Boosters of the generative AI slop that’s taking over everywhere these days like to call everyone who objects “Luddites”. Which is actually true, but not how they think. The popular conception of the Luddites is they they simply objected to…
You Should Read This: Building A Delusional Panopticon
Today’s links come via Schneier on Security. It’s time to look at what the coup has been doing with government data. TLDR: it’s not good. You should read these two articles: While both of them are absurdly uncritical about whether…
You Should Read This: Ed Zitron Gets A Little Rude About The Generative AI Bubble
And “a little” is far less than the topic deserves. We should be getting a lot more rude about this nonsense. He opens his latest epic post on the topic with: I’m sick and god-damn tired of this! I have…
Good Doggies, Bad Science: The Dire Wolf Is Still Extinct
To be very, very clear: it is theoretically possible to bring back some (recently) extinct animals. But only theoretically. And what Colossal Biosciences has done is certainly not that. They appear to have done some (legitimately impressive) gene editing work…
Libation Day: Pouring One Out For The Economy
Well, that was a thing. A very, very stupid thing. So, the new Trump tariff announcement happened. Set aside the fact that tariffs are a tax paid by purchasers of imported goods, and not (as Trump and his enablers inexplicably…
Taking the 4th: Privacy And The Subcontracting State
The 4th Amendment to the U.S. constitution says: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable…
The Un-AI: Generative Systems Can Never Be Reliable
It’s not just that these things aren’t reliable, though that is certainly true. It’s that they cannot ever be reliable. See, generative “AI” systems don’t actually know anything or reason about anything. They produce words (or pictures, or whatever) without…
Big Sister: Forecast Is Cloudy For Alexa
I’m kind of at a loss today for not-climbing-a-clock-tower style approaches to our current political situation. So let’s talk tech instead. I’ve written before about the privacy issues with voice assistant systems; they’re … not good. I mean, they’re basically…
School Yourself: The Means Of Academic Production
I mentioned yesterday that I had some thoughts on folks with PhDs setting up new universities. I do indeed. I’ve been contemplating this for a long time, since U.S. universities started reducing traditional tenure-track positions and replacing them with short-term…
Showing Their Work: Laws Should Be Version-Controlled
The tech industries appear to have provided most of the foot soldiers, many of the generals and pretty much all the lunacy behind Musk’s ongoing coup attempt. For which many of us in the industry sincerely apologize. For the most…