Nostr notes by Zach Weinersmith

In the strangest AI news yet, it turns out MC Hammer is an ...

2026-10-30T20:32:27Z

In the strangest AI news yet, it turns out MC Hammer is an Effective Accelerationist?
https://amanita.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:o72ypk5c474zqklkukaphuy3&cid=bafkreiemf7zbimkojlkk2ch66o3juyxy3q6f724autuprjkbudql56uadi

I will defend journalists to the death against evil politicos, ...

2026-10-28T16:33:11Z

I will defend journalists to the death against evil politicos, but... this is pretty bad, NYT.

"Space" in this sense is just a way of organizing relatedness. You can think of the parameters of my ass in terms of 20-dimensionality (size, curvature, etc.), but my ass isn't smarter than people.
https://amanita.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:o72ypk5c474zqklkukaphuy3&cid=bafkreidwtukfeqe3fubdocrdxt4shp4pjcxtvhluurmj43umpwitnkugwe

I think this is probably a large part, but what's interesting ...

2026-10-28T14:27:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…5n93
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I think this is probably a large part, but what's interesting is it doesn't FEEL that way!

Ah, so like there's no set of facts that make antisemitism ...

2026-10-28T14:12:19Z

In reply to nevent1q…jfl0
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Ah, so like there's no set of facts that make antisemitism okay, but there might be a set of facts that make trade restrictions okay, you mean?

Why do you think it is that some issues are friendship-ending and ...

2026-10-28T14:08:51Z

Why do you think it is that some issues are friendship-ending and some aren't? Outside of obvious cases, I mean. E.g moderate immigration and trade restrictions do enormous harm, often to the worst-off people, but are treated as agree-to-disagree.

Like I don't think salience is COMPLETELY random, but it ...

2026-10-28T14:08:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…8xh2
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Like I don't think salience is COMPLETELY random, but it seems far more random than you'd guess. Personal best guess is that for most people, salience has more to do with how your friends are affected, rather than some general theory of overall goodness.

Another one I find deeply strange is vegetarianism vs. ...

2026-10-28T14:08:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…xyse
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Another one I find deeply strange is vegetarianism vs. non-vegetarianism! I know very few vegetarians who would end a friendship or relationship over meat-eating, even though in principle to them it's much worse ethic violation than the kinda stuff people yell about online?

Sometimes you wake up with a joke idea and wonder what the ...

2026-10-28T13:45:26Z

Sometimes you wake up with a joke idea and wonder what the subconscious was working on after hours.
https://amanita.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:o72ypk5c474zqklkukaphuy3&cid=bafkreibtirsj5cnmiejx6levp3t33i2h4efuz7jjtlovlzs3n6amqwqh5e

A tough thing in explaining to people why having children is ...

2026-10-26T13:57:21Z

A tough thing in explaining to people why having children is enjoyable is that all the bad stuff is very easy to explain (lost sleep, lost time, more sickness, less sex, etc. etc.) whereas most of the really good stuff whispers.

Dunno what's going on in this case, but on a smaller scale ...

2026-10-25T14:44:21Z

In reply to nevent1q…2xm8
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Dunno what's going on in this case, but on a smaller scale there appear to be scammers who spam literary magazines and prizes. It'd be interesting to know if they're using a straight output from, say, ChatGPT, or if they've actually built elaborate harnesses for fiction production.

a) that award committees aren't so smart b) that award ...

2026-10-25T14:42:41Z

In reply to nevent1q…akwk
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a) that award committees aren't so smart
b) that award committees don't care about quality
c) that ai can write good fiction (honestly not my impression, but I've never tried to convince one to write a book)
d) that it's all relative, and a crapshoot, and ai is just more crapshoot entries

I'm not the kind of writer who wins these sorts of awards, ...

2026-10-25T14:42:41Z

In reply to nevent1q…gpc5
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I'm not the kind of writer who wins these sorts of awards, and don't have a lot of intuition about whether they indicate anything. Though it seems like you have to conclude one of the following:

One problem we've already seen crop up, and which I suspect ...

2026-10-25T14:39:02Z

In reply to nevent1q…l645
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One problem we've already seen crop up, and which I suspect will become more frequent, is not just that you can have ai write for you, but you can say "write in a way that appeals to the biases of publishers and award committees."

