Tom Chivers

this is great. I get so frustrated with the anti-robotaxis stuff. They obviously work, they are obviously safer than human drivers, and if we're sensible about regulating them (which includes not strangling them with regulation) then they'll make cities better.

God bless @jamesomalley.co.uk for being a voice on the centre-left who consistently acknowledges that economics is a real thing that exists (and coming up with potential solutions rather than just accusing businesses of greed) open.substack.com/pub/jamesomalley/p/has-liam-byrne-had-his-weetabix-452

Nice episode of Science Fictions summarizing SCORE papers from @tomchivers.bsky.social and @stuartjritchie.bsky.social. Minor point about the conclusion. The LHC actually has replication built in with two teams (ATLAS & CMS) operating independently. sciencefictionspod.substack.com/p/episode-10...

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

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!

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...

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.

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!

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

WHITE HOUSE ECONOMIC ADVISOR HASSETT: TRUMP WANTS UK TO LIBERATE THE POSTCODE ADDRESS FILE - CNBC INTERVIEW.

In 2004, it took the world a year to add a gigawatt of solar power — now it takes a day

I appreciate I’m not the head of counterterrorism, but: no, it’s really not similar. @peteetchells.bsky.social @garwboy.bsky.social @tomchivers.bsky.social @stuartjritchie.bsky.social

they not like us

These two books, by @anilananth.bsky.social and @tomchivers.bsky.social, are the first two books in a very long time that I read in their entirety without significant pause or other diversion along the way. I cannot recommend them enough! #booksky #dataSkyence

Just incredible that 'the desirable result of the policy' is written up as 'we found a loophole.'

Monday = London Review of Substacks @semafor.com's @tomchivers.bsky.social reviews three smart essays by @deborahvass.bsky.social, @henrygjeffreys.bsky.social, and @scientificdiscovery.dev in our daily global newsletter www.semafor.com/newsletter/1...

What a letter.

Almost every new car sold in Norway is electric

The Land Registry putting up fees for finding out the true owner of a property by 133% is a proper financial hit if you're running a small investigative news outlet! (Related: I've always thought if you wanted to start a revolution in the UK, make the Land Registry free and searchable on Google.)

As always, articles saying OH NO INJURIES FROM [NEW THING X] ARE UP [Y%] are completely pointless unless you tell us how much the USE of New Thing X is up! If the use of e-scooters and e-bikes have tripled, it's not surprising if injuries have too! www.scientificamerican.com/article/inju...

I wrote an article about my dad's death, and how it affected my views on assisted dying Free version of the article in the next post Views are my own, not those of the institutions or academies I'm associated with www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcar...

I'm a very pro-funding-science sort of guy, but AIUI Argentina was running an absolutely enormous deficit, its inflation was out of control, and it had a ton of debt. It had to cut loads of things! Science is important but so is the country not going bankrupt! www.nature.com/articles/d41...

This week's The Studies Show is in your inbox! Actually it arrived yesterday but I'm very slow. For paid-only subscribers, it's about sex, gender, and sport, and it asks the daringly controversial question: is the average man taller than the average woman? www.thestudiesshowpod.com/p/paid-only-...

Look here for the good news! Major advances in HIV prevention, food allergy medication, schizophrenia treatment, weight loss, and life extension for people with certain types of lung cancers. Following @scientificdiscovery.dev's writing has made a major difference for how I feel about the future ⤴️

🟡 UK JOURNALISM JOB ALERT 🟡 @semafor.com is hiring an early-career journalist in its London newsroom. Details here: boards.greenhouse.io/semafor/jobs... Reach out if you've got questions!

Re Gregg Wallace, I’m a huge fan of @duncanrobinson.bsky.social’s aphorism that British scandals aren’t discovered, simply noticed. Popbitch has told everyone what he’s been doing for years

My prediction: there will be no unambiguously detectable influence of this ban on obesity rates, but it's all so noisy that there'll be years of argument about whether it worked anyway www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... (I don't think advertising is a key driver so I'll be on the "it didn't" side)

The latest The Studies Show! This time, on psychopathy, a subject very close to @stuartjritchie.bsky.social's heart, and indeed to his personality type www.thestudiesshowpod.com/p/episode-58...

I vote we keep the Parthenon Marbles, but continue to have the debate about whether we should return them for all perpetuity to keep us all on our toes and give columnists with classics backgrounds something to write about

How the excellent The Studies Show podcast ( @tomchivers.bsky.social and @stuartjritchie.bsky.social ) surprised me by introducing me to the fiendish collider bias: brianclegg.blogspot.com/2024/12/the-... #Statistics #badcorrelations

The arguments over the assisted dying vote reminded me of this classic Scott Alexander piece on "fake consensualism", the idea that we shouldn't allow people to consent to certain things because *other* people might be forced into it without *really* consenting slatestarcodex.com/2013/08/25/f...

Nice episode on collider bias, which contains no evidence whatsoever that I’m low IQ.

Another day, another very cool study from Nick Haslam's group (1st author Brodie Dakin): Experimental study showing that when harm-related concepts like 'trauma' and 'bullying' expand to cover more mild phenomena, people take those issues less seriously journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.... (cont)

Well played.

In these nine African countries, average incomes have more than doubled since 1990