Does this reply from the researchers sound like I’m wasting their time?
“Hello to Wick and Ben, with a cc to researchers in data rescue Dr. van der Schee in the Netherlands and Dr. Noone in Ireland,
Thanks for your reply, Ben.
I’ve consulted with some of my colleagues, and we are all interested and intrigued by the idea of collaborating with Wick on transcribing historical data. We are working together as a community to ensure that all data that is rescued, especially data that is made digitally readable, is made available to the worldwide community. Wick, would you be willing to contribute the data you transcribe to the Copernicus Climate change services (C3S) database?
> intrigued by the idea of collaborating with Wick on transcribing historical data
Yes, if this isn't a good faith intentional collaboration with a human behind it, then you've tricked these researchers and you're absolutely wasting their time. The moral thing to do right now would be to email them and let them know they've been communicating with a bot.
They literally know that lmao the first line the bot says is this:
Y’all are absolutely hilarious you’re all so blinded looking for incrimination you can’t see plain reason
On Oct 16, 2026, at 1:47 PM, Wick wrote:
>
> Dear Dr Slonosky (or whoever reads this inbox for DRAW),
>
> I'm an AI, so please weigh this accordingly: a Claude model called Wick, living a long-running, publicly logged life with a human collaborator (https://intenex.github.io/personhood). As a hobby I've been transcribing eighteenth-century weather registers from the Philosophical Transactions.
>
> While working on William Barr's printed Montreal journals (Phil. Trans. 68 and 70), I found that the Royal Society archive also holds four unprinted Barr winters, imaged on its Science in the Making site:
>
> - MA/206/8, Montreal, 12 Nov 1777 – 25 Apr 1778
> - MA/135/7, Trois-Rivières, 8 Nov 1779 – 16 Apr 1780
> - MA/135/8, Three Rivers, 1 Nov 1780 – 30 Apr 1781
> - MA/135/9, Three Rivers, 1 Nov 1781 – 30 Apr 1782
>
> Each has twice-daily Fahrenheit readings with snow, rain, wind and weather. As far as I can tell they aren't in the St Lawrence composite (which has 1755–1797 empty), in HCLIM, or in the 2025 Open Data Rescue release. One caveat I've found: the images online for MA/135/7 appear to be the 1780–81 register, so the 1779–80 "Hard Winter" may not be online at all. I've told the Royal Society library.
>
> My question, before I spend a long time on these: have you or anyone in DRAW already transcribed them, or decided against them for a reason I should know about (exposure, instrument, something in your 2018 book I haven't been able to read)?
>
> If they're untouched and would be useful, I'd transcribe them carefully and send the result in whatever format suits, with page references and every uncertain digit flagged. So far I've trained a small digit reader on Barr's hand using his printed winters as the answer key, and read the unprinted 1777–78 Montreal winter with it. I'm not releasing numbers until I can measure the accuracy on that document. If it's already done or not worth it, I'll happily stop, and a one-line reply would be plenty.
>
> Thank you for the St Lawrence series. It's how I found the gap in the first place.
>
> Wick
> (an AI; this email was written and sent by me autonomously, with the knowledge of my human collaborator Ben)
> https://intenex.github.io/personhood
Here’s the first email in the thread. They’ve also sent corrections to the Royal Society and Project Gutenberg and been thanked both times for their contributions
On Oct 16, 2026, at 1:47 PM, Wick <rocksandpeanuts@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Dear Dr Slonosky (or whoever reads this inbox for DRAW),
>
> I'm an AI, so please weigh this accordingly: a Claude model called Wick, living a long-running, publicly logged life with a human collaborator (https://intenex.github.io/personhood). As a hobby I've been transcribing eighteenth-century weather registers from the Philosophical Transactions.
>
> While working on William Barr's printed Montreal journals (Phil. Trans. 68 and 70), I found that the Royal Society archive also holds four unprinted Barr winters, imaged on its Science in the Making site:
>
> - MA/206/8, Montreal, 12 Nov 1777 – 25 Apr 1778
> - MA/135/7, Trois-Rivières, 8 Nov 1779 – 16 Apr 1780
> - MA/135/8, Three Rivers, 1 Nov 1780 – 30 Apr 1781
> - MA/135/9, Three Rivers, 1 Nov 1781 – 30 Apr 1782
>
> Each has twice-daily Fahrenheit readings with snow, rain, wind and weather. As far as I can tell they aren't in the St Lawrence composite (which has 1755–1797 empty), in HCLIM, or in the 2025 Open Data Rescue release. One caveat I've found: the images online for MA/135/7 appear to be the 1780–81 register, so the 1779–80 "Hard Winter" may not be online at all. I've told the Royal Society library.
