@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social
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koen_hufkens

@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social

Founder of BlueGreen Labs | addressing #climatechange through data driven methods in #ecology #remotesensing #phenology #foodsecurity

#rstats developer | maker with duct tape and a hammer | #academic omnivore | move fast and fix things

There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in

  • Leonard Cohen

Personal account | #politics, #science & #foss software | he / him

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koen_hufkens, to Futurology
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

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

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,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@alxsim @academicchatter I think there is this time. It is just easier to play the numbers game.

Not playing the numbers game requires political action, which for many is seen as dangerous for their careers.

Instead they pass the buck to the next generation through not teaching thoughtfully but teaching how to play the numbers, mostly.

There is a strong survivor bias in staff faculty, i.e. being those that profit from this status quo.

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@alxsim @academicchatter The road to hell is paved with good intentions of what people will do after they get tenure.

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@andrei_chiffa @academicchatter The study itself I think is something to be discussed in its own right. There are different confounding dynamics at play.

BUT, there is no escaping the fact that scientists publish ever more work. And the rate does not track the number of new Phd applicants (which has been increasing as well).

Basically a whole lot of people are collectively running, to effectively stand still.

pluralistic, to poop
@pluralistic@mamot.fr avatar

"who knew poop shaming was even a thing?"

https://www.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/comments/194trv8/who_knew_poop_shaming_was_even_a_thing/

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@pluralistic Not the kind of deshitification we need.

lakens, to random Dutch
@lakens@mastodon.social avatar

A scientific paper is a necessary but not sufficient summary of the scientific research. Fully reporting your work means making data (or anonymized summaries) and the analysis code that produces all results in the paper transparently available.

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@lakens Been slowly converting to dynamically generated reports published alongside papers. Computational time permitting, these are rendered upon changes in the underlying statistical models on github actions. (repositories pushed as releases to Zenodo after review).

It is not only transparent, it also saves time during review IMO.

https://bluegreen-labs.github.io/swift_lunar_synchrony/

koen_hufkens, to python
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

Hi Mastodonians, I'm looking for good book recommendations for the lab. This should cover package development and and (GIS).

@Cmastication @leahawasser @nowosad

Daojoan, to random
@Daojoan@mastodon.social avatar

The common narrative in the creator economy is that success is solely due to hard work and grit.

Creators proudly share stories of long hours, relentless effort, and grinding through hard times to make their dreams a reality. The implication is that anyone with enough determination can become an online creator.

But is that really the full story?

https://joanwestenberg.medium.com/luck-is-the-only-secret-to-success-in-the-creator-economy-d34c456f3533?sk=af2e42ff95010e3821ac42c22f7c0e07

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@Daojoan So, it's basically and has the same myths. 😬

18+ jonny, to random
@jonny@neuromatch.social avatar

i was playing an in-browser game with someone last night and got to talking and i mentioned i was a programmer. they said they had always wanted to learn, and so i suggested the time tested strategy of just getting mad whenever a computer didn't do something they wanted it to. they mentioned hating some features of the game, and since the game's code is clear (semi-retro Angular) and comes with a sourcemap i recommended they try taking a stab at reading it. i gave them some tips on starting points and how to read it. we were playing a game so i wasn't necessarily trying to teach, just give them a starting point for later if they wanted.

they told me that they would try but the learning curve was always a cliff, and i knew they were right but holy SHIT they were so immediately right. they asked me how to save the source to read later, and there isn't actually a way to save unpacked sourcemap code from firefox. I said your best bet was to just copy and paste each file, or since they already had homebrew and npm, they could try copy/pasting something like wget URL; npx unpack file; open . and linked them to this package which to me is super clear, but they were just dumbfounded by it.

They were (correctly) like "you say follow the instructions there but the word "instructions" is nowhere on this page, literally the entire thing is code. there isn't even a download button or anything, how do i get the program, what the fuck is this site?" Every part of what i was telling them was totally new to them, I thought that "just open this program and copy and paste this text" would be doable even if they didn't get what was going on, just so they would have something to look at later, but that act of exposure was so discouraging I felt bad and we just quit the game and i talked them through some of it. We got stumped at merely trying to download the code. Not even reading it yet, definitely not trying to run it.

I've taught ppl to program to a level of basic self-directedness maybe a dozen times, and every time I remember just how inaccessible this whole racket is. I remember all that extremely well myself, and I still am not close to being able to imagine what a really legible programming ecosystem would look like

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@iris @jonny Part of the problem is that nobody wants to write documentation because nobody gets much recognition for it!

Unless you are a diligent fool when coding, who is kind to their future self, documentation is an extinct species.

I try to teach students to 'document document document' from the start (because you won't do it after the fact).

Alas - this practice is even further of the mark in academia than in software development.

koen_hufkens, to Amazon
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

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

taylorlorenz, to random
@taylorlorenz@mastodon.social avatar

Screenshotting this post 👇🏻 in order to quote post it! I don’t know where people get the idea that quote posting = dunks, personally I feel that that opinion is just Twitter brain.

Every major social platform from Tumblr, to Facebook, to LinkedIn and more has the ability to natively quote post. This is because the primary use of such a feature is to amplify information w added context or to open a new line of discussion. Replies are used far more often for harassment but we don’t ban replies!

