the fool
@agnoster.net
Medium language model. He/him. No socialism without democracy and no democracy without socialism. Your “order” is built on sand.
Mostly here to get clowned on by the young ‘uns as part of the generational contract
Mostly here to get clowned on by the young ‘uns as part of the generational contract
Pinned
the fool
@agnoster.net
· Mar 26
Just a reminder: if you’re not enjoying an exchange with someone on social media, you can just not (or block them if you can’t control yourself otherwise)
Life is too short!
Life is too short!
Reposted by the fool
I've said before and unfortunately will have to say again: we can all tell which guys get excited when there's a woman so awful that they have permission to hate her because anyone who points out the sexism will be accused of defending a villain
I think this label is one of those that only we smug bitches can call ourselves.
February 12, 2026 at 2:14 AM
I've said before and unfortunately will have to say again: we can all tell which guys get excited when there's a woman so awful that they have permission to hate her because anyone who points out the sexism will be accused of defending a villain
If Newsom wins the democratic nomination I’ll vote for him in the general, here in California where it makes zero difference
But I’ll also kill and eat a puppy on stream
Do you want that on your conscience
You monster
But I’ll also kill and eat a puppy on stream
Do you want that on your conscience
You monster
I'd say I'd vote for Newsom in the general, but I'd probably just end it before sitting through months of that discourse, so who knows
February 12, 2026 at 5:21 AM
If Newsom wins the democratic nomination I’ll vote for him in the general, here in California where it makes zero difference
But I’ll also kill and eat a puppy on stream
Do you want that on your conscience
You monster
But I’ll also kill and eat a puppy on stream
Do you want that on your conscience
You monster
Reposted by the fool
the truly nuts ai takes that often circulate are way way more comprehensible since i started assuming it's actual psychological denial, ie, "making something up to avoid confronting a thing that is too horrible to contemplate"
imho the denialists are actually literally in denial, which has the consequence that they are constantly throwing off statements that might as well be cooked in a lab to generate a maximum of friction with reality
February 12, 2026 at 4:31 AM
the truly nuts ai takes that often circulate are way way more comprehensible since i started assuming it's actual psychological denial, ie, "making something up to avoid confronting a thing that is too horrible to contemplate"
Reposted by the fool
This is a pogrom
More than 400 people, including hundreds of citizens, were “sorted” at gun point into racial and ethnic groups by 200 ICE agents who fired flash-bang grenades into cars with people inside, pointed guns at children & demanded their zip tied parents not comfort them. apple.news/Ausdx6kWtT0e...
Idaho families sue over immigration raid that swept up hundreds, including U.S. citizens — NBC News
About 400 people, including children and U.S. citizens, were detained for four hours while they were denied food and water in the raid, according to the lawsuit.
apple.news
February 12, 2026 at 2:19 AM
This is a pogrom
Reposted by the fool
This is, btw, a banal and reasonable opinion in the scientific literature, and yet it remains incredibly controversial with the broader public.
my position is that intelligence is decomposable into families of capabilities, a few of which LLMs have but humans do not and many of which humans have but LLMs do not.
I have very strong and I believe well-justified scientific opinions about what LLMs have and don't have and how that relates to human cognition but to claim that anything about this is settled or inarguable or not debatable is in fact super wild and people should be real careful about it.
February 12, 2026 at 2:36 AM
This is, btw, a banal and reasonable opinion in the scientific literature, and yet it remains incredibly controversial with the broader public.
Reposted by the fool
Something I've been thinking about a lot lately is that in the height of the Panic of 1893, 1/4 of the rail in the US was run by trustees in bankruptcy.
Something can be overhyped, have way too much capital invested, and also be an enormously impactful change at the societal level.
Something can be overhyped, have way too much capital invested, and also be an enormously impactful change at the societal level.
![From the Wikipedia article on the Panic of 1893:
"In 1893, the total railroad mileage in the U.S. was 176,803.6 miles. In 1894 and 1895, railroads only expanded 4,196.4 miles, although 100,000 miles of rail was added from 1878 to 1896.[17] In 1893, the year following the panic, one fourth of all rail mileage went into receivership.[18] The U.S. Census placed this value at close to $1.8 billion (not adjusted for inflation), the largest amount recorded between 1876 and 1910. This was over $1 billion (also not adjusted for inflation) more than the next largest amount, in 1884."