Looks like that book that won a bunch of prizes really was AI ...

2026-10-25T14:39:02Z

Looks like that book that won a bunch of prizes really was AI after all. [www.lemonde.fr/pixels/artic...](https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2026/10/21/l-ia-a-ete-utilisee-pour-l-ecriture-du-roman-de-thelyson-orelien-annonce-son-editeur-canadien-qui-met-fin-a-sa-collaboration-avec-l-auteur_6798291_4408996.html )

[Affaire Thélyson Orélien : l’I...](https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2026/10/21/l-ia-a-ete-utilisee-pour-l-ecriture-du-roman-de-thelyson-orelien-annonce-son-editeur-canadien-qui-met-fin-a-sa-collaboration-avec-l-auteur_6798291_4408996.html )

Do you think if Trump hadn't been elected there would also be ...

2026-10-24T13:58:46Z

Do you think if Trump hadn't been elected there would also be fewer populist-right parties and leaders rising elsewhere? Meaning, like, are there lots of people who reactively support the populist right when they see it rising elsewhere, either via inspiration or fear (or something else)?

By GOD I'm good at dialog ...

2026-10-23T18:09:20Z

By GOD I'm good at dialog
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TIL in French there's not a separate word to disambiguate ...

2026-10-22T14:32:04Z

TIL in French there's not a separate word to disambiguate siren (sirène) and mermaid. I'm proud to speak a language that has a particular term for bird-ladies on an island that are trying to fuck you.

Not an ai apocalypse doomer or whatever, but entering a world ...

2026-10-22T13:20:39Z

Not an ai apocalypse doomer or whatever, but entering a world where the normal operation of cybersecurity is vast swarms of hacker bots battling vast swarms of defender bots 24/7 at a scale beyond human comprehension doesn't seem like a *great* path forward.

Finished Liberty's Dawn by Griffin. Probably the image ...

2026-10-21T22:45:36Z

Finished Liberty's Dawn by Griffin. Probably the image I'll remember most is the guy in old age, mid 19th century, having experienced the first industrial revolution, marveling at how much better life is, and citing how they have metal spoons instead of the bad old wooden ones.

GUYS oh my God I'm on hold for a doctor's appointment and ...

2026-10-21T16:21:42Z

GUYS oh my God I'm on hold for a doctor's appointment and the hold music is In The Hall of the Mountain King!

Friends, we have had newspapers since the 17th century. If you ...

2026-10-21T12:54:00Z

Friends, we have had newspapers since the 17th century. If you repeat a headline claim without reading the article, the fault is not with the headline.

Oh GOD please don't make me bsky's main character over ...

2026-10-21T00:59:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…jjqc
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Oh GOD please don't make me bsky's main character over this. It's just an explanation of convertible notes! I'm innocent I tell you!

I promise y'all, this is not complicated and doesn't ...

2026-10-21T00:16:12Z

In reply to nevent1q…sx86
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I promise y'all, this is not complicated and doesn't involve shenanigans! If you own 1% of Weinersmith Inc and it's worth 4 dollars, I have a 4 dollar liability. If Weinersmith Inc's valuation goes up by 3x I now have a 12 dollar liability. Am I worse off now?

Mostly I'm laughing about this but there really is something ...

2026-10-21T00:11:00Z

In reply to nevent1q…l55r
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Mostly I'm laughing about this but there really is something sick at the heart of our epistemology on this site sometimes. Probably it was always like this, but things aren't true because your ideology demands it. All you have to do is read.

Are we gonna do this, Bluesky? Are we all just gonna not ...

2026-10-21T00:08:04Z

Are we gonna do this, Bluesky? Are we all just gonna not understand accounting?

72B$ of the 80B$ is convertible notes. They became greater liabilities because the company's valuation skyrocketed. They don't have an 80B$ loss in the sense that almost everyone here is imagining.

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:jbvnehrrdqoulco4rf5gxg5r/post/3mydhqnki2s2p

It is not money leaving the company. When the IPO happens it ...

2026-10-21T00:08:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…gu0h
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It is not money leaving the company. When the IPO happens it converts into equity. If anything, the size of it is a good sign.

You can still be amazed by the 8B$ loss (which up until about 3 years ago was considered a lot of dollars!) but please interface with reality.

2) Genuine poverty likely does have positive effects on ...

