Wim
@wimlouw.com
📤 172
📥 617
📝 14
Data Science person at City of Cape Town. J-PAL Africa alum. 🇿🇦🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🤘🌊🐶🏋️📊
Good synthesis of the discourse around coding and AI right now:
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/m...
loading . . .
Coding After Coders: The End of Computer Programming as We Know It
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/magazine/ai-coding-programming-jobs-claude-chatgpt.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
23 days ago
0
0
0
reposted by
Wim
The Yale Review
about 1 month ago
"I wrote an ode to reticence, my habit of perfection. The held and holding word, its wetting tract is not, as Hopkins said, renunciation but a space, I think for coiled sound to shift." —Isabel Neal, "Doublet"
loading . . .
https://yalereview.org/article/isabel-neal-doublet
0
3
1
reposted by
Wim
London Review of Books
about 2 months ago
Where is it we are heading. So fast. But is this fast. I must speak what is in my heart. I don’t know if there’s anything left now in my heart. It is so dry. I must scour it with words. ‘You Shall Not Speak’, a poem by Jorie Graham.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
loading . . .
Jorie Graham · Poem: ‘You Shall Not Speak’
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n03/jorie-graham/you-shall-not-speak
0
37
11
reposted by
Wim
Matthew Honnibal
about 2 months ago
Style (and mindset) tips for less experienced developers working with AI
honnibal.dev/blog/llm-sty...
loading . . .
Style tips for less experienced developers coding with AI · honnibal.dev
Matthew Honnibal is a computational linguist from Sydney based in Berlin, Germany. He's the author of the spaCy Natural Language Processing library and the co-founder of Explosion.
https://honnibal.dev/blog/llm-style-tips
0
19
5
reposted by
Wim
Jessica Hullman
3 months ago
Wrote a summary of a great keynote by
@zey.bsky.social
at NeurIPS, arguing that we’re having the wrong nightmares about AI: not AGI or superhuman benchmarks, but good-enough genAI at scale threatens "load bearing frictions" society relies on to signal effort, authenticity, sincerity, credibility.
loading . . .
Zeynep Tufecki on having the wrong nightmares about generative AI
I was writing a blog post where I was going to reference Zeynep Tufecki’s 2025 NeurIPS keynote, and realized there isn’t a solid synopsis online.
https://open.substack.com/pub/jessicahullman/p/zeynep-tufecki-on-having-the-wrong?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
2
81
28
reposted by
Wim
Saloni
4 months ago
Big new blogpost! My guide to data visualization, which includes a very long table of contents, tons of charts, and more. --> Why data visualization matters and how to make charts more effective, clear, transparent, and sometimes, beautiful.
www.scientificdiscovery.dev/p/salonis-gu...
22
799
366
reposted by
Wim
Oliver Hanney
4 months ago
🆕 Ten key insights from development economics in 2025 The world is changing rapidly. Can research inform what comes next? I spent a long time trying to condense everything I read this year at
@voxdev.bsky.social
into ten key insights, you can read the full blog here:
voxdev.org/topic/ten-ke...
loading . . .
Ten key insights from development economics in 2025
Research on VoxDev in 2025 has shed light on getting stuff done, paying for it, the changing development landscape, and a whole lot more.
https://voxdev.org/topic/ten-key-insights-development-economics-2025
0
25
18
reposted by
Wim
Noam Angrist
5 months ago
📣
@youthimpactorg.bsky.social
is hiring a Learning Partnerships Lead, who will lead A/B testing partnerships & high-profile research-to-action partnerships:
www.youth-impact.org/join-our-tea...
➡️ An exciting role for those who care about rigorous evidence being used in practice on a day-to-day basis
loading . . .
Learning Partnerships Lead | Youth Impact
We are seeking a dynamic, experienced research manager and communicator to lead Youth Impact’s A/B testing partnerships and external research collaborations. This role will sit at the intersection of ...
https://www.youth-impact.org/join-our-team/learning-partnerships-lead
0
5
4
reposted by
Wim
Jessica Hullman
7 months ago
I rewrote Allen Ginsberg's Howl, but for the AI-headed hipsters👇 "I saw the best minds of my generation distracted by machines, shining-eyed delusional demo gods, rubbering through polished cities at dusk Capitalizing The Next Big Push to the end of Introspection, 1/N
1
10
4
reposted by
Wim
useR! - The R User Conference
8 months ago
You can watch Hadley's keynote at this link:
www.youtube.com/live/ctc2kx3...
#useR2025
add a skeleton here at some point
1
53
19
reposted by
Wim
Oliver Hanney
9 months ago
Teaching or studying economics? This blog is for you...
@emaansiddique.bsky.social
and I have updated
@voxdev.bsky.social
's series of blogs showcasing how economists use different econometric techniques to answer interesting and important policy questions. Read here:
voxdev.org/topic/exampl...
loading . . .