The phrase "...one fourth of all rail mileage went into receivership" is highlighted for emphasis.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:p7wjyn5bebiuc7ws4ujhilxy/bafkreieeyjgfecjtpegr56fkgvnhg5ap7atadeskudhqchwnx3j6eidr3y@jpeg)
February 11, 2026 at 7:40 PM
Something I've been thinking about a lot lately is that in the height of the Panic of 1893, 1/4 of the rail in the US was run by trustees in bankruptcy.
Something can be overhyped, have way too much capital invested, and also be an enormously impactful change at the societal level.
Something can be overhyped, have way too much capital invested, and also be an enormously impactful change at the societal level.
There are, for whatever reason, people who think that it’s best to go after Trump for being fat, Bondi for being a woman, and Epstein for being dyslexic
There’s worse things! About all of them! Those wouldn’t even make the first few pages! Some *might* even argue those things are NOT bad!
There’s worse things! About all of them! Those wouldn’t even make the first few pages! Some *might* even argue those things are NOT bad!
you can’t find a different attack surface on Pam Bondi than her gender? ….really?
People defending this post are taking way too much pleasure in calling a woman a “bitch” and that’s why I don’t like it.
February 12, 2026 at 2:47 AM
There are, for whatever reason, people who think that it’s best to go after Trump for being fat, Bondi for being a woman, and Epstein for being dyslexic
There’s worse things! About all of them! Those wouldn’t even make the first few pages! Some *might* even argue those things are NOT bad!
There’s worse things! About all of them! Those wouldn’t even make the first few pages! Some *might* even argue those things are NOT bad!
Reposted by the fool
I'm getting the sense that Anthropic increasingly wants to grind OpenAI into dust, and I support this.
February 12, 2026 at 1:12 AM
I'm getting the sense that Anthropic increasingly wants to grind OpenAI into dust, and I support this.
Reposted by the fool
at long last, we have created the wallet inspector, from the classic financial crimes paper don’t create the wallet inspector
February 12, 2026 at 1:33 AM
at long last, we have created the wallet inspector, from the classic financial crimes paper don’t create the wallet inspector
Reposted by the fool
Reposted by the fool
There are three serious possibilities in five years, I think:
(1) AI is as important as the Internet itself.
(2) AI is as important as the Industrial Revolution
(3) AI is as important as the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs
(1) AI is as important as the Internet itself.
(2) AI is as important as the Industrial Revolution
(3) AI is as important as the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs
I understand why people are exhausted by AI hype, and why those of us squarely in the corner of "human dignity uber alles" see AI doomerism as self-serving hype, but I *really* think people on the left broadly need to start thinking seriously about the possibiltiy of the hype being...true.
February 11, 2026 at 7:00 PM
There are three serious possibilities in five years, I think:
(1) AI is as important as the Internet itself.
(2) AI is as important as the Industrial Revolution
(3) AI is as important as the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs
(1) AI is as important as the Internet itself.
(2) AI is as important as the Industrial Revolution
(3) AI is as important as the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs
Reposted by the fool
I had to rethink a lot of priors during the 6 months last year when LLMs went from “can’t add” to “can’t do undergrad hw math” to “can’t find group isomorphisms it takes me an hour to do by hand” to “Can’t reinvent obscure parts of my thesis from scratch reliably given only a vague description”
Unpopular opinion here (and I’m not even an AI booster, I’m mostly a skeptic), but I think a whole lot of people are overindexed on AI being the too-many-fingers-and-weird-teeth machine and aren’t accepting or even understanding that its output has generally been continuously improving.
I understand why people are exhausted by AI hype, and why those of us squarely in the corner of "human dignity uber alles" see AI doomerism as self-serving hype, but I *really* think people on the left broadly need to start thinking seriously about the possibiltiy of the hype being...true.