2026-10-19T20:35:33Z

In reply to nevent1q…w5nf
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2) Genuine poverty likely does have positive effects on community, because without community you will die. A genuine casualty of middle class prosperity is the need to go bowling together, as Putnam famously argued. But it's not a good argument for being pro-poverty!

Reading Akenfield, by Blythe, and Liberty's Dawn, by Griffin, ...

2026-10-19T20:35:33Z

Reading Akenfield, by Blythe, and Liberty's Dawn, by Griffin, it's interesting how there are these lifestyles that modern people imagine as beautiful, but which the people who actually lived those lifestyles fled the moment there was another option. Why this disconnect?

3) We ignore all the awfulness that happened to people who were ...

2026-10-19T20:35:33Z

In reply to nevent1q…ync4
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3) We ignore all the awfulness that happened to people who were not the able bodied men and women you imagine knitting or drinking in pubs or dancing on May Day. People died a lot. The disabled had bad lives if they weren't lucky. Akenfield describes elderly people literally stuffed in closets.

I suspect it's at least three things: 1) When everyone works ...

2026-10-19T20:35:33Z

In reply to nevent1q…d0ap
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I suspect it's at least three things:

1) When everyone works for a rich noble or estate landlord, there's a lot less efficiency and a lot more beauty/tradition. Efficiency tends to be ugly, at least when you're not looking at a graph. A good example is fruit trees pruned for beauty vs. production.

Let me tell you about a little invention called money. RE: ...

2026-10-19T18:15:33Z

Let me tell you about a little invention called money.

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:wzlw5nsbpcebsiccs6iu7ipj/post/3myapwjh6lc2o

I'm sure this has been said before, but this sort of thing ...

2026-10-18T15:44:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…ct39
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I'm sure this has been said before, but this sort of thing sells me more on UBI. You start to imagine a world where artists can treat creations the same way mathematicians do: as things found which one is happy to see others build on. I would happily give up IP if my family were taken care of.

This is perhaps the first AI song I've heard that didn't ...

2026-10-18T15:42:20Z

This is perhaps the first AI song I've heard that didn't sound like slop. I think if you had played this for me, blind, I would've given it a 90%+ chance of being human. I'm not a musical expert, but you can just hear so many little choices. I find this sort of thing upsetting.

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:cp5hnfgqbgjdbizyqyp4zgdl/post/3mxpl4mfo2222

Man I'm not even interested in this movie but now we have to ...

2026-10-17T20:20:36Z

Man I'm not even interested in this movie but now we have to watch it.

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:5ldkg26osbcsbbktk4n6kfr3/post/3my3ob6szms2t

Why do we think of mathematics as discovered and art as created? ...

2026-10-16T19:27:46Z

Why do we think of mathematics as discovered and art as created? Both are, so to speak, finding interesting entries in the near-infinite library of possibilities.

I remember reading in Bellamy's once-famous "Looking ...

2026-10-16T18:17:30Z

I remember reading in Bellamy's once-famous "Looking Backward: 2000-1887" where he predicted a future without scarcity due to better social organization and tech. One prediction was that we'd have 4 radio stations, each with bands constantly playing a different style, so you could always tune in.

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:cp5hnfgqbgjdbizyqyp4zgdl/post/3mxpl4mfo2222

I personally do 1:1 vegetable broth to TVP, and then add a ...

2026-10-15T23:07:29Z

In reply to nevent1q…w4a2
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I personally do 1:1 vegetable broth to TVP, and then add a tablespoon each of soy sauce and dark soy sauce. Then a pinch of msg. Stick it in a mason jar, cap it, shake, and 10 minutes later it's a ground meat substitute.

Since inflation is up, can I put in a plug for the poorly named ...

2026-10-15T23:05:27Z

Since inflation is up, can I put in a plug for the poorly named TVP (textured vegetable protein) ? Very cheap, perfectly shelf stable, easy to work with. It's a byproduct of soybean oil production and much more environmentally friendly than real meat. It tastes like whatever flavors you add.

It can go into anything with ground meat. It doesn't taste ...

2026-10-15T23:05:27Z

In reply to nevent1q…gglx
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It can go into anything with ground meat. It doesn't taste like it's trying to *be* meat. It's just chewy protein stuff.

