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Dr Dave Hitchcock

@davehitchcock.bsky.social

5.7K followers 1.5K following 3K posts

Historian: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8378-4968 Recovering recent Course Director (22-25), and research unit lead, at CCCU. Currently: "Dying Homeless, 1600-2013", Soon: 'The Ends of Poverty in the British Atlantic, 1600-1800' (2nd album). He/him.

orcid.org

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Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 9h

Not now, ancient microbes!

News headline
"Scientists reawaken ancient microbes from permafrost - discover they start churning out CO2 soon after.
Image of a guy in a white lab suit up a ladder in a cave.

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Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 1d

Yeah basically. They assert their priors, which usually involves the inherent industriousness of the premier middle classes and entrepreneurial sorts, and work out from that rock solid "model" of economic activity.

Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 1d

it is, but not his particular brand of it I'm afraid.

Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 1d

To be fair, maybe they changed their mind between writing that and now? I won't be holding my breath. And the sheer volume of work on just slavery's economic contributions to the early modern British economy alone is... immense. It's a longstanding topic.

Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 1d

The author of this blog certainly has not read Berg and Hudson, or has somehow managed to read it and then put their brain in a shredder.

Dave Andress @davidandress.bsky.social · 1d

No, but they are actually proud of holding this line:

nofuturepast.wordpress.com/2017/06/05/h...

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Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 1d

at no point is any evidence provided for the assertion that " the European exploitation of foreign peoples made it rich" is "nonsense". It's infuriating to have entire generations of historians do meticulously work, and then have these jackasses act like their ability to do algebra trumps it.

Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 1d

and that's true *within* the remit of economic history or even cliometrics stuff full stop. He's genuinely not up there, the work genuinely sucks and is based on EcHR rejecting levels of bad quant most of the time.

Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 1d

This guy one-million percent does not deserve a prize. I've had to read his stuff and no, just, no.

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Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 1d

update 1: I am informed he is staring at the front door and sporadically mooing

5 minutes later: he has taken himself upstairs to his Resting Couch

Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 1d

It's an apocalyptically stupid notion which a bunch of the remaining rich universities would never countenance anyways.

Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 1d

Poor lad, only industrial levels of pets will right this wrong

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Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 1d

Do: own a dog

Don't: accidentally encounter your dog on their walk with your partner while going to work

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Reposted by Dr Dave Hitchcock

Ali-John Mirsepassi @ajmirsepassi.bsky.social · 1d

No-one show Peter Thiel Evangelion. Please for the love of God.

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Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 1d

So? Once it's invoked it's invoked. So invent a reason to do so. A classic technique for authoritarian power grabs.

Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 1d

Rankings isn't necessarily a straight function of academic credibility though. They assume (wrongly) that they can simply hire to replace if they need to, or endless "re-align" to stay ahead of market trends.

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Reposted by Dr Dave Hitchcock

Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 2d

LLM extruded essays are like being cornered by the most boring person at a party while they monotone monologue small talk at you, convinced that they’re pronouncing something profound.

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Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 4d

speedrunning the entire "problematic fave" arc in less than one news cycle, here we come

Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 4d

good lord, really? Mister "Shaping for Excellence" himself?

Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 4d

And it's a banger of a reply too, as these things go.

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Reposted by Dr Dave Hitchcock

Josh Moody @byjoshmoody.bsky.social · 4d

MIT rejects "compact" proposed by the Trump administration.
MIT prez wrote: it "would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution" and "is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone."
orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...

Regarding the Compact | MIT Organization Chart

orgchart.mit.edu

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Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 4d

You cannot force 'history' to like you. Most world leaders learn this late in their careers, or never.

If Trump had won the prize, the main effect would have been to diminish the honour and value of it. The committee which awards the peace prize understands that better than most.

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Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 4d

Sometimes I drag writing out of myself like one paragraph at a time. If I'm happy with even two or three of those by the end of a writing day, then I'm happy enough overall.

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Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 4d

And one of them even made it to trade paperback distribution!

Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 4d

Impeccable timing.

The Nobel goes to Machado, who is hiding in fear of her life at the moment, from Maduro.

The sickos dot jpg image. Guy looking through the window laughing.