C Barrington-Leigh

Economist @McGillU, working to understand what subjective well-being can teach us about society, communities & sustainability. Former physicist. Climate hawk.

[C Barrington-Leigh @profcpbl]

@ubuntu Okay, but @ubuntu your outage had another effect: your use of NetworkManager gave us all network icons showing a general network problem when in fact there was none beyond your site! Please fix this bug : https://t.co/qmuQtXo0u9

[C Barrington-Leigh @profcpbl]

Now it looks like we're *ahead* of the https://t.co/9GoqMqqFEJ timeline. And they have got so much right along the way.

We're all ready for them to start being wrong... ??? 😱

https://t.co/2RKJVMJ5uy

[C Barrington-Leigh @profcpbl]

If you're on Ubuntu, and currently baffled why your network icons are showing a problem when in fact your network seems to be working just fine, please upvote this bug/feature request :
https://t.co/qmuQtXnsEB

[C Barrington-Leigh @profcpbl]

@uMcGill @McGillU students -- apply now for a winter policy internship:
https://t.co/8j6U4lb84e

[C Barrington-Leigh @profcpbl]

Now even @EnergyvsClimate is all about AI radical futures:
https://t.co/Dut16eocIf

My blog post from June seems increasingly mainstream. If we are soon near-infinitely wealthy, everything will be rationed by a central authoritarian. There is no alternative (equilibrium at least)

[CleanTechnica @cleantechnica]

World’s Largest Electric Ferry Enters Service In Buenos Aires
https://t.co/0Ltywvir6L

[God @TheTweetOfGod]

RIP Sir Patrick Stewart.

You made it so.

[Energy vs Climate Podcast @EnergyvsClimate]

On September 28th, @DKeithClimate, Sara, and @EdWhittingham were on stage at @EnergyDisruptor in Calgary, discussing 4 fights worth having: Energy security in an age of chaos, powering AI, Canada’s role, and building a system that works.
Listen now:
https://t.co/NMvdiSs3Zm

[Yoshiki Ishikawa / 石川善樹 @ishikun3]

日本において、生活満足度（10点満点）が1ポイント向上し、1年間持続すること（1 WELLBY）の金銭価値は、「約151万円」という推定

河口先生たちの研究より→

https://t.co/sXxzwYBD3F

[Street Network Sprawl Map at McGill @sprawlmap]

📍 City of the Day: Johannesburg, South Africa (pop. 6.8M)
SNDi: 4.24 — Sprawly.

Johannesburg's street grid is anchored by its pre-1975 core — that era alone is 58% of today's network and scores a moderately connected 3.28 on its own. Development since 1975 has been less connected than the older streets, pushing today's score to 4.24. More disconnected than 78% of cities we track.

Link in bio.

[C Barrington-Leigh @profcpbl]

Only just realized that USA, Japan, and Sweden account for 36% of the respondents in the GFS! Be careful to weight your data the way you should....

[International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies @ISQOLS_org]

🌍 The Call for Submissions is NOW OPEN for the ISQOLS 2027 Annual Conference! 🇬🇷
📍 Athens, Greece | 23–27 August 2027
📝 Papers & Posters
🌐 Special Sessions
🎓 Pre-Conference Workshops
Submit your proposal: https://t.co/b5dQsGNHRH
#ISQOLS2027 #QualityOfLife

[C Barrington-Leigh @profcpbl]

@cleanenergycan @joannakyriazis @TorontoStar Cars are capital investments (somewhat), not a supply chain, not chips, not critical minerals. If we're not protecting domestic industry, I don't see what's wrong with flooding the streets with Chinese EVs.
Btw, top selling two models in Europe are not European (they're Tesla)

[C Barrington-Leigh @profcpbl]

@cleanenergycan @joannakyriazis @TorontoStar A bit funny to characterize this as a binary choice, isn't it? We could transition to an electric ecosystem in no time with Chinese EVs.
Right now, Tesla (USA) has no competition for its self-driving features, and Chinese EVs have no competition for their price.

[C Barrington-Leigh @profcpbl]

@aelluswamy So shall we stop worrying about, e.g. climate change, right now?
There is some moral hazard involved in the message you're spreading, especially without timelines or confidence intervals.
In the case of climate, you'd only be right if we have a quick path to global AI dictator.

[International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies @ISQOLS_org]

🎧 Does money buy happiness? 💰
On ISQOLS' Quality-of-Life Matters podcast, Dr. Lucía Macchia explores income, unemployment, financial satisfaction & why well-being goes beyond GDP.
🎙️ Hosted by Lina Martínez

▶️ https://t.co/L21a6pfJfL

[C Barrington-Leigh @profcpbl]

This is the one I've been waiting to for (to see, not compete, alas!). Thank you @XPrize!
"First contact" with cetaceans is in our near future...
c

[Steve Jurvetson @FutureJurvetson]

The new XPRIZE on Interspecies Communication, with a $10M purse will launch next month.

It will challenge teams to demonstrate ethical, verified two-way communication with wild animals, advancing coexistence and cooperation.

Dr. Irene Pepperberg spoke to us today about her pioneering work with grey parrots, training them in English to perform many tasks at 6-year old human skill level.

“Clearly, animals know more than we think and think a great deal more than we know.”

It wasn’t easy when she started. The feedback to her first grant review: “what are you smoking?”

And now, her parrots ask questions and learn from the answers. They ask for what they want.

She has taught her parrots 100 English labels for objects and materials, exact quantities up to 8 (and addition and subtraction), colors, shapes, materials, concepts like same/different, absence, a zero-like concept (absence of a set, on his own, with no training), relative size comparisons, optical illusions, and they make new word combinations (calling the banana chip “banacker” for a banana cracker). They have a visual working memory (tracking moving cups) that beats adults with 4 swaps. They do inference by exclusion (when you show where food is not located, they figure out where it is).

Bird brains look very different at first, a smooth unfolded organ with no cerebral cortex, but further research found a relatively large cortical area similar to non-human primates in relative size and connectivity. They have a dense processor, doing same thing as human children.

“Bird brain should be a complement,” she concluded.

[International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies @ISQOLS_org]

🌍 Beyond GDP: Are we measuring what truly matters? In ISQOLS's 30th Anniversary Special Edition, researchers, including the late Ruut Veenhoven, explore why subjective well-being should be central to measuring human progress.

📖 https://t.co/NeTKUWXXUd

@SpringerSocSci

[Street Network Sprawl Map at McGill @sprawlmap]

📍 City of the Day: Dakar, Senegal (pop. 3.2M)
SNDi: 2.03 — Well-connected.

Dakar's street grid is anchored by its pre-1975 core — that era alone is 63% of today's network and scores a well-connected 2.00 on its own. Disconnectedness climbed until 1976-1990, before easing off, leaving today's score at 2.03. More connected than 89% of cities we track.

Link in bio.

[International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies @ISQOLS_org]

🌍 Applications OPEN for the 2027 ISQOLS Valerie Møller Fellowship!

🎓 Early-career researchers in developing countries: Apply for travel support to Athens 2027, free registration, membership & mentorship!

📅 Deadline: Nov 15, 2026

🔗 https://t.co/LpAiMzH2dx