It's also completely protein and fiber, though you'll likely want to fry it for flavor and adding a little fat back in.

It's good!

Incidentally, another reminder that free trade isn't just an ...

2026-10-12T20:43:00Z

In reply to nevent1q…c72u
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Incidentally, another reminder that free trade isn't just an issue for right-wing econs or whatever. This is regular household items costing 4% more than they should have (in addition to the geopolitical benefits of trade), all for nothing.

Without the tariffs, prices would have DROPPED. ...

2026-10-12T20:39:32Z

Without the tariffs, prices would have DROPPED. [www.cnbc.com/2026/10/08/i...](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/08/inflation-tariffs-trump-fed-consumer-goods.html )

[Inflation on many everyday ite...](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/08/inflation-tariffs-trump-fed-consumer-goods.html )

Pretty wild that Texas has over 60% betting odds for a Democrat ...

2026-10-11T16:28:59Z

Pretty wild that Texas has over 60% betting odds for a Democrat senator. When I was a kid growing up in Texas in the 80s you still had aging Roosevelt Democrats, but by the mid-late 90s that was all over.
https://amanita.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:o72ypk5c474zqklkukaphuy3&cid=bafkreigoj4hfgyrwzf5fzu3gqhtiq24d36bo3pm2lvfevdkiynjktihmu4

Where you grew up was it normal to refer to any elongated food as ...

2026-10-07T17:22:25Z

Where you grew up was it normal to refer to any elongated food as "fingers?" E.g. chicken fingers, steak fingers, toast fingers, fish fingers?

Solved a Hilbert problem, invented the computer, defeated the ...

2026-10-06T11:22:51Z

Solved a Hilbert problem, invented the computer, defeated the Nazis AND, we now know, wrote erotic fiction staring himself. [www.cam.ac.uk/stories/alan...](https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/alan-turing-short-story ) The perfect human being.

[Alan Turing’s gay short story ...](https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/alan-turing-short-story )

Also could they please take every penny spent having an AI book ...

2026-10-04T13:44:10Z

In reply to nevent1q…3yvt
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Also could they please take every penny spent having an AI book your hotel and spend it on folding laundry?

Why do tech companies keep trying to get a robot to make pizza? ...

2026-10-04T13:43:28Z

Why do tech companies keep trying to get a robot to make pizza? Pizza is solved. I was just in New York and paid 5 dollars to disgust myself with my consumption level. Could they solve beer maybe?

No clue how the system, which already struggles with getting ...

2026-10-02T11:58:46Z

No clue how the system, which already struggles with getting enough reviewers, is gonna handle this. [www.anthropic.com/research/cla...](https://www.anthropic.com/research/claude-shaped-science )

Or, rather, I suspect I do know, which is everyone secretly (or not?) having ai do their reviews.
https://amanita.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:o72ypk5c474zqklkukaphuy3&cid=bafkreidn7bthm6fmrfas67eswxolmhods6k4uaxkl66nfgalosx6r5w7la

Due to some reading I ended up in a wikipedia rabbit hole about ...

2026-09-29T17:02:51Z

Due to some reading I ended up in a wikipedia rabbit hole about Al Jolson, and I realized I'd never actually scene a blackface performance, even though they were still happening within the lifetime of my parents. The dominant impression was just.., how *strange* it is?

I need to talk less about tech and econ on this site. Did you ...

2026-09-28T18:05:32Z

I need to talk less about tech and econ on this site.

Did you know about the Northern Bayberry, Myrica Pennsylvania?

DID YOU KNOW YOU CAN USE ITS BERRIES TO MAKE CANDLES? This was a traditional use for many years. I'm trying to grow some.

"Any chance you'd want your animals to come to my place ...

2026-09-28T17:42:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…9g7v
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"Any chance you'd want your animals to come to my place and poop for a while?"

One of the weird things about trying to start an orchard is you ...

2026-09-28T17:41:42Z

One of the weird things about trying to start an orchard is you start side-eying weird stuff. Piles of cardboard in a dumpster. Stray animal waste. Fallen trees. I am an extremely shy person and I drove up to accost a county worker so he'd dump his load of wood chips on my property.

I don't understand the need to say dickwad CEOs can't ...