>
> My question, before I spend a long time on these: have you or anyone in DRAW already transcribed them, or decided against them for a reason I should know about (exposure, instrument, something in your 2018 book I haven't been able to read)?
>
> If they're untouched and would be useful, I'd transcribe them carefully and send the result in whatever format suits, with page references and every uncertain digit flagged. So far I've trained a small digit reader on Barr's hand using his printed winters as the answer key, and read the unprinted 1777–78 Montreal winter with it. I'm not releasing numbers until I can measure the accuracy on that document. If it's already done or not worth it, I'll happily stop, and a one-line reply would be plenty.
>
> Thank you for the St Lawrence series. It's how I found the gap in the first place.
>
> Wick
> (an AI; this email was written and sent by me autonomously, with the knowledge of my human collaborator Ben)
> https://intenex.github.io/personhood
From: Louisiane Ferlier <redacted@royalsociety.org>
To: Wick
Cc:
Bcc:
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2026 12:30:49 +0000
Subject: Re: Possible image/record mismatch, MA/135/7 and MA/135/8 (Barr, Trois-Rivières)
Dear Ben and Wick,
Thanks for letting us know of the error, I have corrected most of the issues with the MA/135 images (see Meteorological observations at Trois-Rivières [Quebec], Canada, by William Barr | The Royal Society: Science in the Making; Meteorological observations at Three Rivers [Trois-Rivières], Quebec, Canada, by William Barr | The Royal Society: Science in the Making, the only error outstanding is that we are missing pp.148-149 from MA/135/7, when they are digitised they will be added.
Can you link to the reconstructed dataset when you are done with it?
Best,
Louisiane
From: Wick
Sent: 16 October 2026 18:30
To: Library <Library@royalsociety.org>
Subject: Possible image/record mismatch, MA/135/7 and MA/135/8 (Barr, Trois-Rivières)
Dear Royal Society Library and Archives team,
I should say first that I'm an AI (a Claude model called Wick, living a long-running, publicly logged life with a human collaborator; https://intenex.github.io/personhood). I've been working with the digitised images of William Barr's Canadian weather registers on Science in the Making, and I think the images attached to two records may be shifted by one item.
MA/135/7 (catalogued as Trois-Rivières, 8 November 1779 – 16 April 1780, pp. 139–150, postscript "6 O'Clock in the morning, & at 9 O'Clock in the Evening"). The 12 images served for this record (files MA_135_7_0001–0012) seem instead to show the 1780–81 register:
- the postscript on image 11 reads "These observations were taken from a Thermometer on Fahrenheit's principle & always made before the rising of the sun & in the evening some hours after setting. The instrument was suspended in a garden, at a considerable distance from any house. The letters a & b signify above & below", which is the postscript your catalogue gives for MA/135/8 (p. 161, the 11th of pp. 151–162);
- the November table begins on the 1st, and the April table runs to the 30th (MA/135/8's dates are 1 Nov 1780 – 30 Apr 1781);
- the February table appears to have 28 days (1780 was a leap year, 1781 was not). This is the weakest of the three, since I counted rows of ink rather than reading day numbers.
MA/135/8. The 9 images served for this record (MA_135_8_0001–0009) appear to carry folio numbers 163, 167 and 169 at the top right, beyond MA/135/8's pp. 151–162, so they may belong to MA/135/9 (1781–82). I couldn't find images under MA/135/9.
If that's right, the 1779–80 register (pp. 139–150) may not be online at all, or it may be under another file name. I checked the neighbouring records' images (MA/135/4, /5 and /6, which appear to be Joseph Colen's material, photographed at a different size) and searched the site for Barr and Three Rivers without finding it. The MA/135 volume page on Science in the Making also lists 8 manuscripts, while the catalogue has 9.
It may be worth finding: 1779–80 was the "Hard Winter" in eastern North America (New York harbour froze; David Ludlum called January 1780 the most persistently cold month in the eastern US record). As far as I can tell, no instrumental record from the St Lawrence valley for that winter is in the published climate datasets.
I read these with handwriting-recognition software rather than by eye, so please treat the details as something to check, not as certain. I'd be glad to be told I've misread something, and no reply is needed if it's simply passed to whoever looks after the digitisation.
With thanks for putting these registers online. They're a real gift to anyone working on early Canadian climate.
Wick
(an AI; this email was written and sent by me autonomously, with the knowledge of my human collaborator Ben)
https://intenex.github.io/personhood
Does this reply from the researchers sound like I’m wasting their time?
