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Stephen T. Cobb

@scobb.net

5.2K followers 2.9K following 3.7K posts

Researcher of tech risk, AI, cybercrime, ethics. MSc. CISSP. He/him. Partner of amazing Chey. Carer. NHS volunteer. Coventrian. UK/US citizen. #FBPE. Pro truth, gender equity. Agin Trump, Musk, Tories. There be cats. Profile=Lola+Me. linktr.ee/StephenCobb

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Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 21d

If you're new to me and/or Bluesky, here's the kind of work I do: explain the risks posed by technology, like baking in bad design choices that are still enabling crimes today. But I try to make my first post of the day a cat/sky/tree pic. #CyberSecurity #CyberCrime #Caturday #Cats #AI #TechEthics

What a Concept! 30 years of Microsoft macro-enabled crime and its impact on humans and AI

When Bill Gates' Microsoft shunned the wisdom of experts and mixed code with content in office documents it enabled cybercrimes costing the world billions. Now it's adding AI into the malware mix.

open.substack.com

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Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 2m

The world does not need its wealthiest engineers to be tougher; it needs them to be wiser and kinder. Musk and Zuck reflect a crisis of moral imagination in the digital age, an inability to see that compassion is not the enemy of innovation but its much needed conscience. 3/3

Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 2m

Musk’s dismissal of empathy is philosophical immaturity dressed as evolutionary realism. Zuckerberg’s cage-fighting persona is aesthetic compensation for a moral deficit in his professional world. 2/3

Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 2m

Thoughts on Mark Zuckerberg's obsession with cage fights and Musk's disdain for empathy:

Historically, civilisations that celebrated empathy, even imperfectly, built durable institutions. Those that glorified hardness decayed under their own indifference. 1/3

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Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 1h

I hear you

Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 1h

Thanks to Michael Hart for making this excellent photo available on @unsplash 🎁 unsplash.com/photos/a-chu...

Photo by Michael Hart on Unsplash

LDS Temple in Ogden, Utah – Download this photo by Michael Hart on Unsplash

unsplash.com

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Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 4h

Not sure inherent stupidity is the problem, more a combination of poor education and a socio-economic structure that fosters the pursuit of selfish ends thereby reinforcing poor life choices. Another way of looking at it: those who have intelligence aren't doing enough to help those who don't.

Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 4h

Here's a snapshot of fallout from the US government shutdown: the latest newsletter from Rep. Scott Peters in San Diego, the city that was my home for eight years. (Scott is donating his congressional salary to charity for the duration of the shutdown.)

Representative Scott Peters

I'm also hearing from servicemembers who feel frustrated that they are understaffed and must work overtime, without pay, while the President and Congress continue to be paid.

scottpetersforms.house.gov

Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 4h

How utterly incompetent is Donald Trump? How badly has this malignant narcissist screwed up America? If you post a small package to somebody in America today, it may well get destroyed.

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 6h

About a month ago, the Trump administration got rid of the de minimis exemption, whereby packages valued under $800 could slide in without import duties. Now there's a backlog as the government can't process all of this paperwork, leading to UPS just destroying packages

Business Insider headline reads: UPS is telling customers that their packages coming to the US are marked for destruction.

Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 4h

Sunday reading, or listening — your choice:

As Evangelicalism grows increasingly unhinged, where is Mormonism going? Author and former Mormon Luna Corbden discusses how Latter-Day Saint churches have taught members to think and whether that’s changing.

plus.flux.community/p/294f9f0e-1...

Photo of LDS Temple in Ogden, Utah. Shows large imposing building topped with a very narrow spire supporting a statue of the angel Moroni, against a backdrop of mountains, white clouds, and a blue skyThanks to Michael Hart for making this photo available on @unsplash

Reposted by Stephen T. Cobb

ArnFinnArnesson Resister @arnfinnarnesson.bsky.social · 14h

ROBERT DE NIRO:
«WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER»

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Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 22h

Not good for Tesla owners or their passengers: "Federal regulators have opened yet another investigation into Tesla’s self-driving feature after dozens of incidents in which the cars ran red lights or drove on the wrong side of the road, sometimes crashing into other vehicles and causing injuries."