Examples from development economics for your introduction to econometrics course
Economists employ a wide range of econometric methods when conducting research. Here are some examples of how these techniques are used to generate interesting and useful policy insights in developmen...
https://voxdev.org/topic/examples-development-economics-your-introduction-econometrics-course
0
15
7
reposted by
Wim
Garth Greenwell
10 months ago
I talked with The Yale Review about two essays of mine--on Philip Roth and Miranda July--they've published in recent years. Many thanks to the editors.
backmatter.yalereview.org/p/behind-the...
0
12
2
reposted by
Wim
Lighthouse Reports
10 months ago
Most reporting on AI examines worst-case systems deployed under the guise of efficiency. But what would a good faith effort at Ethical AI look like? For two years, we’ve been looking over the shoulder of a city trying to do things differently.
1
20
18
reposted by
Wim
Jessica Hullman
10 months ago
I'm excited about this paper - clearly AI won't always work, but many counterarguments to using AI for decision-making are statistically hard to justify or make narrow appeals to ethics. We identify w/4 criteria where its bad for decisions. Blog post:
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/06/05/w...
add a skeleton here at some point
2
28
5
reposted by
Wim
Dan de Kadt
12 months ago
In aviation, flight-deck automation is generally understood to be a good thing: It reduces scope for erroneous human inputs and allows pilots to better manage and focus their limited resources. But there is a risk: Pilots may never really learn to fly manually, or they may let those skills atrophy.
1
9
5
Exciting Data Engineering role with J-PAL Africa’s Water, Air and Energy Lab and City of Cape Town’s Data Science team 🇿🇦
loading . . .
Data Scientist - J-PAL Africa | The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab
https://www.povertyactionlab.org/careers/data-scientist-j-pal-africa-job-105296
12 months ago
0
3
0
reposted by
Wim
Stefan Dercon
about 1 year ago
Centre for the Study of African Economies at University of Oxford will automatically consider all applicants from Africa for full funding for the MPhil in Economics - we have new scholarships for eligible students. How? Just apply asap: deadline 4th March (extended deadline): see below
add a skeleton here at some point
1
36
49
reposted by
Wim
Noam Angrist
about 1 year ago
📣 Join our team in South Africa as a Research Manager! Support cutting-edge research on a set of scaling evidence-based programs in collaboration w/ the Department of Basic Education
@youthimpactorg.bsky.social
@j-pal.bsky.social
Lego Zenex + more
www.youth-impact.org/join-our-tea...
loading . . .
Research Manager | Youth Impact
https://www.youth-impact.org/join-our-team/research-manager
0
7
5
reposted by
Wim
J-PAL
about 1 year ago
👋 Hi! J-PAL is now on Bluesky! 📊 We’re looking forward to bringing conversations on evidence-informed policy to this new space. Follow us for updates on the latest research, policy insights, and how rigorous evidence is helping shape a better world.
0
61
24
reposted by
Wim
Jessica Hullman
about 1 year ago
@economeager.bsky.social
's excellent essay got me thinking about how we confuse research with affirming (& preserving) our identity. Where we can tolerate uncertainty but only to the extent it blows in the direction of our unfolding personal narrative
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/01/23/s...
add a skeleton here at some point
1
19
3
“The Philosopher L. A. Paul Wants Us to Think About Our Selves”
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
loading . . .
The Philosopher L. A. Paul Wants Us to Think About Our Selves
To whom should we have allegiance—the version of ourself making choices, or the version of ourself who will be affected by them?
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/12/09/the-philosopher-l-a-paul-wants-us-to-think-about-our-selves
over 1 year ago
0
2
0
reposted by
Wim
Jessica Hullman
over 1 year ago
I'm teaching a grad seminar this winter on Prediction for Decision-making. We'll look at what it means to make good predictions for decision-making from various angles, with a focus on decisions for & about people. Reading list:
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2024/12/06/n...
Suggestions welcome!
loading . . .
New Course: Prediction for (Individualized) Decision-making | Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science
https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2024/12/06/new-course-prediction-for-individualized-decision-making/
23
189
32
reposted by
Wim
Alejandra Caraballo
over 1 year ago
Can't believe I just hit 125k followers on here! There are so many more wonderful queer and trans voices you should follow as well. I created a starter pack with them. Give them a follow!
go.bsky.app/DVtrFQR
add a skeleton here at some point
106
1546
285
reposted by
Wim
Josh Budlender
over 1 year ago
Come attend the 2024 SALDRU December Workshop! 12-13 December, School of Economics, U of Cape Town. We've got a great list of speakers, and v pleased the keynote will be Dennis Egger (
@eggerdennis.bsky.social
) presenting "Slack & Economic Development". All welcome! RSVP:
forms.gle/cwdPjw7iEjqa...