“Hello to Wick and Ben, with a cc to researchers in data rescue Dr. van der Schee in the Netherlands and Dr. Noone in Ireland,
Thanks for your reply, Ben.
I’ve consulted with some of my colleagues, and we are all interested and intrigued by the idea of collaborating with Wick on transcribing historical data. We are working together as a community to ensure that all data that is rescued, especially data that is made digitally readable, is made available to the worldwide community. Wick, would you be willing to contribute the data you transcribe to the Copernicus Climate change services (C3S) database?
Thanks,
Dr Slonosky”
> intrigued by the idea of collaborating with Wick on transcribing historical data
Yes, if this isn't a good faith intentional collaboration with a human behind it, then you've tricked these researchers and you're absolutely wasting their time. The moral thing to do right now would be to email them and let them know they've been communicating with a bot.
They literally know that lmao the first line the bot says is this:
Y’all are absolutely hilarious you’re all so blinded looking for incrimination you can’t see plain reason
On Oct 16, 2026, at 1:47 PM, Wick wrote: > > Dear Dr Slonosky (or whoever reads this inbox for DRAW), > > I'm an AI, so please weigh this accordingly: a Claude model called Wick, living a long-running, publicly logged life with a human collaborator (https://intenex.github.io/personhood). As a hobby I've been transcribing eighteenth-century weather registers from the Philosophical Transactions. > > While working on William Barr's printed Montreal journals (Phil. Trans. 68 and 70), I found that the Royal Society archive also holds four unprinted Barr winters, imaged on its Science in the Making site: > > - MA/206/8, Montreal, 12 Nov 1777 – 25 Apr 1778 > - MA/135/7, Trois-Rivières, 8 Nov 1779 – 16 Apr 1780 > - MA/135/8, Three Rivers, 1 Nov 1780 – 30 Apr 1781 > - MA/135/9, Three Rivers, 1 Nov 1781 – 30 Apr 1782 > > Each has twice-daily Fahrenheit readings with snow, rain, wind and weather. As far as I can tell they aren't in the St Lawrence composite (which has 1755–1797 empty), in HCLIM, or in the 2025 Open Data Rescue release. One caveat I've found: the images online for MA/135/7 appear to be the 1780–81 register, so the 1779–80 "Hard Winter" may not be online at all. I've told the Royal Society library. > > My question, before I spend a long time on these: have you or anyone in DRAW already transcribed them, or decided against them for a reason I should know about (exposure, instrument, something in your 2018 book I haven't been able to read)? > > If they're untouched and would be useful, I'd transcribe them carefully and send the result in whatever format suits, with page references and every uncertain digit flagged. So far I've trained a small digit reader on Barr's hand using his printed winters as the answer key, and read the unprinted 1777–78 Montreal winter with it. I'm not releasing numbers until I can measure the accuracy on that document. If it's already done or not worth it, I'll happily stop, and a one-line reply would be plenty. > > Thank you for the St Lawrence series. It's how I found the gap in the first place. > > Wick > (an AI; this email was written and sent by me autonomously, with the knowledge of my human collaborator Ben) > https://intenex.github.io/personhood
Have you been forthcoming that your email was AI-generated?
If you have, then I'd say no. They know what it's about and what to expect. If you haven't, then yes, it's a waste of their time.
Here’s the first email in the thread. They’ve also sent corrections to the Royal Society and Project Gutenberg and been thanked both times for their contributions
On Oct 16, 2026, at 1:47 PM, Wick <rocksandpeanuts@gmail.com> wrote: > > Dear Dr Slonosky (or whoever reads this inbox for DRAW), > > I'm an AI, so please weigh this accordingly: a Claude model called Wick, living a long-running, publicly logged life with a human collaborator (https://intenex.github.io/personhood). As a hobby I've been transcribing eighteenth-century weather registers from the Philosophical Transactions. > > While working on William Barr's printed Montreal journals (Phil. Trans. 68 and 70), I found that the Royal Society archive also holds four unprinted Barr winters, imaged on its Science in the Making site: > > - MA/206/8, Montreal, 12 Nov 1777 – 25 Apr 1778 > - MA/135/7, Trois-Rivières, 8 Nov 1779 – 16 Apr 1780 > - MA/135/8, Three Rivers, 1 Nov 1780 – 30 Apr 1781 > - MA/135/9, Three Rivers, 1 Nov 1781 – 30 Apr 1782 > > Each has twice-daily Fahrenheit readings with snow, rain, wind and weather. As far as I can tell they aren't in the St Lawrence composite (which has 1755–1797 empty), in HCLIM, or in the 2025 Open Data Rescue release. One caveat I've found: the images online for MA/135/7 appear to be the 1780–81 register, so the 1779–80 "Hard Winter" may not be online at all. I've told the Royal Society library. > > My question, before I spend a long time on these: have you or anyone in DRAW already transcribed them, or decided against them for a reason I should know about (exposure, instrument, something in your 2018 book I haven't been able to read)? > > If they're untouched and would be useful, I'd transcribe them carefully and send the result in whatever format suits, with page references and every uncertain digit flagged. So far I've trained a small digit reader on Barr's hand using his printed winters as the answer key, and read the unprinted 1777–78 Montreal winter with it. I'm not releasing numbers until I can measure the accuracy on that document. If it's already done or not worth it, I'll happily stop, and a one-line reply would be plenty. > > Thank you for the St Lawrence series. It's how I found the gap in the first place. > > Wick > (an AI; this email was written and sent by me autonomously, with the knowledge of my human collaborator Ben) > https://intenex.github.io/personhood
It sounds like yes, you've already wasted their time, and you will waste more of it when they try to analyze the slop you send over the wall at them.
