...

Meanwhile, tiring of my constant pestering to reference their work, ChatGPT begins citing itself for nonexistent work.

When someone tells you their name, you use it. When someone tells you their pronouns, you use them. Both practices are basic decency. Both are equally simple.

Four R senators and four R House members could announce they're caucusing with the Dems for now, and will vote for Schumer for Majority Leader and Jeffries for Speaker, because the threat to the rule of law is dire. Meanwhile, they'll work with Democrats to construct guardrails against dictatorship.

Import Chinese battery: 145% tariff
Import Chinese battery inside Chinese laptop: 20% tariff
Import Chinese battery inside Vietnamese laptop: 0% tariff

Fuckin brilliant. A+ work here team. I am so glad there are such smart people working on our trade policy.

Good way to see the current tariffs, as of literally today, is no tariffs on high value add manufactured goods marketed to middle and upper middle classes. Massive tariffs for cheap consumer items which amount to the biggest economic privilege of working class/middle class life in US.

Printed books: a cheap form of entertainment and enrichment that doesn’t surveil you back.

Tell your kids.

How did you get this screenshot of my texts with my mom

A tricky thing about modern society is that no one has any idea when they don’t die.

Like, the number of lives saved by controlling air pollution in America is probably over 200,000 per year, but the number of people who think their life was saved by controlling air pollution is zero.

Today’s firings at NIH/CDC/AHRQ represent billionaires doing to US science and universities the same thing they did to US manufacturing in the 1980's:

senseless destruction of massive amounts of capability and expertise in the name of short-term 'efficiency' that leads to long-term off-shoring.

Trump administration says Maryland man it mistakenly deported can’t come back The Trump administration now says the federal courts in the U.S. lack the power to have the man returned.

Maryland man (w/ protected status and has lived here since 2011), driving home w/ 5yo son in the early AM hours after a shift for his sheet metal apprenticeship, gets pulled over and cuffed by ICE who threaten to turn his child over to CPS then "accidentally" deport him to a Salvadoran prison.

i appreciate that no one even tried with april fool’s day this year because we know we’re not psychologically equipped for that shit right now

A common longitudinal intensive care unit data format (CLIF) for critical illness research - Intensive Care Medicine Rationale Critical illness threatens millions of lives annually. Electronic health record (EHR) data are a source of granular information that could generate crucial insights into the nature and optim...

The common longitudinal intensive care unit data format (CLIF) for critical illness research is among the most interesting new collaborative projects in critical care

This is a team to watch #ICU #RealWorldData

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

“If the federal government decides it doesn’t want to know things anymore, that would be bad for Johns Hopkins and devastating for Maryland.”

I talked with the Wall Street Journal about the Trump Administration’s efforts to abandon science and break education

Kennedy Links Measles Outbreak to Poor Diet and Health, Citing Fringe Theories In a recent interview, the health secretary also suggested that the measles vaccine had harmed children in West Texas, center of an outbreak.

Amidst a measles outbreak, HHS secretary (bereft of any relevant clinical/public health training/experience) offers speculation on a child's death, conspiracy theories about vaccines, and false claims that vaccines—one of the most rigorously studied interventions—are somehow insufficiently studied

NIH budget: $ 48b
Musk wealth: $351b

Both are mostly funded by your tax dollars

But only one might save your life
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Sources:
www.nih.gov/about-nih/wh...

Search results: elon musk net worth g.co/kgs/6c8YEuB

@standupforscience.bsky.social

What have been the biggest surprises about becoming a father?

It’s such an honor to serve in the Senate alongside my Sister Senator.

We are fighting for you. For hardworking families like the ones we came from.

As a fellow cis dude with a background in medicine, would love to read your take on it if you’re comfortable sharing.

Credo: Trans issues are issues because trans people are people.

Trans issues are also is sues because they are one case of “how do we treat the vulnerable among us” which Christ suggested might determine the condition of our soul.

I believe this is what Lynch means by “Fix your heart or die.”

“The fuckers on the Tempest? I’m telling you they’re us too”

Using AI to produce writing or art is like asking someone at the gym to lift weights for you.

The effort is the point.

8/8. So, if you’re feeling down about these attacks, I understand—I feel that way too. But just remember that they’re not attacking because your work doesn’t matter; they’re attacking *precisely* because it does. So, get some rest, connect with your people, and keep doing it.

The #NFL removing the words "No racism" from the end zones of today's #SuperBowlLIX venue, New Orleans, because the president's attending the game, is so 1936 Berlin Olympics.

🤷🏻

Please consider calling your senators and Congressman tonight to tell them to oppose this Here is a script This is xxxx • My address is XXX. I am writing because my sons are doctors and they have taught me how important health research is. The trump administration just proposed a new change in NIH indirect cost rates. I know that sounds like bureaucracy I should not have to care about. But without indirect costs being adequately reimbursed to universities, research will be impossible. This policy would gut research, making my grand children's lives shorter and sicker. Please force the NIH to reinstitute the support for the university research that has saved so many lives and created so many jobs

I just texted my mom

5. Finally - Every dollar spent by taxpayers on NIH grants brings approx $2.50 in immediate economic returns 🤷‍♀️ never mind the longer term benefit of science & innovation.

It’s made possible through infrastructure supported by indirects.

This Friday night decision will (yet again) hurt Americans.

Holy shit this cartoon.

Simple truths :
* Appropriated federal money belongs to the American people, not the executive branch
* Most voted for someone besides Trump; he got 49.8% of vote. Reject the myth of a strong mandate
* Your reps need to hear from you, even if its to show support for what they're already doing

White House pauses all federal grants, sparking confusion The Trump administration has put a hold on all federal financial grants and loans, affecting tens of billions of dollars in payments.

I think some people hear “grants” and think that without them, scientists and government workers just have less stuff to play with at work. But grants fund salaries for students, academics, researchers, and people who work in all areas of public service.

“Pausing” grants means people don’t eat.