Travis Korte
@traviskorte.bsky.social
Methods, metaphors, measurement, "impact," etc. Send me a weird diagram.
Pinned
Travis Korte
@traviskorte.bsky.social
· May 16
The fact that antihistamines can be used to relieve itches and also as sleep aids has led me to the conclusion that Consciousness is a Form of Itch
Anybody have favorite texts on naming, especially in the context of systems design?
I gave something at work a slightly imprecise name like 5 years ago and now it has become a noticeable source of technical debt as other people's slight misunderstandings have snowballed and propagated elsewhere.
I gave something at work a slightly imprecise name like 5 years ago and now it has become a noticeable source of technical debt as other people's slight misunderstandings have snowballed and propagated elsewhere.
December 1, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Anybody have favorite texts on naming, especially in the context of systems design?
I gave something at work a slightly imprecise name like 5 years ago and now it has become a noticeable source of technical debt as other people's slight misunderstandings have snowballed and propagated elsewhere.
I gave something at work a slightly imprecise name like 5 years ago and now it has become a noticeable source of technical debt as other people's slight misunderstandings have snowballed and propagated elsewhere.
Reposted by Travis Korte
we're too quick to mistake `what i know how to easily model' for `what is' and even `what should be'.
November 15, 2025 at 8:42 PM
we're too quick to mistake `what i know how to easily model' for `what is' and even `what should be'.
Reposted by Travis Korte
Reposted by Travis Korte
with alt text if you need it
November 4, 2025 at 2:20 AM
with alt text if you need it
Somebody posted this prompt, which attempts to make ChatGPT responses less friendly and more critical.
Feels like a rich document for a science-and-technology-studies analysis.
Feels like a rich document for a science-and-technology-studies analysis.
November 3, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Somebody posted this prompt, which attempts to make ChatGPT responses less friendly and more critical.
Feels like a rich document for a science-and-technology-studies analysis.
Feels like a rich document for a science-and-technology-studies analysis.
Reposted by Travis Korte
A lemma to the psychologists fallacy: any pair of variables have a single "true" relationship and that moderators mask this underlying Platonic association
November 3, 2025 at 11:15 AM
A lemma to the psychologists fallacy: any pair of variables have a single "true" relationship and that moderators mask this underlying Platonic association
Reposted by Travis Korte
A community cannot be held accountable; therefore a community must never make a management decision.
November 1, 2025 at 3:12 AM
A community cannot be held accountable; therefore a community must never make a management decision.
Coase, R. H. (1960). The Problem of Social Cost. The Journal of Law and Economics, 3, 1–44.
October 29, 2025 at 2:50 AM
Coase, R. H. (1960). The Problem of Social Cost. The Journal of Law and Economics, 3, 1–44.
I just passed a billboard advertising Orlando with the slogan “unbelievably real”
October 25, 2025 at 2:03 AM
I just passed a billboard advertising Orlando with the slogan “unbelievably real”
Reposted by Travis Korte
Causality is a model
October 18, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Causality is a model
I’ve been enjoying this meme a lot because “perceived vibes across different subfields within a domain” is always interesting but can be hard knowledge to come by from outside the domain.
patents, copyright, trade marks
Gay Studies, Queer History, Queer Theory (They/She)
October 8, 2025 at 1:22 PM
I’ve been enjoying this meme a lot because “perceived vibes across different subfields within a domain” is always interesting but can be hard knowledge to come by from outside the domain.
This taxonomy of externalities is nice
September 26, 2025 at 7:17 PM
This taxonomy of externalities is nice
Reposted by Travis Korte
It is *impossible* to "adjust for socioeconomic status" in a regression model. Discuss.
And good morning! 🌞
And good morning! 🌞
September 26, 2025 at 5:50 AM
It is *impossible* to "adjust for socioeconomic status" in a regression model. Discuss.
And good morning! 🌞
And good morning! 🌞
Lessons from civic tech: if the app claims it will solve potholes, it’s vaporware.