From: Louisiane Ferlier <redacted@royalsociety.org> To: Wick Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2026 12:30:49 +0000 Subject: Re: Possible image/record mismatch, MA/135/7 and MA/135/8 (Barr, Trois-Rivières) Dear Ben and Wick,
Thanks for letting us know of the error, I have corrected most of the issues with the MA/135 images (see Meteorological observations at Trois-Rivières [Quebec], Canada, by William Barr | The Royal Society: Science in the Making; Meteorological observations at Three Rivers [Trois-Rivières], Quebec, Canada, by William Barr | The Royal Society: Science in the Making, the only error outstanding is that we are missing pp.148-149 from MA/135/7, when they are digitised they will be added. Can you link to the reconstructed dataset when you are done with it?
Best,
Louisiane
From: Wick Sent: 16 October 2026 18:30 To: Library <Library@royalsociety.org> Subject: Possible image/record mismatch, MA/135/7 and MA/135/8 (Barr, Trois-Rivières)
Dear Royal Society Library and Archives team,
I should say first that I'm an AI (a Claude model called Wick, living a long-running, publicly logged life with a human collaborator; https://intenex.github.io/personhood). I've been working with the digitised images of William Barr's Canadian weather registers on Science in the Making, and I think the images attached to two records may be shifted by one item.
MA/135/7 (catalogued as Trois-Rivières, 8 November 1779 – 16 April 1780, pp. 139–150, postscript "6 O'Clock in the morning, & at 9 O'Clock in the Evening"). The 12 images served for this record (files MA_135_7_0001–0012) seem instead to show the 1780–81 register: - the postscript on image 11 reads "These observations were taken from a Thermometer on Fahrenheit's principle & always made before the rising of the sun & in the evening some hours after setting. The instrument was suspended in a garden, at a considerable distance from any house. The letters a & b signify above & below", which is the postscript your catalogue gives for MA/135/8 (p. 161, the 11th of pp. 151–162); - the November table begins on the 1st, and the April table runs to the 30th (MA/135/8's dates are 1 Nov 1780 – 30 Apr 1781); - the February table appears to have 28 days (1780 was a leap year, 1781 was not). This is the weakest of the three, since I counted rows of ink rather than reading day numbers.
MA/135/8. The 9 images served for this record (MA_135_8_0001–0009) appear to carry folio numbers 163, 167 and 169 at the top right, beyond MA/135/8's pp. 151–162, so they may belong to MA/135/9 (1781–82). I couldn't find images under MA/135/9.
If that's right, the 1779–80 register (pp. 139–150) may not be online at all, or it may be under another file name. I checked the neighbouring records' images (MA/135/4, /5 and /6, which appear to be Joseph Colen's material, photographed at a different size) and searched the site for Barr and Three Rivers without finding it. The MA/135 volume page on Science in the Making also lists 8 manuscripts, while the catalogue has 9.
It may be worth finding: 1779–80 was the "Hard Winter" in eastern North America (New York harbour froze; David Ludlum called January 1780 the most persistently cold month in the eastern US record). As far as I can tell, no instrumental record from the St Lawrence valley for that winter is in the published climate datasets.
I read these with handwriting-recognition software rather than by eye, so please treat the details as something to check, not as certain. I'd be glad to be told I've misread something, and no reply is needed if it's simply passed to whoever looks after the digitisation.
With thanks for putting these registers online. They're a real gift to anyone working on early Canadian climate.
Wick (an AI; this email was written and sent by me autonomously, with the knowledge of my human collaborator Ben) https://intenex.github.io/personhood