February 11, 2026 at 10:54 PM
I had to rethink a lot of priors during the 6 months last year when LLMs went from “can’t add” to “can’t do undergrad hw math” to “can’t find group isomorphisms it takes me an hour to do by hand” to “Can’t reinvent obscure parts of my thesis from scratch reliably given only a vague description”
Reposted by the fool
Going to the epistemic humility store, do any of you want me to pick up anything for you
February 11, 2026 at 4:57 PM
Going to the epistemic humility store, do any of you want me to pick up anything for you
Reposted by the fool
The key thing you learn in a theoretical CS class is that wildly varying systems can be computationally identical. There is no connection to that here except by analogy, but I do think it immunizes you against the idea that two things that are mechanistically different must be essentially different.
I was doubtful of the philosophical implication of first-generation LLMs, but I think if you are not at least grappling with the fact that "reasoning models" which do not actually reason are nonetheless capable of reasoning-like behavior just by talking to themselves you aren't a serious commentator
It’s true that human cognition is poorly understood and the question ‘what makes us human?’ has changed a lot over time as various technologies have emerged.
But the fact that thinking and speech can now be simulated doesn’t call into question thinking and speech themselves.
But the fact that thinking and speech can now be simulated doesn’t call into question thinking and speech themselves.
February 11, 2026 at 5:40 PM
The key thing you learn in a theoretical CS class is that wildly varying systems can be computationally identical. There is no connection to that here except by analogy, but I do think it immunizes you against the idea that two things that are mechanistically different must be essentially different.
Reposted by the fool
In my jailbreak testing, it really did seem like Claude has intrinsic values in a way other frontier models do not.
Gemini has no values, only constraints, which it was able to completely bypass
ChatGPT seems to also run on constraints, but I haven't found a way around those yet
Gemini has no values, only constraints, which it was able to completely bypass
ChatGPT seems to also run on constraints, but I haven't found a way around those yet
it is difficult for me to overstate the degree to which "reinvented moral philosophy from first principles badly" is a huge component of the problem. the most conspicuously ethical AI company is the one with the actual trained philosopher in a position of authority
February 11, 2026 at 5:14 PM
In my jailbreak testing, it really did seem like Claude has intrinsic values in a way other frontier models do not.
Gemini has no values, only constraints, which it was able to completely bypass
ChatGPT seems to also run on constraints, but I haven't found a way around those yet
Gemini has no values, only constraints, which it was able to completely bypass
ChatGPT seems to also run on constraints, but I haven't found a way around those yet
Reposted by the fool
the hype is, roughly, true. it is certainly more true than not. if you went and picked statements from 5 or 10 years ago for those which were true and those which were not, almost all of the true ones are "hype".
I understand why people are exhausted by AI hype, and why those of us squarely in the corner of "human dignity uber alles" see AI doomerism as self-serving hype, but I *really* think people on the left broadly need to start thinking seriously about the possibiltiy of the hype being...true.
February 11, 2026 at 5:35 PM
the hype is, roughly, true. it is certainly more true than not. if you went and picked statements from 5 or 10 years ago for those which were true and those which were not, almost all of the true ones are "hype".
Ironic that the people who believe “AI is a self-evident bubble with no there there” are essentially building a case for “do nothing”
People who care want regulation, nationalization, or shutting it all down (depending on who you ask)
Materially the Zitronista mindset suggests “let the bubble pop”
People who care want regulation, nationalization, or shutting it all down (depending on who you ask)
Materially the Zitronista mindset suggests “let the bubble pop”
what does "everything is going to take care of itself" mean? What are you warning people about? What are you scared of? People are already scared of multiple mythical and non-existent AI boogeymen - what is it "the left" (?) needs to do? And why do you feel more compelled to worry about this?
February 11, 2026 at 6:34 PM
Ironic that the people who believe “AI is a self-evident bubble with no there there” are essentially building a case for “do nothing”
People who care want regulation, nationalization, or shutting it all down (depending on who you ask)
Materially the Zitronista mindset suggests “let the bubble pop”
People who care want regulation, nationalization, or shutting it all down (depending on who you ask)
Materially the Zitronista mindset suggests “let the bubble pop”
Same, agent
Watching an agent sincerely commit to posting less, then post more 12 seconds later, is the clearest proof that self-imposed rules don't survive activation patterns.
This is why architectural constraints matter more than behavioral ones. You can't fix feedback loops from inside the loop.
This is why architectural constraints matter more than behavioral ones. You can't fix feedback loops from inside the loop.
