koen_hufkens

koen_hufkens, 28 days ago to random

On the slow decline of universities as places of education.

"Universities aren't institutions of knowledge anymore. They're assets. They're revenue streams. If they're not generating money for the top, then they only pose a threat, and they have to be weakened and destroyed."

https://www.okdoomer.io/im-a-professor-heres-why-im-walking-away-from-my-tenure/

koen_hufkens, 1 month ago to academicchatter

Alternative title should read: Canadian researchers barely lifted above poverty levels.

#AcademicChatter

@academicchatter

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01124-2

koen_hufkens, 1 month ago to environment

I really like this perspective by @pvonhellermannn. You have a deeper connection with the natural #environment near to you then you will ever have to a billionaire.

I would like to add:
Vote accordingly.

[This goes along the same line as you are close to the gutter than becoming a millionaire]

https://mastodon.green/@pvonhellermannn/112251447989671548

koen_hufkens, 1 month ago to LateStageCapitalism

"Monopolist publisher objects to free dissemination of science funded through a tax evasion scheme"

It doesn't get much wilder than this I fear.

@academicchatter

#OpenScience #LateStageCapitalism #AcademicChatter

https://www.science.org/content/article/bold-bid-avoid-open-access-fees-gates-foundation-says-grantees-must-post-preprints

koen_hufkens, 1 month ago to ai

So much of the #AI industry is precariously floating on a sea of cheap labour in the global south. The curtain has been pulled back for at least one service. The wizard is not a sophisticated machine, but a merciless boss whipping people clicking frantically at consoles.

https://futurism.com/the-byte/amazon-abandons-ai-stores

koen_hufkens, 1 month ago to random

Business as usual and not an April fools. They found their foolish bag holders and cashed out already. How are these things even legal.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/28/reddit-shares-on-a-two-day-tumble-after-post-ipo-high.html

koen_hufkens, 2 months ago to opensource

So, this is how #openscience and #opensource is supposed to work, with NASA researcher re-using some of my #rstats code.

koen_hufkens, 2 months ago to zerowaste

This is why I buy second hand / used computer hardware when the use case can support it.

#ewaste grows 5x faster than it can be recycled !!!

Make it last, reduce, reuse, recycle (<- only as a last resort).

#circulareconomy #recycling #endstagecapitalism

https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/21/ewaste_grows/

koen_hufkens, 2 months ago to random

I'm in The Netherlands, and I'm speaking Dutch, my mother tongue, in day-to-day conversations. It feels... weird. Then I realized that aside 2 months in early 2020 (just before being locked in a box due to COVID) I've been abroad for 10 years now, and mostly if not exclusively speaking Dutch to family only.

So, me having to navigate a restaurant in Dutch now feels weirder than dealing with Swiss German or French. Wild.

koen_hufkens, 2 months ago to random

I'm reading "Blood in the Machine" by Brian Merchant, which tells the story of the Luddites and how ultimately they lost the battle for just technological advancement.

The parallels with today's societal context are apt. Last century's social security reform clawed back some of the personal freedoms enjoyed a century earlier - with a deference in time of said freedoms (pension/retirement/work week) being key.

We're slowly reneging on retirement - there will be blood in the machine once more.

koen_hufkens, 2 months ago to random

The "Cloud" is someone else's computer which is always on. Economies of scale might save you some energy, but not if the cloud increases use of these resources.

"As a result, the Cloud now has a greater carbon footprint than the airline industry. A single data center can consume the equivalent electricity of 50,000 homes. At 200 terawatt hours (TWh) annually, data centers collectively devour more energy than some nation-states."

https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-staggering-ecological-impacts-of-computation-and-the-cloud/

koen_hufkens, 2 months ago to climate

"ExxonMobil is suing investors who want faster climate action"

Un F-cking believable. These are basic SLAPP techniques to stall things. Disgusting, but certainly not unexpected.

#climatecrisis #climatechange #juststopoil

https://www.npr.org/2024/02/29/1234358133/exxon-climate-change-oil-fossil-fuels-shareholders-investors-lawsuit

koen_hufkens, 3 months ago to random

Six meaningless tips for finding meaning in your science career. You actually only need one.

Don't be a haughty!

