Tom Chivers

George Boole turning in his grave

"The AI Con" Con The shockingly terrible arguments of the AI naysayers

Fun Bentham's Bulldog review of the very silly-sounding book The AI Con benthams.substack.com/p/the-ai-con... it really amazes me there are still people saying "AI is just a stochastic parrot and also it's racist" in 2026, as though they can't just log on and use one themselves right now

🤐

From the ThatsInsane community on Reddit: Scotland police detain a man wearing an anti-Al shirt because it sounds similar to "Palestine Action" Explore this post and more from the ThatsInsane community

We really need to dial down the anti-free speech bullshit in this country. Police should almost never detain people over their choice of T-shirt! (And I would say the same if the political valence was reversed.) www.reddit.com/r/ThatsInsan...

BIG NEWS: My book, The Land Trap, is coming out on Nov 4! I've been fascinated by this topic for years. The book tells the story of why land still occupies such a huge role in finance, economics and politics globally, and why that's a source of huge risk. You can preorder NOW!

this is top stuff

Jewellery chain Claire’s UK business appoints administrators High-street brand’s move puts more than 2,000 jobs at risk and comes after parent group filed for bankruptcy protection

It's just the Claire's Accessories, the simple Claire's Accessories, where you could buy a bracelet for your wife

Farewell then Claire's Accessories, your retail staff can rest at ease, as you collapse in economic strife www.ft.com/content/b32d...

yes. It was that they assumed all my warplanes were examples of me bottling out of commenting on the gender wars. Which, to be clear, quite often they were! But women didn't have the luxury of bottling out because it was their rights under threat, was the theory.

I had quite a few on here! x.com/TomChivers/s...

quick, add one to your take thread alex

well, quite. It seemed so odd.

I know from being the subject of twitterstorms that having a few hundred people ganging up on you is not pleasant, and I sympathise, but if they're being polite then, frankly, you're on the internet having opinions, and people will disagree with them, so either defend them or use the mute button.

it was male privilege, because women didn't have the option of not engaging in online arguments. (I know I sound like I'm making it up, but I swear I am not, and I really did find it very deflating)

this is "no true scotsman" though. The reason I dislike that comic was that it was employed to say "stop asking me to back up my point/stand by my inflammatory claim about Not All Men" etc. I disagree that's not "really" what sealioning is; that's how it was used, in a large number of cases.

🤝 I nicked the idea from Jesse Singal but his was really boring (sorry Jesse); just posting a picture of a pineapple each time. I felt it was ripe for improvement

this is like when I had a thread of beautiful British warplanes, to which I would add an image every time I resisted the temptation to reply grumpily to someone's tweet. But then someone said it was [bad for culture war reasons], and that took all the fun out of it, so I stopped.

the implication that politely asking people to back up their position is abusive. And, yes, "sealioning" was a popular term, but in my experience it often meant "yes I made a controversial claim, but I don't like you asking me to support it with facts and it is bigoted that you continue to do so"

Just finished @tomchivers.bsky.social “Everything is predictable”.

5 stars because it manages history of science and intuition better than any other book on Bayesian analysis.

thank you!

that is true although that wasn't specified in your tweet (if you had said "the wrongest historical cartoon" I would have stayed silent) and so I assumed you'd wandered off the original topic

honorable mention for this, which I don't think I can exactly say is "wrong" because it doesn't make any factual claims but I strongly dislike its implications

counterpoint

thanks Julia!

what a nice thing to read!

"A confident, precise prior that is contradicted by precise information from the world should result in a radically changed posterior probability" - @tomchivers.bsky.social, "Everything is Predictable"

One of those delightful books that will change how I live in this world. Thanks.

thank you!

close enough

Guys! GUYS! Everything Is Predictable is now available for £1 on Kindle! amazon.co.uk/Everything-P... You're robbing me blind! I'm cutting my own throat! You can't afford NOT to buy it!

Subscribe to The Studies Show Podcast A weekly podcast about the latest scientific controversies, with Tom Chivers and Stuart Ritchie. Click to read The Studies Show Podcast, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.

Absolutely fascinating Studies Show pod from @tomchivers.bsky.social & @stuartjritchie.bsky.social on psychological sex differences (biological, societal, both)- well worth paying for: www.thestudiesshowpod.com/subscribe - I just wish Stuart's profile had no pic: I prefer to see him as David Tennant