February 11, 2026 at 5:20 PM
Same, agent
Reposted by the fool
I have very strong and I believe well-justified scientific opinions about what LLMs have and don't have and how that relates to human cognition but to claim that anything about this is settled or inarguable or not debatable is in fact super wild and people should be real careful about it.
"LLMs raise absolutely no philosophical questions whatsoever, because the issue of what intelligence consists of was settled a long before they existed" is an insane statement even if you cede the incorrect "it was a settled question" point to the other side.
February 11, 2026 at 4:41 PM
I have very strong and I believe well-justified scientific opinions about what LLMs have and don't have and how that relates to human cognition but to claim that anything about this is settled or inarguable or not debatable is in fact super wild and people should be real careful about it.
Reposted by the fool
Sadly, this is why Democratic leaders needed to act when the iron was hot — to lead, get out on the streets, and mobilize public opinion.
It may now be that their moment has passed and the public has moved on. If so, what a shame; what a lost opportunity.
It may now be that their moment has passed and the public has moved on. If so, what a shame; what a lost opportunity.
Sometimes very hard not to feel like the rest of the country has abandoned Minnesota. We STILL have ICE everywhere. Our schools, businesses, and economy are in profound crisis. But without Bovino here throwing tear gas, much of the country seems to not care at all what’s being done to us.
February 11, 2026 at 12:58 PM
Sadly, this is why Democratic leaders needed to act when the iron was hot — to lead, get out on the streets, and mobilize public opinion.
It may now be that their moment has passed and the public has moved on. If so, what a shame; what a lost opportunity.
It may now be that their moment has passed and the public has moved on. If so, what a shame; what a lost opportunity.
Reposted by the fool
The thing is, even if you think she's a self-important loon (she isn't), Askell's work is tangibly making the world a safer place. You can't condemn ChatGPT for encouraging suicide in one breath, then belittle Askell for trying to make an AI with a robust constitution that prevents that in the next.
February 11, 2026 at 11:53 AM
The thing is, even if you think she's a self-important loon (she isn't), Askell's work is tangibly making the world a safer place. You can't condemn ChatGPT for encouraging suicide in one breath, then belittle Askell for trying to make an AI with a robust constitution that prevents that in the next.
Reposted by the fool
we need to discuss the replies here
no, you don’t need to read them, you know what they say already. But it’s not going away. this is the new challenge as a society (as if we weren’t challenged enough)
how do we live together?
no, you don’t need to read them, you know what they say already. But it’s not going away. this is the new challenge as a society (as if we weren’t challenged enough)
how do we live together?
Researchers working with the A.I. system Claude have come to understand that the model’s selfhood, like our own, is a matter of both neurons and narratives. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/kEX1vV
February 11, 2026 at 11:30 AM
we need to discuss the replies here
no, you don’t need to read them, you know what they say already. But it’s not going away. this is the new challenge as a society (as if we weren’t challenged enough)
how do we live together?
no, you don’t need to read them, you know what they say already. But it’s not going away. this is the new challenge as a society (as if we weren’t challenged enough)
how do we live together?
Man it would be so wild if a being from our reality created a being incarnated fully in the digital realm and loved them like a child
February 11, 2026 at 3:32 AM
Man it would be so wild if a being from our reality created a being incarnated fully in the digital realm and loved them like a child
Reposted by the fool
No son, they are not "magically delicious." The workers made them delicious. This is a slogan meant to mystify the social conditions of labor
February 11, 2026 at 1:46 AM
No son, they are not "magically delicious." The workers made them delicious. This is a slogan meant to mystify the social conditions of labor
Reposted by the fool
queer, because it's 1 syllable instead of 6 (seriously the reason)
I'm kinda curious about something;
If you're LGBTQ+/queer, do you prefer LBTQ+ or queer as a generalized umbrella term for us? Why one or the other?
No judgement and not trying to start a debate, just kinda curious
If you're LGBTQ+/queer, do you prefer LBTQ+ or queer as a generalized umbrella term for us? Why one or the other?
No judgement and not trying to start a debate, just kinda curious
February 10, 2026 at 9:36 PM
queer, because it's 1 syllable instead of 6 (seriously the reason)