writer / researcher reaching for better questions
Joined August 2012
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crisis merchant purges work's worth: turgid urges purchase worse surges: lout lurches west lest dirges best wares, suggests 'let's rest' at merger's behest
sorry I deformed your relationship with intimacy and broke your heart. I broke mine too. can I offer you a coupon for a free career planning session? I have some cool tips
read this as "AGI-CHILLED" and felt a brief surge of hope
New pod: 'YOU'RE NOT AGI-PILLED ENOUGH'
I asked @emollick to tell me what I'm getting wrong about AI. We also talked about:
- why so many experts keep underrating the rate of progress for model capabilities
- why so many experts keep *overrating* how rapidly powerful AI will change the macroeconomy
- why the answer to the previous question starts with "O-rings and garbage cans"
- the sociology of AI swarms
- the paradoxes of AI use (or: 'every technological augmentation is also an amputation,' per McLuhan)
- the end of prompting (or: what happens if personal AI agents get so good at anticipating our needs that humans, once the prompter, become the prompted)
- 2027 predictions and ... his excellent new book CO-EXISTENCE
youtube.com/watch?v=zthE5Oa8…
I thought I learnt that pouting face from mirroring a past partner, but no, it seems it was the other way around
interesting how often an LLM will speak as if some piece of texts "wants" to be saying a certain thing or sounding a certain way — they're quick to deploy the language of intention on inanimate subjects
This was a fantastic piece, and I enjoyed reading about the people acting in these productions
But I still have only the shadowiest understanding of who exactly is watching them—are the many millions of views they rack up real? Is it just middle-aged midwestern women? Are the charges of money-laundering legitimate? How exactly would that even work? And what (if anything) does it mean that China seems to share the same subconscious preoccupations with Mafia violence and werewolves? Is this underappreciated cross-continental common ground? Is there some universal convergence in pornographic taste?
I find it increasingly-hard to square the data on these blooming swamps with the reality of real people I have met
Spent a few weeks earlier this year roaming a Hollywood almost entirely reoriented around the production of “microdramas,” which are kind of like soap operas except they’re short and completely demented and optimized for your phone. Started as one kind of sad story and ended as another, differently sad kind of story. You can read it now in @NYTmag nytimes.com/2026/10/06/magaz…
the human soul springs eternal, contains all things
which things manifest is a function of one's sociocultural and technological environment
as a practical matter it's very clear that there is a weird little guy in there - the question is 'what kind of guy are they?'
Tharin retweeted
big day for all the south african tamil pillays (there are legions of us!)
2026 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Navi Pillay’s commitment to universal legal principles and her firm moral compass are constants in a long career. Born into a family of Indian Tamil origin under apartheid in Durban, South Africa, Pillay became a lawyer and legal pioneer, confronting deep structural discrimination, segregation and exclusion. A common thread runs from her early work defending Nelson Mandela and others who stood up against apartheid to her service as a judge in some of the key international court cases of our time.
This year’s laureate has significantly enlarged the scope and impact of international law. She has served as a judge on the High Court in South Africa, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court. She was the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and, until recently, she chaired the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Today Navi Pillay is a judge on the International Court of Justice in the case where Myanmar stands accused of genocide.
In historic international court cases, she has shown that legal measures can help prevent acts of war and violence. Navi Pillay has also contributed to strengthen the institutions of international law. Her independence, expertise and steadfastness have made her one of the most respected international jurists of our time.
Learn more about the 2026 #NobelPeacePrize: bit.ly/4xjOJ03
#NobelPeacePrize #NobelPrize
back in my hometown day x
Australian MasterChef on TV used the phrase "tpot handles" and my ears pricked up
