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alex williams

@atwilliams.bsky.social

8.1K followers 2K following 4.6K posts

macroeconomist and computer user at common-wealth.org, editor at www.continuousvariation.com, fellow at stanford, partisan of the republic of letters

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alex williams @atwilliams.bsky.social · Aug 22

"because only that exists which can be posted, bodies themselves fell under the regime of the symbolic" - literal Kittler

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👁🌻🦊⚙️⚓ Bob, Engineer, Pusher of Paper @navmecheng.bsky.social · 12h

> It is 2025 BC. I am a soldier from one of the outlying provinces called to defend the pyramid in Memphis

> It is 2025 AD. I am a soldier from one of the outlying provinces called to defend the pyramid in Memphis

Soldiers at the Bass Pro Shops pyramid in Memphis, TN.

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alex williams @atwilliams.bsky.social · 5h

hopefully we can all agree now that economic models are models like dioramas are models and some are better and some are worse and there probably wont ever be a best

alex williams @atwilliams.bsky.social · 5h

model uncertainty is real, and historically strong, and oddly but truly by this point my friend

utopia deferred @utopia-defer.red · 6h

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alex williams @atwilliams.bsky.social · 5h

that would make the slogan too long, but yes

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Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 8h

Chicago priest Fr. Larry Dowling describes procession to ICE facility: “No one had the courage to speak directly to us. No one from Homeland Security could stand in the presence of the Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. No wonder. Evil is repelled, recoils in the presence of Christ.”

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alex williams @atwilliams.bsky.social · 5h

democracy is paper ballots hand-counted in public

Sky Marchini @sky.skymarchini.net · 6h

So dominion voting got sold, look at this fascinating statement from their new owner (not to doom but this is, uh, suboptimal). www.dominionvoting.com

(Dominion voting website now redirecting to libertyvote.com with the following statement:)

Our Promise.
-
My Fellow Americans,
Today, I am proud to announce Liberty Vote - a 100% American-owned election technology company dedicated to restoring trust in our elections. Our mission is clear: every vote must be secure, fair, and verifiable.
I have spent my life working to strengthen America's elections. That commitment began years ago, in the aftermath of the 2000 election, when I worked for the Missouri Secretary of State. Later, as Election Director in St. Louis, I led the effort to modernize outdated systems and rebuild public trust. Eventually, I founded an election technology company that today serves nearly one in four voters nationwide.
With Liberty Vote, we are building on that legacy. We are turning the page and beginning the vital work of restoring faith in American elections. While these changes will not happen overnight, Liberty Vote's mission is rooted in American values and committed to transparency, independent audits, and verifiable paper records.
Our purpose is simple: to ensure that America's elections are secure, fair, and honest.
Scott Leiendecker
Founder and Chairman, Liberty Vote

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Ted Underwood @tedunderwood.com · 10h

Reposting this, because I found this short article an encouraging model of how one academic discipline is proactively engaging AI and reshaping it for disciplinary needs.

Sung Kim @sungkim.bsky.social · 5d

Mathematical discovery in the age of artificial intelligence

They consider how artificial intelligence tools are reshaping the way mathematical research is conducted and discuss how future developments of this technology will transform mathematical practice.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Mathematical discovery in the age of artificial intelligence - Nature Physics

In this comment, we consider how artificial intelligence tools are reshaping the way mathematical research is conducted and discuss how future developments of this technology will transform mathematical practice.

www.nature.com

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alex williams @atwilliams.bsky.social · 10h

press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

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Sara Partridge, Ph.D. @sarapartridge.bsky.social · 12h

There are reports that the *entire* office of special education at the US Dept of Education has been cut. These hardworking folks ensure kids with disabilities get equal access to a quality education.

America’s children deserve better than this.

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Mike Black @mikeblack114.bsky.social · 11h

So the Dems need to be clear again that any FMer carrying out direction to implement mil paychecks in the absence of appropriations will be subject to anti-deficiency act criminal penalties, because to be clear even with the reconciliation slush fund BS there is no way to legally so this, period

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Kevin Carey @kevincarey1.bsky.social · 14h

It's clearer by the day that Columbia making a deal with Trump in July was a catastrophe for higher education as a whole. It gave terrible people a bottomless appetite for extortion. The other eight universities must follow MIT's lead.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u...

