Koen Hufkens, PhD
Contacting Koen Hufkens, PhD
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Koen Hufkens, PhD's Information
Koen Hufkens, PhD's Bio
Founder of BlueGreen Labs | addressing #climatechange through data driven methods in #ecology #remotesensing #phenology #foodsecurity
#rstats developer | #academic omnivore | move fast and fix things | personal account | #politics, #science & #foss software | he / him
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in
- Leonard Cohen
Koen Hufkens, PhD's Posts
Koen Hufkens, PhD has 11 posts.
Koen Hufkens, PhD
In response to this post@ai6yr Sorry about this. Major gripes. Will turn it into a blog post as well.
@koen_hufkens Look forward to that. Indeed!
by AI6YR Ben ;
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Koen Hufkens, PhD
In response to this post@ai6yr Teaching failure, and the acceptance of it, and owning those mistakes is really important. First of all it keeps you humble, second it is key to a safety culture. And this bit is actually really important if you are dealing with people in wet labs, workshops, or real life. And, this makes the whole thing of "move fast and break things" utterly bonkers. Yes, failure is acceptable, if you don't intentionally create collateral damage. If you do, sit down and think long and hard. *sigh*
@ai6yr Sorry about this. Major gripes. Will turn it into a blog post as well.
by Koen Hufkens, PhD ;
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Koen Hufkens, PhD
In response to this post@ai6yr Some general observation in this context. For many students failure is hard.
Not that it is easy for anyone, but if you are never taught that this is part of the process it really bites.
In this context, teaching to the test (not doing open ended work) is doing a lot of students a great disservice.
If students ask me how I can figure out things I've never seen before I tell them I fail faster* and read manuals 😬
[* in my head]
@ai6yr Teaching failure, and the acceptance of it, and owning those mistakes is really important. First of all it keeps you humble, second it is key to a safety culture. And this bit is actually really important if you are dealing with people in wet labs, workshops, or real life. And, this makes the whole thing of "move fast and break things" utterly bonkers. Yes, failure is acceptable, if you don't intentionally create collateral damage. If you do, sit down and think long and hard. *sigh*
by Koen Hufkens, PhD ;
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Koen Hufkens, PhD
In response to this post@ai6yr That last bit is engineering, that last bit is science in the abstract, or any creative enterprise. That last bit is digging up more than boiler plate GenAI stuff, that last bit is connecting all the dots.
And for now, this is beyond reach for these LLM models (as it is an out of distribution problem). And if it can be solved by "agents", it still is tremendously wasteful of energy for what is just sitting down and problem solving (also called thinking).
*end of ranting*
@koen_hufkens Exactly! It's not the code... it's understanding why/how.
by AI6YR Ben ;
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Koen Hufkens, PhD
In response to this post@ai6yr Some more on this. I code, a lot, but I'm not formally trained in this in any way. What I do know is problem solving (from nerding around in linux mostly). And what I see increasingly is a total lack of problem solving skills.
I can code up things and at some point realize there is too much friction - which triggers the "spider" sense that there must be a better way. Then you hunt, in known literature, or reconsider the whole thing.
That last bit, today, is completely missing for many.
@ai6yr That last bit is engineering, that last bit is science in the abstract, or any creative enterprise. That last bit is digging up more than boiler plate GenAI stuff, that last bit is connecting all the dots.
And for now, this is beyond reach for these LLM models (as it is an out of distribution problem). And if it can be solved by "agents", it still is tremendously wasteful of energy for what is just sitting down and problem solving (also called thinking).
*end of ranting*
by Koen Hufkens, PhD ;
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Koen Hufkens, PhD
In response to this post@ai6yr There will be so much more of this. I'm also seeing this in the MSc / Phd programs I'm involved in. Not good.
@ai6yr Some more on this. I code, a lot, but I'm not formally trained in this in any way. What I do know is problem solving (from nerding around in linux mostly). And what I see increasingly is a total lack of problem solving skills.
I can code up things and at some point realize there is too much friction - which triggers the "spider" sense that there must be a better way. Then you hunt, in known literature, or reconsider the whole thing.
That last bit, today, is completely missing for many.
by Koen Hufkens, PhD ;
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Koen Hufkens, PhD
In response to this post@ai6yr @pluralistic God damn people read them for inspiration, not as a warning, it seems.
@koen_hufkens @pluralistic Correct. Though, I think the last story (about a survival bunker built by a finance guy) is reality, except the guess of how they all die LOL.
by AI6YR Ben ;
Mentions: @ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org @pluralistic@mamot.fr @ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org @pluralistic@mamot.fr
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Koen Hufkens, PhD
In response to this post@ai6yr Check the Copernicus browser to create visuals yourself for free. Sentinel data at your fingertips (false colour composite, mostly showing the creation of a huge vegetation burn scar).
https://browser.dataspace.copernicus.eu/
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Koen Hufkens, PhD
In response to this post@ai6yr Reminds me of what a housemate of mine did when I was working in Boston. Her childhood home and neighbourhood was affected by a tornado. She coded up a toolset to help coordinate recovery and deal with the logistics.
https://recovers.org/
#recovery
Tags: #recovery #recovery #recovery
Mentions: @ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org @ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org @ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org
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Koen Hufkens, PhD
@ai6yr Sort of like living on a boat.
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Koen Hufkens, PhD
@me_valentijn @ai6yr There is a reason cul-de-sac is pronounced using a swearing French accent. Suffix 'de merde' is optional. Anyway, hope they get out fine.
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