Owen Chevalier
@owenc.bsky.social
PhD candidate @ UWO Philosophy, psychiatry, social media etc. Avid user of apps
Seeing an influx in AI medicine coverage in the news the past couple days which is poignant given the US Governments new official stance on autism. AI can certainly be a powerful tool for healthcare, but I wonder if it will always be correlated to anti-intellectualism.
Presenting Dr. Billie Anderson!!! B successfully defended her dissertation on Wednesday on monstrosity and disability in film. I've been blown away by her dedication and passion for this project, and I'm so excited to see where her research goes next. Congrats @billieanderson.bsky.social
I liked this article, and appreciate @paulbloomatyale.bsky.social pointing out that AI friends don't mean the end of human friends for everyone, but that some people who may otherwise have had friends will struggle. A more measured take in a polarizing field. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
A.I. Is About to Solve Loneliness. That’s a Problem
The discomfort of loneliness shapes us in ways we don’t recognize—and we may not like what we become without it.
newyorker.com
So it turns out a handful of business owners CAN use free AI tools and handmade signs to completely dismantle a necessary transit improvement. No city as big as Toronto should be so easy to manipulate. Just embarrassing. www.torontotoday.ca/local/transp...
City waters down RapidTO bus plan, limiting dedicated lanes to south of Bloor
Staff no longer recommend the Bathurst and Dufferin TTC routes get their own RapidTO lanes all the way to Eglinton
torontotoday.ca
Cool study from @bikewaysto.bsky.social detailing a traffic count on Bloor Street taken on June 11 with a camera at 412 Bloor West. During the peak of the afternoon rush, bikes outnumbered cars. I repeat: bikes outnumbered cars. drive.google.com/file/d/1ctd4...
I think the counterpoint to the "young people are lonely, lazy, and addicted to TikTok" rhetoric is that public services all over Toronto are seeing massive boosts in popularity. Young people want to be outside, social, and connected to their communities. Politicians should take note!
Observing The City@observingthecity.ca · last yr.Well, that was fast. The daily trip record for Bike Share Toronto was just smashed yesterday as 44,000 trips were recorded. Bikes were free yesterday in a promotion with Tangerine Bank.
Loved getting the chance to speak at this conference and learn more about current research in epidemic injustice in psychiatry, lived experience expertise, and potential futures for the field that improve both its ethical and epistemic outputs.
Lisa Bortolotti@lisabortolotti.com · last yr.Very interesting talks by Mahony and Chevalier, & by Stephen Gadsby, on lived experience and participatory research in the context of anorexia nervosa: to what extent does the pursuit of thinness or the anorexia diagnosis become part of the person's identity? #epistemicinjustice #philpsy #philsky
My conspiracy theory is that they’re using AI to write these things, which is both a fascinating and terrifying thought. A new regime founded on LLM definitions for complex ideas.
D. Hicks@danhicks.bsky.social · last yr.Okay, the definition of Gold Standard Science. First point: We just got a bunch of definitions in the last section. Precisely none of the terms used here is defined up above. (Except for falsifiability, which is defined above in the research misconduct sense but used here in the Popperian sense.)
Not the official death date printed on this Scarborough RT cardboard model 😭😭😭
To me this constitutes a pretty huge deal. If local consultation can’t even happen without AI disinformation campaigns how can we ever hope to have a reasonable democratic society again? Summerhill Market should face some kind of consequence for this.
Shawn Micallef@shawnmicallef.bsky.social · last yr.So: the “Protect Bathurst / Dufferin” astroturf campaign run by Summerhill Market had videos of a guy talking about the neighborhood & RapidTO proposal. Real grassroots feel. Took a screenshot & put it into google image search. Guess what?
My wife is only a cyclist because there are big bike lanes with enough space to make her feel safe with both e-bikes and cars. Building more of this infrastructure WILL convert non-cyclists into cyclists.
Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher, PhD@mbonsma.bsky.social · last yr.We should design for the future traffic we want. If we want to encourage a range of convenient micromobility options, we shouldn't micromanage who belongs in the bike lane. We should focus on reallocating space from cars and giving plenty of space for other uses. nacto.org/latest/urban...