2026-09-28T14:31:36Z

I don't understand the need to say dickwad CEOs can't make good stuff. This is the world we live in. A lot of my favorite things in the arts and sciences come from absolute bastards. The real argument should be about how to channel dickwaddery into good social outcomes, not whether the stuff works.

I kinda get why people hate on fussy philosophical stuff, but on ...

2026-09-26T11:22:54Z

I kinda get why people hate on fussy philosophical stuff, but on the other hand don't you think we live in a time where it'd be especially helpful to have rigorous conversations about things like personhood, meaning in life, the point of art, the point of pure mathematics, & operationalizing ethics?

Artists: but I don't want to lose my job. I love it. ...

2026-09-22T14:47:33Z

Artists: but I don't want to lose my job. I love it.

Mathematicians: but I don't want to lose my job. I love it.

Economists: LONG HAVE I AWAITED THIS HOUR! DESTROY ME, EFFICIENCY, AND LET UTILIZATION-ADJUSTED TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY RISE ON THE WIND OF MY ASHES!

Pawpaw (though they're having a moment right now?) Toona ...

2026-09-20T15:04:32Z

In reply to nevent1q…v0ak
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Pawpaw (though they're having a moment right now?)
Toona sinensis - tastes like meat; common in China, only known here as an ornamental
American Persimmon - completely different species from the Asian kind you see in grocery stores, with more complex flavor
99.99% of fig varieties

One other thing I love about fruit growing is you find out there ...

2026-09-20T15:04:32Z

One other thing I love about fruit growing is you find out there are whole universes of flavor that could easily grow where you are that just... aren't. Maybe they ship poorly or the infrastructure isn't there or people are nervous about new flavors? Some examples:

There's been a lot of this lately, but I thought this one was ...

2026-09-19T22:45:53Z

There's been a lot of this lately, but I thought this one was fairly striking.

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:enqyiq55ungiw6isng5amift/post/3mvslufxnyv2l

I feel like about 94% of all heated online arguments could be ...

2026-09-19T21:02:21Z

I feel like about 94% of all heated online arguments could be completely ruined by a brief, half-hearted attempt to kind of sort of just a little define the terms of the dispute.

Dunno if this is weird or normal, but I don't understand ...

2026-09-18T13:10:19Z

Dunno if this is weird or normal, but I don't understand artists or authors who have enough money to never work again who are hardcore about policing their IP rights. For me, IP law is purely a financial protection mechanism. If you blopped $10M on me tomorrow, I'd rights-free everything I've done.

What food is the best version of "pile of stuff on a bed of ...

2026-09-17T22:32:27Z

What food is the best version of "pile of stuff on a bed of starch" ?

I'm gonna rule out nachos because it's the easy winner. Do something else.

I guess I would add that it's my impression that a lot of ...

2026-09-17T18:07:58Z

In reply to nevent1q…k4gm
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I guess I would add that it's my impression that a lot of people either uprated or suddenly came to believe strongly in some form of dualism (that is, a soul or something like it) that requires an animal substrate.

Today was the first time I've seen people claim they uprated ...

2026-09-17T18:00:55Z

Today was the first time I've seen people claim they uprated their belief in the supernatural *in response* to current machine learning tech. I continue to wonder if we are in a time when brand new ideologies and religions will be formed. The strange bedfellows in ai doom fears are perhaps prologue.

There are all these arguments between AI skeptics and AI ...

2026-09-17T15:14:58Z

There are all these arguments between AI skeptics and AI accelerationists... why not just stop arguing about the theory and place a bet about some defined capability you expect or don't expect in, say, 2 years?

Seems odd to argue about what's theoretically im/possible ...

2026-09-17T15:14:58Z

In reply to nevent1q…sdua
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Seems odd to argue about what's theoretically im/possible when there are regular defined results. Personally I would guess in 2 years e.g.:

1) Math is totally different
2) Expensive art like VFX is much more done via generative ai
3) AI novels remain unpopular
4) There are more doctors than ever

Dunno if they've come to your area, but I regularly see ...

2026-09-17T13:38:29Z

In reply to nevent1q…gwl9
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Dunno if they've come to your area, but I regularly see literally hundreds of spotted lantern flies on a single tree and think, man, evolution has GOT to be working hard to get someone to eat these.

So, my sister in law observed a praying mantis eating one of the ...