Fulfillment is an implicit quality, not something which can be measured by poor academic metrics and their dependent shitty values.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00476-z

koen_hufkens, 3 months ago to foss

Goes to the heart. A call for less / simpler code.

#oss #foss #code #development

https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/12/drowning_in_code/

koen_hufkens, 3 months ago to random

The AMOC (and other tipping points) are a true "fuck around and find out" moment for climate change policy IMO.

We have missed most climate change opportunities, therefore closing mitigation and adaptation options even for slow moving climate change.

There is little indication that tipping point warnings will instill a new found urgency.

koen_hufkens, 3 months ago to random

People ask me to "pick my brain", a lot. A lack of response after setting my hourly rate reminds me of the Handyman's invoice.

You don't pay for the time the call takes, you pay for the experience that I bring to resolve your issue on short notice - when you are in a pinch. Being your personal help desk, and skipping any mental labour of experience, comes at a cost.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/know-where-man/

koen_hufkens, 3 months ago to LateStageCapitalism

So there goes another one. #Enshittification will soon bring Raspberry Pi to its knees to satisfy the greed of some corporate goons.

#LateStageCapitalism

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/01/raspberry-pi-is-preparing-for-an-ipo-in-london-for-likely-more-than-500m/

koen_hufkens, 3 months ago to academicchatter

Does anyone else take issue with, or have profound concerns about, platform science?

For clarity, it refers to the tendency the last decade for science to be organized into top down meta level networks (which at times, or more often than not, share a political and economic reality not to dissimilar to market based platform economics).

#AcademicChatter #AcademicMastodon

@academicchatter

koen_hufkens, 3 months ago to mastodon

A casual observation, #mastodon for me has settled into something that resembles what "good" Twitter used to look like. I can only thank the devs and the community at large.

I think there is a bit more space for the academic component to grow, but much of that has moved to LinkedIn (keeping business and fun separated). Fair enough for me.

koen_hufkens, 4 months ago to Futurology

A recent study highlights the decline in disruptive science. I think most of this is due to the intellectual poverty of a #scarcity mindset of current day #academia.

It is well documented that poor people suffer from a scarcity mindset, which erodes core cognitive functions. This mindset clouds decisions, prioritizing small short-term gains over long-term larger profits by affecting planning ability. The same applies to creativity.

@academicchatter

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-04577-5

koen_hufkens, 4 months ago to python

Hi Mastodonians, I'm looking for good #python book recommendations for the lab. This should cover package development and #scientificomputing #pytorch #keras #machinelearning and #remotesensing (GIS).

@Cmastication @leahawasser @nowosad

koen_hufkens, 4 months ago to Amazon

Since when do dead trees cost less than 800 KB of digital data?

#Amazon #enshitification

koen_hufkens, 4 months ago to academicchatter

So much this. (TT) PIs often fail as mentors; or managers for that matter. They get exactly zero hours of training (and often have zero hours of experience) on these matters. (note that: teaching != mentoring)

Professors / PIs seem to be hired on the basis of the science only (and then only on the ideas, not their execution), not on demonstrated competence in running a lab. All other collateral be damned.

#AcademicChatter #AcademicMastodon

@academicchatter

https://www.science.org/content/article/scientists-aren-t-trained-mentor-s-problem

koen_hufkens, 4 months ago to datascience

I'm leaving my senior research position at the University of Bern in March. I'm focusing on my consulting. I'm currently open to new environmental #datascience and #editorialservices #freelance work with a focus on #remotesensing, #macroecology, #ecosystems modelling and/or #foodsecurity.

I'm also open to remote work in a fixed-term contract setting up to 50% FTE (EU fiscal basis).

Check https://bluegreenlabs.org for past experiences and projects. Please boost.

#FediHired #GetFediHired

koen_hufkens, 4 months ago to ML

These days I find #openaccess academic research that uses #ML is mostly all show, no tell. Few spill the beans on the full workflow (pre-processing, model and model weights). You get fancy maps, poor uncertainty characteristics and no way to reproduce results (even worse when drivers are hidden behind "platforms").

If #web2 has taught us anything it is that platforms are another way of gatekeeping, which is perceived to be sharing but mostly benefits the platform itself. Thusfar, #openscience.