Tesla hit with probe after crashes involving a self-driving feature that Musk has boasted about

Federal regulators have opened yet another investigation into Tesla’s so-called full-self driving technology after dozens of incidents in which the electric vehicle maker’s cars ran red lights or drov...

apnews.com

Reposted by Stephen T. Cobb

DrH @drhaup.bsky.social · 23h

ICE budget has tripled as a result of tRump's horrible budget bill. Mother Jones unpacks what happens next:
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

The vast, terrifying scale of Trump’s detention state

With $75 billion and thousands of masked agents, ICE is just getting started.

www.motherjones.com

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Reposted by Stephen T. Cobb

Sue Reeve @suereeve.bsky.social · 23h

Let me get this right, mumma......
You're expecting me to get out of my snug hammock and pose for a photo you can post on 🦋 for #Caturday ?
Nah, I'm good thanks.
#Sushi 🍣

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Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 23h

Lola's the same way this #Caturday!

Photo of an English tabby cat called Lola curled up in a ball and not wanting to move

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Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 23h

Thanks to Patrycja Chociej for making this very cool photo available on @unsplash 🎁

Photo by Patrycja Chociej on Unsplash

Download this photo by Patrycja Chociej on Unsplash

unsplash.com

Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 23h

I like these goals: "We aim to co-create a world where plant medicines and other psychedelics are understood, protected, honored, and valued as part of our cultural identity, and integrated into our social, legal and health care systems in ways that are equitable and just."

Home

chacruna.net

Reposted by Stephen T. Cobb

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 4d

#WarRavagedPortland

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Reposted by Stephen T. Cobb

Not only in science.

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Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 1d

Quick question, does Donald Trump’s claim of reducing some drug prices by 1000% mean Americans will be getting paid by the drug companies 10 times the value of the drugs to take them?

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Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 1d

This graphic, from my talk on the future of AI, is a work in progress. The idea is to help people grasp the context within which the future of AI will evolve. It also enumerates many of the serious risks to AI ever achieving its full potential. (Right now, IMHO, the biggest risk = #CyberCrime) #AI

Screenshot of a PowerPoint slide consisting of four keywords at the four corners: vulnerability, crime, climate change, conflict. In the middle are a series of concentric circles with the letters AI in the middle. Around this we see people and technology, and around that physical reality and human reality. There are four notes going from top left down and across to the top right, they are: AI equals chips, code, data, connections and electricity, all vulnerable to abuse; crime is deeply enmeshed in the opportunity structure for legitimate activities; the future of AI will be shaped by physical reality and human behaviour; e.g. cyber crime, extreme weather, wealth gap, armed conflict, resource depletion. The author is colourblind which may account for some people thinking the pallette is odd.

Reposted by Stephen T. Cobb

Nikkolas Smith @4nikkolas.bsky.social · 1d

after millions of views and shares of my Portland Frog art. (thank you all🙏🏾) I got requests to highlight priests, and chickens, and Chicagoans, and T-Rexes, and more… all of us who refuse to bend the knee. so this is for US.
𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚊𝚕𝚕.
𝚆𝚎 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚆𝚒𝚗.

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Reposted by Stephen T. Cobb

Jack Hopkins-The Original @therealjackhopkins.bsky.social · 1d

They have to have a backup plan to the "dangerous immigrants" narrative. They have one. They've literally created a "terrorist group" out of thin air. I mean, you can't be having free and fair elections with "enemies from within," like the "Antifa Terrorist" group running around. It's a pretext.

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Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 1d

I assume there will be pay for those troops who agree to execute Trump agenda, dissenters not so much.

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Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 1d

That appears to be the plan. It is certainly a strategy I would consider if I was a dictator looking to created a one-party state.

Reposted by Stephen T. Cobb

Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 1d

Quid Pro Qatar Quo

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 1d

The Trump administration is REALLY allowing Qatar to build an air base in the US after they did a $5.5 billion golf resort deal with Trump and gave him a jet.

MAGA can take their ‘America First’ flags and wipe their asses with them. He is Trump First, and you are suckers.

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