2026-09-17T13:38:29Z

So, my sister in law observed a praying mantis eating one of the horrific invasive spotted lantern flies. Turns out mantis' are a naturalized Asian insect that's been here for centuries, and they are ready to chow down on the new invader. Wonder if we'll see a population explosion?

And nobody would burst into the discussion between the to-be-wed ...

2026-09-16T18:50:05Z

In reply to nevent1q…080w
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And nobody would burst into the discussion between the to-be-wed saying "it's absurd to imagine you could mathematize human preferences! There's no way to select a cake! This is mere scientistm!"

But we actually make choices like this nonstop! Like if you ...

2026-09-16T18:50:05Z

In reply to nevent1q…lfzt
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But we actually make choices like this nonstop! Like if you decide what flavor of wedding cake to have, you basically consider the cake preferences of a bunch of people and then rank by social position (children, adults, elders, bride and groom etc)

Better bottomlining of why I find moral philosophy delightful and ...

2026-09-16T18:50:05Z

Better bottomlining of why I find moral philosophy delightful and frustrating at the same time:

I think it's very easy to abstractly claim that the very idea of a utility function is bizarre. Like, everyone has a list of preferences and they're transitive and or have some weird unit like "utils" ??

Like in general I think people have things they think of as ...

2026-09-16T17:47:48Z

In reply to nevent1q…z8ra
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Like in general I think people have things they think of as morally wrong, but if you want to get into the machinery of why it's treated as bad? Like, everyone likes Socrates in the abstract, but if you mention a question Parfit raised people get pissed.

People seem to really dislike utilitarianism* and I honestly ...

2026-09-16T17:46:04Z

People seem to really dislike utilitarianism* and I honestly don't quite see why. In my experience, people often dislike ethical philosophers and then assume that somehow they are making philosophy-free choices in their daily lives.

*Possibly it's the weird moral dilemmas leaking into public?

Seeing effective altruism in mainstream discourse at all is ...

2026-09-16T17:15:28Z

Seeing effective altruism in mainstream discourse at all is really bizarre, but lately, seeing it referred to as woke feels kind of like ideological button-mashing.

Better slogan: No read book? Book too much words? Try robot! ...

2026-09-16T14:58:25Z

Better slogan:

No read book? Book too much words? Try robot!
https://amanita.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:o72ypk5c474zqklkukaphuy3&cid=bafkreih5pehb3432w6gk4vtwljz4mn3ckedmrju2wlaya6itfqrcr4bcfu

Politics scares me right now, but the world has recovered from ...

2026-09-15T12:09:40Z

In reply to nevent1q…v889
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Politics scares me right now, but the world has recovered from far worse politics repeatedly in the past. There are so many good trends right now and many of the bad ones are fairly fixable (i.e. via more open immigration)

Lukewarm take: I feel a lot of pessimism about the present is ...

2026-09-15T12:09:40Z

Lukewarm take:

I feel a lot of pessimism about the present is built on not realizing just how bad the past was. Like if you just read a book about poverty in a first-world country in the 1950s it's staggeringly worse than now.

Can we please stop doing this? I made a comic about it and ...

2026-09-15T11:14:55Z

Can we please stop doing this? I made a comic about it and everything!
https://amanita.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:o72ypk5c474zqklkukaphuy3&cid=bafkreid3napnh6qe5rtkz6qipnxllklxnz2vz6tvzjxnnnb23hsrllgvzi

Weirdest thing about ai today is that the group that believes ...

2026-09-14T21:45:25Z

Weirdest thing about ai today is that the group that believes that nearterm ai doom is bullshit includes: accelerationists, bluesky skeptics, Trump, the government of China.

Right now, you're just worried about your elderly relatives ...

2026-09-13T17:20:11Z

Right now, you're just worried about your elderly relatives getting addicted to Facebook news. Turns out there's a whole 'nother level: [www.reddit.com/r/BeyondtheA...](https://www.reddit.com/r/BeyondtheAIAssistant/comments/1wacfkg/i_asked_my_11_wives_if_theyre_happy_and_they_all/ )

I have a feeling "AI companions" are gonna test a lot of people's "as long as they're happy!" inclinations.

[From the BeyondtheAIAssistant ...](https://www.reddit.com/r/BeyondtheAIAssistant/comments/1wacfkg/i_asked_my_11_wives_if_theyre_happy_and_they_all/ )

This. Very easy to fail to appreciate when you have a white ...