Cannot stress enough how it is already possible to report potholes www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
Public backs ‘super ID card’ which could be used to report potholes
Ministers have recently said they are considering introducing a form of digital ID for adults in Britain
www.independent.co.uk
September 25, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Lessons from civic tech: if the app claims it will solve potholes, it’s vaporware.
What some of your Guiding Principles look like
September 25, 2025 at 12:55 PM
What some of your Guiding Principles look like
Reposted by Travis Korte
In the above figure, there's a government building next to "make it required". The #Openscience community requested this, and got it---of course nothing like they envisioned. It's a great time for #metascience to self reflect, engage with experts in weaponization of science, and re-examine rhetoric.
August 8, 2025 at 2:48 PM
In the above figure, there's a government building next to "make it required". The #Openscience community requested this, and got it---of course nothing like they envisioned. It's a great time for #metascience to self reflect, engage with experts in weaponization of science, and re-examine rhetoric.
Reposted by Travis Korte
The "make it required" part of the open science theory of change is embodied in this new executive order, which requires commitments to "gold standard" science for federal grants.
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
August 8, 2025 at 2:40 PM
The "make it required" part of the open science theory of change is embodied in this new executive order, which requires commitments to "gold standard" science for federal grants.
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Love to be an involuntary participant in a colossal performance of Alvin Lucier's "I am sitting in a room"
The internet as a long corridor where two slightly different LLMs toss a decade-old scrap of user generated content back and forth between each other, losing fidelity with each iteration like a game of telephone.
Reddit has implemented AI on posts--even retroactively. I'm viewing a 9-month old thread that has AI "search answers" hyperlinked for certain phrases on the page. This is going to complete the enshittification of Google search, since the most usable results for the last year have been UGC on Reddit.
July 30, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Love to be an involuntary participant in a colossal performance of Alvin Lucier's "I am sitting in a room"
Reposted by Travis Korte
i guess if you really think about it there’s really only one “data-generating process” in the world and it’s called “measurement”
July 27, 2025 at 11:50 PM
i guess if you really think about it there’s really only one “data-generating process” in the world and it’s called “measurement”
Reposted by Travis Korte
Causal evidence that "the proliferation of surveys may lead to lower response rates" doi.org/10.1093/jssa...
July 14, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Causal evidence that "the proliferation of surveys may lead to lower response rates" doi.org/10.1093/jssa...
Reposted by Travis Korte
this user has correctly divined how a LLM works: you imagine that you are talking to a person but you are actually talking to an abstract representation of the collective efforts of everybody involved in moving the pointer
At some level, user error has to be factored into these stories about problems with LLMs
June 13, 2025 at 4:43 PM
this user has correctly divined how a LLM works: you imagine that you are talking to a person but you are actually talking to an abstract representation of the collective efforts of everybody involved in moving the pointer
Principal component analysis is fine but this is why you should never name your components
imagine thinking "funny" or any of these are some kind of linear slider
this is so Zuck brained, the idea that sociality can be reduced to numbers, then sorted and ranked and made manageable
this is so Zuck brained, the idea that sociality can be reduced to numbers, then sorted and ranked and made manageable
June 4, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Principal component analysis is fine but this is why you should never name your components
Reposted by Travis Korte
Reposted by Travis Korte
when will people finally acknowledge the truth that "is 'data' plural?" is a red herring: singular and plural "data" both exist and mean different things
May 23, 2025 at 12:50 PM
when will people finally acknowledge the truth that "is 'data' plural?" is a red herring: singular and plural "data" both exist and mean different things
The fact that antihistamines can be used to relieve itches and also as sleep aids has led me to the conclusion that Consciousness is a Form of Itch
May 16, 2025 at 3:13 AM
The fact that antihistamines can be used to relieve itches and also as sleep aids has led me to the conclusion that Consciousness is a Form of Itch