First they came for my cars made partly in Canada, then they came for my movies that make Toronto look like New York. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’
President calls films ‘national security threat’ and claims he called on commerce department to immediately enact tariff
theguardian.com
The Toronto School Board has a deficit of $70 million. Wonder if any of this money could instead be going to keeping the schools in Canada’s largest city open?
Michael Druker 🇨🇦@mdruker.app · last yr.lmao they're really going to study this insanity
Very funny to see American news celebrating Carney’s decisive victory when this is kind of a nightmare result for a parliament. You Americans really live with this kind of polarization all the time eh?
The first publication on perceptions of diagnosis and social media use of youth in psychiatric treatment is out now! We are now conducting interviews with these patients and the conversations have been fascinating. Very excited to share those results soon. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Self-diagnosis in the age of social media: A pilot study of youth entering mental health treatment for mood and anxiety disorders
To understand young adult patients' perspectives around the importance of mental health diagnoses and use of online material to self-diagnose.Prior to…
sciencedirect.com
Would love to write an Atlantic-style article (light on the facts, heavy on the sensationalized opinion) about how American culture is no longer dictated by Hollywood but by the LDS. Everything from fashion and celebrities to cookies seems to be coming out of Utah these days.
Just nice to see Canada’s national public media stand up to the bullshit. We don’t have to give space to people whose agenda is to destroy our democratic institutions.
Owen Chevalier@owenc.bsky.social · last yr.From Rosemary Barton re. “The post-debate scrum has been cancelled due to an altercation”: “Let me be clear, this was not a fight between journalists, these were right wing extremists with their own agenda who harassed us”
From Rosemary Barton re. “The post-debate scrum has been cancelled due to an altercation”: “Let me be clear, this was not a fight between journalists, these were right wing extremists with their own agenda who harassed us”
It’s always fascinated me that TO has several major news outlets that all cater directly to suburban rage for the city. Normally I wouldn’t care but it’s especially bad when the province has the power to destroy the city based on what these people think Toronto is.
Reece Martin@rmtransit.bsky.social · last yr.Something we desperately need to fix in Toronto is the useless hangwringing about traffic. CityNews and others make videos on an almost daily basis about Gardiner congestion, does this video once mention considering taking the train that runs RIGHT next to the highway? No.
When we talk about social media algorithms we often ascribe them agency (e.g., TikTok knows me better than my parents; TikTok wanted me to see this) But it’s unclear what people generally think their relationship to these agents are. Are they the experts? Are we equal partners?
Got to share some of my thoughts for this piece in Western’s undergrad magazine. It was great to chat with Hannah, and to see students thinking critically about how social media shapes their identities, especially relating to mental health.
How gender bias and social media have shaped ADHD accessibility
While the stigma around ADHD has diminished, its normalization on platforms like TikTok risks turning it into a trend. Students are advocating for better institutional support, reduced barriers to dia...
westerngazette.ca
A peculiar justification for the US declaring war on Canada is that it will hurt Canadians, and this is evidence that they’ve somehow taken advantage of the US all these years. It’s like punching someone in the face and then using their nosebleed as evidence that they’ve taken advantage of you.
The thing about the “You need a car for winter in Canada” crowd is that my car is the first thing I stop using when TO gets 50 cm of snow. Why would I risk my life and sanity trying to drive right now when every other option is easier?
They're going to make us use AI in our writing whether we like it or not eh?
Love carrying a disposable camera around because I can capture moments like this. Carollers sheltering from the snow and wind on Bloor Street. Not all heroes wear capes, but these ones sorta do.
It’s -7°C in Toronto today, but I had to get all the way from my apartment to midtown and then back downtown in under an hour. Thanks to safe cycling infrastructure on the 3 roads Ford wants to tear up, cycling was not only possible but also the easiest and most enjoyable option. No need to drive.
It finally happened. I found a way to talk about Severance with my students. Rewatching the first episode I really think you could structure a whole survey philosophy course with it.