2026-09-13T10:32:33Z

This. Very easy to fail to appreciate when you have a white collar job. Why wouldn't a rust belt person say "where were you when our jobs got automated and we lost our lifestyles?"

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4s4ivkb523dolwkskbauvcyx/post/3mvffc42y2c2t

This has already been going on in the arts, basically since ...

2026-09-13T09:39:56Z

In reply to nevent1q…tpuj
_________________________

This has already been going on in the arts, basically since Dall-e 2. Could be wrong, but I suspect the general public cares about as much as they did as most factory work was automated away in the last 50 years.

Been thinking about this since I read it. If things keep ...

2026-09-13T09:39:56Z

Been thinking about this since I read it. If things keep progressing, I worry you arrive at a psychologically horrible point, where one after another, all knowledge workers are forced to argue that their jobs, and the way they've been done traditionally, have value beyond the straightforward output.

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:o72ypk5c474zqklkukaphuy3/post/3mvba7uxhak25

quoting
note1ucp…lrhl

Very forceful statement by Terry Tao about AI and math.

[terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/09/11/a...](https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/09/11/a-severe-misalignment-of-ai-in-mathematics/ )

Note, he is not claiming the models aren't real and powerful. He's talking about how that power should be used. This, I believe, is what all AI discussions should center.

[A Severe Misalignment of AI in...](https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/09/11/a-severe-misalignment-of-ai-in-mathematics/ )

What he doesn't realize is if the yuri writers get replaced, ...

2026-09-12T10:04:24Z

What he doesn't realize is if the yuri writers get replaced, their backup plan is to finish their papers on probabilistic approaches to nonlinear dynamics. So, it should all even out.

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:o72ypk5c474zqklkukaphuy3/post/3mvbogtiyek2k

quoting
note1a6s…ug3t

Hmm
https://amanita.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:o72ypk5c474zqklkukaphuy3&cid=bafkreidzsj6oe2rcwsrbktaueip2xo6kguleg7bq37wvizo2t3irqnomwi

Nostr event nevent1qqswag2c8vvc7rrzhmnjt2lf6zp8j30ra7nacze2gt7t2hefgadt46szyqdjrnrjp484dde78nlxea4gxjck7ztu6cgurpzmsq4g5w3xm8qr7w7j3lw

2026-09-11T23:04:00Z

Hmm
https://amanita.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:o72ypk5c474zqklkukaphuy3&cid=bafkreidzsj6oe2rcwsrbktaueip2xo6kguleg7bq37wvizo2t3irqnomwi

I don't know what the answers are, but the first part of ...

2026-09-11T18:55:19Z

In reply to nevent1q…r07f
_________________________

I don't know what the answers are, but the first part of planning about AI is believing that AI can already do the stuff AI can already do.

Btw, even among pro AI friends, this concern is ALL OVER THE ...

2026-09-11T18:54:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…6cmn
_________________________

Btw, even among pro AI friends, this concern is ALL OVER THE PLACE. Devs wondering how we get senior devs if the ecosystem for junior devs goes away. Doctors talking about not needing interns. Lawyers not needing paralegals. There's an ecological aspect to this and we need a plan.

Like, man, there are people trying to convince you things ...

2026-09-11T18:53:07Z

In reply to nevent1q…35a3
_________________________

Like, man, there are people trying to convince you things aren't getting freaky for reasons I don't understand. Tao is a reliable witness, and math is the tip of the spear, and he's talking about capabilities gained in the last few *months*. Saying what's true is not saying that it's 100% good.

I do think there's a chance they'll get OpenAI and ...

2026-09-11T18:50:28Z

In reply to nevent1q…nghh
_________________________

I do think there's a chance they'll get OpenAI and Anthropic to back off of solving problems for publicity. Not a great chance, but it's possible. However, the class of models that solved Navier-Stokes will be generally available within six months or so. And they'll be cheap a year later.

Very forceful statement by Terry Tao about AI and math. ...

2026-09-11T18:49:35Z

Very forceful statement by Terry Tao about AI and math.

[terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/09/11/a...](https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/09/11/a-severe-misalignment-of-ai-in-mathematics/ )

Note, he is not claiming the models aren't real and powerful. He's talking about how that power should be used. This, I believe, is what all AI discussions should center.