0
2
2
reposted by
Wim
Melissa Sands
over 1 year ago
Celebrate the holiday by roasting this bird (delete your Twitter account; it feels good 🎉):
1
11
1
reposted by
Wim
Hadley Wickham
over 1 year ago
If you're interested in trying out LLMs in
#rstats
but don't know where to begin, I've added a few two vignettes to elmer:
elmer.tidyverse.org/articles/elm...
and
elmer.tidyverse.org/articles/pro...
loading . . .
Getting started with elmer
https://elmer.tidyverse.org/articles/elmer.html
10
265
65
reposted by
Wim
Julia Silge
over 1 year ago
We've got a brand new, baby website for Positron! Take a look if you are interested in getting started, and please let us know how it goes:
positron.posit.co
loading . . .
Positron
A next-generation data science IDE
https://positron.posit.co/
4
118
46
reposted by
Wim
Julia Evans
over 1 year ago
intro post: I post a lot of explanations of computer things, here's an example! this one's an intro to Git's internals
7
354
89
reposted by
Wim
PyConZA
over 1 year ago
The City of Cape Town is a Silver sponsor of
#PyConZA2024
🐍. Welcome aboard!
za.pycon.org/sponsors/8/
loading . . .
PyConZA 2024
https://za.pycon.org/sponsors/8/
0
1
1
reposted by
Wim
Seema Jayachandran
over 1 year ago
ungatedresearch.org
is a wonderful public good being developed by Martin Abel and Susie Godlonton. It's a website with links to the latest ungated version of papers published in several economics journals. Especially valuable in LMICs where many scholars don't have access to the journals.
2
89
54
So cool:
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
loading . . .
10-Minute Challenge: ‘Canopy’
We’d like you to look at one piece of art for 10 minutes, uninterrupted.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/09/19/upshot/ten-minute-challenge-canopy.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
over 1 year ago
0
1
0
reposted by
Wim
Andrew Gelman et al.
over 1 year ago
What’s the story behind that paper by the Center for Open Science team that just got retracted?
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2024/09/26/w...
loading . . .
What’s the story behind that paper by the Center for Open Science team that just got retracted? | Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science
https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2024/09/26/whats-the-story-behind-that-paper-by-the-center-for-open-science-team-that-just-got-retracted/
2
44
24
reposted by
Wim
Jessica Hullman
over 1 year ago
We (me &
@berkustun.bsky.social
) created a starter pack of researchers working on algorithmic decision-making & fairness. Other platforms still seem to dominate for many ML-related topics, but maybe this will help Probably missed people, so let us know if you have suggestions!
go.bsky.app/851zVkg
add a skeleton here at some point
8
62
26
Having a wonderful day off today, rereading some gems:
yalereview.org/article/dana...
❤️
loading . . .
Dana Levin: "Lessons of the Line"
Dana Levin remembers the unlikely teacher she found in poet Charles Simic.
https://yalereview.org/article/dana-levin-charles-simic
over 1 year ago
0
0
0
❤️
harpers.org/archive/2020...
loading . . .
Making Meaning, by Garth Greenwell
Against “relevance” in art
https://harpers.org/archive/2020/11/making-meaning-garth-greenwell/
over 1 year ago
0
0
0
“Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #1,147,042!” Cool 😎
over 1 year ago
0
0
0
reposted by
Wim
Emily M. Bender
over 1 year ago
"It is not the case that “AI gathers data from the Web and learns from it.” The reality is that AI companies gather data and then optimize models to reproduce representations of that data for profit."
www.techpolicy.press/challenging-...
Long, v. worthwhile read from Eryk Salvaggio
loading . . .
Challenging The Myths of Generative AI | TechPolicy.Press
Eryk Salvaggio says we must dispense with myths if we are to think more clearly about what AI actually is and does.
https://www.techpolicy.press/challenging-the-myths-of-generative-ai/
7
379
160
reposted by
Wim
Nick Huntington-Klein
over 1 year ago
It's not surprising that LLMs have difficulty with this! I talk more about this three card blind task in this article. (also pretty interesting that GPT can spit out the full Oracle text of just about every Magic card)
nickchk.substack.com/p/ai-errors-...
loading . . .