M.I.T. Rejects a White House Offer for Special Funding Treatment

www.nytimes.com

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alex williams @atwilliams.bsky.social · 10h

the longer i think about it, the more i feel that the whole problem with inflation measurement and reportage is that, methodologically speaking, it's all adaptations of a framework designed around the point of view of a bondholder/creditor

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Travis @coloradotravis.bsky.social · 17h

Will Ferrell as Scott Bessent as Harry Carey

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Ali Rıza Taşkale @alirizataskale.bsky.social · Aug 28

The first article of the Silicon Valley special issue I’m editing is out! @mrshoward.bsky.social shows how contrarianism isn’t genuine dissent but a performative strategy rooted in venture capital. The piece develops negative mimesis, how dissent is aestheticized, repackaged & stripped of politics.

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Matt Steinglass @mattsteinglass.bsky.social · 18h

“Much of what we think of as innovation in the US is just private duct tape applied to the country’s uniquely bad payments system. Stablecoins, for example, offer a way to transfer something like a dollar from one place to another, without a bank.” Great stuff from @bhgreeley.bsky.social

Why I have to buy doughnuts with cash

Powerful lobbies are hindering a digital transition by America’s huge network of some 4,500 banks

on.ft.com

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Mike Eliason @holz-bau.bsky.social · 17h

'Renewables are 10 x more efficient than new nuclear at CO2 mitigation & build times for new nuclear are massively longer'

yup

Dr Paul Dorfman @drpauldorfman.bsky.social · 19h

Profs Amory Lovins, Mark Jacobson, Steve Thomas and me.
#nuclear #renewables #climate #SMR #Trump #Starmer
www.newcivilengineer.com/opinion/a-go...

A ‘Golden Age’ of nuclear? | New Civil Engineer

The reason is simple. Nuclear costs are huge and rising and significant delays are the norm. The result is that nuclear power faces the same fundamental

www.newcivilengineer.com

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The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 1d

His slip of the tongue reveals who’s really in charge. trib.al/mIvP0yE

“Illinois governor says we’re provoking actions that are unlawful,” Miller said on CNN. “If I put federal law enforcement and National Guard into a nice sleepy Southern town, is anyone gonna riot?”

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Reverend Jesus "H" Christ @reverendjesus.com · 1d

Blessed are the frogs, for they keep making authoritarians look incredibly stupid

Three persons in inflatable frog costumes. One of them is holding a nicely painted sign with two little cartoon frogs holding hands, below the text "FROGS TOGETHER STRONG"

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alex williams @atwilliams.bsky.social · 1d

isnt...this....the life-forms playing dice?

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alex williams @atwilliams.bsky.social · 1d

"ill do it, but i dont like it, and ive got reasons....poetic reasons"

alex williams @atwilliams.bsky.social · 1d

the reason i dont like using stochastics to model economic processes is that on a theoretical level, you get pretty close to "well its all fucking random" which is a pretty nihilistic viewpoint, and more so the more successful the predictions get

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alex williams @atwilliams.bsky.social · 1d

"media theory" is about asking what role the hardware plays in the making of these decisions, imo

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 1d

All I want in life is to persuade everyone, when encountering politics & culture, to ask, "why are we talking about this?" I mean that very literally: anything you encounter on your screens reflects a choice. Someone covered that, talked about that, rather than the many other things out there. Why?

alex williams @atwilliams.bsky.social · 1d

corn is not an efficient energy transformation vector, turns out

Kevin J. CREATURE @kevinjkircher.com · 2d

Over 40% of corn grown in Indiana is used to make ethanol that cars burn. One acre of corn yields about 16,500 vehicle-miles per year of ethanol, which sounds high until you realize that one acre of solar yields about 2,700,000 vehicle-miles per year: 16,000% more driving for a given plot of land.

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stacy-marie ishmael @smi.bsky.social · 2d

"You can’t help anybody when you’re exhausted and keep posting one million college-educated rewordings of “I would love to be dead right now” on the computer." kalebhorton.ghost.io/2025-so-far/

2025, So Far

I wish I had a time machine so I could go back in time and talk to my dad in 1988, just before I was born, and tell him what it’s like to live in the future. I’d tell him all the amazing things that a...

kalebhorton.ghost.io

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Haunted Nick Seaver @nickseaver.website · 2d

meet me at the

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