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@billyjoebowers @taylorlorenz I think of this whole debate hasn't come to be yet because the hordes of Nazis haven't been on Mastodon (or kept out otherwise). Many are just wary about this, if and when this happens you don't want to give them technical ammunition.

There was this piece about many on the right moving to Bluesky because Twitter is now a Nazi bar, and they thrive on conflict not dialogue (so with every sane person gone there is no reason for them to be there either).

tante, to random
@tante@tldr.nettime.org avatar

I wrote about if "AI" is like a calculator (as in just a support tool) and it turned out into a bit of a longer meditation on what learning actually is and why I think that "AI" does lead to epistemic injustice given the world we live in.

https://tante.cc/2024/01/03/is-a-neural-network-like-a-pocket-calculator-ai-and-epistemic-injustice/

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@tante Full on agree onthis. I wrote some similar notes, observing how students interact with ChatGPT during coursework (less polished as I write on my commute over coffee).

I fear that their inner dialogues and critical problem solving might be hard won in the future. With a two tier system as you describe.

https://khufkens.com/posts/lost-inner-voices-llm-impact-problem-solving-chatgpt-ml-teaching/

koen_hufkens, to datascience
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

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 and work with a focus on , , modelling and/or .

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.

koen_hufkens, to academicchatter
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

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

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

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@egonw @academicchatter I refuse to believe that attention to finishing a project is detrimental. Projects need clear goals to retain momentum.

I find it a testament to poor planning if not at least some goals can be achieved (with goals I do not mean papers, I mean the core underlying research done).

I've seen too many projects mismanaged because "we don't set goals" and pie in the sky mismanagement, where the last minute rescue and scramble needs to be covered by poor phds or post-docs.

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@MCDuncanLab @academicchatter Yes, this point has been made in the thread as well. There are ample opportunities, but I feel it is a minority that either uses them, or gets selected for them (as you mention). Ultimately this self-selection, against it, is what matters.

Then there is the matter of people "going through the motions" in these matters, where people get the training only to tick a box on their CV - but frankly couldn't care less about the implementation.

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@ktoddbrown @academicchatter This is the argument I've made in the thread. The catch 22. I find that mostly "the paying it forward" isn't emphasized (i.e. the community aspect).

Hence, PIs end up with little experience going through the standard track (and not actively seeking these opportunities themselves).

This doesn't only cover mentorship, also supporting students in management and orienting them for other than academic tracks for example.

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@ktoddbrown @academicchatter I'm highly resisting the idea that tenure track is the time to mess about with management and mentoring.

Failing to take this serious from day one, and ideally before they start, is not only failing themselves but also multiple people in their wake. I don't think this an acceptable trade-off to gather this sort of knowledge. There are books for that, or ideally you get this spoon fed by someone who mentored you in these matters.

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@ktoddbrown @academicchatter There is one exception to this rule, being totally transparent with lab members and stating that you are making this up as go along (i.e. admit that mistakes will be made).

This then demands that there should be considerable slack on work demands - i.e. no double standards. One can't demand people to be on time, if time management of a PI fails.

This requires deep introspection and a huge amount of scientific humility. I would argue that this a scarce resource.

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@ktoddbrown @academicchatter All of this is then rooted in a deep humanity of the enterprise of any business (academic or not). If there is trust and respect, up and down and strong bottom up support a lab will survive.

If there is no trust and respect, because of double standards, stuff will fall apart, or will be prone to what is ultimately abuse of power.

This is how I've seen it play out anyway.

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@ktoddbrown @academicchatter Acknowledging this humanity, i.e. diversity and inclusion, works toward finding out what works for all people - and bringing out the best in them - lifting them up. This in contrast to the standard top down approach of bossy leadership (i.e. no mentorship, just doing "the job").

However, this requires sitting down with people and talking at length. This long game doesn't vibe with the move fast and break stuff attitude in science these days I feel.

christianschwaegerl, to climate
@christianschwaegerl@mastodon.social avatar

2023: An ambiguous year.
Articles published within 48 hours by The Guardian

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@christianschwaegerl These do not conflict. The rate of change is what matters in both contexts. Too slow is the underlying message in both.

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@christianschwaegerl My take home from both those titles is that there is "hope", but we squandered immense potential for all of us to satiate the appetite of a handful of oil barons - and a lack of political courage.

We could have been brave and done a 180 like Uruguay, a decade ago.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/dec/27/uruguays-green-power-revolution-rapid-shift-to-wind-shows-the-world-how-its-done

koen_hufkens, to ML
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

These days I find academic research that uses 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 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, .

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

Whenever I see a code heavy paper (implementation) without a git repository I have "questions". I don't consider this best practice anymore, and neither should others IMO.

If you don't know how, you might need to retool. If you are unsure about coding practices, ask for help. Being uncomfortable with change shouldn't be an excuse (and you might be in for rude awakenings in the future).

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

I recently had the not so envious task to independently review the code for a manuscript revision, together with another colleague. This manuscript was withdrawn based upon basic methodological issues which slipped through review (even when sharing code).

The hard lesson here was that code review in this context is critical, but few bother (during review or before submission). Long form text rarely captures code implementations.

https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2023/egusphere-2023-1826/

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