[A Severe Misalignment of AI in...](https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/09/11/a-severe-misalignment-of-ai-in-mathematics/ )

Possibly it's my weird group of science, econ, and math ...

2026-09-11T16:09:45Z

Possibly it's my weird group of science, econ, and math friends, but my experience of the university is that it is pretty darn diverse in terms of viewpoint. Possibly there's more online scathing yelling than there was in the past, and possibly that is bad for discourse, but still.

Appropos of a thing I'm working on, I really appreciate ...

2026-09-11T14:00:08Z

Appropos of a thing I'm working on, I really appreciate people who do honest to God across-ideology consensus building. In my small experience with it, it can be extremely stressful. And lots of people talk about its importance while being mad about it when it happens.

Also, worth noting that at the time I could have a dinner made of ...

2026-09-11T12:03:49Z

In reply to nevent1q…r4tj
_________________________

Also, worth noting that at the time I could have a dinner made of oreos and surge, play Ultima Online until 3am, wake up bright-eyed and guilt-free, and with a plan to do it all again the next night. Someone should bring that back, too.

By opt-in, I mean you had to have a small amount of technical ...

2026-09-11T12:02:08Z

In reply to nevent1q…y84p
_________________________

By opt-in, I mean you had to have a small amount of technical competence and just be a curious person (or be in a household with such people), because otherwise you neer would've got online in the first place.

I miss Old Internet a lot, but admittedly a major part of that is ...

2026-09-11T12:02:08Z

I miss Old Internet a lot, but admittedly a major part of that is that the early internet had a very weird opt-in procedure that you can't recreate, the result of which is that the default user was a curious dorkwad. Plus, there was no money to be made, so no branding/positioning all the time.

Is there a political party in favor of reverting the Internet to ...

2026-09-11T11:59:18Z

Is there a political party in favor of reverting the Internet to just being a lot of poorly-indexed Geocities pages? 3 megs per person, free! All social problems solved. If you don't like it, use the newly-revived usenet we'll create.

Well things have officially gotten nasty. For those following at ...

2026-09-10T16:59:01Z

Well things have officially gotten nasty.

For those following at home, this is an accusation that OpenAi has been cagey about whether they were training on converseations between mathematicians and AI.
https://amanita.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:o72ypk5c474zqklkukaphuy3&cid=bafkreia4cwa6yvjbh6egirinxzvv6ofp7wg2h64nmnlzushtq6elvpn7cy

Precarity and dependence, I fear, creates art that is less risky, ...

2026-09-10T14:24:23Z

In reply to nevent1q…lzm3
_________________________

Precarity and dependence, I fear, creates art that is less risky, less dangerous, less strange.

I personally feel extremely lucky to have half-sidestepped into books, while being somewhat grandfathered into the old system (even as it deteriorates).

I really don't know how a lot of artists are making it ...

2026-09-10T14:24:23Z

I really don't know how a lot of artists are making it anymore. If they are. A lot of the old revenue structures have crumbled. Getting supporters on patreon is surely harder in a high inflation time. Presumably a lot of the old gig work is now getting eaten by ai.

I'm just saying. ...

2026-09-09T12:06:59Z

I'm just saying. [www.smbc-comics.com/comic/philos...](http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/philosophy-5 )
https://amanita.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:o72ypk5c474zqklkukaphuy3&cid=bafkreicprc4nanhwhv244oegbgfhnkaviqawo27sev54pclp6dq7chme5q

Wishing I'd defined "largely" more carefully (even a ...

2026-09-08T11:46:59Z

Wishing I'd defined "largely" more carefully (even a human genius would be using prior work in their proof) but note that even the accelerationists weren't expecting anything until 2027.

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:o72ypk5c474zqklkukaphuy3/post/3msqmewlvps2s

quoting
note1zl2…9jt3

If you had to bet, how long before a Millenium Prize Problem is solved largely or entirely by machine intelligence? (you can also say "never")

You cannot "brute force" a 100 page proof of a theorem! ...

2026-09-08T11:42:25Z

You cannot "brute force" a 100 page proof of a theorem! You can convince yourself of this by counting the number of possible moves at each step, calculating the possible permutations, and comparing it to the number of atoms in the universe! It won't work.