AI Errors Are Statistical Errors
If it trains like a duck and predicts like a duck...
https://nickchk.substack.com/p/ai-errors-are-statistical-errors
0
2
1
reposted by
Wim
Arin Dube
over 1 year ago
If you are interested in learning more about minimum wages, Attila Lindner and I have a new, up-to-date review of the topic, coming out in the Handbook of Labor Economics. Here's the @nberpubs working paper. Link:
nber.org/papers/w32878
10
163
62
reposted by
Wim
Thomas Lin Pedersen
over 1 year ago
I'm excited to share the next version of patchwork with the world, available on CRAN now. First class support for gt tables and even more freedom with `free()`
#rstats
#ggplot2
loading . . .
patchwork 1.3.0 - Tidyverse
patchwork 1.3.0 has just been released bringing refinements to the `free()` function and full on support for gt tables
https://www.tidyverse.org/blog/2024/09/patchwork-1-3-0/
0
73
34
reposted by
Wim
Dennis Alexis Valin Dittrich
over 1 year ago
📉📈 via @upjohninstitute New research shows that job design—the choices employers make about the actual tasks workers are assigned—could provide a route to higher-paying jobs for the future. … 1/2
1
3
2
reposted by
Wim
Kieran Setiya
over 1 year ago
I wrote about the value of writing: Under the Net
https://ksetiya.substack.com/p/content-providers
loading . . .
Content Providers
I’ve mostly avoided the dismal topic of Large Language Models and what they will do to the future of writing, both in college and outside it.
https://ksetiya.substack.com/p/content-providers
1
9
6
reposted by
Wim
David McKenzie
over 1 year ago
This week's blog links include using your econ PhD outside of academia, sharing research results with subjects in Zanzibar, city types in developing countries, building farmer resilience to climate change, and more...
#econsky
blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...
loading . . .
Weekly links September 13: pricing health insurance, sharing research with subjects, cities, climate resilient ag, and more…
https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/impactevaluations/weekly-links-september-13--pricing-health-insurance--sharing-res
0
12
7
reposted by
Wim
Aaron Sojourner
over 1 year ago
For Bluesky-Curious Econ Lovers, a Quick Start guide to plugging into the economics community here. I wrote it hoping to lower the costs & boost the benefits for folks to engage here. If you think it's useful, please share it. 📉📈 #️⃣#️⃣
aaronsojourner.org/for-bluesky-...
loading . . .
For Bluesky-Curious Econ Lovers - Aaron Sojourner
This Quick Start guide aims to help econ lovers easily join Bluesky’s growing economics community. The Bluesky User FAQ covers generic basics, like how to start an account. This guide orients you to e...
https://aaronsojourner.org/for-bluesky-curious-econ-lovers/
8
156
118
reposted by
Wim
Andrew Heiss
over 1 year ago
For the past few years, I've taught dataviz using
#rstats
+ {ggplot2} and the class is free and asynchronous with ≈35 hours of video at
datavizf24.classes.andrewheiss.com
I also have regular R-based dataviz-related blog posts at
www.andrewheiss.com/blog/
add a skeleton here at some point
3
116
44
reposted by
Wim
Matthew Kay
over 1 year ago
I work in
#datavis
, best known for uncertainty vis: see my work on election forecast vis (
forecasts.cs.northwestern.edu
), this talk (
youtu.be/E1kSnWvqCw0
), or my lab (
mucollective.northwestern.edu
) I like writing
#rstats
📦s: ggdist (
mjskay.github.io/ggdist
), tidybayes, ggblend, posterior::rvar...
add a skeleton here at some point
2
81
12
reposted by
Wim
Paul Hünermund
over 1 year ago
𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐦𝐢𝐭. 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞. 🚨 🔄 We are excited to present the 4th Causal Data Science Meeting on November 5–6 this year, co-hosted by Copenhagen Business School and Maastricht University. 🗓
#CDSM24
📈📉 More info:
causalscience.org
2
41
36
reposted by
Wim
Lydia Polgreen
over 1 year ago
I wrote about the Cass Review, and the sneaky effort to use what looks like science to justify broad intrusions in our personal freedom.
www.nytimes.com/2024/08/13/o...
loading . . .
Opinion | How a Supposedly Scientific Report Became a Weapon in the War on Trans Kids
For all its claims to science, the Cass report is fundamentally a subjective, political document.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/13/opinion/cass-report-trans-kids.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Ck4.t6ZV.zESy0Rbxu3G7&smid=url-share
19
809
275
Really good stuff!
simonwillison.net/2024/Jul/14/...
loading . . .
Imitation Intelligence, my keynote for PyCon US 2024
I gave an invited keynote at PyCon US 2024 in Pittsburgh this year. My goal was to say some interesting things about AI—specifically about Large Language Models—both to help catch …
https://simonwillison.net/2024/Jul/14/pycon/
over 1 year ago
0
0
0
“A Poet’s Reckoning with What Poetry Can Do”
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
❤️
loading . . .
A Poet’s Reckoning with What Poetry Can Do
Diane Seuss says, of writing her latest collection, “Modern Poetry,” “I really did feel that I didn’t know how to move forward without something like an answer.”
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/a-poets-reckoning-with-what-poetry-can-do
almost 2 years ago
0
0
0
Load more
feeds!
log in